Humans and Technology

I have to say that I'm pretty convinced that in a future (not that far away) we will look at "cyborgs" in the same way we look at laptops and smartphones nowadays. To me it only makes sense. Man created computers to help him evolve, to become more optimized and efficient, and now that we have the means for it, it simply seems natural to go in that direction - where Man and machine get connected more deeply than ever.

With the information overload we are currently facing, having a computer available at all times that can promptly analise large amounts of data and compute wherever we want right on the spot, in order to help us make better decisions, would be of great help. If we think about the medical field, constantly progressing, going from the current mechanical prosthetics to mechanical prosthetics that can be controlled by the person who wears them, does not seem that far away either.

Of course, with this kind of symbiotic relationship between humans and machine, the interfaces as we know them now will most likely disappear, since acquiring data would be done directly. Like Vannevar Bush said: "All our steps in creating or absorbing material of the record proceed through one of the senses—the tactile when we touch keys, the oral when we speak or listen, the visual when we read. Is it not possible that some day the path may be established more directly?". I agree that it is possible. In fact it has already been done, at least by Professor Kevin Warwick (http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xa8bcs_kevin-warwick-implant-technology-li_tech).

Concept Map

References

Licklider, J. C. R. (1960). Man-Computer Symbiosis. Ire Transactions On Human Factors In Electronics. IEEE. Retrieved from http://groups.csail.mit.edu/medg/people/psz/Licklider.html

Bush, V. (1945). As we may think. (N. Wardrip-Fruin & N. Montfort, Eds.)interactions, 3(2), 35-46. Wiley-Blackwell. Retrieved from http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?doid=227181.227186

New Interactive Environments - Task 2: self-observation and analysis of creating a study plan

As a full-time worker and a full-time student I had to be very cautiously when planning the next few months ahead. As a starting point I considered how many hours I would need to spend in each part of my new exciting and a bit challenging life:

Work 8 hours, on weekdays. No surprise here!

Study 4 hours during weekdays, plus classes on weekends.
When choosing my classes for the semester I mostly followed the plan suggested for IMKE students, and picked up the following courses:

• Research Methods
• Introduction and Theoretical Foundations of New Media
• New Interactive Environments
• Ethics and Law in Nem Media
• Philosophy of Cognition
• Master Thesis Seminar
• Design Theory and Methodology

I also decided to register for Yoga classes, as one of my courses - Yoga I, in order to keep doing a practice that I love and have been doing for the past couple of years.

Sleep 7 hours.

Everything else 5 hours for things like eating, exercising, socializing, hobbies, etc.

New Interactive Media - Task 3: Societal and cultural transformation engendered by digital and media technology

Digital and media technology have been so present in my life for the past decade that I tend to almost forget how my life used to be before this technological revolution took place. The computers' communicative capabilities have shaped the world we live in and have, without any doubt, changed the way I used to learn, express myself, recreate, work and socialize, among other activities.

Personally, I find the practicality of communication and interaction over long distances and among ample numbers of people to be the most important aspect of the digital era. 

Without a doubt, it was this form of interacting and communicating that allowed me to move from my hometown in Portugal, to Tallinn, Estonia, in order to study a master, while still working on my projects and meeting with my boss, colleagues and clients, even though we are all in different locations. New media such as collaborative project management applications and online business meetings tools help me everyday to make this situation a reality.

The possibility of being constantly in touch with my family and friends definitely fostered my decision to move away from home. Tools such as Skype, Facebook, Google Calendar and Gmail are key in keeping the long-distance barely noticeable. These new media social tools, which mostly appeared during the Web 2.0 phenomena, have also improved the way me and my friends and family create and disseminate social events.
In my experience I have also noticed how these social tools and networks are being used as a means to raise awareness among communities about important subjects as global poverty, humans and animals' rights, among other important topics. People can now easily create and spread important messages, which ultimately influence the way people perceived the world, think and behave. Hopefully, this will improve the "global village" we all live in.

We are now an "active audience", we can produce content in creative and aesthetic ways. We can also remix content, using either new or existing data, which allow us to be more productive and creative than it was ever possible, contributing, in my opinion, to a faster evolution of our society.
"Personal media" such as our mobile phones, e-mail, instant messengers, blogs and social networks allow us to share our creations and participate actively in our community, in an accelerated, agile and easy manner, which simply wasn't possible to achieve before.

Lastly, I would like to remark that, even though I believe these changes to be mostly positive, there are also some issues and implications to be dealt with in this information age we live in. 
For me, one of the most acute implications is that I sometimes I feel that we may not be ready to live in this "information overload" times, which also bring along attention fragmentation and constant multitasking (which is believed to ultimately damage creativity and productivity - the brain is designed to work in one task at a time - http://www.ilkap.gov.my/download/media/recivering.pdf). The amounts of data and knowledge that are thrown at us, coming from an insurmountable large number of sources, are immense. Even I, that practically grew up in this world, feel overwhelmed and in need to disconnect sometimes. 

Articles read for this task:

• Harrison, T.M. & Barthel B. (2009). Wielding new media in Web 2.0: exploring the history of engagement with the collaborative construction of media products. New Media & Society 11(1&2).
• Hjarvard, S. (2008). The mediatization of society. Nordicom Review 29(2).
• Lüders, M. (2008). Conceptualising personal media. New media and society, 10(5), 683-702.

Introduction and Theoretical Foundations of New Media: what is new media as a cultural interface?

Humanity is inevitably headed towards a future where everything that can will be digitalized.

Nicholas Negroponte
Being Digital, 1995

New Interactive Environments - Task 1: Web presence overview

Our first task for the New Interactive Environments course is to succinctly describe our experience with personal web publishing tools and social networks.

Ever since I got my first computer with an internet connection, around the age of thirteen,  I have seldom spent a day where I have not sit in front of it. It became increasingly “worst” over the years and nowadays I would say that at least 75% of my awake time is spent in front of a computer, whether the purpose is work, study or leisure. During all this time I have tried many web publishing tools, collaborative tools and social networks, although I usually only stick to the ones I find to be truly useful.

Work/ Study
At work and study projects I've used project management web applications, such as Basecamp and Redmine, which usually include tools such as an issue tracker, a gantt chart, a calendar, a forum and some other tools that enable work project management and collaboration between multiple workers.
I also use wikis and spreadsheets on a regular basis, in order to share information with my colleagues.
To manage my career and web presence work-wise I use tools like Linkedin and about.me.
During my studies I've also used applications such as Moodle, wikis and Mendeley.
Stack Overflow, which is a collaboratively edited question and answer site for programmers, is definitely one of my favorite and it has helped me uncountable times. I find it truly useful.

Leisure
I've created and run some blogs during the past few years, although, unfortunately, I've never really stick to any of them. I've tried Wordpress, Tumblr, Weebly and Blogger, among others.
Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Booking, Penzu, Spotify, Imdb and Wikipedia are some other examples of web tools that I use on a daily basis and undoubtedly make my internet life much easier and pleasant!

Hello everyone! :)

My very first task for my Interactive Media and Knowledge Environments master studies is to create a blog and introduce myself. So, here it goes!
My name is Carla Saraiva and I'm Portuguese. My background studies are Informatics Engineering (BSc and MSc) which I took at the University of Coimbra, Portugal. 
I've also spent a semester at Chalmers Tekniska Högskola, in Göteborg, Sweden, studying courses from their Interaction Design master. Currently I am working as a UX Engineer at a Usability and Interaction Design company. 
I've only been in Tallinn for a short while, but so far I am loving it! And I'm sure I'm going to love the IMKE master as well! :)