I believe that most people are using Wiki. A wiki is a website where multiple users can add, remove, and edit content on each page by only using a web browser. This makes it extremely easy to collaborate with people, even if they cannot meet face to face. If so, what is the advantages and disadvantages of using Wiki. On wikiatuni website, I found a list of advantages and disadvantage of using wiki.
A few classes ago Professor Francoeur spoke about microfiche a throwback technology which was all the rage a few decades past. Fast forward 20+ years and microfiche now seems antiquated and unnecessary; so too have many devices and systems which seemed the wave of the future 25 years ago. From VCRs and VHS tapes, Walkman and Atari games… Game Boy anyone? Technology has evolved in leaps and bounds, and in more ways than many of us who grew up in the era of cassette tapes and CRT TV would have ever expected. (Hey Professor, do you remember typing CLR to clear your screen 🙂
I was lucky enough to experience the changes which have occurred over the past few decades and I can admit that I have had a Care Bear portable radio (imagine a radio in the shape of a Care Bear… no cassette; it just played whatever the tuner picked up.) I had a Walkman portable cassette player, and then I felt like the coolest kid when I got a portable CD player (with anti-shock, thank you), later I got a mini disc player which didn’t catch on as much I thought it would and then… nothing
For a long time when mp3 players came on the market I refused to get one because I thought that every year I would be getting something else, so I wanted to wait and see what would “catch on.” Eventually I got a generic player and I was ok with it, then Apple introduced the IPod and they were everywhere. It was almost $400 for a little tiny device that I just knew I would lose or drop and $400 would be down the drain and I refused to get one even though I was dying to. In 2008 I quit my job to move to the US and as a thank you/going away gift my company gave me an 80GB IPod Classic along with a Philips portable DVD player and IPod dock. I was in heaven; I was hooked on the Apple train…. there was no going back. Today I can laugh at my experiences; I would have never thought that a $300 device would become an everyday accessory and such a huge part of our lives. So in honor of my life…..then to now, here are some of my electronic experiences in pictures.
On March 25 popular internet social website Facebook announced that it was buying Oculus the manufacturer of a publicly unreleased but apparently highly anticipated device called the “Oculus Rift.” The device would allow users to completely immerse themselves in a game and early adopters and beta-testers are spreading the word and singing its praises.
With the internet and social media often getting “flak” for encouraging obesity, causing people to cut themselves off from the world, and a host of other “evils” what do you think of this new technology and how it will or will not affect society?
Calm down everyone, I have an older brother but I would never sell him for this HIGH TECH and FRICKIN AWESOME OCULUS RIFT.. well maybe?
JUST KIDDING…
Technology has come a long way in the past ten, twenty years.
From this:
to this –>
Anyway, Facebook has spent $2 Billion on Oculus VR, a company that makes virtual reality headsets. For many gamer like me, we would kill to have this tech where we can feel immersed in a virtual environment. Well, watch this video then you guys will understand why it blew my mind. You can wear this headset just like a pair of ski goggles, that simple! Also, they come with three sets of lenses to give everyone the perfect vision. As people say, “Its like glimpsing into the future!”
Sources:
http://www.businessinsider.com/photos-oculus-rift-2014-3?op=1
http://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-to-buy-oculus-rift-for-2-billion-2014-3
In the Homework box on the Assignments page of the course website, I’ve added details about homework #3, which is due by the start of class on April 1.
A friend of mine linked me to this article from New York Magazine, which details the difficulty of moving on post-break up in the face of social media activity.
This is something we’re all of aware of on some level. If you’ve had a falling out with a partner, or even a friend, you still see them pop up on your social media feeds. You see their selfies on Instagram, the pictures their friends tag them in on Facebook, their tweets about going out, etc. Even though this person no longer has a constant physical presence in your life (or maybe they do, in which case the effect is amplified), you can still keep of track them. Whether you want to or not.
To reverse that equation, you may be so used to interacting with this person on social media that you accidentally continue to do so, even after the break up. After my last break-up, i found myself actively seeking out my ex’s activity on Facebook. I sent him Snapchats out of sheer habit.
Erasing an ex is no simple task. Blocking has implications — do you want your ex to know you’re that agitated by their social media presence that you have to block them? Facebook gives you the option of unfollowing your ex’s posts, which is less of a statement than unfriending your ex altogether.
This article doesn’t go into the algorithms that, say, Facebook may use to determine just how close you are with your friends. If Facebook doesn’t know that you and your ex have broken up, it might continue to rank them as one of your “closer” friends.
How do you move on when you still have to make these complex decisions about your ex’s social media activity?
The upcoming issue of Vogue magazine, which is set to hit newsstands at the end of this month, features Kanye West and Kim Kardashian on the cover, and then apparently this beautiful picture inside, of a photographer taking a picture of Kanye taking a picture of Kim and North taking a picture… lol… while I know this isn’t anything near groundbreaking news, or even a surprising move for most likely the most egocentric couple in Hollywood, I still believe it warrants consideration, if for nothing else than the comedy that can be found in how ridiculously vein this representation is. Obviously most can surmise that we undoubtedly are living in one of the most narcissistic times ever, and in no small part because of the availability for exposure offered to us nowadays that we never had (mainly social media and the internet). But you would think that there would be a line. When is vanity being taken too far? And I think that the message this picture sends is exactly that. But I obviously don’t think that it should be taken any other way than comically – to take it too seriously would be petty. I do feel like, though, it is a funny enough societal reflection to blog about, and a very real depiction of the times that we live in. How many people now will sit there with their iPad taking a picture of their wife taking a selfie with their newborn kid in front of the Eiffel Tower, or on top of the Empire State Building? Hmmmmmmm =]
In what already seems to be a decades-old question, I am curious to hear what the classes’ opinion is on which kind of phone/software they prefer. As some may know, the HTC One M8 is set to be released soon, and early benchmark tests propel the handset to the top of the pack in terms of speed and functionality. While I am always interested in what Android has to offer, I’ve been skeptical at times of their phones sustaining the zippiness and fluidity they have when you initially buy them. I’ve owned multiple Samsung Android handsets in the past (before jumping ship for the iPhone 4S, and now the 5), as well as fooled around with countless other Android devices, and I would always get that impression. I’ve also gotten the sense, speaking to other Android owners, that the phones start getting buggy after a few months. And this, to me, is no doubt because of the fragmentation that develops between the software and hardware.
Since Android is proprietary to Google, all the phone makers (HTC, Samsung, LG, etc.) need a specific kind for their hardware. And because it’s so hard for Google to customize one kind of software for virtually hundreds of different phones, there is inevitably bugs and glitches that are pushed through at a much higher rate than the iPhone. Since the iPhone only functions on iOS (Apple-made software), it is that much easier to make a uniform, fluid interface that works cohesively with all iPhone hardware. But that software is extremely limiting, and that’s why I debate whether Android is the better fit for me.
Apple, as most people most likely already know, keeps its ecosystem locked tight within iOS. There are very few customization options. The icons are static. There are no skins. No themes. No nothing. Just a wallpaper selection. Everything else is basically decided by Apple for you in a ‘take it or leave it’ sort of mentality. The functionality is optimal, yes, but there’s almost no customization. One alternative is to jailbreak, which basically means that you hack into your iPhone to get all the customization options that Apple actually has. You can change pretty much every single thing with your phone, but the caveats are that it voids your warranty and the phone doesn’t run completely right afterwards. While the former can be moot with a simple software restore, the latter gives me less inventive to do it than not, since I’d rather have a phone without any glitching that is more limited in options. The other alternative, though, is to switch over to another device. And while I used to believe that the bugginess of Android devices was too much to compensate for more customization options, I feel as though that functionality disparity is closing. And if it is, with the new Android line-up in the coming months, including the HTC One M8 and Samsung Galaxy S5, is it time to start considering a switch?
Recently President Obama appeared on the show Between Two Ferns hosted by Zach Galifianakis. Obama came on to the show to promote awareness of HealthCare.gov. The President did this in order to appeal and reach out to young adults. The Obama administration saw an opportunity to reach out to a specific demographic and acted upon it. The video has generated over 19 million views on the website where it was originally uploaded funnyordie.com. Hours after Obama appeared on the show, the video directly sent over 32,000 users to HealthCare.gov. Healthcare.gov immediately had a spike of traffic and it only increased as time went on. The Internet has enabled organizations to directly tap into specific demographics. What would organizations have to do to reach specific demographics without the internet? What are other methods to reach target demographics using technology? And finally, would you rate the above video moderately comical or absolutely hilarious?
I’ve pushed back the due dates for homework #3 and #4:
Details about these assignments to come soon.
Have you ever thought how life would be like without technology technological improvements? Imagine how the laptop experience would be different without a touch pad? Or typing on a keyboard at night without the keyboard back lit option?
We are more familiar with people like Steve Jobs and Bill Gates that revolutionized the personal computer industry. Who we don’t know are the “mini-Steve Jobs” and “mini-Bill Gates” that enhanced our experiences with these products. The name, Brad A. Myers, probably won’t ring a bell in an average person’s mind. However, everyone that uses a computer will come across his work at least once. Any idea on what this is?
The progress bar! Yes, that little bar that tells how much longer you have to wait until your new Facebook profile picture is uploaded. This improvement may be unnoticeable to the user, but according to Myer’s theory on the “percent-done progress indicators”, a progress bar reduces user anxiety to ensure a more relaxed experience even if the progress bar does not accurately reflect the percentage of completion. That is right! All of us have been deceived by the progress bar! (Hopefully this truth won’t raise your anxiety levels the next time you are waiting for the progress bar.)
Can you think of any subliminal improvements that were made on technology and the reason behind such improvements?
James Johnson, Damla Bek, Maricia Newton, William Wong
We are discussing the issue of cyberbullying. If we as a group were to demand change or even spread awareness about cyberbullying, we would tackle the issue as follows:
Using the above communication tools have the benefits of being open and that one trait we would emphasize. We want our social media and communication tools to be able to expose and condemn those who engage in cyber bullying activities. In order to organize our efforts in the days before the web, we would have to advertise and mail out pamphlets to spread awareness.
The issue that we would ideally like to raise awareness about is cancer. A lot of people are aware of what cancer is but not a lot know how much their help and donation can do for the cancer patients and their families.
In order to spread the word about Relay for Life, the social media platforms and social tools that we would like to use are Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, school online news letter, the Ticker and other organizations in the school.
The pros of the social media platforms that we have listed: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube:
The cons of these social media platforms are:
The pros for social tools such as school newsletters and organizations are:
The cons about these social tools:
Certain communication tools such as Myspace and Tumblr would not be a communication tool that we would choose to advocate our issue because the internet has trends. In order to maximize the number of people we can reach to we need to keep up with internet trends. Not a lot of people are using Myspace and Tumblr, and quite frankly these types of communication tools and platforms are not idea to spread the word. It may be used for social networking but it’s not ideal since it’s mostly for friends and reposting images.
Organizing for this issue in the days pre web would have been more difficult. We would resort to word of mouth, posters or fliers. This would mean that we wouldn’t be able to reach out to a larger range of people. The extent of how much we would be able to do to advocate for this issue would have been limited to how much people are willing to spread the word by mouth, how many are actually willing to take the time to listen and accept the fliers or read the posters.
Problem: MTA should operate more efficiently, they should have the train schedule at every stop (i.e. 6 train, 1,2,3 train).
Communication Tools: Change.org , Facebook, Twitter.
Pros:
Change.org – it is easy to use for us to start a petition to get MTA to make adjustments
Facebook – we can use it to spread the message and share the link to change.org to make people more aware of the event and sign the peition
Twitter – can be used on updates for the events should be free
Cons:
Change.org – petition might not work
Facebook/ Twitter – The population of Facebook is declining and people might just scroll past it without looking. Also even if people were to view the event they might not sign the petition. It will take MTA a long time to create the app. A big problem for social media such as Facebook and Twitter is not everyone has one or does not check it frequently.
-Other forms of social media/communications are not as useful. For example Emails sometimes go to spam and people just delete it. People also have various Email accounts. Instagram, snapchat, myspace and many more are not as useful because it is picture or video orientated which is not as affected. Also other media’s population have already declined.
In the past without social media:
-We can give out flyers
-Pester people on the street with peition
-Protest/riots
-radio/television: commercials or podcast
-overall word of mouth
While this may seem like a minor issue, the fact that the faucets in the Baruch bathrooms do not stay on for longer than a few seconds at most is something that affects everyone in the Baruch community and peeves many. It is a sanitary issue as much as it is an annoyance because one can never easily fully wash their hands.
The social media we can use to increase awareness are Vines. We can hold a Vine “challenge” where the users attempt to make a Vine video with a Baruch bathroom faucet lasting as long as the 7 seconds that a Vine records.
We can also create a petition on change.org for the increase of faucet running time. We could also put up memes of faucet problems on various social media websites and Instagram with hashtags.
The cons of Instagram would be that it is limited because only people who are following you would see the pictures.
E-cigarettes are a good alternative for addicted smokers. However, E-cigarettes have been misused by kids because the producers of the E-cigarettes added colors and flavors to attract younger individuals. Although E-cigarettes don’t contain the chemicals as a regular cigarette, it does contain nicotine which is an addictive substance which may be a gateway to more harmful drugs in the future.
We will use the following tools to inform teenagers the negative effects of E-cigarettes.
1) Facebook – platform for past users, current users, and potential users of E-cigarettes to share their personal stories or experiences with E-cigarettes
Pros:
1. Open platform so anyone can join the group (includes health experts and advocates)
2. Free, user-friendly, and widely used 3. Embed other channels of communication/media to share in a common platform
Cons:
1. Since anyone can join, some people might encourage the use of E-cigarettes through private messaging members.
2. Spammers posting irrelevant information
3. Too many similar groups on Facebook so the power of our group is diluted.
2) YouTube – platform to create and share videos to effectively persuade teenagers not to use E-cigarettes
Pros:
1. Talking in videos is more effective, personal, and influential to get the message across
2. Easily accessible on a global basis
Cons:
1. Videos might be linked to other videos that encourage the use of E-cigarettes
2. Video titles can be copied to create misleading video
We are not using the following tools:
1) Instagram – it’s main use is for positive images instead of raising awareness
2) Vine – this platform is used more for comedic purposes
3) MySpace – nobody really uses MySpace anymore
In the Pre-1993 Era, we would use the following methods to promote the awareness of E-cigarettes:
1. passing out fliers to our local neighborhoods
2. holding a town/community meeting
3. promote through TV and radio commercials
4. advertisements in newspapers and magazines
It’s the 5th day since Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 went missing. Rescue effort continues with experts from many countries including the United States, China, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Australia using 39 aircraft and 42 ships. The search attempts covered 27,000 square nautical miles centering the area where the jet vanished.
We live in the technology era that makes every piece of information just a click or few away. At least, that’s what we think of. However, the plane mystery has no trace of getting resolved even after 4 days. One of the reasons why the plane lost connection with radar is assumed to be technology failure. Now that the plane has been a complete mystery for 4 days, rescuing technology also failed so far. On the other hand, family and friends of people who boarded the plane are heart-broken as nobody knows the fate of 239 people on board. I really wish there was a way of conveying condolences to these people.
I read this article on Techdirt.com about this law suit against an anonymous commenter in Philadelphia. This anonymous commenter, apparently made a comment about John J. Dougherty, who is the head of a powerful electrical company in Philly. The commenter was being sued for defamation because he referred to Dougherty by his famous name Johnny doc, and called him a pedophile. The lawsuit demanded that the website which the comment was found- Philly.com, give up the name of the anonymous commenter. The website had the information but refused to provide it. Instead, the website contacted the commenter informing him/her of the lawsuit and promptly deleted any traces of the commenters account on it’s website.
What I found interesting about this article is, although the website was not being sued by third party actions, it still took the task of deleting any traces of the user. But the plaintiff was still able to search up the username before any traces of it was removed from the site. The username was searched on the web and had multiple hits on different sites, in which they eventually found the biographical information of the commenter. The users name “fbpdplt” stood for “Fire Boat Philadelphia Pilot. The user was registered on Sailnet.com, where it revealed that the user was a past fireboat pilot.
This brings me to how there is no such thing as anonymous. If a person really wanted to find the identity behind an anonymous user he/ she could. It can be done by tracing IP addresses or as simple as on the web. This goes to show that what you put on the web will stay on the web, even if you delete it. There is no such thing as “delete” on the web.
My question is, do you think that people realize that there is no such thing as anonymous? Is there such a thing as anonymity on the web? If so, does it imply that there are no consequences for the actions done on the web through this because he/she believes that he/she is being protected by this anonymity?
Phantom pocket vibration is a syndrome that causes your brain to think your phone is vibrating or ringing when it really isn’t. How many of you have actually experienced this? I think living in this technological age, we have all experienced at least a taste of this syndrome. It’s almost as if there is a type of anxiety that is attached to the “social” technology world. People during this era are extremely attached to their electronics, feeding off of these virtual notifications. Whether it is a text message, email, or Facebook notification. A Nokia study shows that, “the average mobile phone user checks their phone every 6.5 minutes during the day or 150 times during their waking hours.” Why do you think we are so hooked to these electronics? Do you think this syndrome will eventually get so advanced that people will need rehab?
There is a project called the UNICEF Tap Project, the goal of this project is to help others get clean water. It is a really simple task all you need to go is go to their website on your smart phone and there will be a timer for how long you can resist not touching your phone. Every 10 minutes you don’t touch your phone the more donations they will receive to provide clean water for others. The longer that you don’t touch your phone the more donations they will receive. I thought that this idea was interesting because we are so attached to our phones. I think there another message not just for donations but there are greater things that can be achieved without your phones. My time was 1 hour and 10 minutes, how long can you go without touching your phone?
