Finished the Last Podcast!

Well Finally finished the last podcast! This podcast was sort of a change up because this time it was only me, Jessica, and Steve. I think this podcast was my favorite of all of them, because we got to talk about the overall course and what it meant to us. We all had much different views about the course and what they enjoyed and didn't enjoy. That is what I figured would happen with an online course. There are people who are going to be for it and then others who it doesn't work as well for.

This podcast also FLEW BY! We didn't have to stop and edit once, we all had so much to say we just kept talking. I really believed that doing the podcasting was a great addition to the course. It really allowed us to get our points across and discuss the topics of the course! :) I think that the podcasts should be something that is presented in the course in following semesters.

Slight Change Up!

I have just finished my neovox essay and I truely believe I have written a really good essay this time. I believe that the issues and points I have written about are important to people our age and of other ages. I think it really pertains to the audience that will be viewing my article.

At first I wanted to write about the privacy on online profiles, but then I realized why not write about privacy in general with the internet! For instance, how many people do their shopping online now? Cyberspace has become a very important aspect of peoples lives now and I think that it is importnat that people not online think about how easy using this new technology is, but also be careful to still protect our privacy.

I worked really hard on this essay to make it something that would important and information to those who view it. Take a look, I hope everyone can give me some input.... ENJOY thanks! :)

Ideas for Neovox Essay

I have been thinking a lot about what I wanted to write for my neovox essay. On my last essay I wrote about taking an online class which was meaningful to me. I also wrote my essay on that because I thought it would be something that would be meaningful to others as well. Thats what I also planned to do for the second article.

I was trying to think about college students and what aspect of technology is common today. Then I came to the conclusion about writing on facebook, myspace and online profiles. I know many times problems can arise in dealing with how much are people exposing them and the problems with the amounts of privacy you get within them.

I think that this is a great topic to talk about and I know that it would be useful information as well as information that will be interesting to the viewers on neovox. Myspace especially has been known for preditors that have even proven guilty as well people putting inappropriate pictures up for anyone to see at any age. Although facebook is more private and controlled that myspace, there is still some privacy issues at hand.

Im excited to get started and write this! :)

Reader Responce 10

What I like most about this book is how Dibbell takes us through the experience so we can almost ourselves be part of the experience. I find this virual world of business to be very interesting and enjoy reading about his time going through it. I think the concept of this book is simply mind boggling and unbelievable to imagine that this man could be making the money he is making in the virtual world.

"Live from the Acalon Hotel in Beverly Hills, Califonia, I'm wishing you and yours a prosperous new year--more prsperous, at any rate, than the one I just completed, which closes with a whopping $3, 131.42 in profit accrued from my dealing in virtual items." This quote stuck out to me because I think it makes his life seem pretty tempting don't ya think? If you truely think about the concept of dealing in virtual items over $3,000 is a huge accomplishment.

In chapter 37, Dibbell talks us through the near ending of his experience. "You will see that in their strictest sense, I have already failed. The income-tax return I file in April will of course pertain only to money made in 2003, and as I've already reported, my profits fromt he sale of imaginary items last year amounted to a measly $3, 131.42, or a little more than 6 perfect of my income." I still think that the amount that he has been making is still a high number especially since he is selling imaginary items! Who wouldn't want to do this on the side of another job, when your making a decent amount of money as Dibbell did. Althought he knew he wasn't going to be successful he kept up with his mission.

I have not yet finished the book, but am almost there and I believe that although Dibbell wasn't successful in beating his earnings as a writer he was still successful in making money of "virtual loot." It is amazing that this worked and he did in fact make money off this idea. I think this book is something that people should read in the sense that it shows us, how much technology and the internet affects the world that we are in today. Technology is becoming a huge part of our lives not only the play world, but in the working world as well.

Short Video

The short video was a good experience for me. I think it is a great opportunity to see how everyone in the class can be "imaginative" and see all the different videos that people come up with. For my group we came up with a lot of good ideas, but it was hard to find one that would actually be able to work and fit with the materials we had. Our idea that was personally my favorite was one that we could not do. We wanted to see how an older person would work with our technology and vice versa. Our problem with this is, we couldn't find an object such as a typewriter or older phone that we could use for someone in our generation. Also we didn't want to approach someone we didn't know that was older with our technology such as an ipod and make fun of them on video. We didn't believe that it would really be appropriate.

I think that our idea overall was a good one. Myself as well as Jessica Weise had the job of making the video and of course getting stuck on camera, while the boys helped come up with the idea and had the job of editing it. This process took us a while to accomplish, even though we had our plan and were ready to start right from the beginning. We had went to the library and all the cameras were out so I had to put my name down to get the next available camera and the library has yet to call me back and its about two weeks later! Jessica had to go home over one weekend and get her families own video camera for us to use. We had later ran into the problem that the boys didnt know how to edit this video with the type of tape we used! Hopefully the finishing touches will come out as great as I hope they will!!!

Overall this was a fun and creative experience! :)

Reader Responce 9

“Personally, I’m convinced historians of technology will one day recognize no essential difference between the ancient board game and then modern computer.” I found this quote in Dibbell’s novel Play Money, to be very interesting. Right now the modern computer is in hype and most games and entertainment arrive from this system of technology. Board games seem to be so old fashion and not nearly as advanced as the computer. Dibbell is right though; look how much and fast technology has grown from there and the time for this transformation has not been that long. I found this quote interesting, because it really makes you wonder exactly how far technology can take us, and what new form of “games” we will be brought to.

“In a sense Adventure was a metaphor for computer programming itself.” Dibbell here was talking about Steven Levy and his explanation of Hacker. If you think about it, everything involving computer programming is combined with some sort of adventure. Many of these virtual worlds and games are filled with adventure and that’s what makes them so attractive to people. We as humans have a great need for excitement and adventure and that’s what computer programming brings to us. We are able to test or limits and be adventurous in ways that we could no do in our real lives.

Dibbell also goes over the word “cyberspace” which we have heard much of throughout our course and is substantially what our course is about. Dibbell describes cyberspace as “the name a generation of mid-1990s Internet virgins gave to the alternate dimension they couldn’t help sensing they stepped into every time they went online.” An example of this cyberspace is shown in both the novels, Snow Crash and Neuromancer. Gibson’s cyberspace in Neuromancer is described as a dark, sleek “consensual hallucination.” In Snow Crash which we had read in our class, hackers had created the virtual world of the Metaverse that I think could also be described as this “consensual hallucination.”

Second Life

I finally went to sign up today for second life. I don't really know much about it, but I know it something that maybe I would enjoy. I don't really engage in it anymore, but when I was younger I was really into the SIMS and I feel like second life is a step up from that technology. I haven't got to play the second life yet because when I went to start up the game, a notice came up saying that the system had crashed! My great luck I have. When I first went to sign up it ask me to pick what I want my character to look like. It only gave about 8 or 10 choices and I found the choices to be strange as well. There were a few boys and girls that you can choose from and then they had peoples bodies with animal faces! I found that to be really strange! After I picked what I wanted myself to look like I had to choose a name for myself in the second life world. You can tell that there are a lot of people in this second life world because I had to kept choosing names over and over because people already had the names I chose. Finally I came up with the first name JAM14(which is my initials and my lucky number) and I had chosen their last name of Matova which was just chosen at random. When I first went to go log in of course I had forgotten the password I chose, so I had to keep trying different things until finally I realized that we are supposed to put our second life name into the system and not our real name. Real Smart, I know! ha. After all of that and trying to get in, the system crashes and I don't get to try the game. I will keep trying and let everyone know how it turns out! :)

Reader Responce 8

Dibbell took my interest because he starts out the book talking about a video game that he plays. I’m not exactly sure what it is called, but by the way he is talking I would have to believe it may be lizards. He talks himself through the game and enables us to capture the sense of the game and what he is doing. The point of the game was that he was competing against other lizard men to find gold and cash it in for money. He described the feeling he got when he was able to beat out the other men, instead of himself getting destroyed.

“I knew the lizard men were only computer programs, but they had killed me often enough when I was just starting out that I still felt a tiny thrill of revenge watching them die.” Dibbell in this quote shows us how important and competitive these games can become to people. I am not a big video game player, but I could never see myself feeling the way Dibbell does in the quote just presented.

“A window had opened into the magnetic core of the game, and I could see more clearly than ever what kept me and all the other players coming back: It was the same thing, more or less, that kept most of us going to our jobs each day, or going to school. It was desire not to fair to the bottom of the social food chain, a desire to rise through the ranks, to achieve and acquire as a way of marking our status within the massive monkey troop that is human civilization. To own and not be owned.”

I think in that last quote Dibbell makes some great points. These video games give people the chance to press their limits and see how far they can go in a challenge. I believe this is one of the main reasons that people engage in video games. It’s hard to believe that a technology such as video games can consume someone’s life as much as they do. I know many people that easily spend more than six hours a day on video games. I believe that video games have become more than a game in many cases it has become a sport and/or even a career.

“The twenty hours a week I was devoting to the game were no big deal compared to the sixty, seventy, and even eighty hours some players put in.” It is scary to think that people can actually sit and be engaged for something so long. I know that when I was younger and was into SEGA and super Nintendo it was hard to put them down, but for me after a while I got bored of them. I know now in my life, I wouldn’t have time to even play video games for an hour. How do people have the time in their lives, especially with school or work, to be engaged for so long. I found this chapter very interesting and a great introduction to the book. It has left me wanting to read more.

Experiencing Podcast 3

Podcasting is something before this class that I had never before heard of. When we had done the first podcast I didn't think it was really something that I would come to like or enjoy doing. I thought it would be difficult and I would be scared and embarressed doing it with people that I do not know. I am very shy with people I don't know especially while doing a discussion. Doing these podcasts have turned out to be a great experience for me.

We just finished our third podcast and I believe it went really well. I have come to know everyone in my group and we have a great time while doing it. While reading the books you know how you, yourself, feel about it, but you dont get the chance to see how others feel about it. Doing a group podcast gives you this chance. You are able to express your feelings about the class and the book that we are reading and see how others feel about it as well. I greatly enjoy my group because normally we all have different view points, so we get a lot out of our discussion.

Being that this is the third podcast we have done, I know feel more comfortable doing it. I feel prepared in what is expected, as well as, what points I would want to bring about. I think this podcast was also good because we all felt very differently about what parts of the book we liked the most and also arguements for those parts. We are all comfortable discussing these topics with each other as well as just being comfortable with each other in general.

I am also looking forward to the fourth podcast because we will be able to discuss the class from beginning to end and how it influenced us and what we have learned from it. I know myself, I have a lot to say about this course. I truely believe it was a great course by the way it was structured, as well as, the content.

Reader Responce 7

I had always thought of empathy as sympathy, which is feeling bad for someone. Pink describes in his chapter on empathy that this is a common mistake that is false. Empathy is the ability to imagine yourself in someone else's position and to intuit what that person is feeling. I believe that empathy is an important quality to have and I believe it is a quality that I, in fact, do possess. Without empathy it would be difficult to understand much of what is going on around you.

With empathy, you may be able to discover things that you would not orignally believe in or believe to be true. Sometimes things that can important or life-saving. Pink shows us an example of this, where empathy acts as "a whole new health care." Two postal workers went to various health care centers with similar symptoms and believing they were infected with anthrax. One patient, was sent home and told to take tylonal because anthrax wasn't a threat to him. The other patient told his dcotor about his anthrax scare and the doctor didn't hesitate to schedule another test. She ordered the patient antibiotics and made him stay in the hospital overnight. This doctors sense of empathyh ad saved this persons life.

Another aspect of empathy that interested me was comparing men and woman in empathy. When I first read the title without reading beyond, I figured that woman were more empathetic and I was right! As Simon Baron-Cohen states in his book The Essential Difference, "The female brain is predominantly hard-wired for empathy. The male brain is predominantly hard-wired for understanding and building systems." This is most likely why woman are more prone to crying and feeling distressed at another's distress.

I think that Pink points out really good points about the importance and aspects of empathy. It made me see many different ways that empathy can affect us as well as others. I think for someone who may not be as empathic, after reading this chapter, especially "a whole new health care," will be more open to it.

An experience with "Story"

After reading about the Six Sences, especially about story, in Pinks book I was able to get a better understanding of how much they are involved in society today. I was in my class the other day. My teacher had given the class a commen topic and we broke up into groups and had to discuss and debate on that topic. I came to realize how many different points and stories every individual could come up with. Not only that, but also how competitive it is to know the most out of everyone. When one person would make a point, there would always be someone else there to either make your story more substantial or completely rebut your point. Information and data isn't good anymore unless you can make something out of it. I believe that in some ways this is making our society more competitive, as well as allowing people to better express and expand themselves. This book is allowing me to really understand what is going on around me and understand more of how our society works and how it has changed. Reading this has allowed me to open my eyes, as in this example.

Reader Responce 6

In part two of the book, A Whole New Mind, pink goes on to describe the “six senses,” that have become essential in this new era. These six senses are design, story, symphony, empathy, play, and meaning. Pink goes on to state how “we will need to complement our L-Directed reasoning by mastering six essential R-Directed aptitudes.” I agree with this statement because now a days, it’s not about facts, it’s about the big picture. We take something simple and make it bigger and more beautiful.

Design is a big part of society today. Almost every product invented today has design or is made by a designer brand. For instance, Pink told us the story of when he went shopping and came out with a designer toilet brush. Products that have design and are beautiful and emotionally engaging are what catch our eye. Most people also use certain product design to show their personalities, and what they are like.

Story is something that I always come into conflict with. Pink explains to us how, now our information date that we have is never enough for an argument because there will always be someone there to top your point. Class is a good example of this. When you are in the classroom and having a discussion about a topic, people could go on forever saying their points and trying to persuade and top the other person’s argument.

I found symphony the hardest sense for me to really associate with and grasp an example, but I still believe it is true. I even find myself now looking at the big picture of things instead of focusing on specific facts. People are more willing to take risks and put themselves out there.

Empathy is also another big factor that I think is tied into today’s society. Logical thought is not the focus of people attention. Although logic is still tied into how people think empathy greatly takes over. As Pink states, “What will distinguish those who thrive will be their ability to understand what makes their fellow woman or man tick, to forge relationships, and to care for others.”

Play is also another big factor in today’s society. If you look around people are more relaxed and not as serious. I agree with Pink in the fact that yes there are times to be serious, but we all need to play. I am a strong believer in that humor and laughter is what makes us strong and happy in the end. Play is what lets us be relaxed and get over the stress in out lives.

Lastly is meaning. Meaning is an important aspect of our lives. It allows people to be free and let people go from their day-to-day struggles that they may be facing. Meaning is also very important in the spiritual world. It allows people to make sense of the world around them and gives them a sense of ease and comfort.

Reader Responce 5

A Whole New Mind by Daniel H. Pink is an extremely interesting book. Like Smart Mobs, it is a lot of times hard for me to get into books that are very factual, but not this one. In my major, speech pathology we talk a lot about the brain and how it works, but as I noticed most of what we learn is from the left side of the brain. This book opens my eyes to a whole other world of the brain where as Pink and I also believe, is the future.

The right side of the brain is our more artistic side where artists, inventors, designers, storytellers, caregivers, consolers, and big picture thinkers lye. As Pink describes, we are moving from an economy and society built on logical, linear, computerlike capabilities of the Information Age to an economy and society built on the inventive, empathic, big picture capabilities of what’s rising in its place, the Conceptual Age.

Pink brings up a good point when he talks about Target and how almost everything we come upon today is designer. I agree with him in the sense that the right hemisphere is greatly involved in the make up of society and lifestyle today. I can relate to Pink, in where he states that he had gone into Target and even his toilet brush was designer. Ridiculous and untrue as this may sound, I went into a unfamiliar store the other day and my lips were feeling chapped so I decided to go and get some chapstick and when I found it, I picked it up, and it was all fancy and had some Italian designers name on the case!

I believe that creativity has greatly expanded today and now the focus of the left side of the brain with logic and analysis, is going to shift to the creative and "big picture" side of the brain. As Pink, also describes, in many ways both sides of the brain work together, so it would be impossible to say on side is extremely more imporant than the other, but they are both used different. One may be perticularly dominate in some ways than the other, but in many tasks both sides are used together to accomplish what needs to be accomplished.

Proposal for Short Video

As I had seen on the course blog many people in the class had great ideas for the short video such as following technology through history and showing how advanced we have become. Another great idea someone had was to have a student who technology is a huge part of their life and follow them a day without using such technology and see how they react to it. Through these I came up with the idea to follow the individuals in the group and show exactly how much technology affects their lives and how much people are now usually the technology today. I think it would be interesting to see the differences in peoples lives and how they use technology. I know even within my group, we are all different and shared the different types of technology we use with each other. The technologies people use can even show peoples personalities and the type of people they are. That is why I think it would be interesting to show how technology affects all of us individually and how advanced or behind we all may be with them.

First Neovox Essay!

I thought that the neovox article was a good assignment to have. I have never before been away about the neovox sight and that they had as many articles as the did have. I enjoyed doing this article because I feel that writing an article and posting it on neovox allows you to put your opinions and experiences out there and allow people to benefit from them.

I chose to write about taking an online course. I chose this because it is something I have never really before been aware of, and before taking it there are a lot of things that I was unaware about and wish that I could have been informed about before taking them. At first I thought it was going to be hard to write so much about this topic and was considering changing it to something else, but then when I sat down to write it, I had more to say then I thought. I believe by writing about what an online course requires as well as my experiences will help others in deciding how they want to go about their educational experiences. For some people online courses are a great way to go and for others may not be so benefical.

I also really enjoyed the neovox workshop. When I write essays I always tend to skip over my mistakes, but when someone else corrects it they are able to find a lot more to fix than you could do yourself. I thought it was great how the whole class was able to look over each others essays and help make them better. I never knew you could go into word and use a editing system, where you can mark on the persons paper through the computer. I found that to be really helpful and useful as well.

Reader Responce 4

In the beginning of the novel it is hard to tell the role of Hiro Protagonist's character. As the story progresses you learn he is just a regular guy living in the world of new technology. Hiro is a pizza deliverman for Cosa Nostra pizza where they must deliver a pizza in thirty minutes or less. When he is not working in reality as a pizza delivery man, he works as a freelance hacker.

He helped to create Metaverse a virtual reality world that would overpass anything created in reality today. While in the Metaverse, Hiro is a warrior fighting off people with his samari sword as well as his strong nd persistant character. Once snow crash was presented and Hiro went to fight Rife in distroying Snow Crash I think, he did indeed beome a real warrior. He was able to resist the temptation of it as other people could not such as Da5id.

I think that Hiro's name is significant to the novel in which he was a true "Hero." His involvement in the Metaverse was beneficial to the vitual world as well as reality. Although broke in reality, he is one of the original creaters of Metaverse. Hiro goes on to destroy Snow Crash with Y.T. and Juanita by his side.

Finishing up Snow Crash

I actually had enjoyed reading "Snow Crash" a lot more than "Smart Mobs." "Smart mobs was interesting because it was very insightful and gave me a better understanding of what technologies are available today and what they are about, but it was very technical and blunt.

I enjoyed reading "Snow Crash," because it was more of a novel than just a text. The only thing I didn't like about it, is I felt it was very difficult for me to read. The first like 100 pages just threw so much at you it was hard to piece everything together. For instance, it took me a while to figure out is YT was part of the Metaverse or if she was reality. Also in the beginning I didn't know if Hiro was really a pizzaman or what exactly his role was and it was hard to catch on to the fact that there was both a reality as well as virtual reality until they explained Metaverse.

It also took me a while to exactly understand a lot of the characters such as Raven, Rife, Juanita, and Da5id. It explained who they were, but you need to figure out exactly what their roles were in the novel. Not only with characters, but sometimes I would find myself wondering when the characters were in reality or when they were in the Metaverse.

Overall I enjoyed the book and the idea of the Metaverse. It makes you wonder about if it really happened to us and how it would effect us as it did the characters in the novel. I don't doubt that one day a virtual reality as great as Metaverse could be created.

SIMS

I was cleaning out my room the other day and I came upon my SIMS computer game. If anyone is not aware of what SIMS is, its a computer game where you create people "such as avatars," and make a house and a community with different people. Although, it is no where near as complex as the metaverse, it reminded me of how it can be used to create peoples ideal lives just as the metaverse does in "Snow Crash." I remember when it first came out I was obsessed with playing it and it pretty much took over my "reality life". You become hooked with these games, because unlike reality, you can control what is going on in your life. Just as the avatars you make your apperance anything that you want it to be, as well as creating friends and companions the way you wish as well. I believe that the SIMS doesnt really affect reality as much as Metaverse does because there are certain restraints that come along with it, as well as most SIMS are just you playing yourself, not other people.

The thing I find positively about these things is it allows you to use your imagination. Even with online games with other people around the world, it allows you to expand your social horizons and communicate with people you have in common with as well as people you thought you would never communicate with. It is interesting how far technology has gotten us where we can now create a virtual lifestyles and maybe even one day, someone will create such a world as Metaverse.

Reader Responce 3

I am already a third of the way done with Snow Crash and when I am reading it I find it hard to even put the book down. There are some things that are still hard for me to understand, but I found myself becoming understanding of the concept of the Metaverse and what it actually involves. Sometimes I find it challenging to familiarize reality from the virtual world in this book. Especially with the events that occur and the characters involved. For instance, I know that Hiro, Juanita, and Da5id are real characters, but it took me a while to understand Y.T, which I now believe to be a real person and not a created avatar.

“The Metaverse is distorting the way people talk to each other, and she wants nothing to do with it.” (pg64) Metaverse is to complex of a second life that is not likely to occur in our reality today, but it was ever to be created I feel it would do no good for people. I feel that not only would it distort the way people talk to each other, but distort peoples lives all together. For instance, “if you are ugly, you can make your avatar beautiful.” (pg35) What is that doing to people? It just creates a false perception of reality.

Also with the Metaverse I believe that Metaverse could negatively affect the uses of it, especially with some of the features that it involves. For one, it encourages violence and drugs. The term “snow crash” is created as a type of drug through the virtual world. Instead of an actual drug in reality snow crash is created as a computerized bug. As well as the violence, in which Hiro takes on a Nipponese businessman in a sword fight and finishes by slashing his body into pieces.

The first third of this novel is actually very captivating and the fact that there is so much thrown at you at one time and you don’t always know what’s going on, is what makes it so intriguing. Every time I pick up the novel, its hard to put it down because you always want to know what is going to come next, or want to figure something out that happened previously in the novel.

Neovox Assignment

I was thinking a lot about the neovox assignment and I came to the conclusion that what would be better than writing a article about being on an online course. Being that we are in an online course right now and it is a very different experience it would be fun to write about. Many college students are beginning now to start taking online course and at first its nerve-raking because you don't know quite what to expect. Writing an article about an online class can give individuals the opportunity to see what it is like taking an online course before getting themselves into it. There are both positive and negative aspects to taking these courses and for many individuals it may be either a good or bad choice for them to do so! :) I look foward to doing this assignment!

Internet everywhere!

I didn't know much about wireless internet and how it is used and what you can do with it. Usually I just leave my dad up to all the technical stuff! ha. I know that I now have wireless internet at my house as well as my apartment at school and it makes being on the internet a lot easier and quicker. When we read "Smart Mobs" Rheingold talks about wireless internet being shown at Starbucks all over the country. I found that very interesting and this topic was brought to me in person last weekend! I had traveled to buffalo for the weekend, last weekend, and while I was in Wegmans, my boyfriend was talking about how he goes there sometimes at night when its quiet to do work on his computer in the cafe. I was caught back, "How do you even manage that?" He said that they had wireless internet in wegman! Looks like it is growing all over the place and becoming accessable in more places. I think this form of technology is very useful especially to college students, because I know living with four other people its very hard to get work done unless you are in a quiet environment. Being able to do work and relax alone is very useful!

I also just wanted to write a little bit about the book "Snow Crash." I am just about up to the first one hundred pages and I think I'm actually getting a hang of it!... I was very confused in the beginning as to what was going on and what role Hiro has in the book. It seemed like the book kind of just threw out all these terms at once and I didn't know what belonged with what. Now I can understand that Hiro is a pizza delivery man in real life, tied in with a hacker caught in virtual reality. Well, atleast thats what I got out of it! Its very interesting and look forward to move foward in the novel! :)

Finished the Book!

I'm finally done with this book! Im not going to lie, this book was more difficult for me to read than many other books. Everytime I sat down to read it I felt my mind drifting. Its not that the book wasn't interesting because many topics and subjects in it were, but seemed more of a textbook to me and very factual. I feel like that this book would have been easier for someone to read that had background knowledge of much of the internet and what it involves.

As for the concepts that I did understand with this book, It opened my eyes a substancial amount. I also think that this book was very good to open up discussion. Many topics that Dr. Reid, as well as other classmates posted were very insiteful and interesting to discuss. I have become more aware of the world around me, and how technology has impacted our lives. I started to look over the next book before starting it and I feel I may enjoy this one more because it seems more of a story line than just a text.

I was watching my favorite T.V, 24, Monday night and if you are not familiar with the show, its based around terrorism. What I noticed most about this show is how much technology has even helped in protecting out country. Some of the stuff that they do through the technology in the show is nothing short of amazing. The head people at CTU, can track someone within a couple of minutes and find out pretty much anything about them. In general I think that new technology can only be good for us in the future.

Reader Responce #2

Throughout the book, Rheingold talks much about reputation systems. Reputations require a number of characteristics in order to function. EBay is one major reputation system that is currently on internet today. It was created by a man named Pierre Omidyar in 1995, for his wife to trade Pez Dispensers. Some people choose to use their real names and others pseudonymous, but either way the buys and sellers of EBay should be long-lived, so future interaction can be created if needed. Also, feedback must also be available for future interactions. Lastly, people must pay attention to the reputation rating to make their decisions about the products. All three of these three characteristics are what make EBay as popular and trustable as it is today.
“Reputation, like surveillance, may induce people to police themselves” (p.126). Why eBay works so well as a Reputation system, I believe, is in most part because of the feedback characteristic. I have used eBay many times even throughout the last year. The first thing that I go to when I find an item, is look at the persons past feedback. This allows you to see how reliable the person is as a seller, and how well they interacted with people in past purchases. I know that at first I was very unsure about reputation systems, such as eBay, for a good reason in fact. When I was in high school I hadn’t been on eBay too much or known much about it. One guy in my grade was caught for fraud on eBay and robbed thousands of dollars from people on the site. After hearing about that It was hard for me to trust the internet after seeing how easily someone can be scammed by it.
After reading more in dept about eBay and reputation systems is easy to see that yeah Fraud can happen, but that can happen just as much and even more, out in the real world. “Only 27 out of 2 million auctions over a four-month period were considered to involve possible criminal fraud.” “Retailers have a much higher rate of shoplifting than the fraud that eBay runs into” (p.124). Honest sellers build up good reputation scores from interactions and feedback, enabling buyers to become more trusting and reliable. Learning about reputation systems through Rheingold has opened my eyes, to how policed and trusting most can be, and as long as you’re careful the internet is a good way to communicate and socially interact.

Technology over Generations

This class has made me think a lot about the new technologies that I was presented to in my generation and the advances that have taken place since I was born. Before this class I had never really thought about the things that I did have like e-mail, cell phones, internet, but now I realize how much easier and more entertainment has been brought to us.

Usually my parents e-mail me and text message me throughout the week when I'm not on the phone with them. Its funny to see how much more I can do and how much quicker I am with these technologies. For instance, whenever I text message my dad; I can be done with whatever I'm saying to him in a few seconds. When he is responding to me, it takes him a lot longer to create and send the message. He is always saying "Jesus, how the heck are you typing that fast." It just comes natural to me, because I have been doing it for so long and for my generation it is used more and a common form of communication.

What made me think of doing a post on this issue, is because of last night when my mother had called me. She was asking me, how to access something on the internet and about AIM. For me, I am instant messaging and on the internet about 15 hours out of my day (Yes, I have no life haha). When she was asking me questions, I was just sitting there and saying, are you serious you don't know how to do this, its so easy. Things that are just natural and common to me are new and confusing to other generations. I have been broughten up on the internet and AIM almost my whole life, so its hard to think about someone not being used to all of this. Its scary to think about that when I have children of my own they might be making fun of me, because of the new technology they might grow up with! hehe

Reader Responce 1

“Hirschhorn has cautioned me against thinking of the telephone as a device to talk into, urging me instead to think of the mobile telephone as evolving into a ‘remote control for your life’” (p11). This quote overall can express the main points of chapter one alone. It shows how all over the world technology such as cell phones, are emerging and becoming the center of many people’s communication and lives. Keitai the mobile telephone in Japan, is shown to show both positive and negative affects on the Japanese people. It is scary to see the negative effects the text messaging option can have as the “Mad Wing Angels” using texting to engage in a violent communication setting. It’s actually horrifying to think about the fact that something that could be considered a remote control for our lives, can also contribute to making an easy way for violent people to communicate and act upon that. On the other side mobile phones, can set a certain amount of privacy. For example texting can give an individual privacy for their social communication. In a public setting, text messaging allows you to carry on a conversation without everyone around you being about to soak in your whole conversation as well. Also as Rheingold explains, families such as in Japan do not have large enough homes to entertain guests, so a cell phone is a more reliable social network that gives anyone the private space they may need. Cell phones have become nothing less than a sheer necessity to most individual’s around the world.

Chapter two discusses how concepts such as Reputation, Cooperation, and Reciprocity can affect as well as be affected by communication behaviors and practices. Reputation is derived by combination of self interest and public good. When dealing with Cooperation, Reputation allows us to differentiate between who can be trusted and how to warn others about those we cannot trust. “Many people are contingent cooperators, willing to cooperate as long as most others do. This quote stuck out to me because, I believe that this is true in most everyday situations between people. Many people will not always go with what they believe, but cooperate because that is what the majority is set at. I found it interesting how in this chapter cooperation is related to the animal kingdom as well as Darwin’s theory of natural selection. Humans as animals do are inclined to help each other as a natural tendency which I believe is not something that always exists. I wonder as with scientist Robert Axelrod does, when are we supposed to be cooperate and when should be selfish. Just because one individual in a situation is willing to cooperate does not indicate the other individual will reciprocate. Within such concepts as well as other social dilemmas and networks, new technology can be evolved and created.

Peer to peer networks compose much of Chapter three. These networks are not controlled by a central authority, but by a combination of consumer internet connections. Peer to peer networks is something that I believe can acquire much power and control. Numerous amounts of information is being shared around the internet. This chapter goes on to discuss Napster which is the most well know peer to peer network. I am very familiar about Napster because I myself use to get music from there. Opps! To show the power of peer to peer networks, Napster at its heights included 70 million users, trading 2.7 billion files per month. Many other Peer to Peer networks such as GnutellaNet were also evolving and gaining more control due to social networks. What I acquired from this chapter is, the power comes from people with similar interests forming these social networks, and these peer to peer networks enable people to build these public goods because of the “free rides” networks like Napster hand to us.

Introduction !!

Hello! My name is Jessica Morocco. I am 20 years old and am a Junior at SUNY Cortland, majoring in Speech Pathology and Audiology. I am from Yorktown Heights, which is about 45 North of New York City. One of my main interests is dancing and I have been on the Cortland Danceworks team since I was a freshman. I love watching and playing sports and am a crazy Yankee fan! Mainly, I love just relaxing with my friends and having a good time.