DrKimDavies

I like it. I keep a journal on paper normally, but less so while I am at uni because I have to do so much self reflecting that I don't need to turn to my private journal. I love writing. I love expressing what I think. I want to share my artwork with people and my photos. I have so many interests, that I just know I will never be excellent at one thing. But my quest for knowledge in many things will hopefully turn me into the wise old monk that I wish to be. Then I can sit in my cave and deliver wisdom to the masses. Then I will feel fulfilled.

How awesome is the internet? It may have been said before, but I need to express it again. Everything is here for me to get into. I can accelerate my path to monkdom by sitting in my own cave here in my basement home. And I can address the masses from this same spot. I have a voice. I have an outlet. I have a blog! I can be heard!

I believe every-one needs to have their voice heard. If not via the internet then at least in person, to other people. We all need to feel like others are listening to us and that others care about us and love us. We all need to be loved, even the hard arses. By voicing our opinions here in blogs, we extend our presence out into the wider world for others to connect with. We can gather groups of people together with similar interests by bloggrolling. Communities can form and friendships abound. This place is filled with love. How can people say internet worlds are a cold and sterile? Any place will feel alien if it is unknown. With time however, places and names become more familiar, and things start to warm up. It can get so hot sometimes that you feel addicted to your internet connections, and can't bare to be offline.

The next thing I want to do is decide what it is I want to do. This has always been a problem. I know I can do absolutely anything. My efforts ultimately will be directed towards just one thing. What this one thing is is yet to be defined. It appears the internet is fertile for the planting. This land will yeild great crops in the future. When I have sorted through my bag of seeds, then I will return. This is the most massive untertaking of all. The DECISION will direct me from here on in. First I need a good meditative break - probably February 2006. Then we will see what spawns from my rested head. Until then.......

I may not be Wilma Flintstone, but I'll make your bedrock!

MSN messenger 7.0 has given me inspiration to plug my microphone in through my DJ mixer into the computer. Dick Smith sold me the $16 cable about 3 weeks ago and last night I had my first real voice chat. My DJ friend in Israel was the one who told me to upgrade messenger, and when I hooked up my mic and heard my voice, I just had to get him to hook one up as well. This combined with webcam gave us a virtual conversation - or a video conference. The best part was this was all from the comfort of my own home! The novelty of hearing each others voice again lasted about 2 minutes. Then it was down to business of downloading the freshest funky house music from his computer onto mine via soulseek fileshare. Overnight I downloaded 20 songs off Shlomi and now they pelt out through my newly connected amp and speakers. I am constantly amazed how far technology has come in the last few years. I can't wait to start producing my own remixes on Protools software - whenever I find the time to get it. Shlomi has made his own music and I am going to upload a CD I made of my own mixed tunes (vynal), to send to him. This CD is one I made last week in preparation for a 40th birthday party that I DJ'd at on the weekend (23 April) at the Marriot on the Gold Coast (see pic).

Everything is so exciting. Giving up my day job was the best thing I ever did. Yeehhaaaar.

I am reading an excellent article on the problems of pushing "brianwork" onto children when really their needs are more based on emotional and intersocial development. The article http://www.allianceforchildhood.net/projects/computers/computers_reports_fools_gold_1.htm advocates that computers need not be introduced as a substitute for quality education and nurturing in these early primary school days.

In kindergarten, therefore, an emphasis on play and social skills - not
premature pressure to master reading and arithmetic - seems most likely to
prepare children for later academic success.

This reminds me of the day in pre-school when our teacher first allowed us to play together by ourselves, without her guidance. The prospect of not having anyone to watch over me and guide me during this time was quite daunting. I felt the adrenalin surge through my body at the thought of having to make friends there on the spot. The fact that I was an only child, compounded with my genetic disposistion to be shy, meant that I was on the back foot when it came to social interactions. The teacher must have separated us into gendered groups which I thought was quite politically incorrect for 1979. How dare she put me with the girls. Didn't she understand that my neighbourhood friends were all boys? I felt horrible and stood around waiting for the others to start "playing." It was decided that we play shopkeepers, and the girl who called it said she should be the shop keeper because she had the longest fingernails. My heart sank at the thought of these gendered stereo types. I wondered what sort of fun the boys must have been having outside. I felt trapped and miserable. Welcome to my first social experience at pre-school.

Now I understand what my teacher was getting at. She was trying to get us to develop our social skills, without the watchful eye of parental supervision. It is interesting to note that I was already out of the loop before this first encounter. I already felt that I didn't fit in here, with other girls. Teachers perhaps need to take these factors into account when they thrust us into "safe" groups. Every-one develops at their own unique rate, in their own unique way. Here computers can aid in this development because of the many educational styles available. A teacher naturally must be directing what the children are doing, yet the internet is there as an expansion on the task at hand, if desired. If kids are inquisitive enough to want to learn more than the set material, then the internet can provide at the very least - more pictures, or sounds, or learning games on the topics at hand. Especially if the teachers set up a list of predetermined educational sites. This is how our university is teaching us, and I love the way articles are preselected as quality, without us having to sift through all the junk.

Anyway - I have to chat about this now in the chat assessment on Netsoc and Youth.

Over and out.

"I smashed my hand too" :Grafitti

I have been dying to go skating at The Gap skate bowl. So today I dragged my non-skatey friend down on the $15 housemate's skateboard, along with my $15 skateboard. The community skate bowl is covered in quality grafitti from the local youth, demonstrating how popular the place is. I was keen to go there early while the kids were all still in school. (So much for bringing us together!)

This skate park is quite advanced with a double inground bowl type arrangement. No little ramps for beginners here. My friend and I barely had enough co-ordination to skate in a straight line, let alone drop in. Yet with no small challenges to conquer, we only had the big drop to contend with. I reckon it was about a 1.2m swell, with no onshore breezes. Tough. Having smashed my arse back in '87 on the Jindalle half pipe, I was quite weary of the dangers that lay ahead. My friend, whose arse had not known such peril, thought it was worth a go. No sooner had he rolled over the edge, his whole body had smashed into the concrete, sideways. This certainly was no place for beginners. As I fussed over his meowing body, some other kids rocked up to the death pit. These kids were about 25 years old and they knew how to skate. We tried to play cool and kept skating back and forth on the flats. But some-how the cracks in our professional skater armour were beginning to show. Maybe it was the crab claw appearance of my friends swollen wrist. Maybe it was all the knee and wrist and elbow pads I was wearing. Whatever, it was time for us to go, and let the big boys play.

This place sorts out the men from the boys. I told my friend he had much bigger testicles than me. It was the least I could say to cheer him up. He told me that I don't even have testicles. I am not sure if he was refering to my anatomy or my courage. Either way, my lack of testosterone means I am not hurting today like he is. My caution however keeps me fit for tomorrow, when I will go back there, and become one with the curvatures of the bowl of death.

For details on the Walter Bridge skatepark :
http://www.brisbane.qld.gov.au/BCC:STANDARD:780036341:pc=PC_932

Here is also a link to another skateboarding story from a lass in Melbourne:
http://tomsprincess182.blogspot.com/2005/02/skateboarding-injury.html

Don't fake the funk on a nasty dunk

If this was my page and not a template from Blogger then I would set it out with some standardised features so any-one could navigate through here.

First there would be a blurb on what this site is about. As I am still figuring this out I wont set my theme in stone. Though I would like make discussions revolve around Virtual Culture as this is the main driving force for my blogg at this time.

Second - Colour code my entries according to topic. So far entries are coloured willy nilly. But I might set some definitions up now. Primarily this is so assessment for university can be decifered from my daily musings. I am assuming my musings are not worthy of attention, yet some of the most successful bloggs are all about personal junk, so I wont delete mine. Still trying to find a coherent presentation style. "Virtual Cultures" theme suits me best at the mo. If I can combine this with the musings then I need not segregate them with colour.

Third - Get a whole new layout. I am too far in to change this template. Next blog will be funkier, with wild font and many more pictures. I am a visual artist - starved of expression here.

12 April 2005
The more I read about the NETWORK, the more I feel a fool for decaring myself "not a people person." This whole networking thing online is the same as that whole hob nobbing art community thing that I was exposed to in my visual art degree. I just don't dig that shit. All the small talk and chit chat - how boring. What I seek is more depth. And I wont find depth by just wading around in the shallows. I need to take the plunge and get involved with a site that I really enjoy. One that probes deeply into life's unanswerable questions. Perhaps I need to hook up with some Buddhist monks.

(Note : Would love to cut this next section to another entry but cannot cut & paste in Blogger)

19 April 2005
But then, how to tie this in with the reading material for Virtual Cultures?

This week's lecture by John Banks was about how the end user has become the co-producer. Game players are now demanding a deeper involvement in the actual building of the game, rather than just playing in the virtual environments created by the designers. The distinctions between producer and user are blurring, with more players wanting to create their own environments and objects in these virtual worlds. The game companies are then using the game players to provide feedback about the game and recommending changes, often before the game is even released. Relationships between game companies and game players are growing in a more synergistic way than ever before. Using web forums, game preview websites (http://www.gamespot.com) and email, gamers can work together in building better, taylored, and more sought after products. I am a big fan of this intergrated feedback system where it seems that every-one wins. My main concern, however, is that these "hard core game players" who post to websites often, and seem to be opinion leaders, could possibly end up being exploited. If the game company is relying on these opinion leaders heavily for advice and direction, then shouldn't these key players be paid for their time? My guess is that the helping hardcore would probably be offered a job at the company. I hope that is how things work. If any-one knows of this situation happening, then please let me know. In fact, I might just go look up some stories on this issue now... and post a link!

OK obviously gamers are recognised as worthy contibuters to the gaming industry. There is a whole website dedicated to them! http://www.gamerswithjobs.com/ And YES they get paid!

I just had a well earned rest on my bed and could see something white out of the corner of my eye. I looked up from my pillow without moving my head, and there was nothing but dark blue sheet. I looked away again and could detect periferally the white thing. I moved my head to sus it, and it was sunlight on my bed. I thought how very strange that in the act of directly looking at something, it disappears. In my case it was because looking up at it made my eyeball tuck under my eyelid and block the view. Yet looking away I could see the sunlight as plain as day - plain as daylight even.

This is another example of how when investigating a problem sometimes it is better not to go straight for the heart of the issue. It could be that the problem is stemming from other periferal issues that once resolved, will eliminate the the major issue. This relates to John Banks' lecture about his experiences at Auran where one person's gem is another person's nightmare. It all depends on who is looking at the "thing" and how they see it. Indeed the "thing" may not even be the same "thing" as people bring their own baggage to observation and understanding. Even in quantum physics where subjective values are illiminated, there can be multiple correct answers to the same problem. It all comes down to context and the relationship of the observer to the experiment. Take Einstein's theory of relativity for example.

If we go deeper into the concept of observation we see that in quantum physics, the act of observing a particular event actually influences the outcome of the event. This strange phenominon takes one quantum particle that exists as a field, and locates it at one distinct point only when it is being observed. When it is not observed, it exists in many locations at once! So the observer is not an exclusive agent who can objectively exist outside the situation. All observers are involved in the outcomes they are watching. Everything is interelated. John Bank's involvement with Auran as an observer ultimately had real effects in the companies operation. The observer is therfore interconnected to the experiment. The way we view things determines what we see.

It is our interactions that give meaning to life. The internet is such a budding environment for communication and interaction. This new multi-perspective not only allows many viewers to observe the world independantly, but also to contibute to the infomationsphere that makes up the world. Our perceptions here in the 21st century will perhaps be taking on new levels of understanding based on the multitudes of visions held by people all over the world.

Olivia Lum : Water Purifier

Lets get Political, political. I wanna get political. Let me hear your body talk, your body talk.
(Olivia Newton John)

It is hard for me to feel passion about political issues because I am pretty happy with my own life and do not encounter unpleasantries in my day to day activities. I guess I lead a passive, contented, sheltered life filled with the comforts of modern day living. What would I have to complain or protest about?

It sickens me to hear my own thoughts come out like this. I mean there is plenty to be upset about. Look at all the suffering in the world for one. There's the lack of clean drinking water in many countries causing malnutrition and disease. There's environmental issues regarding the phenominal amount of waste we create, as well as the massive amount of rainforests that get destroyed daily.

These global issues do have ramifications in my local area. I mean the amount of waste I create daily is probably comparible to every-one else's individual waste in Brisbane. If I can reduce my garbage by purchasing goods with less or no packaging, then so can every-one else. What I need to do is find a site where others are actively doing this and - spread the word to my audience...

... and here it is. .http://www.planetark.com/campaignspage.cfm/newsid/76/newsDate/9/story.htm



This is a start to my pollitical enquiries. These links I have provided are mostly of the Version2 internet strategies where the organization is producer centred rather than user centred. There is limited room for user feedback, and no room for publication. All of these sites provide factual information on the issues at hand, yet they also go further into providing stategies for action. For example there is a "good wood" guide on the rainforest site which informs buyers how to purchase wood products (if indeed a substitute material is not available) that are made from environmentally friendly timbers, and not tropical rainforest timber.

I tried to use the www.indymedia.org site as an example of a vesion 1. intercreative site. Although this site allows for greater user contibution to the published content, it did not allow me to search for my area of interest. The homesite's search engine didn't work, Oceana didn't have a search option, and Brisbane - well, they are going through some domestic troubles at the moment. Indymedia is a great place where people can engage with other people, about other people.

I myself am not a people person so ... this site is not so interesting for me. I would rather solve the worlds water shortage crisis. Olivia Lum has done excellent work in this field. She is a scientist rather than a political activist. She is more on par with my way of thinking on how to solve problems. Bearing this in mind however, there is always politics behind science, so it is not so simple to say one way will solve problems better than another.

What these political activist sites do allow for is personal discussion about private stories. Issues can be brought out into the open that may never have seen the light of day. That is, in the past, if television did not air a story then other people would not have been able to relate it to their own lives. Sites like indymedia allow personal concerns to become public affairs, open to debate. And as feminism proclaimed in the 1970's - The personal IS the political.

Music fans still need physical experience

The ethnographic research that I have conducted regarding online communities, was mostly a covert opperation. Although I participated in many forums on the www.inthemix.com.au site, I did not specificly ask questions relating to online communities. What I did find is that geographical location did play a rather significant role in participation on this site. I mainly focused on the Brisbane part of this site because that's where I am primarily allocated everytime I log on. It seems this suits many participants who are mostly discussing which music events are coming up in Brisbane. This partly surprised me because music is such an international language. I would have expected that the discussions would not concern where the participants were located geographicly. This demonstrates to me that music is not just something to be shared over the internet for the comfort of private listening. People still need that physical presence of being able to go to a communal event and feel the music together. In this way the online community was able to transfer enthusiasm for music into participation or at least attendance at music festivals at various locations. Geography does still matter online.

...that for homework, they gave us each a big plastic box divided up into about 5 compartments. On top was a heavy wooden lid. Each compartment had different critters living there. On day one we were expected to make friends with the critters and play with them by picking them up. There was a snake in one compartment and mice in the other. I started with the mice and noticed that the 5th mouse was already dead - the runt of the litter. The other mouse I picked up was gnawing gently on my hand as if hungry. I knew the runt had died of starvation. I wondered if there was any point feeding them when they would only be fed to the snake on day two! And as for the hungry snake, what would I want to be picking that up for? Snakey could obviously smell the mice and be all fired up for the kill. I don't want to play with Snakey!

What does all this mean? Can I relate it to the emailing list/ web community/ forum participation excercises? Considering my guilt lately at having told other students on assessment forums that they've got it all wrong, I believe that this dream reflects this situation. Here the critters are the homework tasks, i.e. "Make friends with your email community." The final analysis, which in my case was harsh, is the snake devouring friends recently made!

Geeez I gotta lighten up.

Dove of Death

Becomming involved in an emailing list for the sake of a little research has more of an emotional affect on me than expected. My main objective was to get my voice heard, and have prople respond to that voice. I tend to have an oppositional opinion on mainstream thinking and feel like I have to be weird in order to stir the pot.

The dude who I condemed for telling me to "behave like a proper woman by not wearing make-up and mixing with men whom you am not permitted" has responded to me personally. He is trying to show me the true way of Allah and the Muslim way of the Koran. He is so sweet and thinks he has all the answers as to why women need to be "like a garment" to their men, that I can fight with him no longer.

The site I invaded for research purposes is based on love and friendship. I feel like I was the Western scientist sticking my cold hard probe into their cosy environment. All I wanted to do was show them that women are free to do what they like in the Western world. All they wanted to show me that there is much love and respect for women in the Muslim world, as long as you follow the rules. Who is to say what is right? For me though this exercise has shown me that I do not have all the answers, and that tollerance for difference is quite liberating.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/gr8passion/