What have I learned from Digital Cultures?

In the beginning of this academic year I`ve looked at Digital Cultures in a suspicious way. Because I thought it is not my type of courses. But in the end of this academic year I have to say that I am glad that I studied this course but yet, it`s still not my cup of tea.

I am glad that I have got the chance to explore so many things that was always around me. Some of these things I knew already but not in an academic way. I was so excited when we looked at citizen journalism because I experienced many types of it when I was in my workplace but I didn’t know the academic aspect of it and how much important it was academically. and later with the central role of citizen journalism which shaped the Middle East latest event and helped change the whole system in a country like Egypt. I followed the events with a different perspective.

Being a "digital immigrant" the course helped me understand many things in Cyberspace and look at my own experience online especially with identity issues and understand how I was before and after the internet. not to mention understanding other important issues such as how much open source matters and the role of digital development in Globalization.

I always struggled when things went deep like when we looked at things like interface and web 2.0. I still find it difficult to even think about those two subject, but I can say that I have got a general idea and that it`s enough for me and I hope I won’t have to deal with them in the future.

Digital Globalisation

From the inventing of Gutenberg printing press in the mid 15^th century until nowadays. Technology helped and shaped globalization as we know it.  In the 1960s Marshal McLuhan suggested that the world is becoming a global village by the advanced technology (Understanding Media: 1964, p. 5). Then many years after that Thomas L. Friedman described the scene from a golf club in downtown Bangalore, India, and how it is surrounded by buildings with brands like IBM, Microsoft and other American or multinational corporations. Then he writes: “No, this definitely not Kansas. It didn’t even seem like India. Was this the New World, Old World, or the Next World?” (The World is Flat: 2006, p. 4). Now most multinational corporation use the advantage of digital technology to outsource its jobs to countries like India and Indonesia where there is a relatively much cheaper labour than the US and EU countries.

This YouTube video is presenting how outsourcing jobs work in a very cynical way. It shows how all kind of businesses are outsourcing their call centre offices to India. And the reason why they always choose India is not just because of the cheap labour but also because there is no English language barrier in India.

So, is the advanced technologies are always good? Or are these problems such as outsourcing is just side effects of something good? What I`m sure about is that when I go to a new place I`m looking to see some new things and maybe shop and eat with different brands. If I ever go to the Forbidden City in Beijing, China, I`m definitely not looking to see a Starbucks there!

Surveillance Society

When I came to UK two years ago, I noticed CCTV sign everywhere I go! In shops, taxi caps, and later I found out that even the streets are full of them. In the beginning I had a general positive impression about the idea that cams are everywhere to protect us from danger, but when I think about privacy I become somehow confused! Now I start to ask myself, how many CCTV have got my face on my way from my place to the university?! Very logical question.

The issue now is no longer that normal CCTV is everywhere, because this is a fact and societies are adapting with it, but what next? A report published in the Guardian last November said “Technologies that used to be the subject of speculation have moved into mainstream use” Link. The report is concerned about the new methods of surveillance such as tracking staff by GPS applications on their mobiles, CCTV in classrooms to control pupil behavior but also monitor teacher performance and the example of a Japanese company developed some weird function on mobiles to monitors cleaner`s way of scrubbing and sweeping!!. Based on this report, Information commissioner Christopher Graham is asking government for new privacy safeguards.

In 2001, few weeks after 9/11 attacks on New York, the US congress passed the Patriot Act, which expanded the government authority to spy on its own citizens like monitoring their phone calls and emails without a warrant in case would help stop terror acts. The Patriot Act was and still controversial. Mr Bush who was the US president at that time and his supporters argued that:”the legal  safeguards traditionally granted to criminal suspects left the US ill-protected against further attacks”. Yet many American political groups claim that the act is unconstitutional infringements of personal liberties. Link



Open Source & Politics

According to an article in Open Source Initiative website, India and Brazil are using open source heavily to achieve high economic development (Link). These two countries with Russia and China are known as BRIC, which mean the four big and fast developing economies that supposed to lead the world economy in the 21 century. The article looks at Brazil experience and activities in open source in recent years, and how Government agencies, private industry, universities have been teaching and implementing open source solutions to create local centers of knowledge. By 2005 Brazil adapted an open source system to make an economy advantage, “the number one reason for this change is economic” says Sergio Amadeu who use to run the government National Institute for information technology in 2005 (Link).  After this very successful use of open source on a government level, other nations like Indonesia started to encourage the idea! But where is the US from all of this? It`s no secret that the US can`t force some countries and tell them what to do especially when it`s one of BRIC. Brazil already had a face to face confrontation with the US over breaking the patent of an American AIDS drug (Link) and producing a Brazilian version to sell it cheap to its citizens, and it`s basically leading this government level open source movement.

 University of Edinburgh`s lecturer Andres Guadamus claimed that the International Intellectual Property Alliance has requested the US Trade Representative to consider countries like Indonesia, Brazil and India for its “special 301 watchlist” which basically mean that these influential lobby group is asking the US to consider countries who uses open source as enemies of capitalism and that will lead to pressure from the US on these countries to make them change their open source policies. Link.

Piracy in Video Games

 I remember When Sony Playstation first came out sometime around the mid 90`s in my country. People were busy with the Sega Mega Drive and didn’t care much about the new technology from Sony, because it was very expensive to buy its CD games. But soon after that, very cheap copies of Sony CD games started to enter the country coming from Thailand and China. So, after people were supposed to buy an original Resident Evil CD by around $90, an exact copy can be bought by around $3! Then, in few months everybody in country bought a Sony Playstation. I don’t know if Sony Corporation loved that or hated it, but I know that their local dealers made a huge profit from selling Sony consoles. The funny thing was that the dealers started to sell “chipped ready” consoles so customers don’t bother to take them to hackers to break its code!

According to BBC Newbeast report “people who play illegal copies of video games  on chipped or modifies consoles, cost at least 1.45 billion pound in lost sales in 2010”. Link.  The report also estimates that it`s resulted in 1,000 fewer jobs in the industry. However, in an interview with coputergameandvideogames.com Christopher Sundberg, boss of Just Cause argues that instead of trying to stop piracy why not try to give hackers a job!. Link.  

Ideology in Video Games

  

I remember long time ago when I use to play Konami MSX video game: The Maze of Galious, which was also my favorite video game at that time. The Star of David can be seen clearly in the background and that was a shock for kids like me and my brothers when we use to play this game. It made us argue about the meaning of this symbol and what does it had to do with this game. We were kids in the Arab world where there is an ongoing conflict with Israel, the Jewish state who has David`s star on its flag!

At that time Ideology in video games was more symbolic. In an article by Saladin Ahmed, a member of The Escapist, Saladin who is an American Muslim, talked about when he use to play the original Prince of Persia in 1989. He said: “it wasn’t until years later that I reflected on the fact that the hero is blonde, while the evil swordsman wore turbans!” Link.

These days Ideology is vivid and straight forward in video games. Especially After 9/11, the war on terror, and the war in Afghanistan and Iraq. Many military video games show Muslims as the enemies. It`s a very simple reflection of the American attitude towards the Muslim world after the attacks on the World Trade Center in New York in 2001. In Call of Duty 4, it`s obvious that the game scenario take place in Iraq and some Muslim’s supplication can be heard in the soundtrack while the American soldier is the hero and you know who’s the enemy! Also in Call of Duty is the Broadcast mission where soldiers attack the enemy`s T.V station which look very similar to Al-Jazeera T.V news room, the famous Arab news station that former US president George W. Bush thought of bombing its headquarter. Link.