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”

Under the Amenities page on the “What is there now” page, I:

• Added the following tags for a faster search: Baruch College, CUNY, 25^th street, Plaza, Amenities, What is here now.
• Rearranged and rephrased the list of amenities in order of probable priority to the plaza visitors
• Rearranged the list of amenities before the photos for a quicker understanding of what is “there now” followed by illustrations.
• Took out photos that were too similar

Under the Policies page on the “What is there now” page, I:

• Added the following tags for a faster search: Baruch College, CUNY, 25^th street, Plaza, Policies, Prohibited, What is here now.
• Rephrased several sentences to better fit the topic of ‘restricted behavior’ and fixed minor spelling mistakes.

Under the Desired Amenities page on the “What is planned” page, I:

• Added the following tags for a faster search: Baruch College, CUNY, 25^th street, Plaza, Desired Amenities, What is planned.
• Added a short introduction phrase to the list
• Asked the following question to clarify one of the bullets: What exactly do you mean by “An artistic piece”?

In Sacramento there was a bill that passed the senate on a 37-0 vote. The bill is to protect kids under the ages of 18 and give these kids the right to “erase” content on social media sites (like Facebook) freely. The bill also bans the collection of minors personal information for the purpose of marketing or advertising products that minors cannot legally obtain. – So while tobacco companies cannot market cigarettes to minors, other products such video games can be marketed to these teens. In theory the bill seems like a good idea, since its primary goal is to protect children (and even our own children in the future) however, in reality this bill would not add much value to the privacy of teens/tweens. Once something is on the web, other users can download it, and re-post it to other sites like Reddit, also even if the bill bans collection of minors personal information for marketing certain products or services, wouldn’t parents want to ban the collection of their child’s information from all sites? If parents wanted to protect their children from advertising agencies and telemarketers, then it is most likely they want them kept out of the light of advertisers and information brokers.

All in all this bill seems like a minimalistic solution to an ever growing problem of privacy for children. Lets not also forget that kids can set their age to anything on Facebook and other social media sites with/or without the consent of their parents. What are your thoughts on this bill – Is it a positive solution, negative solution, or a temporary band-aid to solve the issues of privacy for individuals under 18?

Article:
http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20130505/ARTICLES/130509739/1036/business?p=1&tc=pg

April 15, 2013. Two bombs exploded during the Boston Marathon killing three people and injuring 282 people.

April 18, 2013. FBI after taking over the case, released photos of two suspects, asking assistance from the public to help identify them.

The media went frenzy, and the manhunt had begun. Stories started on social news site Reddit, with several users claiming on the forum that a Brown student, Sunil Tripathi was being sought by thousands of police and SWAT team officers over the attack. Different leading newspaper followed suit and wrongly printed stories on the student being one of the culprit. Within hours, the story gathered pace on social media, with tweets about Tripathi being retweeted more than 3,000 times, his Facebook page being attacked, and dozen news vans camping outside the family’s home in Radnor, Pennsylvania.Yet all chose to ignore the fact Tripathi had not been named by police as a suspect.

However, the student was no where to be found. He was already missing! And Police, on Tuesday found a body near the Providence River, Boston and thinks it is ‘very possible’ that it is Tripathi’s body. And beside Reddit, no other major media company that posted the story have come forward to apologize for their mistake.
Student Missing After Wrongly Accused in Boston Bombing

In the book, The Filter Bubble, Eli Pariser mentions the importance of companies being responsible for their actions in chapter, “Escape From the City of Ghettos”. He explains how online companies have to ‘recognize their public responsibility soon’ (pg229). People trust these huge companies to provide them with honest information, and these companies in return should honor that especially when they have so much power and strength in their hands. After all, ‘it is an institution invested with enormous power in the community, the power to affect thoughts and actions by the way it covers the news- the power to hurt or help the common good.’ Therefore these companies should take more time, put in more effort to find their new  sources then just blatantly post uncertain news they themselves are unsure of, just so as to increase traffic. This is a very serious matter, given that a small mistake of theirs could lead to some innocent person’s life.

I am pretty sure that we have all used the social networking site Yelp to get reviews of a certain place, or object, or just something you needed to see feedback on before you use it. Although it seems very helpful at times, there is also a downside to using these reviews. Downsides such as: false reviews, different perceptions and tastes vary by the people giving the reviews, and/or people’s ignorance to what what the specific “Yelped” item is really suppose to do. Journalist Lee Siegel of the NY times wrote an article about the social networking site Yelp. He criticizes how the information on this site can lead you down dangerous roads when it comes to trusting the reviews. In his article he illustrates a few bad experiences with this site including this one taken from the article, “Not long ago, a friend of mine, a dear man with exquisite taste, took me to dinner at Momofuku Má Pêche in Midtown Manhattan.If I had the same experience with a gastroenterologist I had chosen based on glowing Yelp evaluations as I did at Momofuku, I would be checking myself into the emergency room. My monkfish — a special favorite of the Yelp hordes — tasted like a pencil eraser. It was also so cold that it could not be described as cooked. It was deceased.” In this sense, we see that the reviews and feedback about this so called great dinner happened to be a handful of nonsense. I have some friends that use this site for almost everything, but i do not feel that i have to use it since i like to try things myself then ask questions later.

The article is very interesting and i find it funny as well. Here is the link> Go the Same Way, or Go the Wrong Way

1. How do you feel about Yelp in general?
2. Does this site help feed the “Filter Bubble?” or not?

As we all know, handheld cameras are being replaced by smartphones and tablets that are convenient. They are convenient since we are already have them on us we can easily use them to get a quick picture. What makes it even worse for camera developers is that these smartphones and tablets are getting higher and higher in quality as time goes on. In a recent article in the NY times, A Camera Takes On the Phones, journalist David Pogue shows us how camera developer Canon has made innovative pushes to make pocket camera relevant once again by coming out with the PowerShot N that is valued at $300. According to Pogue, there are three major differences that makes the Canon N standout from smartphones. First, it emphasizes the features that a smartphone can’t match, like a zoom lens. Second, it imitates the workings and design features of a smartphone. Third, it can transmit new photos to your phone for immediate sending or posting online.

Do you think people would try this new style camera or will they just ignore it and keep using their smartphones and tablets? Would you buy this camera?