I gots this essay to do for Pro Development.

Yeah, note the improper grammer/punctuation.

Anyway, that question made me think I could get you all to do this for me it would be an interesting discussion to have.


Go nuts.

Write a satritical dicussion about how eLife has changed your life by making people write about a nonexistant eLife that exists somewhere out there.

Its addictive thats for sure. Also a lot of people have problems being social in person, but are better at being social when they don't have to be face to face.

There are some people like myself that don't have alot of people with similar intrests in their area, or much like again can't stand 90% of the people that live near them, the internet is a way for them to be able to talk to human beings that share intrests.

But cybersex just isn't the same...

For me it is a matter of personae. I am different here than I am at work than I am with my friends than I am by my parents than I am alone than I am with my Grammy and so on...

It's just one more outlet. No, it's several, since I am different here than I am at wikipaedia than I am at Giant in the Playground than I am at, uhh, Gaia.

I on the other hand am only me. it's just theres less fear of a sexual harassment lawsuit online. Makes me more honest.

Yeah, well... As regards to the writing, they say that academic essays have to be dispassionate and in the third person. So no funny.

This makes me feel sad all over.

How about starting with "He jumped. She kissed."?

Umm. I'd start it by defining eLife, come back to me when you get that far? :P

No seriously, its not in the dictionary, which could mean that its original research, in the sense that its some article, website, or other source I don't know about? A google search of eLife turned up several possible canidates(its the name of a company, apparently?).

While eLife isn't that bad, I much prefer eMonopoly or eClue.

hmmmm...

eLife is what life would be like if it were sold by corporations, packaged up and sold in monthy instalations. eLife is in fact all the good things in life, Sex, Money, Power, whatever you want, without the bad things in life. you don't have to worry about eDeath, or eDisease, unless you miss a payment. and hey, if you screw up real bad in eLife (i.e. Fail) all you have to do is start over with a clean slate and no one will know.

I tend to play wizards, so I spend more points on eMana than eLife.

I do have a subscription to eLife magazine though.

Okay, so it's time I got around to doing this for serious now. Does anyone know of any resources that might be useful before beginning the write-up?

This magazine would make a good sourse. It has many articles that are applicable. I'm not gonna find them for you, but it can help.

Right...So we actually got a lecture on eLife today, and it's not what I thought.


It's not about people that spend their lives online, as I first thought. It's all about how advances in technology can completely change our lives. Things from, having computer chips in everything, to using nanites for medical purposes... eLife.

Yeah.

For the record, the internet doesn't know about this e-life thing. Therefore, it doesn't exist! Just write whatever bs you think will satisfy your teacher.

Yes, but the problem is, I got a lecture about it. That means they have a clear cut idea of what elife is. Making that option somewhat more difficult.

They are using eLife to describe technology in general, as the word technology has been stolen to mean only compy stuff, it seems.

They shouldn't even use e ANYWAYS. E is for internet stuff. They arn't even using the e right!

Talk about how 30(?)ish years ago they implanted insulin genes into bacteria, to make cheap, nonalergenic insulin for diabetics, and this genetic engineering was called technology. But now noone thinks of it like that, and because technology now is just a buzzword overused by the processors of silicon and designers of ipods and pcs and stuff. Talk about how eLife itself sounds much like the same sort of buzzword.

I would at least.

Spris advice is mostly good, although I will not be held responsible for the response to criticism. :P

Blast! I'm having trouble getting the basic flow right! The introduction to this thing is a real killer because I still don't fully get how to explain eLife.

I know what it is, but can't articulate it.
Which is bad. Fucking bad.

A little help maybe?

How about an opening line?

Today, advancements in technology have lead us to a society to where more and more people are experiencing life through electronic devices. This machine enhanced life, which we now call Elife, ...

Eh, you get the idea on the second sentance there.

edit: as a side note, I think your going to have to use synonyms for technology alot, and I used like 2 or 3 of them right there. That might be something to watch out for as you go along.

I'll try using 'software' instead. I think that explains what eLife is better.

Thanks!


*Leaves to work furiously on it.

Ok, seeing as you probably don't have much more time, if you need help I'll be on aim.

I intend to clean up the grammar and suchlike later. Right now, I'm looking for content.
================

“...My friends and wife phoned every five minutes. What is there about such 'conveniences' that makes them so temptingly convenient?... Convenient for my office, so when I'm in the field with my radio car there's no moment when I'm not in touch. In touch! There's a slimy phrase. Touch, hell. Gripped! Pawed, rather.” ~ The Murderer, By Ray Bradbury

Imagine a world where it is possible to connect to the Internet from any location. To access any kind of information you require at any given moment, and instantly communicate with anybody that you wish, or even multiple people at once.
This is an example of eLife, where technology, the Internet and networking have integrated themselves into every aspect of our lives.
While eLife sounds all well and good, with such advancements one must consider the social implications that will undoubtedly follow.


================

Okay. How's that? I might change it to use Jurons opening line, but I'd like to hear some opinions first.

Nono, yours is much more fleshed out. My only intent was to jumpstart you. :)

I've made a decent enough start now. I have it up to about 1000 words which is almost half way there. Although, currently, it's just a skeletal structure. I intend to add more "meat" to it after getting a good idea of the sort of thing I wanna say.

Here's what I have so far. Suggestions for improvement would be nice. And so would sources to cite.


====================
“...My friends and wife phoned every five minutes. What is there about such 'conveniences' that makes them so temptingly convenient?... Convenient for my office, so when I'm in the field with my radio car there's no moment when I'm not in touch. In touch! There's a slimy phrase. Touch, hell. Gripped! Pawed, rather.” ~ The Murderer, By Ray Bradbury

Imagine a world where it is possible to connect to the Internet from any location. Where it's possible to access any kind of information you require at any given moment, and instantly communicate with anybody that you wish, or even multiple people at once.
This is an example of eLife, where technology, the Internet and networking have integrated themselves into every aspect of our lives.
While eLife sounds all well and good, with such advancements one must consider the social implications that will undoubtedly follow.

To greater understand the possible influences eLife would have on everyday life, it is necessary to begin by looking at already existing examples, including technologies that lead into the concept.
For instance, television has had a tremendous impact on social activity. A good deal of conversation is often related to the latest popular television show or a movie that had been shown the previous night. Furthermore, the television has become one of the most popular sources of news coverage available, allowing the general population to be more aware of the current state of affairs.
However, it can be argued that too much time has been invested in the television. Some busy parents use it as a replacement babysitter, while not really paying attention to their children or what they are watching.
Also, the media has become less concerned with reporting the news, and more concerned with maintaining an audience: The various stations are engaged in a ratings war. This could lead to stories being invented, or a person/group being 'hounded' by the press for alleged misdeeds. Such stories would sway the public opinion in one of two major ways: The “band-wagon” effect, whereby the person in question agrees with the media, or the “underdog” effect, whereby the person disagrees with the media. It becomes more difficult to tell whether a person has truly had an original opinion when the media holds such a sway over a persons life.

The Internet is an entirely different beast to the television, however, allowing a far deeper level of interactivity than television has ever allowed. It presents a wide range of entertainment, ranging between animation, stories, artwork, comics and more. Much of which is presented for free, although there is also a good deal that requires payment.
There are also a variety of news websites available for viewing. These sites allow users to avoid news articles they do not wish to read, and go straight to whatever topic interests them.
Of course, these sites have the same problems that television news channels have. They need to maintain popularity, and will be more likely to print the stories they believe will achieve this goal.

Through the Internet, there is also the ability to purchase virtually any item a person could be willing to sell. This aids individuals with Internet access who cannot, for one reason or another, leave the house, to obtain such things as food and suchlike.

Finally, through the use of the Internet, communications throughout the world have become much easier to maintain. Messages can be left for people on the other side of the world. It is possible to hold conversations with people from all over the world, as many as you wish, all at the same time through instant messaging services. Working from home becomes a much easier task, as a person working from home can request required documents, or e-mail their own work to the office. People with common interests can find each other easier than it used to be possible.

However, alongside these benefits come a number of drawbacks. Ivan Goldberg(MD) theorised that it is possible to develop an addiction to the Internet. People addicted to the Internet display the classic indicators of addiction, such as:
A need for markedly increased amounts of time on Internet to achieve satisfaction.
Display withdrawal symptoms when separated from the Internet for extended periods.
There is a persistent desire or unsuccessful efforts to cut down or control Internet use.
And so on.
Furthermore, not everybody can afford a computer. Various television shows utilise the Internet to provide more information to the viewers, but not everybody has such access at hand, or does not fully understand how it works. These people could fall into a kind of 'subclass', while the Internet gains more and more usage and popularity.

The described technologies are among many that have influenced social behaviour in the last few decades. But what of the technologies yet to emerge? What sort of impact shall they have on society?

Take for example Ubiquitous Computing (sometimes described as “Invasive Computing” for reasons to be explained). The concept behind Ubiquitous Computing is the opposite of virtual reality, whereby a person is placed inside a computer generated world. Instead, the computer is taken into the real world, and embedded into the environment that surrounds us.
When working properly, anyone using a Ubiquitous Computer system would barely be aware they were using it. One of the ultimate aims of this type of computing is to allow those individuals that are not computer literate to feel more comfortable accessing and interacting with the data the system provides. This would mean that the previously mentioned 'subclass' would no longer exist, as the computers would be available for public use.


Another example of an emerging technology is the Semantic Web. At present, web pages are designed to be used by humans and not computers. This makes automating requests for simple tasks difficult, as the computer would not know where to start. The Semantic Web is a concept that would allow a computer to use the Internet to perform a task as requested by the user. The computer could, for instance, automatically locate the best deal for a book(or whatever item you require) that you wish to purchase.



Another example of an emerging technology is Grid Computing. A grid utilises the resources provided by computers that are connected in a network (for instance, the Internet), to solve large problems. Grids can perform a number of calculations at once(many more than possible using a single computer), and can break down large data sets into smaller ones.

Very nicely done, but are you required to use sources, or are you just using the sources as filler? Because if its just filler, that allows alot more sources to pick from, seeing as there is nothing out there about eLife itself. Also how much more time do you have? I'm seriously dead tired tonight, I don't think I can handle looking up research right now.

Until wednesday.
And sources are required.

:blink: I'll try my best later today, but honestly I need some sleep now. Miight I add that your teacher is crazy. <_<

Yeah, well, I put off working on this (mostly due to other bits of coursework) until last week or so. I've had ages to work on it.


I'll be searching wiki for relevant stuff. I would really like to get examples of psychiatric tests on the effects of the Internet and Television. Those would be rather helpful.

Yo Drek, you aimed me, got your message. Anything new you need besides sources? Frankly I'm pretty stumped myself on that end.

Eh.
Some quick google searches:
http://www.google.com/search?client=opera&...=utf-8&oe=utf-8
the top one on that search looks good.

http://www.google.com/search?client=opera&...=utf-8&oe=utf-8

Or more specifically:
http://www.google.com/search?client=opera&...=utf-8&oe=utf-8

looks good.

Actually, that was so much more usefull than any other wording for the same information >.< Loads of good pages there. Sorry for the wait.

Eh, that's fine. I'll look through that stuff to see what can be used.

Thanks.

I'll be posting another version of the essay later on, alongside the guidelines for marking. Brutal honesty is much more helpful here.

Well I didn't give it a spelling and grammar check yet, I was saving that for the penultimate draft.

*Finds essay which discusses the impact of the Internet on users social skills.


*Which cites other sources.

:huh:



Yyyyyyyeeeeeessss!

Blah! Restarted again. Dammit!


Well, anyway. Here's the damned thing as it currently is. I'm not even quite half way to the minimum yet. In short, I be in the deep shit.

Well, there's still time tomorrow to pull something out of my ass.

=======================================

Technologies available to the public are rapidly developing. Eventually, it may well get to the point whereby every aspect of our lives are maintained by a variety of computers. Everything from communications, to entertainment, to selecting the quickest route to a given destination and more, all carefully considered by computers. This is eLife. A potential wave of the future.
But what of the social consequences of eLife? This essay intends to start by showing the impacts of the television and the Internet on society.
From there, various aspects of eLife itself shall be examined, and the various consequences these may individually have. Finally, the various social aspects that are likely to take the largest impact of eLife are to be examined. From this, it is intended to show whether eLife would ultimately have a beneficial effect on society, or be a detriment instead.

Human society is, and always has been, heavily influenced by technological advancements.
Take for example, the “Idiots Lantern”: The television. It has had a wide and far reaching effect on society as a whole, for a number of reasons.
Firstly, a large amount of conversation is based around the television. A show, a movie, or even sports that had been shown the previous night. People gather around to watch such things, and can even form friendships based around it
Secondly, news coverage. Here was a device that allowed breaking developments to be brought instantly to the people. Before this, we would have to wait until at least the next days paper. Now, when something significant happens, we barely wait an hour.
But then again, there are parents that use the television as a sort of “replacement babysitter”.

The Internet is quite possibly the first step towards eLife, so in order to understand the influences that eLife will have on society, it is necessary to first analyse the influence the Internet has had.
There are different viewpoints on the impact that the 'net has had on the users social activities and skills. Also, almost all research comes from America, which may somewhat influence results.
Nonetheless, the results of such studies indicate either that “Internet use will produce a further disintegration of community life, a loss of social contacts and a decrease in feelings of well being”
(Kraut, Patterson, Lundmark, Kiesler et al., 1998; Nie & Erbring, 2000; UCLA, 2000 )
or
“Internet use engenders participation in virtual communities, is beneficial for the maintenance and proliferation of social relations and heightens self esteem”
(Kazmer & Haythornthwaite, 2001; LaRose, Eastin & Gregg, 2001; Pew, 2000, 2001)
Clearly, these two results contradict each other. Why is that?
“Many studies are now moving away from thinking of the Internet as a separate (positive or negative) factor in everyday life towards a view in which Internet is an integrated part of it, being affected by it, as well as affecting it” (Haythornthwaite (2001) )
This indicates that the Internet should instead be considered a part of everyday life, instead of as an external influence upon that life.
In what ways does using the Internet change a persons life? There are a wide variety of ways.
Firstly, communication. There are many ways to communicate online with friends and family. Emails, Instant Messaging and suchlike abound. But yet, there is no restriction to merely communicating with existing friends and family. There are many, many forums available so that those with common interests may meet without having physically met. Indeed, Internet friendships can be formed without either having met, seen, or heard the other at all. One result of this is that those that tend to be shy around other people can make friends far easier than under normal circumstances.

A second consideration is the concept of e-commerce. Shopping online! Through use of the Internet, it is now possible to order items that you desire, that may not be available in a local shop. Or in the case of particularly rare items, to see if anybody is willing to sell. This aids individuals that, for whatever reason, cannot leave their house to make purchases.

But whenever dealing with the transfer of money, security issues must also be considered. Spyware, a kind of malicious software that allows other people to view your computer activity remotely, may be used to gain access to account details and other personal information. This is a clear invasion of privacy.
In addition to Spyware, viruses, worms and the like are a major concern. It is estimated that in 2003, PC viruses cost approximately businesses $55 Billion in damages.
So-called “Spam” emails are another concern. These emails are the equivalent of a “cold call”, sent to any email address the company (or whoever is sending them) that is acquired. insert statistics for spam emails here to indicate how serious the problem is.

Finally, Ivan Goldberg, M.D, theorized a disorder called Internet Addiction Syndrome. Those suffering from this syndrome supposedly display symptoms such as the following:
1: Tolerance, as defined by either of the following:
A need for markedly increased amounts of time on Internet to achieve satisfaction.
Markedly diminished effect with continued use of the same amount of time on Internet.
2: Withdrawal, as manifested by either A or B below:
(A) the characteristic withdrawal syndrome, 1, 2 and 3 below
1.Cessation of (or reduction) in Internet use that has been heavy and prolonged.
Two (or more) of the following, developing within several days to a month after Criterion:
(a) psychomotor agitation
(b) anxiety
© obsessive thinking about what is happening on the Internet
(d) fantasies or dreams about the Internet
(e) voluntary or involuntary typing movements of the fingers
1.The symptoms in Criterion 2 cause distress or impairment in social, occupational or another important area of functioning
(B) Use of Internet or a similar on-line service is engaged in to relieve or avoid withdrawal symptoms.
(courtesy of Wikepedia)

The above were the key social effects of the Internet. However, there are further advancements necessary before eLife becomes a reality. The Internet features rather heavily in a number of these concepts, however, so it was necessary to understand the impact that it has had before continuing.

The first concept to consider is known as either Ubiquitous or Invasive computing. With such a concept, we have a world whereby computers are integrated directly into the environment itself, and are interacted with casually, with users being mostly unaware they are even there.
For example, parents can keep track of their child's current location, due to tracking devices sewn into clothing(Jurgen Bohn, Vlad Coroama, Marc Laugheinrich, Friedemann Matter, Michael Rosh, Institute for Pervasive Computing, Switzerland)
Naturally, this sort of thing raises a variety of security questions. Such devices could result in a silent, invisible surveillance network completely surrounding us in all areas of life. Furthermore, it also makes the concept of hackers a much more real, physical threat. They could, for instance, reprogram a persons car, and make it drive into a nearby tree.

Another concept of eLife is that of the Semantic Web. At present, the Internet and its content is designed solely to be viewed by humans. This makes automating functions such as “find the cheapest price for this book” rather a difficult task. The computer would not even know where to start!
However, with the Semantic Web, it would be much easier to give instructions to a computer, and expect them to be carried out properly. Obviously, the main benefit of this is that much time would be saved that could be spent performing other tasks.

There are a number of specific areas that would be particularly affected by eLife. Firstly, the workplace. It would be quite possible to work entirely from home, without going to the office. However, it is argued that people would not get as much work done from home as they would do in an office, surrounded by co-workers.
========================


Yeah, that bit at the end is incomplete... I can't really think what sort of implications the semantic web might have right now. It's too late for that kinda thinking.
I'll get some sleep, and hope that tomorrow, I see something blatant needing discussed. Then, of course, I gotta tweak so there's a flow in there too...

I'll be honest.

I liked the old version better. Grammatically and organizationally you did a much better job the first time. The first one flowed, this one doesn't. Plus Semantic Web sounds like BS to me, although so did eLife in the first place...

Semantic Web is just another buzzword, like Web 2.0


Just look up and shove as many buzzwords in it as you can.... you'll be happier :P