Thinking back....

This cource has had its ups and downs for me regarding how interesting the subjects have been, and in which way some of the material has been presented. Sometimes it has been interesting, and to be honest: sometimes I almost fell asleep. The reason why is because the lecturer does not include the students in the lectures and that makes it very easy to lose interest in what is being said. I suggest more student participation in the lectures for later semesters to come. This is a subject that contains material more difficult to understand for some then others, and that needs to be taken under consideration when it comes to ways of presenting the material. For a subject like this my suggestion would be to use more powerpoints, and examples of what is being presented and to use lecturers that include the students more.I have learned a lot during this cource but mostly because of the exam. I would have lost interest very early if it hadnt been for that. What I have learned is The history of the computer, which i knew nothing about befor i attended this class, and i have a very good understanding to who was a part of creating it and where it is heading. I have also learned a lot about utopias and dystopias. Using the movies we saw were very good examples of different types of technologies and science fiction, and i very much enjoyed watching them, even though I didnt find all three of them super interesting. It attracted my attention because it was a different way of learning. Instead if listening to a lecturer speak, we got to see what we were learning about on screen. Keep on showing the movies!

All in all this was a good subject, and i feel that I have a good understanding to what the cource was about. I am pleased with the way I have studied and the learning outcomes from it. I will take with me what I have learned on to further studies and maybe it will be more of use than I thought when I started studying it. I really needed to get my head updatet on communications and digital technologies so thank you!

Cheers,
Renate Eriksen!

The Exam!!!

Before I get something to eat I just have to write about my exam!! How scary was that?? I have never had a multiple choice exam before so i studied like crazy for a whole week for something that seemed like a (spørreundersøkelse) pop quiz! It seemed like that only because I havent done anything like it before, but all my reading payed off. It was kind of strange to sit that close to everyone else, and to have only one hour and ten min. to answer 100 questions but I was very confident that I was gonna pass when I left the examination room. I just hope I`m right. Hehe.. Well at least I felt like I did a good job, and I couldnt have done much different.

Crossing my fingers for a good grade:)

My assignement!

I felt very relieved after handing in my essay on The Super Nintendo cause I had worked hard on it and I felt it was time to ket it go. Hehe.. Unfortunatly I only got 10/20 on it, maybe because i suck at referencing, but at least I past. Jeej! Or at least I think 10/20 is pas? what do you think? Oh well. At least I did it and no one got hurt and that only means one more step closer to passing this cource. Thank God! Im not very technical and I dont know much about computers simply because i suck at stuff like that, but I have to give it a try just like everything else. I wonder what my tutor will think about all the crap I write on my blog. Hope i dont make you to frustrated Ben;) I just think it is fun to write about stuff that is not neccesarily pensum(can you say that in English?). But enough about that! I have to go get some food soon or else I`m gonna be like the kid on the comercial for some cerial(cant remember which one): "please miss (or in my case mr.), I`m running out of breakfast."

C ya later!

tut task week 11

Using Microsoft Exel:
I used to do business at what you call high school so I am quite familiar with Microsoft Exel. This was an easy exercise to show the different types of equipment exel has for you to use, and how to get correct measurements in graphs and numbers. Exel is a very good tool when you need to calculate or make a plan over something with numbers. That was a very bad explanation, but I`m notvery good at explaining technicalities in English. Hope you dont mond me using very simple terms at times.
If you need to calculate something, use Exel! It is easy to learn how to use it and once you know it`s almost as riding a bike.

tut task week 10

Chatting on the internet:
I couldn`t make it to the tut cause I was sick, but I do a lot of chatting on the internet using MSN Messenger and I dont have any problems trying new chatting programs out. I used IRC when I was younger but i stopped using that after a while because I didnt find it interesting to talk to stranger who only wanted to know what I was wearing all the time. I chose to use MSN messenger instead. The reason why is because you get to choose who you want to add to you list of people to talk to and you can delete and block people as soon as they start asking you what you are wearing!! Chatting on IRC gives you almost no control to who can contact you and it is more insecure than MSN. MSN is the place to chat. End of story!

tut task week 9

Using powerpoint:
This was a fun exercise, but I have used powerpoint several times before so completing the task was not hard. This software will be useful to me during my studies and during my career, whatever that will be when I`m done. Creating a powerpoint makes the material easier and more interesting to understand for the viewer/listener because you get examples with pictures and you get to see the main topics with your own eyes. That makes it easier and more fun to pay attention.

Good exerice!

tut task week 8

This assignement wa easy in one way but since I`m using a Norwegian computer, everything on it is in Norwegian so I had to work a little bit harder to find the right stuff. I have been using Word for as long as I cab remember so getting it done was no problem. It is still a good exercise for people unfamiliar with Word and people who doesnt use it much, because sooner or later you will have to use word for one purpose or another and then its good to know what to use to create the piece your after and how to create it by using different tools.

tut task week 7

The tut task was the same as last week so since i already did it I`m gonna write a littlebit about what i think of games on the internet:

Playing games on the internet i fun. I usually play Super Mario, Tetris, or some kind of card game when i`m bored. Sometimes I play poker online but I dont know if that is classified as games on the internet? Anyways, that is really exiting whether you are playing for money or just for fun. Dont win much money, but I dont loose much either cause im not a big spender when it comes to playing poker. Dont have much money to play for. Im a studen so all my money goes to food, rent and alcohol. Hehe.. I really dont play much on the internet when it comes to games because i usually dont have the time for it, but when I do it is fun:)

Tut task week 6

The camera i used to take these pictures with is a HP .....

Randon people at the uni bar. Some studying, some drinking, and others just having fun:)

Summer at Fraser Island! Tarzan Sivert climbing a tree thing. Hehe.. Very funny trip, and a beautiful island.

This is me, Linn a very good friend from Norway, and my flatmate Anja in Australia zoo! That was a very cool day. we got to pet kengaroos and coalas and we even held a python snake together. iiik. hehe.. Love being in th Aussie land with u girls;)





This is my best friend in the whole world, Renate(right)! Yes she has the same name as me but she is 18 cm shorter than me so she is little Renate and I am big Renate(left):) I miss her veeery much. Looking forwards to seeing her when i get home at the end of june!!! Råkkenråll å Guns`n gopia mi! Vi kleemer åg kleemer åg blir aaaaaldri leeei:)



This is Ellen, a very good friend of mine. She is really holarious. We spent an intire summer eating patato chips with holidaydip watching Love Actually and partying and driving around in my car, the Sierra;) hehe.. Good times girl! We dont have the Sierra anymore but i reckon well have a good time when I come home this summer aswell! Typisk dæ! Hveeeeer gang æ kjæm hjem. Æ bli så lei!!

Tut task week 3

Hmm.. my expiriences with spam mail is not much. I usually just get offers from dieting companies and horoscopes and that`s it. And to be honest I don`t mind cause i don`t get much mail anyways so it is nice to have something in my inbox now and then. hehe.. On my student email i get information that i really dont need from people sending out msg to their students etc and send them to ALL students. That is kind of anoying at times cause you never know what you really need to know and what stuff is meant for other students etc. Laws I know regarding Spam or unsolicited email is:

• A person must not send, or cause to be sent, a commercial electronic message that:

(a) has an Australian link; and
(b) is not a designated commercial electronic message.

(SPAM ACT 2003 - SECT 16 Australian Governement The Attorney-General`s Department)

• "Signed into law Dec. 16, 2003, the Can-Spam Act made it illegal to falsify the "from" and "subject" lines of e-mail solicitations. It also required senders of bulk e-mail to include a working "unsubscribe" link in their messages and to honor consumers' requests to be taken off their mailing lists. The law doesn't allow individual e-mail users to sue spammers -- an omission decried by anti-spam activists -- but it did open the door for state attorneys general and ISPs to mount a legal offensive."

(Washington Post http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A44124-2005Jan3.html)

This is what I know about Spamming. Not much, but I know that it is illegal and that you can get punished for doing it and I know that I will never be sending unsolicited email because i really don`t need to and i don`t want to go to jail.

SAY NO TO SPAMMING!!

Not sick anymore!!

Hey guys!
Sorry for not updating my blog in a very long time, but I have been sick on and off since before mid-semester break with stomack infections, sinus infections and kidney trubbel so I havent been able to do much. Now I`m back on track and i have heaps of stuff to do cause i need to finish the blog by the end of this week! iiiik! I just have to do my best and i hope you will enjoy. Not much exiting has happened since my last post exept that my boyfriend came to take care of me when I was sick (wery nice of him btw since he got sick himself.. hehe..).
Sadly my uncle passed away from a heart attack saturday may 20 and that was hard to deal with being so far away from my family, but unfortunatly there is not much I can do. His funeral was on friday may 26 and my parents told me that it had been a beautiful ceremony. Just wish I could have been there to say goodbye.. At least I hope he is in a better place now!
Other than that I have just been trying to catch up with my uniwork and to hand in my assignements at the right time. Not very exiting hey? Well now I`m getting back on track again and in less than four weeks i`ll be on my way to Norway for a few weeks to visit friends and family, and I`m going to see Guns N`Roses june 28 in Oslo. That is going to be soo cool! but back to my assignements: hope you enjoy;)

Cheers, Renate!

The history of Super Nintendo

The development
In 1988 the board of Nintendo did not show much interest to develop a competitive system to Sega’s release of their 16-byte Sega Genesis, but when the Genesis took the market in North-America and Europe with storm, thanks to their superior technologies, Nintendo decided to develop their own system.
Hiroshi Yamauchi, adm.director for Nintendo at the time, gave the responsibility to create the console to Masayuki Uemura. Originally they had planned for the Famicomen/NES(Nintendo entertainment system) to be a 16 byte system but the components were too expensive the first time around when they were producing the product, so they made it an 8 byte system instead. This time the components were cheaper and they did not hesitate to make a more powerful system during the production of the SNES (Super Nintendo entertainment system).

Publishing and sale
A lot of the companies who had bought licences for the NES also bought SNES licences because of the success of NES: Squaresoft, Capcom, Tecmo, Konami and Koei were Nintendo’s key third party developers. This gave Nintendo an advantage in the competition.
SNES was released on Noweber 21st 1990 with a market price of 200 American Dollars. The game Super Mario World and two controlls came along with the console.
They had some difficulties in the beginning of the release of SNES. Sega had already launched some very popular games for their Genesis console, one of them being Sonic the Hedgehog, and this game was very important to the marketing of the Genesis because of the popular status of the game character. The Genesis was also 50 American Dollars cheaper than SNES.
A few months after the first launch, the power-set version of the SNES was introduced. It did not include any games and it only came with one control. It was sold in North America for 100 USD. After a while it was redistributed with different accessories. One of these games was sold with the Super Gameboy.
The merchandise was only different to suit all the different TV Systems in the countries where it was sold. A lot of the Australian tapes came from Europe for the reason that they both have PAL systems. The RPG had to be translated into different languages because the games contained a lot of text. A lot of action titles and one on one shooting games did not need much translation because the amount of text was a lot less relevant, compared to the context of the game.
The SNES had a big library that contained lots of exclusive titles. It had many RPG best sellers like Final Fantasy VI, and Chromo Trigger. Some SNES games are improved NES games, e.g. Super Mario Allstar and Ninja Gaiden Trilogy. (Martin Nielsen, author of NES World, 1997)
Despite the trouble of getting the sale started, and only being technically better by a small margin, Nintendo got help from the concept of the family friendly images, and popular characters in games like Super Mario, and that’s what made them dominating in the early 90`s. At the end of the 16 byte period Nintendo had twice as many sales from their product compared to Sega’s Genesis. (Steven Poole, Trigger happy; 1501ART Communication and Digital technologies 2006)
The SNES was released in Great Brittan for 150 British Pounds in April 1992. The release in Germany followed a few weeks later. The European version had the same appearance as the Super Famicom. Nintendo never really got a good grip on Europe because of distribution problems but the console was very popular in Scandinavia. (Martin Nielsen, author of NES World, 1997)
The downfall
The sale of the SNES in North America went down from 1996-1999 and Sony Playstation became more and more a replacement for both NES and SNES on the market. This lead to Nintendo closing in Europe and North America in 1999, but it lasted until September 2003 in Japan.
A changed SNES was released in 1997 and the market prize was 99,99 American Dollars only to be able to sell to the last people interested in the 16 byte market. The console came with Super Mario World 2: Yoshi`s Island. The RF gates and the expanding gates were not in on this version. Nintendo started to develop an inheritor of the Nintendo era by cooperating with Sony, but the disagreements between the two and Nintendos statement of details about Phillips being a part of the project, made Sony pull out. Instead Sony created their own system, the system we now know as Play Station. (Steven Poole, 1501ART, Comminucation and Digital technologies 2006)
A lot of the SNES most popular games were transmitted to the Gameboy Advance who is almost as powerful as the SNES. The Nintendo 64 was released in 1996 and it became Nintendos official flagship.
The emulation
As its predecessors the SNES still has not lost the interest of its fans. It has kept on flowing in the second hand markets and throughout console emulation. Many players did not discover the SNES until after its fall and this is the result of eager buyers of the second hand product which the SNES has become.
Early in 1998 SNES enthusiasts started programming a console emulator called ZNES. One year later the development of the rival ZNES9X started. (www.snes9x.com)
Despite of many legal warnings, court threats and attempts to stopping projects like these, Nintendo have not been able to stop the spread of files both on and off-line. After the console was taken out of production and the enormous growth of the Internet it is now very easy to find these files where ever someone might choose to look.

All in all the SNES has been a part of many lives and it still will be. The reason why is because nowdays everything old is now new. Who knows when it witt be game over for the consoll that rocked the early 90? You have the power to decide. If you keep on playing the original material it will last for as long as you may wish.
Links:
- www.nintendo.com/corp/history/jsp
- www.wikipdia.org/wiki/SNES
- http://www.n-sider.com/
- http://www.snesgames.co.uk/
- http://nesworld.parodius.com/
Search engines:
- http://www.google.com/
- http://www.google.no/
- http://www.wikipedia.com/
- http://www.vg.no/
Books:
- 1501ART Communication and Digital Tecnologies, Steven Poole: Trigger happy

Renate Eriksen, Griffith University: 2579418

Alphaville review

Forum: Alphaville Reviews...
Date: 03-13-2006 12:46
Author: Eriksen, Renate <Renate.Eriksen@student.griffith.edu.au>
Subject Alphaville
Alphaville is a french black/white movie made by Godard in 1965. It has a sci-fi futuristic theme where people are being controlled by machines and they are not allowed to show emotions. This movie is based on music and bodylanguage and since i dont speak french i had to keep looking more at the subtitles than at the actual scenes in the movie so i sometimes found it difficult to understand what was going on. It is confusing and disturbing and unlike anything i have seen before and somehow that makes it interesting. Im looking forward to see the rest of it. Maybe i will understand more when i have seen the whole film.

Tutorial task week 4

Scavenger Hunt Answer these questions without using Google, and then write your answers in an entry in your blog. Make sure to reference the source where you found your answer.

I used www.Altavista.com to find the answers to these questions:

1. What is the weight of the world's biggest pumpkin?
1131 Pounds
2. What is the best way (quickest, most reliable) to contact Grant Hackett?
He can be contacted by mail Posting to the Miami Swimming ClubPO BOX 2461BURLEIGH QLD 4220
3. What is the length of a giraffe's tongue?
A giraffes tongue is 18 inches long.
4. How would you define the word "ontology"? In your own words, what does it really mean ?
Theoretics that studies human nature and existence
5. What was David Cronenberg's first feature film?
Transfer, released in 1966.
6. When was the original "Hacker's Manifesto" written?
The Conscience of a Hacker (a.k.a. The Hacker Manifesto) is a small essay written January 8, 1986.
7.Why do all phone numbers in Hollywood films start with "555"?
555 was used as a prefix to prevent actors etc, being rung up and harassed. Movie makers were encouraged to use the 555 prefix for the actors safety.
8. What is the cheapest form of travel from Crete to Rhodes?
Row row row your boat...
9. What song was top of the Australian Pop Charts this week in 1965?
The beatles Rock and roll music.
10. Which Brisbane band was (still is?) Stephen Stockwell a member of?
The black assassin

More questions to answer:

• A search engine is a program designed to help find information stored on a computer system such as the World Wide Web, inside a corporate or proprietary network or a personal computer.
• Serach engines rank their stuff after the key word you write in the search box and to how many links the stuff that comes up have about that. What comes up is not neccesarily what you are searhing for bacause you get the pages with the most links, not the ones with the most correst answer to your request. This is also what makes one page more "useful" than a nother one. Always check your references and how correct the material you get is compared to other stuff you might find.
• I always use google, yahoo, or wikipedia cause it is easy to find what you are searching for and it has references that I can check against other material to see if it is ringht and important to what I need to find out. I am just not very familiar with other engines so thats why i use the ones i use, and i am satisfied most of the time using them.
• "Aussie search engine 'wows' Google"http://www.smh.com.au/news/technology/aussie-search-engine-wows-google/2006/05/29/114875487917

"Google and Dell, eBay and Yahoo couple up http://au.news.yahoo.com/060529/20/z5ou.html

"Google knocks Microsoft off Dell PCs" http://www.arnnet.com.au/index.php/id;133336956;fp;2;fpid;1

About me

My name is Renate Eriksen and I was born 23 of march 1986 i Trondheim, Norway where I grew up as a busy kid/teenager always having stuff to do. Im now studying abroad in QLD Australia and this blog is an assignement in one of my cources: communication and digital technologies. I am taking a bachelordegree in journalism with music as my majour. Why? Because I like writing and music so why not combine the two and make a living of it! The music I listen to is everything from Ashlee Simpson, Christina Aguilera and Kelly Clarkson to Guns N`roses, Rolling Stones, Kent(Sweedish), Muse, Coldplay, Franz Ferdinand, Audioslave, Johnny Cash, U2, some Norwegian stuff..etc.. Just a lot of different stuff. I LOVE going to concerts. When Im not listening to music I sing, like to go out and dance and party, go to the beach(not in Norway though because its snowing at the moment..!), I like reading books, hanging out with my friends(miss u guys back in Norway A LOT, but im getting some good ones here aswell). You could say I like doing the same as every other (soon to be) 20 year old girls exept that Im terrified of horses and im very weak when it comes to guys with dreads or long hear, tattoos and those who can play guitar. I dont fall for the mamasboys;)
I have never created a blog before so I hope I will get better at it aventually. Please be patient with me. Some more details will come up later.
C ya..!