Blog #12 The Final Post

I never thought I would make it this far! I remember my first day of class and didn't even realize I would finish this class so early in the semester! Now, let's talk about social media. 

I still think about the night I downloaded Instagram onto my phone just for fun. I was in the 6th grade and didn't know anything about how social media works. Little did I know it would change my whole life in a way. At first it got me excited, as I was able to find old friends that I haven't seen in years and catch up with them. Bu after time from late middle school to most of high school my posts started to change from when I first had it. Before then, I used to post just funny little photos every couple days, now while I don't post as often when I do, I try my damnedest to make sure every picture would reach top level perfection. From adjusting the colors, to posting them a the perfect time wherever everyone would check and see it, to making sure it has the perfect caption, and of course, checking how many likes it gets. And I would check it frequently. I thought like each of my posts as if they were a movie and I saw the like section as how the movie did at the box-office! And always tried to make sure at least a couple of people would comment on it! It was a pretty unhealthy mindset I had that,. I'll admit still have a little bit of even to this day!

Then we have Snapchat. I got this in the middle of 7th grade. At first I treated it the same way I treated having Instagram. I would just post silly videos of me or selfies with filters on and whatever. It all was going well but stuff started to change. Around 2017, I started doing streaks, where you would send a picture of yourself to a person and they would send one to you back. After about 3 days of doing this, you would start to develop a streak number next to that person's name. I started doing this not only with my friends that I would see on a daily basis, but also to the people who would not see as much or even igknolwedge if saw them. These people were just acquaintances to me. If felt like social media was starting to develop a new part of me. A more fake part. Things only got worse when Snap Map was revealed. This was a way where you would see people's locations if they allow it. This started to effect my self esteem as some nights I would be at home and bored and see some of my fiends all grouped together. And I don't want to say anything because it would make it seem like I'm stocking people. This new invention made seems to have done a lot more harm than good. 

Even my posts on Snapchat became a lot less active. Where I would really only post me at cool locations and stuff like that. I would have a private story that was more for posting funny or serious stuff on my mind. So in a way, the smaller account I had for snapchat that only a select group of close friends is on shows off a more real version of than my actual official account. And I know I am not alone on this.

There are other social media platforms I am connected to such as Twitter and TikTok but to be honest I do not post much on them. I don't want to use twitter too much because I know that if I started posting more of what is on my mind as if it is my private story on snapchat, one post could come back to bite me in the ass when going to apply for a job. And while I don't consider cancel culture as big and as horrible as some other people make it out to be, I certainly don't want to be one of the next people the internet is hating at. And the reason why I don't post as much on Tiktok is well to be honest, it requires too much work. I honestly find it too tough to make the perfect video to post. I've posted a few things, some which did get a good amount of views but it ultimately only 15 minutes of fame and I found it would be distracting to keep posting videos constantly to keep the status. That being said, I still like to watch other people's videos and have found myself spending hours laying in bed watching TikToks!

So overall, social media has really taken over my life. I still think about what I post carefully, so that nothing could come back to haunt me. But honestly I'm starting to think about just taking a break from it for a weekend and see how well my state of mind is afterwards. to compare how I behave with and without my phone and internet on me at all times. I ultimately just want to be myself and don't want to hide behind some account that shows off the best pictures of me. I hope more people understand that all of those likes, all of those followers, and posts of your friends having fun. It just doesn't matter. Social Media is only a bubble I hope more people will try to pop.

Sources:

https://www.fastcompany.com/90315706/kids-parents-social-media-sharing

Blog #11 EOTO: Net Neutrality

 Well well, it's been a while since I've heard someone talk about Net Neutrality. Makes sense it would come from an EOTO but still. 

I remember way back during my freshmen year of high school, where around November-December 2017, there were plans to repeal Net Neutrality. This was one the biggest things that go my generation talking (at the time) And so much information was going around about what this would mean if Net Neutrality did get repealed. Though I'm still not sure anyone really knew what Net Neutrality was or what would happen when it got taken down, so let's talk about it.

Net Neutrality is defined as "the principle that an internet service provider (ISP) has to provide access to all sites, content and applications at the same speed, under the same conditions without blocking or giving preference to any content." So essentially now that this was repealed thanks to everyone's favorite person, Ajit Pai, internet providers could cause certain speeds of sites to become slower or faster, thereby you having to pay additional money to access a certain a site at a better quality speed. 

This can be troublesome in a number of ways. First of all there is the factor of money alone, if you are already paying for a computer and your own WiFi (depending on the location), you must now have to pay additional charges theoretically. So say you want to watch Netflix but your cell phone carrier company has a deal with Hulu to promote their streaming service. They could slow down the speed of Netflix where there would be much more buffering and you would have to pay extra to get it at a better quality. So not only you are paying for the streaming service, but additional funds just so it can run at it's fullest capacity. This alone could drain your wallet!

But it's not just a money thing. It can be a political and news thing too! If your internet provider had say a certain political bias, say to Fox News, they could slow down the service of left leaning news sources like CNN or MSNNC, thus making it harder to listen to them. This is dangerous as it can more easily spark propaganda or making you view a certain point whether you like it or not. So you can see why Net Neutrality is more important than you may initially think. When it's gone, it could get into the wrong hands, it could change the way we go online.

So since it has been repealed, why haven't we seen any of these drastic measures happen? After all its been almost 4 years since the repeal was voted on, has any of this taken place? Well, possibly. It does seem like after a few months after the vote, the whole craze of it being repealed started to die down and people returned to their own lives and not many seemed to notice any drastic changed happen. I have always found it strange as I personally never had any issues with the internet speed (aside from the wifi at High Point but that is another story entirely) Maybe it all could have just been blown out or proportion? Or maybe some people did experience the effects on the repeal but just didn't realize? Or maybe we all just moved on to another issue. 

What I have realized is that people care very much about the things they love not being changed. This has been a staple throughout all of history. After all, we live in a world where the internet is no longer just an optional feat. It's a necessity for how we communicate, work, and learn. So to have the main way we operate in life in the hands of some high class people that can change how it works in any way that they see benefitting them, that is a scary thought. So maybe that's why people cared so much when they heard that it got repealed. But now there are reports that Biden would try to get Net Neutrality back. Nothing is definite nor a priority, but it is in the air at least. So maybe one we can get Net Neutrality back!

Blog #8 The Progressive Era

Hey remember at the start of 2020 for a couple days there were rumors that Trump would lead us into WWIII and that every guy would be forced to get drafted? This has little to do with the blog subject but strangely enough it was the first thing that popped into my head when reading articles coming from antiwar websites!

After reading the websites, I can see the authors of the pages have a very clear anti-war view. We can agree that some of these site are not exactly subtle. It did get me wondering though, why do we not see more of these types of views and perspectives shown in mainstream news outlets such as FOX, CNN, or MSNBC? 

Well let's first talk about the subjects of war. They are not exactly things militaries like to share to the general public unless absolutely necessary. I say this because, after watching some videos in my Media Laws and Literacy Class, about how U.S. soldiers would often shote at foreign journalists that have information that they may harm the image of the States, you can tell that some armies and militaries try to keep some of their actions to themselves. Like say, the recordings of the soldiers shooting at a journalist went public on the nightly news the moment it was received. It would only open a whole can of worms of what the Military and war like soldiers do that go under everyone's noses on a daily basis. It would spark so much outcry and protesting then would be advisable. Potentially it could even bring the world to throw another Woodstock, where it would be a way to protest all of the war and violence going on. Imagine another one of those in todays times! That would be interesting to say the least.

My point is, the reason I feel like we don't see much information about the grim actions taken by our militaries, is to fit this mindset, that is made to both comfort and brainwash us. Many people who only watch the mainstream news sources live in ignorance about what is going on and don't look at other sources for information. It is unfortunate that this is the case, since the less this being talked about across the world, the more power this gives the militaries. However think about the alternative. Like I said, if it does get more talked about there would be so much outrage and division amongst the public. And with these major news sources that would report it, it would be so easy to spin the context to fit their narrative and ultimately would lead to more harm than good. In that respect, is it possible this is a good thing? That only small antiwar sites are reporting this, so not cause MORE division amongst the U.S.? I mean with everything that has happened in the last two years, all of the conspiracy theories and protests, why add this on to it all?

There is no real right or wrong in this scenario, on whether major news sources should talk more about the subjects posted from antiwar sites. No matter what, I think we should all be smart on how we get our news and information. That it's unwise to rely on only one news source to supply what you know. While at the same time, don't go reading every single site you can find since you never know what is real and what is fake. Fact checking is another important aspect when talking about news. At the end of the day, I think what's most important is that we should stop and think about the information given to us and if there is a mother side that comes with it. 

Sources:

https://www.antiwar.com

Blog #10 Living the Age of A.I.

 Here's a subject I have never ever blogged about before...technology!

But seriously, when we started watching the movie, the first thing I could only have in my mind was the asian centered game Go. The phrase "there are more possible movements in a game of Go than there are atoms in the universe" That really stopped me in the moment and took a while to process. But when they started to relating there game to computer algorithms I started to get the connection. I have sometimes and stopped in thought about how much information a computer can store and how it can open up billions of facts in just the blink of an eye. How AI has so much date recorded and a little voice such as Siri has recorded so many sounds and words to repeat back to you if you have a question. So much programming into the smallest mechanism at a factory. How so much programming and effort can go into a simple arcade game like Pac-Man. I have always though how much electrical engineering has advanced, and in only a couple circuit boards, we have advanced so much that now we are at the point where artificial intelligence is an up and coming thing. However is this necessarily a good thing?

One thing that always been talked about when discussing AI, is how it will limit jobs being available. So many jobs once where people had to do, machines have taken the place. Travel assistants, bank tellers, and other forms of information sources are in the process of becoming obsolete thanks to the rise of Artificial Intelligence, where a simple google search or check to SIRI can swears anything you want to ask them. Add to that, check out counters have many more self check out areas, factory workers have been replaced with Crain mechanisms. Even when you go to a Chili's, you can swipe your card at Kiosk at your table and not have to worry about waitress coming back. However, this is not first time this happened. As the video has stated, this is not the fist time technology has made a breakthrough taking jobs from people as there have been era where a certain field would have been eliminated entirely, thanks to the new found inventions being created. The reason I bring this up is because at this point, it almost seems like nature that this happens every couple of decades. Where yeah, as technology such as AI becomes more prominent in society, it can minimize jobs, however one could even argue this brings up new jobs to be had. Still, it is concerning how much we are starting on this type of intelligence, so anyone's concerns about what artificial intelligence affects are more than valid. 

However, AI can have its benefits some would argue. In the movie, the one young CEO started talking about how he really wants to use virtual drivers to reduce the number of roadside deaths. Or how AI had found ways to let women know they have or will have breast cancer. I do think that as technology progresses it can do wonders such as diagnosing a person, suggesting treatments, or perhaps (in time) perform a surgery. One might argue that AI is more reliable as it can memorize, what doctors would take 4-8 years to medical terms and procedures to study, a machine can do in half a second. Now that is crazy! So people may rely more on an AI, as they have a better history of being right since they LITERALLY have the world's knowledge at their finder tips. It also talked about automatic truck drivers and the benefits of that. Since accidents can happen when people drives trucks that can cost people's lives, an automated touch that is instantly programmed with the destination and the obstacles around it at all times, less people would have to pay the price. Even so, with all of these inventions malfunctions are always a possibility, and while being less, they still can bring up a number fatalities to keep in mind.

So overall AI, is something that has been having plenty of pros and cons. It can help plenty of people with life, while also costing a good amount of jobs. No matter what if anyone was to critique AI, I do think it is warranted. However, as for me personally, I am not all against AI. I think that it can help advance the world when given into the right hands. Where we don't have to worry about it spying on us or trying to surveil our actions in the veins of what I have talked about before in other blogs such as Total Information Awareness. There is a reason why I don't own an Amazon Alexia. Also avoiding a robot apocalypse would be nice. 

But what I thin k is most important is that if AI becomes more prominent in our culture, I think it is very important for people to keep the same values of work and don't rely too hard on technology. Where even if you have the word's knowledge now at out finger tips and can ask SIRI or someone to give you an answer or to use advanced technology to do something simple, we should still be comfortable doing things the old fashioned way. Otherwise if AI suddenly stops we may end up helpless and have no clue what to do. Kinda like in the movie WALL-E, where when the humans were so far from earth and had technology so advanced they did not know how to function once it turned against them. As AI starts to advance even further, I think we should all stop to look around at not only how far we have come but how we came that far. With our own two hands.

Video Source:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5dZ_lvDgevk

Blog #7 Movies

 It's interesting after seeing the student's presentations about technology how it has advanced over the year. The evolutions of technology such as social media, the internet, and many other products that have developed how we live our lives. One that I was very much interested in how it has evolved over time was movies.

Seeing how they came from small motion pictures, to adding sound and then color, to what we see them as now.

What I really thought was interesting is how some movies can spawn trends and eras of film. For instance one of the most famous era were westerns in 50s and 60s. Movies like The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid influenced an era of motion pictures where a cowboy would ride into a town, have a duel, get the board, and then ride off into the sunset. Full of gun violence and whiskey for audiences to enjoy. This is trend mostly since technology to shooting and making movies was more limited during that time so, it was no wonder many of these films took place in old fashioned towns with effects that were a lot more simple and practical. Compared to now where most movies have a lot of screen screen and special effects added in post production. It makes sense how Westerns were a big trend when movies became more and more popular.

it's not just western movies that became a trend. It can be said for horror as well. Of course in at the beginning of 1900s we had gotten plenty of Creature Features; Dracula, Frankenstein, The Wolf Man, The Swamp Thing, etc. But in 1978, the slasher genre became a thing with Halloween starring everyone's famous silent masked man: Michael Myers. Then came other movies when the monster is man, Friday the 13th, Nightmare on Elm Street, and even subversive films like Scream made this a classic genre.

And of course the superhero genre, the most trending genre at the moment has gotten more interesting as it has gone along. At the beginning we had old classics like the Christopher Reeves Superman films, to the Sam Raimi's Spider-Man in 2002, to Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy. Each creating a brand new standard of what a comic book movie should be. And now thanks to Marvel, superhero cinematic universe have become a regular standard. Where it is common for character from different movies to crossover and work together to stop a common threat! And these types of movies would make so much money than any other film ever imagined!

And now an up and coming trend for that genre seems to be crossovers from different universes as we are coming to see many upcoming rumors that characters from different studios may appear in different superheat movies. It has come to the point where if you want to go watch the new Spider-Man movie you may have to watch EVERY Spider-Man movie that has ever been made in order to prepare for it! 

Overall. movies are an ever expanding medium that I was delighted to hear more about in the EOTO presentations. As a person considering going into the film industry and learn more about the process of making them, I will always look back at the classic and how they came top be. Starting off a little simple film that sparked and entered craze of that particular genre or one that was inspired by a previous film or genre. I have learned some crazy things in my Media Laws and Literacy Class. Somethings that can pretty shocking and can make me rethink some things I lived my life in ignorance to beforehand. But even still, one thing I can count on is that either in theaters or on a streaming service, movies are something I can always count on being around for.

Blog #6 Diffusion in Innovations

 Of all the ways to communicate for the newest generation certainly gotten a surplus ways to do it. From the classic iMessage, to the DMs on Instagram, to chatting on Whats App, to even some still communicating on FaceBook of all places. However, the one that seems to be making the biggest impact to generation z is easily snapchat! Starting out in July 2011, it was the newest way to text and communicate with friends. It is still going very strong as it has almost 250 million people using it today! 

The app has gone through several phases in its development. I still remember getting it back in 7th grade and it feels very much different back then to what it is now Back then, it was famous for different face filters like a dog nose and ears or you were puking out rainbows! In fact in the mid 2010s, that was essentially the big thing with SnapChat that kinda sold it. It had some funny filters that many people would play around with and send selfies to each other. This would cause other social media sites to try to do similar concepts with face filters but none were as successful as Snapchat, being the innovator of it all.

 

The app also added a new way for people to communicate with each other with streaks. Essentially you would send a friend a picture every day and after a while a number would appear next to their name saying the amount of days you have had a streak with them. As silly as it sounds, this would gain the action of teenagers using the app around the world. People would have streaks that would have gone up for years and years. Even I have streaks with dozens of people on snapchat, with my longest being 1,593 days and still going strong!

I guess what makes this app a major player in the world of social media is how innovative and quick it is. The fact that you easily take selfies that diasppear after your friend sees them is such an odd concept yet it is what kids use today and a way to communicate with each other. And friend groups no longer always need to use iMessage for communicating in large groups anymore. They can easily use the Snapchat if one of them does not own an Apple made phone for example. 

The art of what Snapchat does has spread across the world, where now even it's rivals are trying to copy what makes it unique. Instagram tried it's hands at story mode and adding filters into its design. It still ultimately played second fiddle to what Snapchat is doing however.

However it's not all great with Snapchat as there are cons that come with the app. One of the things that has remained consistent throughout its run is that whatever you post will disappear after you send it to someone. You can replay it once or take a screenshot of it but generally, it is hard to trace old snaps of people. This can allow kids to communicate about subjects that they would not want their parents to find out about like doing drugs or drinking alcohol. Since the "snaps" are gone, parents cannot keep tabs on what their kids are doing.

Another downside is that their is a recent feature made a couple years ago called snap map. Where you would swipe to a google earth like map of the world where you can see the Bitmojis of all of your friends sharing their location. This could be harmful in a number of ways. First of all, while you can choose not to share your location with others or just to a limited amount of people if you want, it can happen where someone could hack your account or someone else's to see where your location is. Making it easier, of kindapping and other crime to take place. It also doesn't help either that it can harm people's self esteem as well. If look on and see a bunch of your fiends and the same area and you are not there, it can make you feel lonely or left out. Something I have experienced before. 

The reason why their are some late adopters mainly seems to come from Snapchat is continuously finding a new way to use the app

Snapchat is an interesting new innovator in technology for sure. It has become the main way generation z would communicate and send pictures to each other. As for whether the positive of the app outweigh the negatives is a difficult question. I think it all depends on how responsible on the app. If you simply just want to communicate and have fun with your friends with it, while posting fun and appropriate stuff, then you're fine. If you are using it for harmful reason rather it be to see where all of your friends are every second or every day or using it send inappropriate stuff to people, then it is probably best you don't use the app. As technology continues increase the more complicated it can become. Thus, the more we should be mindful of how it affects us. 

Blog #9. Total Information Awareness

So to my surprise, it turns out tracking people online did not begin with the evil Facebook huh? 

Around the 90s people owning their own computers started to become a norm among society. Granted, they would more often than not be the big bulky ones that take forever to load a single website. But still, people owning computers and being able to go on the internet started to become more of a stay in society. With more people going on the internet, the more online crime could technically be a thing. Where hacking into bank accounts and private documents restricted to the general public became an actual possibility. This got the attention of the government, as their IT departments started to brainstorm ways to surveil people as they go online and ensure no one commits any crimes while online. 

The problem with all of this was few Americans would stand to have their private information be seen by strangers regardless of their credentials as it would take away their privacy from the. Add to it the government never had an actual reason or high ground to create a system to watch what people do online. That was until the attack on the Twin Towers happened on September 11th. From there the systems of government were concerned about what could potentially happen to put it lightly. They have discovered that if people could hack create terrorism that can knock two of the tallest buildings in the country down to  the ground, what could happen in a year. Or five? Or ten? As technology started to evolve at a much rapider pace, the United States government created something. Thus, in only a few short month at the beginning of 2002, the United States Government established the Information Awareness office. Their goal was to apply surveillance and information technology to track and monitor terrorists and other "asymmetric" threats to U.S. national security. 

They created a workplace called the Information Awareness Office or IAO for short. They would start to create large computer data bases to record everyone's online history.  This would include e-mails, phone calls, credit card histories, medical records, and just about anything else they could get their hands on. All without any warrant or even warning. They would analyze all of this information so they could look for threats and potential terrorists. The Program became the closest thing the United States ever had to a "big brother" program, as it made as much information available as possible, as it put as many people as it could find into this "ultra large scale" data base, trying to find the terrorists

The program's next step was to start to fund for biometric surveillance technologies, that allow city products such as traffic cams to run facial recognition on people and try to find threats and terrorists. However the more this program was starting to be developed and evolve the more concerned the general public was about their privacy and freedom. This would start to cause outrage in the general public that ultimately led to Congress deciding that this mass surveillance system was not right and it was shut down in 2003. Since people realized that this program would absolutely kill privacy. Congress eliminated funding for the project and closed the Pentagon's Information Awareness Office. 

Or so we thought.

While yes, TIA is no longer taking function, there is still plenty of data mining being done by the government. They still have instead plenty of the initiative that spawned from TIA such as the Novel Intelligence from Massive Data, that came from the the Intelligence Community Advanced Research and Development Activity. Other departments within the government have also began data mining projects around the time such as the FBI. A new system called "Thin Thread" was made to take place afterwards.

Even now, with the existence of social media that plays a prevalent role in the lives of many young Americans, this is the breeding ground for surveillance. Where even some companies such as Facebook would partner to surveil people without their knowledge. Thanks a lot Mark Zuckerberg. 

But now with all these new secrets the government is holding from us comes people disinclined to be apart of it, feeling it is inhumane. With that came the whistleblowers and people trying to expose all of these agencies for what they are. Unfortunately those whole blow the whistle would not be happy with what would come after. Many would of course, be fired but many more would face legal consequence and some even ended up in jail. One man who did, William Binney, says that he blew the whistle to a Justice on the Supreme Court, to the House intelligence committees that are supposedly tasked with oversight of the 16 secretive intelligence agencies, and to the DOJ's Inspector General. What happened afterwards you might wonder? He was the one investigated, and the FBI busted into his house, guns drawn. All while no one payed any attention to what he risked his entire lifestyle for. Isn't that lovely. According to Binney "I'm sure there are. And I know a number of them that are but they're so, they're so afraid to do anything. I mean, they've seen what happened to us — they sent the FBI to us. So they're afraid of being indicted, prosecuted, and even if you win the case if you're indicted, you're still going to lose, because you've had to hire a lawyer and all like Tom [Drake] did and we did. So you lose anyway you speak of it. When they have unlimited funds to do whatever they want, and you don't, they can indict you on any number of things like they tried to do with us."

It just goes to show how strong the government can be, having hold of our lives to the point where they would probably know about us than we do! And yet there is so little we can do except hope that someday, someday these people will be exposed for what they have really been doing.

 

Sources:

https://privacysos.org/blog/william-binney-nsas-total-information-awareness-bait-and-switch/

https://www.historyofinformation.com/detail.php?id=4990