What have you had to “unlearn” (i.e. that only phones are for having conversations) in the past 10 years due to technological change?
Technology has been drastically changing over the course of time and my perceptions toward gaining information has transformed since I was a little kid. When I was little, I remember getting an assignment in school, and checking out books at the library to obtain information. So one thing that I have had to “unlearn” in the past ten years is that a library is no longer the primary source of information retrieval. These days, many forms of research is done online. When I am assigned a research paper, my first thought is not to search through the library catalog. Instead, I can search for scholarly articles in online databases or just simply search through Google. JMU even provides students VPN Client which allows us to access research databases from off campus. It is amazing how much people can do now from within their own homes. Soon, there may not be a need for libraries at all. If I have ever checked out a book from the campus library in the past four years, it was because I was required to do so for a class, but I know that if it were up to me, I would do all of my research online. Times are changing and technology is advancing. When we compare life now to how it was 10 years ago, it is amazing how much our normal daily routines have altered.
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Monday, November 30, 2009
The Adequacy of Rating Systems
Many online merchants today, such as eBay and Amazon, use rating systems empowered by its customers. Is this adequate for determining which products to buy, or which users to trust? Cite examples from these two merchants that support your opinion (whether it is good enough, or inadequate).
I think that rating systems empowered by customers are adequate for determining which products to buy. I searched the Amazon site and checked the ratings people put for “Here Comes Everybody.” There were 54 customer reviews based on a 1 to 5 star rating scale. On the top of the page, it showed the most helpful favorable review vs. the most helpful critical review. It also shows you how many total people found the review helpful. As for eBay, the site provides you with seller ratings. There’s a positive feedback percentage and a feedback score. It also shows you the average rating for the item as described, communication, shipping time, and shipping and handling charges. I found that both of these rating systems for Amazon and eBay as adequate and helpful in determining which products to buy. Amazon is adequate because it shows which reviews are most helpful and how many people agreed. EBay is adequate because it gives separate ratings for different aspects of the sellers and tells you how many people actually rated it. There are a great number of people who posted ratings on the site which makes it more reliable—it’s not like it is just a few opinions. EBay was created on the assumption that people are basically good, and I think that the concept of its rating system has supported that.
I think that rating systems empowered by customers are adequate for determining which products to buy. I searched the Amazon site and checked the ratings people put for “Here Comes Everybody.” There were 54 customer reviews based on a 1 to 5 star rating scale. On the top of the page, it showed the most helpful favorable review vs. the most helpful critical review. It also shows you how many total people found the review helpful. As for eBay, the site provides you with seller ratings. There’s a positive feedback percentage and a feedback score. It also shows you the average rating for the item as described, communication, shipping time, and shipping and handling charges. I found that both of these rating systems for Amazon and eBay as adequate and helpful in determining which products to buy. Amazon is adequate because it shows which reviews are most helpful and how many people agreed. EBay is adequate because it gives separate ratings for different aspects of the sellers and tells you how many people actually rated it. There are a great number of people who posted ratings on the site which makes it more reliable—it’s not like it is just a few opinions. EBay was created on the assumption that people are basically good, and I think that the concept of its rating system has supported that.
The Wisdom of Crowds
James Surowiecki’s book mentioned in this chapter outlines four elements to create a so-called “wise crowd,” one that can make decisions better than experts. These include “diversity of opinion” and “independence.” Since social groups online seem to form crowds of many like-minded people, what caution would you give someone using information they find from a socialized website or resource?
The point of a “wise crowd” is that a diverse collection of independently-deciding individuals is likely to make certain types of decisions and predictions better than individuals or even experts. The key word in that definition is DIVERSE. For this reason, an online social group would not be as reliable in making decisions because it is made up of like-minded people. The caution here is that if people think too much alike then different information will not be considered and errors will not be balanced out. If people in an online social group are conscious of one another's opinions on certain issues, then they will begin to follow each other and conform even more, rather than bring in differing views. Two very important criteria for a wise crowd are diversity and independence. If people are aware of the decisions of others than their opinion could sway and a correct answer could be overlooked. Since this could be the case, if someone is using information that they find from a socialized website, they should be wary of the information they are receiving and may want to check it over with a different type of group.
The point of a “wise crowd” is that a diverse collection of independently-deciding individuals is likely to make certain types of decisions and predictions better than individuals or even experts. The key word in that definition is DIVERSE. For this reason, an online social group would not be as reliable in making decisions because it is made up of like-minded people. The caution here is that if people think too much alike then different information will not be considered and errors will not be balanced out. If people in an online social group are conscious of one another's opinions on certain issues, then they will begin to follow each other and conform even more, rather than bring in differing views. Two very important criteria for a wise crowd are diversity and independence. If people are aware of the decisions of others than their opinion could sway and a correct answer could be overlooked. Since this could be the case, if someone is using information that they find from a socialized website, they should be wary of the information they are receiving and may want to check it over with a different type of group.
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Failure for Free
Think back to your experiences in middle and high school. How many opportunities were you given to experiment and “fail” in solving a problem? How could a school work today where students were regularly offered such opportunities?
When I think back to high school and middle school, we were rarely given the opportunity to experiment and fail in problem solving. It’s not like the teachers told us that we could take the test but if we failed then we could just take it again. If this were the case, then nobody would feel the need to study. According to Shirky, the overall effect of failure is its likelihood times its cost. If students are not given the opportunity to experiment and fail, then they would try harder the first time, therefore reducing the likelihood of failure. If a school offered students opportunities to experiment and fail, it would be more expected for students to fail the first time. This would lower the cost of failure because the students would not be expecting to pass. This would be failure for free because it allows the student to learn from their mistakes and try again.
When I think back to high school and middle school, we were rarely given the opportunity to experiment and fail in problem solving. It’s not like the teachers told us that we could take the test but if we failed then we could just take it again. If this were the case, then nobody would feel the need to study. According to Shirky, the overall effect of failure is its likelihood times its cost. If students are not given the opportunity to experiment and fail, then they would try harder the first time, therefore reducing the likelihood of failure. If a school offered students opportunities to experiment and fail, it would be more expected for students to fail the first time. This would lower the cost of failure because the students would not be expecting to pass. This would be failure for free because it allows the student to learn from their mistakes and try again.
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
FOAF Networking
What professional benefits do you see by investing time into a FOAF-style network?
FOAF networking stands for “Friend Of A Friend.” It is designed to connect individuals and groups directly with others who share common interests. When you become friends with someone in a network it connects you with their other like-minded friends in that network. As you add friends, your network grows and allows you to interact with your new connections. This FOAF-style network would have benefits in a professional setting because it would allow organizations to spread a message to as many potential volunteers, clients, or nonprofits as possible. It is an easy way for businesses to connect with similar companies in order to thrive in a competitive market. Organizations might also use FOAF to increase visibility and raising awareness. On the other side of the spectrum, FOAF may be beneficial for people trying to find jobs. It is a good way to get your name out there and build a network of personal and professional contacts to help in a job search.
FOAF networking stands for “Friend Of A Friend.” It is designed to connect individuals and groups directly with others who share common interests. When you become friends with someone in a network it connects you with their other like-minded friends in that network. As you add friends, your network grows and allows you to interact with your new connections. This FOAF-style network would have benefits in a professional setting because it would allow organizations to spread a message to as many potential volunteers, clients, or nonprofits as possible. It is an easy way for businesses to connect with similar companies in order to thrive in a competitive market. Organizations might also use FOAF to increase visibility and raising awareness. On the other side of the spectrum, FOAF may be beneficial for people trying to find jobs. It is a good way to get your name out there and build a network of personal and professional contacts to help in a job search.
Monday, November 9, 2009
Distinctions Between Online vs. Print Media
While younger people today may not make distinctions between online and real-world friends according to Shirky, do you make distinctions between online vs. print media? Why or why not? Is there an advantage to one or the other?
According to Shirky, “the internet augments real world social life rather than providing an alternative to it. Instead of becoming a separate cyberspace, our electronic networks are becoming deeply embedded in real life.” What Shirky means by this is that people now have the ability to find each other online, and then meet up in real life. For example, social networks like Meetup.com allow people to search for others depending on interest or location.
When it comes to online vs. print media, a different kind of distinction occurs. These days, people are relying on the internet more than ever. With laptops becoming smaller and thinner, along with the development of phones that can access internet, people are finding new means of obtaining the news rather than print media. Although the information in the Baltimore Sun and the information found at Baltimoresun.com may be identical, people prefer to get information via online sources. It’s not like I hear about something online, and try to locate the first newspaper I can find to look it up. It’s usually the opposite. If I hear that something has happened, I usually search for it online in order to find the quickest answer. So, even though social life online and in the real world is meshing together, I feel that online media is more prevalent while print media is disappearing.
According to Shirky, “the internet augments real world social life rather than providing an alternative to it. Instead of becoming a separate cyberspace, our electronic networks are becoming deeply embedded in real life.” What Shirky means by this is that people now have the ability to find each other online, and then meet up in real life. For example, social networks like Meetup.com allow people to search for others depending on interest or location.
When it comes to online vs. print media, a different kind of distinction occurs. These days, people are relying on the internet more than ever. With laptops becoming smaller and thinner, along with the development of phones that can access internet, people are finding new means of obtaining the news rather than print media. Although the information in the Baltimore Sun and the information found at Baltimoresun.com may be identical, people prefer to get information via online sources. It’s not like I hear about something online, and try to locate the first newspaper I can find to look it up. It’s usually the opposite. If I hear that something has happened, I usually search for it online in order to find the quickest answer. So, even though social life online and in the real world is meshing together, I feel that online media is more prevalent while print media is disappearing.
Prisoner's Dilemma
Considering the Prisoner’s Dilemma in this chapter, provide your own insight on how sites such as eBay “work” for most participants of this popular online auction site. Do they really work? Or is there too much risk?
In a way, auction sites like ebay, are very much like the Prisoner’s Dilemma. The way ebay works is that a person decides that they want to sell something so they create an auction listing. After that, hundreds of potential buyers look at the listing and decide to bid on it. The person with the highest bid obviously wins and receives an email from the seller. This can relate to the Prisoner’s Dilemma because people making bids cannot communicate with one another, this way they may not put a whole lot of trust in one another. There are different possibilities that the bidders can consider:
1. Everyone bids within a reasonable price range, and the highest bid wins,
2. Everyone bids quite low, and the highest bid wins, or
3. Everyone bids within a very high price range, and the highest bid wins.
The Prisoner’s dilemma assumes that people don’t trust each other causing the worst outcome which in this case would be number 3. If someone really wants an item, they will place a very high bid thinking others will do the same. If people don’t trust one another, the bids could keep getting higher and higher until the item is extremely expensive. This is a lose-lose situation because nobody gets the item, and the person who does, spends a lot of money - maybe more than it’s actually worth, depending on the quality of it. I have never personally bought or sold anything on ebay so I’m a little unsure how the site actually works, but if this dilemma is the case then it seems a little risky. From what I’ve heard, I think that the site works, but I’m sure there are events where the bidding gets out of control and people spend more money than they intend to.
In a way, auction sites like ebay, are very much like the Prisoner’s Dilemma. The way ebay works is that a person decides that they want to sell something so they create an auction listing. After that, hundreds of potential buyers look at the listing and decide to bid on it. The person with the highest bid obviously wins and receives an email from the seller. This can relate to the Prisoner’s Dilemma because people making bids cannot communicate with one another, this way they may not put a whole lot of trust in one another. There are different possibilities that the bidders can consider:
1. Everyone bids within a reasonable price range, and the highest bid wins,
2. Everyone bids quite low, and the highest bid wins, or
3. Everyone bids within a very high price range, and the highest bid wins.
The Prisoner’s dilemma assumes that people don’t trust each other causing the worst outcome which in this case would be number 3. If someone really wants an item, they will place a very high bid thinking others will do the same. If people don’t trust one another, the bids could keep getting higher and higher until the item is extremely expensive. This is a lose-lose situation because nobody gets the item, and the person who does, spends a lot of money - maybe more than it’s actually worth, depending on the quality of it. I have never personally bought or sold anything on ebay so I’m a little unsure how the site actually works, but if this dilemma is the case then it seems a little risky. From what I’ve heard, I think that the site works, but I’m sure there are events where the bidding gets out of control and people spend more money than they intend to.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Is DRM-protected content the way to go?
What’s the value of a bit? It seems that going after folks who have traded songs or movies online is a huge expenditure of effort and money. Is DRM-protected content the way to go? If you don’t agree, propose another method for the distribution of digital multimedia so that content creators can still be compensated.
Today, computers are making it easy to copy and distribute information without permission. To make this difficult or near impossible, one would need to actually change computers which is not easy to do. According to Abelson, it can’t be done at all without sacrificing the computer’s ability to function as a general-purpose device. That is why Digital Rights Management (DRM) was created in order to “access control technologies that can be used by hardware manufacturers, publishers, copyright holders and individuals to try to impose limitations on the usage of digital content and devices” (Wikipedia). While DRM is argued as to be needed by copyright holders to prevent unauthorized duplication of their work, either to maintain artistic integrity or to ensure continued revenue streams, others find it misleading. Even with encryption, attackers could save the encrypted material and distribute those copies all over the internet. A solution that Abelson comes up with is to build a chip into every computer that checks the operating system each time the machine is turned on. If the system has been modified, it will not boot. This chip has actually been worked out and is called a Trusted Platform Module and should become more pervasive in upcoming years.
Today, computers are making it easy to copy and distribute information without permission. To make this difficult or near impossible, one would need to actually change computers which is not easy to do. According to Abelson, it can’t be done at all without sacrificing the computer’s ability to function as a general-purpose device. That is why Digital Rights Management (DRM) was created in order to “access control technologies that can be used by hardware manufacturers, publishers, copyright holders and individuals to try to impose limitations on the usage of digital content and devices” (Wikipedia). While DRM is argued as to be needed by copyright holders to prevent unauthorized duplication of their work, either to maintain artistic integrity or to ensure continued revenue streams, others find it misleading. Even with encryption, attackers could save the encrypted material and distribute those copies all over the internet. A solution that Abelson comes up with is to build a chip into every computer that checks the operating system each time the machine is turned on. If the system has been modified, it will not boot. This chip has actually been worked out and is called a Trusted Platform Module and should become more pervasive in upcoming years.
Copy Protection of DVDs
The copy protection originally designed to protect content on DVDs has been overcome some years ago. What other methods can you find today that movie studios are using to protect their content on DVDs or other optical media?
According to Abelson, DVD’s often use the Content Scrambling System (CSS) in order to protect them from being copied. The CSS encrypts DVD contents in order to limit unauthorized copying. However, apparently, this system turned out to be weak and was cracked within three years after it was announced. But as of last year, Patronus DVD anti-rip copy protection has been used as a way to protect DVDs. The Patronus helps content owners protect digital assets by encapsulating image files on a DVD disc causing access to the content to be controlled. The encapsulation is introduced in areas of the disc that are not read by DVD players during playback. Since no copy protection is unavoidable, it is important to be realistic about the system and to not set expectations too high. The goal of the Patronus is to make copying extremely difficult for the average person. Even though it is not completely fool proof, it provides a reliable, efficient, and easy way to protect DVDs from being copied.
Information found at www.fortiumtech.com.
According to Abelson, DVD’s often use the Content Scrambling System (CSS) in order to protect them from being copied. The CSS encrypts DVD contents in order to limit unauthorized copying. However, apparently, this system turned out to be weak and was cracked within three years after it was announced. But as of last year, Patronus DVD anti-rip copy protection has been used as a way to protect DVDs. The Patronus helps content owners protect digital assets by encapsulating image files on a DVD disc causing access to the content to be controlled. The encapsulation is introduced in areas of the disc that are not read by DVD players during playback. Since no copy protection is unavoidable, it is important to be realistic about the system and to not set expectations too high. The goal of the Patronus is to make copying extremely difficult for the average person. Even though it is not completely fool proof, it provides a reliable, efficient, and easy way to protect DVDs from being copied.
Information found at www.fortiumtech.com.
The Importance of enabling WPA
If your mother uses wifi at home to send you e-mail, and your home network is not protected by WEP or WPA, what reasons would you suggest to her for enabling one of these two protocols at home if the liability of reading those e-mails still exists once her message leaves your home, on it’s way to school?
If my mom uses WiFi at home to send me an email at school, but my home network is not protected by WPA, she might as well just come to campus and read the email over the intercom system for the entire student body to hear. My mom might not realize it but when packets of data are sent over the internet, it gets handled at switching points called routers. At each router, the packet of data is stored, examined, checked, analyzed, and sent on its way. Since she is using a wireless network service, it makes it very easy for hackers to obtain our information undetected. I would ask my mom if she really thinks it is wise to send me important unprotected information over the internet. I would tell her that according to Abelson, in 2001, credit card numbers that were sent via internet were hacked in to because it was impossible to prevent snoopers from looking at them. Would she want that to happen to us? The solution to protect the data she wants to send is to encrypt the information so that only I, the recipient, could decrypt it. With WPA, when a hacker tries to read our information, all they will see is an undecipherable scramble of bits.
If my mom uses WiFi at home to send me an email at school, but my home network is not protected by WPA, she might as well just come to campus and read the email over the intercom system for the entire student body to hear. My mom might not realize it but when packets of data are sent over the internet, it gets handled at switching points called routers. At each router, the packet of data is stored, examined, checked, analyzed, and sent on its way. Since she is using a wireless network service, it makes it very easy for hackers to obtain our information undetected. I would ask my mom if she really thinks it is wise to send me important unprotected information over the internet. I would tell her that according to Abelson, in 2001, credit card numbers that were sent via internet were hacked in to because it was impossible to prevent snoopers from looking at them. Would she want that to happen to us? The solution to protect the data she wants to send is to encrypt the information so that only I, the recipient, could decrypt it. With WPA, when a hacker tries to read our information, all they will see is an undecipherable scramble of bits.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Flash Mobs
Watch the video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8GfrfDmXDb0 What would you write to get people to do this? Where would you put it? How would you distribute the message? How would you get buy-in for participation?
If I were to start a flash mob like the freeze in Paris, I would use a social networking site to spread the word. I could make an event on Facebook and send it to as many people as I can. I would make it so that people can invite whoever they want so that the word spreads. Another idea is to post in the activities and events sections of craigslist, or any other local live journal communities that may exist. I could post at least 2 weeks beforehand, and then every other day leading up to the event. I would use these types of social networks so that if police were to find out about it, they would not be able to accuse anybody for the coordinated public gathering before the event because they wouldn’t know who is actually going to be attending. In the event write-up, I would include a date, time, location, and clearly defined rules. I would let everyone know that this event is just for fun and that participation is completely optional. I might even have everybody gather in a more remote location beforehand to go over the rules and the signals for exactly when to start and stop the routine.
If I were to start a flash mob like the freeze in Paris, I would use a social networking site to spread the word. I could make an event on Facebook and send it to as many people as I can. I would make it so that people can invite whoever they want so that the word spreads. Another idea is to post in the activities and events sections of craigslist, or any other local live journal communities that may exist. I could post at least 2 weeks beforehand, and then every other day leading up to the event. I would use these types of social networks so that if police were to find out about it, they would not be able to accuse anybody for the coordinated public gathering before the event because they wouldn’t know who is actually going to be attending. In the event write-up, I would include a date, time, location, and clearly defined rules. I would let everyone know that this event is just for fun and that participation is completely optional. I might even have everybody gather in a more remote location beforehand to go over the rules and the signals for exactly when to start and stop the routine.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Google's Text Based Ads
In general, do you pay attention to Google’s text-based ads? If you do follow them, tell us why. If you don’t, tell us why. Should Google keep these “sponsored ads”? Tell us why or why no
I, personally, have never paid much attention to Google’s text based ads. To be honest, I never really even noticed them there at all. After reading up on them though, I have gathered some opinions based on them. The good thing about them is that they are clearly separate from the search results and don’t interfere with them. This way, “no one is tricked into the search engine’s descent into commercial deception.” However, according to Abelson, to place an ad today, you simply fill out a web form with information about what search terms you want to target, what few words you want as the text of your ad, and what credit card number Google can use to charge its fee. It sounds to me like it is extremely simple for just anybody to place an ad on Google which makes it seems as if the advertisements could be unreliable and sketchy. For this reason, I think that Google should not keep these sponsored ads unless they are legitimate. To make sure of this, the sponsor should have to go through a longer process of posting an ad rather than just filling out a web form.
I, personally, have never paid much attention to Google’s text based ads. To be honest, I never really even noticed them there at all. After reading up on them though, I have gathered some opinions based on them. The good thing about them is that they are clearly separate from the search results and don’t interfere with them. This way, “no one is tricked into the search engine’s descent into commercial deception.” However, according to Abelson, to place an ad today, you simply fill out a web form with information about what search terms you want to target, what few words you want as the text of your ad, and what credit card number Google can use to charge its fee. It sounds to me like it is extremely simple for just anybody to place an ad on Google which makes it seems as if the advertisements could be unreliable and sketchy. For this reason, I think that Google should not keep these sponsored ads unless they are legitimate. To make sure of this, the sponsor should have to go through a longer process of posting an ad rather than just filling out a web form.
The Responsibility of Drug Companies Whose Drugs Cause Negative Side Effects
The official website for the drug Olanzapine probably didn’t mention the fact it might cause diabetic symptoms in patients. Another website obviously did. Commercials on TV now are required to mention possible side effects. Should drug companies be required to come clean about situations like the one with Eli Lilly’s Olanzapine in their commercial websites? Why or why not?
According to Abelson, Eli Lilly kept the negative side effects of Zyprexa a secret from users. Apparently, people had sued Lilly claiming that the drug caused them diabetes, but Lilly tried to keep these documents hidden and only accessible to the company. Well, these documents somehow got published on the web making them reachable to web surfers with only a few mouse clicks. When situations like this happen to drug companies, they should be required to come clean about it in their official websites. At the point when a drug is supposedly causing consumers Pancreatitis and Diabetes, it is worth more than a company’s reputation to admit to it; were talking about peoples’ lives here. Diabetes is a very serious thing and if it can be contracted from the drug, than people deserve to know about it. If people have already sued the drug company for this problem, then there is no saying that it won’t happen again. I have actually seen commercials for other types of drugs on TV warning consumers about the dangers that it may cause. I recently saw a commercial for a certain birth control saying that if you have taken it, then to contact a doctor right away because the pill can lead to serious side effects. This was the right thing to do because it is taking the lives of people into consideration even though it is destroying the business for the drug.
According to Abelson, Eli Lilly kept the negative side effects of Zyprexa a secret from users. Apparently, people had sued Lilly claiming that the drug caused them diabetes, but Lilly tried to keep these documents hidden and only accessible to the company. Well, these documents somehow got published on the web making them reachable to web surfers with only a few mouse clicks. When situations like this happen to drug companies, they should be required to come clean about it in their official websites. At the point when a drug is supposedly causing consumers Pancreatitis and Diabetes, it is worth more than a company’s reputation to admit to it; were talking about peoples’ lives here. Diabetes is a very serious thing and if it can be contracted from the drug, than people deserve to know about it. If people have already sued the drug company for this problem, then there is no saying that it won’t happen again. I have actually seen commercials for other types of drugs on TV warning consumers about the dangers that it may cause. I recently saw a commercial for a certain birth control saying that if you have taken it, then to contact a doctor right away because the pill can lead to serious side effects. This was the right thing to do because it is taking the lives of people into consideration even though it is destroying the business for the drug.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
The Miller Test
If you were developing an Internet policy for your company or organization, how would you define content inappropriate in the workplace in email or bulletin boards different than the Miller test?
If I had an internet policy for my company, I would define content inappropriate in the workplace in email or bulletin boards slightly different than the Miller test. The interesting thing about the Miller test is that it establishes that there is no national standard for obscenity. The same thing goes for companies and organizations. Each company may have different standards for what is considered inappropriate. It all really depends on the type of company. So first of all I would come up with a standard code of appropriateness that would be agreed on by the “work community.” If something is brought up as being offensive, an internal ethics committee could check the information that is brought up and vote on the content which determines whether it is approved to be published on bulletin boards. Rather than having three broad categories, I think that I would have more than three but break them down and make them more specific.
If I had an internet policy for my company, I would define content inappropriate in the workplace in email or bulletin boards slightly different than the Miller test. The interesting thing about the Miller test is that it establishes that there is no national standard for obscenity. The same thing goes for companies and organizations. Each company may have different standards for what is considered inappropriate. It all really depends on the type of company. So first of all I would come up with a standard code of appropriateness that would be agreed on by the “work community.” If something is brought up as being offensive, an internal ethics committee could check the information that is brought up and vote on the content which determines whether it is approved to be published on bulletin boards. Rather than having three broad categories, I think that I would have more than three but break them down and make them more specific.
Good Samaritan Clause
What might you have done differently if you were in the position of artist Ken Zeran, mentioned in this chapter?
If I were in the position of Ken Zeran, I would have at first done the same thing: call AOL and ask them to take down the posting. After this, Ken continued to call and ask them to take the postings down which they didn’t. Before having read this chapter, I would have continued to do the same thing that Ken was doing. However, I have learned that the Good Samaritan Clause under the CDA gives service providers immunity to filter as it wishes. So there would be no good to calling and asking them to take it down or even suing them would be a lost cause. For this reason, I think that I would try to use media outlets to set the situation straight. I would start posting things in hopes that people would believe me. Or perhaps I would call a local radio station who could try to help me set the story straight. However, if I started to receive death threats, I would go straight to the police because I wouldn’t want to be risking my life.
If I were in the position of Ken Zeran, I would have at first done the same thing: call AOL and ask them to take down the posting. After this, Ken continued to call and ask them to take the postings down which they didn’t. Before having read this chapter, I would have continued to do the same thing that Ken was doing. However, I have learned that the Good Samaritan Clause under the CDA gives service providers immunity to filter as it wishes. So there would be no good to calling and asking them to take it down or even suing them would be a lost cause. For this reason, I think that I would try to use media outlets to set the situation straight. I would start posting things in hopes that people would believe me. Or perhaps I would call a local radio station who could try to help me set the story straight. However, if I started to receive death threats, I would go straight to the police because I wouldn’t want to be risking my life.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
MP3 Versus AAC
Research the differences between the MP3 and AAC audio formats, then explain why you think Apple chose the AAC format for music in their iTunes store.
While MP3 and AAC are both lossy compression and encoding schemes for digital audio, AAC was designed to be the successor of MP3 and is said to achieve better sound quality and transparency. Some improvements of AAC include more sample frequencies and channels, higher coding efficiency and accuracy for signals, and a more flexible joint stereo. Apple probably chose the AAC format for music because these improvements in AAC allow developers more flexibility to design codecs than MP3 does, and correct many of the design choices made in the original MPEG-1 audio specification. According to Apple.com, the “AAC provides audio encoding that compresses much more efficiently than older formats, such as MP3, yet delivers quality rivaling that of uncompressed CD audio.” Abelson states “MP3’s are ‘good enough’ for many purposes, but a trained and sensitive ear can detect a loss of sound quality.” For this reason, even though both MP3 and AAC are lossy compression rather than lossless compression, there would be no reason for Apple to choose MP3 when it’s just “good enough” when it could choose AAC with a new and improved sound quality.
Imformation obtained from Wikipedia and Apple.com
While MP3 and AAC are both lossy compression and encoding schemes for digital audio, AAC was designed to be the successor of MP3 and is said to achieve better sound quality and transparency. Some improvements of AAC include more sample frequencies and channels, higher coding efficiency and accuracy for signals, and a more flexible joint stereo. Apple probably chose the AAC format for music because these improvements in AAC allow developers more flexibility to design codecs than MP3 does, and correct many of the design choices made in the original MPEG-1 audio specification. According to Apple.com, the “AAC provides audio encoding that compresses much more efficiently than older formats, such as MP3, yet delivers quality rivaling that of uncompressed CD audio.” Abelson states “MP3’s are ‘good enough’ for many purposes, but a trained and sensitive ear can detect a loss of sound quality.” For this reason, even though both MP3 and AAC are lossy compression rather than lossless compression, there would be no reason for Apple to choose MP3 when it’s just “good enough” when it could choose AAC with a new and improved sound quality.
Imformation obtained from Wikipedia and Apple.com
Friday, October 2, 2009
Collective Cause
What kinds of collective causes have you become a part of? Did the cause have a website? How did you learn about the cause? How did you participate? What kind(s) of technology were used to communicate re: the group forming or group action?
A few years ago, my best friend’s mom was diagnosed with breast cancer. It was devastating to me at the time and I was so shocked that something like this could actually happen to somebody that I know. I wanted to do something about it but I felt so helpless. Then, coincidentally, the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation came to JMU, and had trailers parked on campus. I went in one of them and did this online informational thing on a computer and signed up for the cause. The point of the foundation is to fight against breast cancer by increasing awareness. The foundation has a website which gives information about breast cancer, ways to become involved, and information about research and sponsors. I decided that I wanted to become more involved so I participated by donating money online. Since I’ve signed up, I have been periodically receiving e-mail updates and reminders which include advances in research and new ways to become involved. Shirky states that e-mail is low cost, almost instant, and doesn’t require the sender and receiver to be synchronized. “These advantages help account for the incredible success of e-mail as a medium for group conversation, relative to all previous attempts.”
A few years ago, my best friend’s mom was diagnosed with breast cancer. It was devastating to me at the time and I was so shocked that something like this could actually happen to somebody that I know. I wanted to do something about it but I felt so helpless. Then, coincidentally, the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation came to JMU, and had trailers parked on campus. I went in one of them and did this online informational thing on a computer and signed up for the cause. The point of the foundation is to fight against breast cancer by increasing awareness. The foundation has a website which gives information about breast cancer, ways to become involved, and information about research and sponsors. I decided that I wanted to become more involved so I participated by donating money online. Since I’ve signed up, I have been periodically receiving e-mail updates and reminders which include advances in research and new ways to become involved. Shirky states that e-mail is low cost, almost instant, and doesn’t require the sender and receiver to be synchronized. “These advantages help account for the incredible success of e-mail as a medium for group conversation, relative to all previous attempts.”
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Power Law Distribution
The “power law distribution” or “long tail” phenomenon, as seen in behavior online on the Wikipedia, suggests that the concept of an average user of wikipedia is meaningless. Support your answer: how do you think a local, “JMU only” version of the Wikipedia would compare to the worldwide version? Would it be very similar? Higher quality? Less quality? Why?
I will admit that I am a little confused about the concept of the power law distribution. According to figure 5-1, there is a sharp drop off point between the top few contributors and the rest of the participants, so wouldn’t this concept apply more to larger social systems with more disproportionate contributions? As stated by Shirky, “Imbalance drives large social systems rather than damaging them…the spontaneous division of labor driving Wikipedia wouldn’t be possible if there were concern for reducing inequality.” With this said, would Wikipedia be a better tool in a larger social system because there is more inequality amongst users? This makes me believe that a “JMU only” version of Wikipedia would have less quality compared to the worldwide version. Students at JMU are alike in a general sense: education, involvement, motivation, race, income. I feel that since we all have this general stereotype, the average nature of our social system would be meaningless to Wikipedia.
I will admit that I am a little confused about the concept of the power law distribution. According to figure 5-1, there is a sharp drop off point between the top few contributors and the rest of the participants, so wouldn’t this concept apply more to larger social systems with more disproportionate contributions? As stated by Shirky, “Imbalance drives large social systems rather than damaging them…the spontaneous division of labor driving Wikipedia wouldn’t be possible if there were concern for reducing inequality.” With this said, would Wikipedia be a better tool in a larger social system because there is more inequality amongst users? This makes me believe that a “JMU only” version of Wikipedia would have less quality compared to the worldwide version. Students at JMU are alike in a general sense: education, involvement, motivation, race, income. I feel that since we all have this general stereotype, the average nature of our social system would be meaningless to Wikipedia.
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Privacy Versus Freedom of Speech
In a well-publicized news story, a man was caught “on camera” exiting a "gentleman's club" when Google photographed him for their StreetView project. He later sued Google because the revelation was unhappy news to his wife. Do you think Google is in the clear when they photograph the view from streets in your neighborhood?
“Despite the very best efforts, and the most sophisticated technologies, we cannot control the spread of our private information. And we often want information to be made public to serve our own, or society’s purposes.”
It has become extremely difficult to shield our personal information and entirely protect it from the outside world. Whether it is a photograph that you get caught in the background of, a personal wall post on Facebook, or paparazzi shot, it is hard to stop our personal information from spreading across the media. There has been an ongoing battle between privacy and freedom of speech and Abelson predicts that these tensions will continue to get worse in the upcoming years. When it comes to Google taking pictures of the man walking out of the gentleman’s club, I think that Google would be in the clear because they were photographing a public place. However, if Google were to take pictures of the view in my neighborhood, I think that’s a little different. I find it unethical to publish pictures of people in the privacy of their neighborhood, even if Google were to say it’s under the First Amendment.
“Despite the very best efforts, and the most sophisticated technologies, we cannot control the spread of our private information. And we often want information to be made public to serve our own, or society’s purposes.”
It has become extremely difficult to shield our personal information and entirely protect it from the outside world. Whether it is a photograph that you get caught in the background of, a personal wall post on Facebook, or paparazzi shot, it is hard to stop our personal information from spreading across the media. There has been an ongoing battle between privacy and freedom of speech and Abelson predicts that these tensions will continue to get worse in the upcoming years. When it comes to Google taking pictures of the man walking out of the gentleman’s club, I think that Google would be in the clear because they were photographing a public place. However, if Google were to take pictures of the view in my neighborhood, I think that’s a little different. I find it unethical to publish pictures of people in the privacy of their neighborhood, even if Google were to say it’s under the First Amendment.
Community of Practice
Consider the concept of a “community of practice.” How can such a community offer opportunities for learning?
A “community of practice” can offer opportunities for learning because it gives a group of people a chance to “converse about a shared task in order to get better at it.” This concept gives a group of people who all have common goals the ability to interact with one another in order to achieve these goals. While taking part in an activity together, people can create and share their identities and knowledge by contributing to the practices of their community. A community of practice is especially helpful in organizational settings when employees and management are trying to motivate innovation, trade ideas, and share previous knowledge and experiences in order to achieve organizational objectives.
A “community of practice” can offer opportunities for learning because it gives a group of people a chance to “converse about a shared task in order to get better at it.” This concept gives a group of people who all have common goals the ability to interact with one another in order to achieve these goals. While taking part in an activity together, people can create and share their identities and knowledge by contributing to the practices of their community. A community of practice is especially helpful in organizational settings when employees and management are trying to motivate innovation, trade ideas, and share previous knowledge and experiences in order to achieve organizational objectives.
The Invisability of Social Media Tools
If Shirky is right, and we’re headed to a period where social media tools like YouTube, Flickr, and social networks like Facebook become “invisible,” what’s the impact on things you spend money on as consumers? Books? Movies? Music?
“The invention of a tool doesn’t create change; it has to have been around long enough that most of society is using it. It’s when a technology becomes normal, then ubiquitous, and finally so pervasive as to be invisible, that the really profound changes happen, and for young people today, our new social tools have passed normal and are heading to ubiquitous , and invisible is coming.”
Social media tools have become extremely encompassing in today’s society. Soon they will be so pervasive that people will see them as a normal part of everyday life and won’t even see them as an interesting entity. These tools are getting more and more accepted because of the fact that people can create and share media with one another without any need for professionals. You don’t have to wait for others to approve your work before you publish it. On the other end of the spectrum are the things that consumers spend money on like books, movies, and music that are difficult and expensive to publish because they need to be filtered first. Eventually people might want to stop spending money on these things and the creators of them will not want to have to go through the publishing process but will just use online tools instead.
“The invention of a tool doesn’t create change; it has to have been around long enough that most of society is using it. It’s when a technology becomes normal, then ubiquitous, and finally so pervasive as to be invisible, that the really profound changes happen, and for young people today, our new social tools have passed normal and are heading to ubiquitous , and invisible is coming.”
Social media tools have become extremely encompassing in today’s society. Soon they will be so pervasive that people will see them as a normal part of everyday life and won’t even see them as an interesting entity. These tools are getting more and more accepted because of the fact that people can create and share media with one another without any need for professionals. You don’t have to wait for others to approve your work before you publish it. On the other end of the spectrum are the things that consumers spend money on like books, movies, and music that are difficult and expensive to publish because they need to be filtered first. Eventually people might want to stop spending money on these things and the creators of them will not want to have to go through the publishing process but will just use online tools instead.
Friday, September 18, 2009
A Failed Attempt at Citizen Journalism
Can you find any examples where "citizen journalists" have failed miserably to report accurate news? And if you do find examples (you should), does this make the concept of amateur journalism a bad thing? Why or why not?
One example took place back in 1938 when Orson Welles made a broadcast claiming that there was going to be an alien invasion. The result was a nationwide panic as thousands of Americans fled from what they thought was a pending attack; while others armed themselves in defense against the extraterrestrials. Orson Welles was by no means a professional journalist when we made the inaccurate broadcast, but the impact of it was so huge that people still talk about it today - over 70 years later.
Something as huge as this does make amateur journalism appear as a bad thing. Not only did Welles have a great deal of the country believing his falsification, but he had people fearing for their lives. Some amateur journalism may not be a bad thing, but before posting an type of information, a person must be 100% positive that it is correct because even though they aren’t unleashing a wave of panic throughout the nation like Welles did, they have the potential to stir up some kind of unfavorable attention.
One example took place back in 1938 when Orson Welles made a broadcast claiming that there was going to be an alien invasion. The result was a nationwide panic as thousands of Americans fled from what they thought was a pending attack; while others armed themselves in defense against the extraterrestrials. Orson Welles was by no means a professional journalist when we made the inaccurate broadcast, but the impact of it was so huge that people still talk about it today - over 70 years later.
Something as huge as this does make amateur journalism appear as a bad thing. Not only did Welles have a great deal of the country believing his falsification, but he had people fearing for their lives. Some amateur journalism may not be a bad thing, but before posting an type of information, a person must be 100% positive that it is correct because even though they aren’t unleashing a wave of panic throughout the nation like Welles did, they have the potential to stir up some kind of unfavorable attention.
A Quick and Easy Way to Get Your questions Answered
You have an important personal question you’d like answered. Explain the procedure for getting your question answered and why this method appeals to you (you don’t need to get specific, but let’s assume the answer does not require specific expert knowledge, as from a doctor).
These days, with social networking on the rise, it has become extremely easy to communicate amongst the web. People are able to post thoughts, ideas, news, questions, and opinions through different social tools like Twitter, blogging, and Facebook. As Shirky states, you don’t have to be a professional to be a publisher. The internet has become something that people can participate in; allowing them access to publish what’s on their mind and to connect with others. “To a first approximation, anyone in the developed world can publish anything anytime, and the instant it is published, it is globally available and readily findable.” For this reason, if I had an important question, one of the easiest way to obtain an answer would be through these social networking tools. Someone could post a question as their Facebook status and would be sure to get a couple of responses in return (It of course depends on the actual question being asked. One wouldn’t want to publish something too personal!) Other tools that are available are websites like Yahoo! Answers. In this instance a person could ask a question and random people can respond to it. The answers are ranked by users and the best answer is presented first. With all of these tools though, you have to remember that the people responding are not experts so you have to take their responses with a grain of salt!
These days, with social networking on the rise, it has become extremely easy to communicate amongst the web. People are able to post thoughts, ideas, news, questions, and opinions through different social tools like Twitter, blogging, and Facebook. As Shirky states, you don’t have to be a professional to be a publisher. The internet has become something that people can participate in; allowing them access to publish what’s on their mind and to connect with others. “To a first approximation, anyone in the developed world can publish anything anytime, and the instant it is published, it is globally available and readily findable.” For this reason, if I had an important question, one of the easiest way to obtain an answer would be through these social networking tools. Someone could post a question as their Facebook status and would be sure to get a couple of responses in return (It of course depends on the actual question being asked. One wouldn’t want to publish something too personal!) Other tools that are available are websites like Yahoo! Answers. In this instance a person could ask a question and random people can respond to it. The answers are ranked by users and the best answer is presented first. With all of these tools though, you have to remember that the people responding are not experts so you have to take their responses with a grain of salt!
Saturday, September 12, 2009
Shortfalls of Social Tagging
Many organizations waste time and money researching answers to questions already answered or creating content that may already have been done by others within the organization. What shortfalls of social tagging does Trant identify that might prohibit a searchable tagging system to be a successful aid within an organization such as a business or school?
According to Trant, “There is concern over the relativistic nature of socially created vocabularies, the lack of term consistency, problems with synonymy and polysemy, and the inherent inconsistency of a user-generated vocabulary. All of these characteristics may limit the value of a folksonomy as an indexing language and retrieval tool.”
I think that Trant means that when dealing with folksonomy, it is questionable whether the words that people create are actually a good representation of the resource and relative to the information. Since tags are compiled by the public, the terms used might not be consistent because of the variety of people creating these tags. Synonymy is the similarities between words and polysemy is the uncertainty of a words meaning. These can be a problem because when words sound similar or when people are uncertain of a meaning, they might use the wrong word as a tag. These shortfalls would prohibit a searchable tagging system from being a successful aid within an organization because people would have a greater chance of retrieving the wrong information because of the erroneous tags that are produced by the public.
According to Trant, “There is concern over the relativistic nature of socially created vocabularies, the lack of term consistency, problems with synonymy and polysemy, and the inherent inconsistency of a user-generated vocabulary. All of these characteristics may limit the value of a folksonomy as an indexing language and retrieval tool.”
I think that Trant means that when dealing with folksonomy, it is questionable whether the words that people create are actually a good representation of the resource and relative to the information. Since tags are compiled by the public, the terms used might not be consistent because of the variety of people creating these tags. Synonymy is the similarities between words and polysemy is the uncertainty of a words meaning. These can be a problem because when words sound similar or when people are uncertain of a meaning, they might use the wrong word as a tag. These shortfalls would prohibit a searchable tagging system from being a successful aid within an organization because people would have a greater chance of retrieving the wrong information because of the erroneous tags that are produced by the public.
Potential Pitfalls of a Hierarchical Organization
This chapter talks about the challenges that face an organization that grows too large, requiring a lot of staff devoted to management. What are some of the potential pitfalls in an organization that’s large and organized by a hierarchical organization chart?
The larger a group becomes, the harder it is to come to an agreement, because every person added requires more effort to keep a connection with. While managers are obviously beneficial for organizational purposes, there is also a downside to a large organization with a hierarchical structure. Shirky explains how running a large organization is difficult enough as it is, especially while expending limited resources for every transaction it takes. When it comes to time and attention, an organization is putting a great deal of effort in discipline and structure, which makes it difficult to actually put energy into the task at hand. However, money is always a huge factor as well. The cost of management itself is pretty high in the first place, so some tasks might not even be worth pursuing because they are out of budget. Others might need to be approached in an unorganized way because transaction costs of meeting and putting together a plan is too expensive.
The larger a group becomes, the harder it is to come to an agreement, because every person added requires more effort to keep a connection with. While managers are obviously beneficial for organizational purposes, there is also a downside to a large organization with a hierarchical structure. Shirky explains how running a large organization is difficult enough as it is, especially while expending limited resources for every transaction it takes. When it comes to time and attention, an organization is putting a great deal of effort in discipline and structure, which makes it difficult to actually put energy into the task at hand. However, money is always a huge factor as well. The cost of management itself is pretty high in the first place, so some tasks might not even be worth pursuing because they are out of budget. Others might need to be approached in an unorganized way because transaction costs of meeting and putting together a plan is too expensive.
Organizational Management
Describe a group you are a member of (online community, church, job, etc.) and how it is organized. Is there management? How is information distributed within the group?
“The value of hierarchies is obvious-it vastly simplifies communication among the employees. New employees need only one connection, to their boss, to get started. That’s much simpler than trying to have everyone talk to everyone.”
-Clay Shirky, Pg. 28-29
An organization that I am apart of is my sorority. It definitely has a hierarchical structure because there is a president, vice president, exec, and cabinet. The president works with exec to organize and plan things for the sorority while the vice president is in charge of cabinet. The rest of the girls attend meetings, give input, and go to events. We have weekly meetings where the president and exec give announcements and plans for upcoming events. At the meeting we sit in order of the year that we pledged, this way, the girls with more experience sit in the front.
The president of a sorority is like the manager of an organization. Members of a group may have different visions for the task at hand or different methods for approaching it. The point of a manager is to take a leadership role and organize a plan that not only is the best route for completing the task but also satisfies the group members or the company (sorority) as a whole. Without a manager, there simply would not be an organization. A manager is needed to tie the loose ends together, or else everything is going in different directions.
“The value of hierarchies is obvious-it vastly simplifies communication among the employees. New employees need only one connection, to their boss, to get started. That’s much simpler than trying to have everyone talk to everyone.”
-Clay Shirky, Pg. 28-29
An organization that I am apart of is my sorority. It definitely has a hierarchical structure because there is a president, vice president, exec, and cabinet. The president works with exec to organize and plan things for the sorority while the vice president is in charge of cabinet. The rest of the girls attend meetings, give input, and go to events. We have weekly meetings where the president and exec give announcements and plans for upcoming events. At the meeting we sit in order of the year that we pledged, this way, the girls with more experience sit in the front.
The president of a sorority is like the manager of an organization. Members of a group may have different visions for the task at hand or different methods for approaching it. The point of a manager is to take a leadership role and organize a plan that not only is the best route for completing the task but also satisfies the group members or the company (sorority) as a whole. Without a manager, there simply would not be an organization. A manager is needed to tie the loose ends together, or else everything is going in different directions.
Saturday, September 5, 2009
The Impact of Main Role Websites on Newly Emerging Groups
If managers aren’t important anymore towards the formation or control of groups using online tools, what do you consider the main role websites such as Meetup.com, Facebook, or MySpace have provided newly emerging groups?
According to Clay Shirky, “Here Comes Everybody is about "what happens when people are given the tools to do things together, without needing traditional organizational structures." And that is exactly the point of main role websites like Facebook and MySpace. These websites give groups an online platform to aid in the sharing of information. No matter what it is that individuals are looking for, whether it is facts, opinions, or ideas on a topic, that information can be found online within these social networks. These days, instead of having managers for the formation and control of groups using online tools, people can rely on computers to organize their ideas, analyze data, and answer questions.
On page 21 Shirky states, “By making it easier for groups to self-assemble and for individuals to contribute to group effort without requiring formal management, these tools have radically altered the old limits on the size, sophistication, and scope of unsupervised effort.”
Facebook has provided my sorority a way to keep in touch. We can share ideas, exchange information and send pictures in an effective and efficient manner. Most girls probably check their Facebook more often than they check their e-mail, so it is the best way to contact everybody in the fastest way possible.
According to Clay Shirky, “Here Comes Everybody is about "what happens when people are given the tools to do things together, without needing traditional organizational structures." And that is exactly the point of main role websites like Facebook and MySpace. These websites give groups an online platform to aid in the sharing of information. No matter what it is that individuals are looking for, whether it is facts, opinions, or ideas on a topic, that information can be found online within these social networks. These days, instead of having managers for the formation and control of groups using online tools, people can rely on computers to organize their ideas, analyze data, and answer questions.
On page 21 Shirky states, “By making it easier for groups to self-assemble and for individuals to contribute to group effort without requiring formal management, these tools have radically altered the old limits on the size, sophistication, and scope of unsupervised effort.”
Facebook has provided my sorority a way to keep in touch. We can share ideas, exchange information and send pictures in an effective and efficient manner. Most girls probably check their Facebook more often than they check their e-mail, so it is the best way to contact everybody in the fastest way possible.
Friday, September 4, 2009
Captured on Film
With so many cell phones on the market today able to take photos (and video), do you ever worry about being “captured” in a not-so-flattering moment? How would you deal with a friend who decided to share such a picture or video with others?
There have been countless times that extremely unflattering pictures have been tagged of me on Facebook. It’s even worse when I’m spotted in the background of a picture in half-motion with a stupid look on my face and my friend spots me and thinks it would be funny and clever to tag me. And its EVEN WORSE when my friend knows that I hate the picture and that I don’t want it to surface and once again thinks it would be funny and clever to tag me. Well…it’s not funny and it definitely isn’t clever. Putting a picture on Facebook is an open invitation for people to look at it and when a friend puts up an unattractive picture, it is there for everyone to see.
Facebook is a phenomenon, especially in college. It’s all about posting pictures to pretty much let other people know what you’ve been up to and who you hang out with.And these days you can even post pictures from your cell phone. It’s rare to go out and not hear someone say, “You better tag me in that!” (Or something along those lines). And at a party it is pretty normal to see flashes going off and groups of girls posing for pictures. Then it makes me wonder how many pictures I’m in the background of. How many unflattering pictures of “Kara in mid-sentence” are actually floating around the internet? The thought of that makes me feel slightly ill.
Koan 6, “Nothing Goes Away, ” ponders on what actually happens to the data about us. Say a picture of you is sent through e-mail, when that photo is shared, is it stored away and somehow accessible forever? Is it impossible to completely erase something from the computer once it’s been entered? The thought of that is slightly scary to me.
There have been countless times that extremely unflattering pictures have been tagged of me on Facebook. It’s even worse when I’m spotted in the background of a picture in half-motion with a stupid look on my face and my friend spots me and thinks it would be funny and clever to tag me. And its EVEN WORSE when my friend knows that I hate the picture and that I don’t want it to surface and once again thinks it would be funny and clever to tag me. Well…it’s not funny and it definitely isn’t clever. Putting a picture on Facebook is an open invitation for people to look at it and when a friend puts up an unattractive picture, it is there for everyone to see.
Facebook is a phenomenon, especially in college. It’s all about posting pictures to pretty much let other people know what you’ve been up to and who you hang out with.And these days you can even post pictures from your cell phone. It’s rare to go out and not hear someone say, “You better tag me in that!” (Or something along those lines). And at a party it is pretty normal to see flashes going off and groups of girls posing for pictures. Then it makes me wonder how many pictures I’m in the background of. How many unflattering pictures of “Kara in mid-sentence” are actually floating around the internet? The thought of that makes me feel slightly ill.
Koan 6, “Nothing Goes Away, ” ponders on what actually happens to the data about us. Say a picture of you is sent through e-mail, when that photo is shared, is it stored away and somehow accessible forever? Is it impossible to completely erase something from the computer once it’s been entered? The thought of that is slightly scary to me.
Information Restriction by Google and Yahoo
Both Google and Yahoo have been criticized for censoring their search results in China. What are your feelings about this? Why should Google, or why should Google not, produce different search results for different countries?
The digital explosion truly is changing the world. Today, people seem to be throwing books and newspapers aside and instead look toward the internet for information retrieval. There are millions of websites out there and I think that every person should have the same access to the information on them, especially since regular people like us could be the ones creating them. However, with websites like Wikipedia, some of the information might not be true so I understand why some would be skeptical. But I think that it is up to the individual to decide whether or not to believe it. This why I do not think that Google should produce different search results for different countries. On page 13 of “Blown to Bits” it states,
“An ugly downside to the explosion of digital information and its movement around the world is that information may become less available even where it would be legally protected. Publishers fear ‘libel tourism’-lawsuits in countries with weak protection of free speech designed to intimidate authors in more open societies."
I understand that different countries have different cultures and government styles and I understand that Google might be trying to avoid any possible lawsuits from more conservative areas, but I don’t think it is fair to omit information from people. I mean information is information and like I said before, it should be up to the individual as to what to do with it.
The digital explosion truly is changing the world. Today, people seem to be throwing books and newspapers aside and instead look toward the internet for information retrieval. There are millions of websites out there and I think that every person should have the same access to the information on them, especially since regular people like us could be the ones creating them. However, with websites like Wikipedia, some of the information might not be true so I understand why some would be skeptical. But I think that it is up to the individual to decide whether or not to believe it. This why I do not think that Google should produce different search results for different countries. On page 13 of “Blown to Bits” it states,
“An ugly downside to the explosion of digital information and its movement around the world is that information may become less available even where it would be legally protected. Publishers fear ‘libel tourism’-lawsuits in countries with weak protection of free speech designed to intimidate authors in more open societies."
I understand that different countries have different cultures and government styles and I understand that Google might be trying to avoid any possible lawsuits from more conservative areas, but I don’t think it is fair to omit information from people. I mean information is information and like I said before, it should be up to the individual as to what to do with it.
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Folksonomy
Folksonomy is a social phenomenon that results from tagging, which is the linking of keywords to different resources. This tool eases research and enables people to come across pertinent information by allowing different routes to discover content. By publicly labeling resources, people work together to create tags in a communal effort known as "folksonomy." Therefore, folksonomy is the collection of keywords compliled by the public, used to make information findable to others.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
