What I have found interesting and not so interesting in Digital Cultures

In this week’s blog I will be look back on some of the previous topics discussed in this digital cultures blog. I will discuss the areas that I found interesting and others that weren’t so exciting.

The first blog studied what impact social media is having on blogs.

http://digitext09.blogspot.com/2009/11/digital-cultures-lecture1.html

I found this topic interesting because social networking sites such as Facebook and twitter are growing increasingly more and more popular. I learnt that these websites are encouraging journalists and broadcasters such as the BBC to use social networking as a way of breaking news. It also showed me how the development of technology has enabled us to change the way we live our lives. For example if you wanted to keep in contact with someone 20 years ago you might write a letter but these days we can use Facebook to search for old friends and see what they are up to. It will be exciting to see what the future of these social networking sites will be.

Another topic that I found interesting was whether Ray Kurstweil’s theories will ever become reality.

http://digitext09.blogspot.com/2009/12/will-ray-kurstweils-theories-ever.html

This was a topic that I found interesting because it focused on the relationship between humans and robots. If Kurstweil’s theories were ever to become reality then the world would be a completely different place to how it is now. The development of new technology makes his prediction that humans and machines will merge together in the physical and mental realms possible. Therefore this blog enabled me to learn about the ways in which robot technology is developing and becoming increasingly more likely that Ray Kurtweil’s theories can become reality.
However one area that i didn’t find particularly interesting was second life and simulators.

http://digitext09.blogspot.com/2009/12/do-second-life-and-simulators-serve.html

The reasons i didn’t find this that interesting was due to the fact that I don’t really believe that second life serves a purpose. I can see why simulators exist because they can help teach airplane pilots how to fly because its better to train in a safe environment where mistakes can be made. However second life doesn’t offer that much to society and it will never really develop. Some companies may like being able to hold meetings in second life so everyone can attend and this from a business point of view does make sense. I do feel that the reason many people use second life is purely to create a version of themselves that they like and live a life that they want to.

Overall the topic of Digital Cultures has been interesting as I’ve looked at the ways technology has developed and adapted over the years. In my opinion the future of technology is exciting and it will be interesting to see how the topics that I have discussed in my blog develop.