EXAMINATION FOR TERM OCTOBER 2009
Course:
1. Associate Degree of Science in Computing and Information Technology
2. Associate Degree of Business Administration
Subject:
IT106 Information And Multimedia Systems
All the documents need to be submitted to CMS on or before 5pm, 22nd Jan 2010 (Friday)
Instructions to Students:
This is a take home exam. Students are required to finish 4 forum discussions and one report.
- For each forum, contributions need to display an understanding of multiple perspectives regarding the issue under discussion. Specific positions are encouraged, but need to be argued based upon critical thinking and utilize published materials from the media and academic literature. Each discussion should have a words length of 300 words to 600 words.
- Write a report which identifies, discusses and assesses a current issue in the area of Multimedia and Information Technology. Particular attention should be given to any social, cultural, ethical, and legal implications of these new technologies. The report should have a words length of 2500 words to 3500 words.
(5 marks)
What is privacy in the modern world?
What role does celebrity play?
How does Multimedia and Information Technology impact upon privacy and celebrity?
In recent days the death of Michael Jackson has received blanket coverage in conventional news media (newspapers, radio news and television news).
Other media have been dealing with high volumes of traffic too. Google thought that it may have been under cyber attack due to the very high rate of inquiries of "Michael Jackson" that happened with such an immediacy in time.
(See: http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/jackson-queries-cause-google-meltdown-20090627-d06w.html)
Some people are literally born as a celebrity - these are the princes and princesses of this world who inherit a role in public life from their parents, the kings and queens. There are very few such people left on the planet, and their level of celebrity may be localized to just a few countries.
All other celebrities are "produced" or "manufactured". Movie stars (especially when married to each other, as are Angelina Joli and Brad Pitt) are a marketers dream. Prominent sports and music stars (again, especially when married as are Victoria (Posh Spice) and David Beckham) can no longer live their private lives privately. Event such as births of children along with the disruptions or unhappiness that occur in family life such as separations and divorce, are played out in the public media whenever they occur.
Why is this so? And what are the rights and wrongs of this? After all, if the general public payed no attention to these "stories" then they would not appear in the news media because they would not be the material that sold papers, or gained viewers or was considered to "be news".
Forum 2: First Person Computer Games.
(5 marks)
What are the implications?
Can these games be seen as training young users to commit acts of violence?
Check out this site:
http://www.smh.com.au/digital-life/games/outrage-as-terrorist-game-lets-players-massacre-civilians-20091029-hmey.html?autostart=1
There was a documentary aired last night (4/10/09) on SBS about "The Samurai", a TV series produced in the 60's and 70's which achieved a cult status in the minds of Australian children at the time. It was the first TV series that produced a range of merchandise associated with a show in Australia.
http://www.tvseriesgalore.com/blog/?p=2217
Lots of school kids at the time were crazed about the show and although the merchandise consisted mainly of ninja costumes and plastic swords, many took to using tin-snips to fabricate their own star knives from discarded tin can lids.
(5 marks)
What is privacy in the modern world?
What role does threats to security play?
How does Multimedia and Information Technology impact upon privacy and security?
Last week the headlines were again reporting hotel bombings in Indonesia (http://www.aol.com.au/news/story/Jihad-in-Jakarta/2348587/index.html), resulting in several deaths.
Such bombings are not isolated to Indonesia.
The flying of airplanes into the twin towers of The World Trade Center in the U.S.A on September 11th 2001 captured lots of media attention. In part because of the severity of the event, but perhaps also because of the extreme nature of the footage that had been captured (both the crashing of planes into the buildings, and the crashing of the buildings to the ground). Be warned, explicitly graphic but for example, see: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lKZqqSI9-s. Several thousand people died as a direct result.
This event changed the political relationship between some countries of "the west" and groups considered to be aligned with Islamic fundamentalism, which was identified as being responsible.
The reality is that whatever the politics of the situation, bombings of public figures and public spaces (trains, buses, airplanes, hotels, restaurants, weddings) has become a relatively more common strategy employed by some groups and the location for such events has clearly become more globalised.
Information and Communication technologies such as mobile phones, email, and internet sites have been used to plan, coordinate and execute some of these attacks. Consequently, many governments have sought to modify their countries' laws regarding privacy and communications to enable greater surveillance (with varying degrees of success).
What are the rights and wrongs of such a trend towards increased surveillance? Are you happy with such a state of affairs? Does it make you feel safer? Does it make the world safer?
Forum 4: Public Information and Politics.
(5 marks)
What is public information in the modern world?
What role does politics play?
How does Multimedia and Information Technology impact upon free speech and politics?
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In democratic countries “freedom of thought” and “freedom of speech” are fundamental to the political process.
Freedom of thought maintains that all people have the right to think for themselves, including with respect to political issues. Freedom of speech is the right to voice publicly ones’ thoughts, without fear of reprisal from the government of the day (nor from one in the future).
The underlying ethic which drives a democracy is the principle that the people of a country, through a voting system, have the right to elect the government of that country. This enables the collective will and wisdom of the people of a nation to take responsibility for their countries future.
In democratic countries the power to determine what appears in newspapers, television and radio is generally held by the businesses that run these media. In non-democratic countries the power to determine what is presented in the newspapers, television and radio is generally held by the government.
In recent years the internet has provided a means by which any individual who holds knowledge on how to upload information and who has access to the hardware and software required, can present to the public domain any information he or she chooses to present. This can be something as benign as a recipe for fried rice, or something as destructive as a recipe for explosives. The information uploaded can also be (and often has been) of a political nature.
Governments, both democratic and non-democratic, have been moving towards increasing restrictions placed upon the nature of the content that can be presented and received on the internet. But the type of content chosen to prohibit will bring into contrast the views of governments in democratic countries compared to those in non-democratic countries.
Discuss.
Report on contemporary issue in multimedia and Information Technology
(40 marks)
Students are encouraged to select a specialised topic area focussing on a contemporary issue in multimedia and Information Technology. It will enable you to undertake detailed study in an area:
- in which you hold intrinsic interest
- that has specific relevance and application to an aspect of you personal and/or professional life either currently or in the future
- that you will find more motivating, and strive to achieve a higher quality product
- that you will embrace, and experience higher levels of self satisfaction, and
- that you will gain greater generic knowledge, skills and attitudes regarding research and the production of reports.
