how to add music to your blog

My skill was demonstrating ways to add music to a blog. I made a blog to help teach my skill. Check it out.

http://skillsbyadrienne.blogspot.com/


Some of the stuff I covered in the groups today is in some of the posts on the blog. It might help clarify things if you read those.



-Adrienne

Absentee Ballots

Hey guys, heres a few links for people interested in applying for their absentee ballot. I have a couple of states listed:

Massachusetts:

http://www.sec.state.ma.us/ele/elepdf/absbalap.pdf

Connecticut:

http://www.ct.gov/sots/LIB/sots/ElectionServices/ElectForms/electforms/aabeng.pdf

New York

http://www.elections.state.ny.us/NYSBOE/download/voting/absentee.pdf

New Hampshire:

http://www.sos.nh.gov/Absentee%20Ballot%20Application-2007.pdf

Vermont:

http://vermont-elections.org/elections1/absentee.html

Maine:

http://www.maine.gov/cgi-bin/online/AbsenteeBallot/index.pl

New Jersey:

http://www.njelections.org/absentee_doe.html

Be sure to apply for the ballots soon because time is running out. You can also get in touch with HWS Votes who will help you get set up with your absentee ballot.

Search Engines

Search Engines on the internet. (Based on a text by Hartmut Winkler: Search Engines)

We can never find the things on the internet. We type in words at a search engine and hope that the right results are presented. This is often not the case. In addition, if you have found a useful site it is impossible to find it back unless you know exactly which words you used or how the site is called. This is because of the types of search engines used. It takes minimal training to find specific websites but it takes years of experience to actually use a search engine well. As a student this is one of my biggest problems.

The first type of search engine is based on classification of words. Yahoo for example has many employees who spend their time classifying words that are used on the internet so that words with the same classification are grouped together. New websites are put into several groups and they pop up when the right words are typed into the search engine. For example pollution falls under Society and Culture/ Environment and Nature/ Pollution. Yahoo has about 320 million websites categorized.
The problems with these kinds of search engines are that people sometimes look for sites that fall outside of these categories. People are looking for words in broader ways than Yahoo for example classifies them. So with these kinds of search engines you have to look at categories not for words.

The second type of search engine is based on words. Search engines like AltaVista read documents and websites and remember every word that comes up, so if people are looking for words than websites that include those words will come up. For example, if you type your name into such a search engine than sites that includes your name come up. AltaVista has about 125 million texts or websites. I believe Google is also this type of search engine.
The problem with these kinds of search enigines is that if you put words into the search engine and you put slightly different words into it the next time, or change the order of the words, than totally different result will come up. It is harder to find things back. In addition, search engines like AltaVista do not recognize words in the same category or synonyms; so you have to be really careful to formulate your question the right way otherwise you will get useless results.

The third type of search engine is some sort of combination between these two. Excite for example reads every word in texts and websites but it also clusters. The search engine clusters those websites and texts together that share many of the same keywords.
The problem with these kinds of websites at the moment is that they are less known and less used. Excite for example only has 50 million websites to search and that means that it suggests only certain kinds of websites. It is less broad and will therefore not always give the websites you are looking for.

Some old tips (most already known):
-Use AND to find websites with all the words.
-Use OR to find websites with all or any words.
-Use AND NOR to find websites with words excluded.
-Use “” to find websites with words lines together.
-Use lower case letters for lower case and capitals.
-Use capital letters for words that have those capitals, not words that use lower case letters.
-Use title: to find websites with words in the title area (certain areas on websites are called the title area and if you put title in the search engine it will look at websites where the words are in the title area, not in the whole text).
-Same for Host:, Domain:, URL: or Link:.

By
Merel van Helden

All in All

There were a few general points about the book that we all agreed upon as weak aspects. We had the feeling that the book carried many of the core ideas all the way through the book. In some instances this gave the book a flow between chapters and other times it was simply repetitive and tedious. We felt as thought the book could have been more direct in it's points and possibly shed about thirty pages. There was a definite tone of liberal bias and a dislike for the current administration that could have tainted the subjectivity of the book. A few of the examples seemed a little off base or far fetched

But that aside...

The book presented many ideas that caught our attention in a serious way. Particularly the sections about our digital footprints. We often feel that we are free to do what we like on the internet behind some vial of anonymity, but this is certainly not the case. Companies track our every movement online. Once that information is collected the companies are free to do what they like with it (sell, use, abuse). Many people in our group are more aware of what they type in to Google now. After reading this book one can't deny the feeling of prying eyes as the search engine churns. If we want to look something up we are hesitant because we know it will affect our profile, in some computer data base.

Another point in the book was interactivity. Before we did not realize that the interactivity on the internet was so asymmetrical. Most of us thought that interactivity meant that we were just talking and discussing with other people in the internet but now we know that that is not true and that interactivity is a false idea.

We were less interested in the idea of companies using the general public in an interactive way. Such shows as American Idol are letting their consumers act as judges, marketers, and audience. This pushes many responsibilities on to the consumer through interactive response. These ideas we were all very comfortable with and carried much less weight than some more intrusive surveillance sections.

Overall we liked the book very much. It brought up many interesting ideas and he changed our mind on many things about the internet. However, there were a few aspects about the book that we did not like and thought were biased, repetative or redundant.

PS Mustafa, can Merel have her Tshirt back?

Sam the Teacher

When I was thinking about what to teach on Tuesday for class I had a few ideas. My first idea was to teach about blogs. The reason why I thought about teaching about blogs was because I felt like a majority of the class did not know a lot about blogs before they took this class. Now that the entire class has thrown themselves into the blogging world, I thought there may still be a few people that are confused by some concepts of blogs and how they work. I know myself that sometimes I get overwhelmed with what you can do on a blog. I find something new everything I sign in. Due to that reason, I thought there may be a few people in class that still want to learn more about blogs, the history of blogging and some concepts that surround how blogs operate. I was planning on going through some of the links from the "resource" list on Locationf8. Although I still may do something relating to teaching about blogs, I found a new concept that I am interested in and I think others will be.

The history of the internet. There is a link on the "resource" list on Locationf8 that I will use. I think this will be interesting for a few reasons. I never really took time to investigate the logistics of how the internet began. I feel like there are some interesting concepts that went into the development of the internet and I am unaware of. Overall, I think this may be an interesting topic of discussion. What was your first encounter with the internet? What did you look at the first time you used the internet? Where do you see the internet going in years to come? I hope this may develop into a interesting discussion about the internet. I can only hope.

Sam

brainstorming ideas for teaching a skill

as i am sitting here reading blog after blog I decided something that would totally enhance this experience would be music. How cool would it be to have music playing on a blog? I am going to do some research and teach myself how to add music to a blog. Therefore my viewers get to hear music when they visit my page. Hopefully then, I can take what i learned and teach it to the class, so they too will know how to add music to their blogs if they want. That's pretty sweet.


-adrienne

reaction to 9/25

it was nice to hear Professor Dean talk / lead the discussion for a portion of the class. It's great to have the back and forth discussion with my classmates but it's helpful to hear from the professor as well. I think it's more effective to structure class this way. Granted I do learn from what my peers have to say but at the same time I find a portion of my learning comes from what the professor discusses. In the past I have had professors that (for a twice a week class) lecture on the first day and for the second class the students are expected to carry on a discussion (modertated by the professor or the students) that ties into the reading and the lecture from the previous class. This structure does have some advantages such as the extended duration of class wide discussion, but for the most part I do not think it is as effective as the recent structure of our past few classes.
WHen professor Dean lectures and then opens the floor for discussions, these classes have been more effective for me than our other classes. Furthermore, the day we broke off into small groups (tuesday 9/23) and had to teach eachother what we read about was helpful to me. This type of structure allowed us the responsiblity to accomplish an assignment and to then come prepared to teach others about it. I think this is a good skill that is applicable to certain things in our futures, such as our jobs. Overall the combination of shared learning - this idea of peer to peer education- in conjunction with our work outside the class and the lecturing of Professor Dean all have contributed to what I have learned (and what i will take away) from this class. Learning wise, the past few classes have been successful for me, so i hope our classes continue to mantain this sort of structure.

I am looking forward to tuesday's class. This is an exciting opportunity, but also a creative way for me to learn from my peers. I hope to learn some new internet tricks.

-adrienne

Class evaluation

I am a little late with commenting but just in case. I thought that the class of 9/25 was interesting. I liked it a lot more than the previous discussion. Maybe we were more used to they way it worked, or maybe we just were more played into each other but I thought it was less chaotic but still a discussion.

There were several things why this made a really good class to my opinion. The first one was that the course assessment was explained. Not only about the self assessment and the blogging but also about that our effort into the course is being watched and everything. (We're being monitored :P). Just knowing made me stress less and made me more comfortable to participate.

The second thing I really liked about class is that we first had a lecture, where we could ask questions or object if we wanted, and than had a debate. To me this felt like we actually learned stuff from the professor and in addition could argue about it. To me that is the PERFECT class. Because sometimes I feel like we did not learn anything. Sometimes I feel like we learned stuff that we already learned in the book. Sometimes I feel like the professor is all wrong and I want to comment. This class however, I did not feel any of these things but the opposite. Being able to interrupt the lecture from professor Dean also made it feel less like a lecture and more like the starting point of a discussion. This meant that I had more the feeling of listening actively just to catch the professor at something wrong.

In addition I want to evaluate the class of 9/23 as well. I though that the class was fine. We went into groups and we discussed the book. However, it felt a little repetitive because we already discussed the book in our own group for blogging the day before. Still I do like the format of coming together in small groups and afterwards writing on the board. The negative thing however is that I am scared that the things on the board are either wrong or not really the main points and it sometimes happens that we do not really discuss what the best points are.

By
Merel van Helden

i started to respond to a post by BG , but my comment was getting to long so Ill finish it here. THis is what i responded to his post:

i never considered this. Yeah, i do text my friends to see what they are up to. And I'm guilty of checking my friends’ pictures out on facebook. But i never considered these actions to be a form of monitoring or surveilling (if that's a word) of my friends. I usually regard monitoring negatively; something that's a hassle or intrusive. With that said I'd hate to think I spy on my friends... but do i? Have i become so immune to a facebook lifestyle that i don't even stop to think what exactly it is I'm doing each time i login to my account? I am going to continue blogging about this on my blog.

and I am going to continue it...

...Now that I stop and think about it, clearly i am monitoring my friends, but in this case i don't consider monitoring in a negative way. I text my friends when i want to see where they are so we can go get lunch or something. When I am on facebook I usually look up friends, write on some walls and that's about that. I do look at pictures but they usually are ones that belong to my friends not attending hws. I do this as a way to just see what they are up to i guess. And some people might consider that spy like behavior and i see where they are coming from. But in my defense, my friends know I look at their pictures, just as I know they look at mine. I look because i'm curious, not because i am a creeper. I don't look through 200 pictures of all of my friends, i just look at the first couple. It’s funny as i sit here typing this I feel like i have to justify what i do on facebook; prove that i am not a creeper. Facebook allows us the ability / power to creep (or spy) on our friends...it definitely publicizes our information.

How we choose to use this power is up to us. As i said before, I use facebook as a way to check up on some of my friends that don't go to hws and i do this because they are my friends and I care about them. I talk to them on the phone as well. I use facebook and my cell phone as a way to maintain communication with some of my friends that don't go to hws. Both of these technologies help to simplify this process of maintaining long distance friendships. Furthermore, these two technologies allow me the ability to stay up to date with my friends and their lives. I choose to keep up to date with certain friends because they are my friends and i care about them. If i didn't care, I wouldn’t bother, but I do care, so I will bother. With that said, if keeping up to date with certain friends, means i am actually "monitoring" them, then I guess I am guilty of that. But I don’t think I’m the only one…

-adrienne

Class 9.25

I enjoyed how class began today. I thought it was helpful that Prof. Dean cleared up some of the logistics of the course, i.e. grading, final paper, etc. That issue was rather unsettling to me, so it helped to hear Prof. Dean explain what is going on and how she will be evaluating us. It was not that I did not know, but it was nice to hear it from her mouth. I am not sure if that makes sense, sorry.

I thought the lecture was great. We have not heard Prof. Dean speak for a long period of time about the book, so it was nice to have her kind of wrap up the text with her thoughts and statements. It was nice to hear what Prof. Dean had to say about the author and her critiques and areas she enjoyed. Overall, I learned a lot from listening to Prof. Dean discuss Andrejevic and the issues raised in the iMedia chapter.

Towards the end of the lecture, I thought it was smart of Prof. Dean to stay in a large group discussion rather than breaking up into smaller groups. It was a nice change. I liked the large group atmosphere because it allowed everyone to hear each others voices, rather than only hearing people in a small group. This also was beneficial for students who do not like group work. It probably was a nice change of pace.

One part of the discussion I thought was intriguing was the conversation about TV watching. I thought it was interesting to hear how watching TV help people develop thoughts and critical thinking. Watching TV is like a creative exercise by generating creativity and critical thinking. After listening to this part of the lecture, I really began to understood how there was such a change in interactivity. Another comment that caught my attention was how Prof. Dean said that Alabama (I think that is the right State) did not really show much emotion towards the 9/11 incident and New York City. I was very surprised to hear that a southern state would shrug that off and not be more involved somehow.

Overall, the discussion and especially the lecture was very thought provoking. I thought that listening to Prof. Dean today had people's minds thinking a lot more than usual. At first, I was a little overwhelmed with what Prof. Dean was saying, but I certainly followed her points and stayed right on track. I thought it was good that the discussion did necessarily end in the last few minutes of class. I think that is good because it allows people to write new posts on their blog!

Sam

i hope today we can continue the discussion we started towards the end of last class (tuesday). There seemed to be a fair amount of people that had opinions to voice. I for one would like to hear what other kids in class have to say about this idea of being monitored constantly and what implications this could have on us and our society as a whole.

-adrienne

a little old, but relevant...

"There's been a fundamental change in the way the government conducts surveillance," said David Sobel, general counsel for the Electronic Privacy Information Center. "And the result is a lot more secrecy and lot less accountability."
Federal agents sought 1,727 warrants from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court for electronic eavesdropping and physical searches last year, according to a Justice Department filing with Congress. Just four applications were rejected, although two of them were later revised and approved. The number of so-called FISA warrants jumped by 500 from 2002 and has almost doubled since 2001 when 934 applications were approved.
By comparison, there were 1,442 wiretap petitions in federal and state courts for crimes like drugs and racketeering, according to a separate report from the Administrative Office of U.S. Courts.
Attorney General John Ashcroft said the new FISA figures show the Justice Department "is deploying its legal resources to uncover and prevent terrorist attacks on Americans."
"To keep the United States and its people safe, it is critical that the Department of Justice use every legal means to detect, deter and disrupt foreign terrorists and their activities here in America," Ashcroft said.
But critics of the government's surveillance efforts called the sharp increase worrisome because the work of the FISA court is conducted in secret and allows a lower standard of proof. It's generally tougher for a prosecutor to get permission for traditional wiretaps because they must demonstrate that there is probable cause that a suspect engaged in a crime. There's no such requirement when agents are seeking to gather intelligence from a suspected spy or terrorist. ...



^^for the rest of the article : http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0502-04.htm


-Adrienne

ibutton...a new form of information databasing

i don't know if anyone has noticed these new doorbell looking things attached to the outside of buildings (mainly dorms) by the entrances or discretely screwed on the walls in classrooms. It is called the ibutton. I encourage you to check out ibutton.com or google ibutton...some interesting stuff comes up.

-adrienne

QUOTE OF THE DAY!!!! 9/23

" I am pretty sure I am raising future terrorists."
-Jodi Dean.

The Repetition Continues....

Chapter 7 - IPolitics:
- Political campaigning has entered the database world, a realm of a symmetrical datagathering, data mining and target marketing.

- The point is not that politics has become a form of marketing but that the impact on the political process of marketing strategies changed, using monitoring technology.

Chapter 8 - IMonitoring:
- Peer to Peer monitoring has grown into three categories of romatic interests, family and friends and acquaintances.

-Themes that Room Raiders provide "the way in which interactive communication technologies double as surveillance tools, the norm-enforcing character of peer monitoring as a means of screening for deviance and the confirmation of forensic investigation as a matchingmaking tool."

Chapter 9 - Beyond Monitoring
-Popular media is using technology for people to feel like they are part of the show. (i.e. voting on American Idol)Once they feel like they have ownership they are avid watchers and are now submitting information to the companies instead of the company reaching out for information through research.

-"The century that ushered in the fantasy of an efficiently managed consumer paradise was characterizedin reality by a brutal litany of totalitarianism, fascism, genocide, exploitation world war, and the specter of global destruction." pg 251.

We had trouble discussing the last quote in our group. Does anyone else have any ideas about what he is trying to get across?

Class Reflection - 9.23

I enjoyed class again today. It started slow but it heated up!

I liked the lecture form Prof. Dean at the beginning of the course. There has been a lot of discussion going on amongst the students in class and on blogs about different issues, so it was nice to hear from Prof. Dean and listen to her thoughts, opinions and statements about some topics related to the reading. It is important to have that authoritative figure in class to lecture about certain topics related to class discussions and bring everyone back to a level ground.

I liked how the class transitioned in group work again. It is kind of nice going from listening to a teacher to listening to your fellow students. I learn great from both. I like listening to students as well because sometimes I can relate to what they are saying and the thoughts they are trying to get out. I thought our group worked well. We had good points from Chapter 4, 5, and 6 to put on the board. Everyone had good input in our group which made the discussion run smoothly and efficiently. One aspect of the group work that I thought was helpful was having time to walk around and look at what other people wrote. I feel like people covered all aspects of the book and did not leave out any main points. I guess that is great and shows that people grasped all aspects of the book and the points the author was trying to convey. I like to see what other people thought and how they interpreted the reading. It helps because maybe someone else's thoughts will help me understand a part of the book or I will learn something that I previously did not know. Overall, people provided helpful input on the book and I feel like no important comments or critiques were left out.

The next part of class was interesting. Jeff Colburn asked Prof. Dean a great question about not feeling comfortable with EZPASS. This sparked a pretty unique discussion. The only reason why I saw it was unique was because some students were arguing with the teacher and not other classmates. I was not anticipating this! I thought it was great discussion and it was nice to see students and the teacher get into a friendly quarrel.

One other note from class. I thought it was really nice when Max had a question about the reading and instead of people jumping on him for his point of view or criticism about the reading. other students helped him understand why the author wrote what he did. It showed how there can be a supportive type discussion and students do not need to always disagree and argue with one another. I thought that was pretty neat and definitely something I learned from. If someone does not neccessarily grasp what the author is saying in a book, students can help the other person in a nice manner without causing a unfriendly discussion.

Back to reading the rest of the book!

Sam

They will find you...

Report: FBI searches Tenn. student's apartment in Palin hacking case

http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9115238




-adrienne

Blog Roll

Just a really short note:
I noticed that many people do not have our new group blog on their roll. Just so you know.
Merel

Pro's and Con's

Hi Guys,
I agree a lot with Sam actually, so read his blog first :P. I loved the fact that it was chaotic but I thought it was really difficult to speak your mind if you had to wait for 10 people to speak first. You heard a lot of "going back to the ....subject" and basically I wanted to comment on everything that was said. I could not, because the class already proceeded to the next topic. However, this way many people did get to say something and I thought it was nice to hear some new faces in class speaking up.

However Sam and I disagree about 1 thing. I hate it when people have a conversation but they are actually speaking about something different. I felt people were not listening to each other and kept therefore repeating the same arguments over and over. (I could be guilty to that as well). So I would prefer it if next time we would talk about the same thing and have 4 or 5 main positions for example instead of everyone talking about their own opinion and basically saying what the person next to you also said.

But although there some things I did not like about today, I really liked the fact that we had a real class discussion, where everyone got to speak and the professor said less than usual. It's different from my other classes and I like the fact that there are opposite views instead of everyone agreeing. From all my classes, this one is the most discussed outside of class. But I have to be honest, I do feel that the subject of the class is at times too repetitive and there are not always answers.


As a comment on the experiment of Location F8 I wanted to say something. I really like the idea, it is a geat experiment. No, I do not want to participate, but I think it would be really funny if other people would. However I think there is 1 really big difference between this experiment and what is happening on the internet: I know who is doing it and I meet the person often. I would have a much bigger problem with the experiment because I know the person. Lets face it, other staff of HWS (for example security with the firedepartment) can come in your room anytime and check whether your room is secure. So in that sense we are already being monitored by people, just like we are monitored by the internet. We don't mind them coming in.

By
Merel van Helden

Class was Crazy!

I thought today's class was very interesting. The class was a bit chaotic but overall, I thought the discussion was pretty productive. 

However, I am confused and a bit baffled. 

I think everyone has her or her own argument and there is not one central argument being produced amongst the class. That is great thought. That means the discussion will never end! So when everyone in class today had their change to speak, each person was arguing or discussing something different than the previous person. I am not saying that is bad, everyone needs to get their opinions out. On the flip side, it may make having a central discussion on a particular subject tough, or maybe tough is not the right word, overwhelming maybe. I only say that because sometimes I feel like there are five of six tiny arguments going on. 

Today, I found myself sitting back and taking the back seat and listening. I did that sort of on purpose. I felt like I sparked a discussion when I voiced my opinion to a classmate about what he is hiding on the internet.  So, I decided to sit back and hear what my classmates thought. I wanted to formulate my opinions before I spoke my mind. I figured I could come back to class the next time with some arguments drawn out.  I know some people may think: "Why did you not saying anything and want to wait?" Well, I think the reason why I didn't speak up was because I could have made a comment on what everyone had to say, whether I agreed or disagreed. However, it was tough to get my opinion out there when I had to wait to speak. If I wanted to comment on what a classmate said, I had to wait and by the time it was my turn to speak, I had so many other thoughts on my mind about what other people said, I was overwhelmed and couldn't put it all together. 

That may sound confusing, but I hope you know what I mean. 

I definitely understand the need for an organized list of people who wanted to speak, but I think it affected the flow of the discussion. However, after a person said something, I would have a comment and I would want to comment right away, but I would have to wait until after five other classmates spoke. 

I think as the class came to an end, one of the arguments that really came about was if the Internet should be a private or public space. I think that is a pretty good question that will lead to a interesting discussion. I think a lot of peoples opinions are centered on this core question. 

Also, I want to throw this out there. It is important to remember if someone does not agree with someone else, it is simply because that person see eye to eye with the other's opinion or point of view. That is great and will only help generate a great discussion. I want to make sure people in class realize that if I or another classmate disagree with you , it is simply because i disagree with your argument or opinion. I am not judging you as a person or attacking your personal opinions. I respect your opinion, view and argument and what your saying. I think its great that you think differently than I do. Just please remember that I am not saying you are a bad person. You are one of my classmates with a different opinion and that will only drive great class discussions!

Sam

I want to hear what you guys have to say...

class was chaotic today. There are clearly two sides to our debate and our class is split among those sides. I think people had valid points for both sides of the argument, but i don't agree with everything that was said. Not to be a Debbie downer or anything, but to me the reality of it is that we don't have much control over what is happening with our information. Maybe eventually companies and marketers won't have all our info, but i don't see that happening anytime soon. There are two sides to this argument and people are really set upon their beliefs...this clearly is a touchy subject because it is a very personal one.

I don't like knowing that companies can have (or some might say, Take) my info from me, but at this point, it's inevitable. It sucks, but that's the reality of it. Just because I don't like it, doesn't mean that i am hiding something or am exploiting myself on the internet. Fine, let the government see my info and track me and see what i do. But marketers..that's another story.

Yeah sometimes it is convenient to have an ad pop up that is relevant to you, but long term? ...does anyone else keep thinking about Brave New World? When we talk about advertisements there is a lot to consider. For starters, techniques of advertisements. One technique of marketers includes creating an insecurity in the consumer. For example, there was a commercial for Invisalign (the invisible braces) and it showed an adult woman going on a blind date and she arrives at the restaurant to meet her date and when the person believed to be the blind date smiles, we see a mouth, full of a bunch of metal, then all of sudden, the camera cuts to the actual date and when he smiles, there is no metal, because he is wearing the Invisalign braces. Needless to say, the woman chooses the man who has the invisalign braces, because obviously they look better on a grown man than the metal braces do. What the Invisalign commercial did was plant the idea into our heads that if we are an adult and want to get braces we better get the invisalign ones or we won't be attractive. The advertisement therefore manipulates the consumer into believing that we can't risk looking bad with braces, so we should purchase invisalign braces.

^i know that's a bit confusing and wordy but my fear is that overtime marketers will manipulate us with their advertisements...it will just happen over time. Maybe im jumping to conclusions but what if 20 years from now all these ads have caused us to become completely different people? What if they take from us our ability to think for ourselves and be individuals? Advertisements plant ideas in our heads...some will argue that advertisements convince us (conciously or subconsiously) to buy into a particular product or trend. Products, trends, they define a culture and it is through advertisements that we purchase certain products or buy into particular trends. A lot of people are influenced by advertisements.

The more you see something, the more ingrained it becomes in you. The more you think about a particular thing, the more you start to believe it. For example, if you think positively, eventually you become a positive person.


In general, what do you think? Do you think we define our culture? or does our culture define us? And does our culture define the marketers /advertisements, or do marketers and their advertisements define us and our culture?


-Adrienne

Who is really reading this post...?

Recently there has been some posts  discussing a specific issue pertaining to the class conversation on Tuesday. People in the class feel that Internet patrolling is invading their privacy and is outright weird. Since the beginning, I have said I have nothing to worry about so someone can look up whatever they would like.  I am not hiding anything. As long as someone does not get ahold of my social security number, credit card number or any other important information, I am fine with it. 

What's to worry?!

My question to all the people who are not on the same page as me. If you are afraid of people looking at information you have online, is it because you are trying to hide something? I say I have nothing to hide because I have not put anything on the internet that would cause controversy. If you are a classmate who thinks your privacy is being invaded and can't believe someone can look at everything you do online, what is it that is online that you don't want people to see?

So do you classmates have something to hide? If you are trying to hide something, why would you put it online? If you have personal information that you don't want to be seen, then I don't know why you would want to put it on the internet, especially since you know people can see it. That also implies to something that is controversial. Why would you want to put yourself in jeopardy of getting in trouble for something you put online. If I have controversial thoughts or something I want to write about, I will make a journal and write my feelings out on paper. Not post it on the internet. 

To me, the reason why you put it into the cyber world is basically because your saying you want people to read it and look at your thoughts on a certain issue. You know someone can look at it and you want them too. I don't fully understand why some people think it is weird that people can look at anything you write online, especially if you have nothing to hide.  To the people who are uncomfortable with putting things online, you suggest to me that you are posting things that are controversial and may cause some problems. So if that is case, then why even write about them online. I am sure you can find another way to get those feelings out in the open without posting them online where someone can patrol them. 

I am open to all comments. I understand I may stirring the pot and please understand that I am not trying to jump on anyone's thoughts or beliefs. I am just interested to hear why you are really concerned with what people see online. What is it that you are worried about?

Sam

Ispy with my little eye...ch 4, 5 and 6

After reviewing chapters 4, 5 and 6 our group realized that our discussion seemed to be a little repetitive and seemed to reiterate the same ideas. A lot of the simple ideas were over elaborated and that things were more complicated from the language that was used.

Andrejevic talks about how things will be developed to help us further in everyday life such as Smart wear clothing which can detect your vitals and can make you smell nice and other things like that but he goes further and assumes things will pretty much be consumed by technology. That technology will even be used to remind a doctor of medical procedures at the operating table."(122) This is getting a little extreme. Doctors will no longer have malpractice insurance because they will be blaming the computer for telling them the wrong procedure. It will make us as people worse. In the article that we read earlier, about the technology of pencils and writing, he brings the example of Plato foreseeing that our memory would weaken because of writing which is true but it further expands to this example and that people will be less intelligent and would not be able to problem solve on their own because they will have technology to figure everything out for them.

The problem with the development of technology is that for every new thing invented there needs to be 5 safeguards for it. For the key less starters for a car, how to they know that a child isn't entering the car or what if you are loaning a friend your car but if it is matched to a fingerprint how can your friend borrow your car. If your phone is used as your credit card, but you want to let your child borrow your phone how to you make sure they do not charge a $10000 shopping spree.

War on terrorism is the first Internet war, you can access it from your desk. People are asked to participate and be ready. After 9/11 the department of homeland security tried to transfer responsibility to the citizens of the United States through a "Be Prepared" campaign that allowed citizens to feel more responsible and more secure because part of it is through their own hands. Andrejevics sees a parallel between the marketing for interactivity and the marketing for readiness. Profiling and datamining can be used as surveillance in the name of national defense.

When we participate interpassively, everything we do is stored in a database and when we interactively participate people take responsibility for their own safety.

What about the Positive side?

I may be going on a side track here, but let me know what you think...

When we discussed criticisms and questions in class on 9/16, I am not completely positive but I think a group wrote something regarding the positive side of the debate on Internet patrolling.  The other night, I was watching the MSNBC television show "To Catch a Predator."  For those of you who do not know the show, its pretty simple. They investigate people who use the Internet to find sex. More times than not, the people who use the Internet to find sex are older people who typically target underage boys and girls. The show sets up a sting in where a young child invites one of these predators to a house and in the end, the police arrest the predator for targeting underage kids for sex. 

My point for bringing this up is to illustrate the positive side of patrolling the Internet. Predators who target young children for sex is completely wrong. It's gross and I get so worked up when I watch the show because I cannot believe the people who do this.  This is a positive example of internet patrolling and how it can be used in a good way. If the authority can find these predators and get ride of them one by one, they are making a difference. That is one more child the authority is helping and I guess, saving from a life changing moment. If there is a person who can know everything about someone and what they are doing online, but help in a positive way to get rid of criminals like sex predators, I think that is beneficial for everyone. 

I may have gone off topic a bit, but it relates to someone knowing everything about what someone else is doing online. 

Sam

tuesday (9/16) reaction

I'm really pleased with the way today's class went. I liked how the structure of the class was switched up a bit. (the idea of ending with a lecture and starting with small group discussions). What we discussed as a class kind of lead us into the lecture...because our lecture was partially coming from our class wide discussion, I for one felt more engaged in the lecture. Typically during lectures, i do my learning by taking a backseat position (more listening, less talking) and take lots of notes. Today on the other hand, my learning was accomplished by more listening, more talking. THe class wide engagment within the lecture was beneficial for me. I was learning through what Professor Dean discussed and learning also through points my classmates discussed. There were a few points where it seemed like our classroom discussion would affect the direction of the lecture. I think this is a good thing.

I wish i had contributed more to my group discussion today...i did the readings. But like Sam, i found that i was less upfront about my ideas because I was working with a new group. I'm used to working with my blogging group, so today felt a bit uncomfortable. Next time we break off into small groups my goal is to get over the uncomfortableness.

I appreciate being told the upcoming schedule, and the readings in advance because it helps me to manage my time better...an essential skill. I'm looking forward to the presentations where were teach our classmates something. Im excited to read iSpy...i find these types of topics interesting and I'm happy we get to discuss them the way we can in class. It's great to hear differing opinions about something that affects us all. I can't wait for thursday's class so we can pick up where we left out...things were really heating up. Plus, as Sam said, I think the people that didn't speak up today come thursday are definitely going to want to speak up and I'm excited to hear what they have to say.

-adrienne

Class Reflection - 9.16.08

I enjoyed the beginning of class and I thought it was helpful how Prof. Dean discussed what will be coming in the next few weeks. Knowing what is to come is helpful for me. I typically plan out my week with how much work I have and reading I have to do. Since we don't have a syllabus, having Prof. Dean give the class a little outline like she did helped a lot. 

Then the class formed four or five groups to talk about the reading and develop five important concepts we thought the author was trying to convey in the beginning of the book. I attempted to start my group in discussion but I could not find the right words for what I wanted to say, so my thoughts did not come out the right way.  Our group worked OK I thought. I was not as vocal as I usually am in groups. I took the back-seat. I felt uncomfortable because I was not with my normal group. In the group discussion today in class, I felt there was some tension for some reason. Maybe because some members had different opinions? Not sure.  I wish I could have been more talkative though. It was not because I was not prepared but I guess I was not comfortable in the group I was in.  I think I am use to the people in my group blog and they understand me. I am not great at formulating my opinions with words. I know that sounds lame, but it takes me a while and the students in my group blog more times than not know what I am trying to say. Formulating my opinions is something I am working on and I think that blogging is helping, so that is positive.

The questions at the end of the class were interesting and developed some interesting discussion among the class.  The privacy issue is a pretty interesting topic. Many people have very different opinions, which is understandable. I would like that conversation we had at the end of class to continue. I felt like some people, including myself, wanted to say a few more things but the time ran out!

Overall, I think this class was productive and very informative. I enjoy the book we are reading. I think it develops great class discussion because there is so much to talk about. 

Sam

some videos to consider...

this kinda made me laugh...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGcdFLJrdJY


another way we are being "monitored" ...
I'd be curious to hear what others have to say about these traffic cameras...Who gains?...the town or the drivers?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbW9RGe6odY


-Adrienne

Meetings and privacy

James, don´t worry about this morning, it went fine. Although I think we should all come to the meeting whether you are really well prepared (like Becky with the laptop) or less prepared. Your peer assessment will be just lower :P, just kidding. I think it is alright if you are unprepared once and in addition you could contribute really well to the discussions we have during our meetings. Our meetings do not only consist of typing what we read in the book but also discussing what we think with a smaller group than the entire class.

The funny thing however is that we talked about exactly the same thing during the meeting. How dangerous it could be when we use our credit card online and manage our finances online. In the Netherlands it seems more secure. When you do pay online or manage your account you need to put your debit card (we hardly use credit cards) in an e-identifier machine and you have to type in your pin number. In addition you have to fill in a number from your log in screen and then you get a response that you use to log in. It seems much work, but it takes actually only 5 seconds and it seems much saver than just needing the info on your credit card.

A short comment on the class of Thursday: I think it was good class. My opinion about ethics is that we can say or post pictures about whatever we want on our own blog. If you work in groups your group mates will correct you and otherwise people will not read your blog. If you comment on other people's blog it is a little different. Just like most, I think that we should respect each other and only comment on the arguments and not the person. However, I think that there will not be any problems in this class.

By
Merel van Helden

The issues of privacy in this new technologically advanced world is something that strikes me as very important. Just the other day I received a call from my credit card company, asking me if i recently spent $2,000 at tiffany's.com. I absolutely was not, but it is scary that some people know how to use technology and access personal information so easily.
Although at the same time the technology that is being used that allows consumers to interact with company's without leaving their computer chair. Voting for the next flavor of toothpaste, or choosing the color and style of shoe that is your favorite is fantastic. The level of interaction that exists is remarkable, and most of it occurs without us as consumers knowing it.
Also what struck me as absurd, is this idea of "Second Life", where people participate in an online world, and in which they purchase digital goods, with hard currency. And figures point to upwards of $200 million spent in one year on digital goods, that cannot be used in real life. Similar to that is people who, on Facebook.com, purchase their friends gifts with real money. Why would you use real money to buy non-real things. That is pretty stupid.

P.S. (to my group)
Sorry i missed the meeting this morning guys. I hadn't done any of the readings yet, and would not have contributed at all to the group.
-James

ISpy with my little eye assignment 4!

The first two chapters of the book were an introduction to the rest of the book and really didn't carry alot of information to critique. But we did find some of information and the way that businesses use our information interesting.

The business world has evolved into specifically targeting markets which is far more productive and cost effective. We thought it was very strategic and smart to mail baby coupons to a woman who 9 months earlier had bought a pregnancy test. The methods that business have adopted to become more effective in reaching audiences is not an invasion of privacy that needs concern. The only concern that we would have would be when people get our credit card numbers and social security numbers and as long as our identity is not stolen we are fine with them strategically emailing us and targetting our interests.

Other aspects of marketing that reaches more out to the audiences are the opportunities we are given to interact with products. Nike's time square advertisment allowed people to design their own shoe and then through a text message you were given the style code and allowed to purchase them online. This makes the consumer feel more in part with the product and with the company. Other ways that allow consumers to interact is to allow them to vote for products such as different flavors online and then they would introduce a flavor that is strongly supported by their consumers.

The language that Andrejevic uses in the book such as "monitoring" which is used several times gives a more negative conotation that other words. He could have stated that the companies are using the information to help assist you in your shopping needs instead of that companies are monitoring your every movement so they know how to market you effectively. He talks about how we need to submit ourselves to how the market is changing but it is changing in a more positive way than he makes it sound.

some interesting websites...check em out!!

for those interested in the campaign I suggest you check out these sites:


www.fivethirtyeight.com

^^ it's all different stats and polls about the campaign as well as some predictions i think.


www.realclearpolitics.com

^^another sweet website in regards to the campaign. There's a bunch of cool links on this page.


-adrienne

reaction to thursday 9/11

okay so i can't edit the post before this one so ill try posting a new entry instead...

i like the way thursday's class went. I'd be fine with an "anything goes" type of policy. This is a learning experiment so why not get the most out of it? I do believe some discretion is necessary. I think in order for this experiment be effective we need to be honest with our peers when we comment on their blogs. With that said, I believe that as long as we attack the argument and not the person, then we should be set. As i sit here and blog and open up i realize that i might say somehting someone doesnt agree with, but as long as their comments aren't personal attacks on me, i'm pretty sure I am capable of handling whatever they have to say. I'm not too concerned about people posting offensive photos or crude stuff in general. The fact that we have to evaluate our peers and that our grades depend on our comments and other peoples comments, will hopefully act as a filter for what will be posted. If someone continually posts obscene or offensive material, I'm not going to continue reading their blog or commenting on it.


Isn't part of what we learn in class due to our discussions? And aren't these discussions made possible by the work we do outside of class? I have the expectations of my group to worry about. THe last thing I want to do is not be prepared for my group discussions because that will jsut hold our group back...and waste everyone's time. I am more motivated to get my work done and to not procrastinate when I work in a group because I do not want to let my group down. Plus, the better prepared I am for group discussions means the better our group meetings will go. If during our group meetings we have a lot of content to discuss, then come class time we are not only prepared for class, but we have an array of resources to discuss.

-Adrienne

reaction to thursday

i like the way

Internet

"There's nothing you can get from a book that you can't get from a television [or the internet] faster. " - Harry Wormwood

As I watched Matilda this afternoon, this line reminded of the movement toward new technology to gain information which has evolved from the traditional methods such as books.

-beck

Lego Man

That Lego website was fun!

I realized my character is not wearing pants...

This website will distract me from doing other school work. Ah!

Sam

Reaction 9.11.09

I enjoyed the discussion we had in class today. I think it is interesting how there is not a set design of the class but the students are able to debate and talk about what they feel will work best. I thought it was smart to clear up some issues about blogs and what we can personally do with our class blogs. 

Lay some rules, guidelines and do's and don'ts. Very smart. 

Watch out for those trolls!

In regards to the discussion about what people can post and how nice people should be. I think that a student should realize that if he/she writes something in their blog that they should understand that someone may not agree with them and can voice their opinion in the comments section. A blog is an open space to write what you want. If I disagree with you, I will let you know, but I will not attack you or attempt to hurt you. I think if someone disagrees with another student, they should be mature and understand we are in a classroom setting and explain why they disagree with them and give their opinion. This can be done with attacking someone else. Most importantly, I think no one should attack a student's personal statements. There is no need to upset someone because of their personal feelings. That isn't right. 

When the class split into groups, I was interested to see how other groups would generate groups if they wanted to. At the end of class, the three other groups besides the one I was in walked the line of forming a group, but I still felt some tension.  I felt people were unsure of doing group work and there was a sense of timidness to form a blogging group, which is fine! If you work better alone, that is great! 

Overall, I like the direction of the class. I am learning something new and I have met some great people. My emotions have completely flipped. From not being overly enthused about the class  and going to being excited to see what comes is a pretty cool feeling. 

I had a nightmare about trolls. Weird. 

Sam

Assignment 3

Our group thought this would have been a great first assignment because it introduced us to the basics about blogs. Each article that everyone read and shared introduced something new about blogs and since a lot of us came in inexperienced in the field of blogging. This may have been a better way to introduce us to some history and the way they work. "What we write does not define us as bloggers, it is how we write about it." ( What we are doing when we blog)

One aspect that Rebecca Blood points out in her "Weblogs: A history and perspective" is that by regularly blogging you will become a stronger writer. However, this is not typical because blogging is such an informal writing area and is used as an"outbreak of self-expression" as Blood calls it, that the language and grammar fall short. Looking through other people's blogs (not in the class, just exploring) there were tons of spelling mistakes and uncapitalized words. Overall, it may help you to clarify your ideas but it does not make you a stronger writer.

From a business perspective, the development of blogs has been great. Many corporations are investing in the development and ownership of blogs. They have become a great space to advertise in and connect to a different demographic. Blood states that corporations are becoming more and more interested and are building a "tighter" hold on the Internet. However, people have been creating fake blogs that Google and other search engines have taken as valid information. It is harder and harder to fight by corporations to keep valid information available because these people are using old blogs that are unused to post bullshit. "Spam + Blogs = Trouble" explains how it is harder to fight since spam doubles every 6 months.

From an election and campaign perspective, people may develop their views politically and may be influenced by other people's comments. In "Blogging Theory", the idea of having blogs that may have similar topics but have author's with various ideas is introduced. This may be interesting during the election when people are debating topics about policy and who they are going to vote for. Their personal beliefs may become stronger which was an important aspect that Blood introduced it.

Comments and blogs are sometimes extremely outrageous and it is hard to differentiate which is legit. It is hard for people to realize what is the truth and what is not. "Trolls among us" explained how people are using the Internet to do awful things. Such as the people that use the Internet to convince people to kill themselves or break people into emotional distresses especially the commenting area on blogs as "Blogging Theory" explains people can comment whatever they want and is not controlled which can cause people to go into emotional distress.

"A blogger's Blog: Exploring the definition of a Medium" explains that people like to write knowing that they have an audience and they like to represent their views. They like writing things that they feel people will comment about and that hard core bloggers rush home to check their comments. They can also learn as Blood states that their perspective is "unique and important."

Since blogging is so informal, how can you be analytical and informal at the same time? You can write alot of bullshit but how can you write analytical bullshit for a college level class. (What we are doing when we blog)

Reaction - Class 9/9

I came away from class today feeling better about the class and the direction we were heading in.. I like how Prof. Dean lectured in the beginning of the class about the readings. I always learn more about the readings when a professor gives their insight and explains in detail the more important aspects of the material.

The class transitioned into a group discussion about how the class should be set up. I felt some tension among everyone in the class. Should we be in groups? Should we all do our own thing? AH!

The people who spoke had valid points and I understand their rationale. I like how the class got to speak their mind about what subjects they would like to learn more about. I personally would like to learn more about how corporations utilize the internet to benefit their business.  Hoping to jump into the business world next year after graduation, I believe the more I know about the internet and how a corporation utilizes it, the better chance I will become successful. 

Unfortunately, the discussion was cut short by the end of class. I am interested to see what comes in the future and how everyones opinions will be met. I think we got a great head start today. Everyone is different. Everyone wants something different from someone else. I think we can make it work though!

Sam

Assignment 2

Do you feel that the technologies you use configure you or make you who you are? Why or why not? Don't forget that books, pencils, and words are technologies that we often take for granted. Be sure as well to consider writing and the differences between writing and hearing (literate and oral cultures). How are digitally mediated interactions like a new kind of orality (secondary orality)?

Technology doesn't define us but it is a tool through which we define ourselves. Our technologies reflect who we are. Our music, facebooks or screennames all reflect who we are through the choices of which songs we buy, what colors we use on our background on facebook or myspace and even what we make our screenname to be adds insight to who we are. Those technologies do not mold us but they make it easier for us to live. Technologies such as a pencil or a laptop make things easier within school and help us to learn more things but they do not define us. It is what we learn that defines us and not how we learn it. We can learn a lot without technologies just by having a conversation or seeing something.
Experiences, such as going abroad, define us more than technologies. Going to a place and seeing it and talking to people that live there and have different experiences allow us to grow more as an individual than if we were to take a digital tour of that country or instant message someone that lives there. Merel is proof that going someone allows us more growth than seeing it on television-"Watching a movie about America was completely different than coming here and experiencing it first hand."

Levinson states that when he read a lot of philosopher's text, he thought their theories and what they had written were really amazing but when he met them in person he was really disappointed. Mcluhan was the one of the only exceptions. Clearly how they presented themselves to Levinson and the way they came across was different than what he had interpreted in the text. So hearing the theories from the philosopher was really different than what he had read in the text and was then disappointed by what he was then hearing. Therefore there is a huge difference in the way someone interprets and learns something from reading a text instead of hearing it first hand. Levinson allows discusses how a lot of people misunderstood Mcluhan's idea about "medium [being] the message." It was extremely hard to fully understand what he had written in his text because he died shortly after and all the questions that people may have had could only be answered by interpretation and not going straight to the source.

On page 73 in From Pencils to Pixels: The Stages of Literary Technologies, Baron discusses Plato's fear of losing memory because of the advancements of writing. This has further developed within the technologies of today. Phonebooks on our cell phones that automatically dial and store numbers allow us to not have to remember numbers. When we were little kids we would be able to remember all the phone numbers of our friends and family but now that they are in our phonebooks we do not need to. There are so many times we all sign into facebook where there is a new group that says "I lost my phone! Send me your numbers." It is a rarity for people to memorize other people's phone numbers because they do not need to. Plato was right when he said that it would decrease our ability to remember things.

Technologies are a different kind of orality because they are a form of communication but most of the time they are read and not spoken. There are several new oral programs that have been developed that can be used on the computer such as Skype which allows people to talk orally to people through a microphone on their computer. Unlike books and newspapers, the Internet is "two way." (Digital Mcluhan 38) Online we have the ability to read and write, when previously we would just have been able to read the articles and words in books and newspapers. The developments that have progressed in technologies are also now allowing us the ability to speak through the Internet as well.