04/04/2011-The future of digital cultures?

Could we have really have guessed how technology dependent we would have been 10 years ago?

From the invention of the Ipod in 2001,music devices have changed for the best from the convenience of being able to listen to your favourite album wherever whenever you please.From the accessibility of upload video's with click of a button to a device which know seems the norm in the 21st Century.Apple has undoubtably taken us through the 'boom' of the 21st century with technology taking a turn from a thinking which is used during leisure to the manipulating the world to become dependent on technology.From the diagram you can see the ways in which apple has adapted their first ever Ipod in 2001 to the what know seems old Iphone in 2007 but undoubtably in the space of 6 years over 22 music devices have been produced from the bog standard music playing ipod to the newly improved Iphone 4 which was released in 2011 with the magnificent ability of recording,watching live stream television,checking emails,to even ordering your weekly shop with a Tesco App,but undoubtedly the main priority still stands with playing music. (www.iskysoft.com)


But Music devices isn't all that has changed in the past ten years.From portable computers to the invention of 3D televisions being accessible what is the future for technology,or have we reached a point where there is nothing else which can be invented to create us more reliant on technology?


When thinking about schooling ten years ago,it seems that going on a computer which took a good part of an hour to load was the highlight of your week,but ten years on logging onto your portable to computer it just a daily necessity.But what will be happen in the future for digital cultures? And will we still be travelling 26 miles to get into university for just an hour of lectures.


Years ago,it was predicted that books would be dead and the kindle would take over our libraries for good whereby thousands of books will be compatible on such a small electric device.But years on,thousands of libraries holding generations of books still exist.but thats not only whats predicted for the future.Will we still have human lecturers babbling on about a topic which doesn't seem to be going on for an hour or will technology take over the art of teaching for good.With the evolvement of technology on teaching,a classroom is no longer needed.Online classrooms now seem part of the 'uni experience' with lectures being posted on the university website for students which overslept their alarms to video feeds of on going classes to educate people of topics which have not been raised in face to face classes.But will electronic lectures be the thing of the future or will in ten or twenty year times will the social aspect of university be no more,and we are able to complete a degree within the comfort of our own homes without commuting for an hour or two for what seems such a minute of human contact with tutors.But from the books are dead idea to the interactivity of university being online...will we still have lecturers,or will we have some sort of robot or Avatar controlling our educational needs?





Wherever you turn it seems technology has taken over a job which would used to have been worked by a human,but with the astounding improvement on robots.


"UK researchers are preparing one of the nation's first teams to compete in the 2011 robot football world cup.Researchers at the University of Edinburgh are currently refining the smart systems that control the team of three humanoid robots on the pitch"
(www.saidaonline.com)


So if robots are being invented to become the next footballing stars,who is to say that lecturers and teachers will be honestly needed in the future,or will it be the same scenario of the 'book is dead' that it will al it a myth and as libraries have pointed out,paper form has been used through generations of people why change a good invention to technology which could result in glitches and viruses?


I robot is a great way of showing us the way in which we will be living in years to come,with accessibility of technology with the evolvement of Robots taking over the jobs in which we hate to do,Eg.Cleaning,hanging the washing out and Boring office jobs.But is this film a crystal Ball of what is about to come.Or are human still going to be able to control these 'robots' which will be living in our societies with three simple rules which revolve around the fact that Humans have complete control and power over the robot,or will the tables turn in years to come with the invention of new technology always appearing on our television screens.


From previous blog's its been proven that technology in the 21st century is not always reliable from the glitches in X box games to hackers and Cookies tracking and destroying the database on our computers without use even being aware of the consequences.but where there is a fault there is always a solution,whether its in ten or twenty years someone is bound to create a computer or even a software,whereby our identity and private information is able to be kept confidential even when on the world wide web,and to what extent will the internet have laws and regulations to what information must be bought and what software can be downloaded legally for free.Copyright laws are undoubtably the most annoying invention to be put on the internet,we spend all the money on buying the computer to then be informed you need to spend more money in programmes to enable your computer to work.But are we living in a world whereby pirate sites are the only answer to our prays of free software or will digital cultures in the future enable us the access everything on the internet without putting our hand in our pocket.