Internet Debate Questions

     1. Based on this debate and previous readings What Definition of democracy do you feel is most fitting for us to use in-conjunction our growing reliance and integration of digital networked technologies?

When it comes to the definition of democracy in the digital network, I have to agree with Jimmy Wales’ definition of it; a variety of people with both different and similar opinions share their ideas on current issues, debates, political topics and more to create their own decision. I do feel that most of the facts should be “doubled checked” because not everyone who decides to share their knowledge or simple opinions on websites is a specialist. But relaying on other’s opinions as a source to help you construct yours is a definite benefit.


2. How does your answer to #1 fit into the unchecked nature of Web 2.0 technologies, and what are some tangible examples of this? Do you feel this is an important issue that needs to be addressed further?

I do agree with people having the privilege and the right to voice their opinions online, but I also believe that there should be a law that prohibits a person from displaying information (videos, pictures, audio) about another person that would be considered by the people’s majority opinion to be private, without their permission. For example the situation with the student from Rutgers; I felt it was wrong of his roommate to display what he did in such a public place without his approval.


3. Define and describe the phenomenon of the Media echo-chamber as described in the Internet Debates. What are some examples of this silo effect, and do you believe it is an issue that needs to be addressed? Why or Why not?

An echo-chamber or the silo effect is where a person goes out there way to search for information that will only strengthen their opinion in a bias way and ignore the other side of the issue. For example a person believing that abortion should be banned will only look into blogs, or websites that are against it. An issue like this I do believe should be addressed, but it would be difficult to do because these people tend to be hard headed and at times seemed to be convinced of their opinions and refuse to see the other side even when faced with it.

4. What are some ways that expertise and authority could be (or is being) enforced on the internet? Who would be behind these forces? Why do you believe they are needed or not needed?

I believe the government is in away doing this, if they are not they definitely possess the technology to make a difference thanks to the Patriot Act. Though they are not fighting the examples I gave they are certainly using this act to prevent terrorist attacks by constantly searching keywords and spying on potential threats. And yes I do feel it is needed.

6. Give a through example of an adaptation or improvement made by a of a social, political, or cultural group, government, business or individual to keep up with changing nature of the internet.

Examples of a group of people that choose to keep up with the nature of internet are the older generation; like our parents. Many parents now-a-days have their own facebook accounts and even smartphones that help them stay connected. My mom in particular has created a facebook profile in order to also keep up with her relatives in Puerto Rico and her friends. She has even learned how to work with blackberry smartphones to adapt better.

7. Is democracy threatened by the unchecked nature of the internet?

No, I feel that democracy is not threatened by the nature of the internet. If anything it is strengthen by allowing people to express their opinions even if it may not be as creditable.

Photoshop Project...9Segment Puzzle

Response to Digital Nation

            Honestly without a doubt, I believe that the more popular Facebook becomes, the more people feel the need to want to be part of the Facebook community, and I cannot blame them and I know it isn’t going to stop any time during this decade.  I believe that social networks, especially Facebook and Myspace bring both positives and negative to society, making it difficult for me to make a decision on whether they are good or bad for us. Some of the negatives of social networking are the amount of hours people spent on these websites, easily allowing themselves to become distracted. This mostly affects students, and I imagine young graduates. I have so many friends that would get into this mode where they are ready to get homework/projects started and completed but the minute they sit in front of a laptop, boom, that’s it. They log into their Facebook accounts and end up looking at a thousand photos of uselessness and end up commenting on everyone’s status and walls, in the end, wasting their own time. These same people tend to be the ones that “need” to have 24/7 access to their accounts.

            The worst thing about these social networks is that it, in some cases, it forces people to change who they are on these profiles. For instance, students who are looking for careers, or even just jobs tend to change their whole account/profile because of this conspiracy that employers research possible candidates’ Facebook profile and decide thru it whether to hire the person or not. So as a result students, go on these hunts where they attempt to locate ALL photos and videos of them (whether tagged in or not) and delete them by asking the owners of it or simply un-tagging themselves. Things that they look for are liquor/beer containers, red/blue cups, smoking/smoke, nudity, doing “stupid stuff”, people that are blacked out, especially if they are that person, even just simply dancing “provocatively”, at a bar or club, etc the list goes on because so many things are down looked upon by corporations and employers. Next the step is that they change a lot of their interest, likes, activity, and clubs etc, in the end, leaving the “perfect” possible employee, not the friend you added on Facebook, well in a way because it’s more like the censored version of your friend.

            A few positives that social networking brings are that they allow friends and families to maintain communication when living far distances from one another. I know a mother with five kids living in the Bronx whose only way of staying in contact with her mother and grandmother (the people who raised her, till she decided to move on) is thru Facebook because both sides are able to easily navigate the website. It personally allows me to stay in contact with old friends from high school, and colleagues that graduated with me last May, so on and so forth.

            In the Digital Nation video they went and visited my old junior high school in the South Bronx, CIS 339, it was cool to see how technology was helping the education of the students as opposed to making it worst. Technology in my opinion affects the young minds of kids today in a negative way if the parents or guardians of that child aren’t constantly monitoring the amount of television, computer/web surfing, game playing (PS3/Xbox360 etc), and even cell phone texting/chatting that their child is doing. When I was younger, I barely watched television, but ask any of my friends I KNOW ALL MY THROWBACK CARTOONS and video games. I believe my parents found a way to balance that out or, the fact that we didn’t have cable helped me out a lot. All I had were the basic channels, so once the shows that interested me were over, I found other stuff to do. Nowadays parents allow their kids to watch marathons of annoying nickelodeon kid shows instead of taking time to play and educate their kids like my momz did (it’s a blog I’m allowed to type momz). I say this because I see it a lot when I work with kids. During this period where my mom would educate and play with me, she’d be teaching how to sound out Spanish words, hence teaching me how to properly speak Spanish. Nowadays not a lot of Latino kids know Spanish, this includes my sisters unfortunately. I feel that many other kids of today’s generation (including my sisters who I love very much) lack a lot of education (not just language, Math, English, History etc) because they are too distracted by all the technology they have instant access to.

Oh!, and the whole little kids owning cell phone thing is over rated. I’ve been in charge of 7 and 8 year olds who owned better cell phones then I did. And also, I didn’t get my first cell phone till I was a Sophomore in high school, ANNNND it was prepaid.

Communication Design and Theory/Social Media and Web 2.0

Communication Design and Theory/Social Media and Web 2.0

Today many TV shows and advertisements try to look amateurish or "homegrown" to emulate what is often seen on the Web. Do you think professional production values will continue to drop, or do you think amateur user-generated content will get better over time? WHY??

I believe that even though this style of “homegrown” entertainment seems to be the ig money maker now, in a few years this trend will eventually decline. People are beginning to voice their opinions on how they are feeling about people making constant productions with the same theme or main idea. Also with the way things are going, especially with movies, majority of productions will be in 3D.

What social media sites do you find yourself using the most, and why? In your opinion why is Facebook so    much more successful than MySpace, and do you think Facebook is "here to stay" for the long term.

I find myself using facebook most of time, though I’ve never became addicted to it I see more and more why it has become more popular than myspace. I also have a myspace account but I have not accessed it in over a year. I find myspace to be a lot more cluttered with plug-ins, videos, photos etc, making that one profile at times harder to load up. In my opinion, facebook also makes it easier to communicate with friends and to keep in contact with them by given you constant updates. And the fact that it has a great app for virtually any phone with internet capabilities makes it easier.

Why is transparency such an important concept in the Social Media world? Is it MORE or LESS important in the offline world? Why?

Transparency is very important because it helps us in a way keep track of a company, to make sure they don’t do anything that can harm us. It allows us as the consumer to be able to be aware of what it is we’re getting into and in a way helps the corporation earn our trust and use their services more.

-DMatos

my McLuhan Project

One of this generations most innovative mediums is the iPhone 4. It literally can do anything. I believe the message that it is giving away is that, one can run his or her life through a phone. You are able to communicate and share, educate, and view and hear almost anything you want through this portable device. Like their slogan, "There's an app for that"

mediums