final post

 Relationships with technology

When it comes to technology, I would say that I have a good number of devices in my life. I probably have more than the average person would own by themselves but that is personal preference. Now I would say that from my experience with technology and from the videos that we had to watch such as “Are You Lost In The World Like Me”, that people can easily get too addicted to technology around them. The main thing that I think we should take away from these videos is how people need to learn how to use technology and inventions in moderation and not in excess. When it comes to my life, I spend a good portion on my time online or in front of a device however I think that this is mainly due to outside factors like my major (game design) and classes mainly revolving around the use of technology. However, while I do use technology a lot I still go out and do other activities. Sometimes I simply have the devices running in the background while I work on something. This leads me to spend a good portion of my time working both with and without technology. My opinion on if technology is making people dumber, smarter, and or misleading them is that it like most other forms of information can easily help people learn but also lie to them about the full truth of the matters. Technology allows people to have access to so much information that they can use and learn form. The problem is that people have not learned to sort through that information and review it and simply go with the first or easiest answer that can often be misleading. I often think about how technology is affecting my generation with all the stupid stuff I see on apps like Instagram or Tik Tok, making me look at them and go “what made you this dumb”. I believe that people use technology to silence people that are trying to help teach others how to behave or act. Unfortunately,  kids see all the loud and annoying kids online and they think they can act like that. I hope that society can see past this and learn that there are ways that you should not act online and in real life.

Friends and family

When it comes to my family, I would say that they use technology a good amount in their lives. Each person needing at least a computer to do work. My family and friends both use technology for a lot of reason, the main reason is keeping in touch with each other. My family is all over the place with a large portion being in Massachusetts and Ireland, so we use lots of technology like phones to keep in touch with those that aren’t nearby. Meanwhile, many of my friends are here at school with me but some are already graduated or back home. To keep in touch with them I use technology that helps me talk to and keep up with their lives.

 WikiLeaks 

Julian Assange

When it comes to information sources; Wikileaks was one of the most well known non-major news networks that the people used to get information from. It was important because it was one of the major sources of information for government leaks. Everything from past documents that people find and share online, to live videos that the government tried to hide was shared. One good example of this is with the leak made by Julian Assange on the pentagon papers. This was so important of an example because it helps show how the government is restricting peoples first amendment rights. They are trying to bring information that the government is trying to hide to the eyes of the people. In class we talked about how Julian Assange leaked the pentagon papers that opened the American people’s eyes to some of the lies about the Vietnam war. We learned about how he hid in the embassy of Ecuador until their government was overthrown and then British government then raided the embassy to capture him. Here is a man that risked everything to inform people about some shady and illegal activities by the government. Because of this he was forced into hiding for years then thrown in jail and never actually charged with anything but continued to rot away in jail. He is the perfect example as to how a government will violate your rights if you act out against them by revealing information they were trying to hide from everyone. 

EOTO Presentation Whistleblowers

 Whistleblower

Definition

Whistleblowers are often displayed in the media as some sort of person that spends their life trying to expose something and being called crazy for it. However, the definition of a whistleblower is a person that exposes information activity within either a private, public, or government organization that is deemed illegal, illicit, unsafe, fraud, or abuse of power or funds. Whistleblowers are often small people in government or organization that simply have found out that their bosses or higher up have been abusing their power. They then go out of their way to spread or report this information to the people often with repercussions or downsides to themselves.

 

Examples

There have been many different famous whistleblowers over the years but let’s focus on Edward Snowden. He was a former worker for the NSA or National Security Agency. He was then employed as a contractor for the CIA when he learned about the government using multiple different software and surveillance programs to spy on both the American people and important people abroad. This leaking of information lead to him being wanted by America and fleeing to Russia in order to escape punishment for revealing this information. His leak allowed for the people to know that their government was truly spying on its own people and keeping all their information in servers illegally. It is thanks to people like him and their sacrifice of normal life that people learn about the hidden information that their government is hiding from them.

The Age of AI

 

Privacy

Pros

There are a lot of advantages that can come from advancements in AI and machine learning related to privacy. One good advantage is that these advancements will allow computers to be able to identify new threats to themselves like hackers and viruses. This will allow antivirus software to be able to protect people’s computer and data better and stop people from gaining access to your private info.

Cons

Just like with every other advancement with technology there are downsides to these upgrades. One of the main ones that is related to privacy has to do with AI and machine learning. The idea that with these advancements is that AI can be used to hack into people’s devices and monitor them for information. Its basically a race between hackers and antivirus AI to see which can outdo the other first.

National security

AI can be used in national security in many ways. However, while it can be helpful it can also be harmful to people’s privacy. An example of it being helpful is with AI’s that are being developed to identify terrorist and people that intend to harm others. While this will help protect some people it all depends on how much is implemented. A good example of too much being China and their overuse of surveillance and use of AI to constantly monitor its people.

Security and identity theft

Identity theft is a major issue for many people currently. The way that AI can be used to help stop this is with tracking software. These AI software’s can be used to help track people’s online profile and see if someone is trying to use their information that is not the original person.

EOTO Echo Chamebr

 Echo Chamber

Definition

There are multiple ways that you could define an echo chamber. The simplest one is that it is a situation in which one seeks out information that will reinforce one’s own ideas or beliefs without ever encountering any opposing views or information. Echo chambers are often related to the idea of confirmation bias with echo chambers often leading to confirmation bias in people. The reason for why echo chambers are related to confirmation bias is due to the idea that people will go online looking for information to reinforce their ideas or beliefs. If they are directed and stuck in an echo chamber they will only find information that says they are correct. This leads them to believe that they are correct without fact checking or looking for new information. The reason that this concept is called an echo chamber is due to the relationship that this idea has with confined spaces or areas. In these spaces people will look for information and the idea that your beliefs are echoed back to you.

Examples

There are a lot of examples of echo chambers both online and not but the most well-known and often the biggest tend to be online communities. Many of these communities are on social media platforms such as Face book and twitter. Most people will join these groups based around a single idea and kick out anyone that disagrees with the common concept or try to prove them wrong. Another great example must be reddit and its communities that will often gang up on opposing view and threaten people or other groups that disagree with them. Now let us look at the most well-known of these communities: the flat earth society. They have multiple different groups and chat rooms on all different platforms including their own website that are focused on just repeating the ideas and beliefs that they have. They also use their own twisted information to denounce other people’s facts and beliefs. If you don’t believe me, try going on one of their communities like Facebook and post something like a meme about how they are wrong it will at least give you a funny reaction out of them. Also, if you believe that echo chambers are only online then you would be wrong. There are many in person groups that meet and basically cause an echo chamber effect to occur. One example of these groups is with the Westbrook Baptist Church. These people where convinced by their pastor Fred Phelps that his ideas and belief that God was punishing the US for its tolerance of homosexuality. This echo chamber at the church lead to multiple protest with signs saying everything from "God Hates the USA/Thank God for 9/11," "Thank God for Dead Soldiers," and "Don't Pray for the USA.". While this is one of the more extreme examples of an echo chamber and its effects on the world in real life it is still one of the more well-known echo chambers that occurred.

https://www.uscourts.gov/educational-resources/educational-activities/facts-and-case-summary-snyder-v-phelps

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Echo_chamber_(media)

The Progressive Era

 Anti-War

Let us start with why I think anti-war voices and journalist are important to have and be able to listen to. The people that are most outspoken against war are the ones that pay the most attention to exactly what is happening during that war. They are usually the people that investigate if people are committing war crimes. These anti-war people tend to be the main way that the public learns about the horrors that governments commit during war and what they try and sweep under the rug during said wars. Its due to this that most of the times anti-war voices are usually the best people to have during war to keep the government in check and the people informed about what is truly happening during these wars.

Now we can look at why there are not many anti-war voices in the modern media. Lately in the mainstream media there has been little to no anti-war voices that are being broadcasted. One of the reasons for this is most likely bribes. There have been multiple people that have broken away from main media outlets saying that they had multiple papers and journals shot down by their bosses for no reason. The main reason for these situations happening is simply because the government is trying to control the main stream media that most people listen to. If they can take out these people that are talking about all the ideas or facts that they don’t want the people to focus on it makes the governments life and war a whole lot easier to continue without the people becoming angry and refusing to support it like what happened with Vietnam.

EOTO Presentation

Telephone

 History

    The first time that people learned about and talked about the telephone was when Alexander Gram Bell patented his idea in 1876. Bell started the idea of the telephone due to his interest in transmitting information over wires. Bells idea led to the first ever telephone line and switchboard being constructed between 1877 and 78. In just 3 years the number of telephones being used was almost 49,000. Later in 1890 Bell started to combine his company with others. This led to the creation of the American Telegraph and telephone company or AT&T.

Impact

    The telephone had major impacts on communication and society no matter how you look at it both good and bad. Some of the good impacts it had on communication was it made it much easier to contact someone a large distance away almost instantly from home or someplace close by. Before the telephone many people had to ether use the mail system and letter to contact a distance relative or friend or pay large amounts of money to get a telegraph sent out to them. Another good impact that the telephone had was make tons of jobs with the need for more construction of phone lines and people to work the switchboards. Then there are the down sides with the phone lines taking up a huge amount of space in the cities and scaring many people with the idea of harm from these lines. Another downside that has happened more recently with line taps and surveillance is that it has become extremely hard to talk to people on the phone privately as someone from your phone company or government is most likely listening or recording the call.

Diffusion of inovations

 personal computer/ home computer

The innovation that I want to investigate is the personal computer and at home computers. The main problem that was around for consumers when the computer first became available was simply the cost. As it is for many new technologies that are first released, they tend to be too expensive for most normal families or consumers. Many of the early consumers of personal computers were companies and the higher ups at companies. They used computers because it gave them a way to easily store and access information for their work. All the multiple different applications that were coming out for the computer at the time making their life easier. A great example of this is with taxes. Multiple applications were coming out for computers that would help people and companies manage or file their taxes. A main problem that came about due to computers was hackers. Hackers and scammers were one of the main reasons, other than price, that people would not get a computer. There were multiple different adds or info campaigns going around talking about hackers and scammers stealing your information online or from your computer scaring the normal consumer away from these devices. Overall, there are some people that did not wish to get computers simply because they ether did not understand them or preferred their previous tools or devices. A good example of this is with my grandparents they refused to get a computer for years saying that they can’t understand any of this new technology and preferred good old pen and paper.

Com Tech Timeline

 

There are multiple different people considered to be the first person to make a video game. One example is in 1952 with a British professor named A.S Douglas basically making a digital version of tic-tac-to. Then there is Steve Russell, who in MIT made Spacewar! a game for the computers at the time that where mostly only in universities. Then finally, there is the man who is considered the main creator of what we think of as video games Ralph Baer. He made the first multi game console called the Brown box or The Odyssey. There is no real way to nail down why video games were made. Some of these people made games to simply help with boredom or test the limits of the technology of the time or to try to market them and make money. This continues in today’s video games with many large companies making huge Triple A games. These are marketed out and sold in the thousands to small indie games made by small groups of people just trying to make a fun game and send it out for people to enjoy. These large companies and the craze around video games are thanks to many other games of the time like arcade and bord games catching the eyes of the people. They then get turned into video games that they could easily take home and play with ether friends or family without having to go out and spend money in public spaces.

 

When it comes to video games its hard to say that they really solved a lot of problems due them mainly being a new form of entertainment. The best I could say that they helped with, was create a new market for people to join in. This also helped with many college kids starting up their own small companies that made games. They could either then join or became huge name brand titles. It also helped create multiple side projects that grew important thanks to games like Twitch and Discord. These gained large followings when they started focusing on video games and the communities around them.

 

Communication has always been a part of video games with everything from going out with friends to arcades to hanging out with friends and play games at home or online. The biggest revolution revolving around video games and communication was with the Xbox 360 by Microsoft and the advent of online gaming. Online games and the Xbox live feature gave people the ability to talk and play with people all around the world and opened a new world of communications around video games.

 

Some of the biggest drawbacks of video games came about in the last 10 to 12 years thanks to mostly the online environment and the risks that always follow it. These risks mainly come from the anonymity that comes from online gaming, such as allowing more cyber bullying, racism, online predators/grooming, and or threats to your life from hackers. Then there is a more recent negative effect that I have found from games with a simple mechanic loot boxes. The thing about loot boxes is that they are basically gambling and more and more games that are being marketed to kids involve this mechanic.

Privacy Online & Off

 When it comes to these problems that exist online the one that I think relates to my family is what we talked about in class with the data mining and other invasions of privacy that Facebook does to its users. This is because many of my family members like my parents and grandparents use face book and post tons of information about themselves; especially my grandparents who do not understand the impact of doing this. With everything from not reading the contract that you sign with Facebook when signing up to posting their location or other pieces of information about themselves on Facebook my family is easily letting Facebook sell their data and don’t even think about it. There have been a multitude of times that my grandmother has gotten her account hacked cause she looks at everything that someone sends her.

When it comes to government involvement in this issue, I have a problem with them trying to regulate people online so I don’t think there is much that they can do before these problems happen. The best I could say they could do is try and spread more information about these problems and help people understand them better and set up new department that could focus on helping people that are victims of these problems like data mining.

There are a few ways to protect yourself online. One of the best is using a VPN and other protection software like antivirus. Another is simply not putting your information into anything online that you are not willing to share. Finally, there is the hail Mary solution not using anything online so makes it so you can’t give companies or hackers anything.

values of free expression

 

The value that I find the most important in my life is Market place of ideas. This basically discusses about how you shouldn’t need a license to print or publish something. This argument was made by Jhon Milton, and he says, “truth and falsehood are allowed to freely grapple, truth will win out. And the grappling makes the truth even stronger.”. He was talking about how in a free market the truth of something will eventually win and that having it so that truth needs to fight to be heard makes the truth better. I think this is an important in today’s world as many news outlets now are more focused on making people more fearful or push a political agenda instead of looking for and publishing the truth. Due to this, you need the Freedom of Market place of ideas as it allows anyone to go out and find the truth and make their own articles and post them online with sources. This allows people to inform people of the truth of what is happening in the world without the government trying to cover them up and stopping them form talking with things like permits or licenses. 

One of the main technologies that both benefits and abuses the Freedom of the Market place of ideas is social media and the internet. The main way that the internet benefits form this freedom is that many news outlets have websites or other platforms that they use that they can post information on that everyone can access. However, how the internet abuses this freedom is that as anyone can post a lot of the time people are flooded with so much false information from people that they have a hard time finding the truth in this information. Therefore, they just accept the lies making it so much harder for the truth to win. Then there is social media which in theory helps many people connect with others read or keep up with information from people and parties that they are interested in. However, as social media is managed by a private party. It is so easy for them to manipulate information, as we talked about in class, and make it hard for people to see or learn the true information they are looking for and instead be guided more towards what ever idea or belief the company wants them to look towards.

supreme court questions

 

What did you learn about the Supreme Court that you didn't already know?

There were a few facts I did not know about the Supreme Court, such as when the videos talk about how long the justices stay on the court. I did not know that they usually outlast the president that appointed them. I also did not know that the Supreme Court was first housed in the unfinished capital and basically written off until John Marshall made it more important.

What is the most important take-away point about the Supreme Court?

In my opinion, the most important part of the video is that the Supreme Court is a court that was made to uphold the constitution. That its main use is to serve the people of the United States and make sure that the government is being fair and true to the constitution and its people.

What was the most surprising thing you learned?

The main part that I found surprising was how many cases go to the supreme court and how many they take in. The video says that they go through about 100 cases a week and around 7 thousand a year and only accept about 100 a year to look over.

How did the video change the way you thought of the Supreme Court?

The main way that I changed my view on the supreme court was that I always thought it was some big court and power that made sure the lower courts are keeping true to the constitution. The video showed me that it was not always something big. They worked their way up to the power they have. The court is mainly used to make sure everyone is being treated fair and equal in the court system.

Sources of news

  1. YouTube is one of my personal favorite new sources. This is due to me being a very visual and hands on person, so having a video that shows how to do exactly what I'm looking for is very helpful. It is also helpful that there are channels with commentators. These people help make following along with the video simple.. Many YouTubers provide multiple sources in the comments or descriptions of their videos so that you can look through and verify. This makes it easier to trust them with the information you are learning on this platform. I also enjoy this source of information because it allows me to listen to news and information while I am doing other activates like gaming or school work

2. Game informer is a great community to get information for the newest games and releases on video and bored games. They are great because of the multiple kinds of media that they use to inform mass amounts of people. They use magazines that contain the newest releases that comes as a monthly subscription or individual purchase, to live streams on the newest games that are coming out. Game informer is also great because it doesn't just do a one and done review of games they will follow along with the development and release of new content that is released for games. Overall, my favorite part of game informer is the videos that they release. They are short updates on games from people from the industry or game development.  These videos help people that do not have a lot of time to keep up with the community the ability to get quick reliable information

3. IGN is similar to game informer as they are both related to video games. However, while game informer is more focused on talking about the releases of games and what is new in the industry: IGN focuses on going more in-depth into games. They are good because they tend to try and focus on specific areas in games. The blog has people that work on the games or are professionals on the topic, come in and talk or write about them. IGN is really good for most gamers that want to learn more about how their favorite games are made, especially with what actually goes into making them. Finally, many of their blogs are great for learning more about hidden features or items in the games they talk about.

4. Indie DB is a source of information for indie games and gamers that people have made. This website is similar to other game sites in that it is used by people to learn about games and find new and interesting games to play. The main difference is that this source focuses on the Indie category of games which are basically games made by smaller teams or less known companies instead of large Triple A gaming companies. This source is good because it helps smaller named companies and teams to get recognition for their work. It also helps network and help them find helpers or testers for the games they are making. In the end this source is very good at helping the community grow and introduce new ideas and companies to the industry. 

5. Steam is a gaming platform that allows people to buy and play games for PC. This is a good source of updates on games and what new mechanics or playable content is being added to the games that you have. The community on this site is also a huge source of information. This is good as it allows people to interact and talk with other people that have played these games. It also allows people to  learn about what the games are about or what they need to know about the games they are getting into. You can also ask the members of the site any questions you have and get real help.