Assessment Item #3

"The idea of internet as cyberspace has been part of our contemporary culture for some time, particularly in the popular medium of film. But is the concept of cyberspace still relevant to our contemporary society? Discuss with reference to your own experience of contemporary media."


Cyberspace has become a part of our modern day culture. It's easily said that most people have come across cyberspace in one form or another. Whether it be in the form of film, media, books, or within the Internet itself, cyberspace is still relevant in most cultures. This essay will introduce cyberspace, explaining what, when, where, why and how it started. It will walk through the beginning of cyberspace in the medium of film, through to the most popular films and most recent film titles. Cyberspace is still evident in many popular films, therefore it is still relevant to our contemporary society, and understanding of this will become apparent throughout this essay.

Cyberspace is difficult to define, although it is used to describe the virtual world within computers and the internet. William Gibson first used the word "cyberspace" in his book, Neuromancer, written in 1984. Gibson defines cyberspace in his book as a "consensual hallucination experienced daily by billions of operators, in every nation, by children being taught mathematical concepts... A graphical representation of data abstracted from the banks of every computer in the human system. Unthinkable complexity. Lines of light ranged in the non-spaced of the mind, clusters and constellations of data." (1) By this definition Gibson explains cyberspace as anything numbered, categorized or seen as data. With the publication of Neuromancer in 1984, William Gibson introduced the world to the concept of cyberspace, and science fiction has never been the same. He mentions that cyberspace is something that is "experienced daily", proving the point that cyberspace is still relevant in one way or another in our contemporary society.

Although Gibson is the main theorist who provides the reasoning behind cyberspace, it's would be prudent to look at another definition. Within Cyberspace: the human dimension, David Whittle explains that "Cyber connotes automation, artificial control, and computerization. Space of course means a multidimensional place." (2) Here Whittle breaks down the word and is able to form two meanings. Evidently defining cyberspace as a computerized multidimensional place. He also gives reference to numerous manifestations of cyberspace: telephone conversations, electronic mail, telephone mail and answering machines, newsgroups and forums, mailing lists, chat rooms, web sites, multi-user domains and conference calls. (3) Although majority of these things seem extremely mundane and not really ever thought of as "cyberspace", millions of people around the world live in it every day. But the most popular medium that we come across cyberspace is within science fiction films.

Cyberspace has been a part of our film industry for almost 30 years now. The first major film in the industry was Tron, filmed in 1982 and directed by Steven Lisberger. The film is based around a man named Kevin Flynn, who digitally breaks down into a data stream owned by a villainous software pirate known as the Master Control. Flynn finds himself in the internal, 3-D graphical world of computers. (4) Although it’s the first film of its kind, Tron helped pave the way for cyberspace to become a reality rather than an unknown existence.


The next big film concerning cyberspace hit the big screen in 1995. Virtuosity directed by Brett Leonard tells the story of The Law Enforcement Technology Advancement Centre (LETAC) which has developed a sadistic, intelligent, and dangerous virtual reality entity which is synthesized from the personalities of more than 150 serial killers. They would like to train police officers by putting them in this virtual reality, but they have to prove the concept first by using prisoners as test subjects.(5)


Although the films concerning cyberspace are mostly fiction, they have played a Vitol role in creating awareness of cyberspace amongst our contemporary society. The easily most popular cyberspace movie is The Matrix directed by Andy Wachowski and Larry Wachowski. Set in the year 1999, Thomas Anderson (also known as Neo), lives an ordinary life. By day he is a software techie, but at nightfall he turns to his more lucrative business as a hacker. Untill one night, a strange woman named Trinity seeks him out and introduces him to a character he has been waiting for: Morpheus. Morpheus presents Neo with the truth about his world by shedding light on the dark secrets that have troubled him for so long. (6)

The Matrix has totally advanced and improved the way the public looks at cyberspace. The film was a major hit and went on to win dozens of awards, earning its spot as the most popular cyberspace film today.

So that brings us to a more recent cyberspace film, The Cell, released late in 2000 and directed by Tarsem Singh. The film follows the story of Catharine Deane who is a psychotherapist who is part of a revolutionary new treatment which allows her mind to literally enter the mind of her patients. This takes her on an unexpected turn when an FBI agent comes to ask for a desperate favour. (7)


Cyberspace is evident in our everyday life, yet most people don’t know it. Films in our contemporary media containing the recurring theme of cyberspace tend to associate the public further with the concept of cyberspace that has become present in our everyday society. Therefore cyberspace within the film media is still highly relevant.

Footnotes:
1. 1984: pg.128
2. 1997: pg:5
3. 1997: pg.8
4. http://www.imdb,com/title/tt0084827/plotsummary
5. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0114857/plotsummary
6. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0133093/plotsummary
7. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0209958/plotsummary

Bibliography

Books:

Krug, Gary 2005, "Communication, Technology and Cultural Change, Sage, London
Miller, Steven 1996, "Civilising Cyberspace", acm Press, New York, New York
Whittle, David B. 1997, "Cyberspace: The Human Dimension", W.H Freeman and Company, New York.
Gibson, William 1984, "Neuromancer", Ace Books, Canada

Internet:

IMDB, http://www.imdb,com/title/tt0084827/plotsummary, Accessed on 19/10/09
IMDB, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0114857/plotsummary, Accessed on 19/10/09
IMDB, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0133093/plotsummary, Accessed on 19/10/09
IMDB, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0209958/plotsummary, Accessed on 19/10/09

Week 10 Lecture

Today Josh gave us a lecture about video games.

We talked about the demographic's of the games.
The social effects and certain statistics of males and females who play video games.

At the end of the lecture, Josh got two volunteers to demonstrate to us how females prefer games where they can nurture for animals, whereas males prefer games where they can "blow stuff up" as the student said.

Week 9 Tutorial Activity

Today we had to look into different software programs in order to create some form of art...
This could be quite challenging considering I am deficient when it comes to anything art related.

I decided to just take a photo of the beach, this was as far as my art abilities go...

Week 9 Lecture

Jason Nelson talked us through different software packages and the best ways to access and use them. He also showed us how to access different forums in order to gain help for using software. As usual Jason's lecture was interesting to say the least.

Week 8 tutorial activity

Today we had to again find things on the internet.

• Sign an e-petition.
http://www.rtbu.com.au/01_cms/details.asp?ID=223

• Respond to a professional blogger at a major news site.
http://blogs.theaustralian.news.com.au/janetalbrechtsen/index.php/theaustralian/comments/feminists_screwing_it_up_for_sisters/
I responded to this blog under the screen name of Jessie-Ann Henson.

• What is Barak Obama up to today?
He is sleeping in his bed.

• Find out who your local, state and federal representatives are.
Local: Jann Stuckey
State: Margret May
Federal: Kevin Rudd

• Look up the Queensland or Australian hansard to find the last time your local member spoke in parliament.
Jann Stuckey last spoke in Parliament on Thursday, 28th August 2008.

• Let your local member know what you think about their last speech.
http://www.jannstuckey.com.au/index.php?option=com_contact&Itemid=3
From this website i left Jann Stuckey a message.

Week 8 Lecutre

Today we had Stephen Stockwell again as our lecturer.
He talked us through Cyber Politics and eDemocracy.

Week 7 lecture and Tutorial

This week the Jason discussed "Free Software and the Creative Commons" during the lecture.
For the tutorial task we were to access portableapps.com and download a free application.

I downloaded the:

• Virtual Keyboard
• Portable Notepad
• Task Coach Portable
  

Although interesting I found most of the apps to be just 'time wasters'.
They weren't necessarily things that I would ever use again.