In class, there were two nicely done in depth presentations. They weren't simple and quite lengthily, but I suppose that is the point when it comes to academia. New Technologies, technologies in Toyko (who are five years ahead of us techwise arg), the lone Communications professor critic of the Internet (what can I say writers are cynics sometimes), the attack on the blogosphere and the tracking of buses and UPS Trucks (*drifts off to the MIA song*) and smart mobs.
What I thought was interesting, but not surprising was the text gang. At first I laughed at the idea of it until the presenter said an incident happened where a girl wanted the leave the gang so she got beat up. This is an example of technology at it's worst just like the youtube video of the girl being beaten by a bunch of cheerleader preppies. *shivers* I am so glad I am out of high school.
Wifi was also presented as a new form of changing technology. It is positively cheaper and gives more access to people, but there is a huge threat and negative side to that the presenter failed to present. So I am going to use an example of my own life here about this. I was at a friend's house and she lives in a an apartment complex, well the party was going great and than a computer techy decided he wanted to hack the other people's wireless Internet in the apartments. This made me feel a little uneasy, nothing too tragic happened, but it made me think of my own wifi in my apartment. Is it secure enough, can someone hack into it use it up, run up our bill, get into my computer because of this drifting unsecured network??? Luckily my brother and I have a password you have to use to get on it. Still, there is the immense chance of hacking with wireless Internet.
Another unconnected point to wifi lol, that I'd like to point is the ridiculous argument against the blogosphere. Yes there are no limitations of what people can write, sure rumors turn into fact, and ya it's personal opinion. I however think that blogging is the conceptualizing of our world around us. If information is merely, data and knowledge is understanding. Than why don't we encourage blogging as the development of thoughts and personal opinion which helps us understand not only ourselves but all the data we get on a day to day basis. For example, this blog is me saying that yes I not only attended today's lecture, but understood and am intellectually thinking about what was presented in class. *lol I am not a suck up...noo lol* Seriously though, the lone critic was out of line in lambasting blogs. It's just a form of journaling, but only it develops community and while it has it's negative side affects. It's used for good by most of the people on the Internet.
Alright before I type a bazillion words and you get bored of reading this, I want to talk about something I am really excited about. Digitally tracking buss es and UPS packages. How cool is that! The fact that these are realistic things that are happening makes me squirm. Okay, let my explain my silly excitability. I ride the bus occasionally, because my bike is the only form of transportation I have right now, which is fine. But there was this one time..lol *not in band camp* that I was in the middle of Lakewood at night in the dark and standing at a bus stop. It gets better too, I had no idea if that bus was coming, if that bus was out of service, if I was going haft to find a new way home etc. It was the scariest moment in my life. There was no time schedule or anything. I know I am irresponsible, not the point. All I knew was it said 57 to downtown Tacoma and that's where I wanted to go. If I could see where the bus was somehow, I would have been much more at ease knowing it was coming to pick me up which it eventually did.
I could use another example of when I was waiting for a bus to go down to Olympia and it was an hour late! What! That's crazy you say! Well it was because it broke down and had to be repaired. Can you imagine the benefits of being able to let people know who are relying on that bus that it's going to be late and it's a 10 miles away waiting for a tire change. That would be amazingly helpful to the people. Just amazingly. I would love it if that technology was in place a few years from now. The transit system would be updated to the 21st century which it desperately needs.
Well those are my thoughts on today's presentations in class. Any questions? CommentS?
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