Blogaholics

             I had the opportunity to listen to Howard Kramer, an access specialist at the University of Colorado at Boulder, speak on the issues of people with disabilities not being able to access web pages. This really opened my eyes to some technological issues that most of us would never think of. Blind people have to use screen readers to hear and understand the content on the screen and where they are navigating. Many pages’ images aren’t alt text images which mean that there is no description of the picture that the screen reader can pick up. Another main issue is navigation and tabbing. Universal design is ideal because if the website isn’t built correctly then blind people can’t use the tab button to travel the WHOLE site, and can miss important information. There is actually a law called section 508 which enforces any site made with public funds to be accessible to people with disabilities. 

You can easily see the main topic of our class, the relationship of technology and society, in issue. There was a major need to help people with disabilities be more equal in society and have the same opportunities as everyone else. Society shaped a technology to accommodate people with special needs who need to use computers. Although, after time and difficulties society had to start adapting around the technology once regulations like section 508 were incorporated. Overall it was a great presentation that brought a lot of insight to an extremely eluded topic.

Blog post 10.2 4/4/13

Briefly reflect on our discussion. Capture any new thoughts, insights, or questions that our discussion inspired.

-Our discussion made me start to think about how the music artists aren’t really the ones being hurt by the illegal downloading and how it could actually help their careers. This definitely changed my view because as someone who likes to make music I always felt bad for the artists and had empathy for them. Now I see it as publicity and I really don’t care how much money the record companies are shorted.

I wasn’t able to respond to someone’s comment in class due to time constraints, but she said something about how a she can share a book with her friend without getting in trouble for copyright infringement. Well I don’t think that is a fair argument to make because you can do the same thing with CD’s. The main difference is in the name itself “copyright”, you guys don’t both get to read the book at the same time just like you can’t both listen to a borrowed CD at the same time. When you illegally download music you aren’t using their copy of the song you are obtaining an actual copy of the song making you both able to listen to it at the same time. Though I am conflicted with how I feel about the subject I am now leaning towards it being ok to download.

Crowdsourcing project participation

Blog post for 9.2

In a paragraph-long summary, describe the crowdsourcing project you participated in, what motivated you to participate in the project you chose, what you experienced while participating and what you felt/thought afterwards.

-I chose to do the Fold It crowdsourcing project because it was the one that sounded the most interesting and it was for a good cause. It is a competitive game that has you fold proteins certain ways and the best folds get you more points. The reason this game is helpful to biologists is that human proteins have a wide range of degrees that they can move and it takes a lot of time to figure out the most helpful ways. So by making it a competition they get to see the results of a bunch of different folds on different proteins without wasting any of their own time. At first I thought the game was kind of dumb and boring until I started to get more competitive and into it, then I couldn’t myself to stop playing. Afterwards I actually felt kind of good about myself nd the time I contributed to science.

Posted 2 weeks ago technology practices and personal passions

Blog post for 8.2

1)  In your individual blog, make a list of technology devices, environments, and applications that you used before this class.  Next to each one, indicate with a number whether you use it frequently (3), occasionally (2) or rarely (1).

-My laptop: 3, Smart Phone: 3, Gmail: 3, Instagram: 2, Facebook: 3, Twitter: 2, Email: 3, Home Phone: 1, Google Drive: 1

2)  List any new devices, environments, and applications that you are using since the start of the semester.

-Google+: 2, Tumblr: 2

3)  Make a brief list of your personal passions/interests.

-I love making music (lyrics), I am just now getting into producing and actually making the instrumentals. Besides music my biggest passion is sports (football, basketball, and baseball). Clothes and fashion is also pretty interesting.

Blog post from 7.2

1) What kinds of new issues does digital technology raise with regards to what is public and what is private (social, political, personal, professional, ethical, legal, etc)?

-Some new issues are that anything that goes on the internet has a chance of never being private ever again. It may be something you think is cool now, but in the future when you want to take it down, millions of copies could have been made. Nowadays most companies do a little research on you and your social media so everything you post can have an impact.

2) Before this class, how much attention did you give to your digital footprint?  Will that change as a result of our discussions, readings, etc?  If so, how?

-Before this class I actually paid quite a bit of attention ot my digital footprint, but not as much as I should’ve. I knew the consequences that came along with the things I did on internet, but never really did much about it. After this class I have realized that just knowing the harm of being an active social media (and other applications) user isn’t good enough. As active as you are on the internet you should be twice as protective and private.

Posted 3 weeks ago reflections about online profile

Blog post from 7.2

1) In a few sentences, summarize your experience of searching for data about your partner.

I found a lot of thing I didn’t think I would be able to find about my partner which was kind of scary. Since we were already Facebook friends we decided we would try to find all the info without Facebook (which reveals a lot). Some of the info was difficult to find because a lot of the sites that held that information wanted you to pay money for it.

2) Does the information your partner found about you reinforce and/or conflict with the identity you hope to project to others?

- It definitely conflicted because it was an extremely old Myspace picture that I can’t delete because I don’t remember my info. Also there was an inappropriate Tweet that I wouldn’t want people to see that aren’t in the context of Twitter. That was available because I didn’t know my Twitter wasn’t set to private.

3) How deliberate have you been up till now about “impression management” when you are online?  Will your practices change in the future?

-I had pretty good management that I knew of. It was the things that I didn’t know I could control that I’m going to change. Like certain privacy settings as well as pictures that I am tagged in.

 

Blog post from 7.1

1)  Where/how do you share your photos (and videos)?

-I share almost all of my photos on Facebook and Instagram. I share some of my photos on Twitter but not as frequently. Most of my videos are shared on Facebook and Youtube.

2)  Who looks at your photos (and videos); who are your audiences?

-My audience for videos are everyone considering that they are on Youtube which is open to everyone. My photos get looked at by all of my friends on Facebook and all of my followers on Instagram.

3)  To what degree are you concerned about how “public” your “private” photos (and videos) may be?

-I am actually more and more concerned every time something new gets uploaded. This is because through our exercises in class I have seen just how permanent and visible my photos are.

Posted 3 weeks ago photo manipulation draft

Blog post from 6.2 and 6.2 draft (no change)

Before posting on Google+ about the manipulated image you found, draft your ideas here.

- #digitalmanip If Looks Could Kill

This article talks about a lot of the unethical concepts of falsifying images in media that I have researched in previous classes. The part that really caught me off guard was the artistic aspect of it. I think it is interesting to look at the battle between an artist’s freedom of manipulating an image, and the effect that it has on the rest of society. In the article they say, “…an artist’s digital manipulation reflects an inner vision freed from the constraints of the physical world. (Betts, 2003). I see this as an excuse for the “artist” to do whatever they want. They still live as a part of our society and owe it to us not to feed us false information that we rely on. I think that it is perfectly fine for an artist to manipulate an image AS ART, but where the line should be drawn is where they are allowed to post this image. If they are making it seem like a real image and are manipulating society by making them believe false information then it is wrong and shouldn’t be allowed. In the picture Kim’s waist has been shrunken in and the cellulite on her legs has been removed, to try and make her look ideal. The ethical issue with this is that it makes women believe that having cellulite isn’t normal. It also makes women believe that in order to be beautiful they must also have a skinny waist. The main issue is that a lot of people look up to these beautiful models, but the models are showing false statements of beauty and confidence. It makes it harder to be confident in yourself when your idols are allowing their photos to be altered to make an unrealistic woman, thus showing that they aren’t proud of their own bodies. They are manipulating everyone that looks at this image and feeding them false information since Kim can’t really look like that without Photoshop.

 

Blog post from 6.1

1)  When/where/how often do you take photos (and videos)?

-I actually don’t take too many pictures, usually people take pictures at parties or events and I am just involved in their pics and then tagged later.

2)  What are your favorite photo (and video) subjects?

-My favorite photos are of amazing captures of our worlds nature.

3)  How important are your photographs to you?  And if they are important, what makes them so?

-Extremely, pictures are great memories and the ones I take have a certain purpose/meaning to them. I actually put thought into the pictures I take and spend time editing them on Instagram.

4)  Do you consider photography to be an art form?  Why or why not?

-Yes photography is an art form to me because of the creativity involved. With photography so much though goes into different lighting, angle, and content aspects that it is most definitely art. People may have different opinions on this but art is in the eyes of the beholder.

Tech theory and gender issues- Blog post from 5.1

2. To what degree have you constructed yourself (and others) as a technological “insider” or “outsider”?

I see myself as more of a technological insider because I am always using and in on top of the new technologies. Partially because I am part of the smartphone world and am a college student who uses  a laptop. This helps open opportunities for me to be more of an insider.

 

3.  Do you believe its possible that you are reconstituting gender inequities with how you use, relate to, and interact with technology?

Yes because while you re supporting these technologies made by strictly males you are also supporting them which makes it difficult for women to enter the field. If we would be using and interacting with more woman made technologies then it would help give faith and confidence to the women that are scared to join that field.

 

Draft Ideas For Online Discussion: Carey 4.2

In my understanding of the reading, the telegraph allowed people to communicate without an issue in the distance of the other party. I believe this helped them to view the world as a smaller more tightknit group which initiated the thought of standardization. What I find crazy about today’s day and age is that the communication gap between celebrities and the normal folk has almost fully diminished. Before celebrities used to be seen as untouchable gods, and now with Twitter and Facebook we have an inside view to their life. Just these two types of social media have changed the way people view the world. There  is no doubt that the benefits that technology has provided society outweigh the negative effects of its toll on our human interaction and different life skills. The lives saved, careers made, and opportunities discovered are more important at the moment then the amount that humans rely on technology. Although we take these things for granted way too easily. If we lost these technologies tomorrow then what would we do? Would we be able to survive without out precious items, that we never even took the time to look into how they worked?

 

Post Discussion Reflections Blog post for 4.2

Do you buy Carey’s argument that technology is tied specifically to managerialist/imperialist ideology?  Why or why not?

Yes I do because an imperialist type of society is motivated by being the best and most efficient. The best way to do that is by inventing new technologies to help you achieve that. So when Carey talks about these two being tied together I definitely see how that would be perceived.

2. What impact did the our readings/discussions about theory have on how you think about technology?

It made me see technology with a whole different purpose. I can really see how a society might drive technology instead of it being the other way.

 

4.1 Tech Theory

What assumptions do you make when you’re thinking about technology? Are these generally conscious or inconscious assumptions?

-When I think about technology I believe that it is easily upgraded and that it will just keep on evolving with our society. They are inconscious assumptions because it has gotten to the point where many people in my generation don’t give to much thought to technology and just figure that it will always be here and keep developing as we do. Becuase in a way it has; the internet was just getting started as we were growing up and we have seen it grow. It changed around our needs and we changed around it’s needs.

Did today’s readings/discussion add anything to your growing understanding about technology/society? If so, what?

-Yes. This helped me to see that technology and society are more intertwined than I had thought. Society grows with the different technologies around it, while the different technologies change to meet our needs. The term technological determinist has helped me to realize that everyone sees technology different depending on how much it has been involved with thier live as they’ve grown and developed.

3.2 Discussion Question #1 

One main similarity between the telegraph and the Internet is that they are both revolutionary pieces of technology. They both changed the way that society was able to communicate/interact with one another and it opened up major opportunities for advancement in technology. It could be said that without the invention of the telegraph, and the information learned about communicating through wires, that the Internet would have never been invented. Of course it is hard to prove whether that is true or not since they are from two totally different times and different types of technologies, but do you believe that the Internet would have been invented without the invention of the telegraph? Also which one do you believe has made a bigger impact on society’s ability to communicate?

 

Post Discussion Blog 3.2

Were you more interested in the technical/material or social dimensions we have discussed this week? Explain your interest and how it relates to your interests more broadly.

More of the social aspect because although technical dimensions do evolve and are interesting, they are pretty much set and stone. The social dimensions are more unpredictable and are more relatable to me.

Pick one of the contests for control that we have reviewed this week? Which actors would you have (or do you) side with and why?

I believe the Internet should be controlled yet we need to find a way for creativity to be less restricted due to copyright issues and more open.

What have you learned about the relationship between technology, society and change by reading Lessig’s chapters? Were there any new questions/insights that reading these chapters inspired?

Society likes to use technology to express its creativity. Technology makes it very easy to express your creativity through its many functions. I find it interesting that mankind, who falls easily to temptation, is put in tempting circumstances and expected to just act accordingly. The Internet allows society to do some pretty remarkable things yet the law prohibits them from doing most of them. It is a hard task that society is faced with and some obey and some do not.

 

In class Blog 3.1 

1.) They both weren’t for commercial use they were built for scientific and political reasons. The telegraph didn’t evolve quite as much as the internet did. The internet transformed it’s abilities quite a bit starting as this little thing that could just send emails to this intensive system that has more possibilities and room for change than anyone could have ever imagined.

2.) Yes it has helped me see a trend. It just shows that society and technology are inevitably related to one another. There is a trend that all of these high tech inventions meant for a specific non commercialized use find a way to get out to the public and mass distributed. Society needs these technologies to keep functioning and advancing because we have come this far relying on technology.

Blog 2.2 

1.What tensions did this technology spark?

The telegraph caused one company to take over the whole market and start the first monopoly. In an effort to fight this monopoly the telephone was invented.

 2.What other ideas/questions from our discussion/readings have interested you?

I found it remarkable that people actually though that it was some sort of magic and that they could just see a letter flying across a wire. This then led to people being interested in how it worked when nowadays with our technology it doesn’t phase us and we just expect it to work instead of trying to figure out how.

 3.*In your own words*, what have you learned about the relationship between technology, society and change by studying this 19th century technology?

Technology is what moves society forward and changes the social norms of a community. The telegraph caused more people to be informed of other news and information that they otherwise wouldn’t have had access to, which helped them to think differently of certain issues. Technology sparks new ways of thinking and innovation in a society and helps them move forward like the rise and fall of monopolies which lead to us now regulating them. Technology is responsible for a lot of changes in a society’s interaction with one another as well from more interaction from far distances or less face interaction and more through technology.

 

Meaning of Technology Early Ideas

1.What is technology? It is the use of electronics to make a variety of things possible.

 2.What is information technology (otherwise know as information-communication technology, or ICT)? It is the use of technology to transfer information in multiple forms.

 3.Why is it important? It is important because it changes the way that society communicates with one another and makes things possible that otherwise would have never been.

 4.Why are you interested in it? It interests me because I am going to be dealing with different types of ICT in my future career and would like to go more in depth with it. Also seeing how it has evolved and inspired over time is spectacular and makes me want to get more involved.