Week 10 Questions

“A Deep Dive into Facebook and Datalogix: What’s Actually Getting Shared and How You Can Opt Out”  (Reitman)

1) Why are the data trails that are collected as a result of our purchases with loyalty cards such a bad thing?  Don’t they have many positive aspects as well, like coupons targeted to benefit the consumer’s particular needs?  Is it really that big of a problem for companies to have information about what products we buy?

2) What does ‘hashed data’ mean and how is it different from the normal term ‘data’?

3) Other than using this data to increase personalized marketing to consumers, what other affects can an increase in availability of data have on the consumer? 

“Has Viral Gone Viral?” (Bilton)

1) How has the increase in the speed of spreading information affected our social system?

2) Now that everyone can contribute to delivering new information, how was this affected the reliability and truthfulness of the information in our society as a whole?

3) With an increasing amount of websites available, what factors are most prominent in determining if the website will be successful or not?  The article mentions the rapid growth of the site, Chatroulette, so for this example want specific factors about this site contributed to its successfulness? 

Aside - “Welcome to the first digital presidential election”

Aside - “Welcome to the first digital presidential election”

            The article discuses how social networks have made groundbreaking changes in the President election process through their uses of raising money, communicating with supporters, and their allowance of citizens to directly communicate with their peers.  I want to focus on the last point, because I think it this creates both good and bad consequences relating to educating people about “true” information.  Social networks have enabled and increased the spread of information and opinions, but along with this it has an effect on the bias opinions and also spread of information whether it is true or misleading.  The spread of information is important, but how users interpret and use this information is also important, especially in relation to politics.  

The information that is on an individuals social feed that they will give their attention to will mainly come from their friends, which a lot of the time have similar views.  It is important to check the sources and how the information in portrayed.  Users may just post an article, with one main headline, which may be a manipulation of data or information.  How one frames the issue makes all the difference, and with the increased amount of information available to users, they may not take the time to read the articles and find out the facts.  On the other hand if user do take the time to look into information social media creates a space for a variety of perspectives and people to comment if the information is wrong.  Often times, controversial political posts gain the most attention and foster debate because of the variety of views on the issue.  This is good to decrease bias as well. 

The article discussed how Republican’s are no longer trailing in their utilization of social media tools as opposed to the Democrats.  I think they have seized these new social media platforms, but success through social media depends on the supporters who are using these social media platforms.  I think a lot of the success in the first Obama campaign came from the citizens they were targeting.  Obama already works to target young voters, and young people make up a large percentage of the social media population, I think this also helped the successfulness of his social campaigns. 

Aside - "Waterwheel " site

“Waterwheel-an online space where you can interact, share, perform and debate about water as a topic and metaphor with people around the world.”  I thought this site was very interesting, I hadn’t seen many other sites like this.  It creates a unique way to discuss a problem and gain perspectives of other.  I also thought the use of metaphors was very clever.  It took me a little time to explore and read the different sections to understand how the site fully works. 

By sharing different perspectives on water it helps us to understand how some resources are viewed in other countries as opposed to our own.  Our use and how our society views a resource will shape how we view the resource. By gaining different perspectives from other societies we gain a new outlook and may think twice about our use in our own society. 

Growing awareness and finding out issues, is important because as discuss the as Suzon Fulk discussed in her interview, sometimes were unaware something is even an issue.   In relation to water, people may view it as a commodity opposed to a a scarce resource depending on what part of the world you’re from and your first hand experience with this resource. 

The creator of the site wrote that it, “fosters creativity, collaboration, inter-cultural exchange”, which I believe are some stills people do not always utilize when they attempt to solve a problem.   The Internet along with social media, allows normal citizens to decide what topics and problems should be discussed and how to solve them.   I think this is important, because now instead of the news/media companies deciding what issues are important, citizens can help to determine the important topics of our time.  This is also good because there are multiple perspectives provided so this lowers the probability of getting a biased perspective

A few questions I had were: Besides spreading awareness and gaining multi-cultural perspectives is the site also suppose to be a mechanism for change, or fixing the problems that are associated with water?  If so how does it do this? 

Week 8 Question (Part 2)

The Emerging Role of Social Media in Political and Regime Change (Safranek)

1) The article states that the attraction from the big three social media services is that “the average person with little or no advanced computer skills can have good success using them.”  In my experience, my parents, aunts, uncles who have at least proficient computer skills, still struggle or do not fully understand social media platforms and how to utilize them to their full potential.  This also makes sense because the article claims one reason social media use has gotten so big in the Middle East and Northern Africa is due in large part to their young population.  So in conclusion, do you think age or factors or computer proficiency influence social media use more?

2) How do social media services change the presentation of a biased view of an issue, when it is no longer the media/news deciding what stories to air, but instead people posting undisputable footage of real events? Seeing as social media increases in areas where there is political or social turmoil, how does the amount of social media usage in the US increase when it is an election year? 

3) Now that we have the ability to film a situation at any moment using our cell phone, how has the role of the journalist changed? Have citizens now become the top journalists, catching the biggest stories on film, because from use of a cell phone and being in the right place at the right time.  Now do journalists and media stations just have to look to social media websites to find the top stories?

4) How were supporters in Egypt able to subvert the censorship of the government? How much of an effect does not having the infrastructure of only the smart phone decrease the effectiveness of social media?

Week 8 Questions

Digital Art Questions 

1. Does the amount of exposure to netart affect how we view this type of art or have we just learned to view netart in a particular way?

2. What makes distinguishes if something is viewed as ‘art’ or not?  What characteristics of netart are similar to this traditional view and what is different?

3. As technology changes, the attractor that keeps us focused also progresses, will we every get to the point where no attractor will be able to maintain our attention?  

“Voter Registration Rolls in 2 States Are Called Vulnerable to Hackers”  Perlroth

1) Why wouldn’t all states have the same security for their voter registration databases?  The article mentioned that Maryland and Washington allow you to change your address using information that is publically available, I think this creates a very big problem.  When I was changing my address for this years election I though it was crazy that all I needed was my drivers license number and birth date, because I feel like this information is very easy to obtain or hack into.

2) Is there any type of “captchas” that can be hacked to get past this security feature?

3) If the system was hacked right before the election, how much could be done to fix the problem in a short amount of time?  Wouldn’t it be easier to put in preventative security measures instead of waiting for a hack to occur and then taking action?

“Do Not Track? Advertisers Say ‘Don’t Tread on Us’”  Singer

How would the Do Not Track mechanisms be enforced, by sending out digital signals asking companies to stop collecting information, will alone inhibit companies or is it more of a legal privacy issue that will still need to be enforced by law?

The article states that people were concerned how this Do Not Track mechanism will ‘restrict the flow of data at the heart of the Internet’s success’ but has this collecting of consumer data and surveillance of our Internet usage been in existence? Wasn’t the Internet successful before this type of data collection began?

In the legal sense, can the data that is being collected from our Internet use be used in the legal realm as well?  If marketers have this information, how easily can it be sold and made publically available?  Is it possible that in the future, this may used as a way to discredit politicians or legislators? 

  

“Disruptions: Seeking Privacy in a Networked Age”  Bilton

1. What are the advantages of this new-networked age where everything we do in public can become visible to public view? 

2. Since we now have the ability to research a person before we meet them, does this provide more benefits for our society overall or does it make us more judgmental and have preconceived notions from the start?

3. The article proposes the idea of ‘opting out’ of being mentioned on social media website, would this choice must an individual at a social disadvantage in our society?   

Week 7 Questions

Timeline: The Future of Videogames:

 1) What is an example of a video game that uses an augmented reality?  How is this different than the Wii that is currently on the market?

       2) The article states that in 2015 there will be more short bursts of gaming activity because it can be accessed anywhere, but just because of more gaming availability will people have time and be willing to update their gaming activity during their day? 

3     3) In 2018, the article states that gaming will “become an integral part of socializing” but will these changes in technology increase the overall gaming market or will the ‘current gamers’ just increase their video game interaction time? I ask this question because I have never been one to play video games, and I many people who have never got into gaming.  Even as technology has increased from the game boy to the current video game technology, my interest in playing video games has never changed.  So will increasing the technology of video games really drastically increase the overall number of people who play video games?  How will they appeal to people who have never been interested in ‘gaming’?   

   Does Game Violence Make Teens Aggressive?

1) As video games become more realistic, do they have more of a negative affect on brain function or is the realistic aspect not relevant?

2) When the article reports that MRI scans show that video games with violent content have a negative effect on the brain, what is meant by a negative effect?

3) Is there a different effect from violent video games versus violent movies and TV because while playing a video game, the one is actively participating in violent behavior and gets rewarded or penalized for the actions accordingly?

My personal network - Information and Attention Feeds

After hitting snooze at least three times on my cell phone alarm clock, I wake up and start my day.   In the process of still trying to wake up and avoiding getting out of bed, I check my phone and respond to any missed texts from the night. I also check my phone calendar for anything important I need to do that day.  While getting ready for class, I put some music on from either Pandora or my itunes on my computer.   At this time, I take a quick look at facebook, just for a few minutes because time is always short in the mornings.  I check the weather app on my phone before deciding what to wear. I then head to the kitchen to scramble and make something quick to eat and grab some coffee.  At this time, I will usually find my other three roommates rushing around trying to finish getting ready.  This is my first in person interaction of the day.  It’s usually very rushed as we’re all scrambling to get out the door on time.  Once we’ve all made it out of the house, it’s on our 20-minute walk to class when we actually have time to catch up and talk about our day.  Once we get to campus we split ways and I head to my first class.

 After getting situated in class, I usually take the first few minutes to check my emails on my phone.  I just skim them over deleting any spam or advertisements and checking for anything urgent. I wait to reply to my emails until I can use my computer.  Once I’ve finished this, I put my phone away until the end of class.  For the next hour and 15minutes my attention is focused on my lecturer, besides the occasionally daydream or distraction.

On my way to my next class, I check my phone again for any notifications and take time to respond to them.  I arrive at my next class usually right as it is starting and my teacher has usually already started the discussion by the time I am taking my seat.  During this class period my attention is focused on the lecturer and the class discussion we are having.  We do a lot of scenario work in this class and are broken up into teams.  During this time, we are allowed to research on our smartphones if we need more information to answer the question assigned to our group.  During this group work, my attention is focused on gaining useful information from the book or article, my notes, and my phone as well as discussing with my group members about our potential solution.  Each group shares their response, and we ask questions for clarification.  My next class is in the same room, so I usually take the 15minutes break to go get some coffee from the café downstairs.  I check my phone again during this time and reply to anything I missed during class.  I have a quick interaction with the person working at the coffee shop as I place my order and then head back upstairs for class.

In my next class, I use my laptop to pull up the PowerPoint notes for that day and any excel practice problems we will be doing from D2L.  While on D2L, I look for any new information that may have been posted.  At this time, I usually open another tab to respond to my emails and also another tab to check my online banking.  In the beginning of the class, we go through the powerpoint slides where I still attempt to mult-task by following along but also checking my emails and facebook.  Once we begin working on the practice problems, I work with the people around me to solve the problem or ask questions if I’m confused.  Once class is over I usually head to the library to finish up any homework.  I’ll put music on while I’m doing my homework. 

On my walk home, I’ll usually make a call to someone in my family to catch up.  After getting home, I’ll have to time to talk with roommates while making dinner.  I’ll look at the news app on my phone for any interesting articles for the day.  I usually finish up my homework in the family room, where some of my other roommates will be doing the same.  I waste at least 30mintues on facebook before starting any homework.  This is also when I talk with friends about anything exciting that happened during the day, or about anything we currently learning.  Since we don’t have cable at our house, the only shows I watch are on Hulu.  As I’m going to bed, I usually put on an episode of the Daily Show and watch it until I fall asleep. 

I lot of my attention is focused on personal interaction, either with my friends, classmates, or lectures.  A portion of my attention is also focused on my cell phone, where I get calls, texts and notifications from facebook or email.  I also gain information through conversations I have either in person or digitally, the applications on my phone like weather or the news, my email, and certain websites of the Internet like D2L, ATLS2000class website, the USBank website ect.  

Week 6 Questions

The Attention Economy and the Web (Michael Goldhaber)

1) Goldhaber states that scarcity of attention is real and limiting.  But is it possible for people to train their brains in a way so that it is not limiting, so that we can give our attention to two things simultaneously, or multi-task and just become more efficient?

 2) I think of attention more of a requirement to succeed in the money economy, because many people still have their main focus on making money, but has the scarcity of attention just made it more challenging to achieve this goal? Hasn’t there always been a proportion of people that crave attention and a proportion that don’t? Isn’t information in conjunction with attention vital for the functionality of our economy?

 3) How has the “information gut” affected the way we learn and perceive our surroundings? How has this decrease in attention affected the actual economics of our country?  

The Net and the Web

1) What is the productive class? And how does it relate to the age of simulation?
2) How is the TAZ and the Web different and how are they similar?
3) What is the Temporary Autonomous Zone?