technopolypt2

Technopoly pt 2

   The second part of Technopoly talks about more modern tools and technologies. Some of these are medical developments and the control of information. In one section it tells about how different groups will sift threw information and decide what is appropriate and not appropriate. An example Postman gives is a family. Parents will make sure the children will learn important information. They will block their children to films and magazines that may have content that is to graphic or mature. How ever different families have differing opinions on what is inappropriate. Some parents disprove of strong language, while others are more worried about their children seeing naked images. Parents have reasons for blocking such content from their children. However, they have reasons why some may be ok. For example one family might  let a child watch a war movie, because violence is on the news every day. A second reason could be, while the film is violent, it has a historical lesson. Postman also writes of information being controlled because it can contain contrasting beliefs.

     Certain groups or countries may block it’s people to websites or information. When the Olympics were in China, the government had to unblock a lot of internet pages. Normally these such pages would be inaccessible from Chinese computers, but while multiple countries were braw casting from China, they needed to reach audiences across the world. The reason information is controlled like this is because it could be dangerous.

    Usually learning new things is a positive thing. However some people can learn harmful things in books or over the internet. As the class has learned, people can use the internet to harm each other. Some groups will control the information, so the members will keep the right mindset. If the members learn too much they might leave the group or try to change it.

lifestory pt2

Life story of computers pt 2

    The second half of this book is a timeline of many of the technologies we use everyday. It first chronicles the development of microchips and general computers. Farther on, it tracks the history of personal or home computers. Next the chapter discusses word-processing programs. The part I enjoyed most was the section on video and computer games.

    Chapters in the second half of Life story of computers tells about many people who are well known today. Some of these are Steve Jobs, Bill Gates and Steve Wozniack. These three men were very important to the history and development of the soft ware we use today, but technology would not be the same with out user imput.

 Many of the technologies in this book  would not have survived if they were just affected by major corporations. Lots of these, especially the gaming systems, were evolved by active gamers and hobbyists. As time went on, the market expanded. Now the companies depend on their loyal customers, and new marketing strategies to stay in business.

Extra Credit: Bullying

Bullying has always been a problem amongst young people. It used to be a face to face confrontation typically in lunch rooms, playgrounds, and hallways. This could be for any number of reasons, being too fat/skinny/ tall short, having special needs etc. but times have changed since the explosion of the internet influence, and social networking websites. You no longer have to be in physical contact with a person in order to be pushed around by them. The most recent case of abuse through social networking websites is the case of Tyler Clementi. Tyler was a first year student at Rutgers and a gifted violin player. Tyler made an agreement with his roommate Dharun Ravi to have private use of their room for a certain amount of time. Ravi violated this contract by secretly setting up a video camera and taping Clementi’s private sexual encounter with another male. Ravi and his friend proceeded to “out” Clementi by posting this recording through twitter. This violation of trust and privacy drove Clementi to the point of suicide. This story has many similar ones to it.

            A few years ago there was a girl named Megan Meyers. Megan was having problems with another girl at school. The bully would bother Megan often in person. But one day the conflict escaladed. The bully enlisted the help of her mother to make a fake MySpace profile. They created a false account of a boy named Josh. One day megan found and befriended josh. She felt so secure and connected to him that she proceeded to tell Josh her tales of her school bullying. When Megan found out that “josh” was her bully in disguise, she took her own life. The most twisted part of this story is when the bully’s mother went to Megan’s wake and comforted the Meyers parents. When Mrs. Meyers found out who was responsible for her daughters death, she was outraged but powerless.

            Since there was no way to sentence the mother and daughter, the case went on for years. However, just because no one went to prison, does not mean that nothing came from this tragedy. Mrs. Meyers tours schools talking to kids about the dangers of bullying and technology. A point brought up in the Social Network movie, is how things on the internet are permanent. “The internet is written in ink, not pencil.” MTV has a public service announcement with this message; it demonstrates this idea of how internet harassing can be just a damaging as physical abuse.

Technopoly post1

The book Technopoly starts off with a short summary of the history of technology. The book tells that every time a new medium is created, the old ones are forgotten An example of this would be the printing press being changed when television was invented. Since television is so important in American culture, there is a theory that in fifty years reading and writing might not be the main focus in school teaching. The problem of technology affecting learning is not a new problem. This has been around since the time of Plato. Formal learning was greatly developed when the printing press was invented. Technology is both a good and bad thing. It is good because it can enhance learning. Examples of this would be the invention of the printing press, calculators, and personal computers. Some cases where technology becomes a problem to education is the dominance of television and the internet. Technopoly gives the example that people’s attention spans are getting shorter with each new technology medium being invented. It also gives the theory that in the future maybe education will change so much, that children who struggle now will be the gifted ones in the future. With every new development, new approaches to teaching must be made.

    Another point Technology makes is the comp arson between Technology cultures and tool using Cultures. I don not understand how they are different, since the examples the book gives is the error before electronic. Since Egypt was able to construct tall pyramids in ancient times, this should be considered technological. Just because there is an absence of microchips, wires and switches, does not mean it is not technology. An interesting point brought up in chapter two is how inventions can change more than one asp3ect of a society. The clock of a church was invented to signal masses and prayer use. However, the government took this signal of time keeping and used it to their advantage. The introduction of matchsticks in Africa changed that culture.

    In an African village, a person would have to go to their neighbor, for tinder in order to start a fire. Once matchsticks, this custom was changed. Do to the custom of lighting a fire after being intimate, the old practice made it hard for a person to cheat on their spouse. After Matchsticks were introduced, people could be more secretive. The matchsticks also probably detached people from their neighbors, and made them more isolated. Since there was one less reason to communicate, people would not have to come in tact if they did not want to. This is a negative aspect of Technology. It detaches a society and makes the members more focused on them selves.

The social Network

Social Network Review

   The film The Social Network, is the story of Mark   

Zuckerberg, the creator of facebook. The film follows him from his days at Harvard to his two court reseedings. Mark Zuckerberg

 was a student desperate to create the next big thing. Since he was living in the beginning of the new Millennium, he decide this should be on the internet. While on the school’s web site, Zuckerberg

 finds a page with pictures of students. He then decides to create Facemashm, a website  with the pictures of every girl in school. After talking to some classmates,  he   obtains an algorithm to start his first website. This webpage is the beginning of both Zuckerberg

’s success and  troubles.

    While working on his new project, Zuckerberg

 writes an angry blog post slandering his girlfriend. He gives her a low rating on his scale based on who was most  attractive, and continues to post degrading comments about her. This spreads around school quickly and does   a significant amount of damage for Both Mark and the girl involved.

     After officials at Harvard found out about face mash, mark was put on academic probation for hacking in to various WebPages of the school. Another ethical conflict is that the picture of almost every female student was posted without any of their knowledge. This was the easier  one of Zuckerberg

’s Trials.

    The second Trial involves  Eduardo Saverin,

 Cameron Winklevoss   and his twin. The  Winklevoss   Accused  Zuckerberg of intellectual property Theft.,   Zuckerberg had discussed the idea for a website where people can connect with their friends with the brothers. The Winklevoss   brother had also given  Zuckerberg the algorithm he needed in order to start the website. Some one else involved in this conflict is Shawn Parker.

      Is introduced to Parker, who is the creator of Nester. Parker  tells Zuckerberg about how he changed the world with Nabster. Parker describes to Zuckerberg how Nabster  got him in trouble with almost every major recording artist. Parker advised Zuckerberg to take the  out of “the facebook” “just facebook, drop the the, it’s cleaner”

    The film does not have a clear outcome of the trial but the audience is left with the impression of how powerful technology is. First Zuckerberg damaged the reputation of his girlfriend with his blog post. Second he was put on academic  for hacking and violating the privacy of other students. Then he was in a long legal dispute over intellectual property. The social  really portrays how technology is always changing and how it can be exciting for the public, but also how it can be harmful on a personal level. network probation