social networking sites

      Well for starters they are called "social" sites so I wouldn't necessarily call information private and public.  Because lets face it things you put on the internet become published and public, though certain things can be deemed classified, confidential and require access via password or some kind of limited day pass that you have to pay for etc. In other words I think that there are varying degrees of public information.
but my question is, what kind of message is it sending that we tell young kids not to be on these sites then have them join for classroom purposes like to get their daily assignments? in a way doesn't this subject them to improper usage of SNS potentially subjecting them to online bullying.. but then again maybe teachers use more sites like blackboard or something which allows young students to have the same experience but in a "safer" environment that is only for their class.

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it's nice that Facebook has privacy settings and allows you to customize them to suit your needs and uses but why is it that every time Facebook decides to update the settings it changes your current settings or resets them to where you have to go back and reset them yourself? why cant they stay the same with the new update? I'm sure these questions cant be answered unless you get a hold of the Zuck man himself but it is just interesting to ponder.  and maybe it is good that they reset because it reminds you to go and reassess and readjust your settings but how come you never or rarely if ever get an email about your privacy settings changing? and also why is the privacy setting menu not more prominent on the page? just some design to think about..I also don't like how when Facebook changes, like with this new timeline thing, how you are just forced to change with it, what if you don't want it, what if you want to keep your old setting? is there a way to do that? should there be? could there be? and also how will this timeline feature affect privacy? will it make it easier for people to find old posts that you may not necessarily want shown? and similarly with this opt-in stuff why isn't the default to select opt-in instead of automatically being opted in and you have to select opt-out?

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Just how free is free?

There is no such thing as free.

Whether it is monetary or labor, something always has a price.

I think the tension with information wanting to be free and expensive is an interesting point, it kind of reminds me of Gollum/Smeagol from LOTR.

It’s like this really expensive tea store in Short Pump, VA.  It is called Tevana and I suppose it is trying to be like the über spoiled rich cousin of Starbucks.  It has a bunch of different samples of the tea that they sell to taste, and it is very yummy tea but it is like 5$ for a small tea and the prices rise for the other sizes and are worse if you want to purchase the tea leaves to brew at home.  Then they get you will all of the “accessories” of cups, kettles, honey, spoons, canisters etc. 

So case in point, though things may seem free, there is pretty much always gonna be a catch (or a small trial period before you have to pay ie some free versions of apps for iPod/iPhone and Netflix).

Other “free” items are also known as “freemiums,” where users can use the basic for free.  Examples include Skype, Google Books, Hulu (Hulu+) and Wordpress, just to mention a few.  With these you can get pretty good usage from the basic versions but for a certain amount of money per month you can have unlimited access and access to premium benefits.

Lessig-Code: "they are more like guidelines anyway"

[reference is from Pirates of the Caribbean] 

Technically you could say that I have taken two ideas and mashed them up together to create a catchy title. And that is what remix/mashup is about, taking old ideas and giving them a fresh look.

Lessig is the man when it comes to copyright and remix! In a segment of Rip Remix Manifesto he says what is wrong with remixing…I’m creating…expressing,…I’m spreading ideas.

In his book Remix, Lessig says, “[Y]ou have to ‘give people a sense of being part of something that has meaning.’...Contributors to this community ‘feel they’re being part of something that’s big and important…They feel like they get to focus on things that they really want to focus on.’”

In this video, Lessig talks about how copyright are stifling creativity.  Clearly he is not saying that piracy is right, but I think this is where a lot of confusion and misunderstanding is with copyright and the law and mashups.  At least for me, I think that if I purchase and download a song from iTunes and then use it in something that I create, and give proper credit, I should be ok to use it.  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXwB9FlkNXA

I don’t know if I necessarily agree with Michael Moore on some things but he does make a good point in this video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OVYhwKu7J5E&NR=1&feature=fvwp

boom!

I think that for the most part the Internet is pretty self-regulated.  However there are a few outliers that create problems where the government must step in, but how do they regulate with all of the ambiguity and without infringing on people’s rights.  In his book Code, I just want to know Lessig’s views on the Jake story example.  Where would he see fit regulation? Because for me I don’t think posting these stories about rape is harmless.  What are his ideas on how on how cyberspace should be if it doesn’t have to be like it is now? And finally if he is for collaboration and sharing ideas, as seen from clips from Rip Remix Manifesto and YouTube, how do these match up to his views on regulation?

Inspector Gadget: go-go Lanier knowledge

I can certainly see Lanier's point about how certain aspects of the Internet can detract from other areas of life. Most of us are all very connected to some form of technology and feel lost or empty without it.  I can also see how this would apply to how this time spent on the Internet affects our ability to develop social skills.  For instance, when I was in Ireland this summer, the first two weeks we had very limited internet capabilities unless we went down to a small computer lab or to an internet cafe.  My point is that the time our group would have spent in our rooms being anti-social and social on Facebook was spent truly getting to know each other and to explore Ireland.

I think were Lanier falls short a little bit is that he fails to see that we are all still individuals.  The new remix culture that has formed allows us to express our individual ideas, opinions and creativity.  By posting our piece of work to Facebook or twitter or a blog or YouTube (or what have you) we are able to share our individualism and creativity--these social sites are merely a tool used to get them out to mass audiences at a fast pace.

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I was a little offended at his comment about college kids stealing music.  This is a mass generalization, more than college students do it, not to try to justify stealing but seriously.  and related to that most artists/musicians aren't too concerned with this sharing of music.  It is more the labels and record companies that fear some loss of profit in their already overstuffed wallet.
(http://ripremix.com/)

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I think my favorite part of the book was the part in chapter 8 about Songles.  I am not sure if this, or Dongles, is a word or a real thing but I liked the first sentence; "A songle is a dongle for a song." He then goes on to explain what a dongle is but no clarification on a songle.  I just like the phrasing of the words, it makes me smile

Research Proposal redo

Elizabeth Maddox

Research Proposal

(re-edited)

Title: Simulation training in the Military

After watching a PBS special called digital_nation I was interested in how the military uses simulation in training and wanted to take a closer look.  I suppose some questions to look at further would be:

-how effective is simulation?

-why use it?

-what is the connection between simulation and the military experience center?

-why is this center an effective approach to generate interest? Or is it not?

-what skills does simulation offer?

-what do people think about simulation training?

-what does the military think about simulation training?

-what skills are gained? If any?

I also want to take a look at some of the history of simulation training and how it has evolved and also compare military training simulation to medical simulation training and how people feel about that and how those feelings differ in each field.

My feelings about simulation training fall more on the side of the military and that it is an effective tool.  But there are some drawbacks (and I also agree with the parents that for the military experience center that 13 is too young for boys and girls to be going, perhaps 15 is a better age because they are more mature)

This is a side note but I kind of want to touch on how I think that simulation is different from video gaming.  I feel that it is like all video games can be a simulation but not all simulations are video games kind of thing.

Henrry, Jenkinsss...

(in case you have never heard of Leroy Jenkins, that is what the title is referencing) 

What I gathered from Henry Jenkins' reading was that we are a collective culture that likes to remix things in our society and create new meaning.  Just like what i did with this title, I have changed the content to fit my need.  His example was with Star Wars and how culture has remixed it, spoofed it and parodied it.  People have taken this huge pop icon and added their unique take on it to be funny or make a point about something.  

I think this quote from his article sums up his point very well, "Technological convergence is attractive to the media industries because it will open multiple entry points into the consumption process and at the same time, enable consumers to more quickly locate new manifestations of a popular narrative."

After reading some of Lanier I got the feeling that he would be against this and he certainly has an opposite view of Shirky.  Though it seemed like he was against collectivism and remix I'm not really sure what he is for.  While I liked where some of his thoughts and points were going some of them seem to be just as scattered and broken as the stuff he is against.  

One man's trash is another man's treasure

While I did enjoy reading Mr. Shirky’s book, I found much of it to be redundant.  I liked that I was a heck of a lot easier to comprehend than Benkler's book and I thought that the opening and epilogue chapters were strong; I found the stuff in the middle quite repetitive of the last chapter.  But upon thinking about it, this could have been a means of driving the collaboration point home. 

In this last reading we did I thought there were some unique points made.  I liked the small world part because it is true that this happens in life all the time.  This ties in then to how it is about how many kinds of people you know and not just who you know.  When we have these small world happenstances we then have the opportunity of broadening our network to people other than just in our area of expertise. 

Another valuable bit related to these connections was the whole “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure” concept.  By knowing people outside our field we can talk about various things and share ideas to where we can collaborate to make the idea a reality.

Finally, it must be important, because Shirky brings up the publish then filter idea again.  And this time what I took away from it is that the whole collaboration concept allows for redefinition and enhanced knowledge of certain sites.  From this I thought of Facebook and how it started out as just a thing for Harvard students then eventually grew to the world.  I’m sure Zuck knew it could be big just not how big.  The Facebook team is always putting stuff out there and testing the water and then adjusts its site according to feedback from users among other things.  However just because it is new doesn’t mean it is better.