Final Blog Post

What is the most important thing you learned in this course? Why?

The most important thing I learned is that digital media captures every aspect of my life--politically, culturally, economically and socially. Because of this I have learned to have a greater appreciate for new digital media technologies. I really valued the historical contexts of where and how communication evolved. I never knew most of that information. It was scary to see how quickly it has evolved since I was even born in the 80's but the advancements have been apart of my everyday life.


What would you like to have had more time to study? Why?

I would like to explore more emerging technologies. I am quick to learn about anything new in the technology arena. Being able to be analytical about my approach and gaining more indepth information about how they affect society at large is very interesting. I believe that there is more there that could be discovered. So it is something I will just have to explore on my own.


What topic was the least interesting to you? Why?
There wasnt really a topic I found least interesting per se. The days where we focused on building pages on the web or using powerpoint was remedial for me. Not for the general class though! But for me it is apart of what I love to do which is to explore new technologies and software and try to master them to the best of my abilities. It is a day to day process . This class helped me see how many people even at our school are out of the loop in terms of technology. I was completely amazed. It helped place a lot of my course work in perspective in other classes.

VoIP impact on cable and telephone

VoIP is a very cool new technology. I think that it will really take off. Being able to use the internet to communicate orally with anyone without the hassle of modern telephone company charges is FANTASTIC! The cable companies must love this because people are required to have broadband in order to use it. To adjust the cost so that it doesnt completely rob the companies would be to increase the costs for broadband. The telephone companies will definitely suffer because there are no longer needed. AT&T has become real smart and has set up a service that allows VoIP. Vonage has made an impact in the internet world by being a main venue for accessing the software and accessories needed to use this service.


I am not sure if there prediction of how many homes will use this service is realistic. I dont know how comfortable people will be with completely ridding their lives of the basic telephone. Especially with it being run on wall power and not being able to use other ameneties such as digital recording, and home security system. Once they add in Wi Fi, I think I will give it a try. Who knows but overall this new technology is very exciting!


Discussion Questions:

1. How can VoIP services fix the Emergency 911 problem of not being able to identify georgraphical locations?

2. With the three service options which one do you think will be eliminated in the future? Why?

3. This technology has taken the web to another level, What other doors do you think this technology opens for communication over the web?

Cyberspace and Accessibility Standards

The idea of having accessibility to cyber communication to be fluent around the world is very exciting. Being in America sometimes it is hard to comprehend how others would not have the same technology access that we take for granted every single day of our lives. There are definently some significant adjustments that are needed in order to make this a reality. Some rural areas already are being tested for accessibility to the internet like India and in some places in Africa.

Using the current Wi Fi and WLAN technology to spread the cyberworld to all rural areas is a project. There are a lot of economic issues surrounding the spread of technology. Finding a cost efficient way to ensure access to everyone is hard to do. One of the members of the United Nations is making a push for America to help fulfill the necessary standards to make this happen for everyone, especially those in the poor and rural areas.


Discussion Questions

1. Are there other technolgies that can be used to help this process?

2. What are other issues you notice with making such a venture?

3. How can the United States benefit from this?

Extra Credit

Websites are such a great medium to communicate valuable information. How a site is designed is key to how the user will interact with your web environment. Elements such as navigation, layout, text, colors and interactive options are important to the your objective reach. The article was very interesting see how each political figure not only competed on the political trail but also on the web. Each of them had a specific strategy to how they wanted to involve voters and inform voters on their positions. Bush went for a more forceful interactive approach which was also reflective of his actual campaign, while Kerry went for the more laidback passive approach. Kerry's design team spent more time on analyzing their web users and creating something that all users can access. The backwards breadcrumbs was very disturbing because web navigation functions under specific conventions. So there should be no need for the users to have to interpret where on the site they are, but merely always being able to easily navigate through the entire envrionment.

All in all the web is a great resource and when used affectively you can draw users in and be able to win them over by meeting their immediate informational needs. In the future it would be best for politicians to look at the past sites and learn from their mistakes. This can only get better and evolve into a great tool for the future of involving and enhancing the political process.

Internet and Politics

Today the internet is becoming a new popular choice medium for obtaining national and international news. When news happens around our nation, valid news sites give hourly updates on what is going on. The internet provides great accessibility to valuable information. Being able to stay on top of what is current is important to most internet users. By doing so, it helps connect millions of people together around the world. Another validation for why the internet is a great resource to explore information. In the readings they discussed the connection between the internet as a medium to receiving information on politics. During election years it appears that the online news sites help voters stay aware of what was constantly happening on each campaign. The sites would post poll inviting the users to interact with the political process. The accuracy of the consistant updated information varies depending on the site. The drawback to printed news mediums is that they are only as recent as the time they were written. When you read a daily paper, you are only informed about what happen that day instead of what happen the last hour.


It is difficult to predict the future of this relationship between the internet and politics. Research does show the people who do use the web are most likely going to search and seek out the information they are looking for. They will be committed to checking sites for updates and respond to polls and online community chat platforms. People who vote can use the web to stay informed on what is currently going on. So this relationship does serve a valid purpose.


Discussion Questions

1. What are ways the internet can further support politics?

2. Do you think that the internet is an affective way to inform voters ?

3. Do you prefer printed media coverage or online media coverage in reference to politics?

Implications of blogging technology on established media

Blogging technology has taken america by storm. In looking at the history of Journalism our need for information and news is still spawned by our current blogging era. What draws people to the new "Open" technical environment is that they control what happens. Blogging puts a person in control of what information people can access as well as provides them a sense of freedom in how they express themselves. With conventional news mediums people are forced to only receive what our corporate society sees fit for all of us to know. Sometimes this information can be skewed and not providing the reader or listener with actual first hand information. Blogging allows a person to write there own life storyand share it with the world. Or sparked unconventional ongoing conversations that invite the world to share their opinions.

In the second article the author had inserted a quote that i feel is relevant to the topic of blogging. In his response to why people are interested in podcasting. "What they are compelled by is unique independent niche programming that appeals to them and allows them to develop a relationship that they can't forge with mainstream programming." I believe that the same independence is aplied to people's desire to be apart of the blog environment.


Discussion Questions

1. How does blogging make an individual a "intuitive journalist"?
2. what are the similarities between blogging and podcasting?
3. What will blogging look like in the future?

Extra Credit

I believe that this article speaks to the issues surrounding social software. Unlike the prior required articles this author questions the evolution of this movement. He does hone in on the important steps we have made in improving communication with groups using technology. Group environments such as wiki's have allowed for multi purpose group interaction where each member can effectively contribute the administration of an idea or work project. He challenges us to look at ways we can dive deeper. Looking at the tension between groups and personal goals, he raises the issue of how we will we deal with this. Noting that in real life this problem still exists without a real solution to a natural human occurance to reject group interaction. I think that is important to question the barrier structure of such environments. What works best is what he says we are learning as we succeed and fail at advancing these technological forms. He concludes by saying we will find success by asking the right questions.

I enjoyed this article because I feel as though it speaks to the other side of this technology. The author did not criticize the technology only quering us to think about the future possibilities and how we can successfully make this a notable medium. Working with wiki's I have found provides me with the opportunity to feel apart of the group overall but not have to be in the same place as all of the members. In one of my classes we use the wiki for our final project. It has helped format and organize group information and provides a secure way for all of us to administratively network. I look forward to the future possibilities of social softwares, who knows what lies ahead!

Open Source Software Movement

The open source software movement is a new and progressional idea. This new movement has opened up a new world in how humans interact in our society today. The GNU technology is so primitive in that developers can now use their knowledge and skills collectively to empower a generation where technology is supreme. This shared network allows for users to no longer be limited by commercial systems. The downfall of this is that developers will not have a high financial marketing value. Their individual intellectual property will be shared amongst a broad range of users. However, the wealth of learning, experience and creativity to develop the future of how humans interact in the future is priceless.

Corporations have yet to extend their boundaries to allow for collective shared work environments. As noted in the reading it is apparent that our society sees a major need for individual to individual communication. The era of the "Big Business" being the voice for techology is no longer what users want to hear. The blanket statements that place companies in competitive binds only limit the future of technological advancements. People are now using other mediums such as the internet and media forms to reach out to one another and push the boundaries. With the rise in text messaging and instant messaging information is exchanging hands at a faster rate. Online communities that allow for free flow of thought such as blogs and other online journals provide the individual user with a sense of ownership and responsibility. It is with this change that new ideas are adopted and formed.

These changes must be studied amongst communication scholars. Without acknoledging the new wave in societal interaction, collectively we will limit the growth of our high rising future. The generation of individual webbed ideas gives users a free pass to explore technology in a network and not isolated by coporate commercial limitations. The study of this can only showcase the benefits while also helping us to forsee the hazards and dangers of going to far.

Discussion Questions:

1. How have blogs, and other online communities transformed the way humans interact with each other?

2. Do you think that open source software will end up destroying the economy by lessing the validity of those who contribute to those environments?

3. How do you think corporate america will eventually respond to societies push to go above and beyond the commercial boundaries? How will it affect their business overall?

man-machine relationship

It was amazing to read a enlightening perspective on the technological progression in our society. The world as we know it is made up of imperfect human beings. In mans attempt to go above and beyond human capabilities we created machines. These machines are more precise and have logical functionality. Most humans trust machines to do all of the thinking for us. We assume that machines make up for mans downfall. In our inevitable acts of creation, we focus on the innovative possibilities of where technology can lead us. In doing so, we forget that they are only programmed to react to what we have told them to do. The author speaks of situation where human error heightened the problem in breaking down the hidden perfection of machines. He used the example of programmers and how difficult learning programming languages can be. He pointed out that majority of time and effort are spent fixing errors within the systems. These errors make the system inoperatable. The idea in question is that you have imperfect beings trying to create perfect machines. When you look at it from that perspective it does raise a lot of questions.


The solution is to create new systems (machines) from a human centered view. I can understand where the author is coming from. He focuses on connecting the two human and machine. I do think that we as human get in over our heads on new technological developments. We oliviate the essence of human characteristics that our valuable to our daily life. Without them our world will not make sense. We drive to make sense of our world. Finding the value in both makes a complete perspective the hones in on our human ability to grow and evolve. Making changes that move us forward to building a better bridge between man and machine.



Discussion Questions:

1. What are ways humans have taken technology too far?

2. How does the internet play a vital role in how man and machine interact?

3. What are ways we can design with a human centered view?