Internet freedom of choice? An example of Chinese

How much are we free on the Internet, and what limitations may afflict us, we can look at the case of China, where the information transmitted over the Internet are being monitored and censored by theirs authorities ... How are new media being used and presented in theirs culture... Case of a Google...

Internet users in China since late January are complaining that they have difficulties in accessing e-mail accounts they have open in Gmail. They have problems with sending messages when they are logged in,  problems are observed also in the service for instant messaging. Moreover, problems are also appeared in the operation of so-called proxy servers that allow users to virtually anonymous web browsing, which can circumvent Chinese Internet censorship system. As they say at Google, the problems with Gmail were carefully examined to ensure that on their side, there is no technical reason for the problems of access. They stated that a blockade is by the government, which is designed in a way that at first glance looks that the problem is in Gmail.

For more details see this link: http://24ur.com/novice/it/kitajska-blokira-gmail.html

Internet Explorer 9

Last week I was driving home on the bus, when I saw the news about the new version of Internet Explorer. Has a new version come quite accidentally, or is in any sense related to the fact that the leading Web browser today is Mozilla Firefox? As I read the article on the website rtvslo.si the main asset of the new browser are attached web sites and protection against tracking. Like they say the new browser is faster, more friendly and more transparent, but it also includes many improvements in privacy, security and compatibility with modern web standards. The new version has a feature that also exploits the full capacity of computer hardware (the promotion of text, video and graphics to ensure that the pages feature the same capacity as conventional desktop applications for Windows). Internet Explorer 9 also has control of transfers, which is combined with SmartScreen technology to protect against malicious software. Also it has a built in browser so called Tracking protection which gives the users more control over how their information is exchanged between different Web pages. 


Can we say the new, versatile and functional web browser?

For more information about the article see the following link: http://www.rtvslo.si/znanost-in-tehnologija/microsoft-izdal-internet-explorer-9/253293

Virtual I

When we talk about new media and their placement in the society as a whole we should ask our selves what is the placement of media in one's life. When individum participate in let say the virtual environment he or she must provide some information about them selves. Why is this important? Because the nature of the virtual environment is such, that no physical or other signs that marks individual in physical world are seen. Because of that individuals who enter in the virtual world are forces to create imagine of them selves for the other participates. And here is the main question – how does the individum provide information of him self to others? In the link below is one of the many articles which are dealing with this issue.

Trammell, Kaye D. 2004. Examining the New Influencers: A Self-Presentation Study of a A-List Blogs. Accessible via: http://www.kayesweetser.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/02/trammell-keshelashvili-2006-self-presentation-on-blogs.pdf (13. March 2011).

New media - what is changed?

When we talk about new media, we first need to define what new media is. Some authors declaim that new media is any new digital technology, others oppose by saying that media as it is, is not new because it must always be understood in a term of a historical context. It is necessary to be aware that new media allows writing history, while the history of those who bears a large share of responsibility in the present. Thirds are saying that media can not be associated with the term digital becouse digital does not necessarily means new. But now new meida uderstood as we wish is present, and we should ask our selves what has been changed about new media during the the time of theirs existence.

Article which I would like to talk about is comparing the position of new media in the 1999 and the present thinking of the new media. Today new media are included in all the spheres of everyday life. Variety of media technologies, forms, and content, often lumped together under the single (and misleadingly homogenizing) rubric of ‘the internet’, have become a commonplace part of work, education, leisure, culture, and politics. New media is today understood not as something that is here for use but as a part of us. The ubiquity of new media

has resulted in their being taken for granted. Like author says one of the consequences of new media mainstream status is that users expatiations are more expansive and more routine. But new media is not used just in those fields but are more and more often being used in a form of interpersonal communication and interaction. Author further emphasizes the need to track changes and understand new media, not just in ICT but in terms of something everyday, even in media studies themselves. Like he says:

            “As new media become embedded and indispensable throughout society,

            culture, and the economy, perhaps the biggest challenge to new media

            studies will be the need to shift away from thinking of ICTs as

            extraordinary, and to accept and study them as normal or ‘banal’” ( Lievrouw 2004).

References

Lievrouw, A. Leah. 2004. Whats changed about new media? Introduction to the fifth anniversary issue of new media & society. Accessible via: http://blog.lib.umn.edu/swiss/archive/Lievrouw.pdf  (5. March 2011).