Tuesday 13 March 2012

Rise of the internet Essay


The rise of the internet

in this essay I will be writing about how one man and his idea of the internet grew from a small scientists computer linking system to a massive network spreading across the entire world. I will also go on to explain how smaller groups of people use the internet to change small things in the world whether they are good or bad things.

The internet first started with Tim Berners-Lee and a simple idea to link the computers in the lab he worked in together “the ability to link computers into networks” (the rise of the internet by Mike Hanlon. http://www.gizmag.com/go/1595/) he explained in a program I watched called 'The Virtual Revolution' how when he worked in the lab they had to write down on paper each and every thing they typed up onto the computer and copy it over to another, this made him think 'hey, if I could somehow link all of these computers together it would make life much easier' this is when he started to design the web.

There is now a group that are trying to pass the bill S.O.P.A which has been made to stop online piracy and copyright once and for all, an example of this is if you recorded your sons birthday party and your playing music that you have paid for on iTunes then this can be classed as copyright because you do not have the right to play that music without the consent of the maker, this can also cause problems with the makers of the music because they do not get any advertising from that video. There are also a lot of people that show videos of games that they like to play and others like to watch but the problem is that they have not asked permission from the makers of that game if they can record it and put it up on the internet for everyone to see. S.O.P.A will stop people from doing this, which will cause a lot of problems with the viewers of YouTube and the staff that work for them. On the other hand there are websites such as pirate bay and mediafire that can be used to transfer files to other people illegally, pirate bay and U-Torrent are websites where you can download software’s and films for free with no problems, where as mediafire is a site where people can put out downloads of things like photos, game mods and videos, this website is also used to give people downloads of software’s that have been 'cracked' (serial and security key already entered) and copied, because of this being a possibility the U.S Government want to close down this site, this has already happened to megaupload which is basically the same a mediafire, “The department of justice busted the downloading site MegaUpload” (CNN).

The issue that people have with S.O.P.A is that they want to just close down sites that are useful to people for education because sometimes they can have 'unauthorised' content, take the website blogger for example it is used by people to send out information and make discussions which can help communities connect with each other because people will give ideas of the threads, the reason S.O.P.A would want to close or block a site like this is because you may get one ore two people that post something that is either offensive or copyrighted and classed as piracy. One thing should lead to a whole site being closed down, only that part of the site should be sorted out. S.O.P.A will stop these things from happening too which in my eyes is one of the only good things about it. “A very dangerous thing about this bill, the fact of the matter is a vast majority of the people debating it have no idea what it is, they have no idea how to use the internet for one thing and they have freely admitted that” (WTF is SOPA by TotalHaliBut) this is very dangerous because they don’t know what they are talking about and they would think that if it has a possibility of causing piracy then it is a problem and has to be closed down, another thing about this is that smaller majority of these people debating are against the bill and they use the internet on a daily basis.

The internet has also made life a lot easier for many people, such as students they are able to just quickly use a search engine to find out information they need insteed of having to go down to the library and find the book they need, it has also aided businesses because people can now shop online so they do not have to leave the house, this has given shops many more customers. The internet is also used to donate to charities that otherwise would have had to use someone standing outside asking for money for the charity, people can now pay over the internet. If SOPA is passed the websites that are used by these students like youtube and blogger will not be around for them to find the  useful information they need.

In Conclusion the internet has help the world with its technological developments and has made a huge change to the way people live, the world would be going at a much slower pace of the internet was never invented so I agree that we must take the internet for granted because if the internet never existed then the world would not be the same today.
If SOPA gets passed then the internet would be a horrible place, a web of DNS blocking and you being tracked for uploading a video with a small amount of copyright in it.


Bibliography:

“the ability to link computers into networks”
(the rise of the internet by Mike Hanlon)
Date accessed, 2nd February 2012


“A very dangerous thing about this bill, the fact of the matter is a vast majority of the people debating it have no idea what it is, they have no idea how to use the internet for one thing and they have freely admitted that”
TotalHaliBut youtube channel
Information about S.O.P.A
Date accessed 3rd of February


“The department of justice busted the downloading site MegaUpload” (CNN).
Date accessed, 12th march 2012

Monday 12 March 2012

Activity 4: Research images and meaning

Historical Images:


This image dates back to 1939 when the war had started and the country needed soldiers, this poster is almost trying to force you to join the army and fight for the country. The way it says "England expects every man to do his duty" makes it seem as if you dont actually have a choice because you are frowned upon if you do not join the army. it is also portraying that women can not join the arm and they are not wanted. 


In my view this poster is not right because you should have a choice to join the army not because the country says you have to, i also dont like the fact that it means that the army does not want women to fight, they should have also had the right to fight if they wanted to. 
Today this poster would be classed as sexist and unethical.


This is an image of the first man on the moon (neil armstrong) shot in 1969, this displays the first step of man moving forward in technology with a huge leap to get to the moon, the quote "one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind" shows that this is a huge 'step' for humans to move on from the earth.
The placing of the flag has always represented the ownership of territory but the united nations space treaty (1967) says that the flag does not mean ownership of land in space, i shows that mankind's has reached these distances.


This is the very famous 'last supper' painting, it is the painting of jesus with all of his friends the day before he gets crucified, this has hidden meaning in it because the wine in this meal was supposed to represent his blood and the bread represented the body. i feel that this image has a lot of meaning to christians as it shows their christ in his last days. 




This stencil painting by banksy has a lot of meaning to it like all of banksy's work, it stands for 'make peace not warfare' it is a man that looks like he is about to throw a grenade or bomb of some sort but instead he is throwing flowers, these flowers represent peace and love instead of pain and war.
















this is a picture of the original 'loch ness monster' that was hoaxed in 1933, this picture is one of the most famous examples of cryptozoology which is a mixture of greek kryptos and zoology this stands for a 'study of hidden animals'.
The scientific community regards the Loch Ness Monster as a modern-day myth, and explains sightings as a mix of hoaxes and wishful thinking.
I feel that this image shows that a you can make people believe what you want them to believe from a simple image, this also shows that people will start to believe it if it is such a phenomenon.



In 1945 nearing the end of the war in the battle for lwo Jima, U.S soldiers raised a flag on top of mount Suribachi, this is now one of the most famous war photo's ever taken and it is recognised across the world.
I really like this picture because of the fact that it shows the U.S soldiers making a push and claiming land from the japanese.








Urban Signs and Symbols:

This image shows nature trying reach back into a city to claim the land because the land has been taken from it. I like this piece of art because of the style to it, it looks like the kind of graffiti you see on city walls but this has a meaning to it, the meaning is that humans have taken over the natural landscape and turned into a concrete jungle.


This sign is pointing out that you have to mind your head from this sign which is completely useless, i feel that this image is very funny but also stupid because someone had thought to put the sign there in the first place.

















some signs dont make any sense such as this one, if the wires causes instant death then how will you be fined.
I feel that this sign is pointless and it needs to be replaced with a more appropriate one.














these symbols are very smoothly edged like you would see in graffiti on a wall in a city landscape. the arrows in this image could mean 'a path can change course easily' or the could mean nothing and just have been made to look cool.
The stripped cloud could like the yellow and black line you would find in machinery working in an urban landscape.
I really like this still because of the simplicity to it, it shows things dont have to be detailed to look good.




all these urban symbols have a meaning to them as you can see on each of them, they are all symbols you see in your daily life but you dont really notice them until you need them.
These types of signs are linked in with modern society and they are made to help people get through the day with less trouble.




Interactive media:


This image shows a car that has been formed out out of light, they used different coloured torches and changed the F stop on the camera so they had time to be in the shot but not show up, only the light does.
This image shows an advance in creativity using technology.






'sixth sense technology' is everyday technology but interacting with the real world, as you can see in the picture the man is able to call a number in his hand, he is also able to watch a video on a newspaper, this kind of technology is in its early stages but when it becomes more effective it could become a technological breakthrough.
I feel that technology like this would benefit the way a city or even a country works because things involving computers will become easier to access.





sky arts

In this activity i am aiming to make a 20 second animation or video that shows the words 'SKY ARTS' in a creative way.


Inspirations:
There is a stop motion artist that goes by the name blu, he makes animations on walls in the street by taking as photo of each stage of the animation, this creates an illusions of movement but in still pictures.


I was thinking about making a stop frame animation for sky arts, the words would form on paper or on a wall, they would form in an interesting way such as being hatched from an egg or coming out of an oven completely melted and then solidifies into 'Sky Arts'. 


Channel 4 have made some very interesting idents (an identification of the channel). they are used to as an intro to a program while the commentator tells you what is coming up next.
Channel 4 frequently use floating objects to form the number 4, they have mainly used real objects that you would see in daily life and they have changed them to have a sci fi special effect style to them. They have also made one that has used an 'alien space ship' effect behind a pick up truck with to people arguing, they portray it as a normal event as the people look at it then carry on arguing.


Ideas:
One of my ideas is set in a factory, in the factory there are machines melting metal, pouring it into buckets and then picking them up and putting them into moulds. One of the buckets is in the wrong position so the machine picks it up in an awkward angle and then drops it, the metal then pours out and drops through the floors of the factory and hits the floor which then splashes into 'SkyArts' and solidifies. 


This whole sequence will be designed in some sort of 3D software so there will be no need for camera's or outdoor preparation (maybe look at some old factories).


Idea 2:
My second idea is set in a space ship, it starts off with a man running down a tunnel (with a space ship style to it) with a laser gun and he is firing backwards at some other soldiers chasing him. He then takes cover behind a large computer desk and fires at the soldiers while they fire back, then a laser shot hits the computer which makes a flash and creates a burn in the computer saying 'SkyArts'.




Preparation for idea 2:
Find an open space and create a set out of various cardboard cutouts.
Resources:
final cut pro, sony vegas, firefox 

Activity 3: World Skills

 World skills, healthy living


first website designs:

This page shows ideas of what the webpage could look like, it also shows what pages the buttons on the homepage will link to, i got a lot of these ideas from the good food website and the BBC food too.
This is the first stage of the development for this task.
Final idea layout (paper):
This is the homepage concept idea, i laid out a page with different boxes and labeled the possibilities of what i could put in them. 



In this task we had to design a layout for a website encouraging healthy living.
we researched a lot of different recipe websites to help the layout of our website to make it as effective as possible.


This is page 2 of the website design, its a page which would be clicked from the home page and this is where it would lead to.

There was some more development on paper but the hosters of this task took it away.


Friday 9 March 2012

Visual language

Ying Yang Symbol
This 'Ying and Yang' symbol represents light and darkness, or good and evil. 
I found this task fairly difficult because the curves were very hard to get right but in the end i came out with a fairly good result.

Desert scene


For this task i have made a desert scene that extends out into the distance, i have made the colours more faded the further away the you can see, this adds the effect of distance and space.


Bird Attacking a victim


For this exercise i had to make a scene in which there is a bird attacking and victim (the person) out of simple shapes, i used a variation on triangles, circles, squares and rectangles to produce this piece of work.
I found this task fairly easy because i have had experience with illustrator before so i know how to make the shapes work together.

Rhythm's

this is an example of rhythm i made in illustrator, it is the same shaper repeated over and over again but just changing to a darker shade of colour.

colour theory

the different shades of colour fading together in a colour wheel.
                                     



 colour range in with shading of cubes