NewComTechnologyy

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Communicating through Skype!

2 minutes assignment - ‘Modern Technology with Skype’ 

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Research Essay: Does Social Networks Put Your Privacy at Risk? Can You Protect Yourself?

Privacy is very important to everyone; in life, it is uncommon or has no doubt never happened that individuals end up giving all their personal information to unknown people. Even most of the time, the people who are very close to you do not necessarily know everything about you. We as human, like to share things with others, and social media is an amazing tool, especially when people are living far away from you or that you simply want to connect with others. But we still keep most of our personal life or information to ourselves. When it comes to social networking, there are billions of information you can find about anything whatsoever, whether it is about an object, a place and even people, especially celebrities. However, one asks oneself if the information you enter on social media, for example to create your Facebook profile, or other social media accounts, is stored and could have an impact on your privacy eventually. Indeed, social media is used for most part, by everyone. We all have at one point entered a fragment of our personal identity. It can be our date of birth, where we were born, where we live, our phone number, our credit card number, whether we like something or not…etc. But we need to understand that social media can have both advantages and disadvantages; especially when it comes to the user’s privacy and their rights regarding this.

Social media like Facebook, is something that we as individuals have multiple questions and concerns about; asking ourselves whether it is safe or not. There is so much you can do on social networking, like staying connected worldwide, which involves being able to communicated instantly with friends and family; also other individuals who have the same interests. It can also be a plus when you want to share your point of view while campaigning or when you want to know what is happening right at this very moment, around the world on the international news scale. And it can be seen as a positive tool when working in the business and commercial industry when you want for example to advertise a product or just publicity for your company (Claywell n.d.). However, social networks have disadvantages, like most things in life, it can have varied outcomes. It can bring in cyberbullying and also cause crimes especially towards youth. You can also think of social media as being something which people end up being addicted too, wasting their time by spending hours just reading, looking up random things on internet and it intentionally becomes an obsession where you believe everything you read, see and watch. But the scariest thing that could happen to any of us is when it has a damaging impact on our privacy and our identity.

We don’t necessarily realize it, but social network sites are like virtual communities (Papacharissi 2010). You firstly form your own social space, by creating your Facebook page and then add friends, family members or even random people who have the same group of friends. But when creating and posting, things on internet we don’t necessarily think or know where these data are going to end up; whether they will be passed on and to whom. Social networks are indeed, a vicious place where some individuals take advantages of your personal data, are able to hack your electronic devices, launch spam and virus attacks, therefore commit fraud (‘Social Media: What are the advantages and disadvantages of social networking sites? What should we include in a policy? n.d.). In fact, as long as they have the user’s name, they can easily find further information about the individual.

Moreover, the most common questions users could ask themselves, usually refers to whether or not the information can be seen by everyone, who actually have access to their information and what can they do with it. Information sharing when it comes to social network is bigger than we could think. Facebook and Myspace data sharing recorded that the content the most uploaded content, by the users, was photos of the users themselves, with a percentage of 98.6% for Facebook and 100% for Myspace (Dwyer et all 2007). Other very important personal information shared, as well as pictures, was their hometown and or their relationship status (Dwyer et all 2007).

Firstly, to understand how social network works, we need to define the different networks. To begin with, the most common is the personal networks where individuals create their personal online profile, and share things with their social friends and or family members (‘Fact Sheet 35: Social Networking Privacy: How to be Safe, Secure and Social’ n.d.). Then, you have the location networks which allows the users to have instant access to social media and be able to receive the latest updates no matter the location (‘Fact Sheet 35: Social Networking Privacy: How to be Safe, Secure and Social’ n.d.). Status update networks are another fast way which allows the user be active on social media by posting and receiving short status and updates. There is also, content-sharing networks where you are able to use and share content, referring to music, videos and photographs (‘Fact Sheet 35: Social Networking Privacy: How to be Safe, Secure and Social’ n.d.). And you have shared-interest networks, which work with different aspect of your interest and others who have the same interests (‘Fact Sheet 35: Social Networking Privacy: How to be Safe, Secure and Social’ n.d.). They all have different features and give you the option to authorize the sharing of certain content. Likewise, using the internet can be hard for some people, especially when you are new to it, principally when it comes to very young users, who often do not realize the meaning of certain social media content nor they do realize the consequences of sharing data on internet. Therefore, the intervention of the parents should be diligent with children, and should also be filtering the internet content to which they are exposed. It can also touch older users, who did not grow up with using internet or simply are not interested. But when they have to, it can quickly get out of hands. Nevertheless, people do tend to depend on social media instead of actually getting out and communicating physically face to face with others.

Privacy has in fact, security settings that you as the user have to be aware of and know how to use them. The website Stay Safe online, powered by National Cyber Security Alliance actually gives fundamentals tips the users need to know and should be doing for protection. One important tip every user should know and keep reminding itself, is that “once posted, always posted” (‘Social Networks: Facebook, Twitter, Google+, YouTube, Pinterest, LinkedIn and other social networks have become an integral part of online lives. Social networks are a great way to stay connected with others, but you should be wary about how much personal information you post’ n.d.). Therefore, user should think twice no matter what they are going to post, if it safe for themselves and others. Because once the information is posted, it stays forever, even if they decide to delete it.

The Australian Department of Defense Intelligence and Security, released an operation statement in 2012, explains the risk of social media especially regarding businesses; And that it is fundamental when it comes to using social media for official purposes to take certain precautions (‘Security tips for the use of social media websites’ 2012).

It’s all about the authorization and being aware of what you do, if you have read the terms of privacy, and check for certain changes. It actually comes at one point, to the user’s only, to what he/ she decides whether to put in on social media or not. In 2012, the former marketing director of Facebook had posted a family photo, and though that only her close friends and family were able to see it. But everyone on social media was actually able to see it (‘Why There is No Such Thing as “Privacy” on Social Networks’ 2012). It can sometimes be difficult, especially for users who have lots of followers on social media; Whether it is with Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat…etc. You can at one point turn on or turn off the different settings, regarding if you want or not to share your “personal life” with other online. 

In the end, when we think about internet, everyone uses it. And social networks, are amazing platforms created by humans, which gives you the possibility to communicate worldwide. You are able to instantly, part of this virtual community, no matter where you are, to share messages, pictures, videos with others who have the same interest, and to your loved ones, as if they were right next to you. It brings so much to different types of users, not matter the position they have in society, regarding they work or personal life. But when it comes to your privacy, users need to be careful. The share of your information on internet has both advantages and disadvantages. However, the user’s needs to have priority to be protected, and be aware of what could happened to his/ her personal data.

References:

-Papacharissi, Z. ed., 2010. A networked self: Identity, community, and culture on social network sites. Routledge.

-‘Social Media: What are the advantage and disadvantages of social networking sites? What should we include in a policy?’ n.d., SHRM, viewed 19 September 2016, <https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/tools-and-samples/hr-qa/pages/socialnetworkingsitespolicy.aspx>

-Claywell, R. C. n.d., ‘Advantages and Disadvantages of Social Networking’, Love to know, viewed 19 September 2016, <http://socialnetworking.lovetoknow.com/Advantages_and_Disadvantages_of_Social_Networking#Om55lrJb8dWbKZry.97>

-‘Why There is No Such Thing as “Privacy” on Social Networks’ 2012, viewed 23 Sept 2016, <http://heartifb.com/2012/12/27/why-there-is-no-such-thing-as-privacy-on-social-networks/>

-Dwyer, C. et all 2007, Trust and privacy concern within social networking sites: A comparison of Facebook and Myspace. AMCIS 2007 proceedings. <http://aisel.aisnet.org/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1849&context=amcis2007>

-‘Fact Sheet 35: Social Networking Privacy: How to be Safe, Secure and Social’ n.d., Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, viewed 23 Sept 2016, <https://www.privacyrights.org/social-networking-privacy-how-be-safe-secure-and-social#public>

-‘Social Networks: Facebook, Twitter, Google+, YouTube, Pinterest, LinkedIn and other social networks have become an integral part of online lives. Social networks are a great way to stay connected with others, but you should be wary about how much personal information you post’ n.d., via StaySafeOnline.org, viewed 23 Sept 2016, <https://staysafeonline.org/stay-safe-online/protect-your-personal-information/social-networks>

 -‘Security tips for the use of social media websites’ 2012, via Australian Government Department of Defense, viewed 23 Sept 2016, <http://asd.gov.au/publications/protect/Security_Tips_for_using_Social_Media_Websites.pdf>

Further readings: 

- Ng, A. & Hautala, L. 2016, ‘Yahoo hit in worst hack ever 500 million accounts swiped’, CNET, viewed 23 Sept 2016,

https://www.cnet.com/news/yahoo-500-million-accounts-hacked-data-breach/

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Why not brainstorm?

Every time I have an essay to write, no matter the question I choose or the research topic I am given; I end up being stressed and I have no idea where to start? What to research? or How am I going to end up with a 1500w essay. Well, the best advice I was given, since I don’t know when, was to ‘brainstorm’! Even when I was in the French system at school or now at University in the Australian system, I believe that brainstorming is a very important tool. No matter where you are in your life, whether it is in a business, company, or studying, it will help you at one point to reach and set up a detailed plan. 

So, the first thing that I decided to do was take one blank page of my notebook, write my essay question at the centre of the page and start collecting and writing words that came to my mind. A lot of ideas came to my brain, very quickly. I end up with words, phrases and synonyms all over the page. A little bit of a mess at first; but I end up founding a very interesting tool call: ‘bubbl.us’.  It helped me get my ideas together, find an order of what and how I have to start to write on, the research I have to conduct; In order to end up with a good structured essay. Because that’s what we all want! 

If you want to look at what happened in my head and how I brainstormed for my essay question: ‘With the advent of Web 2.0 came online social networks like Facebook, Myspace, LinkedIn. These companies collect data about their users. Do social networkers have a right to privacy? Is the notion of privacy dead?’. Click this on this link! 

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Is privacy dead? The right to privacy?

In the future weeks to come I will upload a blog post, of maximum 1500words, about the essay question below: 

“With the advent of Web 2.0 came online social networks like Facebook, Myspace, LinkedIn. These companies collect data about their users. Do social networkers have a right to privacy? Is the notion of privacy dead?”

I will approach the essay question chosen by firstly, research on ‘Web 2.0′, following research about the different varieties of social networks data. Then, I will be comparing the different data, trying to find out if the data social networks collect can and/ or have an impact on their users when they have access to their ‘privacy’. And if yes, try to find an answer to the question ‘do social network users have the right to privacy’?  

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Anonymous & WikiLeaks

When it comes to the group ‘Anonymous’ or the organization ‘WikiLeaks’ I always feel a little bit suspicious. They both have an enormous impact.

On one hand, I believe that if the organization ‘WikiLeaks’ is able to procure themselves with high top security information, and if by that they think it would make everyone feel “safe”, I don’t agree. 

What about our privacy? Does it mean they could hack anyone’s personal devices? Be able to get any information they want? It can have a positive outcome; we can be aware of certain things happening that government wouldn’t let us know about. Leaking classified media, publishing secret information, however, all of those actions can have a negative effect. Indeed, when something is kept secret or out of the public eyes it’s for a reason; And giving it away could be an important mistake, especially if it ends up in the wrong hands.  

In my opinion, ‘Anonymous’, is more than just people behind a mask. Their actions, have a big impact on different issues. Thousands of people follow these actions all around the world, from mass marches to protest for different campaigns, causes and reasons they are against or would like to see changed. I believe it is a way for some to be able to “voice” their views by taking actions.

Below, a short documentary on the ‘Operation Safe Winter’ and the action taken by ‘Anonymous’ on the ongoing issue of homelessness in the UK.

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The Benefits of the NBN

The National Broad Band Network (NBN) is Australia’s fast and reliable network. I came across multiples articles and comments on social media of people complaining about it, that it sometimes froze. But we will always have people complaining about everything and anything.          

The NBN is a massive infrastructure (Oppermann 2011), which is actually very useful and a very good network with multiple benefits at its charge. You can even get unlimited NBN internet and unlimited standard National calls for a certain cost per month. I believe it has pros and cons like every electronic device, network platform, network equipment, network cables…etc. From their website it said that ‘NBN is committed to providing access to fast broadband services throughout Australia’ and also to ‘upgrade’ existing network infrastructure (The nbn Multi Technology Mix (MTM) 2016).

It also provides a variety of fast broadband plans, from a basic, a medium or a heavy plan; for households, schools or business places, everyone can find what they are looking for, especially if it provides FAST network (Need help choosing a fast broadband plan? 2016). Isn’t that what everyone looks for when they want internet?

As a pay-tv option NBN gives it users the ability to working from home, being able to shop interactively, provide very good media and entertainment, a faster internet…and much more (The top 10 benefits of the NBN 2016).

Internet is so important for everyone, no matter where you are. With internet you can communicate instantly with anyone around the world. Internet will become faster and faster, and hopefully no one or less people will be complaining about its value.

Still, no matter how fast is the network we create, if there’s no power or very bad weather, I think we should all give internet a break. And try to be less dependent on it, because I feel like nowadays, a big part of people are lost if they don’t have internet.

References:

I. Oppermann 2011, ‘Explainer: The National Broadband Network (NBN)’, viewed 1 September 2016, The Conversation, <https://theconversation.com/explainer-the-national-broadband-network-nbn-207>

‘The top 10 benefits of the NBN’, viewed 2 September 2016, APC Mag, <http://apcmag.com/life-in-the-nbns-world.htm/>

‘The nbn Multi Technology Mix (MTM)’, viewed 2 September 2016, NBN, <http://www.nbnco.com.au/learn-about-the-nbn/network-technology.html>

‘Need help choosing a fast broadband plan?’, viewed 2 September 2016, NBN, <http://www.nbnco.com.au/connect-home-or-business/information-for-home/whats-involved-in-getting-connected/choosing-a-fast-broadband-plan.html>

Image: <https://theconversation.com/explainer-the-national-broadband-network-nbn-207>

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Australian Government’s planning to censor the internet? 

I had no idea the Australian Government was planning to censor the internet. But apparently there is are lots of posts regarding this on social media, and people do not agree with this.

The censor consists of a ‘censorship regime’ which ‘compromises law and regulation at both State/Territory Government level’ (Internet Censorship Laws in Australia 2016). More simply, the Australian Government will be able to control and/ or suppress what individuals can publish, view or access when  on internet. All the information will be filtered by a special software, which will avoid illegal activities. But the Australian human rights commission wrote an article on ‘5 current issues’ that can be regenerate due to internet censorship (5 Current issues of ‘Internet censorship’: Bullying, discrimination, harassment and freedom of expression’ 2016). Indeed, cyber-bullying, cyber-homophobia, cyber-racism and cyber-sexism/ sexual harassment (5 Current issues of ‘Internet censorship’: Bullying, discrimination, harassment and freedom of expression’ 2016), which are very dangerous and serious, could have an effect on each one of us.

Cyberspace is something which can occur daily to any individual if we are not careful. I believe that the government doesn’t want to make people’s lives harder or scare anyone. By censoring the internet, they want to be more aware of what people are doing, they have the “desire to protect children” (Travaglione 2009) even if internet is very useful for education. It is also a way to be able to keep an eye on actions like terrorism. 

However, I would not feel ‘safe’ when navigating on internet and knowing that somewhere, someone has all my personal information and knows all my gestures. What if someone succeeds in hacking the government censor database? 

References:

‘Internet Censorship Laws in Australia’, viewed 2 September 2016, Electronic Frontiers Australia, <https://www.efa.org.au/Issues/Censor/cens1.html>

Background paper: Human rights in cyberspace, ‘5 Current issues of ‘Internet censorship’: Bullying, discrimination, harassment and freedom of expression’, viewed 2 September 2016, Australian Human Rights Commission,<https://www.humanrights.gov.au/publications/background-paper-human-rights-cyberspace/5-current-issues-internet-censorship-bullying>

K. Travaglione 2009, ‘Internet Censorship in Australia – A ‘clean-feed’?’, viewed 2 September 2016, Mannkal database, <http://www.mannkal.org/downloads/scholars/internet-censorship-in-australia.pdf>

Image:<http://www.naturalnews.com/051757_Youtube_censorship_freedom_of_speech.html>

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Political Views

This week it’s all about political participation via internet. 

I don’t personally closely follow politics, however, I am aware of what is happening in the world. I do read or watch about it on the news, but that’s it. I think that it is important that we all at least know a little bit about what is happening in politics and that we take part in voting. 

However, sharing on internet, via blog post about my political views, what I would have to say to the president or a political party, and sign an e-petition isn’t for me. I believe that sometimes sharing what we think about political aspects can irritate people, and cause certain problems. Though, we are free to do what we want, share, like, comment our point of views. But when it comes to politics it can quickly get out of hand. I believe there is so much more than just discussing, or going against each other because we don’t agree whether Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton is elected to be the next President of the United States. 

When it comes to my personal political views all I can say is that I’m against killing people for no apparent reason or destroying our planet!  

There is so much more out there to look after although I do realize that the outcome of the USA presidential will have an effect on the world as a whole.

Image: <http://onlyprincegifs.tumblr.com/post/147821142815>

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In today’s society, the majority of the population use their electronic devices to check what is happening in the world today. Therefore, I believe that it is very normal to see politicians doing the same for their campaigns.  

I haven’t been following Australian politics lately, but with regard to what is happening in the United States I have been grown more aware of American politicians. Even if at the moment Donald Trump is the politician people are mainly talking about (negatively or positively), I believe Barack Obama is the one who uses social media well, and that it has played an important role in his campaign and then in his presidency.

 In 2013, ABC news wrote an article on Australians politicians wanting to master social media strategies for the federal election (Rice 2013). They took as an example Barack Obama, who used ‘YouTube’ as a significant tool for his campaign (Rice 2013).  

Some others could say that he finally won because of his influence via social media, pushing* people to vote for him. Indeed, with everyone re-tweeting his posts, others sharing videos and liking posts relating to the campaign; All of the actions we do on social media, even if we aren’t straight forward telling people to vote for a certain party or politician, can affect others’ opinions. Politicians uses social media to raise awareness and it is a way of promoting their views, a form of propaganda. 

 In 2016, Barack Obama was called ‘the white house’s first social media ninja’ (Ingraham 2016). This shows that even after his campaign to win the Americans’ votes, throughout his time at the White House as President of the United States, and although balancing  a busy schedule, he still continues to take time for social media.  

In my opinion, he uses it by mixing fun and serious issues in the same posts, he also posts good and interesting contents (pictures, videos...etc.) And even personal posts, like the one on Facebook for Mother’s Day. He posted pictures of himself with his mother and his wife with their daughters. It is a way for Obama to be ‘speaking narrowly to base voters or to groups disconnected from the mainstream political process’ (Eilperin 2015).  

References: 

 D. Rice 2013, ‘Australia’s politicians look to master social media strategies in time for federal election’, viewed 1 September 2016, ABC News, <http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-05-24/aussie-politicians-seek-inspiration-in-obama's-digital-success/4711926> 

N. Ingraham 2016, ‘President Obama is the White House’s First Social Media Ninja’, viewed 1 September 2016, via Engadget, <https://www.engadget.com/2016/01/12/president-obama-social-networking-the-white-house/>

J. Eilperin 2015, ‘Here’s how the first president of the social media age has chosen to connect with Americans’, viewed 1 September, The Washington Post, <https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/politics/wp/2015/05/26/heres-how-the-first-president-of-the-social-media-age-has-chosen-to-connect-with-americans/>

Image: <http://www.slideshare.net/LisaParkin/how-president-obama-rocks-social-media-32410702>

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Smartphone on baby’s hand

Yesterday I was at a clinic nearby with my friend who was having flu. While waiting for turns, I was amazed to see a child, may be less than 1 year or 15 month on his baby wheel chair holding a smart phone. May be he watching some videos or may be game. Then I thought, how old should a person be to hold a smart phone? May be that baby is too early? May be right time? May be it is a way of life for babies in recent years?

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In relation with my previous post on my survey ‘The Impact of smartphones on families’ I was intrigued to read about one of my classmate’s post. 

When it comes to toddlers, I think the use of electronic devices isn’t the best thing. In the long term, will the child become addicted to the smartphone. As an e.g. I have two cousins from the age of 3, one likes playing on his mum’s smartphone, from time to time, but he usually isn’t allowed to use it for long. The other one, asks to play on his mum’s smartphone all the time, especially if he isn’t doing something that is interactive. When he starts crying or winging, his mum gives him the smartphone and he will stop. Nevertheless, that child has become a “wiz” at tactic games and numbers...maybe this has helped?

Smartphones do play a big role in each and everyone’s daily life, whether some use it more than others, for the same or different reasons. They are very useful. 

However, the ‘combination’ of smartphones and toddlers is probably not the best! But anyone is free to raise their child/ children the way they want.

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Survey Responses

After creating the survey ‘The Impact of Smartphones on Families’, I immediately sent the link via Messenger to most of my close friends and members of my family. All of them ‘played the game’ and answered the questions. Around 20 people answered. It is a good number, could’ve been more, but I choose not to ‘share’ the survey via my other social media platforms.

In the survey, you don’t know where the people are from, but by knowing for the most part who the people were, I was aware of the place where people live/ are from.  I was pleased to see the variety of answers from people living in Australia, New Caledonia, Fiji, Norway…etc.

 Analysing the responses, 45% answered that between 4 to 8 people live with them and own a smartphone. And that 55% are aged 45 and under and 40% age 18 and under. 40% said that between 3 to 4 people used more than just their smartphones to communicate on social media.  And 60% said that people in their household used their phone between 1 to 3hrs daily. What do they do on their smartphones? Well, 95% said they use it mainly for social media, and/ or 45% for work and also music.

However, 70% answered that they all communicate with each other without using or touching their smartphones ‘most of the time’. Also, while eating together 45% said that they turn off their smartphones ‘most of the time’. But when sleeping only 20% said they turn off their smartphones ‘all the time’.

After looking at the analyzed responses, I was a little bit surprised to see that people don’t use their smartphones as much as I had thought. People tend to think that the use of smartphones is affecting families’ communication but I don’t agree! It depends entirely on the person, why you use it and how you decide to spend your own time.

 If you want to know more about the analyzed responses please click here.

Image: ‘27 Powerful Images That Sum up How Smartphones Are Ruining Our Lives’, viewed September 1 2016, Blaze Press, <http://blazepress.com/2015/05/27-powerful-images-that-sum-up-how-smartphones-are-ruining-our-lives/>

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Smartphones have been taking a big part of people’s daily lives. From my personal experience, my smartphone is the first object I will take/ use in the morning when I wake up, and at night just before I go to bed.

When I’m home, I can spend around 2 to 3 hours straight on it, especially if I’m bored. I will usually check social media, play games, watch videos…etc. But I don’t necessarily interact as much as I used to with the people I lived with. When I was still living at my parents’ house, my sisters and I would send each other messages via social media, even if we were in the same house. 

Sometimes I realize I don’t spend as much time ‘physically’ communicating with the people I live with, that’s why I decided to create this survey: ‘The Impact of Smartphones on Families’, to see if others use their smartphone as much as I do when I’m at home.

if you want to take part in the survey just click the link at the top. 

I will be posting the results and comments very soon! 

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Social Media timeline.

A timeline created with Timetoast's interactive timeline maker.

At first, when it came to create a timeline I got a little bit anxious considering, I had never done one before. And I didn’t know what it would be about. It took me a while to figure out, there’s so many options. 

I finally decided to create a timeline on ‘Social Media’, because I believe we all at one-point use social media in our daily life. But we tend to forget about certain social media networks, that we loved using in the past…or we simply weren’t aware of them. 

Turns out I enjoyed creating this timeline, researching about social media and learnt new information from it. It is something that I created, which I hope everyone will enjoy! 

References:

K. Morrison 2015, ‘The Evolution of Social Media [Infographic]’, viewed 29 August 2016, Social Times, <http://www.adweek.com/socialtimes/the-evolution-of-social-media-infographic/620911>

D. Hendricks 2013, Complete History of Social Media: Then And Now’, viewed 29 August 2016, Small Business Trend, <http://smallbiztrends.com/2013/05/the-complete-history-of-social-media-infographic.html>

CBS NEWS, ‘Then and now: a history of social networking sites’, viewed 29 August 2016, <http://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/then-and-now-a-history-of-social-networking-sites/10/>

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What’s the deal with the Australian Census?

Each and every one of us, in Australia had to complete a form on Tuesday 9th of August. Some had to complete it online. Others would have received a letter with a form to complete. 

This form is call the ‘Census’ of populations and Housing. It is the “largest statistical collection undertaken by the Australian Bureau of Statistics” (Australian Bureau of Statistics 2016, para. 2).

Luckily for me (I’m living in a building), all I had to do was to complete my paper form and hand it in to the reception. Yes, I could’ve done it online but I was happy that I did not choose to do that. In fact, the Census website “crashed or failed to load” (Census 2016: Will you be fined if you fail to fill it out due to #CensusFail? 2016). Let me tell you, thousands of people weren’t happy about that. Many of people tweeted and re-tweeted using the hashtag “Census Fail” (Census: Survey back online as angry Malcom Turnbull warns ‘head will roll’ 2016).  It is a shame, and a lot of people were probably stressed, anxious, angry and afraid... It is understandable as firstly, if the site was under cyber-attack, this meant that each and every individual and personal information could had been stolen by hackers. Adding to that, if you did not complete an online or paper form you will received a fine, “up to $180 a day” (#CensusFail: Why people are worried about the census 2016). Luckily for those who did not get the chance to complete a form you still have “until September 23 to fill in the online Census” (Census: Survey back online as angry Malcom Turnbull warns ‘head will roll’ 2016) and won’t receive a fine.

I believe that the idea of doing a Census can and is a great idea, to be able to know how many people live and are in Australia. So that the government is able to “distribute funds and plan services” (The 2016 Census: How does it work and do I have to take part? 2016) (education, hospital, environment…etc.) And also to help organize “informed decisions on policy and planning issues” (Australian Bureau of Statistics 2016, para. 5) to improve Australians lives.

The downside, is that I feel that asking too much information could make people feel unsafe, for others it was considered as an invasion of their own privacy. Many people weren’t happy with giving their information and did not want to answer all the questions nor did they want to spend time completing their form; adding to that the website crashed. It did not get better especially considering that “the ABS failed to explain their decision, failed to inspire the public, failed to tell the public there was a problem, and then failed to explain themselves afterwards” (Bevan 2016).

- Australian Bureau of Statistics 2016, Get Online on August 9, viewed 12 August 2016, via AusStats database. <http://www.abs.gov.au/websitedbs/censushome.nsf/home/getonline?opendocument&navpos=110>

- The 2016 Census: How does it work and do I have to take part? 2016, ABC news, viewed 13 August 2016, <http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-08-01/how-does-the-census-work-explainer/7676914>

- Census 2016: Will you be fined if you fail to fill it out due to #CensusFail? 2016, ABC news, viewed 12 August 2016, <http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-08-09/census-2016-will-you-be-fined-if-you-don't-complete-survey/7711744>

- Bevan, M 2016, ‘The biggest #CensusFail: Communication with the public’, ABC RN news, viewed 12 August 2016, <http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/breakfast/the-biggest-census-fail-was-in-communication-with-the-public/7715506>

- #CensusFail: Why people are worried about the census 2016, ABC news, viewed 11 August 2016, <http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-08-01/census-2016-why-are-people-worried-about-the-census/7678198>

- Census: Survey back online as angry Malcom Turnbull warns ‘head will roll’ 2016, ABC News, viewed 12 August 2016, <http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-08-11/census-malcolm-turnbull-slams-abs-over-failure/7718584>

[technologyycomnew-blog]

Making your life easier, on writing software

Microsoft Word, Google documents and Apple’s Pages are very useful. Many of us, use these soft wares for work purposes, school/ Uni work...etc. Most of the time, I use Word mainly for my assignments or research essays. When I work on Word, I only have to use the tools in the ‘Home’ bar (section at the top) or copy and paste tools. It never occurred to me to use the other one like ‘Insert’, ‘Design’, ‘Layout’…etc. Because as long as I am using the right tool and writing a well-structured essay, the other tools are no use to me. But a majority of individuals who own a computer, don’t think of all the large variety of tools we have, available to us.

Today, I decided to go beyond using the simple common tools I always use. I first googled a bit to find something which could be useful, interesting and helpful for my next assignment. There are so many tools out there!

Also considering that we don’t all use Microsoft Word, I found an interesting and useful website which gives you little tricks to make your life easier, on Mac. This website, shows you how to use keyboard shortcuts, to create and manage lists and much more.

Click here to access the website.

[technologyycomnew-blog]

How do I communicate?

When it comes to communicating with individuals, we all use different means of expressing ourselves. I enjoy communicating through technology items such as my phone or my computer. Especially when you want your message to go directly from the sender to the receiver, fast, very fast, instantly…Today, technological communication is part of everyone’s daily life.  

To communicate with my family and friends, I use social media, mainly Snapchat and Messenger, sometimes all day long!

There are so many apps which have been created, giving you the opportunity to communicate with anyone in a couple of seconds no matter where they are in the world.

Even if technology, social media, being on your phone or computer most of the time, can be a negative point of view for some…I personally think it is amazing. Especially considering that when my grand-parents, parents wanted to communicate before, they had to send letters via the post office; Which was a big deal at their time. Imagine how long it would have taken to receive the letter! No wonder it was called ‘Snail mail’!

At one point, when communication technology started to develop, the phone appeared but like all new technology it was very expensive.

Nowadays telephoning is great, you can spend hours talking with someone and not pay as much as we used too. But when being away (in a different state or country) from family and friends for a long period of time, sending messages or calling isn’t as great as skyping or for Apple users, face timing. Skype is my all-time favorite, to be able to see your loved ones (on a screen), at any time of the day or night. Isn’t great?

I tell myself daily that I’m very lucky and thankful to be able to see my family and friends who are back home in New Caledonia. I even get to chat with friends who live in other parts of the world*.

Communication technologies have pros and cons like any other type of human creation. Some think that technology is an invasion of your privacy or that someone will eventually hack your phone or computer and get all your information. Well I try not to focus on that, as long as you keep what needs to be private absolutely private; And that you also install a good antivirus and don’t publish photos or information which could be too revealing…Hopefully you should be fine. In the end, it depends on you, and how you use technology!  

No matter what, I thing today’s communication technologies are amazing. However, I still use the main house phone to call my family when I don’t have time to hook up a Facetime or Skype chat or of the Wi-Fi is down! And even if I’m a big fan of emails, and social media communication, I think that receiving a parcel or a letter from time to time is awesome. Especially when it’s your birthday!

 *Note to myself: Do not answer a video call if I am just getting out of bed. Oh, and don't get me started on the 'you need to have make up on or you need to brush your hair before you answer a video call’...Please!

[technologyycomnew-blog]

More than just simple earphones

Being bilingual is an amazing advantage but not everybody gets this chance. You could say ‘it’s never too late to learn a language’. Well I was lucky enough to be raised by my mother and grand-parents speaking both English and French. 

I ‘tried’ to learn Japanese for just over five years, but in vain. I’m now learning Spanish, and I can say that learning a new language seemed to be much easier when I was younger.

If you’re like me struggling to learn another language or learning another language isn’t your thing; But you still dream of being able to travel and communicate with other people around the world…This new small piece of technology which fits into your ears will be life changing!