The Sound Of Silence

In our day to day life, we have 5 senses; sight, smell, taste, touch and of course our hearing. Sound is a very important element when it comes to communicating with each other. Sound also lets us visually interpret things; I for one find this quite intriguing and somewhat magical.

Today in Class it was pointed out that sound, yes sound is a vital “visual” aspect of most things in both everyday life and indeed the digital world; take music and video for example.  A fair point was made that in the film industry a lot has to be said about the type and sound of the music being played. In a way it almost adds special effects to the film, you can tell by the sound of the music which way you will react. The sound gives us reactions! We also have such modern devices that work on voice command. This is just another example of how sound affects our everyday lives and a glimpse into the future of our technology being able to operate without the touch of a button.

Is there a difference between sound and silence? Some of us classify silence as no sound, I for one as well as many others beg to differ. I think the sound of silence is one of the most natural and most peaceful sounds. You may be shocked to hear that the sound of silence is different almost everywhere. There are many different environments spread out over different places, different creatures living in different places, and of course though out different generations.

This brings me on to my next point which was indeed talked about in class – John Cage’s famous masterpiece, The 4’33. This is a composition that some argue is 4.33minutes of unique sound and others argue it is 4.33 minutes of silence. The is a full orchestra, that you would think to look at, ready to play a musical masterpiece. Although this is a very controversial piece of art, and probably the biggest reasons for its fame; but in a way I can see were cage is coming from. The beauty of the environmental sound around us as cage performed this is most unique.  I’m sure he had no idea how the audience would respond to it nor the sounds that they would make, this is another aspect to its beauty. Whilst discussing this in class, there was many valid points made about this certain composition, after 4 minutes some claimed they could hear music playing into their ears, others, as you could tell by their reaction were board out of there mind, then a number of people like myself, not knowing what to think or where to look whilst the video was being played, I was just constantly waiting impatiently for the performers to play a piece of music. 

Technology Continued!

Today's blog is a continuation of last weeks lecture as we began again to talk about various aspects of modern technology and the impact it has today. 

We went back over various different topics such as how the younger generation or the name Paul gave to it “digital natives”, adapted to modern day technology so quickly and how we can see this sort of virtual world forming around our day to day lives.

As our lecture began, we were introduced to a 12 year old kid giving a TED talk – who would have thought he would have that under his belt at the age of 12? He basically taught himself or possibly was taught how to use programming systems such as java to invent an app.  His most famous app being “Bustin Jeiber”. Well now we have spoken a bit about that can I just say, I truly do find it incredible a child having this much ability and that is just a glimpse into the future of what is to come from our modern day children – well that’s if your asking me. I think that it would be fair to say that us "digital natives"  are so used to technology today that we are not afraid to play around with technology, growing up playing video games, interacting with computers, and other digital equipment that you don't even think twice about using technology and quite frankly we don't even put much thought into it. I am beginning to think this could well be the difference between us "digital natives" and the "old folks".

I would like to extend on the interesting topic, virtual space. A couple of points were raised that we indeed live a part of our life in a virtual space, for example online newspapers and magazines and more interestingly through social networking sites, take facebook as an example. At first I didn't quite understand what Paul was trying to say then I soon came to realise! Take a girls night out for example, realistically, you would think a girls night out is all about the night out, drinking, dancing and having fun, yes it is but it was soon pointed out that indeed the night out still goes on to exist in photos that are uploaded onto facebook, it was not long after this lecture that I find myself doing the same thing, putting Pauls words into actions. The night still lives on in my virtual space. 

In this day and age we can choose which way we even want to view our news papers and magazines, as I said before, online, we can download them on to Smartphone’s and Ipad’s or we can go up-close and personal and buy the real thing to hold it in your hand. I for one am a fan of buying the real thing, but I also have to agree I have bought several downloads and I haven’t been disappointed, in a way it can tell the story two different ways, the difference is the virtual machine!

Wow, Technology is Growing!

I am going to talk briefly about technology and its growing influence on today’s society. So over the past 40 years or so technology has been increasing in popularity and dependence. Today's best technology includes devices such as the internet, mobile phones, for example the BlackBerry and the iPhone, Sky+ etc. For the average person’s daily life in our world, both work and personal space, one would be lost without several devices that we use in order to peruse our daily routine. The big question I suppose is could we live without technology? The use of technology comes almost second nature to us folks and I know that I for one would be lost without it!

I suppose over the past years that yes our generation have become, as you say “Digital natives”. In a way that we have been almost custom-made to work and interact with this modern technology. I myself find it incredibly easy and thrilling to try out and find myself perfectly capable to work the latest gadgets, sometimes with the manual but mostly not.

I do find this incredible just how much more advanced the children of today are when it comes to technology. I have heard several different stories and have saw with my own eyes how simplistic today’s generation of children as young as the age of two for example make technology look. They seem to be able to do all sorts of things such as play video games, play on iPhones and so on. It was pointed out in our lectures that there is this all new virtual world happening, and I truly do believe this!

Throughout the years, firstly it was a novelty to have a computer, only those who truly needed a computer or those who of course could afford a computer or laptop. This has most defiantly changed whereas in our virtual world today, without access to a computer some things may be considered impossible! People don’t even have to leave the house to get the basic necessities such as grocery shopping, clothes shopping, gadget shopping and best of all even education.

This brings me to my next point, that our social life now indeed has a more virtual way of working. Due to technology we have lost the sense of visiting to one another and the good old pen and paper. Indeed phone calls, video calls, instant messaging and social network sites are a quicker and efficient way of reaching one another. Another question on the end of the stick occurs, is all of our confidential information safe? Do we share too much with computers and technology is there too much to risk. It is old news that social networking sites may not be the safest of websites, take facebook for example. Some individuals using these sites may be vulnerable and others use these sights as a form of bullying. Yes there is always a danger of internet websites, we may get caught up and have this virtual world created in our heads. We can never be too careful with the on goings that happens on social network sites. Is this growing and constantly changing technology good or bad for our society? Some say good and others bad. It is out of our arms reach today to say so.