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.