Excitement and Fear

Wow! I've learned a ton of interesting information from this class. The things I have been taught encouraged me into looking more in depth about the topics. I have always admired the growth of technology, being born into the era and all. I am fascinated at what is to come, but also, terrified. Will we be able to do things with the help of robots? Maybe. Will robots help lessen the cost and workload of major companies? Maybe. Will robots and net neutrality take over? Maybe.

I've enjoyed learning about topics like technology facial recognition. The fact that our phones and information can be unlocked with our very own face. This is something I only saw in shows and movies growing up. Will holograms become stronger and better? Will they become the next FaceTime? Its like Star Wars!

But there again is the upending doom of artificial intelligent and robots taking over the world and killing the human race as we know it. Or the fact that in a little over a week we can have our net neutrality taken away, limit ting our view of the internet. Thus creating a North Korean communist directorship. Okay...maybe not that extreme, but to think they government can do that with just a few signatures is insane.

This always brings to my mind the question, "did other generations have fears like this when growing up?" Of course they were afraid of things, the Cold War could of ended with no one left on earth. Throughout history things have always been scary, but with the advancement of new technologies, who know what is to come.

We'll have to sit back, wait, and see for ourselves.

Convergence

“Network convergence is the efficient coexistence of telephone, video and data communication within a single network. The use of multiple communication modes on a single network offers convenience and flexibility that are not possible with separate infrastructure. Network convergence is also called media convergence.”

Media convergence is good in the sense that it allows for creative industries to circulate content and advertisements. Such as the convergence of traditional and digital sources powers our newspapers to produce much more efficient and up-to-date information. It can reach a much larger audience due to its available access worldwide.

One issue though, is knowing whether or not the information is valid or true. After all, sources may not be required or honest, stripping the original author or their credit. And as you may know, just about anyone believes what they see on the internet to be true, which causes a lot of false information. Outdated content and improper sourcing isn’t fair to the original publisher and the readers.

There is also the saying, “social media is killing press” which is true in a lot of ways. Who wants to go out of their way to receive a paper and physically turn the pages? Most people, and many would argue that its no longer 1955. This takes away jobs and can cause a series of other issues. Why would broadcasting and press want to pay employees when they can slash their numbers in half an make more money? There is also the imposing risk of broadcasting and press companies to be bought out.

Overall, media convergence has its many pros and cons. I do enjoy it, but don’t at the same time. Whether it is beneficial or not will all be seen in the near future. It may help us, it may destroy us.

Quote Source: http://searchconvergedinfrastructure.techtarget.com/definition/network-convergence

My Presentation on Internet Safety

For my presentation, my group and I are doing internet safety/cyberbullying. Why I chose social networking and cyberbullying as my presentation is because it’s something I am passionate about. As someone who has been bullied inside and outside of the internet, I know why it is important to protect people and why the internet needs regulations to become a safer place. While watching a video on YouTube (I believe a TedTalk or some science channel) I learned how sites, such as Twitter, have very little control over what people post. Obviously, things can be reported, but because of the first amendment, these companies don't know where to draw the line without taking away rights. This is where problems occur. Issues like white supremacy come up, and people ask why that is not okay as a racial group, but BLM is? (stupid I know, but ignorant people, unfortunately, have opinions too). But that’s the issue, when is something okay and something not okay without stripping someone of their rights? There are plenty of videos on this topic and I would recommend self-educating oneself, it's interesting and good to know. But, when does bullying go from freedom of speech to life-threatening? People have killed themselves over bullying, but there is no way it’s okay for someone to die in order to finally do something about the issue. Yes, it is freedom of speech, but harassing someone is NOT okay. We are discussing in my group cyberbullying, platforms on which it occurs, the causes such as suicide, and awareness and laws. I am excited to present out information to the class on Monday! 

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances."

Bomb.com

Commonly known as the dot-com bubble this is when the internet dot-com collapsed/crashed. This was a historical time for the internet and technology for the enormous impact it had on the creators, users, and investors/stockholders of the internet. This is during a period of time from the mid-1990s to the very early 2000s in which investors put money into startups in hopes they could turn a profit from their investments (stock market!). Many companies started from this boom with little to knowledge of what they were doing. There were pros and cons from this. The pros being the knowledge of what to do and what not do with the internet and how to make your company have profit and stay afloat. The cons being, “The NASDAQ index peaked on March 10, 2000, at 5048, nearly double over the prior year. Right at the market’s peak, several of the leading high-tech companies, such as Dell and Cisco placed huge sell orders on their stocks, sparking panic selling among investors. Within a few weeks, the stock market lost 10% of its value. As investment capital began to dry up, so did the lifeblood of cash-strapped dotcom companies. Dotcom companies that had reached market capitalization in the hundreds of millions of dollars became worthless within a matter of months. By the end of 2001, a majority of publicly traded dot-com companies folded, and trillions of dollars of investment capital evaporated”(https://www.investopedia.com/terms/d/dotcom-bubble.asp). This source here not online provided me with the information on the boom that I didn’t know, but hopefully you all as well! It shows the cons of huge investments and opportunities like the start of the internet. Reasons like this, although tragic, are important for teaching people to avoid these mistakes in the future.

cloudPWR

It inst just about being a programmer. This Wednesday we had a guest Shadrach White, is the CEO and founder at cloudPR. The product AIRLIFT® is a, “a mission to simplify complex organizations adopt cloud based solution” (https://www.cloudpwr.com/company/). They are a software company that’s goal is to create a software that is easy to use and that users will enjoy using. White goes on to explain that he built his company off of bootstrapping. A technique that requires no funding and money was only acquired through White saving money. White talks about working in retail and other labor intensive jobs, he discovered it wasn’t what he wanted to do with his life so, he went out and followed his dreams. White shares with the class his struggles and success with creating the site. He shares information about his employees and how he went from this little idea to a massive website and company and how they are growing more and more each and every year. He finishes with telling the class “don’t take your education for granted”. Which I also believe is very important. White himself went to a two-year technical school and graduated with a GED at seventeen. He was an interesting, funny, and inspiring guest speaker.

Startup.com

Startup.com was a film we watched in class last week. It focuses on the Internet revolution and the rise and fall of an Internet start-up company. Unfortunately, in this movie, it is based around the failed dotcom govworks.com. Although after raising tens of millions of dollars for the website only to fail, the failure helped to create and mold new ideas for other sites. These mistakes became a lesson on how to create a good site. The documentary follows Kaleil Isaza Tuzman and Tom Herman, two friends that from a young age wanted to start a site together. The strain and pressure the company causes on everyone involved soon begins to ruin the friendship of both Tuzman and Herman. According to https://www.rogerebert.com, "There are setbacks. The govWorks office is broken into. Files are stolen. But that's not as big a problem as the disappointing software, and then comes the dot-com meltdown that dries up funds just when the site is turning the corner." As someone who loves documentaries, I found this one especially interesting and relevant to out class and would watch it again!

Decoding Codes