The Ever Changing Internet

All four of the texts we read in class related in some way to the ever growing technology source in our society today, the Internet. The Internet has provided everyone worldwide and on a closer scale, in America, with much more knowledge and information on any subject they desire. One must only type in a question and a multitude of results from a web page to videos are at their disposal. It can be shown that this invention has had many positive effects on our every day lives as well as possibly a few negative ones. All that can be certain is that is has changed the way our society functions, from business, to the elections, the way we all communicate with each other, down to a greater release of knowledge about all of us as individuals that many people have access to. We must not take this technology for granted and be aware of its possibilites at all times.

Google Earth Attacks

When google earth was first available on the Internet it amazed me that i could actually see images taken from satellites of anywhere around the world. I thought it was very neat technology, but it is true I don't feel like this technology is entirely necessary for the general public. This has proven even more true after terrorists used this site to plan and coordinate attacks in Mumbai. This site should be reevaluated as to whether it is necessary for all to see and if nothing else should have safety features implemented such as blacking out entire important location or limiting access.

Sports Franchises vs. the Economy

Recent developments in the baseball winter meetings have the Yankees going out of their way to sign some of the most expensive free agents on the market as they do it seems nearly every year. This year they signed pitchers A.J. Burnett and C.C. Sabathia the latter of which was signed to the largest contract a pitcher in pro baseball has ever received. These signings mean that the Yankees have 3 of the 5 highest payed players in major leagues on their roster. With the recent economic crisis many baseball experts predicted this type of spending would not and should not occur this off season. It is really a concern to many to realize how unstable the economy and these high sum contracts may make some baseball franchises in the coming years if the problem persists. This kind of spending from the Yankees many say is irresponsible and could lead to monetary problems for this franchise and others in the future even though it may seem the Yankees have a limitless source of money at times.

Internet Videos Desensitizing the Public?

Brought to my attention is the case of a young college student who killed himself on web cam after 12 hours of threatening to do so to viewers of his feed. Perhaps the most disturbing part is that no one notified any officials of the possible impending tragedy that proved to be true. With all these new possibilities especially video capabilities on the Internet, many of us have seen so many ridiculous and unbelievable things we otherwise would not have. I believe it is entirely possible something of this nature has caused us to become desensitized to many things we see online, shrugging them off as hoaxes or fakes. It is a tragedy such a thing happened it only shows yet another way we the public must remain safe and aware when using the Internet.

The Paper Final

Coming up through high school I realized that my talents surely do not lie in the field of writing. This eventually caused me to consider taking up the mechanical engineering major here at UMBC which makes me take a multitude of classes that rarely if ever require me to write a paper. I am not going to say I fully enjoyed all the writing necessary in this class but I do know I am thankful and appreciative for the experience and new information I have gathered as a result. It allowed me to explore technology and politics, 2 very important topics for me in a way that I am relatively unfamiliar with. In short, this class has provided with many new outlooks on topics I had felt uninformed of before hand and a chance to discuss and share my opinions with others on something other than the answer to an equation.

The Internet: Organizing/Fundraising

The Internet is one of the most prolific inventions that has ever been created and implemented throughout society and the world in our history. As I have said before it can connect anyone around the world to anyone else or information at any time. Along with this comes its growing use in campaigns for politicians. One who so recently used it to a great advantage was none other than Barack Obama not only creating new channels on YouTube to cover every moment of his campaign and connecting himself to the public through facebook and myspace, but he went one step further creating a network of grass-roots volunteers that eventually lead to massive online campaign donations. This large sum of money certainly played its role in pushing him over the edge toward the presidency as he made tens of millions more than McCain online alone. The Internet also functioned as the backbone of his campaigns organizing using it to coordinate all events online and off. Not only this but it was a way to reach out to individuals and giving them a form of objectives on how to support and help his ascension to the presidency.

http://news.smh.com.au/technology/obama-surfs-the-web-to-the-white-house-20081105-5icx.html

The Millennial Vote

As was predicted in Millennial Makeover the youth voters may have played a large role in the outcome of this year's presidential election. Youth voters turned out in record numbers larger even then in the 2004 elections and likely provided the key to Obama's victory preferring him to McCain by a 68 to 30% margin which is the highest share ever gathered by the young age group in 30 years. It has been found that up to 24 million in the millennial generation showed up to vote in this election, an increase of around 2.2 million from 4 years ago. With this new information released it is clear the Millennial's have a good deal of power when it comes to campaigns and elections and if it plays out the way it has in the past, we will remain with that measure of control for many more years. I find it a bit overwhelming to think I am part of such a powerful group, and as we move forward my only hope is we remain responsible with our duties as citizens and any changes we take part in bringing about are for the best.

YouTube Politics

All the new technology that had brought about many new techniques for campaigning in the recent election, such sites for raising campaign money online and in this case, YouTube speeches and videos has proven to be relevant still after the election. Years past, the president has given radio updates to the public every week updating them on the current important happenings of the week. This next presidency appears to be advancing in this media department, Barack Obama's first weekly address was aired not on the radio, but on YouTube. Incorporating both video and replay functions into this speech. This new development could end up leading to a new norm in this department, possibly leading to the subsequent election of the more tech-savvy candidates that have come to know this computer technology more in depth than others.

Non-profit News

Over recent years in the city of San Diego there has been a rise of websites that dig for news the public should have a right to hear without thought for profit. This in and of itself is beneficial as it means the integrity of newspapers, TV, and radio stations most remain at a higher level than ever before. On top of this, sites such as these provide even more important information about events in the city to the public. Unlike the argument in Cult of the Amateur, I believe this once again is helpful to society in that it enables everyone who wants to to remain in the loop of information for what is happening around them. It also makes officials in the city have to take more responsibility for their actions allowing less secrecy in matters related to the general public.

New Text/Topic

In class this year I feel one of the most relevant things we have done is study the election process that was occurring simultaneously to the course. It was very interesting to see how campaigns have changed through the times based on the technology present at the time and how that effects even the type of people that run for election. It is a shame that this topic may not be so relevant through the years when no election would be occurring at the time. However, it is my belief that it would still be very interesting and a very important topic to at least discuss even if it is not able to be as in depth as we got in class. As for a new topic, I don't think there should be a new topic that I can think of but I would have enjoyed being able to go into the new Internet technologies and their impacts on our world that was brought up at the end of the semester in ISpy.

The most relevant text

In MCS 370 class this year we read 4 texts to examine in general how technology has affected our society moving forward, from elections to online communication, along with how people in our society interact with each other. I believe the most effective book for this semester was millennial makeover as it had most to do with politics and the presidential election that was of course happening as the class progressed. Even tho0ugh I didn't entirely agree with all of the author's ideas, I did feel that most if not all of the major arguments presented in the book are or will be relevant in the future. As my generation comes of age to vote from in the next 4 years before the next presidential election, this generation will have gained a much more powerful sway votes wise in politics. I felt it was very interesting to think that likely our generation could be responsible in large part for the election of the next 6-10 presidents as the book makes it a point to prove has happened for similar generations of people in the past.

As for a book I would not recommend again, it would have to be Cult of the Amateur. For this text I found I did not agree with hardly any of his points as well as the style of language he chose to try and get his point across. More people being able to express themselves to others through many more formats seems like it should be beneficial, at least I have not encountered a situation to this point where it is not. If nothing else amateurs can challenge the wisdom of so called experts so we all do not just have to take whatever they state as true for granted.

Election 2008

Tonight an event occurred that happens in America once every 4 years, the Presidential Election. This year's election represents a first in history for America as Barack Obama appears to have handily won the Electoral vote by close to a 2:1 margin, the first African-American to ever hold the position in this country. It can be shown to some degree that the election may well have come down to or at least be based a lot on the votes of younger or new voters. Many polls showing record turnout for the younger age group. These voters represent others like me who are members of the newest generation of voters to surface in elections, those of the Millennial generation. So far the book Millennial Makeover has been correct in saying that the transformation predicted for this year would be towards a larger role by government, which is what the Democratic party supports. If there other predictions hold true as all indication shows they should, Millennials will come to mean even more for elections in the future. This means that elections in the near future and indeed the next presidential election of 2012 may well begin to shape American politics for 40 years as the trend shows. With all this on the line, I can only hope that the Millennial's decisions can be proven in the future to be good ones and that United States will remain as great a country as ever. Ending with a quote from John McCain finishing his concession, "God Bless, and God Bless America."

Cult of the Amateur vs. Lawrence Lessig

In the book, Cult of the Amateur, one of the author's main targets for attempting to further his point is Lawrence Lessig professor of law at Stanford and one of the frequent proponents of ideas like Creative Commons licensing and other ways to think about copyrighting in the digital age. One of the main points in Cult of the Amateur is that the rise in amateur information flow that the Internet is allowing will cause actual harm to society. It is Keen's belief that the lack of accuracy in information that can be presented by anyone on the Internet there remains very little out there hat we can trust and less of a value on expertise. I believe that Lessig makes a stronger point however, in that he proves that there are also falsities in the book and not only in inofrmation on the internet. In this case I more fully belive Lessig's argument, not only in that he essentially disproves Keen's main point by showing flaws in his book but also for the fact that I use the internet on a daily basis to connect with others and as an information source. I would still like to believe in the fact that amateurs do have some value in this world as something I pursue in the future not in my area of expertise could still be worthwile.

Cult of the Amateur: What do you love?

The word amateur comes from a Latin word meaning "to love". Thus implying that an amateur is someone who does something simply for the fact that they love to do it and not necessarily because they are good at it at all. I believe there are further factors than this that determine what you can and can not be called an amateur at. I believe the distinction is between activities that could be a possible career choice and then others that aren't, for instance hanging out with your friends or something of the sort. So some activities that I would say I am an amateur at would be a couple different sports, some computer technologies, and different tyoes of gaming. I believe that any of these activities you do for yourself, for instance intramural sports that I like to take part in here at umbc, you have to find your own reward for the work you put in, whether you enjoy winning, the thrill of competition, or just participating in the activity. Any required work you do you may not enjoy but usually comes with other rewards such as a salary or school credit. So far in life I have only really found it easy to be really motivated for something when I think I am going to have a good time or when I am doing something I enjoy. Up to this point I believe that this is why I am more motivated in my hobbies than I am in school work or for a job. However I have found it easier to get interested in sciences and maths and as such do enjoy most of my classes in mechanical engineering. I am hoping this leads to a good job in the future that I actually enjoy having.

Millennial Makeover: The 2008 Presidential Elections

The new and improved technologies that all Millennials grew up with have given us the ability through internet applications to access information at any time whenever desired. One such program, YouTube, allows the viewing of actual videos of essentially any topic desired. For this year's Presidential race, YouTube set up a section on its site for covering strictly the Presidential candidates. This site has videos of all the debates that have occurred between the opponents available for viewing as well as all of the ads developed for each of the candidates campaigns. Many of the videos look more like ads than anything else, most of these not presenting any specifics and shying away from any of the actual details of any plan, essentially the usual you can expect from most if not all politicians. However minimal in information these ads tend to be, all the ones made by each candidates campaigns are very professionally done. However, ads can be found for each candidate made by amateurs that for the most part tend to have a more personal touch towards each candidate. Some examples include: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_TiQCJXpbKg , http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IH0xzsogzAk
In this situation I think an amateur ad would be more convincing than anything put out by the candidates as it potentially presents multiple perspectives to compare rahter than just a single viewpoint. Finally, as to the older campaign ads available they would have been more convincing to people voting at the time. As current events and issues change so do the ads and their effectiveness at drawing the attention of voters of the time.

Millenial Makeover: Generational Theory

In the book Millennial Makeover many of the books main arguments are based on the generational theory of the authors for each individual generation. Each generation by their standards spans about a forty year period with each being dominated by certain beliefs and ideals of the people born in that generation. The last three generations according to the book are the Baby Boomers, Generation X, and then the generation I am included in, the Millennials. According to the book, Millennials are more self-absorbed than any other generation to date while also being more connected to each other and information through cell phones and the Internet. Millennials represent the most diverse group of people for any generation so far and also are said to be the most accepting of others. I definitely agree with many of the ideals presented for my own generation as I am rather self-minded and definitely have the ability to be more connected to anyone or any bit of information I feel through dialing a number or the click of a button online. Anyone today with access to a cell phone or to the Internet enjoys this same degree of connection. In this way I feel the greatest cultural touchstone for describing the Millennial generation is the Internet and some of the networking sites used today to connect people around the world.

The Wisdom of Crowds: Who to Turn to?

When you are faced with a dilemma or major decision, who do you turn to for advice?

Having had experience in the past with glancing through some advice columns in the news paper or magazine and having time to look over the various advice columns presented in the assignment along with sidetaker.com, I realize that these forms of advice columns can definitely be very helpful to people when they may not know where else to turn. I also realize the importance of having someone of an impartial view consulted when looking for another opinion on a subject that needs dealing with. Many of these columns as well as the site sidetaker deal with rather personal problems or to be more specific between one person and their significant other, one who they have invested a lot of time in. In my personal experience, I have found in general that an unrelated advisor from a site or newspaper is not the best answer for me when I look for advice concerning my personal problems. Someone of this nature I will use for general information or for decisions that I feel are less important than ones concerning someone i am close to. In such situations I have always felt that it would be best to reach a decision based mostly on my own feelings or with minimal input from others who know me and have some idea of what is going on. What I have found through personal experience is that the ones with the most helpful advice possibly simply because they know how to get through to you, are other people close to you such as friends or family. Of course I have to remember that most of the time a single person can not come up with the right answer so instead it becomes about gathering the opinions of many of those around me and in the end adding their knowledge to mine to formulate a piece of advice for myself to follow. In the end I would say a group would be more knowledgeable with advice than any one single person, but remember to incorporate your own thoughts, don't betray your own beliefs.

The Wisdom of Crowds: Crowdsourcing

The book "Wisdom of Crowds" gives us readers many examples of how crowds are able to collectively make decisions that are in most cases equal to or better than decisions made by individuals or even small groups of professionals. Some internet sites have applied this method, crowd sourcing or in other words using the information provided by the large number of the sites subscribers, in their business model.

Upon further inspection of some of the provided site examples (wisia.us, marketocracy.com, and threadless.com) I believe that this business model is effective for the intended use that each site has. However, I feel as if this method is limited in its uses and that it would not be useful for all sites or situations. In the case of wisia - The Wisdom of Crowds, a question can be posed to the other users of the online community which will in turn be answered by those members in real time. For any site that uses polling as its main tool for answering questions crowd sourcing such as this is not only practical but necessary. For the site marketocracy, a number of sample investors recruited to the site, the crowd, and runs them through an algorithm that selects the top 100 and averages their investment results. This method of crowd sourcing doesn't at first glance seem like it would be effective. Comparing the sites numbers to those of the S&P 500 Index however, shows that this "m100" index does in fact consistently beat the market.

I have used sites with crowd sourcing in polls and also in forums where information can be exchanges through online communication. I would not as of yet trust crowd sourcing fully for more important decisions such as what to do with me money as marketocracy is concerned. One last example that I have encountered is one of the minimal functions in EBay, the ability of all users to rate individual buyers and sellers so others using the program will know which potential buyer/seller has a better chance of being trustworthy in payment or item quality respectively.