Personalization Throughout the Years

We have discussed personalization many times throughout the semester but one thing I was curious about was how is has changed since the Internet has been active. For as long as I can remember I have been able to "personalize" my computer and internet choices. Now I can pretty much narrow every website I look at to be the way that I want it and to show the information that I want to see. For example, if I am on Facebook I can click "Hide Jen" if I do not want to read information about my friend Jen. I know many of my friends have used this method to get over ex boyfriends... although I am not sure how much "hiding" them will help the situation.

Since I was not really able to find information online about how personalization has changed throughout the years I decided to do some personal interviews with friends and family members who range from ages 35-60. I first explained to them what personalization was and then I asked them if they use it in their everyday Internet lives, I also asked them if personalization was popular when they were my age. Here are the responses I got...

"I use it everyday, especially with the news websites, some mornings I just want happy news and I don't want to read the depressing stories. I just recently discovered that personalization existed and just started personalizing the things I read about 2 months ago."

-Lori, age 36.

"I do not use personalization, maybe I am old school. I think that you should see and read as much as you can, even if it doesn't interest you. I never used it growing up either, I was always encouraged to read and study as much as I could..no matter what topic it was on."

-Tom, age 48.

"I am not that great with the computer but I think I personalize when I am reading magazines and the newspaper. I usually only read the sections that interest me."

-Felicia, age 60.

I found this mini survey to be very interesting. It seems that everyone still feels so different on the issue of personalization. I also realized that just because some people are not on the computer everyday that does not mean they do not personalize, even though the computer makes it extra easy to do. You can personalize your newspapers and magazines and even books. I agree that people should have a little knowledge on every topic so that they can know how to communicate with others, and have the "common experience" like Sunstein thinks we should have. Sunstein makes some great points about personalization and he has the power to really make you think about how diverse/not diverse the life you are living is.

CDA Cases Throughout the Years

Last night when I was reading the article by Goldsmith and Wu I found one topic that stood out to me, the CDA. As we discussed today in class CDA stands for the "Communications Decency Act," this act came about in 1996 and it basically went after inappropriate or indecent sexual internet and videos online. The CDA concentrated on images and videos that contained minors under the age of 18.

I decided to do more research on the CDA since I found it to be interesting and figured there would be a lot of information on it. I was right...there were tons of websites on the CDA and blogs with people expressing their opinions on it. However, I was able to find one website that went into different cases that the CDA enforced this rule on. This cyber-rights website goes into detail about certain cases in the US where judges used/did not use the CDA. I was shocked to read about some of these cases and found most of them to be very disturbing. One case talks about the US postal authorities shutting down a porn network that had children as young as 7 years old work for them and being active participants in videos. I honestly can not imagine what parent would ever want their child to be involved in something like that...I am sure that it is a big money maker though.

This website also discusses several teachers who were arrested for pretending to be child psychologist in online chat rooms. The case about the teachers reminded me of what we discussed today in class about the solidarity and accountability online. Whenever a person is online they need to be safe, it is so easy for people to make up websites and change their identity. I know even my own Grandmother was fooled by an online stock trade website, she ended up getting about $1000 stolen from her bank account. I realize some people (like my Grandmother) are naive to the way people can act and the fraud that can go on online. I think people just need to think twice before they make any type of online purchase or even chat with a stranger in a chat room.

Public Forum Doctrine

Hello!

Tonight while studying for my midterm I realized that there is one topic I really wanted to discuss in my blogs but haven't had the chance to address, this topic is the public forum doctrine. When we first read about this in Sunstein's article I thought it was really interesting. The first thing that came to my mind was when my friends, they go to school at a small university in Connecticut, I took them into Chinatown for dinner and they were SHOCKED when they saw all the people walking around holding flyers and chanting religious bible verses. They said they had never seen anything like that before, they were confused about why they were allowed to stand outside the metro saying these things and I really didn't have an answer for them. However, after learning about the public forum doctrine I now realize why people are allowed to stand on the sidewalks of public places and share information with the people around them.
I think that free speech and the public forum doctrine are great inventions. I admit at times I get very frustrated with people on the streets trying to get me to take their packets of information or tell me about their organization. In the end I feel that it is important to listen to what others have to say. I am one of those people who only reads/hears what I want, if they are talking about something on the news that I am not interested in, I would probably turn it off. I think learning about personalization has helped me to realize how much I limit myself. I need to become more open to ideas and news, even if I do not find it interesting. I plan on studying abroad and I think that I need to stop limiting myself if I want to have a good experience abroad. Sunstein brings up many good points in his article about why we should stop personalizing our lives. The one that stuck out to me the most was that it will stop us from being connected to other people because if we feel we have nothing in common with them, we probably will not try to mingle with them. As a Media Studies major, I plan on getting into the Public Relations world and I think I need to become more open to ideas and stay exposed to a wide range of topics so that I am able to communicate with my co-workers and clients.

-Liz

Presentation & PBS Video

Hi Everyone!

Here is the link to the website that Emma and I presented on today. We found this website to be very interesting and helpful in understanding the Richard Stallman article that we had to read. Feel free to check out the website.. it has a lot of thing on it that we were not able to cover today. For example, their NEWS page that updates its members and potential members on what is going on with the FSF and the improvements that have made with their campaigns.

On another note..I wanted to discuss the video that we watched today in class for my blog entry this week. I can honestly say that it was one of the most interesting videos that I have ever seen (in a classroom setting). I was really able to connect and agree with what the teachers and principal had to say about the internet. One of the teachers said that when kids come into a classroom and they do not have access to internet and computers it is like walking into a desert. I have never been a great test taker or had that great of a memory so I also agreed with the teacher that said that the world we live in today is not measured by memorization and almost no job today requires you to memorize things. I interned at a Public Relations firm this past summer and I found that all of the textbooks and readings that I have been studying for the past 17 years of my life really did not help me with my internship. The thing that helped me was my ability to communicate with my co-workers and my ability to research information online. Another teacher said, "technology is like oxygen" and although I think that may be a little bit of an overstatement, I do agree that for many kids it is. Giving them computers to do their work makes them want to do it, I remember how much I use to hate those math and english workbooks I was given in elementary school, I would have much rather done an online assignment or used an online workbook, it almost makes doing homework fun!

I found this website that allows schools and organizations to find grants for laptops and other things they need. I decided to look this up because at the end of class today we raised the question of how these schools pay for laptops. I could not find a solid answer but I have a feeling that many schools do apply for these grants and many people are wiling to put forth money for schools to buy laptops for their students. This website allows people to search for different types of grants as well as donate to a particular grant that they feel is close to their heart. It is only for educational purposes so that way the people who donate know that their money is going to the right place. Check it out!

-Liz

Tinkering with Apple Products

This week in class when discussing the Zittrain article we mentioned the Apple 2 produce that came out in 1977. We learned how many people would "tinker" with it in order to figure out how to "beat" Apples system or simply because they were bored. I was surprised to learn that this actually helped Apples sales, and did not hurt them. Today in 2009 Apple has made it nearly impossible to "tinker" with their products. Although I am not all that great with technology I do have an Iphone and a Mac and I feel like it would be very difficult to "tinker" with either of those products.

We also discussed how in the past the Iphone or intense Apple products were typically for "hobbyist" or those who were very into technology. Today, they are for everyone, even people that know nothing about technology at all. For example, my grandmother, she got the Iphone a few months after it first came out and LOVES it. She is constantly texting me and my brother or emailing her church friends. I like how Apple was able to create a product that was not just for tech savvy people. The Iphone is for everyone and if my grandmother could figure out how to use it I am pretty sure almost anyone could.

Lastly, I was telling the class about the application a friend of mine made, here is the link to the app. she created for the Iphone. It's pretty funny and creative.

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/bull-crack/id334816494?mt=8#

OLPC

Hey Everyone,

When a presentation was done last week on "One Laptop Per Child" I was very interested. In fact, I even picked that topic from the syllabus as one of the 3 things I would have liked to do a presentation on, even though I knew nothing about it, I thought it sounded interesting. I am glad "One Laptop Per Child" was incorporated into a presentation before we were assigned the reading by John Dvorak because it gave me a little background information on the topic.

After reading the article from John Dvorak I found this video(http://www.fastcompany.tv/video/inside-one-laptop-per-childs-wireless-features). The video shows Michall Biestas(VP of Advanced Technology and Connectivity with the OLPC project) talk about some of the amazing features that the laptops have to offer. For example, their wireless internet and their advanced power saving features. I also liked this video because it shows the audience around a "OLPC" studio and so you can see how they make the laptops and how busy the office is on a typical workday. The video is a little long but I think it is worth it to watch some of it. The interview with Michall Biestas is pretty casual so the audience can see how down to earth he is and how he believes "OLPC" will continue to be a success.

Hope you are all enjoying the week off/snow storm :)

Liz

Should we stop sharing the goods?

In class today when we were discussing the Brendan Luyt's article on who benefits from digital divide it suddenly began to click for me. At first when I was reading the article on my own I was a little confused and was not quite sure how this all relates to new media, it sounded like more of an economic issue. Now I understand that Internet and the social networking that we do on the Internet is all part of the new media world. If we do not look at the potential good and bad things that are going to happen with the Internet in the future all around the world we are simply being ignorant and taking it for granted.

I found the Information Capital topic to be the most interesting discussion that we have had so far in class. Probably because it hits close to home for me. My step-dad works in IT and they have just recently fired many of his coworkers in order to send their business over to India, where it is much cheaper. My step-dad has been fortunate enough to keep his job but his and my families life have been altered greatly because of these changes. Our house phone rings at least once every night between the hours of 1am-4am. This is because when the workers across the world have an issue during their day time, it is our night time. It is very frustrating to have to deal with this and has made my step-dad(and the rest of our family) resent a job he once loved. It is also frustrating for his co-workers in Indian because they had to learn, in a very short amount of time, how to deal with people in the United States and basically learn our cultures and customs even though some of them have never even been to the US and most likely will never travel here.

After listening to Dr. Akavan's lecture on the need for new markets for information technologies and reading the article I began to realize that maybe these countries do need a chance to learn about the Internet and they do deserve some of the jobs they are given because of all the hard work they put into learning our customs and dealing with difficult customers when taking customer service phone calls. So the question I leave unanswered because I am still unsure how I feel about it myself is... Should we stop sharing the goods? Or are we doing the right thing?