One of the companies leading in the retrieval of our personal information, Google is soon releasing another way to gather personal information. This time it’s being done through music. Google plans on releasing a new application subscription which streams music. I feel Google is taking it to the extreme by implementing a way of streaming music. They first started off as only a search engine, then an email service and are now being known for streaming music, similar to Spotify. Google will only gain a greater understanding of who we are personally. They already signed deals with Universal Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment and are catching the eyes of other record labels. Our personal information may be handed out to these record labels as well and used for reasons unknown. How do you guys feel about this?

Check out the article yourself: http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57584490-93/google-close-to-launching-streaming-music-service/

Bing Google Play commercial: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8yZ5O96TtM

This commercial is currently being aired on television today. I thought it was funny and it immediately reminded me of various discussions we had in class. In this commercial Bing is stating that Google is using their Google Play app store to obtain our personal information and send it out to who knows where. This not only relates to class discussions but to Pariser’s the Filter Bubble and the topic of “Do Not Track” as well. The Do Not Track feature is a idea which would attempt to stop companies from gathering personal information. Do Not Track is doing its job, but it doesn’t erase the fact that companies already have an obscene amount of our personal information in their databases. Bing is out to exploit Google. It’s interesting to see that Bing is exploiting Google’s gathering of personal information and using it as a way to get consumers to use the Bing search engine. After watching this commercial and related it to the many discussions we had in class, I ask you one question; Are you getting Scroogled?

http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/2013/02/26/more-convenience-less-privacy/

Online shopping is easy, fast and convenient. Affirm, a new business launched a few month ago, works as an intermediary between merchants and consumers. And customers can delay their payments when they buy something through Affirm. It works like “buy now, pay later”. However, a problem of Affirm is that they use all sort of customers’ data including phone ID, zip code, Facebook status to predict when the customers will likely pay bills.

Pariser once mentioned that “there’s always a bargain in personalization: In exchange for convenience, you had over some privacy and control to the machine”. Our new technologies provide us so many great things. They are easy, convenient, and less costly. However, we also have to sacrifice so many valuable things in return. One of those things is our privacy. It is almost impossible to stop using Google even though we know that our search history is collected and distributed to unknown third-parties.

The question I want to ask is, to what extent, would you give up your privacy for technology ?

I made changes and suggestions under Desired Amenities and SideBar. I edited the art piece suggestion and specified what kind of art pieces would be great for the space. I added a couple of pictures and removed the fountain suggestion since it was mentioned later on in the post. I also moved SideBar into What Should Be Planned and suggested that we have a no loitering rule around entranceways to avoid dealing with big crowds on the plaza.

Wiki changes:

• Desired Amenities: Added a few pictures and suggestions
• Planned Amenities: Added suggestions and changes
• Planned Uses: Added pictures and bullets about the Spring Fling.
• Edited, “What Plazas Are Page” and added picture.

The professor briefly spoke about Bitcoins in class one day, and it bothered me that I didn’t really know much about this incredibly innovative and brilliant idea. So I took it upon myself to do some research on the new virtual currency, and I found some really interesting information.

For those of you who don’t know what a Bitcoin is, it’s basically digital currency that can be used to make payments through the web without transaction fees, which makes using this type of currency much more appealing to consumers. Another interesting fact about this currency is that it isn’t backed by a central bank.  Apparently, Bitcoin companies have raised millions dollars since the Bitcoin system was first introduced in 2009. The popularity of Bitcoins have increased drastically since then, to the point that they are now trading in exchanges! With this being a form of intangible currency, it makes you think: was money ever real to begin with? And keep in mind…..this is VIRTUAL currency, which means that this is susceptible to internet hackers.

What do you all think if this new Bitcoin wave? How do you think it will effect other currencies, especially the dollar?

Although I will be graduating this spring, there were various activities that could’ve helped me in the past.

During the first couple of weeks of class we went over mind maps; how to create them, organize them, and discuss them using a logical flow. I only wished that my English professors for ENG 2100, 2150, and ENG 2850 had used this type of method for organizing our notes. But this is not only useful in English classes, but also in History, Psychology, and essentially any class where you could map out a diagram that helps explain the notes taken. Speaking of notes, while reading the Filter Bubble I began taking notes similar to how it was shown in class with three columns (People, Companies, and Ideas). This was a great deal of simplicity and extremely easy to take notes with, being that you can glance over certain ideas and say to yourself “Oh I remembered that” and to easily be able to connect the people to their ideas mentioned or companies that they own or work for. The mind maps are like databases to me, and the notes we take prior to creating the mind map are the raw data. By using the notes I was able to create a mind map and was able to understand the different ideas mentioned in each chapter much better than if I only had the three columns of notes.

The second thing I learned from this class was how to update and edit a wiki. Prior to this class I have never edited a wiki – I only knew how to access them via over the internet. Last semester I took a web design class and our end of semester project was to create a website about a made up jazz band. If I had the knowledge of using wiki pages I could have created one for my fictional jazz band. Perhaps I could’ve put in a link that would re-direct the users to the wiki page with all sorts of information about the band. I would’ve hoped that having this knowledge in that class, I could’ve created not only a website, but also a wiki in order to give my work greater credibility like as though it was a real band. I was a bit surprised too that in all of the CIS courses I have taken, not one ever involved the use of wiki’s; whether it being creating them, or using them, and I am glad that I had the exposure to this type of web 2.0 technology in our class.

Last but not least, I learned how to query databases in a more “proficient” manner. This I will never forget as I will most definitely be using this skill in the future when I work full time. But in prior classes such as those that I have taken for my Psych minor, I only used Google to search for information (for countless research papers, especially the capstone class PSY 4012) and I never used Baruch’s databases as every time I used it, it was as though all of the results that came back were irrelevant. Prior to the class I thought I knew how to search quite well, but after learning about wildcards, truncation symbols, and grouping terms with parentheses, it’s was as though I became 100x more knowledgeable in researching. Rather than having 4000 results returned from a search, I learned how to narrow it down to under 10. Let me also just also say that BPL 5100 would not have been the same if it wasn’t for Mergent Online. Thank goodness for this database! And for those who will be taking BPL 5100 I highly suggest you take advantage of this database. I only wish that I took this class as a freshman at Baruch, and compared to a lot of other required core classes that must be taken, I believe this class would be more useful than a handful of them. It only makes greater sense that students are exposed to learning how to use databases before they go off to write research papers, prepare for a debate, and etc…

The one thing I wished we had covered in this class was information security. I think being able to use information and organize and interpret it is vitally important, but the security of it is just as important. Privacy concerns were a major theme we discussed throughout the semester, and I believe that the security and safety of our information goes hand in hand with ensuring our privacy in the digital world. I am not very familiar with information security, I only know little about SSL (Secure Socket Layers) and learning about information security would help us reassure ourselves that our information won’t be passed on to information brokers. Information security sounds like common sense, but in reality, I think there is so much more to it than just for example: setting your privacy on Facebook to be “only for friends.”

This semester I learned quite a few things in LIB 3040 that I can take with me into future classes at Baruch and also in my graduate schooling. Of everything we learned, the three activities that stood out to me most were: using the Newman libary’s database system, the use of mind maps and the use of Wikis. Before this class, I was already familiar with all of these activties. However, the class strengthened my knowledge base and showed me the application of these technologies better.

My english Professor and my mentor first introduced me to mindmapping. My english Professor introduced me to the technique and my mentor encouraged me to use it to figure out my future career possibilities. Using the mindmapping in this class to outline our Filter Bubble presentation showed me that mindmapping could be used in a number of ways. For example, as a great way for taking notes and outlining complied works of literature. I will definetly use the mindmapping technique for understanding complex ideas as I continue my education.

The Newman libary databases was another tool I learned how to navigate better in this class. Before the class, I knew about the databases, and was encouraged to use them by previous professors, but I never bothered to because it seemed to difficult. LIB 3040 showed me that it was not difficult at all. It also showed me the numerous amounts of information available at Baruch students’ fingertips. Specifically, I learned that the terms ‘and’ and ‘or’ could alter your search results. I also learned that using quotes around words can keep the words and thus the  thought together in search engines. A better understandng of using databases will help me in any future class I take because it will improve my research for papers.

Finally, the Wikis was something that was interesting to learn and use. I knew that with Wikipedia people can add or remove information; but  I had no idea of the actual process. The video that we saw really did a good job at explaning the development of Wikis. Actually, working on a Wiki helped solidify my knowleldge and understanding of Wikis. If future professors, request the use of Wikis or if my future boss requests this, I will know how to use it.

One thing that I wish we could have covered more in class was how information and information policies affect the government and what poltical implications they have for businesses. Also, I would have liked to learn more about major policy issues surrounding a growing information society. As a political science major and an Information Technology Social Responsibility minor, I would have liked to see more links between the two. Otherwise, great class!

Changes made to wiki:

• sentence revision on “introduction” page
• sentence revision on “what plazas are” page
• addition to idea of “artistic piece”, a fountain
• upload image of “like us on Facebook” (took me a couple attempts to figure out how to upload)
• add link to official Facebook page

The three pages I edited in the Wiki are: What Plazas Are, Desired Uses, and Desired Amenities.

In the What Plazas Are Page, I posed the question to the author challenging them to think about our thining regarding the plaza. Should we think of the 25th street plaza in terms of collegiate life or in terms of public use. Because those two ways of thinking would alter the way we design and construct the plaza. If we’re thinking collegiately, then we may want to designate quiet areas, as opposed to thinking publicly, this may not be the best option.

The next page I editied was the Desired Uses page, I was the original author of this page so I just added more ideas for potential uses for the plaza. I made a distinction between daily uses and special events. Daily uses would include use by clubs and professors. Special events would be uses for traditonal events like Freshman Convocation and Spring Fling and also cultural planning committee events.

The last page I edited was the Desired Amenities page in which I added a picture of a Professor leading a class discussion outdoors. This shows that we can have a space for class in the 25st plaza.

Being that I studied architecture for 2 years prior to transferring to Baruch, I have developed an appreciation for creative, architectural design. With that, I can honestly say that the Vertical Campus is one of the most amazing buildings that ever seen in regards to its design, and the plaza needs to complement that. It’s because of this that I added in the “desired amenities” section of the Wiki, an addition of a fountain that students can sit by during warm, sunny days.

Furthermore, I think that the plaza needs to be more of a defined space, which is why I would suggest building a bridge that would connect the VC building and the Library Building, and hovers over the plaza. This would not only make the commute to class for both students and professors more convenient, it would also define the space that the plaza occupies. The bridge would make it seem like there actually is a plaza that exists there belonging to Baruch, instead of just open space.   I have also added this in the “desired amenities” section.

Being Jewish and living in Brooklyn, this article caught my attention. I watched the news on TV then decided to research it online after hearing that the suspect was caught using Face recognition. In the book, “The Filter Bubble”, by Eli, Pariser, we learned that Google and an Israeli company have configured a tool that can be used to recognize a face by using 14 individual’s picture to match a person. Personally, I find it ironic that the suspect was an anti-Semite and it was an Israeli software that was used but happy that he was caught for this crime of hate.

Do you think that the face recognition tool should begin to be used to solve crime?

Do you think that the face recognition tool should be used by the public?

ARTICLE

On the Wiki website, I began to look over any grammatical errors. the first thing I seen was a sentence that said “The plaza without a budget.” I didn’t think this sentence belonged by itself with no other supporting sentences so I edited the page and deleted the sentence. Next, I seen a page of amenities and saw that only a few of the described ideas provided images. I looked up some photos to include with the descriptions and I added two pictures.

The changes I made in the Wiki are:

Under What Is There Now

Current Amenities: Linked the 25th street plaza’s Facebook page.
Current Policies: Made an addition to the Plaza’s rules and regulations.

Under What Should be Planned

What Plazas Are: Added two pictures of what a plaza looks like in NYC.

Under Stakeholders: Added a picture of Bagel Express

Under History: Linked Philip Habib & Associates to its website.
: Added more events to the History.

On our wiki first, I added a link on Info from Neighbors About the Plans page from our current wiki. The page that I linked it to was the Stakeholders page because these two pages deal with the people and companies that are affected by the 25^th street plaza. I was also skeptical about how I placed the link to the Baruch updates page, but decided to leave it how it was. Next, I saw that the Current Map page was empty, so I put my own little touch on it. I went to Google maps in which I brought up a close up of the area that the plaza is located. On the map, it shows 25^th street as a non-traffic street meaning that it cannot be travelled on by cars and trucks unless necessary situations are applied. With this close-up I used snipping tool to cut and paste and save it as a jpeg file on my flash drive. Then I uploaded the image to our wiki and put it on the Current Map page along with a little description. I also linked this page to two different pages, Stakeholders and Current Amenities, so that viewers can see photos of how the plaza actually looks and what’s around the area from a street view. Third but not least, I added and made some corrections to multiple pages on the wiki. On the introduction page, I felt that it could be flared up with a picture that kind of shows what the purpose of this wiki is for. So I placed an image that says THE PLAZA on this page just for some eye candy. On the Government Info About the Plans page, I found one spelling error and corrected it. Finally, On the Planned Amenities page I added a few items such as: Umbrellas, Trees and etc, Speaker System, and Student Life Events.

To begin with I added a few questions to the desired uses section:

“Do you think that there might possibly be use in investing to create a roof for part of it in order to hold events and create a space for inclement weather? This way those tables and that space can be used year round? Vanny makes a great point will this be just another herald square kind of space? Also does it make sense to make some of it a grass ground to give more of a campus feel? I know I would personally love to sit on the grass during my break in good weather and read a book :)”

In Current Amenities I added:
There are now umbrellas in some of the tables (for sunny not rainy weather)
new plants in the side areas for beautification purposes

In Desired amenities:
I think these amenities would be awesome but we would need a larger space in order to fit all these in. And for the smoking section a cover like a roof would be better for both good and rainy weather.

The changes I made:

1. History

• l edited the whole page and organized important historical events chronologically.
• l added information about the approval process, related to Community Board 6 and the Department of Transportation.
• l added pictures and a video for important events.
• l added tags for an easier search including history, Community Board 6, DOT, Department of transportation, approval and ribbon cutting

2. Stakeholders

• l added more related stakeholders.
• l added government and companies section.
• l added more information and related links about existing stakeholders.

3. Newspapers and Magazine Articles

• I added more recent articles related to the Plaza.
• I added tags for an easier search including newspapers, articles, magazine, Tikcer, Times and press.

The first change I made was too add a CitiBike station to the “Desired Amenities” page.  Even though there will be two stations a few blocks away from the plaza, there should be a CitiBike station right on campus.  This will provide maximum convenience for students and faculty.  I also added that food trucks should have access to the plaza, to allow for a greater range and better quality of street food to be offered.  Next, I added more information to the “Government Info about the plans” page that I had begun in class.  I emphasized some of the conditions on which Baruch was granted permission to build the plaza.  I also introduced the Plaza Program NYC.  Lastly, on the “Desired Uses” page, I added photo of the recent Spring Fling to add to the thorough writing that is already on the page.

Changes:

Page 1:

Under Desired Amenities I added the following:

• smoking section and provided a picture
• provided a picture for “tables with shade”
• provided a picture for “the bike rack”

Page 2:

Under Current Amenities I added the following:

• added more description “A lot of space for studying, relaxing and interacting”
• added “Events are provided for the students (music, flings, carnivals, etc.) “
• provided a picture which included the oversight of the Plaza

Page 3:

Under Current Policies I added the following:

• “Littering “
• “Abnormal behavior”
• added a link in the comment section of the original “Plaza Rules of Conduct”