Almost Forgot One...

Soooo I just realized I am short one blog, typical, so I am adding one more. I found an article that I felt related both to the class and my plans for the future. I would like to work in a school setting someday and the article I found is about using social networks in the classroom. There were some really good ideas that I think students would really relate to and enjoy. It basically describes how to safely integrate Facebook into the classroom.

First it explains how the teacher should make the correct priacy adjustments, that way when they become “friends” with their students they will not see anything that wouldn’t be correct in a teacher/student relationship. It mentions creating “groups” for certain classes and then having a discussion board for assignments and projects. The article discusses the “richness” of the wall of the group where teachers can post pictures, videos, links, etc. which help to further instruction when teaching the students. It also stresses discussing online safety with your students, such as proper online behavior, keeping your password private, not talking to strangers online and treating others with respect.

            I thought this was very relevant to our current time and where the classroom is somewhat already headed. There are already online classes, why not make them apart of Facebook? It is something that people use everyday it only makes sense for it to be part of the classroom. It wasn’t that long ago that I was in high school and middle school, and even then the classroom was nowhere near as tech-savvy as it is now becoming. I think the most modern thing we had in the classroom were computers, but half the time we weren’t allowed to be on them anyway during class. Teachers taught with power point and also used media like movies, but it all seems so primitive in comparison. It really makes me wonder what the classroom will be like by the time I am working in one, which, hopefully, is in the next few years.

http://www.educationworld.com/a_tech/tech/tech256.shtml

Wrapping up the final/class, yay!

Well I finished and survived my final essay for this class. It wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be. I felt I was able to come up with some good points to support my stance on the argument of America going “green.” Hopefully Matt feels the same way! =) I also thought some of the research was interesting, so it made writing my essay a little easier. Plus, Made to Break was one of my favorite books we read this semester, so pulling and finding information wasn’t too difficult. I am always a tough critic on myself, so I am always going to think my work could be better, but overall I don’t think it was too bad. Also I really wanted to put some pictures in it, but some professors have mixed feelings about doing that and I just didn’t have time to ask Matt if I could. Now I feel like it probably wouldn’t have hurt to do so. I feel like keeping with the theme of technology, maybe if we all did an individual presentation on something technological instead of an essay it would have been pretty cool. I would have enjoyed doing that much more than writing a paper. Just something to think about as an option for the class in the future.

Pre-Final Paper....Give me strength!

So as per usual, I have procrastinated to do my final for this course. I feel like if given the opportunity to write a paper on procrastination I would probably procrastinate that as well. But as a result of my negligence I have finally decided on a topic. I have decided to go the route of Made to Break, by Giles Slade. The topic is about whether America will continue to be a “disposable” nation or gravitate towards the “green” movement. We are supposed to discuss the financial and social interests, and how Americans have chosen to live their lives dependant on technology. I think this topic will be interesting to research because this is a rather poignant idea in today’s society. “Going green” is the newest trend at the moment and it will be intriguing to see if this really is a fad or a major attempt at changing the way we live as modern Americans. So with about 48 hours to make essay gold, lets put the pen to paper…so to speak. Wish me luck!

The Facebook Effect: 3

In the last section of the Facebook Effect, by David Kirkpatrick, it discusses the climbing success of Facebook and how Mark Zuckerberg wants to take it to new heights. He really strived to make the website a “platform.” “Creating a platform enables a software company to become the nexus of an ecosystem of partners that are dependent on its product.” (p. 218) Being that this first attempt was back in 2006, I thought about today and how centrally present Facebook is in many different avenues. It already comes as a pre-loaded application for phones, and other multimedia devices (i.e. iTouch), and has even more recently become a part of television where you can check your Facebook on your television. Also just the globalization of it has made it even more present not just to our generation, but our world. So Facebook has definitely reached a platform status of sorts, because it has infiltrated media and its companies that we are using everyday.

            I agree with Zuckerberg’s vision for the site and how he wants to make this a means of communicating and sharing yourself. I think that is why Twitter has not beaten out Facebook, because it lacks the things that make Facebook so appealing. I think with each new generation that has a Facebook, the site will evolve into ways that we could not even imagine. Facebook will always be important because this site is exactly what Zuckerberg wanted to be, and keeping in touch with people is not something that will ever go out of style.

The Facebook Effect: 2

In the second section of The Facebook Effect, it discusses the development of the company from an overnight success to a real and thriving company. At first it talked about how investors wanted a piece of the hit company, and how Mark Zuckerberg and Sean Parker weeded through all the possibilities to find the best fit for it. I found it interesting that even with huge figures being thrown at him, Zuckerberg still held his ground and did not settle until he found the offer he liked best. This showed how much he believed in his company and that nothing would prevent him from taking it as far as he could. He had even been asked to sell it numerous times, but each time refused because he does not think anyone else would be able to run it through his vision and he feels it is worth more than the offers given. When asked “What kind of number might make you interested anyway?” Zuckerberg replied, “I think it’s worth at least $2 billion.” (Kirkpatrick, p.161)

            This week’s reading has gotten me thinking back to when I first joined Facebook in 2006. I had just graduated high school and joining Facebook was the thing to do. After reading about when Zuckerberg installed the photos application, it made me wonder what the site was like before that. To me the site would not have the same value it does without having pictures. I had been a user when it had the application so I must take it for granted, but to be able to look at people’s pictures is what makes the site so enticing. Pictures are small windows into people’s lives, so to be able to scope out what people do and where they go is not only informant, but it is also a form of socializing in this modern era. I guess that also says something about our era and how voyeuristic we have become.

Solo Current Event Presentation

For my solo current event, I went to MSNBC.com and found an article entitled “Sex, drugs more common in hyper-texting teens,” written by Mike Stobbe. The article was about how in a recent study, there has been a correlation that teens who text a lot are more likely to use drugs and have sex. When I presented this to the class we got a pretty good discussion going. I had asked them why they thought there is this correlation and if it is due to bad parenting or if it is just a generational thing. Many considered it to be generational because teens today are constantly connected to people, whether by phone or online, thus making it easier to get in touch with people who are bad influences. For the people who thought it was due to bad parenting, they brought up the dilemma of whether they have the right to go through their child’s phone. Some students felt it would be an invasion of privacy and decrease their trust in their parents, while others felt that if parents are paying for their kid to use the phone then they have the right to look through it if they wish. I would have to say both points are valid in their own way.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40087630/ns/health-kids_and_parenting

Group Project

Through observation of my group, as well as the rest of the class, I have come to the conclusion that Wikipedia is not a valid scholarly source. It does have some strengths and weaknesses such as it is a good source for a quick overview of a subject. However, its weaknesses outweigh it’s strengths in the fact that the sources are faulty or non-existent in some cases. In most cases the sources are not from reputable places, like blogs. I think these strengths and weaknesses are an indicator of how imperfect technology still is. It is evident that people rely heavily on the internet, and in doing so, come to believe a lot of things they see on it. This could potentially affect American culture in the fact that careless mistakes will be made due to such naiveté as trusting everything online. Also people’s reliance on technology will ultimately be their downfall. Technology is the best and worst thing to happen to our culture. It makes things easier, efficient, and in some cases unbelievable, but to trust in something that at times can be so untrustworthy is where we fault. What I will take away from this project is the reinforcement of that fact, as well as being on the defense with research in the future.

The Facebook Effect: 1

In the first section of The Facebook Effect by David Kirkpatrick, it explains how the insanely popular website was born. The website was made by a young college undergrad, Mark Zuckerberg, at Harvard University. Going into it, Zuckerberg never expected Facebook to turn out as great as it did. He developed the site more as just a fun little escape for him and his schoolmates. By making the site exclusive to people with Harvard email addresses, limited what the website would eventually turn into. Zuckerberg wanted bigger and better things for Facebook, but all the while none of it was about money. What I found to be somewhat endearing was the fact that Mark Zuckerberg really and truly cared about this site and wanted some good to come out of it. “This wasn’t like a get-rich-quick scheme. This was ‘Let’s build something that has lasting cultural value and try to take over the world.’”(p.47)

For the longest time Zuckerberg avoided any sort of revenue, but eventually when the bills were getting too high, he caved and used ads on the site. The fact that he never took for granted the billion-dollar website, is a true testament of his character. It seems a little ironic that someone so modest and geeky would develop a site aimed towards vanity driven youth, who’s social conscience is derived from superficiality. Granted he may have been one of those “youths,” when he developed it, but there is something to be said about how levelheaded this young billionaire is. To come from a status driven institute like Harvard, where everyone is pretty much exceptional in their studies, standing out in the pack is a hard feat. Mark Zuckerberg has done this by leaps and bounds in a progressive and unifying way.

Made to Break: Part Three

In the concluding section of Made to Break, by Giles Slade, the competition of actual microchips, obsolescent weapons, and e-waste were discussed. In the “Chips” chapter, Slade discusses the miniaturization of technology and how since the 1960’s, technology is getting smaller and faster. This included something as simple as the slide rule which evolved to the modern day calculator. With the development of the calculator, complex calculations were being solved more efficiently and easier than ever before. However, engineers who grew up using slide rules found it hard to part ways with the outdated technology and were being left in the dust by younger workers who were using calculators. “Age, not wealth, determined which engineers had the advantage.” (p.203) This seems to parallel our job markets today because if you are not up on the most recent technologies in just about any line of work, you are seen as less knowledgeable. It is to anyone’s advantage in their career to be informed on what is new and upcoming because it sets you apart.

            The “E-waste” chapter discussed the growing amount of cell phone and other technological waste that has encroached our country. Slade explained that cell phones are the most discarded technology our country has. There are dangers to disposing technology because of the “permanent biological toxins (PBTs),” which are hazardous to our health. Reading about this freaked me out because it made me wonder what we are going to do with all the discarded products that people throw away daily. Are they going to come up with an eco-friendly phone? I do not really see how that would be possible. I am proud to say that I am not an e-waster. I am not very current with a lot of technology. My current phone is only about a year old, but in my life (23 years) I have only owned four phones. I know people who have had triple that amount. Also my lap top is about five or six years old. I know my efforts are miniscule in hindsight, but if I am one less person adding to the e-waste, so be it. The only thing I wonder is what the solution is, like will there ever be an eco-friendly phone? I might have to invent one if there is not one already!

Made to Break: Part Two

In the second half of Made to Break, Slade mostly talks about pre and post-war economies as well as their products. He discussed the important role that electronics played in World War II, and how technology changed warfare forever. With the development of FM radio fresh on the market, America wasted no time incorporating it as their standard of communication during the war. (p.100) The development of transistor radios soon made other radios obsolete. Radios were getting smaller and less bulky, which drove their prices down, making not only AM radio obsolete, but large counter top ones as well.

            The section on “Suburban Obsolescence” was really interesting to me. After the war, there were a lot of veterans without housing. Eventually the blue-collar suburbs were born. These little communities were developed by Abraham Levitt and his sons. They created the Levittowns in New York, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey. After reading about it, I began to realize just how uniform these towns were. I have been to Levittown, PA and a lot of the houses are all the same. The idea behind this is obviously mass production because the houses are very simple layouts and easily constructed. They were made for the blue-collar workers and veterans to be able to afford and live comfortably. These new detached-style homes made the older row style homes obsolete. Everyone was interested in the privacy these newer, streamlined homes offered.

            Another section I liked was the part about “death-dating.” Death-dating is the development of products with an intended expiration date. People seemed to be bothered by the industry’s loose use of the term and their frankness for doing so. They considered it “low standards of business ethics” and “dishonest, immoral and self-destructive both economically and politically.” (p.166) However, the majority of people still like new and improved things, regardless of their durability. That is why even to this day; people are throwing out yesterday’s fad and on to the next one. We as consumers live for fads, and unfortunately our bank accounts suffer from it.

Made to Break: Part One

In the first half of Made to Break by Giles Slade, the topic of planned obsolescence is the major theme. “Planned obsolescence is the catch-all phrase used to describe the assortment of techniques used to artificially limit the durability of a manufactured good in order to stimulate repetitive consumption.” (p.5) Slade explains that America is one of the world’s most wasteful nations and that this is no mere accident. This causes us to question the psychology of our nation. “What can be said of a culture whose legacies to the future are mounds of hazardous materials and a poisoned water supply?” (p.7) He starts from the beginning of mass production and how, even then, we were creating things with the intent to throw them away.

            What I found most interesting in this reading was learning about the beginnings of things that we as Americans take for granted. For example, as a female, the disposable razor and women’s sanitary items are God-sends. Just thinking about what it would be like to not have those items makes me think how horrible life could be. Of course I am being overly dramatic; however, this further proves Slade’s point that Americans have become so reliant on the ease of throw-away items they forget that there was a time when these things did not exist. Thus, proving that Americans look for the ease and modernism in things rather than the thrift of reusable items.

            The biggest example Slade used was the automobile market. He talked about the beginnings of Ford and GM, along with their still apparent rivalry. While Ford focused on craftsmanship and durability, GM focused on giving consumers the newest and most modern styles and was less focused on durability. This gave GM the competitive edge because people were/are obsessed with anything new. This “trading-up” mindset has been forever engrained into our society in every aspect of consumerism. I really enjoyed how Slade commented on how women back then/ today were more focused on their car’s appearance than the inner workings. As a woman, I do not know the first thing about cars so when I bought my first car I was more concerned with how it looked and not how it ran. My dad soon convinced me otherwise, and I am proud to say that my first car from junior year of high school is still my current car today (6 years later). This aesthetic view on consumerism is apparent in everything. “Obsolescence of style-a specialized kind of psychological obsolescence-focuses consumer attention on the visual or design features of conspicuously consumed personal items, ranging from cars, cell phones, clothing, hats, jewelry, laptops, lighters……etc.” (p.50)

                                                                       

2nd Half of Wikipedia

In the second half of The World and Wikipedia, it discusses why people are using it, why they “love” it, why people do not trust it, and why they should trust it. As I was reading I could not help but notice how often the author brought up occurrences where there were articles written in a libelous nature. Granted a lot of these articles were edited or corrected, but this further shows the “dangers” of Wikipedia and why people are so hesitant to trust it. I was somewhat perplexed as to why these amateur editors would go out of their way to vandalize the pages of the website with false information. Do they have nothing better to do? But then I thought of the psychology that goes behind it and for some of the editors it is like playing God. They can easily change information on pages and hide behind a fictitious username. Many feel their identity will be concealed and can get away with their acts of vandalism. But is it not a great deal of justice when these culprits are caught? Oh, the wonders of technology and tracing.

            As it matures, however, Wikipedia is earning some respect. Its use is being seen in courts as well as the news. “Wikipedia has sometimes suffered from the self-editing that is intrinsic to it, giving rise at times to potentially libelous statements. However, inherently, I cannot see that what is in Wikipedia is any less likely to be true than what is published in a book or on the websites of news organizations. I consider that the evidence from Wikipedia can be taken at face value.” (p.197) This quote from a UK court case pretty much says it all when it comes to the website. You know going in that the site is constantly edited and re-edited by users all over. Users of whatever information just need to peruse the site with the “buyers beware” mentality.

1st Half of Wikipedia

For this week’s reading we read the first half of The World and Wikipedia: How We Are Editing Reality. I found this book to be really interesting because I had always wondered how Wikipedia had started and this book explains it. I had never really equated the site to an encyclopedia before, but after reading about its beginnings I have come to find that it actually is an encyclopedia, a very dense one. I also thought it was amazing how fast information is gathered on this site. In the past ten years Wikipedia has collected well over three million articles (p.39), which is infinitely more than the old fashioned book encyclopedias. It has also been translated into over 250 languages (p.49), making it available to a lot more people.

            One of the biggest criticisms and praises of Wikipedia is that information can be uploaded and edited by anyone. I would have to agree with this criticism because while this process makes it available to everyone, it is also making it available to people who may not know what they are talking about. This lends room to many errors and carelessness that does not always get “edited” right away. While there is heavy traffic on the site, with thousands of edits everyday, information is still left untouched that may not get an edit for a while. Because of this many people view Wikipedia as a faulty source of information. I know as a student, many professors do not consider Wikipedia as a valid source for this very reason. Unfortunately, the site is so irresistible to use because of the ease and accessibility. From information on “Bacon Mania” (p.11) to the 9/11 WTC attacks, this site has just about anything you could want to research, the question is how good is the information?

Technopoly: Part Two

In the second half of Technopoly, Neil Postman discusses medical technology, computer technology, “invisible” technology, and scientism among various other things. What I found to be most interesting was the medical technology. Postman seemed to blame medical technology on a lot of our current medical problems. He sights America as being the most “aggressive” when it comes to medicine. This meaning that our country is overly cautious by x-raying, surgeries and giving out antibiotics, where in a lot of circumstances, these things are not necessarily needed. Many cancers are caused by medical radiation, which in turn makes you wonder if these kinds of things can be prevented. He revealed an alarming statistic from a study in 1974 saying, “American doctors had performed 2.4 million unnecessary operations, causing 11,000 deaths and costing about 3.9 billion dollars.” (p.105) Postman raises an interesting theory where in this day and age, doctors are being used by technology and how this affects their work. That is why there is such a high demand for medical malpractice insurance because of these faulty technologies that our doctors have become so reliant on.

            Another section that I enjoyed reading about was the computer technology chapter. Postman compares technology to religion in the sense that people will most likely believe something if it comes from a computer. He states that this “obedience” is the equivalence of “God’s will.” (p.115) I can really understand what he is talking about because people put so much trust into computers and technology that they do not realize that computers are capable of errors due to the humans who input the information.

            Overall, I would say that Technopoly was definitely a better read than the first book. There were a lot of interesting themes brought up and I actually did not mind reading this too much.

Technopoly: Part One

In the first half of Technopoly: The Surrender of Culture to Technology, by Neil Postman, it discussed the evolution of technology through culture. It was broken down into three cultures: tool-using cultures, technocracies, and technopolies. Each culture was broken down to its beginnings. The tool-using cultures represented the primitive cultures where tools were used to “solve specific and urgent problems of physical life” (p.23) or to “serve the symbolic world of art, politics, myth, ritual, and religion.” (p.23) Most importantly, “tools did not attack the dignity and integrity of the culture.” (p.23) This last line really struck a chord in me because our modern tools today do the exact opposite. Maybe not intentionally, but technology has allowed itself to be a vessel through which many horrible things can be done to people. Case and point: the recent suicide at Rutgers University. I will elaborate more on this topic in another blog I am planning on writing, but in this most recent case and in other cases of cyber-bullying, technology was the major catalyst in these instances. It was used to attack people’s dignities and integrities, which is a testament to how people are using technology today.

The second culture was technocracy and this culture is “a society only loosely controlled by social custom and religious tradition and driven by the impulse to invent.” (p.41) It was the late 1700s, where we began to see a rise in industrialism and humans were becoming more reliant on machines for many aspects of their life. We were seeing the widespread sale of books due to the printing press, as well as cotton spinning machines which were creating the mass production of textiles. At this time there was an upheaval against machinery, known as the Luddite Movement. They destructed machines due to their unhappiness with wage cuts, child labor, and unprotected skilled workers. I found this interesting because today many people do not revolt against machinery, they embrace it. Instead people revolt against other people, placing the blame on someone that could actually be held accountable.

In the third culture it is the development of the Technopoly. Through the rise of this culture there is a constant tension between two world views: traditional values and technology. It is about the rapid development of technology and all other things falling to the way side. It redefines people’s ideas of religion, family, politics, history, truth, privacy, and intelligence. (p.48) Postman describes this as “totalitarian technocracy.” People lost confidence in their belief systems, but found that technology was a constant and could not be shook. I found this to be really amazing that people, not even that long ago, put so much into their beliefs that something like technology could shatter every part of it. I knew technology had a huge impact on the entire human race, but it is somewhat hard to think that something that many people take advantage of today was something that many people were against not too long ago. It make you wonder what the correlation of this could be in the future.

Second Half of "Computers"

In the second half of “Computers: The Life Story of a Technology,” it discussed more modern developments in the computer field, such as personal computers, computer connections, and the widespread use of computers everywhere. It also went into the development of the two computer titans, Apple and Microsoft, and their other endeavors into smaller spin off companies. This week’s reading I found to be a little more digestible, mostly because I was actually familiar with the technology they were talking about, so it was easier to keep up.

What I enjoyed most was reading about the development of video games. The company Atari was a huge influence on our modern day gaming systems, so it was interesting to see where the Xbox’s and Playstation’s of our generation sprang from. To think that a simple game like Pong, which is such a simple concept and uses simple graphics, influenced the games we play today shows just how far gaming has come. By the 1990s, “game console systems and games for personal computers became so popular that the revenue in the game market surpassed the revenue generated by movies in Hollywood.” (p.105) Compared to today there is still a sizable difference in the gaming vs. movie market. According to shacknews.com, “film box office sales were also up in 2006, with over 60 movies grossing $50+ million in theaters. Even with this strong performance, the overall yearly ticket take was a mere $9.49 billion--$4 billion shy of gaming's total.” So now almost two decades later, the gaming and movie battle continues at its highest yet. I think that this is because video games are as thematic and life-like as movies today,  and participants get to actually control the fate of the hero/heroine instead of being a mere spectator. With that, one could raise the question: Will movies become obsolete? My answer: Only time will tell…but it is very possible.

First Half of "Computers"

In the first half of the book, Computers – The Life Story of a Technology by Eric G. Swedin and David L. Ferro, it mostly discussed the early beginnings of technology. The first two chapters were about the primitive start of computers which included various things used for counting and computing, as well as some of the first electronic computers of the first half of the twentieth century. The proceeding two chapters were elaborations on the premiere computers and how they were advancing into the 1970s.

            One of the things that I found most interesting was how things like our modern number systems, something that we do not even think about, had to be developed! If you think about something as simple as counting, it does not usually occur to you that someone many years before had to develop this way of thinking. It was not just produced out of thin air and it took many different types of systems to get to what we are using today in modern society. I also found it interesting that the term “stock” originated from thousands of years ago due to a tally system with primitive banks. (p. 6) Also, the term “point blank” came to existence due to a device measuring gun trajectories, which measured an angle between 0 and 90 degrees for a gun’s elevation. Zero degrees was left blank on the device, giving us the term “point blank.” (p. 9)

            I will say that some of the mathematical aspects of this book lose me a little bit because I do not feel I have a very scientific mind. I understand what is being said for the most part and I am able to keep up, but I think when the computers are broken down in terms of their technical aspects it is a little confusing. I would say overall this book has been fairly easy reading and not too hard to digest.

My feelings of blogging...

         Well due to this course, blogging is a requirement. If it were up to me I would probably never have a blog, not because I dislike them necessarily, but because I just don't have the time to sit down and share my thoughts daily. Obviously I will make time for this blog because its part of my wreckless path towards graduation this spring (and I will pretty much do anything to graduate on time). I will admit that this is not my first experience with blogging. When I was in middle school I had a blog/online diary. It was one of those open diaries/live journal things. I kept up with it for a couple years, mostly because it was a hot fad and this was also pre-facebook/myspace. BUT I had time to spill my teenage angst onto the proverbial pages of my "diary" back then. Not so much the case anymore, where I work two jobs and commute back and forth from New Brunswick four days a week! And any sort of life I have after that usually consists of being away from computers and out with my friends. Any angst that needs spilling now is usually done through mediums of groaning and verbal complaining (sorry friends/family).
        I think the idea of blogging is pretty cool, however I don't think anyone really cares about my life that much to subscribe to reading about it. The personal aspect of it is refreshing, where you can rant and rave about anything on your mind. I am actually excited to blog again and I think this will be a pretty cool experience for those who haven't. I look forward to reading and commenting other people's blogs as well. So until my next blog people, peace&love<3 Ashley
        

Technology Log

I will pre-warn anyone who reads this, I am not a technology savvy person! So my technology log is VERY boring...but here it is.

Thursday 

• facebook.com
• sakai.rutgers.edu
• my.rutgers.edu

Friday

• barnesandnoble.com
• sakai.rutgers.edu
• facebook.com

Saturday

• facebook.com
• sakai.rutgers.edu
• blogger.com

As you can see I do not spend much time on the internet BUT in my defense I had work 2 out of those 3 days, so I wasn't exactly at the internet's disposal.