...Is Watching

First off what is Uberveillance? As I understand, it is a term used to describe intense 24/7 electronic surveillance. It sounds reminiscent of George Orwell's "Nineteen Eighty-Four", always being watched. Not only is it referring to surveillance from the outside, but also the disturbing notion of surveillance on the inside. Michael (2010) describes uberveillance as "the ability to automatically locate and identify". Basically it is the most comprehensive surveillance possible, real-time monitoring and tracking at any given moment in time without ceasing.

The realisation of this even being a reality one day raises the question of privacy and inherent human rights. Are we ready for an uberveillance society? I don't think anyone is ready for that, nor will they ever be. Unfortunately with new technologies being developed every single day, it is looking more and more likely that one day in the future this will go from being an outrageous idea to the standard.

With products like Google Glass due out later in the year, it shows how far technology has come already and that nothing really is unimaginable. Google Glass is a wearable device that does everything a smart phone can do and more, all with a simple voice command. So not only can it take photos, record video, send messages and search the web but it can also monitor your heart rate and navigate you around. Have a bad sense of direction? Never fear, Google Glass will map out a route to follow right in front of your eyes! With technology like this being made available to the public who knows where this could lead and what boundaries will be set. I don't know about you, but I find the direction technology is heading a little unsettling. What will be in the next wave of inventions? Could it be implantable microchips? It's hard to comprehend the possibilities of next generation technology.

Google Glass

These days it is quite common to tag animals to further aid researchers in understanding their behaviour. With this already becoming the norm it could easily lead to the development and implementation of microchips for human beings. If this is the impending future for generations to come they will not know the feeling of freedom, that right will be stripped from them before they even know it. They will share everything they see and hear, their location will never be unknown, and they will always somehow be watched.

Reference:

M.G Michael and K. Michael 2010 "Towards a State of Uberveillance" IEEE Technology and Society Magazine 29.2 (2010): 9-16 [Available at: http://works.bepress.com/kmicahel/187]

T Mogg 2013 "Google Glass: Privacy Officials From Six Nations ask Larry Page For More Info", <http://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/google-glass-privacy-officials-from-six-nations-ask-larry-page-for-more-info/>

Goodbye Originality!

Digital programs and websites such as ProTools, Audacity and YouTube have allowed anyone the opportunity to call themselves a producer or an artist. We live in a time where there are remixes, mash-ups and samples popping up all over the Internet and radio. Such technologies enable basically anyone with a computer to take another person's hard work, remaster it and throw it out into the world as something new. The question that is raised quite frequently is whether remixers are "innovators" or "thieves". Personally I don't see how remixers could be referred to as innovators, seeing as they technically aren't introducing a completely new track. Even if majority of their track is brand new material the sample that they include is almost always recognisable, and therefore is not original. If an artist plans to distribute copies containing samples to the public and are gaining a profit from their release without getting the legal clearance required, then I would go as far as to say that remixers are thieves.

Sampling music can be a very complicated process, especially when samples contain samples, which in today's music industry is increasingly the case. Not only do you need to receive the permission of the music label which owns the sound recording rights, but you also need to gather permission from the songs publisher. This obviously continues until you receive permission from all owners of the samples within the sample being used. From this it is clear that it is almost impossible to obtain all of the clearances necessary to avoid a hefty lawsuit.

Daft Punk is a French electronic music duo that reached significant popularity in the late 1990's. According to "WhoSampled" they have used over 216 samples, created 26 covers and recorded around 7 remixes. Their hit song "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger" (2001), featured a sample from "Cola Bottle Baby" by Edwin Birdsong (1979). "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger" then went on to be sampled in approximately twenty more songs including the major chart toppers "Stronger" by Kanye West (2007) and "Boom Boom Pow" by Black Eyed Peas (2009).

"Cola Bottle Baby"

"Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger"

In the music industry with changing times and developing technologies we need to acknowledge that artists have and will continue to draw inspiration from and/or sample each other's work.

References:

WhoSampled, 2013, "Hot Artists", Retrieved 11 August 2013, <http://www.whosampled.com/hot-artists/1/>

Daft Punk - Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger 2009, YouTube Video, emimusic, Retrieved 11 August 2013, <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAjR4_CbPpQ>

Edwin Birdsong - Cola Bottle Baby 2009, Youtube Video, Retrieved 11 August 2013, <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3AKrwna2C8

I Drive A Toyota, Not A Kangaroo

On my recent journey to Los Angeles I had the pleasure of meeting new and exciting people every day. As Hollywood is practically the home of the entertainment industry I was faced with a lot of people referring to themselves as "actors" or "in the industry". Not only did they fail miserably at impersonating our accents, but they also had some pretty wild ideas as to what Australians are like. Apparently we are all crocodile hunting, kangaroo riding, Fosters drinking professional surfers. I hadn't even heard of Fosters up until this trip! This made me think "where on earth did they get all of these crazy assumptions from?!" Most Americans get their impressions of Australians from the entertainment media and if you haven't already noticed this is specifically focused on rural Australia. Thanks to productions like "Crocodile Dundee" and "The Crocodile Hunter" we all look like crazy thrill seeking bad asses! Globalisation enables us to discover and learn about other cultures through media outlets such as film and television, as Pieterse (2004) says "globalisation crosses boundaries of government and business, media and social movements, general and academic interest."

To be honest some of the stereotypes about Australians annoyed me, others I found hilarious, but I took a step back and realised that I am also an offender of believing certain stereotypes that I have either witnessed through a Hollywood movie or read on the Internet. Same as Americans, Australians are also influenced by the entertainment media. For as many inaccurate and generalised films portraying Australians that are out there, there are thousands of films and television shows also representing America and Americans inaccurately. For example, thanks to majority of Hollywood films that I have watched I was expecting most food to be super-sized and a heart attack waiting to happen, but in Los Angeles it was quite possibly the opposite. On every corner there was either a smoothie bar or an organic supermarket. Safe to say I felt a bit ridiculous for assuming such things just from going off what I had seen in movies (although not to be disappointed my boyfriend did stumble upon this beauty...)

Universal City Walk

I guess what we can take from this is that you shouldn't be so quick to believe everything you see in a movie or on a television show as evidently it is most likely grossly exaggerated, somewhat offensive and just a poor generalisation. 

References:

Nederveen Pieterse, J 2004, "Globalization: consensus and controversies", Globalization and Culture: global mélange, Rowan & Littlefield, Lanham