#graceryan

[jackyloos]

[thedorea]

grace-ryan replied to your post: i really liked new episode glee :)

me2 :)

theonelucille replied to your post: i really liked new episode glee :)

it was PERFECT!!!!!!

yes!

I liked every song and Puck, Warbles and Sebastian and i liked new kids too :D gah. I loved it.

[laurmander]

To every single fanfic writer I've read work from, heard about, or became friends with,

Thank you.

Thank you for creating an alternate placer where for minutes or hours at a time I can get away from life and get lost in a world of fantasy. Whether it's angsty, fluffy, smutty, or SOME SORT OF CRAZY AU THAT I CANT GET ENOUGH OF (cheerio!klaine, skank, vampire, nerd...) it helps bring a smile to my face and helps my imagination come back to life.

A lot can be said in words, and if I could I would write EACH of you a long letter to tell you how much your stories impacted me and others and how they changed our lives...but right now my brains a pile of mush from this new fic I'm reading so I'll just state it simply:

Your words, your emotions, your creation... thank you for sharing it with us. 

We love you.

Happy Fanfic Writers Appreciation Day to all of you!

[thebronzeageisover-blog]

Banning Solariums Across NSW

In February of this year the New South Wales declared the intention to ban all solariums. This is an action that the Australian Cancer Council has been campaigning about for years. The campaign has gained momentum since the tragic death of Clare Oliver in 2007 (see below).

The Cancer Council states anyone who has used a tanning bed before they turn 35 has doubled their risk of developing melanoma. Hopefully the beds will be banned by 2014. 

Former Cancer Council chief executive, Dr Andrew Penman believes the ban will be effective. “I think the effect of today’s announcement will be to send out a very strong message to the industry…understand the seriousness of the exposure they’ve subjected themselves to,” he says.

The New South Wales Government is the only Government to instill these rules. But there has been a lot of pressure on the Victorian Government to create these rules. Although there are age limits on sun bed usage, there is still pressure for the government to do more.

Do you think this should be a nation wide law? Or is out choice to use sun beds? WHAT DO YOU THINK?

Picture, quotes and information sourced from ABC News NSW Bans Solariums  Doctors Call For Ban on Sunbeds  

^GR

[thebronzeageisover-blog]

Dangerous Tanning: What is a Solarium?

We know the sun in large doses is bad for your skin and your body. So what makes people want to get in a bed made out of UV rays? We searched the cancer council to get the facts.

What Is A Solarium? A solarium is an artificial tanning machine, which uses high levels of UV radiation to produce a tan. There is a clear link between this tanning method and skin cancer.

Recommended Way of Tanning? The cancer council says ‘NO!’ Solariums are more dangerous than the midday summer sun.

A Few Rules:     --Minimum age of 18

                        --People with fair skin cannot use solariums

                        --You must be supervised by an operator

                        --Informed consent sought from all clients

                        --Restrictions on frequency and duration of tanning sessions

WHAT DO YOU THINK? Do the pros outweigh the cons when using a solarium? Have you used a solarium?

SOURCE: Cancer Council Website

 ^GR

[graceryanarts3091-blog]

Is It Art? (Generative)

I believe art adapting to media is an amazing transformation. The transformation affects how art can be distributed, it affects how art can be developed and it affects how art can be viewed all over the world. 

By developing art with new interfaces on Internet 2.0, web users around the world in different cultures, different societies, can access and experience it. Art can become interactive and educational in ways we can never imagine. 

Interestingly, like journalism, technology can create more artists. Walter states: "the early 21st C has spawned an entire class of cultural creatives". That is anyone with access to creative software can develop art of some kind. Majority of my class became "artists" when they downloaded the Instagram application. People are taking photos of people/places/experiences and manipulating them to look better or make a statement, thus becoming an artist. Other friends of mine even use software like this or Flikr to put their photographs out there, so people can acknowledge their otherwise unknown work. Facebook has become a place where people can highlight their artistic talent. A girl I grew up with in rural New South Wales, is unable to get to a major city to promote her talents in designing clothing. So instead she has set up a Facebook group, which people can like and have access to her designs. She has since set up her own business. The web has created places where artists can get their work known. 

Walter believes anyone with access to Apple software can become an artist. "You could call the New Aesthetic 'Apple Mac' Aesthetic, as that's the computer of choice for most acts of creation" (2012). Mac have set themselves up as the choice of computer for designers and graphic artists, due to the software they have available. Because of this everyone becomes the expert in PhotoShop, InDesign etc. and in creating their own art. 

As everyone becomes more proficient in internet usage I like the idea of changing the more traditional aspects of education. The XDesign Hub disusses changing essays to visual essays, (which we learnt about in 2091). "That visual essays are potentially 'read' by more people, more quickly, and contain 'more' information, is a reasonable claim, more over that we live in a visual culture" (2007). They suggest teaching this form of essays in class. I think this idea is fantastic. It could help the students that are not as capable of writing an essay a great deal. It taps into all sorts of learning. 

Sterling writes that "'generative processes' are already going on all around us", he highlights how generative processes are all around us, even if we might not realise it yet. These processes can include art, but they can also include biology, engineering and many other systems. Laika's Derive uses new media to generate a mapping application. She uses; "new media locative data-mapping work about interspecies, communication, collaboration and knowledge. Community participants and their dogs use an electronic mapping system with their local area" (2012). This demonstrates an ecology using generative processes to communication and locate each other. 

Generative processes are interesting to observe as they infiltrate our everyday life. It will be  intriguing to observe how these change over time. 

References

Walter, D. G. (2012), The New Aesthetic and I, [Accessed 20/5/2012], http://damiengwalter.com/2012/04/02/the-new-aesthetic-and-i/

XDesign, (2007), What Changes when an Essay is a Visual Essay?, [Accessed 20/5/2012], http://www.nyu.edu/projects/xdesign/

Sterling, B (2011), Generator Everything [Accessed 20/5/2012], http://www.sf360.org/generator-everything

Laika, (2012), Laika's Derive/Dog's De Tour, [Accessed 20/5/2012], http://laikasderive.sarahwaterson.net/

[graceryanarts3091-blog]

Future of Internet

The internet is an ever changing environment. If we observe the last decade, we can decipher that the internet is here to stay, and I think that is the only thing we know for sure. I believe institutions, such as The Future Institution, are very important in today's society. Careers, relationships and even inanimate objects have adapted to the change in technology, we are now discovering how these changes will affect the future. 

These ideas were explored in this weeks readings. The 'Glass' will change the face of photography as we know. These are "...smart glasses--virtual overlay on the real world, an android device in your eyeballs" (Newitz 2012). This is taking smart phones to a whole new level. I believe this shows how limitless this technology can be. 

The 'Floating Universities' explanation; "We create and distribute online multimedia curricula, rich in text, video, animation and graphics, that feature today's biggest thinkers, practitioner and leading scholars" (Big Think, 2011). As far as the 'Floating University' idea goes, I am surprised it has taken so long for an idea like this to take off. There are, of course, pros and cons but I fully support the idea of 'Floating University'. People shouldn't be limited by their location or income if they wish to learn. "Floating University is based on the premise that anyone, anywhere deserves access to the most important knowledge" Big Think (2011).

I find Jane McGonigal's ideas refreshing (McGonigal). There is so many scholarly articles and negative press around gaming, like how it is the cause of student violence, but I understand where McGonigal is coming from. There are positive aspects to gaming, The Sims can teach someone if you save money you get nicer possessions/bigger house, or if you keep going to work you can get promoted. It is also a way of socialising with people from other countries and creating an online ecology with people who have similar ideas.

I believe that the problem isn't the new technology or Web 2.0, rather society's reaction to change. "While accepting that a technology like mobile telephony has become the world's largest share platform for information exchange, we are perhaps less accustomed to the idea of space as a technology or medium of information," (Easterling 2012). I think we have to change our way of thinking of the online environment. Respect it as a source of information, accept it is here to stay, and accept that it is going to change how technology, relationships and careers work. I believe these changes are for the better and technology is just going make our world an easier and more interesting place to live. 

References

Big Think, (2011), The Floating University: About [accessed 13/5/2012], http://www.floatinguniversity.com/about

Easterling, K (2012), An Internet of Things, [accessed 13/5/2012], http://www.e-flux.com/journal/an-internet-of-things/

Institute for the Future (2012), Future Work Skills, 2020, [accessed 13/5/2012], http://www.iftf.org/futureworkskills2020

McGonigal, J. (No Date Supplied), You Found Me, [accessed 13/5/2012], http://janemcgonigal.com/ 

Newitz, A (2012), Could This Photograph Change the Future?, [accessed 13/5/12], http://io9.com/5909151/could-this-photograph-change-the-future

[graceryanarts3091-blog]

Open Science Blog

           It seems one of the ongoing themes in this semester is how various industries adapt to the changing face of technology, the internet and the media.

            The readings highlighted that scientific data should be open and available to everyone. Obviously like all types of change, there are pros and cons to this idea. This was represented in the readings; Pisani (2011) discusses how the Wellcome trust is enforcing this idea, as they were not informed when the work towards cloning started in the early 1980s. So it seems if this data was available it would be positive for the industry. However a negative aspect of this plan is that it could prevent scientists from their research. Barriers such as religious groups or activist groups could make problems if they don’t agree with the research and use the data against the scientist or scientific group that is involved. This makes me wonder if Craig Venter (mentioned in Sample’s article) would be able to make the discoveries he did, as religious groups do not agree with his research.  As with any change there is going to be pros and cons, although I believe having open sourced data is a positive move for scientific groups, and is a probable outcome as the world develops with technology.

            I think a ‘revolution’ could be really positive for science. Imagine a journal where hyperlinks replace footnoting. A person is not limited by a journal; they can read a variety of material on the same topic. Marley and Willbanks discuss how journals need to move into the present. I think the Internet could stop negative connotations associated with scientific journals. As libraries discontinue their scientific journal subscriptions, these article become less accessible. I don’t think these journals should have pay walls or be limited to the public. There are other methods to make these online journals profitable (such as advertising and grants). These changes could make the scientific world highly accessible and more enjoyable to use.

This year Dobbs wrote an article in Wired magazine about what would have to change to get the journals online. I agree with him when he says their needs to be improvements in editing, distribution and reputation around the Internet. Although I believe the archiving system we use now could work with these journals. I think the method of searching and storing articles on the Internet, whilst not highly sophisticated, is easy and accessible. You just have to know what you’re looking for.

            I can understand why scientists would not approve of the open science model, although this way society is provided with the correct information and data to make informed decisions, a right that I believe should not be restricted by a pay wall.

            One thing that we know for sure is that people are hesitant when it comes to change, but then again everyone had to adapt to the Internet in the first place…

  References:

Dobbs, David, (2012), ‘Is the Open Science Revolution for Real?’ Wired, February 3, [Accessed May 7th] <http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/02/is-the-open-science-revolution-for-real>  

  Marley, Justin (2012), ‘Science 2.0’ The Amazing World of Psychiatry: A Psychiatry Blog, January 28 [Accessed May 7th], <https://theamazingworldofpsychiatry.wordpress.com/2012/01/28/science-2-0-deconstructing-web-2-0-harnessing-collective-intelligence/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter>

  Pisani, Elizabeth (2011) ‘Medical science will benefit from the research of crowds’, The Guardian, January 11, [Accessed on May 6th] <http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/jan/11/medical-research-data-sharing>

  Sample, Ian (2010) ‘Craig Venter Creates Synthetic Life Form’, The Guardian May 2, [Accessed on May 6th] <http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2010/may/20/craig-venter-synthetic-life-form>

  Wilbanks, John (2011) ‘On Science Publishing’, Seed, [Accessed on May 6th]<http://seedmagazine.com/content/article/on_science_publishing>