1. Based on this debate and previous readings what definition of democracy do you feel is most fitting for us to use in-conjunction our growing reliance and integration of digital networked technologies?
E-democracy aims for broader and more active citizen participation enabled by the Internet, mobile communications, and other technologies in today's representative democracy, as well as through more participatory or direct forms of citizen involvement in addressing public challenges. I believe this would be the most fair and most democratic way for us to use since reliance and integration of digital networked technologies are going to increase significantly.
2. How does your answer to #1 fit into the unchecked nature of Web 2.0 technologies, and what are some tangible examples of this? Do you feel this is an important issue that needs to be addressed further? There are many different tools used by people on the web like javascript, XML, adobe flash, jQuery and so on that anyone can use to post things on the web. Most of these programs run behind the scenes or are built into websites making it easier for anyone to upload things onto a page. However if you are the one developing the page you have to know how to use these different tools in order to make them work. This definitely fits into the unchecked nature of web 2.0 technologies because there is no one governing what is posted on the sites. This is an issue but it is too large for anyone to monitor everything that is posted on the internet.
3. Define and describe the phenomenon of the Media echo-chamber as described in the Internet Debates. What are some examples of this silo effect, and do you believe it is an issue that needs to be addressed? Why or Why not? The term “media echo chamber” refers to any situation in which information; ideas or beliefs are being amplified or reinforced by transmission inside an enclosed space. In other words one person makes a claim or post something on the internet, people with the same opinion as him repeats what he says. It gets repeated and repeated and overheard and repeated until there is a distorted form of the original message that now most people think is true. The enclosed space mentioned above is the internet. A prime example of this silo effect is the tragic death of the Rutgers student who took his own life after private information was put on the internet. People saw this post told other people, people made comments told other people. It’s a prime example of the power the internet gives to one person and the destructive nature which it can produce. Yes this is an issue that should be addressed but it is going to be hard to do it.
4. What are some ways that expertise and authority could be (or is being) enforced on the internet? Who would be behind these forces? Why do you believe are they needed or not needed? In place by Wikipedia is the Fact and Reference Check WikiProject. The purpose of this project is to verify facts in Wikipedia by multiple independent sources. Furthermore, the purpose is verifiability, not truth—whether readers can check that material in Wikipedia has already been published by a reliable source, not whether editors think it is true. I think Keen would be proud of this project since a lot of kids use Wikipedia to find information knowing that it comes from a reliable source is a great thing. We need to have expertise on the internet because it will one day be our main source of information.
5. Give a thorough example of an adaptation or improvement made by a social, political, or cultural group, government, business or individual to keep up with changing nature of the internet. A prime example of this is something I talked about in class and is relative to my family since my uncle is part owner of the company and that is ERcard. ER-Card is an online Personal Health Record (PHR) that gives you and your family full control of confidential medical information and personal documents. It comes all on a flash drive that fits into the size of a credicard. Used all over Rhode Island and the New England area, all the ambulances, EMTs and Hospitals are knowledgeable and use ERcard on a regular basis. When they arrive at an accident scene they check the wallet for the ERcard. Then then plug it into a computer in the back of the ambulance and have instant access to all of their health records to better assist them in saving that person’s life.
6. Is democracy threatened by the unchecked nature of the internet? I think it is threatened only by the fact that it will get to a point where people are posting so much useless and false information on the internet and it will start to become main stream views. When that happens it will be time for the government to set regulations on what is being put on the internet but it will be for the greater good. I know that sounds communist but that’s the only way it will be fixed. Who is the person who is going to regulate what is put on the internet I do not have an answer to that question and quite frankly I really don’t want to see it get to that point.
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
the great seduction
1.) Keen defines Democratized media as anyone’s ability to hold the power of the media. Taking away the experts and the middle man. Anyone can post information on the internet, Wikipedia is a prime example of a user or people generated type of encyclopedia. Keens main problem with the public having the power to direct the trend of main stream media is as he states “ the real consequence of the Web 2.0 revolution is less culture, less reliable news and a chaos of useless information’’. It is hard to know what true information is when there is so much clutter of useless information and false information. This is due to the fact that there are no experts, no middle men. Without them how do we know fact from fiction in the internet that is full of amateur information? We are impressionable person who listen to everything that is put in front of us, for the sake of our society I would rather have experts telling me what is what then people who are not qualified to do so.
2. Keen has a harsher view on social media than Rushkoff has. Keen points out many flaws claiming that social media is destroying culture. He thinks technology can be used to for greater things but through this democratized media it is destroying art, culture and news. Also stating that the missing of accountability has had negative effects on society in our youth. Rushkoff has a better view of social media. However he recognizes its fast growing pace and sees that it is present in all facets of life. I agree more with Rushkoff because I am one of the users of Social Media, and I see the pros and cons but I don’t let it take over my life. I do fear however that kids growing up in an all internet world will lose appreciation and social skills that they can benefit from actually interacting in the real world. When I was growing up I didn’t have a computer not until I went to college did I have my own laptop, and I used our home computer I think at the age of 16 but it was only aim. I was always outside interacting with my friends. I don’t know who I would be if I spent all my time on the internet when I was a kid. I also don’t like the fact that kids have access to any information they want and I see future computers designed for kids that blocks most of the internet.
2. Keen has a harsher view on social media than Rushkoff has. Keen points out many flaws claiming that social media is destroying culture. He thinks technology can be used to for greater things but through this democratized media it is destroying art, culture and news. Also stating that the missing of accountability has had negative effects on society in our youth. Rushkoff has a better view of social media. However he recognizes its fast growing pace and sees that it is present in all facets of life. I agree more with Rushkoff because I am one of the users of Social Media, and I see the pros and cons but I don’t let it take over my life. I do fear however that kids growing up in an all internet world will lose appreciation and social skills that they can benefit from actually interacting in the real world. When I was growing up I didn’t have a computer not until I went to college did I have my own laptop, and I used our home computer I think at the age of 16 but it was only aim. I was always outside interacting with my friends. I don’t know who I would be if I spent all my time on the internet when I was a kid. I also don’t like the fact that kids have access to any information they want and I see future computers designed for kids that blocks most of the internet.
digital nation the mob
With technology getting more advanced every day our window for privacy is slowly becoming non- existent. Our constant connectivity to everyone who uses the internet through social networking sites or forums is at an all-time high. With more than 200 million people on Facebook, the only way not to have your privacy exploited is not to partake in the social networking phenomenon. This is a hard thing to do considering everyone you know is on some type of social networking site. You don’t want to not be included by your friends so you join what is most likely Facebook. However, once you have done this you have given 200 million people potential access to your information. Even if you’re not friends with someone through the web of potential friends, through your friends, it is still possible for people to see some of your postings even if you didn’t intend them too. But usually it’s not the people you don’t know that cause you harm, it’s the people you do know who you call friends. When you think of the Mob, an angry group of people who gang up on one cause or person comes to mind. That is exactly what people have been seeing happen on these social networking sites and forums. A specific example comes to mind when I think about this Mob mentality, Juicy Campus.
Juicy Campus was a site that targeted college campuses where you could start or leave anonymous postings about things going on at your school. This was quickly abused by most people due to the fact that no one could find out who was posting these threads. I remember checking it out when it wasn’t banned. The first time I went on it had listings of almost every college, which means that people all over were using this site. I found Marist College and clicked the link that brought me to our schools page, I had no idea what to expect. What I saw next made me feel bad for the people whose full names were blasted all over the page. Kids were leaving the nastiest posts about girls using their full name, talking about STDs, how many people they had sex with, how ugly they were, etc. It was bad, girls that I knew who weren’t bad people at all just torn apart by people on the internet just because they didn’t have to put who they were they felt like they had the right to say whatever they wanted about these people. This is the type of thing that leads to kids committing suicide. Most recently “the tragic death of Rutgers University student Tyler Clementi, who took his own life after a classmate allegedly taped him in secret during a gay sexual encounter and posted the video online. Things like this are inexcusable, the invasion of privacy, the immaturity, the mob mentality of the kids who commented on the video. They did not think of the consequences of their actions, ultimately ending up with one young man’s life cut short because people don’t understand the magnitude of posting things on the internet, especially things as private as that.
People hide behind their computer screens, not man enough to take responsibility for their actions. I feel strongly enough about being held accountable for your actions that I think the only anonymous posts that should be allowed on the internet are ones about products. Anything that has to do with people should have an identity to it. If people think that they can say whatever they want about anything and no one can find out who they are, cyber bullying will never stop.
I do not want to be completely negative about anonymity on the internet, but even when I find a positive, that positive has a negative side. I am talking about the millions of people that play online games like world of war craft, star craft and all the others out there. For the people who feel like they can live through the game and it brings them joy and excitement and they make friendships through the game; that is what they were designed for. Just like in the Digital Nation video, that showed the convention center full of people with this common interest even though they had never met in person. This anonymity on the internet is acceptable, when you find yourself addicted to video games playing for day’s straight not doing your school work that it becomes a problem. In South Korea, gaming has become such a problem, that the national government has gotten involved. Setting up programs to help kids stop playing video games all the time. In the Digital nation video it showed Korean kids hanging out all day in PC cafes. These cafes have rows of computers filled with kids playing games for hours. It affects their studies because all they care about is playing video games. To counter act this problem with video games, there have been schools now designed around playing school oriented video games and lessons on not to get addicted to video games. I think these are good steps to take considering the amount of people that play video games in South Korea, and I think that more programs to help kids who are addicted to video games should be increased.
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Michael Cesare: Discussion Questions
Michael Cesare: Discussion Questions: "1. I think amateur or homegrown user generated content will get better over time because i believe the technology is going to keep getting b..."
Discussion Questions
1. I think amateur or homegrown user generated content will get better over time because i believe the technology is going to keep getting better and the quality of these peoples videos and productions are going to be extremely well done. I don't think the professional production quality will drop I believe that it will have to get even better as it now has to compete with these user generated productions.
2. I definitely find myself using Facebook the most out of all of the social media outlets. I use it because its easy to use, its also more reliable and is known to be more "factual" or "real" than Myspace. What i mean by that is the things people post and pictures and what not those are actually them saying those things, there is a lot less spam as well. Also I like how it suggest friends that you may know based on who your friends are and I like how its grouped by schools. I believe Facebook will be around for a while but eventually something will come along and bring something new and better to the table. In the social media scene nothing is perminate.
3. Transparency is an important concept in the social media world because it is so easy to hide your true motives over the internet. People now believe in what they read on these social media sites however it is so easy to be transparent its becoming questionable whether or not believing everything is a good idea. People what other people to be true in what they say, they want to know that what you wrote about that product is actually what you think not what you were told to write because someone paid you money. I think transparency is less important in the offline world because it is much harder to be transparent. However, I am sure there are people who are good at it in the real world but in my opinion it is harder to hide what you truely feel when your in real life
2. I definitely find myself using Facebook the most out of all of the social media outlets. I use it because its easy to use, its also more reliable and is known to be more "factual" or "real" than Myspace. What i mean by that is the things people post and pictures and what not those are actually them saying those things, there is a lot less spam as well. Also I like how it suggest friends that you may know based on who your friends are and I like how its grouped by schools. I believe Facebook will be around for a while but eventually something will come along and bring something new and better to the table. In the social media scene nothing is perminate.
3. Transparency is an important concept in the social media world because it is so easy to hide your true motives over the internet. People now believe in what they read on these social media sites however it is so easy to be transparent its becoming questionable whether or not believing everything is a good idea. People what other people to be true in what they say, they want to know that what you wrote about that product is actually what you think not what you were told to write because someone paid you money. I think transparency is less important in the offline world because it is much harder to be transparent. However, I am sure there are people who are good at it in the real world but in my opinion it is harder to hide what you truely feel when your in real life
Thursday, September 16, 2010
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