-
Dear Everyone,
May I please invite your attention that, Jin Shang is going to present a talk on the title of 'Creative Cuppa: An Induction Tour' in the upcoming event, 'Social Media: Use or Abuse'. At the time, Jin would give a brief introduction about the project 'Creative Cuppa', he would also like to generate a follow-up discussion with other participants, in terms of the question how the latest web 2.0 technologies (i.e. Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Xphone, etc.) can be well used and organically incorporated with the real world social activities (i.e. group meetings and social networking of membership, etc.), in order to achieve specific goals for framing and organizing an effective and inclusive 'digital community'.
For more details about the project 'Creative Cuppa', please visit our websites at http://creativecuppa.com, or
you could always join us in the Facebook group at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=60675201456
Many thanks for your attention!
Best wishes,
Jin Shang
Creative Cuppa Working Group (CCWG)
Department of Media and Communication
University of Leicester
25 June 2009
--------------
http://usesandabuses.wordpress.com/programme/
(One Day Seminar - Social Media: Use or Abuse)
Thursday, 25 June 2009
Thursday, 18 June 2009
Creative Cuppa Official Website Launced (New!)
-
Dear Everyone,
I'm pleased to announce that Creative Cuppa has recently launched its 'official website' at ( http://www.creativecuppa.com ). It means that from now on we would be able to access to our own independent 'official space' online. I would also like to take the opportunity to thank you all for your great effort and support to us. We look forward to seeing you soon next week!
Best wishes,
Jin Shang
Project Manager
& Operating Director
Creative Cuppa Seminar Series (CCSS)
Department of Media and Communication
University of Leicester
Dear Everyone,
I'm pleased to announce that Creative Cuppa has recently launched its 'official website' at ( http://www.creativecuppa.com ). It means that from now on we would be able to access to our own independent 'official space' online. I would also like to take the opportunity to thank you all for your great effort and support to us. We look forward to seeing you soon next week!
Best wishes,
Jin Shang
Project Manager
& Operating Director
Creative Cuppa Seminar Series (CCSS)
Department of Media and Communication
University of Leicester
Sunday, 14 June 2009
Creative Cuppa 8th Coffee Meetup
-
Creative Cuppa 8th Coffee Meetup
(Event completed & newsletter coming out soon...)
Theme: Creative Technologies & Contemporary Cinema
Time: 12:00pm - 13:00pm (Tuesday, 23rd June 2009)
Venue: KE 526 (Ken Edwards Building), City Campus, University of Leicester
Guest Speaker: by Dr. Anna Claydon
Event Coordinator: Jin Shang
Event description: Dr. Anna Claydon
Technology has shaped cinema: it is an invention of the 19th century created by science played out at the fairground and in the flea-pit and twenty-first century cinema is no different... only now the scientists are 'imagineers' and the forum is the IMAX cinema or the online download.
When Edison and WKL Dickson first developed the Kinematograph in the early 1890s, their aim, explicitly, was to create an audio-visual experience, conjoining the phonograph with moving images. This was not possible then but inventors worked on this until the 1920s, when Vitaphone finally won the competition. Similarly, colour and ever increasing realism and expression was sought from the very beginnings of cinema and so frames were handpainted, then tinted and by the 1930s, coloured with Technicolor's 3 colour system. When sound was introduced, some thought it would be the death-knell of creativity in cinema; when colour illuminated the screen, audiences were reputedly shocked by the invasion of their space with the too red and too green hues with which they were faced: and in the 1950 and 60s, as cinema audiences globally began to die, it was to technology and science that the industries turned once more. Cinerama, 3D, vibrating seats, electric shocks and 'smellovision' were the tools of a desperate industry trying to seduce audiences: the 'cinema of attractions' was all the more a cinema of effects.
In recent years, despite many excellent movies being made, the cinema industry has been facing another challenge and production has fallen. The audience is changing and how they consume has altered. What they expect of action has been transformed by computer games and what was once a believable effect is now automatically hyper-real: the impossible appears made possible. Thus, in the face of criticism about a paucity of original film narratives (as evidenced by the large numbers of remakes) and the love of the new, filmmakers push the boundaries of film with every movie they produce and try to re-acquaint the spectator with what made film special: the fact it could not be experienced anywhere else in quite the same way. In this session, we shall examine how creative technologies contribute to contemporary cinema narrative and style and debate the impact of these technologies themselves upon creativity and quality in the cinema.
Come along and share your creative ideas with others. Everyone is welcome. Beverage & snacks are served for free. You can pop in and drop out anytime. Most importantly we hope you feel fun, relax, and really enjoy being with everyone of us!
http://creativecuppa.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=60675201456
Creative Cuppa Seminar Series
June 14, 2009
-
Creative Cuppa 8th Coffee Meetup
(Event completed & newsletter coming out soon...)
Theme: Creative Technologies & Contemporary Cinema
Time: 12:00pm - 13:00pm (Tuesday, 23rd June 2009)
Venue: KE 526 (Ken Edwards Building), City Campus, University of Leicester
Guest Speaker: by Dr. Anna Claydon
Event Coordinator: Jin Shang
Event description: Dr. Anna Claydon
Technology has shaped cinema: it is an invention of the 19th century created by science played out at the fairground and in the flea-pit and twenty-first century cinema is no different... only now the scientists are 'imagineers' and the forum is the IMAX cinema or the online download.
When Edison and WKL Dickson first developed the Kinematograph in the early 1890s, their aim, explicitly, was to create an audio-visual experience, conjoining the phonograph with moving images. This was not possible then but inventors worked on this until the 1920s, when Vitaphone finally won the competition. Similarly, colour and ever increasing realism and expression was sought from the very beginnings of cinema and so frames were handpainted, then tinted and by the 1930s, coloured with Technicolor's 3 colour system. When sound was introduced, some thought it would be the death-knell of creativity in cinema; when colour illuminated the screen, audiences were reputedly shocked by the invasion of their space with the too red and too green hues with which they were faced: and in the 1950 and 60s, as cinema audiences globally began to die, it was to technology and science that the industries turned once more. Cinerama, 3D, vibrating seats, electric shocks and 'smellovision' were the tools of a desperate industry trying to seduce audiences: the 'cinema of attractions' was all the more a cinema of effects.
In recent years, despite many excellent movies being made, the cinema industry has been facing another challenge and production has fallen. The audience is changing and how they consume has altered. What they expect of action has been transformed by computer games and what was once a believable effect is now automatically hyper-real: the impossible appears made possible. Thus, in the face of criticism about a paucity of original film narratives (as evidenced by the large numbers of remakes) and the love of the new, filmmakers push the boundaries of film with every movie they produce and try to re-acquaint the spectator with what made film special: the fact it could not be experienced anywhere else in quite the same way. In this session, we shall examine how creative technologies contribute to contemporary cinema narrative and style and debate the impact of these technologies themselves upon creativity and quality in the cinema.
Come along and share your creative ideas with others. Everyone is welcome. Beverage & snacks are served for free. You can pop in and drop out anytime. Most importantly we hope you feel fun, relax, and really enjoy being with everyone of us!
http://creativecuppa.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=60675201456
Creative Cuppa Seminar Series
June 14, 2009
-
Tuesday, 2 June 2009
Newsletter for 7th Creative Cuppa Meet-up
-
On the 28th May, Creative Cuppa had its 7th meet-up in ATT SB2.07 (Attenborough 2nd FLR), City Campus, University of Leicester. Many thanks to Amit Chandraker, Aoeline Tao, Chih-Jung Fan, Ebruhim Hasum, Hongsuda Sornhlin, Li Jun Zhang, Patama Satawedin, Naparat Prueksuralai, Sarah Cameron, Zidong Huang for their participation. We would also like to express our special gratitude to those who came from the School of Management and Department of Engineering. This time, our discussion was focused on the future possibilities of communication development and the technologies mediating its development, with Zhang Lijun, Chih-jung Fan and Tony O'Tierney respectively discussing their own experiences and views on the different new media as emerging technologies and future modes of communication; below are their contributions to the 'collaborative' work of the newsletter (including Sarah Cameron's comments on the event).
Tony discussed some issues surrounding the ID card debate, showing the views of politicians and journalists on the topic. The group discussed some arguments countering the proposed benefits from the scheme. There was lively debate over the validity of public concerns, with some suggesting that the ID card scheme is consistent with practices in other countries while others saw great disparities. Jin suggested that some of the fears people have regarding the controversial ID card database might be eased by the appointment of a third party overseer to monitor its implementation. (by Tony O'Tierney)
Zhang Lijun shared her original experience of using Pbworks to do a group work. It is a good tool for collaborative works, especially in the aspect of recording all the project process in one page. Some ideas were discussed in the meeting. Firstly, the security problem was considered. It is true that there may be encounter such issue because of the uncertainty of technology. Secondly, some people think it is more or less the same as public forum or Google Docs. However, it has its main focus on law, design & marketing, Consulting, Educational, General and personal aspect. So some people may say it is more like an intranet service outsourcing. Anyway, it has its advantage on improving productivity and efficiency. More exploring is needed to find more about it. (by Zhang Lijun)
Chih-Jung mentioned that television might become 'YouTube' alike in the future. It might have influences on the funding of broadcasters and viewing behaviour. It also raised the discussion on the regulation aspect. If everyone can upload the content, how could the regulatory body regulate the content? The censorship system might have to change. Regulation would become an important issue in the digital age. Regarding to the interactive functions, such as telephone and recording service, it would depend on the faster transmission infrastructure. The government and media (or telecommunication) companies need to invest more on the construction of the internet infrastructure. (by Chih-jung Fan)
The meet up was really interesting and productive. The presentation of pbwiki showed how it can be a very useful research platform. The discussion about digital television allowed us to think about the future possibilities for programming, audience behaviour and advertising. The discussion about ID cards was really engaging, I have strong beliefs about the issue which is also related to my own research. It was a good session and though people disagreed about issues (which is what makes a good debate!) we all acknowledged that technologies can be of great benefit or detriment to us, depending largely on the nature of usage, user intent, wider social and political backdrops and most fundamentally I believe, on power structures. (by Sarah Cameron)
This time, we successfully tried a collaborative work, with almost everyone making their own contribution to the event. From the feedback, we’ve also received our best comments since the project commenced. Next time, we will focus on the topic of Creative Technologies & Contemporary Cinema; and we’re very pleased we have invited Dr. Anna Claydon to give a talk about technology's impact on the transformation of contemporary cinema, and Anna would like to share her own thought on how technologies, both 'old' and 'new', are used to shape the footage in the process of filmmaking today. Again, we would like to thank everyone who has made enormous contributions to Creative Cuppa. We look forward to seeing you all next time!
Video links: http://pbworks.com/academic.wiki (PBworks)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LONA3Acc5js (Channel 4: No to ID cards)
Yours sincerely,
Jin Shang
Creative Cuppa Seminar Series
Department of Media and Communication
University of Leicester
June 2, 2009
-
On the 28th May, Creative Cuppa had its 7th meet-up in ATT SB2.07 (Attenborough 2nd FLR), City Campus, University of Leicester. Many thanks to Amit Chandraker, Aoeline Tao, Chih-Jung Fan, Ebruhim Hasum, Hongsuda Sornhlin, Li Jun Zhang, Patama Satawedin, Naparat Prueksuralai, Sarah Cameron, Zidong Huang for their participation. We would also like to express our special gratitude to those who came from the School of Management and Department of Engineering. This time, our discussion was focused on the future possibilities of communication development and the technologies mediating its development, with Zhang Lijun, Chih-jung Fan and Tony O'Tierney respectively discussing their own experiences and views on the different new media as emerging technologies and future modes of communication; below are their contributions to the 'collaborative' work of the newsletter (including Sarah Cameron's comments on the event).
Tony discussed some issues surrounding the ID card debate, showing the views of politicians and journalists on the topic. The group discussed some arguments countering the proposed benefits from the scheme. There was lively debate over the validity of public concerns, with some suggesting that the ID card scheme is consistent with practices in other countries while others saw great disparities. Jin suggested that some of the fears people have regarding the controversial ID card database might be eased by the appointment of a third party overseer to monitor its implementation. (by Tony O'Tierney)
Zhang Lijun shared her original experience of using Pbworks to do a group work. It is a good tool for collaborative works, especially in the aspect of recording all the project process in one page. Some ideas were discussed in the meeting. Firstly, the security problem was considered. It is true that there may be encounter such issue because of the uncertainty of technology. Secondly, some people think it is more or less the same as public forum or Google Docs. However, it has its main focus on law, design & marketing, Consulting, Educational, General and personal aspect. So some people may say it is more like an intranet service outsourcing. Anyway, it has its advantage on improving productivity and efficiency. More exploring is needed to find more about it. (by Zhang Lijun)
Chih-Jung mentioned that television might become 'YouTube' alike in the future. It might have influences on the funding of broadcasters and viewing behaviour. It also raised the discussion on the regulation aspect. If everyone can upload the content, how could the regulatory body regulate the content? The censorship system might have to change. Regulation would become an important issue in the digital age. Regarding to the interactive functions, such as telephone and recording service, it would depend on the faster transmission infrastructure. The government and media (or telecommunication) companies need to invest more on the construction of the internet infrastructure. (by Chih-jung Fan)
The meet up was really interesting and productive. The presentation of pbwiki showed how it can be a very useful research platform. The discussion about digital television allowed us to think about the future possibilities for programming, audience behaviour and advertising. The discussion about ID cards was really engaging, I have strong beliefs about the issue which is also related to my own research. It was a good session and though people disagreed about issues (which is what makes a good debate!) we all acknowledged that technologies can be of great benefit or detriment to us, depending largely on the nature of usage, user intent, wider social and political backdrops and most fundamentally I believe, on power structures. (by Sarah Cameron)
This time, we successfully tried a collaborative work, with almost everyone making their own contribution to the event. From the feedback, we’ve also received our best comments since the project commenced. Next time, we will focus on the topic of Creative Technologies & Contemporary Cinema; and we’re very pleased we have invited Dr. Anna Claydon to give a talk about technology's impact on the transformation of contemporary cinema, and Anna would like to share her own thought on how technologies, both 'old' and 'new', are used to shape the footage in the process of filmmaking today. Again, we would like to thank everyone who has made enormous contributions to Creative Cuppa. We look forward to seeing you all next time!
Video links: http://pbworks.com/academic.wiki (PBworks)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LONA3Acc5js (Channel 4: No to ID cards)
Yours sincerely,
Jin Shang
Creative Cuppa Seminar Series
Department of Media and Communication
University of Leicester
June 2, 2009
-
Thursday, 21 May 2009
Creative Cuppa 7th Coffee Meetup
-
Dear Everyone,
Thanks for coming today. Actually it was a pretty good cooperative work we did this time. Also thanks for those who came from Management School and Engineering Department. So hopefully we would send out the newsletter early next week. Thanks again for all your wonderful contribution today. I'll see you all next time!
Best wishes,
Jin
-------------
Creative Cuppa 7th Coffee Meetup
(Event completed & newsletter coming out soon ... )
Theme: The Future of Communication / Future Technology
Time: 12:00pm - 13:00pm (Thursday, 28 May 2009)
Venue: ATT SB2.07 (Attenborough 2nd FLR), City Campus, University of Leicester
Guest Speaker: Zhang Lijun, Chih-jung Fan & Tony O'Tierney
Event description: by Tony O'Tierney, Chih-jung Fan & Zhang Lijun
Event Coordinator: Amit Chandraker
Over the last decade we have seen how increased computer networking has transformed society in unprecedented ways. What will be the future implications of such networking and other emerging technologies? How will developments in new sciences such as Nanotechnology alter our lives or those of our descendants? This time our discussion would be focused on the future possibilities of the communication development and the technologies mediating the development.
This time, we are going to have a purely collaborative and discussion-based event. At the time, Tony O'Tierney would like to share his original thoughts on the new scheme of UK's National Identity Card; Chih-jung Fan would have a discussion about 'Digital TV', which is of his research interest at the moment. Zhang Lijun will be talking about her initial experience of creating PBwiki networks for organizing team works online. Here below are their abstracts:
The government is proposing an ID card scheme for the UK, to which there is considerable opposition. The arguments in favour of it centre mainly on its purported ability to tackle identity fraud and terrorism, as well as the claim that it will serve practical purposes as a universal proof of identity. I intend to present some arguments countering these claims, and to highlight some significant issues often omitted from the public debate. (Tony O'Tierney)
The emergence of digital television is thought as the third television revolution. The advent of digital television would bring influences in many aspects. I would like to focus on the impact on audiences, especially viewing behavior. Will audiences only watch the programmes or channels they like? Will generalist channels be vanished? Will audiences viewing behaviour have a great change? Here I hope them can help you think the future of digital television. (Chih-jung Fan)
PBWiki changed its name to PBWorks in this April 2009. It is a free workspace service which allows collaborative editing of pages and files. PBWorks can make your group work more efficiently, effectively, and productively. It can be public or private space. You can invite 1-1000 persons to join the space. Everybody can edit and share the pages. All the change and edit can be monitored and trailed. The most important thing is it's easy to start. You don't need any complicated IT knowledge. All you need is a valid e-mail address. (Zhang Lijun)
Come along and share your creative ideas with others. Everyone is welcome. Beverage & snacks are served for free. You can pop in and drop out anytime. The most important thing is that you feel fun, relax, and really enjoying being with every one of us!
http://creativecuppa.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=60675201456
Best wishes,
Jin Shang
Project Manager
& Operating Director
Creative Cuppa Seminar Series
Department of Media and Communication
University of Leicester
-
Dear Everyone,
Thanks for coming today. Actually it was a pretty good cooperative work we did this time. Also thanks for those who came from Management School and Engineering Department. So hopefully we would send out the newsletter early next week. Thanks again for all your wonderful contribution today. I'll see you all next time!
Best wishes,
Jin
-------------
Creative Cuppa 7th Coffee Meetup
(Event completed & newsletter coming out soon ... )
Theme: The Future of Communication / Future Technology
Time: 12:00pm - 13:00pm (Thursday, 28 May 2009)
Venue: ATT SB2.07 (Attenborough 2nd FLR), City Campus, University of Leicester
Guest Speaker: Zhang Lijun, Chih-jung Fan & Tony O'Tierney
Event description: by Tony O'Tierney, Chih-jung Fan & Zhang Lijun
Event Coordinator: Amit Chandraker
Over the last decade we have seen how increased computer networking has transformed society in unprecedented ways. What will be the future implications of such networking and other emerging technologies? How will developments in new sciences such as Nanotechnology alter our lives or those of our descendants? This time our discussion would be focused on the future possibilities of the communication development and the technologies mediating the development.
This time, we are going to have a purely collaborative and discussion-based event. At the time, Tony O'Tierney would like to share his original thoughts on the new scheme of UK's National Identity Card; Chih-jung Fan would have a discussion about 'Digital TV', which is of his research interest at the moment. Zhang Lijun will be talking about her initial experience of creating PBwiki networks for organizing team works online. Here below are their abstracts:
The government is proposing an ID card scheme for the UK, to which there is considerable opposition. The arguments in favour of it centre mainly on its purported ability to tackle identity fraud and terrorism, as well as the claim that it will serve practical purposes as a universal proof of identity. I intend to present some arguments countering these claims, and to highlight some significant issues often omitted from the public debate. (Tony O'Tierney)
The emergence of digital television is thought as the third television revolution. The advent of digital television would bring influences in many aspects. I would like to focus on the impact on audiences, especially viewing behavior. Will audiences only watch the programmes or channels they like? Will generalist channels be vanished? Will audiences viewing behaviour have a great change? Here I hope them can help you think the future of digital television. (Chih-jung Fan)
PBWiki changed its name to PBWorks in this April 2009. It is a free workspace service which allows collaborative editing of pages and files. PBWorks can make your group work more efficiently, effectively, and productively. It can be public or private space. You can invite 1-1000 persons to join the space. Everybody can edit and share the pages. All the change and edit can be monitored and trailed. The most important thing is it's easy to start. You don't need any complicated IT knowledge. All you need is a valid e-mail address. (Zhang Lijun)
Come along and share your creative ideas with others. Everyone is welcome. Beverage & snacks are served for free. You can pop in and drop out anytime. The most important thing is that you feel fun, relax, and really enjoying being with every one of us!
http://creativecuppa.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=60675201456
Best wishes,
Jin Shang
Project Manager
& Operating Director
Creative Cuppa Seminar Series
Department of Media and Communication
University of Leicester
-
Tuesday, 5 May 2009
Newsletter for 6th Creative Cuppa Meet-up
-------------
On the 27th April, Creative Cuppa held its 6th meet-up in 324 KEB (Ken Edwards Building), City Campus, University of Leicester. Many thanks to Amit Chandraker, Bashia, Chih-Jung Fan, Hao Zhang, Li Jun Zhang, Mokhtar Elareshi, Patama Satawedin, Rosidayu Sabran, Sarah Cameron, and Ivy Chen, for their participation. We would also like to express our special gratitude to Dr. Gillian Youngs and Dr. Tracy Simmons for their attendance and active participation. This time, our discussion was focused on the topic of ‘Digital Avatar / Virtual Reality’, and Gillian shared her own initial experience and understanding, how ‘digital avatars’ should be taken as representatives of real ‘us’ in the virtual environment, and why this was important to the future of social transformation in the information age.
Basically the discussion was mainly focused on three aspects of the topic. In the first place, as Gillian introduced, though she’d been working in the virtual environment for over a decade, 3D was still something very fresh to her; and what made it so different from her previous experience was its non-linear mode of communication. To explain it, with the development in 3D technologies, now we could create our own ‘visualized’ identities or ‘digital avatars’ on the web; and these different and visualized ‘avatars’ would help us transact ourselves from our real life experience into a new virtual environment; and this new virtual environment was sometimes referred to as our ‘Second Life’. In contrasting to this, in previous time, such visualized images could only exist in people’s heads, which was believed having, to some extent, limited the interactivity between people and their communication technologies, such as computers and the Internet.
Within the virtual environment, now people could make more effectively use of the new media technologies for various purposes of their real lives, from learning new knowledge to solving real problems. For instance, as Gillian introduced, ‘Media Zoo’, which was a project based in the University of Leicester, could be seen as a very good example to see how educators were using new 3D technologies to ‘enhance the teaching-learning experience’ either for them themselves, or for their students. As Tracy added here, this was because the new multi-media environment would ‘articulate people more critically related to their avatars’, so that it would create some ‘more opportunities’ to improve dynamics in the teaching-learning processes. Certainly, after having being reminded by Li Jun of her question, Gillian also pointed out a big challenge in the development, which was that many people still simply treated the new communication technologies as ‘screen’ rather than the ‘infrastructure’; and this problem would tend to result in a fact that these people were more likely excluded from the benefits of the social transformation.
At last, in order to conceptualize her discussion, Gillian considered the 3D techno-social transformation as a further great push in the process of communication ‘horizontality’, which meant that the originally ‘hierarchical and vertical’ mode of communication of human society was going to be ‘disaggregated’ or flattened out; and such trend of change in the communication mode would probably hasten the emergence of a more effectively democratic and information-led society in the future. Certainly, Gillian wouldn’t refuse to accept the result of such a social transformation as a ‘plural mode’ of system in the end as Jin raised the point; and she added that, this could be the reason why we were going to be living in a more open and also more functionalized society in the future.
Generally the discussion this time was very theoretically based; Gillian’s in-depth perception and analysis has indeed improved our understanding of the new rising social phenomenon of ‘digital avatar/virtual reality’. From the feedbacks of the participants, we're aware that some people would expect more discussion time in the meet-ups; therefore, we decide to organize a strongly discussion-based collaborative event for the next time. The topic will be closely related to our discussion this time; it’s ‘the future of communication’. At the time, Tony O'Tierney would like to share his original thoughts on the new scheme of UK’s National Identity Card; Zhang Lijun would be talking about her initial experience, creating PBwiki networks for organizing team works online; and Chih-jung Fan would have a discussion about ‘Digital TV’, which is of his research interest at the moment. Again, we would like to thank you so much for all your great supports and wonderful contributions to Creative Cuppa. We look forward to seeing you all for the next time!
Video links: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7TMQzzFFdQ (Media Zoo)
Best wishes,
Jin Shang
Operating Director
Creative Cuppa Seminar Series
04/05/2009
On the 27th April, Creative Cuppa held its 6th meet-up in 324 KEB (Ken Edwards Building), City Campus, University of Leicester. Many thanks to Amit Chandraker, Bashia, Chih-Jung Fan, Hao Zhang, Li Jun Zhang, Mokhtar Elareshi, Patama Satawedin, Rosidayu Sabran, Sarah Cameron, and Ivy Chen, for their participation. We would also like to express our special gratitude to Dr. Gillian Youngs and Dr. Tracy Simmons for their attendance and active participation. This time, our discussion was focused on the topic of ‘Digital Avatar / Virtual Reality’, and Gillian shared her own initial experience and understanding, how ‘digital avatars’ should be taken as representatives of real ‘us’ in the virtual environment, and why this was important to the future of social transformation in the information age.
Basically the discussion was mainly focused on three aspects of the topic. In the first place, as Gillian introduced, though she’d been working in the virtual environment for over a decade, 3D was still something very fresh to her; and what made it so different from her previous experience was its non-linear mode of communication. To explain it, with the development in 3D technologies, now we could create our own ‘visualized’ identities or ‘digital avatars’ on the web; and these different and visualized ‘avatars’ would help us transact ourselves from our real life experience into a new virtual environment; and this new virtual environment was sometimes referred to as our ‘Second Life’. In contrasting to this, in previous time, such visualized images could only exist in people’s heads, which was believed having, to some extent, limited the interactivity between people and their communication technologies, such as computers and the Internet.
Within the virtual environment, now people could make more effectively use of the new media technologies for various purposes of their real lives, from learning new knowledge to solving real problems. For instance, as Gillian introduced, ‘Media Zoo’, which was a project based in the University of Leicester, could be seen as a very good example to see how educators were using new 3D technologies to ‘enhance the teaching-learning experience’ either for them themselves, or for their students. As Tracy added here, this was because the new multi-media environment would ‘articulate people more critically related to their avatars’, so that it would create some ‘more opportunities’ to improve dynamics in the teaching-learning processes. Certainly, after having being reminded by Li Jun of her question, Gillian also pointed out a big challenge in the development, which was that many people still simply treated the new communication technologies as ‘screen’ rather than the ‘infrastructure’; and this problem would tend to result in a fact that these people were more likely excluded from the benefits of the social transformation.
At last, in order to conceptualize her discussion, Gillian considered the 3D techno-social transformation as a further great push in the process of communication ‘horizontality’, which meant that the originally ‘hierarchical and vertical’ mode of communication of human society was going to be ‘disaggregated’ or flattened out; and such trend of change in the communication mode would probably hasten the emergence of a more effectively democratic and information-led society in the future. Certainly, Gillian wouldn’t refuse to accept the result of such a social transformation as a ‘plural mode’ of system in the end as Jin raised the point; and she added that, this could be the reason why we were going to be living in a more open and also more functionalized society in the future.
Generally the discussion this time was very theoretically based; Gillian’s in-depth perception and analysis has indeed improved our understanding of the new rising social phenomenon of ‘digital avatar/virtual reality’. From the feedbacks of the participants, we're aware that some people would expect more discussion time in the meet-ups; therefore, we decide to organize a strongly discussion-based collaborative event for the next time. The topic will be closely related to our discussion this time; it’s ‘the future of communication’. At the time, Tony O'Tierney would like to share his original thoughts on the new scheme of UK’s National Identity Card; Zhang Lijun would be talking about her initial experience, creating PBwiki networks for organizing team works online; and Chih-jung Fan would have a discussion about ‘Digital TV’, which is of his research interest at the moment. Again, we would like to thank you so much for all your great supports and wonderful contributions to Creative Cuppa. We look forward to seeing you all for the next time!
Video links: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7TMQzzFFdQ (Media Zoo)
Best wishes,
Jin Shang
Operating Director
Creative Cuppa Seminar Series
04/05/2009
Tuesday, 21 April 2009
Creative Cuppa 6th Coffee Meetup
-------------
Dear Everyone,
Many thanks for your coming today; we greatly appreciate Dr. Gillian Young for her wonderful talk in the meet-up. we would also express our special gratitude to Dr. Tracy Simmons for her coming and participation. Hopeful we will release the newsletter by next Monday. For the next time our discussion would be focusing on a certain topic related to 'the future mode of communication'. Thanks again for all your wonderful participation today. We are looking forward to seeing you all again next month.
Best regards,
Jin Shang
27/04/2009
-----------------------------------
Creative Cuppa 6th Coffee Meetup
(Event completed & newsletter coming out soon ... )
Theme: Digital Avatar / Virtual Reality
Time: 12:00pm - 13:00pm (Monday, 27st April 2009)
Venue: 324 KEB (Ken Edwards Building), City Campus, University of Leicester
Guest Speaker: Dr. Gillian Youngs
Event Coordinator: Jin Shang
Event description: by Jin Shang
Along with the improving Interactivity of internet technology and increasing popularity of 3D applications such as computer games, more and more people are connected to a different 'life', by projecting themselves onto the Internet and creating their own virtual identities on the web; and this is what usually referred to as the making of 'digital avatar'. Some people predict that, with technology improvement, we human beings will be living in a virtual world in the near future, in which people, and animals, are mostly represented by animated avatars and do everything from social activities to shopping; and this may lead to another social revolution, in which avatars' society would dominate the world. Some other people, however, doubt the changes, and insist that even though people could create their lives and even their world on the web, they are still who they are in the real life, and will never be replaced by their avatars. This time, Dr. Gillian Youngs will share with us her initial experience in the virtual environment, and attempt to unveil a truth of her own thoughts about the 'virtual reality'. Come along and share your ideas with us. Everyone is welcome. Beverage & snacks are served for free. You can pop in and drop out anytime. The most important thing is that you feel fun, relax, and really enjoying being with everyone of us.
http://creativecuppa.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=62980387435
Creative Cuppa
22/04/2009
Dear Everyone,
Many thanks for your coming today; we greatly appreciate Dr. Gillian Young for her wonderful talk in the meet-up. we would also express our special gratitude to Dr. Tracy Simmons for her coming and participation. Hopeful we will release the newsletter by next Monday. For the next time our discussion would be focusing on a certain topic related to 'the future mode of communication'. Thanks again for all your wonderful participation today. We are looking forward to seeing you all again next month.
Best regards,
Jin Shang
27/04/2009
-----------------------------------
Creative Cuppa 6th Coffee Meetup
(Event completed & newsletter coming out soon ... )
Theme: Digital Avatar / Virtual Reality
Time: 12:00pm - 13:00pm (Monday, 27st April 2009)
Venue: 324 KEB (Ken Edwards Building), City Campus, University of Leicester
Guest Speaker: Dr. Gillian Youngs
Event Coordinator: Jin Shang
Event description: by Jin Shang
Along with the improving Interactivity of internet technology and increasing popularity of 3D applications such as computer games, more and more people are connected to a different 'life', by projecting themselves onto the Internet and creating their own virtual identities on the web; and this is what usually referred to as the making of 'digital avatar'. Some people predict that, with technology improvement, we human beings will be living in a virtual world in the near future, in which people, and animals, are mostly represented by animated avatars and do everything from social activities to shopping; and this may lead to another social revolution, in which avatars' society would dominate the world. Some other people, however, doubt the changes, and insist that even though people could create their lives and even their world on the web, they are still who they are in the real life, and will never be replaced by their avatars. This time, Dr. Gillian Youngs will share with us her initial experience in the virtual environment, and attempt to unveil a truth of her own thoughts about the 'virtual reality'. Come along and share your ideas with us. Everyone is welcome. Beverage & snacks are served for free. You can pop in and drop out anytime. The most important thing is that you feel fun, relax, and really enjoying being with everyone of us.
http://creativecuppa.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=62980387435
Creative Cuppa
22/04/2009
Sunday, 5 April 2009
Newsletter for 5th Creative Cuppa Meet-up
-------------
On the 31th March 2009, Creative Cuppa held its 5th meet-up in 526 KEB (Ken Edwards Building), City Campus, University of Leicester. Many thanks to Adeline Tan, Amit Chandraker, Chih-Jung Fan, Hwang Hs, Kal Jaber, Li Jun Zhang, Mokhtar Elareshi, Rosidayu Sabran, Walid Muhaisen, and Ivy Chen, for their participation. We would also like to express our special gratitude to Dr. Bu Qingxiu, from the School of Law, Queens University Belfast (QUB), for his attendance and thoughtful ideas. This time our discussion was focused on the topic of ‘virtual community/ online community’, as this is seen as an important aspect of the emerging Internet culture that is increasingly affecting and changing our real lives today.
Basically we addressed four key aspects of online communities. The discussion began with gender issues; actually the Internet and other new media technologies have provided more equal opportunities for women, as in the ‘weightless world’, physical weakness of women is no longer important; in this meaning, the historical boundaries between genders are broken. Therefore, Adeline believes that women can now do the same things as men, and think this is development of human society. However it still seems that women and men show great differences in their differing ‘virtual lives’. While most women are still more interested in chatting, gossip and female-oriented issues, men do still prefer to ‘do business’ of all kinds.
Then, our discussion was steered toward a focus on the virtual communities organized by special-interest groups, such as diaspora groups and protest groups. Actually people from these groups have also received great benefits from the Internet; now that it’s getting much easier for them to create their own connections or networks for their specific purposes. For instance, migrants can now easily create their own ‘migrant communities’ in their host country, in order to build invisible ties between each other and between them and their homelands. Activists, similarly, use the Internet to create temporary alliances in order to gather as many people as possible in a short space of time, in order to fight for political issues and rights.
After that, Hwang raised the very interesting point that young people seem more active in organizing or attending online communities, as they’re more curious about new things and more willing to share new things with each other. Hwang gave an example from South Korea, during the protest against the importation of US beef; young protesters used their camera-phones to capture the latest pictures from the protesting groups and sent them back to the camps for uploading to the web so that more people could be updated with live information. This also reminds us of another case: when the Sichuan Earthquake took place, it was young people again who shot live pictures and videos, and broadcast the calamity live online through Twitter and YouTube.
Once we’ve discussed all the matters, we then realized a question of whether there is a real separation between virtual communities and our ‘real world’. You can still see the connections everywhere; women are still chatty and sensitive; men are still ambitious and greedy; migrants are still interested in ‘ties’ with their ‘families’; and young people are still curious and active. That is to say, if there is no substantial change, our eulogizing about the ‘power of the Internet’ would be nothing but a hallucination. Dr. Bu pointed out that so far, no legal system in the world is complete to deal with the new emerging problems in cyberspace. In fact, he also admitted that most lawmakers have lagged far behind the rapid increase in new issues. If that is the case, we may question ourselves, whether we’re placed in a safer situation sitting behind the screen, or simply even more dangerous. If that is the case, women are getting more easily hooked; men more easily trapped; diasporas more easily controlled, and youngsters more easily deceived and used. And is that really what we expected from the Internet? This, we believe, is a big question that everyone should continue to think about carefully.
Generally, the meet-up this time was pretty successful, with our largest participation so far, since the event started in Nov. 2008. Even though we don't have to agree on everything, there we have a time when everybody all consider that we are experiencing the same things. Next time, we will be focused on the topic of ‘virtual reality/ digital avatar’; and we're going to be brought into a 3D space, in which people may have very different thoughts about the ‘world’. We're pleased to have invited Dr. Gillian Youngs to give a talk about her own initial experience in the virtual environment as she is developing research in this area now. Again, thanks for all your active participation and wonderful contribution to Creative Cuppa. We’re looking forward to seeing you all next time!
Video links:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WtGpywsLSE (online community - forum-)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jRkMGED7LYE (SparkPeople.com's Free Support Community)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAnjz619SUc (Sichuan Earth Quake 12 May 2008)
Jin Shang
06/04/2009
On the 31th March 2009, Creative Cuppa held its 5th meet-up in 526 KEB (Ken Edwards Building), City Campus, University of Leicester. Many thanks to Adeline Tan, Amit Chandraker, Chih-Jung Fan, Hwang Hs, Kal Jaber, Li Jun Zhang, Mokhtar Elareshi, Rosidayu Sabran, Walid Muhaisen, and Ivy Chen, for their participation. We would also like to express our special gratitude to Dr. Bu Qingxiu, from the School of Law, Queens University Belfast (QUB), for his attendance and thoughtful ideas. This time our discussion was focused on the topic of ‘virtual community/ online community’, as this is seen as an important aspect of the emerging Internet culture that is increasingly affecting and changing our real lives today.
Basically we addressed four key aspects of online communities. The discussion began with gender issues; actually the Internet and other new media technologies have provided more equal opportunities for women, as in the ‘weightless world’, physical weakness of women is no longer important; in this meaning, the historical boundaries between genders are broken. Therefore, Adeline believes that women can now do the same things as men, and think this is development of human society. However it still seems that women and men show great differences in their differing ‘virtual lives’. While most women are still more interested in chatting, gossip and female-oriented issues, men do still prefer to ‘do business’ of all kinds.
Then, our discussion was steered toward a focus on the virtual communities organized by special-interest groups, such as diaspora groups and protest groups. Actually people from these groups have also received great benefits from the Internet; now that it’s getting much easier for them to create their own connections or networks for their specific purposes. For instance, migrants can now easily create their own ‘migrant communities’ in their host country, in order to build invisible ties between each other and between them and their homelands. Activists, similarly, use the Internet to create temporary alliances in order to gather as many people as possible in a short space of time, in order to fight for political issues and rights.
After that, Hwang raised the very interesting point that young people seem more active in organizing or attending online communities, as they’re more curious about new things and more willing to share new things with each other. Hwang gave an example from South Korea, during the protest against the importation of US beef; young protesters used their camera-phones to capture the latest pictures from the protesting groups and sent them back to the camps for uploading to the web so that more people could be updated with live information. This also reminds us of another case: when the Sichuan Earthquake took place, it was young people again who shot live pictures and videos, and broadcast the calamity live online through Twitter and YouTube.
Once we’ve discussed all the matters, we then realized a question of whether there is a real separation between virtual communities and our ‘real world’. You can still see the connections everywhere; women are still chatty and sensitive; men are still ambitious and greedy; migrants are still interested in ‘ties’ with their ‘families’; and young people are still curious and active. That is to say, if there is no substantial change, our eulogizing about the ‘power of the Internet’ would be nothing but a hallucination. Dr. Bu pointed out that so far, no legal system in the world is complete to deal with the new emerging problems in cyberspace. In fact, he also admitted that most lawmakers have lagged far behind the rapid increase in new issues. If that is the case, we may question ourselves, whether we’re placed in a safer situation sitting behind the screen, or simply even more dangerous. If that is the case, women are getting more easily hooked; men more easily trapped; diasporas more easily controlled, and youngsters more easily deceived and used. And is that really what we expected from the Internet? This, we believe, is a big question that everyone should continue to think about carefully.
Generally, the meet-up this time was pretty successful, with our largest participation so far, since the event started in Nov. 2008. Even though we don't have to agree on everything, there we have a time when everybody all consider that we are experiencing the same things. Next time, we will be focused on the topic of ‘virtual reality/ digital avatar’; and we're going to be brought into a 3D space, in which people may have very different thoughts about the ‘world’. We're pleased to have invited Dr. Gillian Youngs to give a talk about her own initial experience in the virtual environment as she is developing research in this area now. Again, thanks for all your active participation and wonderful contribution to Creative Cuppa. We’re looking forward to seeing you all next time!
Video links:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WtGpywsLSE (online community - forum-)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jRkMGED7LYE (SparkPeople.com's Free Support Community)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAnjz619SUc (Sichuan Earth Quake 12 May 2008)
Jin Shang
06/04/2009
Thursday, 2 April 2009
Latest News: Grant Received From RTIF
-------------
Dear Everyone,
We are pleased to announce that Creative Cuppa has been awarded a £2000 grant by RTIF (Roberts Funding) through the University of Leicester Graduate Office. This will serve as an operating budget, under the supervision of the Department of Media and Communication and overseen by Dr. Gillian Youngs and Mr. Jin Shang. Dr. Gillian Youngs has been nominated as Chairing Director and Mr. Jin Shang as Operating Director. Other staff on the Board of Management are Mr. Tony O'Tierney (Internal Coordinator), Ms. Shani Lee (External Coordinator), and Miss. Xingfang Chen (Management Assistant).
Creative Cuppa is a recently-launched long-term student/staff research seminar series in association with the Department of Media and Communication. The project, based in the University of Leicester, aims to bring together researchers and other interested people from different disciplines or knowledge backgrounds, both inside and outside the University, to generate, discuss, and criticize any issues related to their experience or understanding of new media technologies.
The discussion topics are varied and relate to both theory and practice. For example, two of the recent discussion topics have been focused on 'Online journalism' and 'Virtual Community'. We do also invite guest speakers to give informal talks, usually followed by Q&A sessions as well as time for broader discussion. Follow-up discussions could be well linked with Gillian's 'Digital Economy Research Group'.
Creative Cuppa holds meet-ups every month. A different theme is chosen for each meet-up, but always focused on the discussion of themes within new media and communication technologies. A newsletter is usually produced after each meet-up and sent to those who have subscribed to the service. Through the activities, participants are expected to better understand the modern world from a socio-technical perspective, which will be relevant to their research and career development in the future.
Creative Cuppa has also created an online community on Facebook. This is designed to keep the participants connected and updated at all times. In that sense, Creative Cuppa is more like an ongoing process that cross over the boundaries of time and space. So please join us. Everyone is welcome, no matter what background or discipline you are from. You can join in and drop out anytime you want. The most important thing is that you have fun, feel relaxed, and are ready to refresh your minds with loads of new creative ideas.
http://creativecuppa.blogspot.com
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=60675201456
Thanks for supporting us,
Jin Shang
Operating Director
Creative Cuppa Organizing Committee
Dear Everyone,
We are pleased to announce that Creative Cuppa has been awarded a £2000 grant by RTIF (Roberts Funding) through the University of Leicester Graduate Office. This will serve as an operating budget, under the supervision of the Department of Media and Communication and overseen by Dr. Gillian Youngs and Mr. Jin Shang. Dr. Gillian Youngs has been nominated as Chairing Director and Mr. Jin Shang as Operating Director. Other staff on the Board of Management are Mr. Tony O'Tierney (Internal Coordinator), Ms. Shani Lee (External Coordinator), and Miss. Xingfang Chen (Management Assistant).
Creative Cuppa is a recently-launched long-term student/staff research seminar series in association with the Department of Media and Communication. The project, based in the University of Leicester, aims to bring together researchers and other interested people from different disciplines or knowledge backgrounds, both inside and outside the University, to generate, discuss, and criticize any issues related to their experience or understanding of new media technologies.
The discussion topics are varied and relate to both theory and practice. For example, two of the recent discussion topics have been focused on 'Online journalism' and 'Virtual Community'. We do also invite guest speakers to give informal talks, usually followed by Q&A sessions as well as time for broader discussion. Follow-up discussions could be well linked with Gillian's 'Digital Economy Research Group'.
Creative Cuppa holds meet-ups every month. A different theme is chosen for each meet-up, but always focused on the discussion of themes within new media and communication technologies. A newsletter is usually produced after each meet-up and sent to those who have subscribed to the service. Through the activities, participants are expected to better understand the modern world from a socio-technical perspective, which will be relevant to their research and career development in the future.
Creative Cuppa has also created an online community on Facebook. This is designed to keep the participants connected and updated at all times. In that sense, Creative Cuppa is more like an ongoing process that cross over the boundaries of time and space. So please join us. Everyone is welcome, no matter what background or discipline you are from. You can join in and drop out anytime you want. The most important thing is that you have fun, feel relaxed, and are ready to refresh your minds with loads of new creative ideas.
http://creativecuppa.blogspot.com
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=60675201456
Thanks for supporting us,
Jin Shang
Operating Director
Creative Cuppa Organizing Committee
Monday, 30 March 2009
Creative Cuppa 5th Coffee Meetup
-------------
Dear Everyone,
Many thanks for your coming today; we've reached our largest number of participants so far since the event started in Nov. 2008. And we want to express our special gratitude to Dr. Bu Qingxiu, from School of Law, Queen's University Belfast (QUB), for his coming and participation. Hopefully we will release the newsletter on next Monday. For the next time we will be focusing on the topic of "Virtual Reality / Digital Avatar". Thanks again for all your excellent contributions to the wonderful collaborative work today. We are looking forward to seeing you all again next month.
Best regards,
Jin Shang
31/03/2009
--------------
Event: Creative Cuppa 5th Coffee Meetup (completed & newsletter coming out soon ... )
Theme: Virtual Community/Online Community
Time: 12:00pm - 13:00pm (31st March 2009)
Venue: 526 KEB (Ken Edwards Building), City Campus, University of Leicester
Event Coordinator: Jin Shang
Event description: by Jin Shang
'We are impelled to relate with each other for our survival. But we do not yet relate with the inclusivity, realism, self-awareness, vulnerability, commitment, openness, freedom, equality, and love of genuine community. It is clearly no longer enough to be simply social animals, babbling together at cocktail parties and brawling with each other in business and over boundaries. It is our task -- our essential, central, crucial task -- to transform ourselves from mere social creatures into community creatures. It is the only way that human evolution will be able to proceed.' (M. Scott Peck, 1998)
If 'digital identity' is considered as the identity of different individuals online, then 'virtual community' could be seen as the identity of different groups of individuals online. In fact, very few people can really 'survive' without connecting with other people in the 'real world', and so it is the same in the virtual one. A 'virtual community' usually refers to a group of people who 'use computers to communicate, form friendships that sometimes form the basis of communities'; and, the way it's been organized has indeed infiltrated and changed our real world. (Howard Rheingold, 1993)
This time we will be looking at the phenomenon of 'virtual community/online community'. You could share with others your different experiences and ideas getting involved in this special form of online grouping, and discuss any issues you feel relevant to your interests. Everyone is welcome. This is an informal and interdisciplinary event. Being with us, you should always find someone to share your thoughts with. Beverage & snacks are served for free. You can pop in and drop out anytime. The most important thing is that you feel fun, relax, and really enjoying being with every one of us.
http://creativecuppa.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=66646084584
Creative Cuppa
28/03/2009
Dear Everyone,
Many thanks for your coming today; we've reached our largest number of participants so far since the event started in Nov. 2008. And we want to express our special gratitude to Dr. Bu Qingxiu, from School of Law, Queen's University Belfast (QUB), for his coming and participation. Hopefully we will release the newsletter on next Monday. For the next time we will be focusing on the topic of "Virtual Reality / Digital Avatar". Thanks again for all your excellent contributions to the wonderful collaborative work today. We are looking forward to seeing you all again next month.
Best regards,
Jin Shang
31/03/2009
--------------
Event: Creative Cuppa 5th Coffee Meetup (completed & newsletter coming out soon ... )
Theme: Virtual Community/Online Community
Time: 12:00pm - 13:00pm (31st March 2009)
Venue: 526 KEB (Ken Edwards Building), City Campus, University of Leicester
Event Coordinator: Jin Shang
Event description: by Jin Shang
'We are impelled to relate with each other for our survival. But we do not yet relate with the inclusivity, realism, self-awareness, vulnerability, commitment, openness, freedom, equality, and love of genuine community. It is clearly no longer enough to be simply social animals, babbling together at cocktail parties and brawling with each other in business and over boundaries. It is our task -- our essential, central, crucial task -- to transform ourselves from mere social creatures into community creatures. It is the only way that human evolution will be able to proceed.' (M. Scott Peck, 1998)
If 'digital identity' is considered as the identity of different individuals online, then 'virtual community' could be seen as the identity of different groups of individuals online. In fact, very few people can really 'survive' without connecting with other people in the 'real world', and so it is the same in the virtual one. A 'virtual community' usually refers to a group of people who 'use computers to communicate, form friendships that sometimes form the basis of communities'; and, the way it's been organized has indeed infiltrated and changed our real world. (Howard Rheingold, 1993)
This time we will be looking at the phenomenon of 'virtual community/online community'. You could share with others your different experiences and ideas getting involved in this special form of online grouping, and discuss any issues you feel relevant to your interests. Everyone is welcome. This is an informal and interdisciplinary event. Being with us, you should always find someone to share your thoughts with. Beverage & snacks are served for free. You can pop in and drop out anytime. The most important thing is that you feel fun, relax, and really enjoying being with every one of us.
http://creativecuppa.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=66646084584
Creative Cuppa
28/03/2009
Monday, 2 March 2009
Newsletter for 4th Creative Cuppa Meet-up
-------------
On the 25th Feb, Creative Cuppa held its 4th meet-up in Group Study room 2.2 of the David Wilson Library. Many thanks to Hao Zhang, Chih-Jung Fan, Amit Chandraker, Li Jun Zhang, Taslim Yakub, Mokhtar Elareshi, and Sarah Cameron for coming and for their active participation in the discussion. We would like to express our special gratitude to Prof. Barrie Gunter for this coming today; his constructive ideas have improved the overall quality of the discussion. Today’s discussion was focused on the topic of “digital identity”, which has become a very important issue to any users of the Internet. Also many thanks to Tony O'Tierney, from the School of Management, who served as the Event-Coordinator for the 4th Meet-Up of Creative Cuppa. Although a little “out-of-plan”, his flexibility to cope with “change” was very impressive.
After a short video clip show, our discussion started with the different personal experiences related to social networking websites. In fact, most people have many different experiences of websites such as Facebook and Twitter, but not everyone has seriously thought about the way in which they identify themselves. Are they just themselves; or do they play a role that is very different from whom they are in a real life? Actually, the latest web technology ( dubbed 'web2.0' ), has indeed further extended the body of a “man”; not only extending the range of their physical activities, but also breaking up and “extending” or “expanding” the effect of their differentiated personalities. Therefore, it is important to understand that “digital identity” would rather be considered as a cognitive system than the segmented facets of self-awareness.
Built upon that, there is another practical concern about “online identity”, which is the avoidance of fake information for identifying people’s online status. People don’t tend to put their real information online for various reasons, for instance, they may want to avoid being monitored by some groups; or they themselves may have something to cover up for certain purposes. However, this has raised a debate on the validity of “digital identity”. As discussed earlier, if digital identity is considered as an extension of man, then fake information has to be taken as one the great challenges to such a practice, because it has surpassed the rationale for the development of online identities. Therefore, the conception of “digital identity” has to be critically examined before it is taken into analysis in research work.
Apart from that, data security also aroused some interest, because people do care about the privacy of their personal information online and they want to make sure that their personal data won’t be used for business or improper purposes. Finally, the discussion was linked to another question; that is whether or not online identity should be considered as an inseparable part of physical persons. In fact, there are some people who achieve fame via their online identity. This may lead to problems with their virtual status being abused by others; therefore, it is really important to stress the relevant concerns when making policies so that the virtual identity can be protected.
Generally, although being affected with more or less unpredictable minor incidents, the meet-up still could be seen as a successful experience because it has provided a valuable opportunity for the interested people to share and to brainstorm on those key issues or main concerns related to the topic of digital, or network, identity. Next time, our discussion will be focused on the topic of online "virtual communities", which could be seen as a continuation of the discussion on network identity, since it examines a collaborative work emerging from the online identities of different people. Again, thanks for all your active participation and wonderful contributions to Creative Cuppa. We’re looking forward to your coming next time!
Video links: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1BhEj-tI66E (I.D. / self :: the new "real")
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKFK0d2OVJU (online identity)
Creative Cuppa
02/03/2009
http://creativecuppa.blogspot.com
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=60675201456
On the 25th Feb, Creative Cuppa held its 4th meet-up in Group Study room 2.2 of the David Wilson Library. Many thanks to Hao Zhang, Chih-Jung Fan, Amit Chandraker, Li Jun Zhang, Taslim Yakub, Mokhtar Elareshi, and Sarah Cameron for coming and for their active participation in the discussion. We would like to express our special gratitude to Prof. Barrie Gunter for this coming today; his constructive ideas have improved the overall quality of the discussion. Today’s discussion was focused on the topic of “digital identity”, which has become a very important issue to any users of the Internet. Also many thanks to Tony O'Tierney, from the School of Management, who served as the Event-Coordinator for the 4th Meet-Up of Creative Cuppa. Although a little “out-of-plan”, his flexibility to cope with “change” was very impressive.
After a short video clip show, our discussion started with the different personal experiences related to social networking websites. In fact, most people have many different experiences of websites such as Facebook and Twitter, but not everyone has seriously thought about the way in which they identify themselves. Are they just themselves; or do they play a role that is very different from whom they are in a real life? Actually, the latest web technology ( dubbed 'web2.0' ), has indeed further extended the body of a “man”; not only extending the range of their physical activities, but also breaking up and “extending” or “expanding” the effect of their differentiated personalities. Therefore, it is important to understand that “digital identity” would rather be considered as a cognitive system than the segmented facets of self-awareness.
Built upon that, there is another practical concern about “online identity”, which is the avoidance of fake information for identifying people’s online status. People don’t tend to put their real information online for various reasons, for instance, they may want to avoid being monitored by some groups; or they themselves may have something to cover up for certain purposes. However, this has raised a debate on the validity of “digital identity”. As discussed earlier, if digital identity is considered as an extension of man, then fake information has to be taken as one the great challenges to such a practice, because it has surpassed the rationale for the development of online identities. Therefore, the conception of “digital identity” has to be critically examined before it is taken into analysis in research work.
Apart from that, data security also aroused some interest, because people do care about the privacy of their personal information online and they want to make sure that their personal data won’t be used for business or improper purposes. Finally, the discussion was linked to another question; that is whether or not online identity should be considered as an inseparable part of physical persons. In fact, there are some people who achieve fame via their online identity. This may lead to problems with their virtual status being abused by others; therefore, it is really important to stress the relevant concerns when making policies so that the virtual identity can be protected.
Generally, although being affected with more or less unpredictable minor incidents, the meet-up still could be seen as a successful experience because it has provided a valuable opportunity for the interested people to share and to brainstorm on those key issues or main concerns related to the topic of digital, or network, identity. Next time, our discussion will be focused on the topic of online "virtual communities", which could be seen as a continuation of the discussion on network identity, since it examines a collaborative work emerging from the online identities of different people. Again, thanks for all your active participation and wonderful contributions to Creative Cuppa. We’re looking forward to your coming next time!
Video links: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1BhEj-tI66E (I.D. / self :: the new "real")
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKFK0d2OVJU (online identity)
Creative Cuppa
02/03/2009
http://creativecuppa.blogspot.com
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=60675201456
Monday, 23 February 2009
Creative Cuppa 4th Coffee Meetup
Dear everyone,
Thanks for your coming today; and we want to express our special gratitude to Professor Barrie Gunter for his coming and participation. Hopefully we will release the newsletter on next Monday. Next time we will be focusing on the topic of "virtual community/online community". Thanks again for all your contributions to the wonderful collaborative work today.
Best wishes,
Jin Shang
25/02/2009
--------------------------------------------------
Event: Creative Cuppa 4th Coffee Meetup
(completed & newsletter coming out soon ... )
Theme: Digital Identity/Network Identity
Time: 12:00am-13:00pm, 25th February, 2009
Venue: Kathleen Smith Group Study Room 2.2, David Wilson Library
Coordinator: Tony O'Tierney
Speaker: Jennifer M Jones
Description: by Jennifer M Jones
Some may think that we are transgressing, moving into separate virtual spaces – a land to remix and reinvent ourselves as the person we wish we could be. Others see it as an extension to what we already have, a tool that allows us to connect, share and participate with those we know and those who we would like to know. And some think that this is just another wave, another fad and part of a bigger picture in relation towards what it means to be a human being. What is important is the Internet can be everything and nothing, anything for anybody, it can provide the tools for positive change, or facilitate destruction.
This month's "creative cuppa" is dedicated to the world of online, networked world of identity and to what you think is important in relation to the discussion, the definition and the organisation of identity in the digital age. What does the term "Networked Identity" mean to you? How do you consider your own identity online? What are the relationships between our activities online and off? Is “social networking” such a new thing? Or have we been doing something along that line for years…
Come along; share your thoughts with others. This is purely informal and interdisciplinary event where opinions are valued and where you can speak to others who are interested in topics such as the Internet, the digital economy and new media.
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=54045632745
http://creativecuppa.blogspot.com
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Creative Cuppa
22/02/2009
Thanks for your coming today; and we want to express our special gratitude to Professor Barrie Gunter for his coming and participation. Hopefully we will release the newsletter on next Monday. Next time we will be focusing on the topic of "virtual community/online community". Thanks again for all your contributions to the wonderful collaborative work today.
Best wishes,
Jin Shang
25/02/2009
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Event: Creative Cuppa 4th Coffee Meetup
(completed & newsletter coming out soon ... )
Theme: Digital Identity/Network Identity
Time: 12:00am-13:00pm, 25th February, 2009
Venue: Kathleen Smith Group Study Room 2.2, David Wilson Library
Coordinator: Tony O'Tierney
Speaker: Jennifer M Jones
Description: by Jennifer M Jones
Some may think that we are transgressing, moving into separate virtual spaces – a land to remix and reinvent ourselves as the person we wish we could be. Others see it as an extension to what we already have, a tool that allows us to connect, share and participate with those we know and those who we would like to know. And some think that this is just another wave, another fad and part of a bigger picture in relation towards what it means to be a human being. What is important is the Internet can be everything and nothing, anything for anybody, it can provide the tools for positive change, or facilitate destruction.
This month's "creative cuppa" is dedicated to the world of online, networked world of identity and to what you think is important in relation to the discussion, the definition and the organisation of identity in the digital age. What does the term "Networked Identity" mean to you? How do you consider your own identity online? What are the relationships between our activities online and off? Is “social networking” such a new thing? Or have we been doing something along that line for years…
Come along; share your thoughts with others. This is purely informal and interdisciplinary event where opinions are valued and where you can speak to others who are interested in topics such as the Internet, the digital economy and new media.
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=54045632745
http://creativecuppa.blogspot.com
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Creative Cuppa
22/02/2009
Monday, 2 February 2009
Newsletter for 3rd Creative Cuppa Meet-up
On the 28th Jan, Creative Cuppa successfully held its 3rd meet-up in Group Study Room 2.2 of the David Wilson Library. Many thanks to Walid, Jennifer, Tony, Taslim, Patama, Danaya, and Ivy for their enthusiastic participation and supportive feedback. This time our discussion was focused on the topic of online journalism and citizen journalism. After a 10-minutes video show, the discussion started with a debate on “copyright issues”. Critically, it is good news to see an increasing trend of ordinary people becoming interested in posting news stories and other information online, though this causes increasing concerns about copyright violation. For example, as Walid pointed out, some people might “steal” others’ ideas and got them published on their own blogs; and this could be suspected as violating copyrights. However, as Jenifer argued, because there was no economic payback for doing so, this shouldn’t be considered as a big problem. Tony partly agreed with Jennifer, and he thought that online journalism allowed people to express different opinions on social events and receive diversified information from alternative channels other than mainstream media; and he thought this was more important than anything else. However, he also stressed that, people should indeed consider the reliability of the information they had received from these channels, because some news stories might be nothing but fictitious.
Apart from the “copyright issues”, there was another important point brought into discussion, which was whether citizen journalism was facing legal problems when it dealt with certain sensitive information, because laws vary from country to country, but the Internet was tended to be “boundless”. Therefore, on the one hand, citizen journalists should be allowed to say anything of their interests; but on the other hand, they should be highly responsible for everything they say, and make sure that their words don’t break the local laws. Thus most participants agreed that it was necessary to develop the national laws to monitor online journalistic information, in order to make sure that the process of online journalism would become increasingly legalized. Walid also added that, although it might be useful to improve international laws to regulate online information, there were supposed to be huge challenges due to the clear existence of diversified national situations, both culturally and politically. Finally, most participants agreed that, even though the web providers should not take responsibility for illegal activities of online journalists, they may still need "self-regulation" on the information posted on their websites.
Video link: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=58iZpMRclwI (Citizen Journalism - What Is It?)
Next time, we will be focusing on the theme of "Network Identity". Thanks for all your contributions. Looking foward to seeing you all next time!
Best wishes,
Jin Shang
2/2/2009
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Creative Cuppa:
http://creativecuppa.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=60675201456
Apart from the “copyright issues”, there was another important point brought into discussion, which was whether citizen journalism was facing legal problems when it dealt with certain sensitive information, because laws vary from country to country, but the Internet was tended to be “boundless”. Therefore, on the one hand, citizen journalists should be allowed to say anything of their interests; but on the other hand, they should be highly responsible for everything they say, and make sure that their words don’t break the local laws. Thus most participants agreed that it was necessary to develop the national laws to monitor online journalistic information, in order to make sure that the process of online journalism would become increasingly legalized. Walid also added that, although it might be useful to improve international laws to regulate online information, there were supposed to be huge challenges due to the clear existence of diversified national situations, both culturally and politically. Finally, most participants agreed that, even though the web providers should not take responsibility for illegal activities of online journalists, they may still need "self-regulation" on the information posted on their websites.
Video link: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=58iZpMRclwI (Citizen Journalism - What Is It?)
Next time, we will be focusing on the theme of "Network Identity". Thanks for all your contributions. Looking foward to seeing you all next time!
Best wishes,
Jin Shang
2/2/2009
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Creative Cuppa:
http://creativecuppa.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=60675201456
Saturday, 24 January 2009
Creative Cuppa 3rd Coffee Meetup
"Thanks everyone for coming today. The quality of discussion was very high indeed. Hopefully the newsletter is coming on next Monday; and thanks for all your efforts to this. Best wishes, Jin"
Event: Creative Cuppa 3rd Coffee Meetup
(Completed & Newsletter coming soon...)
Theme: Online Journalism / Citizen Journalism
Time: 12:00am-13:00pm, 28th January, 2009
Venue: Kathleen Smith Group Study Room 2.2, David Wilson Library, University of Leicester
The Internet and its latest technological innovations are seen as one of the most important mass media revolutions today. It is widely believed to be the first time in history that the "individuals" have moved to the central position in "mass communication". Media futurists have even predicted that by 2021, "citizens will produce 50 percent of the news peer-to-peer". Journalism, as a very important area of the media industry, is now undoubtedly under huge pressure to change in the face of these new challenges. Therefore, whether we are ready to cope with the challenges, it has become a very meaningful issue.
Creative Cuppa's third Coffee Meetup is a free discussion event. This time, discussion will be focused on the theme of “online journalism” and “citizen Journalism”, through which participants can relate how they believe the Internet and its technologies have contributed to a transformation in journalism, as one of the leading areas of the media industry today. Everyone is welcome, no matter what background or discipline you are from. You can pop in and drop out anytime you want. The most important thing is that you have fun, feel relaxed, and are ready to refresh your brains with loads of new creative ideas.
Creative Cuppa:
http://creativecuppa.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=60675201456
Event: Creative Cuppa 3rd Coffee Meetup
(Completed & Newsletter coming soon...)
Theme: Online Journalism / Citizen Journalism
Time: 12:00am-13:00pm, 28th January, 2009
Venue: Kathleen Smith Group Study Room 2.2, David Wilson Library, University of Leicester
The Internet and its latest technological innovations are seen as one of the most important mass media revolutions today. It is widely believed to be the first time in history that the "individuals" have moved to the central position in "mass communication". Media futurists have even predicted that by 2021, "citizens will produce 50 percent of the news peer-to-peer". Journalism, as a very important area of the media industry, is now undoubtedly under huge pressure to change in the face of these new challenges. Therefore, whether we are ready to cope with the challenges, it has become a very meaningful issue.
Creative Cuppa's third Coffee Meetup is a free discussion event. This time, discussion will be focused on the theme of “online journalism” and “citizen Journalism”, through which participants can relate how they believe the Internet and its technologies have contributed to a transformation in journalism, as one of the leading areas of the media industry today. Everyone is welcome, no matter what background or discipline you are from. You can pop in and drop out anytime you want. The most important thing is that you have fun, feel relaxed, and are ready to refresh your brains with loads of new creative ideas.
Creative Cuppa:
http://creativecuppa.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=60675201456
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