Final Reflections

This class on Electronic Communications has really taught me about how big of a role technology plays in our world today and how even bigger of a role it is going to play in our future. I have learned so much about myself this semester and the terrible habits I have developed with regards to the technologies I use. I discovered that I did have a slight Facebook addiction through our “technology fast.” That was more of an addiction for me than texting; I couldn’t stand not being able to check my Facebook page for an entire week. But the experience taught me that there are more important things in life than worrying about checking my Facebook every time I was on the computer. It also showed me how much we as a society have relied on text messaging; in particular how much of an impact “texting” is having on our nation. It has both negative and positive advantages but I must say that I do think texting has caused our generation to miss out on face to face interaction. So after taking this class and seeing how texting has made me miss out on more personal communication I’ve tried using my phone more often to actually call people instead of just texting them short little messages, so that is a major change I have made with regards to how I use technology.

Before this class I had never heard of Computer Mediated Communication (CMC), but it really isn’t that hard of a concept to grasp. It taught me a lot about how we communicate in every medium and what it means to be apart of a community whether it be online or in person. It’s truly amazing that two people living in completely different areas of the world can communicate with one another as long as they both have computers; CMC has enabled that to happen. I think CMC will continue to grow and develop because technology is an ever changing field. There are always new ways to communicate with one another and new ways to make the things we do on a daily basis easier; technology does that for us. I am most certain that CMC will play a role in my life whether it is with the job I get after graduation or even in my personal life. I do not want to give up what these technologies provide for me; they make most of the things I do easier and faster. For instance if you’re working in a job in one part of the country but you need to send something out to your other branch in a completely different part of the country you can practically do it with the snap of a finger thanks to CMC.

As I’ve stated earlier, I have definitely learned a lot about technology this semester. I thought I knew a lot about it before but there was so much more to learn and there is still even more to learn. Technology is the future of our society so it is very important to take the time to learn about all technology has to offer us. I’ve learned about how many social networking sites there are on the web, sites like LinkedIn which can assist me in my career. Blogging every week and reading my classmates’ blogs made me pay attention to all that’s going on in the world with regards to technology. The 2008 election was greatly impacted by technology. Barack Obama had his campaign set up so that when he finally decided on a running mate his supporters were the first to find out via text messaging.

Overall I think this course was a very valuable learning experience. I learned about all the different forms of communication there are with regards to the internet. I didn’t know what to expect from this course when I signed up to take it but it was definitely a lot of fun. I have always been very interested in technology so it was great taking a class that went with my major and taught me even more about the computer and the Internet.

The Internet and Suicide

A little over a week ago a teenage college student, Abraham Biggs, living in Miami, Florida killed himself live in front of an audience via his webcam using a site called Justin Tv.  Abraham committed suicide by overdosing on drugs in front of a live audience in which some tried to talk him out of doing it while others encouraged him to go through with killing himself, possibly thinking that he was joking.  When I heard about this story I was in complete shock.  How sad is it to think that someone used the technologies we have today to broadcast his death in front of tons of people.  And what upsets me even more is that people laughed at him, mocked him, and egged him on to go through with his suicide.  Thankfully some users thought to contact the web masters and tell them to alert the police which the website did do but by the time they got to Biggs’ home it was too late. 

 

According to the article I read from The Huffington Post, Biggs isn’t the first person to commit suicide live over the Internet.  A few others have also done this.  It’s very frightening to think of how many people let this go on without contacting someone for help because Abraham’s life could have been saved if someone could have gotten to him in time.  This article made me think of the website I had to research for class and explain, UStream, which is a website where people can post live videos.  That site would be a prime outlet for people to express themselves like Biggs.  I would hope that sites like UStream have certain settings, which restrict its users from posting certain videos.  But then again how would they really have control over something that is live.

 

 An assistant professor of popular culture at Bowling Green State University in Ohio, Montana Miller, made an important observation about this situation, she said “Biggs' very public suicide was not shocking, given the way teenagers chronicle every facet of their lives on sites like Facebook and MySpace.  If it's not recorded or documented then it doesn't even seem worthwhile," she said. "For today's generation it might seem, `What's the point of doing it if everyone isn't going to see it?'"  That is something that I’ve never thought about when thinking about social networking sites.  These sites can and are used as a way for people to chronicle every single thing that happens to them in their lives.  They want to do something shocking, post about it, and see what other people think of what they did.  The Internet can be a very scary place.  It’s important to always act with caution when using this piece of technology.  

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/11/21/florida-teen-live-streams_n_145499.html

Google the Flu?

Who would have guessed that you could use Google search to detect specific flu outbreaks in your area. I came across an article today when looking for things to write about for my blog and this headline off of Cnn.com jumped right out at me, “Google tool uses search terms to detect flu outbreaks.” I of course had to read the article because I wondered how Google could help someone figure out if their symptoms were in fact flu symptoms, and how they could know if the flu was being spread around in the places in which they lived. According to the article, “Google’s new public health initiative, Google Flu Trends, looks at the relative popularity of a slew of flu-related search terms to determine where in the U.S. flu outbreaks may be occurring.” This to me is a really interesting concept because it gives anyone the ability to find out if their symptoms are flu symptoms and if there is an outbreak of it in their area. What’s really interesting is that it lets anyone find this information out, not just doctors, but moms with sick children too.

Dr. Joseph Bresee who is the chief of the epidemiology and prevention branch in the Centers for Disease Control influenza divisions said, “The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention collaborated with Google on the project, helping validate and refine the model, and has provided flu tracking data over a five-year period.” It’s really interesting to think about how much computer mediated communication is relevant in today’s world and how much of an impact it has had on the technologies of today. There are so many more resources available to the everyday person because of the extreme advancement of all these technologies. Dr. Bresee says, "We really are excited about the future of using different technologies, including technology like this, in trying to figure out if there's better ways to do surveillance for outbreaks of influenza or any other diseases in the United States, In theory at least, this idea can be used for any disease and any health problem." Dr. Randall Stafford of Stanford University commented that this technology could be useful to detecting these flu outbreaks in a faster amount of time than using influenza surveillance systems.

I know I’ve said in previous blogs about how with every positive thing that comes from all these technologies also comes negatives, but I think this new tool that Google is offering can be very useful to all people. The flu virus can be very dangerous and it is important that people, especially elderly people, take the necessary precautions to protect themselves from being exposed to an outbreak. This new technology is going to help people in detecting outbreaks and from the flu virus being spread amongst people and that is very important.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/conditions/11/11/google.flu.trends/index.html

Barack Obama

So as you all know, as of Tuesday night we now have a new President of the United States of America, Barack Obama.  I personally could not be more thrilled about Obama becoming our new commander in chief.  With all the excitement about the election, I’ve been doing a lot of research on Obama over the past few days and I came across an article from the Los Angeles Times about how news of Obama’s victory spread like wildfire through Facebook and text messaging the night of the election. (http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/babylonbeyond/2008/11/lebanon-news-of.html).  The article mainly focuses on the reactions of the people from other countries and how excited they are to find out that Barack is our new leader.  One man from Lebanon even said that he was jealous that their country couldn’t have a peaceful leader like Obama. "When I heard the news, frankly, I shivered," said Jamal, who said he congratulated his friends on Facebook after Obama's victory.”  Another girl, Amer Ghandour was lying in bed when her phone started going off with calls and text messages about the fact that Obama had won.  "I was shocked to learn that Obama has made it, I think his charismatic, wise and rational personality will lead to the promised change and not anything else."

 I think it is so amazing that with computer mediated communication its possible to find out anything you want in the blink of an eye.  Some people see this as a negative thing for our society but I think it is a really good thing.  I of course think it’s wonderful that all these countries are already embracing Obama as our new president.  That’s a very important thing for our country’s foreign relations. 

 Unfortunately, I’ve also seen how people have been using Facebook over the past few days for complete and total criticism of Obama and the Democratic Party.  I can’t believe the negative comments that I have read on Facebook about Obama.  They’re already judging the man when they haven’t even given him a chance to show them what he can do for our country.  It’s everywhere; it is on blogs, on people’s status updates and wall postings.  The things that are being said are so vulgar.  It’s definitely an instance where people are using these technologies for negativity.  What really frustrates me the most is that people are so judgmental of other people’s opinions.  This is America and under the First Amendment we all have freedom of speech so it’s tough to see people bashing other people via Facebook for supporting our new president.  I’ve actually been trying to avoid Facebook these past few days because reading these people’s negative thoughts are really frustrating to me.  But all in all I think that it is really cool how people used Facebook throughout this campaign to support both candidates Obama and McCain.  Facebook really got the word out to the youth how important it is to vote and the election last night showed that it worked with Obama taking two thirds of the youth vote.    

New Era of Online TV

While searching for something to blog about this week I came across an interesting article on CNN.com about a new technology that is going to change the way we watch television programs.  Joost is an online site where you can watch videos and it has just been relaunched last week to make watching TV online a more interactive experience.  Joost will enable people to watch their favorite television shows online in full length.  The Chief Executive of Joost, Mike Volpi said that the site's social features have also been improved.  “People can see what their friends are watching on Joost and create groups around TV shows, characters or artists. Users will also be able to post a news feed of their and their friends' activities on Joost to other Web sites, such as social networks like Facebook.”  He goes on to say that the Internet is about community building.  It is going to take the site awhile to get all of their videos uploaded.

YouTube is also doing something very similar to Joost.  They are also adding full-length shows to their site, which is something that couldn’t be done before on YouTube; you could only upload a maximum time of 10 minutes for a video.  Jordan Hoffner who is director of content partnerships for YouTube said, “The market for long format videos on the Web is growing.”  If YouTube is able to show full-length episodes it will also help the company to attract advertisers.  The article also said that by the end of the year, about 45-50% of the 117 million people who watch videos online will watch full length episodes versus the 25% who watched shows online at the beginning of the year.  The article also points out that its important to keep the adds “shorter and more interactive” so the viewers don’t get fed up with all the advertisements.

I think this is a very interesting concept, however, I do think it could have a negative affect on the Television industry as a whole.  When people watch shows online versus watching them live it causes the shows ratings to go down.  And when ratings go down, shows get cancelled.  It would be interesting to know if there is a way in which they could monitor the amount of viewers who watch the shows online and include them in the show’s weekly ratings because otherwise a lot of shows could get cancelled from the invention of this new technology and I know I would personally hate it if my favorite TV show Grey’s Anatomy got cancelled!

http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/ptech/10/13/online.tv.joost.ap/index.html?iref=newssearch

Woman Kills Her Virtual Husband?

Over the last few days in class we have been discussing online communities and in specific an online virtual community called Second Life.  Every time I’m online I’m always looking for interesting things to blog about.  Today I was checking my email on America Online and one of the news headlines from the welcome screen stood out to me, it was titled, “Woman Jailed for 'Killing' Virtual Spouse.” (http://news.aol.com/article/woman-jailed-for-killing-virtual-spouse/223052).  This headline seemed so strange to me so of course I had to find out what the article was about.  A woman in Tokyo was part of a virtual world with an interactive game called “Maple Story.”  According to the police, “A 43-year-old player in a virtual game world became so angry about her sudden divorce from her online husband that she logged on with his password and killed his digital persona.”  She could face up to five years in prison and fines up to $5,000 for suspicion of illegally accessing a computer and manipulating electronic data.  She used his user ID and password to log into the game and “murder” his avatar. 

 

When people become participants in these online worlds they tend to use anonymity to fulfill their fantasy identity.  “In virtual worlds, players often abandon their inhibitions, engaging in activity online that they would never do in the real world.”  People talk with complete strangers and disclose private information and participate activities they would never participate in real life such as emailing provocative photos to someone.  These virtual lives can have negative consequences in real life.  “In August, a woman was charged in Delaware with plotting the real-life abduction of a boyfriend she met through the virtual reality Web site "Second Life."  People can indeed use these sites for negative actions.  They are just as dangerous as any other online type of communication.

 

I personally think it is healthier for a person to develop relationships in real life rather than a virtual world.  There are so many positive things that come from new technologies, but it is also important that people don’t let themselves get so caught up in a virtual world whether its online or even just with video games.  All of these technologies suck people in and hold them back from developing healthy relationships in real world settings.  It gives a person the ability to lie about who they really are.  They can like about their personality, their looks, and whatever else they want to exaggerate about themselves.  Be yourself.  It’s just like the famous saying, "Its better to be hated for who you are than to be loved for who you're not."

Social-networking sites viewed by admissions officers

            Have you ever had your parent or teacher tell you, “Hey be careful what you post on the Internet because it’s there for the whole world to see.”?  Well we should all listen to them, especially today when potential employers and schools are searching our names online when reviewing our applications.  I’m sure we have all heard this before that you need to be weary of what you post online, whether it comes from friends, teachers, or even Dr. Phil.  I recently read an article about how social networking sites are being viewed by admissions officers (http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-facebook-college-20-sep20,0,2460681.story).  The article by Emma Graves Fitzsimmons and Bonnie Miller Rubin, “Social-networking sites viewed by admissions officers. Survey shows some use Facebook, MySpace as another aspect to college application,” tells the reader that a lot of schools today are using these sites to check up on potential incoming students.  Some admissions officers took a new survey about whether or not they visit these social networking sites.  Fitzsimmons and Rubin point out, “High schoolers say getting into college is no longer only about sky-high test scores and impressive extracurricular activities. Now it means being smart about their online personas as well.”

            A new survey was conducted by Kaplan Inc., an education services company which showed that 10% of admissions officers from prestigious schools admitted to searching sites like Facebook and Myspace to evaluate their potential incoming freshman class.  Of the people who participated in the survey, 38% said the sites had a “negative impact” on the applicant.  Some said they went as far as to repeal an offer because of what they saw on the applicant’s page.  Many schools such as Notre Dame state that they don’t go out of there way to use these sites as resources but if something comes there way they can’t ignore it.  On the other hand there are other schools such as Northwestern, which state that what these kids do in their personal life is up to them.  They feel searching them online is an invasion of their privacy. 

            Even though some employers and schools may choose not to “invade your privacy,” I still feel like it’s a good idea, just to be on the safe side, to keep your social networking site as appropriate as possible.  You never know who is looking at your site, and you don’t want someone to think less of you because of something they read or saw on your site; which may have nothing to do with the person you really are.  Computer Mediated Communication has really taken off over the past few years and I am positive that it will continue to grow but it is very important that we use our best judgment with what we put out into the World Wide Web about ourselves.  Just as Jeff Olson suggests, who heads research for Kaplan's test preparation division, “Today's application is not just what you send . . . but whatever they can Google about you."

Myspace for babies?

While recently searching the web for stories relating to computer mediated communication, I came across an article from a local TV News program in Pittsburgh, KDKA.com about a new type of social networking sites for babies. (http://kdka.com/consumer/tot.spot.com.2.818725.html)  They are calling the new site “Myspace for babies.” Michael Broukhim and Adam Katz launched what they call “Tot Spot” last June. Its main function is that it gives parents the ability to create online baby books and share them with their friends and family.  Angie Kanter, a mother of two, is obsessed with the new site. She uses the site on a daily basis to upload all of her daughter’s first moments.  "Her first smiles, all her pictures, they're on there," she said about her little girl Abagail. "It's a really good way for me not to sit down with a pen and a baby book to keep track off."  Michael Broukhim and Adam Katz were inspired to create the site from their own personal experiences with their own children.

 

The creators of the site, Broukhim, and Katz claim that the site is very safe to use and it is very private. "Unless the parent invites someone to the site, no one can get access to the content that the parents put up there," said Broukhim.  Although I think this could be a very useful tool in showing pictures to relatives on a daily basis without having to keep up with mailing them family updates, I think there is also some danger involved.  Most of these social networking sites like Myspace and Facebook also claim that they are completely private but are they really?  Hackers have ways of hacking into anything.  I will not post anything on my Facebook page that I would not want my parents to see or information that I would not want strangers to see.  I think the same thing goes with posting pictures of your children up on this “Tot Spot” page.  There are a lot of strange people out there who have fascinations with young children.  It is a scary thought but it is a reality.  If I ever have my own children someday I will stick to putting their pictures in photo albums and just show them to family when they visit!

 

Another thing to consider about relying on a site like “Tot Spot” as your baby book is that site’s can crash or close.  If a person posts every memory about their child and the site closes because of lack of participation or for other reasons you will lose your entire baby book.  Most sites close without warning, you just log in one day and all you will see is that the webpage has been removed.  That would be very upsetting if you were counting on a site for all of your information and then you log in one day and it’s no longer available to you.  If a person is going to use a site like this I suggest that they also use a real baby book too.  Those moments like your baby’s first step only happen once after all.

 

The "New" Facebook

Being that we are college kids most of us all have Facebook accounts.  As some of you may have noticed Facebook has undergone some changes over the past few weeks.  Facebook has completely remodeled the design of your homepage and profile page.  The changes have been receiving both positive and negative feedback.  I came across an article on CNN.com, “Users protest, defend Facebook face-lift,” (http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/ptech/09/22/facebook.facelift/index.html?iref=newssearch) about how people are reacting to the new changes that have been made to the site.  Some people are claiming that they joined Facebook because it was a lot easier to use than other social networking sites such as Myspace. "The new version is cluttered and there's no continuity to it," Valerie Stayskal of Addison, Illinois, told CNN. "I don't like the tabs they've got. When you get to the news feed, you see all these fonts, and it's just a mess. Very hard to navigate."

The old version of Facebook was very easy to use; you had your homepage, which had the news feeds and your notification updates.  Then you had your profile page, which showed your “wall” comments, photos and other various applications.  But the new version is very different.  “Facebook's new look separates users' personal profiles into different areas of the site and provides more tools meant to make it easier to share information and photos.”  Because there is so much extra space on the homepage user’s fear that their profile will get filled up with ads. 

In the past few weeks CNN has received many complaints about the new Facebook format.  People have even started groups on Facebook petitioning to bring back the old format.  Others say that its important to keep updating social networking sites like Facebook or another networking site might come along and surpass Facebook because they are willing to make the adjustments to keep the site fresh.  

There are definitely more important things going on in the world today to worry about other than Facebook being remodeled but I must admit that I myself do not like the new changes that have been made to the site.  I say bring back the old version.  It was less complicated and easier to use than this new format!  This affects how people communicate using Facebook because if people no longer like the site, they are probably not going to use it as an online communication tool.  This will result in the company losing money.  After having the new format up for a week or two, they should have conducted a survey on whether the users preferred the old format or the new format.  But like everything else online, I'm sure people will get use to it and just accept the changes.

Facebook for Spies?

I recently came across an article on CNN.com about how CIA spies are now going to have their own social network site for sharing secrets. In an article by Larry Shaughnessy, “CIA, FBI push ‘Facebook for spies’ ” (http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/ptech/09/05/facebook.spies/index.html?iref=newssearch) we learn that bosses from the CIA, FBI, and the National Security Agency are now encouraging their staff members to use a new social-networking site called A-Space. This social networking site is going to be used for the secret world of spying. It's a social-networking site that was created for analysts that are within the 16 U.S. intelligence agencies. "This is going to give them for the first time a chance to think out loud, think in public amongst their peers, under the protection of an A-Space umbrella," said Michael Wertheimer, assistant deputy director of national intelligence for analysis.

The primary purpose of A-Space is to protect the United States by evaluating all the information that is available to the spy agencies. These social networking sites will not be available for the general public; the information on it will be highly classified. “Only intelligence personnel with the proper security clearance, and a reason to be examining particular information, can access the site.” The members of A-Space can have a lot of “friends” just like on Facebook or Myspace. But if you are not a part of the intelligence agency you are not allowed to become a member of this A-Space social networking group.

I think this is a very interesting concept. It gives these members the ability to share secrets back in forth about things going on within the CIA. It can be beneficial if they are able to work together discussing their cases by talking to each other on this site. They are able to log information like missing emails and share it with their fellow analysts. For example as Shaughnessy stated in his article, “Missing crucial data can have enormous implications, such as an FBI agent who sent an e-mail before September 11, 2001, warning of people learning to fly airplanes but not learning to land them.”

Source:  CNN.com

Friends Don't Let Friends Join MySpace!

While searching for articles about items in the news lately relating to the effect technology has on our society, I came across one about Myspace by: Helen A. S. Popkin posted on MSNBC News.  The article was titled “Friends don’t let friends join MySpace, Posting on networking sites is like a tattoo – only worse.”  The article focuses on a woman who was denied a teaching degree because of a picture she had posted on her MySpace page.  The woman, Stacey Snyder had a picture from a Halloween party with a drink in her hand.  The picture was said to be unprofessional and potentially offensive.  She is now suing for “her rightfully-earned diploma and teaching certificate, as well as $75,000 for damages.”

This article uses an interesting an analogy when referring to how it is almost impossible to take back things you once may have posted on MySpace. They say that it is like a tattoo you get that you regret, but a tattoo you can get erased with skin grafts.  The things you do on MySpace never go away, Popin says, “For the rest of your natural life, they remain just a few clicks away, waiting to be discovered, misinterpreted, and abused.”

I agree with Popkin’s opinions, what she said is very true.  People are not careful with what they are posting on their MySpace pages.  People have these one on one conversation’s with people via their comment pages and it seems like they don’t realize that it’s a public social networking site and that anyone can see these conversations.  What happened with Stacey Snyder could happen to anyone.  A lot of people miss out on job opportunities because of some of the pictures that they have posted on their Facebook or MySpace pages.  Employers are now using these social networking sites as additional resources when deciding whether or not to hire the potential candidates.  I do have a MySpace, and I feel that it is very important to be careful of what I post on there whether is be picture or comments.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18706138/

Buffy the Vampire Slayer

            The episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer that we watched in class demonstrated how powerful of a role computers play in our daily lives.  In writing this episode, I think that the writers and producers were trying to show us, the viewers that the Internet takes over our lives.  In the computer lab scene, one of the characters is quoted as saying, “If you’re not jacked in to the computer world, you’re not alive.”  This episode is from over ten years ago and even then they knew what an influential role computers and the Internet would play in the future.  The computer teacher says that in today’s society more emails are sent than regular mail.  That is just one example of how computers have greatly changed how we communicate with people.  This technology makes your personal relationships impersonal.

            Willow, who play’s Buffy’s friend meets a guy on the Internet, Malcom, who she thinks is the greatest simply because he tells her the things she wants to hear.  But does she really know anything about him?  The computer can hide people’s identities and that can be a very dangerous thing.  So many people become brainwashed by these predators because they think they are normal people just chatting online.  But most of the time these people do not turn out to be who you think they are.

            The computer teacher asks Rupert Giles who is Buffy’s watcher, why he dislikes computers so much.  He says that, “the knowledge gained from a computer has no context, its there and then it’s gone.  Books have a rich smell; the knowledge from computers does not.”  This episode is trying to show us how much we rely on technology.  Technology is transparent.

            The producers demonstrate the effects of Computer Mediated Communication (CMC) in this episode.  Specifically with the relationship Willow finds on the Internet.  She finds this guy online and starts this impersonal relationship with him because she is lonely, instead of finding someone who she can have a face-to-face relationship with.  As we see towards the end of this episode Malcom is not who she thinks he is.  This shows that with every good and positive thing these technologies bring, they also bring something negative.