This blog is...

Is this a blog that will consist of me exporting "Dear Deirdre"-esque advice for anyone reading? I would imagine not. Is it likely to be a step-by-step guide on how the political system is progressing, or regressing? Again, not likely.

To me this blog is the unravelling and distribution of what I think, or what i want/need to learn on digital culture. Whether it is the evolution of the internet, or whether it is the interactive nature of television. This blog aims to to release impactful, relevant postings regarding digital culture and varying aspects and facets of it.

The difference between this blog, and a blog, for example grantland.com is that this blog doesn't have a full repetoire of writers and reporters. It has me! A solitary blogger, with a little bit help from links, images and videos. This blog also won't address "sports and pop culture" in the detail "grantland" does. This blog will focus on digital culture. The internet, television, radio, etc.

The one way in which these blogs perhaps would be seen as similar is they both deal with aspects of "digital culture", both have/will address film and video games as genres. Both will write about the improvement of graphics, gameplay, high-definition. Both will write about if/how 3D is changing the way we watch film, TV. What is the future for 3D? Can it be watched without glasses?

One thing this blog will incorporate, like the vast majority of others, especially on blogger is a comments section underneath each post. This allows anyone reading to come forward with any queries or opinions on the content they've read. This allows for a more approachable writer-reader interface. The comments section is also extremely beneficial for me, as it allows me to easily see what I've done right, or if there's something I've done wrong or if the piece lacks something.

Also, similar to other bloggers, I can link the blog with a plethora of social networking sites. For example, my other blog has my five most recent tweets underneath the wall paper on the right side margin. Links to blog posts can immediately be posted to “Facebook” and appear on your profile for others to see. This is a very quick, cheap way of enticing new readers, which in turn can create a more active blog.

The "useful links" feature is also a preference of mine, similar to placing a website in your "favourites" it protects you from searching through “Google”, or trying to remember a name, as it will permanently be on your blog, their for you to find. This also helps the readers, as if you found something useful, the readers will more than likely find the article, blog etc what you're claiming as "useful" informative and necessary aswell.

In reality, this blog won't be fresh political satire. It won't be a "Perez Hilton" look into the Hollywood life. It will hopefully offer an intriguing look into the world of technology, see the transformations we've made and what could/will be done in the future.

Why Study Digital Culture

Digital culture, or the “information age” is the “period from 1970 onwards noted for the consumption and manipulation of information, especially by computers and computer networks”.

But why study the advancement of the last 40 years?

Digital culture is a culture of ever-changing advancements. Perhaps, and in my opinion the greatest advancement of recent times has been the inception of Web 2.0. The giant leap from it’s predecessor (web 1.0) has furthered, and deepened what and how we can browse the world wide web.

Before Web 2.0 their was no online shopping, gaming, even things like hyperlinks, facets of the internet and of the computer we now think of as second nature. All websites were HTML based. This video, “The machine is Us/ing us” by Professor Mesch from Kansas state, gives a glorious insight into Web 2.0 and the technological advancements it presents.

In a world where modern media is always surging to more astounding inventions and furthering what we can do with electronics, it gives a different perspective of living from my generation (the first who always had computers at their disposal) and ones previous. For example, aside from a T.V and a radio, my Grandmother’s house doesn’t possess anything of new age modern technology. Compared with me and my video games, TV’s, laptop etc, shows the difference in who relies on electronics for working, hobbies and in this case, writing blog posts.

We now habit a society where a walkman, an idea marvelled and revered not 20 years earlier sits at the bottom of the metaphorical food chain, whilst I-Pod’s, MP3’s  and less likely, Zune’s all become first choice(s) when it comes to listening to music. A society where I can play video games with people scattered around the globe from the comfort of my armchair. All that is required is a solid internet connection and 40 pounds out of my bank account. Who would of thought that was possible back when we were playing our “Sega Mega Drives”.

Digital culture is a fast-paced world full of miraculous and unfathomable inventions and discoveries, and it’s all something I want to know about, and perhaps be apart of. Whether it be something like digital radio, or something more drastic like a life-like robot with similar human emotions and life-like realism, something that’s well under way in Japan right now. This video shows just how far they’ve come.

Five years ago, the thought of robots to me were just converted “celebrations” tins with antennas on fighting on “Robot wars”. Yet now, with robots with human capabilities almost inevitable. What does the future hold for humans?

It’s all a part of a great, ongoing mystery. One I’m relishing!