com125 assignment 12: net neutrality

Net neutrality is “a principle of equal treatment of traffic on the Internet” (Svensson, 2007). The current debate about this issue deals with how much control the companies that build and maintain the Internet (mostly telephone and cable companies) should have over the content that runs through them and whether or not they can force Internet content providers to pay for that privilege (Efrati, 2006). The Internet is set up so that users can access any legal web site or application and that all Internet traffic is treated equally. Unfortunately, downloading a two-hour video eats up far more bandwidth than sending an email. As a result, telephone and cable companies have suggested that they may start charging fees to Internet-content companies, like Google and Yahoo, whose content is clogging up large portions of their bandwidth. Companies that refuse to pay might find their content moving at slower speeds than those companies that do pay.

Since cable companies are acting as both Internet service providers and content creators, they have a financial interest in prioritizing their own content and threatening online speech and democracy (Efrati, 2006). Their objective is to keep file-sharing traffic from taking up too much bandwidth and affecting the Internet speeds of other subscribers. However, blocking certain uploads has repercussions in the global network of file sharing. Companies like BitTorrent, who rely entirely on peer-to-peer file sharing, will be directly affected by these restrictions. Those in favor of net neutrality worry that unless it is put into law, broadband providers will try to block or degrade Internet access for some content and services, particularly those that compete with the phone and cable companies (Efrati, 2006). Without some type of anti-discrimination law or standard, these companies could control users' access by “blocking content from competitors, favoring certain applications, charging higher rates to deliver information into people's homes and offices and failing to inform people of their capacity” (Jones, 2007).

I believe that Internet service providers should not be able to discriminate, block or impair their consumers' ability to send or receive legal content over the Internet. No one has the power to stop companies like Google and Yahoo from distributing content over the Internet. If we embraced an open access broadband policy and allowed for more competition among Internet service providers then we would see lower consumer prices along with better speed and service. Instead we have corporate giants who continue to further expand the digital divide within our own country. Currently, broadband services in America remain unavailable for many living in rural and poorer urban areas, and remain slow and expensive for those who do have access (Turner, 2008). We as a nation should want to be at the top of the ranks in terms of our broadband use; instead, we are continuing to fall further and further away.

Resources:
Efrati, A. (2006). A battle for control of the web. Wall Street Journal. Retrieved on November 9, 2008 from http://wsjclassroom.com/archive/06sep/htop_netneutrality.htm

Jones, K. C. (2007). Net neutrality debate remains contentious. InformationWeek. Retrieved on November 9, 2008 from http://www.informationweek.com/shared/printableArticle.jhtml?articleID=198001557

Svensson, P. (2007). Comcast blocks some internet traffic. Retrieved on November 9, 2008 from http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2007/10/19/financial/f061526D54.DTL&feed=rss.business

Turner, D. (2008). Free american broadband! Retrieved on November 9, 2008 from http://www.salon.com/src/pass/sitepass/spon/sitepass_website_refresh.html

com125 assignment 11: virtual worlds

World of Warcraft and Second Life are both very different and very similar. World of Warcraft is a game with a community that has formed around it, partly because certain goals in the game are unachievable without teamwork and a community spirit. While Second Life is a community that has built a game around it, where there are no goals and the community is part of the experience.

Second Life does not function as a game but as an extension of reality; it creates a social platform for users to interact an create their own content. Although it is free to join, the virtual world operates on real currency called Linden. This form of cyber-capitalism is the most apparent within Second Life where more than 10,000 people interact on a daily basis. The games designers give people all of the tools and virtual land they need to create their own unique online experience. People can create their own businesses where they can charge money for virtual accommodations such as a haircut or clothes. One user has even claimed that her Second Life property business has made her a real-world millionaire (Giles, 2007). Although World of Warcraft has a larger number of users, it is different in that it does not allow that free flow of US currency. The only money exchanged is the monthly subscription that is required by all users. In the Warcraft economy, gold and exotic armor and weaponry that players accumulate are given value and are traded amongst one another (Levy, 2008). Although the games content and graphics are meticulously detailed, there are only a small number of people that are actually creating the games content.

It seems as though the most popular economies that are created on the Internet tend to mirror real life. These virtual worlds show similarities to real life at the level of one-on-one social interactions, however, the risks taken online are much greater then the one’s people are willing to take in the real world. Last year one of my Visual Studies professors, Stephanie Rothenberg, got us involved in a project where she studied the economy of Second Life and virtual labor within its middle class. She was even asked to exhibit it at the Sundance Film Festival last year. What she did is she created a sweatshop in Second Life called Double Happiness Manufacturing where they made "designer" jeans. After making a Second Life recruitment video, she collected workers to work long hours at the factory for little pay and in return they received a small area to live on her land. At Sundance, she connected herself to the online factory and had people order jeans from the festival. Their orders were taken by the Second Life workers and then printed out onsite on fabric with an industrial printer and Stephanie and her friends assembled the jeans for the customer.


Find more videos like this on dance-tech.net


References:
Giles, J. (2007). Life’s a game. Nature. Retrieved on November 1, 2008 from https://ublearns.buffalo.edu/courses/1/200809_471918/content/_1019953_1/giles_2007_lifes_a_game.pdf?bsession=29081714&bsession_str=session_id=29081714,user_id_pk1=132593,user_id_sos_id_pk2=1,one_time_token=

Levy, S. (2008). World of warcraft: is it a game? MSNBC. Retrieved on November 1, 2008 from http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14757769/site/newsweek/page/3/

com125 assignment 10: journalism

The article that caught my attention was the story about the death of Arkansas news anchorwoman, Anne Pressly, who was found beaten to death in her home on October 25th. The two news sources that I chose to review were The Buffalo News and a personal blog on blogspot.com.

I found a Libertarian Republican blog on blogspot.com that posted a comment to this terrible tragedy. The head editor of this blog, Eric Dondero, wrote that he believes Pressly’s small role in Oliver Stone’s movie W. may have played a role in her vicious attack. In the movie, she plays a news reporter who is said to be reminiscent of Anne Coulter. There has been speculation that her pro-Bush comments in the movie may have served as a motive to her death. Dondero then goes on to quote a fellow blogger named Kos in his somewhat hateful message to all “right-wingers” and Sarah Palin stating, “Palin says "Country" first - when it's unforgivably clear that she only means the half of the country that is willing to blow her kisses and forgive all her failures and foibles” (Dondero, 2008). As a small tribute, Dondero embedded a YouTube video that features pictures and text about the life of Pressly.

In comparison, the article in the Buffalo News was far more factual. It mentioned dates, times and personal testimonies along with the story. It mentions the fact that she was “beaten around the head, face and neck” and that she had “been unable to communicate with her family or police while being kept sedated in the intensive care unit” (Gambrell, 2008). It continued to describe how her family was dealing with her death and how the station she worked at, KATV, prepared an on-air tribute. There were also a lot of direct quotes from family and friends who recalled all of the positive aspects of Pressly and her personality.

It is easy to see that personal accounts of news stories are much more emotionally motivated. New reporters/writers are trained to just give the facts and most of the time the information that we receive from traditional media are coming from “gatekeepers” who control what parts of the story we are able to hear or read. People that have worked for news media corporations have all agreed that “news is controlled from within the organization” (Gillmor, 2004). The Internet has become a new means of mass communication and we no longer have to rely “gatekeepers” for our information. We can now rely on people like ourselves to provide us with unbiased news and opinions about topics that matter to us. The Internet is also more visually appealing since “online media allows readers to enjoy browsing their content and offer not only texts but also digital images” (Nozato, 2002). However, this can also be distracting to the eye when you are looking at websites that are bombarded with advertisements. In the end, I think it has more to do with accessibility. People are now able to access that information they want more easily and are becoming more reliant on themselves to seek out justification for their own opinions.

References:
Dondero, E. (2008). Arkansas TV reporter anne pressly dies from her injuries: daily kos blames "right-wingers" and even sarah palin. Blogspot: Libertarian Republican. Retrieved on October 26, 2008 from http://libertarianrepublican.blogspot.com/2008/10/arkansas-tv-reporter-anne-pressly-dies.html

Gambrell, J. (2008). Ark. anchorwoman dies in hospital after beating. Buffalo News.p.C1.

Gillmor, B. (2004). The gates come down. We the Media: chapter 3. p.45. Retrieved on October 26, 2008 from http://oreilly.com/catalog/wemedia/book/ch03.pdf

Nozato, Y. (2002). Credibility of online newspapers. Retrieved on October 26, 2008 from http://www.inma.org/subscribers/papers/2002-nozato.pdf

com125 assignment 9: politics

Blog Hillary

The author of this blog is Kate Sokolov. She uses her real name along with her photo and not any type of pseudonym, which would then define her as a “citizen bogger.” Her first post can be dated back to June 23 of this year when Hillary sent a letter along with a video message to all of her supporters about how much of an inspiration they have been to her. I suppose that this was Kate’s inspiration to start this blog because in her first post entitled "UNITY" she wrote, “while Hillary is no longer actively campaigning for herself, our work is not done — Hillary called on all of her supporters to unite behind Senator Obama and ensure a victory for America in November by electing him to be President..”

Kate is clearly very passionate about the Democratic Party and, with the election quickly approaching, she posts new information almost every other day. The overall tone is optimistic despite the obvious lack of Hillary Clinton on the presidential ballot. Her main objective is the support the Democratic Party for this November election. Her posts are currently keeping updates of Hillary on the campaign trail with Joe Biden including photos and video of specific public events. On Hillary’s home site you can even learn more about Hillary’s background and how she went from being the First Lady to a US Senator. There are also places you can show your support for Hillary by buying exclusive merchandise or donating money so that you can become a “HillRaiser.”

According to a recent study, “46% of all Americans have used the internet to get news about the campaigns, share their views, and mobilize others” (Pew Internet, 2008). I think that for most people it is difficult to constantly keep up with the flood of information that comes during an election year. I believe that the Internet provides a relatively simple alternative to watching biased news reports on news stations like Fox. Blogs are a perfect example of how the tech-savvy, many of them young, gain a voice and can move masses (Baker, 2004). It is easy to search through the information that is posted to find something that you agree with. Then you are free to post your own comments in return and make your own voice heard. It also unites people for a common cause creating a sense of community among people who would otherwise not know each other. I think that politicians are catching onto the power of the Internet and are trying to use it to their advantage, unfortunately they have to be careful not to tilt the demographics of power so much so that they lose control.

References:
Baker, S. (2004). Click the vote: in the age of internet politics, the web can make or break a candidate. Business Week. Retrieved on October 23, 2008 from http://www.businessweek.com/print/magazine/content/04_13/b3876125.htm?chan=mz

Pew Internet. (2008). The internet and the 2008 election. Retrieved on October 23, 2008 from http://www.pewinternet.org/pdfs/PIP_2008_election.pdf

com125 assignment 8: web application

The web application that I chose to review is Google Calendar. For those of you who are unaware, Google Calendar is a free time management web application offered by Google that allows people, even those without a Gmail account, to synchronize their contacts with a web-based calendar.


Similar to iCal, which I had previously used on my Mac, it is a personal date book to house all of your upcoming plans and events. You can drag and drop events from one date to another without ever having to reload the page. What makes this so unique is that all of your events are stored online so you can view them from any location that has Internet access. With your permission, you can make your calendar public and share it with friends and family so they can see your daily schedule and future events that you are planning to attend. You can also make multiple calendars for different groups of people to have access to. For example, if you are involved in a sports team or club you can create a distinct calendar for them to view with events that strictly pertains to the interests of that group.

The new GVENT feature of Google Calendar allows users to create new events and check calendar information through their mobile phone. Using SMS (short messaging service) codes like “next” and “day” can be sent to get a notification containing your next/all of your scheduled event(s) for the present day or send any date to get a notification containing all of your events for that day. I have never used this feature on Google Calendar but it seems as though it can be very effective time management strategy when you do not have access to the Internet. Google is also working on incorporating this application into their email service Gmail. When you receive an e-mail that contains trigger words such as "meeting" or specific dates/times an "add to calendar" button is automatically displayed alongside it so that you can add the event to your personal calendar.

In terms of the site’s design, simplicity is the key. I have found that it is very easy to navigate through and you can color code your events according to a particular category such as work or school. You can also customize the view of your calendar by clicking a tab to display the events for a single day, week, month, or the next four days. When you are done completing your schedule for a specific date you even have to option to print it out in case you will not have access to the Internet on that date.

I think that Google Calendar is both useful and beneficial because it is incorporating Google applications into the world of social networking applications. It can be seen as an aspect of social networking since you are allowing yourself to be connected to other people over the Internet. Most of the time people don’t even realize that they are allowing this kind of invasion of their privacy. By making all of your personal plans available for Google to see, it makes their job of collecting information about you that much easier.

com125 assignment 7: community

Since I am not really an active member of any online communities or social networking sites, the closest Internet communication technology that I can relate to is UBLearns. I believe that each course, especially an online course, on UBLearns constitutes as a community since structural process that is associated with community is communication (Fernback & Thompson, 1995). Over the past four years I have taken several online classes at the University at Buffalo including Nutrition, Social Psychology and Promotional Writing. I agree with Maia’s statement that taking an online class is an adjustment because students have to be responsible for their own learning. You cannot be dependent on listening to an instructor tell you the material or helping you with problems outside of class. You have to manage your time well and keep yourself in check with following up on the lectures and assignments because there is no one to remind you to do it but yourself.

Initially I was worried about forgetting to check in to the UBLearns site and that I would miss lectures or even worse assignments because I could not depend on a set time each week that the class would meet. In a traditional course you would meet multiple times throughout the week so you would be seated for a lecture and constantly reminded about upcoming projects and exams. This made it somewhat of a difficult transition for me because I was not used to relying on just myself to retrieve the course content. I am also the type of person that likes to establish a relationship with the professor so that I feel more comfortable asking questions both inside and outside the classroom. The problem with an online class is that the communication is very informal and there is no personal contact whatsoever. If I did not understand something in one of the posted lectures it was almost impossible to get an immediate response to clear up the confusion. I would have to either send an email and wait for a reply or call the professor at home, which I feel is rather intrusive.

For my Promotional Writing class that I am taking this semester, the first assignment was to post our own homepage that featured a detailed description of our personal background. The purpose of this assignment was to give everyone a feel of who was enrolled in the class that semester. Reading each homepage was an attempt to mimic the usual first day introductions that a traditional class would have. Having this introduction be computer-mediated allows students the “potential for making connections without regard to race, creed or gender” (Wellman & Gulia, 1997). In addition to our assigned projects we also had to post responses each week to open-ended questions that the instructor raised. We then have to post our responses in a virtual discussion board in an attempt to simulate an “in-class” discussion even though there is no real feedback ever received. We are however allowed to see what other members of the class have posted so we get a feel for other student’s opinions. Unfortunately, establishing relationships with other students is rather difficult because you never see them. In a traditional classroom it is much easier to consult with other classmates on questions you may have the material or even put together study groups for exams. One the plus side, UBLearns makes it easy for the instructor to organize the class. When it comes to grading it is easy to see who electronically submitted their assignments and who participated in the discussions because you have permanent record of each.

References:
Fernback, J. & Thompson, B. (1995). Virtual Communities: Abort, Retry, Failure? Retrieved on October 10, 2008 from http://www.rheingold.com/texts/techpolitix/VCcivil.html

Gulia, M. & Wellman, B. (1997). Net Surfers Don’t Ride Alone: Virtual Communities as Communities. Retrieved on October 10, 2008 from http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/~wellman/publications/netsurfers/netsurfers.pdf

com125 assignment 6: identity

An online identity is a social identity that users rely on to differentiate themselves from all the other faceless characters in the virtual community (Online Identity, 2008). Unfortunately I have never, and probably never will, create an online identity in a virtual community; however, I am aware of some of the virtual communities that currently exist on the Internet such as Second Life and World of Warcraft. In the disembodied world of a virtual community, identity is ambiguous (Donath, 1996). Participants are freed from their own bodies and are allowed to take on an entirely new identity via an electronic persona. I understand that these games serve as an escape from reality for those who are obviously unhappy with their current lives. What I don’t understand is how so many people can become addicted to something that is not even real. When The Sims was first released I remember putting in several hours on the computer each day trying to make my family “happy” and build the coolest house on the block. Fortunately, I soon realized though that this was a total waste of my time. The amount of hours that I spent on the computer had absolutely no benefit to me outside of the game.

Here is a trailer for the movie Second Skin. For those of you who have never heard of this movie, it is a 2008 documentary about the real people who populate online virtual worlds in games like World of Warcraft and Second Life (Second Skin, 2008). You can also visit their website for more information and videos.



I suppose that if I had to name one online community that I am involved in it is Amazon. I recently created a seller account so that I could sell my used textbooks online. When I was prompted to create a domain name for myself I knew that I wanted to create something that sounded professional and did not have my name included in it. To appeal to the environmentally conscious users I chose the name of “recycleyourtextbooks.” I assume that my choice was beneficial because I sold almost all of my books within a month and most of them sold for more than what was the lowest price available. I suppose that my buyers thought that I was a more credible source since my seller name sounded more credible. Through my sales I have earned positive seller feedback and in return have developed a positive reputation on the site.

With online sites like Amazon it is always important that you take the proper precautious when releasing your personal and financial information online. Since my unfortunate encounter with identity theft on eBay, I always make sure that I log out of my account and that I never use the “remember me” settings. I know that this does not assure my safety but it gives me a better piece of mind knowing that I am doing what I can to minimize the chance of having my identity stolen again.

References:
Donath, J.S. (1996). Identity and Deception in the Virtual Community. Retrieved on October 2, 2008 from http://smg.media.mit.edu/people/Judith/Identity/IdentityDeception.html

Online Identity (2008). In Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved on October 2, 2008 from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Online_identity&oldid=108207999

"Second Skin" (2008) Retrieved on October 2, 2008 from http://www.secondskinfilm.com