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