Week 6 Question 3: A Simple Swipe on a Phone, and You're Paid

This article entitled "State of the Art-- A Simple Swipe on a Phone, and You're Paid" was from CNET.com. I was really interested in this article when I read the title and saw the photo because it is for iphone, ipod touch, our ipad users. I have an iphone and I have always thought of a product like this being invented but was not sure if it would ever come to pass. But it is 2010 and it finally has. Basically this product called the "square" is a device that lets you pay for things on your phone, or have others who owe you money for something just swipe their card on your phone. It is the same process as it would be if you were to buy something at a store or any other credit card merchant. Plus, there is still a paper trail so if anything is done unauthorized you are able to contact your bank or credit card company. The company who invented the square collects 2.75 percent plus 15 cents of the total purchase which is actually not much at all. I foresee myself purchasing something like this in the future because it is very convenient and much safer than putting your information online or giving it to someone else. This article relates to our class because we are learning about how much media and technology is changing and advancing.

Week 5 Question 3: Emergency Bra

http://news.cnet.com/8301-27083_3-20017344-247.html?tag=topTechContentWrap;mostPopular (the article)

http://ebbra.com/ (where to purchase them at)



**I made a mistake the sizes actually range from 32B-40C (sorry!)

Week 5 Question 1: Computer Power and Human Reason

There seems to be a theme in all of the articles we have been reading as far as the connection between humans and computers (technology). Weizenbaum talks about how the people who criticize "new media" only do so because of there lack of knowledge on it. He seems a bit of an extremist regarding technology and new media as his main point and debate was "computers, can should, and will do everything." (This sounds a bit like Licklicker's Man-Computer Symbiosis) Going back to ELIZA, this program was created to replace psychotherapists. Although computers have no human thought or emotion, this program was used widespread as its responses were very much like those of a psychotherapist. It was very shocking to Weizenbaum at how quickly this program was talked about, used and accepted. But with this, he believes that technology will continue to advance so much over time that it really will do everything.

Although it is evident that computers are do practically everything nowadays, I do not agree that they should do everything. But who knows, they may one day at the rate we're going. I discussed similar concepts in Man-Computer Symbiosis week 2 article. I still feel that computers should be used to aid us in our daily (want/needs) however it should not handicap us to the point where we should, need, and have to rely on it for everything.

Week 5 Question 2: Uses and Gratifications

Concerning the article, "Uses and Gratifications", discuss 3 interesting things about this article you did not know before. Can you relate to this article? Why/Why Not?

Uses and gratifications was an interesting article because it made me think about the psychological reasoning behind Social Networking Sites (SNS) in a whole different way. According to Katz and Gurevitch uses and gratification is focusing on "the social and psychological origins of needs, which generate expectation of the mass media or other sources, which lead to different patterns of media exposure resulting in need gratifications and other consequences." (as cited in Rubin, 1994, p. 419)

The media sites are used for cognitive and affective needs such as personal and entertainment. These three concepts interested me the most.

1. Personal Identity

2. Escape

3. Self-Presentation

As far as personal identity goes, this article showed through research that many people use SNS to be seen. In other words they like the popularity they get out of having a lot friends and having people view their page. Also people like to escape their problems and also face-to-face communication and SNS is an easy route out. Lastly is self-presentation. Self-presentation is all about how you want others to view you, based on your pictures and online posts. It could also be from who you are associated with online. But overall I believe this article really helped me to see that SNS users really are seeking personal gain, usefulness, and gratification. After reading this I started to realize how selfish we really can be without even noticing.

Week 4 Question 2: The Technology and the Society

Williams covers three sections in this article about technology and the society and that includes:

1. Cause and Effect in Technology and Society

2. The Social History of Television as Technology

3. The Social History of the Uses of Television Technology

Of each three sections he discussed, I thought the cause and effect in technology section (the first section) was the most interesting. He talks about technological determinism which basically means society's technology is what shapes social and cultural values. Basically technology is very predictable and pattern based. As technology changes, the society changes. It is much more in depth than that but that is the basic overview of it.

This interested me a lot because I never thought about the cause and effect technology had on the society. Although it has been clear to me that we change overtime, I never really associated it with the significance of technology. But this made it very clear to me as I started to apply it to my personal life. For example when I was in Elementary school, Internet was very limited so most people hung out and talked in person. Now it is so easy to connect with people online that our society has shapes itself around that and is slowly replacing face-to-face communication with the Internet. This is just one example but there are several more that can be seen from this article. It was very eye-opening and a great read!

Week 4 Question 3: Justin.tv App

From the New York Times articles, I chose to read about a Justin.tv new app for iphone/ipod touch users. The reason why I decided to read this one is because I used to always go to Justin.tv online when I was at a place that didn't have television and I wanted to watch a show. Also I would sometimes watch people randomly posting what they were doing. But in this article it is explaining how we can now watch television and do online stream with this app from the touch a few buttons from your iphone/ipod touch. This made me think about vlogging in this class. We will be vlogging pretty soon and because I just downloaded this app to my phone, I am thinking about trying this out. If not I still have my webcam to use but regardless, I think it is very amazing that the company is offering TV and live streaming access to iphone/ipod touch users for free!

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/09/16/justin-tv-releases-iphone-streaming-app/?ref=technology

Week 4 Question 1: Requiem for the Media

From the article Requiem for the Media (The New Media Reader p. 278) the three concepts that I will be discussing are: Enzenberger: A "Socialist" Strategy, Speech Without Response and The Theoretical Model of Communication.

1) Jean Baudrillard basically helped me to look at Enzenberger's articles and concepts in another point-of -view. Baudrillard basically critiqued the article and talked about its many contradictions. She quoted from him in his theory that "in the present order the media are purely and simply means of distribution". She helped me to see that is wrong because of the many different uses of the media: phones, social networking, etc. Other than this, she broke down how she disagreed with a lot of what Enzenberger had to say on his "socialist" strategy article.

2) Baudrillard explains the mass media as fabricators of non-communication and "speakers in such a way as to exclude any response from anywhere". (Baudrillard, 1972, p. 281) She says that they have the power since they make it in a way where no one can respond. But she also agrees with Enznenberger with the fact that mass media for the first time made it possible for mass participation in a social process.

3) The formula of the communication process (formulated by Roman Jakobsen) is as follows:

TRANSMITTER-- MESSAGE-- RECEIVER

(ENCODER-- MESSAGE-- DECODER)

This formula shows the process of how the message is transmitted, its content, and its audience. We decode the message based upon how it is set-up to us. When dealing with the media, it is very easy for them to relay a message to us and have us believe whatever they intend for us to believe.

Week 3 Question 3: Facebook Users are Narcissistic/Low Self-Esteem

This article had results on a study of a group of college students' Facebook usage. The goal was to determine what type of people use Facebook. They claimed that the majority of Facebook users who update constantly are narcissistic and attention-seekers. While others who check Facebook frequently suffer from low self-esteem. Also they noted that women post profile pictures to show off, while men update their statuses to show off.

I agree with some things but disagree with others. For example, even though a lot of people post things that seem narcissistic, I don't think they really are that way. Many people will post things that don't pertain to themselves, or just to get attention. I do agree that people who post multiple pictures a day requesting for comments, have low self-esteem. As far as men and women differing in showing off, i disagree. I have found that both women and men who show off, do it through their photos and status updates. I haven't found a difference between the two.

But these are just my opinions and views, I am interested in seeing others' thoughts on the article.

http://www.zdnet.com/blog/gadgetreviews/study-facebook-users-are-narcissistic-suffer-from-low-self-esteem/17860?tag=mantle_skin;content

Week 3 Question 1: Constituents of a Theory of the Media

Enzensberger did not have too many positive things to say in regards to his view of the media. Although this article was a bit of a tough read, I believe his overall purpose was to show that technology is taking over everything we do. He is very critical of how the media is basically doing our thinking for us. For example he talked about how he disliked the fact that media forms such as books, radios, articles are only transmitting information to us, without allowing any interaction. So I do not think that Enzensberger is totally against the idea of media, I just think he feels strongly about self-thinkers or "go-getters". He hates the fact that we all rely on media's to relay information to us, or get us from point a to point b. In a sense, I can agree with him on that. But I think he fails to realize that in moderation, the media can and has been very effective to our every day lives.

Week 3 Question 2: Be Who You Want To Be (Facebook)

Katie's statement "Facebook participates in the dynamic, ongoing social process of personal and social identity as a communicative creation", summarizes what Facebook really is. (Ellis, p.41) She also explained how people represent themselves as they want to be represented. Generally, nobody posts things that they do not want others to know about or think about themselves. We consciously or subconsciously are creating our social identity every time we post something on Facebook.

I agree with this article because I see how it really applies to my own experiences with Facebook. For example, I really love music so often times I will put a quote on my page of a song I was listening to. Some times the quote relates to my own life and other times it doesn't. However one quote I used before was from the Eminem ft Rihanna song "Love the Way You Lie". That song is about a dysfunctional relationship so when I put a quote from there, several people messaged me wondering if I was okay. When in fact, I only put the quote up because the song was catchy to me and stuck in my head.

Even though only a few people messaged me regarding this post of mine, I am sure many more of my Facebook friends assumed that I was having relationship problems. So I am continuing to be aware and careful of the things I say because I do not want anything taken out of context in regard to my own life. But at the end of the day I did not create my Facebook page to inform people about my life. So if people are foolish enough to think they really "know" how someone is doing or who they are based upon their profile updates, they have got a lot to learn in life. Because as Katie mentioned, online, you can Be Who You Want to Be.

Week 2 Question 3: Stephen Hawking Picks Physics Over God for Big Bang

This article from foxnews.com entitled "Stephen Hawking Picks Physics Over God for Big Bang", automatically caught my attention since I am a firm believer in creation and not evolution or (big bang). What caught my attention the most is that, Professor Hawkins, although a scientist, was once a believer in God as the creator as well. So I looked at this article to try and see what new information he may have found, that would have him change his theory of beliefs.

As I read his article, he did not seem to have any "new found" information. His only reasoning for his changing in belief or theory was, "Because there is a law such as gravity, the universe can and will create itself from nothing." Now Hawkins could not have just learned about gravity recently, so when he believed in creation, he had to already have taken gravity into consideration.

I then kept reading and noticed that he is working with a couple atheists in his studies on how the world has come into existence. So I therefore concluded that he must be influenced by the ones he is studying and/or working with. This made me think of the article, "The Medium is the Message" because the people Hawkins is around, influenced the way he perceived the idea of the Big Bang Theory.

http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2010/09/02/stephen-hawking-picks-physics-god-big-bang/

Week 2 Question 2: The Medium is the Message

In Marshall McLuhan's article, "The Medium is the Message" he used very complex examples and explanations to basically say that the medium influences how the message is perceived. I agree with him in his point in which; the way the medium portrays the content they are trying to display, shapes the way the audience understands or views the message. This was a big change in how Communication was viewed in the 60's, and since then many scholars and philosophers have built upon this concept.

However I do believe some of his examples were a bit confusing and complex. For example he stated that, "a light bulb creates an environment by its mere presence". At first it took me a second to apply that to "The Medium is the Message" since a light bulb is a medium without any content. But I then quickly applied it to how we interpret messages or content based upon who or what is presenting it. For example, if a celebrity were selling perfume, we would want to buy it from them, more than we would a complete stranger's perfume. It's all about the way the medium is portraying the information, and how we receive it.

So I did actually enjoy reading the article even though I do see how it was a bit complex and a little off base at times. I think his overall purpose of the message was legitimate.

Week 2 Question 1: Man-Computer Symbiosis Response

Lidlicker's article on Man-Computer Symbiosis, was interesting to say the least. It is clear that the author has a great value and interest in technology and technological advances, that will help humans. I agree that machines (specifically computers) are very helpful and beneficial to our every day lives. However based on his specific example regarding the insect's and fig tree's interdependence on each other, I cannot agree that this is something that we should be striving for.

Although I am guilty of relying on technology on most of my every day duties, it is not something that I am proud of. Currently we are in a recession and many of the jobs that used to be attainable to humans, are now being utilized by machines. If we keep up at this rate, I believe that in a decade or so, there will be twice as many lay-offs due to the dependency of machinery and lack of care for humans.

I don't know if it's just me but I sometimes long for the old days where people had personal relationships face-to-face. But as the years go by and technology continues to progress, there is little need or expectance for face-to-face interactions. I am against the idea that we should have a "cooperative interaction between men and computers" (p.72) because I feel that we are ultimately giving machines too much power. Instead, we should use computers to our advantage and maintain a balance or limit on how much we depend on or utilize them.