Candace's E-learning and Digital Cultures site

Don’t know how convinced I am by this…they include terribly idiosyncratic terms like ‘rubbish’ and ‘Bieber’ ; ) But there are some interesting tidbits, not least the assumption that these tweeters are communities, and also some really emergent cultural grammars as well.

Jumpin Jack Flash is another film related to digital cultures in particular. Here modems are used to transfer money among banks, but as the transfers are done manually, the computer operators can chat with each other (the main character gets told off for giving relationship advice and receiving a recipe for Yankee pot roast).

She is then contacted by a secret agent (natch) and has to work out a password to get onto a special colour chat server. His requests for help lead to all sorts of RL adventures and the film ends with the main character chatting with the dishy (sort of) agent, who then reveals that he’s sitting just a few feet away. (Too bad he turns out to be a baddie who manipulates the media…)

I couldn’t find the Yankee pot roast scene, or the moment she hacks into the chat server, but here’s a trailer (which doesn’t mention modems at all, but has a couple shots of computers)…

I got these bits of spam on Valentine’s day. Mr MacKeeper (or whatever the character is called) seems to be dreaming of a human woman, as well as keeping my Mac safe and operating at its full capacity. The marketing strategy here is apparently ‘holiday + girl + brand name = money’. And just in case you don’t know what Valentine’s day is, they’ve lifted some helpful (if slightly misinformed and Ameri-centric) info about its origins from what we must assume to be a rather dodgy internet source.

It’s the sort of ‘digital artefact run amok’ quality that I find particularly interesting–a logo here, a character there, some clip art, a bit of text, an address in Sunnyvale, trying to make it personal (Candace.nolan), invoking phrases like ‘friends and loved ones’.

I suppose spotting all this stuff–the elements that don’t quite add up–is a kind of digital literacy in itself. (Although…guess what I installed on my MacBook a few months ago…)

This image, which made the internet rounds recently accompanied by an entirely fictional story, is nonetheless a digitally cultural reminder that we interpret images as well as words. Symbols and signs are embedded in images just as they are in language, and the misconception that a picture is somehow more transparent than language–while this could be true in many contexts–is misleading if applied universally.

Kress may be correct in saying that changes in both the medium and mode of writing are ongoing. But the platform I’m typing into at the moment is evidence that writing itself isn’t as tied to the book as Kress suggests.

As for text, the internet is still largely structured by it as far as discreet parcels of information are concerned. If I want to find an image, video or sound clip, I still have to type in my text, and my success is based on the words that I choose to enter…

Screenshot of a fb post that is a screenshot of another fb post, neither of which has a permanent hyperlink, and which was brought to my attention by a third fb post on my timeline.The sentiment is apropos as well ; ) And interesting how the value is put on the information rather than the ability to contribute/interact oneself…

‘ a world of unparalleled but ultimately meaningless choice‘ – Hand (p. 18)

• 15 brand names
• 4 paid-for adverts (one with ‘choice’ and feedback options)
• 6 celebrity names
• ‘Favourites’ (never chosen)
• Location-specific news and weather