I read through the blog straight through. I then went back and made various changes such as on the
Current Amenities Page: added a few amenities and edited one or two.
What Plaza’s Are Page: edited content, added a picture, made comparison to another Plaza’s in NYC.
History Page: added a current update
Cover Page: edited format, added wikipedia style contents box
When I first signed up for this course I was not sure what to expect. To be honest I needed an extra class and thought what could we possibly do learning about how information is processed and or displayed. I mean the Internet is the Internet right? I was quite wrong and realized afterwards that I knew very little about what the Internet really was. I was not expecting to learn about how technology has dramatically transformed in recent years. I have always had the newest devices and pieces of technology but never have I been the most technologically sound individual in my social circle. I can proudly say that as a result of this course I am no longer ignorant, I am still not the most knowledgeable but I learned a great deal that I would consider significant.
The book The Filter Bubble by Eli Pariser was a great basis in which to form a course around. It took about as unbiased of an opinion about the intricacies around the Internet today. It is as up to date as one could ask for and really opened my eyes to how little I took into account the significance of my daily actions. As I mentioned I have always been on the forefront, as a consumer, for all things technological. I have always just assumed that the Internet was this extremely secure medium that can only be accessed by some kind of elite hacker and that there was no reason they would waste their time with myself. The Filter Bubble really opened my eyes and changed my perspectives about the web. The websites I had once thought to be protecting me from Internet hackers are actually the ones that I should be afraid of. I had never even fathomed that my personal information could become the profitable property of a website/ company.
I enjoyed that the topics we covered were not just theories but practical information that applies to our everyday lives. The Filter Bubble as I mentioned was not biased, at least in my opinion. Eli Pariser discussed the benefits of our present day technological resources but also mentioned the disadvantages and the possible threats that can result from it. I have never been the most avid reader of current events but I would absolutely say that I keep up to date and am far from ignorant. What I found fascinating is that I when I thought I read a variety of different perspectives on any particular issue as not to have a biased interpretation. It was the issues themselves that were a product of my ‘Filter Bubble’. I have used Google regularly for years but only now know how to manipulate it. Also I know how it does and has been manipulating me.
I found our work on the search engines to be extremely valuable. I have never properly learned how to utilize the resources on the Internet. I use the Internet, primarily Google, to conduct almost all of my research in my other courses here at Baruch but have always found myself aggravated with the difficulty I had in finding valuable information relevant to my topic. I found the database walkthroughs that we did to be very insightful. I wish we had done a bit more with them. Maybe another lesson or homework assignment in which, we would be required to use and manipulate the databases would have been helpful for me to learn even more. I am currently in an argument and debate course and our final project was to write a research paper on a hypothetical legal case. When I read the syllabus for the class in the beginning of the semester I became worried about having to complete the assignment. I was able to utilize the search techniques such as where and how to use quotation marks in a search. Also I was not familiar with the databases themselves. In my head they were too sophisticated for me to begin to use and I learned in fact they are just as simple, if not simpler than a Google search.
One thing that Eli Pariser did not go into such great depth about was the solutions currently available to protect us on the Internet. There does not seem to be a great deal of them out there at this time. However, we did mention in class that some websites such as Google are beginning to become more and more transparent. I wish we had learned a bit more about how to make them more transparent. Also how, if possible, we can begin to detect or what signs we should look for when it comes to untrustworthy places on the Internet.
Overall I learned a great deal from this course. I enjoyed the relevance of The Filter Bubble. The videos we watched were very practical and correlated well with the topics from The Filter Bubble. I especially liked the recent video that discussed the cognitive abilities of mine and younger generations and that it confirmed my personal theory about intelligence. I know that I am a product of my generation, I just hope that it is not too late for me to un-personalize my world and see things for what they really are.
I have had an iPhone since it was first released. I have been very happy with the service and as a result also become very loyal to AT&T, which was the only carrier at the time. When the iPad was released I purchased one and due to my loyalty to AT&T, I used them for my data plan. I have a separate plan for both of these devices and each of them is unlimited. Many people have been jealous of the unlimited plan on my iPad because they only offered if for two weeks when the iPad was first released. However, I recently learned that my unlimited plan is not actually unlimited. I am only allowed 3GB of 4G data after which it switches to 3G automatically and I cannot do anything about it. Fortunate for me I do not often use any of this 4g data. That being said I am upset that this is even possible for AT&T to do. I will not be changing service providers as it is difficult and expensive because I would also have to purchase new devices. So as a result I am just a little less loyal to AT&T.
http://lifehacker.com/5917843/the-death-of-unlimited-data-what-it-means-and-how-you-can-keep-your-unlimited-data-plan
As children we want to rebel. We gain pleasure in disobeying our parents and getting into mischief. At least I was when I was little. We did things that we thought we could get away with. Such things as sneaking sodas, or hiding my greens etc. Children used to use Facebook as their medium to communicate when they believed that they could say whatever they wanted without their parents finding out. However, more and more parents are joining Facebook and the children no longer have a secret medium to communicate so they are shying away from the prying eyes of their parents on Facebook to other more secretive methods of communicates such as WhatsApp.
https://medium.com/adventures-in-consumer-technology/3d1c24176c91
As we have been discussion all semester technology has become a part of our everyday lives. We cannot escape technology here in NYC. Are we addicted? Yes, I think that many of us are. I often try to escape and take a break from technology and I find it to be impossible. The problems arise when we cannot get the adequate down time in order for our bodies to keep equilibrium Constant stare at a computer screen will harm vision. Constant feeling of being connect will harm your ability to rest and cause extreme anxiety when it is not working properly if even for a few moments. Netflix was down several weeks/months ago and I was furious that I couldn’t watch a show that I wanted to watch.
The more addicted we become to Facebook and online games the more money they make. Their goal in this sense to cause addiction on a massive scale. Have they already succeeded? I think they are well on their way. This attached article voices the opinions of several top Internet companies. Mr. Crab of Facebook said his concern was that people should live a balanced life. However, Facebook’s profits will increase the more that we do not live well balanced lives so his job goes against his greatest concern and that concerns me.
I presented about AugCog, which was the monocle like device that woud be similar to an advanced version of Google Glass. OkCupid owner wanted to develop his own which would allow us to go into a bar and know which people are a good match for us. That sounds so fantastic we would not have to waste our time talking to the wrong person. However, maybe it is because we spoke to that wrong person we know how special the new person is. I think the more we eliminate gives us a lisser appreciation for the things we like. Also I had a previous post about searching the internet and how because we do less reading we are less intelligent. Knowing if you have a connection with someone else I don’t believe can be better achieved by a computer. We know what we like, we often get lazy and don’t want to spend time looking for it. Came across this article which reiterates some of the cues that are right out in front of us.
http://elitedaily.com/elite/2013/will-she-bang-you/
In the Filter Bubble Pariser focuses on many of the problems that derive from personalization. The complexity of the internet makes it very difficult to even understand that information is being personalized and even more difficult to be able to control.
As Pariser mentions about defaults “If people will let defaults determine the fate of our friends who need lungs and hearts, we’ll certainly let them determine how we share information a lot of the time”(p.224). We are psychologically lazy and that gives internet companies the ability to take advantage of us. We will not go out of our way to attempt to be untraceable until it becomes an immediate problem in our lives. Pariser’s solution of online tracking is to delete or erase your cookies or only use websites that and transparent. That is not the default on our browsers and I still would not know how to go about deleting them. So to believe that the average person is going to research and learn how to accomplish this is not that logical.
The best solution that Pariser mentions in the Filter Bubble is the governments intervention in companies online presence. It took the government many years to develop regulations for news corporations. The Internet has not been around for that long but it is definitly time for governmental regulations. Pariser mentions that “the U.S. Federal Trade Commision is proposing a Do Not Track list, modeled after the highly successful Do Not Call list”. I remember the do not call list and I can confirm that it was successful. As I said before people are psychologically lazy. It was not difficult to add yourself to the list and it became automatic. If the same can be done for the Internet that will be a viable solution to some of the issues we face with our online presence.
Lights, running water (sink/shower/toilet), heat, doorbell
Coffee/Espresso maker, fridge, range
elevator, Vespa, turnstile at Baruch (Baruch ID)
cell phone, ipad, cable tv, computer
Just about all of the technology I used today requires electricity. My phone, iPad, and cable tv are all communication channels which allow me to interact with others. The tv is less of a two way communication channel.
http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2013/03/the-49ers-plan-to-build-the-greatest-stadium-wi-fi-network-of-all-time/2/
The 49’ers, a NFL Football team in California, are proud to offer Wi-Fi access to each fan that is in the stadium. Apparently no stadium can currently support each and every fan on their Wi-Fi network. This came as news to me. When I attend large venues I often have problem getting cell phone reception on AT&T. Many people on Verizon do not have the same difficulties, as for the other networks I am unsure. I have season tickets to the New York Jets Football season and I almost never get cell phone reception. However, I have tremendous success with the Wi-Fi network. I realize that most fans most likely do not utilize the Wi-Fi all at the same time. Maybe all the fans will never need to be on the Wi-Fi all at once. In the past two years I have never had one problem with their Wi-Fi network. I have been very frustrated with the fact that AT&T will not provide better cell phone reception. Who do you think is more responsible at providing proper network connection, your current cell phone provider or the venue your currently at? Me personally I think the cell phone companies have to immediately strengthen their signals because if all venue soon have Wi-Fi than I will not need to pay for a cell phone bill.
I had a conversation the other day with some friends about how we write essays. I remembered the day when the internet could not be used for research. Not only was it not allowed but also was not possible. The majority of my time would be spent reading books in the library. However, now that the internet is so prevalent my time management has also changed. I now spend the majority of my time editing and organizing a paper. As a result I learn less about the actual topic, having only briefly read a few sentences here and there. The paper itself is going to be better written and with better content but I’m not learning as much nor am I improving my literary abilities. Also since facts are so easily checked nowadays I am more conscious of having a correct date in my paper than having a really sound argument. Do you think that students are more or less intelligent as a result of internet access?
Where do we find our news content –
The New York Times, Wall street Journal, Friends, over hearing strangers conversations, news on tv, iPhone alerts (new york times app)
Survey
Do you openly seek the news?
Where do you look for your content? print or digital?
If digital, a tablet, smart phone or computer?
Do you prefer to read or watch/ listen to the news?
Facebook’s new search tool
I googled “facebook new search nytimes”
author Somini Sengupta
She has writting numerous articles over the past several years about tech companies and internet related topics.
I do not believe that the author is qualified to report on
Kathryn Hymes, 25, who left a master’s program in linguistics at Stanford
Amy Campbell, who earned a doctorate in linguistics from the University of California, Berkeley.
The article mentions how facebook has a new search program. In order to develop this facebook looked at how people searched for things and how facebook’s own computers werre limited in their capabilities to comprehend the terminology each individual uses when they search.
Comments:
"Great post. Something easily overlooked and often forgotten. I have in the past always used the same password for everything. every once in a while I had to alter it a little bit due to password restrictions such as a capitalization or a number needed. The more I continue to use the Internet the more I eventually sign up for and the more account and passwords I am required to provide. It became difficult to remember all of the different passwords and usernames so luckily many of them were the same. As I became away of Internet hackers and the need to do my best to protect my information on the Internet, I thought I would make a dramatic change. I went and changed almost all of my usernames and passwords. I did my best to think of random names and number that did not correlate to me at all. In looking back I did not do the best job at this. I wrote down all of these different names as I knew I would forget them. I have since gone back and tried to change them all back to a uniform username and password for convenience reasons. I know have amassed a large number of these and ironically enough have put all the usernames and passwords on my google drive. I found this to be easily accessible and until recently trusted Google completely. I have been lucky enough to have never been Internet hacked (knock on wood). Until something bad happens I will most likely continue to feel secure and not spend much time thinking about what negative things could happen. I am a very trusting person and would like to keep that mentality the best I can. So I hope that nothing happens and my personality remains fairly constant."
posted on May 16, 2013, on the post What You Need to Know About Social Media, Passwords and Transparency"Wow. Yes what memories are appearing in my head right now. Correction 1984 is roughly 30 years ago not 40! I do not actually remember what my first cell phone was. I know it was in the 3rd grade and on Sprints network. I was the first in my grade at school to have one although it was because of some family illnesses and immediate need to be contacted. However, this was no hinderance on the pleasure that I had using it. Because I was the first in my grade (only 35 students per grade) but still a big deal, I had no one else to use it with. All my friends were able to call my cell but at the time that was not so exciting after about a day or two. I remember the day that Nokia made the game snake for their phones and it was not available on my phone. I was furious and threw a temper tantrum with my mom until she bought me one that was never activated but that I could play all the snake I wanted to. Yes I was a bad little bugger. I can also remember the first time I saw someone with a headset for their phone. I was confused how a homeless person could afford a suit and tie. Soon learned that he was on a cell phone. I can also still remember when my phone was not able to send/receive text messages and now I'm pretty sure that there is not a phone in the world that does not have text messages.
My favorite phone that I have ever had was a the Pantech c300 http://cellphones.about.com/library/bl-pi-pantech_c300.htm
it was I believe at the time the worlds smallest colored camera phone. We used to joke that it was the Zoolander phone because it was so incredibly small. I actually miss this phone very much. It was simple, it did not have internet access but only a few at the time did and it was ridiculously small. I am currently an iPhone addict but that is mainly because I am not the most tech savvy and the iPhone is compatible with my computer. I also hate change and do not having to relearn something, I stick with what I already know and feel comfortable with. This is a flaw in my character but at least I can admit it, that's said to be step one.
You have prompted me to go in search of my old phones. I wish i had a the whole collection and hope to acquire it one day. I am hearing more and more that the iPhone in their innovation. They no longer seem to have the newest and coolest technology but I am still a little stubborn and not ready to change. Thanks for this post it really brought back some good memories!"
posted on May 16, 2013, on the post Can you hear me now? Cellphone turns 40."Very interesting video. What I find funny is that If i had watched this video a few months ago I would have been unaware of many of the founding companies of the Internet. Not just from the information we learned in this course but what it prompted me to explore on my own. I now know at least a dozen companies who's impact to the Internet and the creating and current state of the Web that I did not know before. I still am not sure how much of the early Internet I really understand. I wish I had been more involved/ interested as a child and could have taken part or at least been a little more knowledgeable. I preferred to watch television when I could have been creating something. I am still not sure how much or little I really know, in part because we don't know how little we actually know until we learn something. Strange philosophical interpretation but thats what i've got.
In my recent exploration about the early beginning of the Internet I found the man whom we credit with the invention of the World Wide Web. Sir Tim Berners-Lee is the inventor/ creator of the World Wide Web. What I considered to be an incredible and unimaginable thing. As little as I understand about it today I could not imagine being able to create it. What disturbed and shocked me was how little money he made and is currently worth. When in todays world where posting pictures is worth a billion dollars (Instagram) and people like Mark Zuckerberg can go from nothing to one of the wealthiest people on the planet in a matter of a few short years. Sir Tim Berners-Lee, who I assume was knighted as a result of this invention is only worth a measly 50 million. I actually feel quite sorry for him but I guess we learn it is not always the inventions we create but how we can market something that is a better prediction of profitability."
posted on May 16, 2013, on the post Google’s vision on how the web was built"In the world we live in today ads are everywhere. We are exposed to over 3000 ads on average each day. I think that just simply getting your attention is all an ad campaign can hope for. I have seen countless ads and commercials in which I do not even know what is being sold. Twitter was successful in mocking the world in which we live. We admit that we are obsessed with present day devices and technology and can laugh about it. However, we seem to be pretty powerless so maybe it is not actually that funny. Also I don't think that many people would be sending their mom's a tweet. Although just about everyone spend their day tweeting about their mothers and mother's day.
What is socially acceptable? I think we have gotten to a point where the advocates for proper maners and etiquette have realized that they were fighting a losing battle and simply gave up. I was one myself and still speak up from time to time but I became more and more frustrated with this impersonal world in which we live."
posted on May 14, 2013, on the post Happy Mother’s Day, Tweeters!"I am very happy to learn that something is being done about privacy protection on the internet. A sufficient amount of time has passed since the internet was first established and I don't believe that much has been done to protect individuals on the internet. What troubles me is that Ms. Wong is working for a company that we are trying to protect individuals from. This may very well influence how the privacy law is phrased and maybe in favor of the companies rather than the individuals. Everyone is selfish and out trying to better themselves, especially in business where profits are the goal. This is not an optimistic opinion but it is something to worry about. However, having some privacy laws are still better than none so I am very pleased with this initial start to protect Americans on the internet."
posted on May 14, 2013, on the post Obama, Privacy and Twitter"If lol is acceptable this is a second response. I agree that lol what become universal. It represents the insecurities that many of us have with social interaction. Just as we do not like to confront people nor do we like unexpected social contact what we hate even more is people not liking us. There is a reason why facebook doesn't have a dislike button, although, i really wish there was, we are terrified that others will not like us. I'm not sure where I am going with this but basically we are insecure and it seems like we feel the need to emphasize a joking tone to be safe that others will not think its negative. We also do not like texting very long messages even though we spend hours simply looking at our phones without any actions."
posted on May 2, 2013, on the post LOL ?"lol"
posted on May 2, 2013, on the post LOL ?"This brings up an idea I had not really thought about. The websites themselves are breaking the law, they may not have been caught and or prosecuted yet but that does not change the actions they have taken. A reputable company that choses to advertise on an illegal website should lose their good faith. If you are paying money to advertise your company then you know all about the ad space you purchase. You know the company displaying it and how they are displaying it. If you haven't done your homework you are still at fault. Ignorance is not an excuse. No one is their right mind would pay money for ad space they know nothing about. I think both the website and the company advertising on that website should be prosecuted. In the race to grab our attention companies seem to be doing everything they can and I guess that includes advertising on illegal mediums. However, putting myself in that position I'm sure that I would not have a problem advertising on a pirated website as long as I know my ad is reaching my target audience. Being a pirated website they would require less funds and until a law is passed to deem that action illegal I would take full advantage of it."
posted on May 1, 2013, on the post “The online ad business is what we would call a ‘dark market'”"I do not think that the original 'Harlem Shake' video is not bad. I have seen several people who have made their own videos, some are funnier than others. The thing is when people recreate that video everyone adds something that was not in the original. I have not been able to find the videos of the students who were suspended. I am going to assume that drugs or paraphernalia and/or alcohol were present in their videos in which case they would be justified for suspending them.
I have noticed that the larger the group of people the more rowdy and obnoxious they become, the only difference between myself and kids these days is that I was almost never videotaped or photographed. Also even when I was there was no Youtube or Instagram to broadcast the things we did."
posted on Mar 30, 2013, on the post “Harlem shake” turns into “Suspension Date”"Jsappol and Jocelyn:
Yes the internet is a faster tool for research than going to the library and reading books. However, the internet give us to ease to scan an article for the one paragraph that has the information that we are looking for alowing us not to have the read the entire article. As a result we did not learn as much as we would have otherwise. This is why I thought that we are not only lazy but less knowledgeable/intelligent."
posted on Mar 21, 2013, on the post How we do research"I like that you mentioned this. The one good thing for you is that your klout score can be purchased. You can buy twitter followers and likes and most all aspects that get factored into your klout score. It makes sense that justin B has a higher klout score then Obama because Obama does not regularly use social media. Klout score only measures social media influence not real world power/ influence for that we can stick to Forbes and Obama is number 1 and Justin B is pretty far down that list. It's all about relevance. What is most relevant to the company? For an advertising agency owned by elders who do not fully understand social media and how it works, I can totally understand why they would not hire an individual with a low klout score if they have been told that's what is going to be best for the company. Consultants have been misguiding ad agencies recently and this is because no one really knows how impactful social media is. There is no way to measure how successful or unsuccesful it is all we can do is blindly argue one way or the other. How in the past a company could take out an ad in the New York Times and see how their activity changed the following week. Now that ads are spread out in so many different mediums it is impossible to know where the attention is comming from."
posted on Mar 5, 2013, on the post You are not hired because your Klout score is not high enough."I agree with you that your facebook profile does not reflect your true or whole self. I do not associate anything on the internet with anyone's true identity. We use our own personal filters in creating our profiles. The filter bubble says that we selectively combine ideas to create new ones. But what about the ideas we don't know or really the ones we don't know that we know. We think we know ourselves pretty well but we are often really bad about describing ourselves. So you would inevitably write an inaccurate profile of yourself while trying to represent yourself in the most truthful way.
I personally think that internet profiles are meant to lie. I have a friend that uses cupid, a dating website. I told him that I am sure everyone intentionally lies on their profiles because they want to seem better then they really are. If I were to make one I would tell more lies then truths. I might even make several profiles and wait to see which ones worked best. I do not think that this reflects my integrity. I consider myself to have integirty and believe the internet is meant for BS."
posted on Mar 5, 2013, on the post What Is Your Facebook Identity?"I disagree with Larry on the copyright laws. In order to provide almost any service people need to earn money. If we could steal from others people would become less motivated to be creative. I think that youtube especially is still primarily for the average person to express themselves. the biggest youtube channels maybe promoted but we still can choose what we watch and what we like. The industry is shaped by what people want and think and what people want and think is shaped by the industry. Large corporations have always and will always have more "power" than any individuals but that is how and why things function as well as they. that is the financial backing that provides us with the opportunities to be creative and express ourselves."
posted on Feb 26, 2013, on the post Larry Lessig: Laws that choke creativity