Final paper in the works

I am almost done writing my final paper. I decided to definitely write about the first prompt on Technopoly, because even though I feel it was probably a harder read, I enjoy talking about education and college lifestyle.  I have to admit it was  not as easy as I had originally thought it was going to be. I find myself going off topic a lot and having to refer back to the thesis that I had come up with. I have lots of ideas about technology and education especially being an education major, but having to relate it all back to technopolies, which is really complex, has been very difficult. I have basically decided that the modern day college campus effects the way we view education, how universities use their mission statements and how students learn in a college setting. I really do not like writing to fit certain criteria such as deadlines, because it is currently stressing me out to get the number of pages in. Although, on the flip side, I do not like not knowing approximately how long the paper should be. I should probably get back to writing my paper now. I hope the rest goes smoothly.

Midterm Evaluation

Working on the midterm assignment of auditing a wikipedia article was very interesting. I had a feeling that Wikipedia wasn't that reliable, but it's interesting to see how true that can be when you break apart an article. We researched the Jersey Shore TV show and controversies. The way we decided to do it was split up the sources and check into all of them to see which were accurate and which were not. Most all of my citations were accurate, but the thing I did find was that, in some parts, they left out other points of view, which creates some bias. Listening to the other presentations, I feel as if the class came to a mutual decision that Wikipedia is not a scholarly source. I think Wikipedia is a great place to get a quick snapshot of a topic, but not to research something in depth. Also I feel it depends on what you are researching, because, our article the Jersey Shore did give a great overview of what the show was about and the characters in it. More debatable topics though, may not have as accurate facts. I thought it was a very interesting project and am glad I had the chance to do it.

Final Part 1

After receiving the final assignment for this class I began to think deeply about which one I wanted to pick. Choosing for me sometimes is the hardest part because I'm always afraid I won't have enough information to fill the required page number quota. I think I am leaning more towards the first prompt because it relates to my life more than the second one does right now. I am a music education major, so the rest of my life will probably be spent dealing with the educational system. I think technology has changed so much in regards to education, especially college education. The way we apply for colleges is changing so quickly, only a few years ago, applications were sent in by mail. Just this year, my brother applied to Rutgers, and everything was done online, no letters of recommendation were requested, and he had to self report his grades. When I applied, just 4 years ago, I needed letters, and a paper transcript sent. This goes to show how fast things are changing and how college is becoming a technopoly.  Things are changing to make things more efficient and therefore is making college campuses a technopoly. Some other thoughts I've had about ways technology has turned the college campus into a technopoly are, bus system, next bus, wireless printing, online library resources, online registration and key swipes.

Current Event

The article I chose to present on was called, Hope for quicker, more accurate cancer cell identification. Researchers in Illinois have discovered a way to use laser lights to identify cancerous cells in humans. The results would be shown in 5 minutes from taking the scan, and shows cancerous cells in red and normal cells in blue. They claim that the results are 99% accurate in showing where the line of cancerous cells and normal cells meet. The way this machine identifies the cancerous cells is by using a laser light NIVI to see what the cells are made of. Cancerous cells have a high amount of protein that normal cells do not have making it easy to identify.  The technology doesn't exactly make a whole world of sense to me, but I don't really understand any medical technology. I think this could really be a great think if it became easily accessible to the world. Advances like this one could help save so many lives. In class we briefly discussed that there wouldn't be any negatives to this technology, which to me says that not all technology is really bad. I feel like a lot of what we have read talks about how technology is such a bad thing, when in reality it can help all of us out tremendously.

http://www.gizmag.com/lasers-identify-cancer-cells/17070/

The Facebook Effect Part 1

David Kirkpatrick's the Facebook Effect, is a book I really had been looking forward to reading. I have been a pretty avid facebook user since 2007 when I came to college. For me, it's a great connecting tool, and makes things so much easier in terms of event planning and catching up with old friends. The first chapter in the book talks about an event that I had never even heard of. But basically, it is about a Colombian man who went on facebook and created a group against the FARC, and within days became a world wide common thread. People all over the world were joining this protest group, and soon he organized the biggest protest ever held. When I first started reading the book, I didn't understand what this little story could have to do with facebook, but as I read I was astounded. It is crazy to me how technology can connect so many people now, all fighting for a similar cause. It is almost unbelievable, and it is crazy to think that just 20 years ago a protest like this, would have been nearly impossible. Facebook really has changed the world. It mentions in this book that the author found out about some news event through a facebook status. This happens to me all the time. Facebook is the first place I get big information, and after I see a hint of something in someone's status I then start googling to find out what this is all about. But before facebook, people actually went on news sites more frequently to find out what was going on in the world. 

The actual creation story about facebook was very interesting in itself. I went to see the Social Network when it came out in theaters, and was not surprised to find that some of what they portrayed in the movie was not true. For example, in the movie, Mark Zuckerberg was not in the fraternity as Eduardo Saverin but in real life they were fraternity brothers. Also Dustin Moskovitz was not portrayed as such a big player in the movie as he really was. Regardless, reading this section about the creation was very intriguing. Mark's main goal was to connect people in a way that was different than before. Of course people had instant messenger to communicate, but it was not everyone craved. Facebook allowed for such a great social connection, through relationship statuses, pictures, statuses, events and even one of Mark's first creations a Coursematcher. I thought it was interesting when they talked about how the creators weren't sure how far they wanted it to spread, because at first it was only Ivy League prestigious schools that were given access. I don't think they knew how big this would eventually become, because if they had they probably would have let everyone have access immediately. I think they thought it would stay a relatively small thing that would only be used for exclusive colleges. The thing I find so interesting is that Facebook was not the first social networking site, but yet is the one that taken over our society. Friendster was too slow, and myspace had too many fakes on it, but Facebook seems to have landed it just right.

The Facebook Effect that Kirkpatrick talks about happens when, "The service puts people in touch with each other, often unexpectedly, about a common experience, interest, problem or cause." pg 7 It also talks about how on facebook everyone can be an "Editor, a content creator, a producer and a distributor." pg 9 and that reminds me a lot of the book on Wikipedia. This new technology that we are using gives us such power. I know that I can go on my facebook right now and create whatever message I'd like and either post it as my status, send it in a message to all my friends or even put it in a note for anyone to read. This power is exciting for people, and it can lead to good things. For example, the past two years here at college, I have organized a group of students from Mason Gross to go caroling at Robert Wood Johnson's hospital. Facebook made it so much easier to connect with these students, and plan out when we would meet to rehearse, and how we would get there. This connection we have is really amazing and I think it is something that David Kirkpatrick values. I am excited to keep reading this book because unlike some of the other reads, David seems to be accepting of this technology we have been given. 

MAde to Break 3

Giles Slade is really trying to warn us in this last section of the book that we need to stop wasting as much as we do. I think one of the most interesting and shocking quotes in this book was, "The average American, one analyst has noted, will have watched more than three years of television advertising by the end of his or her life." pg 265 Although this is not the sole reason for obsolescence in America, it definitely plays a role in it. We see commercials for cool new products over and over which entices us to buy these new products before we need them. The new development of neophilia has forced our society into throwing things out before they are ready to be thrown out. Most people have to have things as soon as they come out. Slade gives us suggestions on how we can counteract this wasteful way of living. He suggests we reuse, and recycle. We also need to educate others in the dangers of this world we are now living in, because honestly, people don't usually think about these kinds of things. I know that before reading this book I was a lot less aware about the problems this waste was causing. Although to counter Slade's worry, I think that our society today is slowly getting better. For example, in class last week we talked about doing good on the internet and one site we talked about was craigslist. This past week, my phone broke, and I went to craigslist to see if anyone was selling phones, and to my surprise there were hundreds of postings from just one days advertisements. Maybe it's just the economy, but people are trying to find other ways of getting rid of things besides just throwing them in the trash. Also I know there are a lot of recycling drives in schools now to get rid of hazardous products, like cell phones, and old electronics. Slowly but surely we are starting to get the hint that this waste is dangerous, and if we are going to continue our ways of buying things before they become obsolete, then we need to figure out how to get rid of our old products. Personally, I keep all my old electronics, and have never thrown any out in the trash. When I do eventually decide to get of them I will recycle it.
I really found this book informative, and thought it had basically the same ideas as Technopoly did. Both authors were more "anti technological advances" and were afraid for what's to come. I hope that our society can continue to better itself and become more savvy when it comes to this waste we are producing. Hopefully, through education and awareness we can all make a difference.

Doing Good on the Internet

I think there is a lot of good being done on the internet, despite all the criticism it can get at times. Five sites that I think have really done some good are:
freerice.com
volunteermatch.org
charitywater.org
wish.org
habitat.org
The internet makes it so easy to connect with projects that you may not have gotten connected too in the past. Now with a click of a button you can help someone else out who is in need. I also think freerice is a neat idea, because people are so often bored online, and instead of just stalking facebook, you can be feeding people in other countries. Other was I think the internet has had a positive effect on the world, is through easily accessible information. For example, webmd.com provides all kinds of medical information and how to treat things. Another easily accessible thing now is phone numbers, I know that when a strange number calls me I just type it into google and find out who it is or where it was from. This information was a lot harder to find 15 years ago. It really is amazing how our society has changed just from this overload of information. I definitely do not think it is for the worse though, I think there is just as much useful information on the internet than there is garbage. So many charity organizations function online now and are helping out more people as a result. People are also able to find people easier now, whether it be relationships or long lost friends, the internet helps us stay in touch and connect. Dating websites are becoming huge now, which is something that would have been considered crazy in the 90s. There definitely is a lot of good being done on the internet today.

Made to Break 2

I was a little disappointed in this second half of the reading. I had really enjoyed reading the first part and thought I'd really enjoy the second part as well. I enjoyed reading about American's disposable nature in the first half and it really clicked why obsolescence is so big here. Chapter four talks about the development of the radio, and how television pretty much replaced that. The development of FM radio though is what kept radio alive. Looking at radio now though, I have to say I think it's starting to be come obsolete. With the development of satellite radios, the way we listen to music has changed. Now there are suddenly so many possibilities. I remember when I was a kid, my mom used to have a huge stereo system in our kitchen, and the radio would almost always be on. Now though, I don't even have a radio, or stereo system in my house. We use itunes radio, or pandora. The technology of online radio I think is starting to make FM obsolete. The only time I listen to the radio is in the car, because I do not have satellite radio. I don't think this new technology is necessarily a bad thing. We have developed something that does not completely replace the old technology, FM radio is still around, but we are making improvements. I think this is a good example of obsolescence because it improves our day to day lives.
Another thing Slade talks about in this second section is suburban obsolescence. I'm not sure I really understand this section. I do understand that after the World War soldiers came home without anywhere to go, but I do not feel that homes are something that become obsolete. Homes are reused for sometimes hundreds of years. So this section confused me a little.
Planned Obsolescence is the desire to own something better than the last version that is unnecessary. Most of Americans are guilty of this, and companies take advantage of it. I think this has it's pros and cons to it, and is not entirely negative or positive. It is obviously great for the big companies that make things that are unnecessary and know we will buy. On the other hand though, it also keeps the companies making newer faster things for us consumers to buy, which increases the speed of technology. This I thinks is a huge pro for planned obsolescence. Looking back to the book we read a few weeks ago, Computers, the big computer companies like Apple, wouldn't have continued to make their computers faster and smaller, if no consumers wanted them. Because there is a demand, the companies produce.

Made to Break 1

Made to Break: Technology and Obsolescence in America by Giles Slade is a book that talks about consumerist trends in America. It talks about advertising, and obsolescence, in it's different forms and how we as Americans view items for sale. Obsolescence is an American invention, which started out with the idea of disposable items. Before reading this book, I never realized how many items we use today are disposable. Back years ago, they didn't have disposable items like we have now, so things were valued more. Now we have disposable diapers, razors, cups and pretty much almost anything you can think of. This mentality of throwing things out after it is done with, is perhaps the start of where our obsolescence of expensive and more "non-disposable" items comes from. One quote I really liked from this book, was a quote from a Dutch immigrant. "We had been in the United States only a few days before the realization came home strongly to my father and mother that they had brought their children to a land of waste.."pg 24. Now this of course was from 1870 not 2010 but it really is true. We live in a land of waste. We dispose of so many items on a daily basis, many disposable but others not. You don't even really think about what happens when you throw things out, but it ends up in a huge landfill, which we are running out of places to put. Because of our "disposable" culture, technology keeps coming up with bigger and better things and knows that we will dispose of our old ones and buy the new. They know that all they have to do is make it a little bit better than the last one you had and you will need to have the new one. Our culture makes this obsolescence easy.
Slade does not seem fond of obsolescence in America, and I have to agree it is very wasteful. At the same time though, our culture is to want the newest most hi-tech things. Pop culture shows celebrities on the newest gadget, and so much of the population wants to emulate these celebrities. I do think though, we can divide people into three different groups; the ones who every time something new comes out they are first in line to buy it, the ones who upgrade their items when they see fit, and the people who stick to one gadget for as long as they possibly can, before it breaks. Wealth does have a lot to do with where you fit in, but even people who are not extremely wealthy can be in the first category. Companies keep making products better in speed and appearance that we just have to have it.
I am really excited to keep reading this book, because it is really intriguing to read things about how companies market their items, and really how they control us with their products. Giles talked about GE with the lightbulb and how really they monopolize the entire lighting industry because they can control how long it lasts. It makes me wonder if this is what all these gadget companies do, and why we do start needing new gadgets so quickly. It is a very interesting concept and I can't wait to finish the book.

The World and Wikipedia Part 2

As I continue to read this book I am starting to see that I didn't realize what a community Wikipedia really is. These Wikipedians use this website as a channel for political discussion, and personal arguments. It really is a whole other world, which is amazing considering it's just a website. It reminds me off the video we watched in class, talking about how youtube is a community. I really never thought of these websites as communities, in the way I had looked at Facebook and other social networking sites. People love Wikipedia because they get to write about anything they want. It gives readers of an old encyclopedia the power to be a part of it all and it puts all people on an equal playing field. Whether you are a brilliant professor or some guy in his pajamas in his living room, both get to use Wikipedia and edit articles at their leisure.
It is sometimes hard to trust the information on Wikipedia for a few reasons. One reason is, for a multitude of reasons, the information that you are reading could be false. There are many people who take pleasure in vandalizing articles, and others who just don't have the correct facts. It is also hard to trust some articles because the links they site at the bottom could be mirrors of Wikipedia. We do end up trusting it though because it is such a major site. It's fame is world wide, and it is common knowledge now as to what it is. Wikipedia has also become a place where we double check information, such as breaking news. In this world of technology, Twitter, Facebook and Wikipedia know things before the news does. It's crazy, but true. I know personally I have found out about more breaking news through Facebook statuses than the news, and then when I read something in someone's status, I google it and most likely end up on Wikipedia reading the breaking article. We really do live in a world of speed, where we find out about things so close to when they happen. I really found the last little story about the David Rhodes kidnapping interesting. The fact that those people might have gone on the internet to find out more about who he was, is incredible. I feel it's true, if they had seen such a Wikipedia article where it states he had been kidnapping the results might have been different
I really enjoyed reading this book, because again, it puts the world we live in into perspective. One website can really change the world. This access to information is a wonderful yet dangerous thing, and we all need to learn how to use it wisely. You can't take everything you see on there seriously, but if you are wise you will learn how to use Wikipedia to your advantage.

The World and Wikipedia Part 1

After reading Andrew Dalby's, the World and Wikipedia, I had major flashbacks to my youth of using Encarta and Britannica CDs on my old school computer. I distinctly remember doing a research project when I was younger, and in order to find the information I was looking for, I had to insert the second CD into the computer. It was a whole process to find information and it took lots of patience to find what you needed to find. Now, any and all information is right there at your fingertips. While reading this book, I got very curious about some of the articles I was reading from Wikipedia, so I typed in the title of the page on wikipedia.org and instantaneously it was there in front of me, as opposed to years ago, where I'd have to go find the correct volume of the encyclopedia it was in. In the first chapter, I learned how easy it was to alter a wikipedia article and how fast articles pop up after a new event has occurred. Taking their first example of the volcano, it is amazing to think that now within a day, people all around the world with a computer can read an encyclopedia article on something that happened that day. This didn't happen back in the days of print encyclopedias, because it was costly to keep reprinting, and realistically, you can't reprint a series of books everyday and keep selling them. Information started to get outdated, and people wouldn't know which statistics had changed and which were still the same. Today, articles can be changed at any moment, from any computer by anybody, which just shows you how connected we really are to each other through web 2.0.

In Chapter 3 it talks about how the best and worst feature of Wikipedia is the fact that anyone can edit it. By letting anyone edit this resource, you are collaborating with the entire world, using everyones knowledge as opposed to one mans research leading up to an encyclopedia. But, at the same time, this editing can go horrible wrong and people do abuse it, just to mess with the site. The problem is the unreliability then, because if you happen to check an article right after someone has messed with it, you would really have no idea, and the chances that you're going to check back on the article everyday for the next week is unrealistic so you only see the one wrong informational piece. I think it is a slippery slope, and it's hard to trust the site since you really don't know if it's 100% correct. The citations can be helpful, especially in leading you to another webpage, or even to a book where you can read the information for yourself. This leads to Chapter 4 talking about why we use Wikipedia and how students use it. As students of this generation we are used to Wikipedia, and it is comfortable for us to find things on there. It also is one of the first things that pop up when you search something in google. These two factors make it a highly used resource, but teachers are not keen on the idea of using Wikipedia as a resource, because of its unreliability. One of my favorite quotes from this chapter is, "Wikipedia represents all that is great and all that is dangerous about the internet." pg 103. The information is fast, and instantaneous for us now, so we are very tempted to just take what we read there and believe it completely, but as this says, this is a danger.

I think this technology has changed the way we view information, and information keeping. Information about almost anything can be found on Wikipedia, because people from all over the world contribute to it. The vast languages that Wikipedia can be found in is also incredible, and the Wikipedians who dedicate their time to researching and changing the site are changing the way we live. I'm excited to continue reading this book, and learning even more about this ever-changing encyclopedia.

Technopoly Part 2

The second half of Neil Postman's Technopoly starts out talking about medical advances. It talks about how we now rely on machines rather than doctors word to diagnose us. How, we are not satisfied if a doctor does not do all he can do with technology to figure out what is wrong. I can see where he is coming from but I think the advances in medicine have done more to help than they have to harm. He talks about C-sections being more dangerous that regular births, but at the same time, that has saved so many lives of children. I was actually a C-section baby because otherwise I would have died. These technological advance, do have pros and cons, but we are able to do so much more with the medical advances.
He talks about computer technology which I talked a lot about in my previous posts. There is a lot of talk between the metaphor of computers being human and visa versa. When talking about viruses on a computer, we use human terms such as virus, infected, contagious, and vaccine. "It reflects a profound shift in perception about the relationship of computers to humans." pg114 Computers have become a part of our life now, and it is as if they are deemed higher powers than we are. Postman talks about how people don't deny statements that start with things like, "Well the Computer shows.." because it is comparable to "It is God's will.." centuries ago. I can't say I fully agree with this, because I think most of us are aware that it is possible for a computer to miscalculate something, but I do see where he is coming from.
Postman talks a lot about language, questions and poll technologies that are known more as invisible technologies. Defining people as statistics in poll questions is not the most accurate thing, because there are limited choices available. I found this argument to be very interesting, especially on page 135 where he talks about a poll that asks if we should take away economic aid from Nicaragua. Out of the 72 percent that say yes, 28 percent believe that Nicaragua is in central Asia, 18 percent near New Zealand and 27.4 in Africa. This does go to show that that information was not given when the poll was ask which then construes the results leading people to believe something that is false.
The idea of Scientism is comprised of three sections; methods of natural sciences can  be applied to study human behavior, social science creates principles which organize society, and faith in science serves as a belief system. He goes on in this chapter about how these three things tie in with our Technopoly and how our society has changed because of the focus of social science studies. Trivialization is another thing that has become prominent in our society and changed the way we look at things.
I think the most interesting thing to me in this book came in the last chapter with the statement, "You must try to be a loving resistance fighter. I mean that, in spite of the confusion errors, and stupidities you see around you, you must always keep close your heart the narratives and symbols that once made the Inited states the hope of the world." He is saying here how we need to keep a distance from technology and be able to think that it is somewhat strange. I think Postman is afraid that culture and history will be lost with the development of Technopoly, because the entire last chapter talks about how we should educate the future and not forget about the history. I personally think technology has HELPED teach history and our culture. It is so much easier now than ever to research anything you ever wanted to know about the past, and considering we learn from the past, we know more than we ever have. I disagree with a lot of points Postman makes, because technology is a huge part of our lives now, and our generation especially has embraced it. We still can see where there are flukes, but I don't think we have to distance ourselves too much from this new world. Life must go on, and if we do not succumb to the new advances we will just get lost in the crowd. It was a very interesting read, and gave a lot of insights that I had not thought about before.

Computers Part 2

The birth of the personal computer starts with the Altair computer, which was a kit that could be purchased for self assembly at home. It was very basic, with no peripherals. Paul Allen and Bill Gates became intrigued with the Altair and developed a basic programming language for the computer. Around the same time as Microsoft was being founded by Allen and Gates, in California Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs created the Apple computer. The Apple II was an "attractive and relatively reliable machine" pg 92. It was also used in a lot of schools and was one of the first computers that students were able to get a chance to use. IBM also started growing and creating their own version of the personal computer. "With the introduction of the IBM PC and Microsoft DOS, Apple faced serious competition for the first time." pg 96. It was not until all three of these companies started expanding when they realized they had real competition competition on their hands. Computers were becoming more and more popular and each company needed something that could make their computers better. Macintosh gained attention when they created a computer with a screen in the same unit as the computer, and a keyboard and mouse. Computer games started to become a growing industry, with computers like the Macintosh that were available to the public.
Networking became the next step in this world of computers. It started out with ARPAnet which connected computers at major universities. The video we watched in class a few weeks ago did a pretty good job of portraying this networking. The universities were reluctant to network with each other and share resources, but part of the deal of being in the network was that they had to be connected to the other schools. I find this very interesting, because it shows how competitive the environment was back then, compared to today, where we share information readily on web 2.0. Bitnet, created by IBM soon replace ARPAnet. It used IP addresses to create what we now know as the internet. The internet changed everything, in regards to connections between places and people.
With computers becoming more and more popular and internet access more accessible, it created a digital divide, between people that had access to the technology and people who did not. It also creates new problems, such as hacking and viruses. The world was a lot simpler of a place before the widespread use of computers, but it has enhanced our lives incredibly. Things are so much easier because we have computers and the internet. Research on anything is available to us at anytime as long as we have access with a computer that is connected to the internet. We can connect in ways that we have not been able to connect before, and it changes our definition of location. We can be in multiple locations at once, where as fifty years ago that would have been impossible. It is amazing to read about how this all started because someone wanted to make math calculations more efficient and easier. It started a technological revolution that has changed our lives.

PS. Algorithms
The use of algorithms today has become extremely popular, whether we realize it or not. I honestly hadn't thought about all the algorithms the computer uses on us, for example the music pandora picks for you based on your one choice of music. I find it intriguing more than I find it creepy or weird. Pandora helps me find new music that I may not have found before, and the "Things you may like" on youtube, or amazon, help me find the things that I actually do want that I hadn't had the time to look for myself. I understand it is a little weird that it can make choices for me, but it's not like someone knows everything about me and is helping me, it's a machine who doesn't know me personally, just my likes and dislikes.

Computers Part 1

While reading the book, Computers; The Life Story of a Technology by Eric G. Swedin and David L. Ferro, I have learned so much about how technology has grown from the basics to the complex machines we use today. Reading the first chapter was very interesting because I had not realized how early the use of calculating machines really was. The first chapter starts off with a story of how in 1900, a group of Greek fisherman found a shipwreck where it was discovered that this boat from probably 100 and 40 BCE had a mechanical device that calculated lunar, solar and stellar calenders. This shows that computer technology goes back too BC and has slowly evolved into what it is now. The first calculating machine which was produced by Blaise Pascal, couldn't subtract which thinking about calculators now seems ridiculous. We live in an age, where we don't even think about the mechanics of things we use everyday, but the calculator is a complex instrument that took many years to fully develop.
The development of the first computers all took place around World War II. What is interesting, is that these people all over the world, were developing similar machines, that were designed to solve more difficult mathematical equations, at the same time. John  Vincent Atanasoff in Iowa, John Mauchly and J. Presper Eckert at the Moore School, Konrad Zuse in Germany, and Howard Hathaway Aiken in Massachusetts. Mauchly and Eckert are credited with the first commercial electronic computer in the United States. This computer is said to have predicted that Eisenhower would win the election and it was indeed true. I think this was a huge break in technological advances, because this machine was so much more efficient than the early calculating machines that were very limited in their abilities.
The second generation of computers was led by IBM in their making of the 700 series of computers, followed by the 650. Instead of just being able to calculate complex mathematics, these computers were able to store characters, and the 650 was able to store 2000 ten digit words. These computers were offered to universities at a discount if they taught programming at the school. This again, was a huge advancement for computer technology, because now these machines were able to store words instead of just numbers. Marvin Minsky became the pioneer of the study of something knew called artificial intelligence. This studied computers as independent thinking machines that could do what humans could do.
The third generation of computers resulted in mini computers, super computers, microprocessors and software production. Because these computers were becoming more advanced, the need for software programs became higher in demand. Just looking at the advancement in the course of 20 years is incredible. I don't think the creators of all these new advances could have foreseen how far technology would come, to the point where almost everyone would have a personal computer, some which weigh next to nothing. I am sitting  on my bed while writing this blog, which would have been preposterous to think about in the 70s. From a huge room, to a small 13 inch lap top computer is an amazing advancement.  

Technopoly Part 1

Technopoly by Neil Postman is an interesting book on the effect technology has on the world. My first reaction was this book is almost as old as I am, and while reading it, I had to remember that this book came before all the technological advances I have seen in the past twenty years. Even though Neil Postman wrote this book in 1992 he has the right idea, "Technology, in sum, is both friend and enemy." I think the same thought is still correct for the technology we have encountered in the 18 years after he wrote this book. In the first chapter he divides people into two categories, the Technophiles, people who see only the good technology is going to do, and the people who see only the harm in what technology is going to do and do not think it will be of any benefit. I think that most people fall in between these two categories, because I think there are both pros and cons to new technology. I liked the story he tells about Thamus, where Theuth invents writing and Thamus thinks that it will destroy people's memory and wisdom. I had honestly never thought about this, but the technology of writing does alter the way people think especially when you can use writing as a crutch for memory
Postman goes on to describe the three different types of cultures that exist in the world, tool-using cultures, technocracies and technopolies. Tool-using cultures have some technology but it does not dominate the culture, technocracies have and use technology and it competes with the current culture, and technopolies are where technology dominates the culture. Again, this book was written almost twenty years ago, at which time Postman says that America is the only technopoly in existence. I think at this time though, there are many places that have technopolies, and its becoming harder and harder to find tool-using cultures. Technology has dominated the world, even children in Africa are getting laptops to use, which opens up a whole new world for them. It seems to me, as if the entire world is now a technopoly because, with the invention of web 2.0 and cellphones, we are connected to each other in ways we never have been able to connect.
I think so far, this book is trying to tell us that technology can be a dangerous thing, because it results in an information overload. With this immense amount of information, we are apt to believe things that we may not have believed centuries ago. Postman says, "In the Middle Ages, people believed in the authority of their religion, no matter what. Today we believe in the authority of our science, no matter what." pg.58 When you really think about it, you are inclined to believe lots of things with the technological age we live in, because there is so much that is possible and so much we don't understand even with the information that we blindly believe. To give an example, my father who is in his fifties just got a GPS for his car this past Christmas. He has NO idea how this little thing can tell him where to go, or help him when he makes a wrong turn but he does not question it's directions in the slightest. He blindly believes in this thing that he can not understand how it works. This mentality leads to a world of possibilities in people's minds today. It's almost as if we believe that anything is possible. Centuries ago, when these vast technologies were not available, people did not believe things that they did not understand, for example, it took a long time for people to realize the world was not flat. Unlike us today though, when they heard this idea of the world being a sphere they thought it was blasphemous and would not hear anything of the sort. This technology and information has really changed our culture and how we all think about the world. I still think there are pros and cons to the technology but I accept it and as many others are, I embrace it.

TFLN

I went to the Texts From Last Night presentation last Friday night and was surprised at what I found; two average twenty-somethings who basically fell into this fame. They didn't seem very excited to be at Rutgers, or to be presenting on this topic of how they started it all. They also seemed like they didn't know why they were here exactly. It definitely proved though, that a simple, stupid idea, of sharing drunk text messages with friends could actually turn into a million dollar business. That is what amazes me more than anything. There wasn't some genius idea that hit them, it was just something stupid that they enjoyed doing got picked up by people on the internet and it turned into something huge. I think it also goes to show what the internet is capable of. The more hits this tiny blog got the more popular it became and because it got so many hits it became what it is now. Now this site, which originally was only viewed by a few friends of Ben and Lauren, is viewed by people ranging from high school students to senior citizens who get a laugh. Technology is really something incredible that can turn nobodies into some-bodies for a while. I don't think they realize that their fame will end eventually and they will go back to being nobodies. Lauren said she quit law school for this, but really in the end, this will die out too just as any new fad does. It was unfortunate that they were not the savvy and smart people I had expected them to be. All in all I thought it was a good experience going, because it showed me how its the small little ideas that can turn into big things.

First Post

So this is my first time making a blog since I was in high school and made a xanga. I must say, it was very easy to make this one especially since I already had a gmail account. I'm still trying to figure things out on here, like how to make it look a little cooler than it does now. Blogger seems to have a lot more features than my xanga did, but that was about 6 or 7 years ago. It is amazing how technology changes over time and how things become so much more common. When I was in high school, people had xangas and some different blog accounts but they were so much more private than they are now. Now there is twitter where your blog posts can be sent immediately to people's phones. Technology has brought people closer together but to be honest I do feel that it can be a bit much at times. I do not have a twitter and I wouldn't want to have one because I personally feel it's not necessary for me to share every moment of my life with people who are following me. The same goes for the reverse, I don't think I'd want posts sent to my phone telling me exactly what all my friends are doing at every second. Although I am a huge user of facebook, I find twitter to be a little too much. At least when I go on facebook, I am not forced to read everyones status updates, as I would if I had a post sent to my phone. I definitely think this technology has it's pros and cons.

I have monitored my technology usage during the past few days, and I am not surprised by the results. I check my e-mail, and facebook every morning when I wake up, and every time I come home from a class. I don't have email on my phone, so for me it is a necessity to check it throughout the day. The facebook though, I must admit is pretty bad, I often have it on for hours while I sit in my room and study. I guess I just feel that if I don't have it up, or if I don't check it I am missing out on a link to the outside world. I must admit that I used to be even worse, and I would bring my laptop to class just to keep checking my facebook, but now that I have gotten older I have gotten a little better. The same goes for my cell phone. Although I am still attached to it at almost every moment of the day, I do not worry about missing a call or text as much as I used to. I have begun to realize that it is not the end of the world if I don't text someone back in the next minute after the text was received. I was actually telling a good friend of mine the other day, that back in freshman year I wouldn't even put my phone down when I was out somewhere, that I wanted to make sure I responded to every text or call immediately. I am glad I have tried to ease my reliance from technology a bit, but I do feel that the younger generation is becoming more and more attached to it. I think because when I was a kid we didn't have all these social networking sites, or even cell phones as much, that I am able to cope without it more easily. These kids though that are 8 years old and already are texting constantly, I feel will be attached to it forever.

Some other reasons that I have been on the internet in the past few days have been to check information on my classes, check my bank account statements, listen to music, and get directions. The internet really has great information and does make things so much more convenient. I am excited to have created this blog and maybe this will inspire me to make a personal one, although if I did it would probably be pretty private since I don't find it necessary that everyone in cyberspace knows every detail of my life.

Looking forward to an exciting semester.