Questions of the future are always open and vague. Simply, we don’t know what will happen in the future. However, just as Jane McGonigal states on her website, regarding the future, “never before has humanity been able to explore the emerging landscape in such detail”. We are in a position where we have access to technology and have learnt from the past, to a degree where we can more so than before, predict what is to come. McGonigal states that the future is “our chance to be new”. This is true, as we have the opportunity to decide what kind of future we all face.

Going back to Week Eight’s topic of ‘The Fate of the State’, it is evident that ultimately, we will define the type of government that engages society for the future. Issues of transparency and media’s role in politics are all issues that we can decide on today, to make for a more effective future for us and our children.

Going back again, this time to the topic of ‘Virtuality’, we as society, but also as individuals engaged in business and education, can decide whether

This week’s topic of the generosity of new media in science and technology is very current and controversial. Wilbanks’ article article clearly outlines that the way in which science used and still does use, publishing, which is tied to print, as a method of “knowledge transfer” is becoming obsolete. Being published in academia gives a scientist credibility within the field. However, controversy also reigns within scientific domains. As we see through geneticist Craig Venter, it is difficult to promote a discovery unless it is carried out by ‘traditional’, or ‘morally credible’ means. Venter’s creation of ‘synthetic DNA’ has been branded as “cheating God”. It marks a significant progression in science, but has not been received well.

Innovation is synonymous with new media – media is a reflection of our society, and in my opinion, society reflects the innovations we have made. In this way, science should be receptive of the various new media technologies that have been established. This is not to say that science lags behind society when it comes to technological advancements, as it is science that makes those advancements in the first place. However, ‘success’ in science, according to the ‘Science Transfer’ article, is measured by the influence that is had on the coming generation. New media now, and in the past, can always be linked to a generation, and it is this link that determines it’s influence. The MySpace generation is a great example, as it paved the way for a new media and social discourse, as well as change the face of the music industry. Science should be able to recognise the potential of new media and media technology in preparing scientific advancements. As Kelly states, science is not a “uniform method”. It is a “collection of techniques” gathered over centuries. It is surprising that old techniques still have relevance in the field. It would be very difficult to find an ‘old’ technique in many areas of technological development, and it is time science ‘caught up’ with, and discovered the “generosities” of new media.

Piracy, or sharing? Stealing, or borrowing? Many questions are raised by this hotly contested topic, but one point of certainty is that the onset of the ‘network age’ gave birth to music piracy as we know it today. Through the adoption and utilisation of peer-to-peer programs and networks, the web of piracy continues to grow at a rapid pace, and with the onset of new technologies, piracy will only become easier and occur in greater volume. This creates challenges for the music industry, in regulating the distribution of pirated material. Aiden Henry’s blog ‘Mapping the Web’ raises many interesting points about networks and piracy. In his article ‘Why Music Piracy is Good for Music’, Henry writes “although artists such asMetallica curse at the Internet downloading phenomenon, others embrace this medium.” I disagree with the second part of this quote. While many have embraced the downloading phenomenon, artists have not embraced the piracy phenomenon, which can not be seen as a new opportunity. There is a clear cut difference between downloading music, and pirating music. Both downloading and piracy have been spawned by the ‘network age’, but something people fail to see, is that piracy has no beneficial value. Many bands rely solely on the downloading of their music, to gain recognition. But, once they are noticed, do their fans suddenly start buying their albums? The music industry must work to ensure that artists are not damaged by this phenomenon, and that whether or not the music actually good, copyrighted material must be purchased.