Author Archives: Karen

Assignment 10

Posted on November 17, 2016 | Leave a comment

In their article “Trolling: Who does it and why?”, Tom de Castella and Virginia Brown (2011) talks about the effect of trolling in modern times. They explain how trolling became part of an international phenomenon that includes cyber bullying. The Bill of Rights does not help solve this problem since, the first amendment protects free speech and makes it difficult to punish people for trolling online.  The authors deduce that people cannot help when it comes to this type of crime. They explain that anyone is capable to become a troll. Many people want the satisfaction of someone noticing what they wrote and this gives them the motivation to write something “emotional.” Since laws are not updated to match cyber crime, it is hard for police to stop it. However, in recent years the police system has tried harder to combat menacing people who hide behind the screen.  The authors explain a way to combat the trolling in newspaper, websites and other media. They state that media forums should employ sufficient moderators to prevent the comments from becoming petty vendettas. Tom de Castella and Virginia Brown explains what trolling is, the examples of it and why people may do it. They also mention a way to combat trolling, since free speech should not be taken away. We need to find a way to better deal with trolling behind the screen.

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Assignment #10B

Posted on November 14, 2016 | Leave a comment

One example from literature or pop culture of an imagined future is Susan Ee, “Angelfall.” The series Penryn & the End of Days follows Penryn as she overcomes obstacles in the Apocalypse. From the beginning of the book, you are able to imagine the world Susan Ee created. Penryn is not the typical protagonist, she is a half-starved teenager with a disabled sister. Penryn’s mother also deal with her own psychological issues, making Penryn the one in charge. Susan Ee shows how modern location have changed because of the apocalypse. Locations that are well known become the main bases of the warrior angels.

The story takes place in the distant California, where 6 weeks ago angels of the apocalypse came to destroy the world. During the day, street gangs terrorize the people. Penyrn’s sister gets abducted by warrior angels and she will do anything to get her back. Penryn eventually teams up with Raffe, a wingless warrior angel. Raffe goes with Penryn to the center base of the angels to find a way to put back his wings.

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Assignment #9B

Posted on November 10, 2016 | Leave a comment

Vaidhyanathan argues that, “we trust google with our personal info and preferences and without access to knowledge because we trust technology that satisfies our prejudices.”

I do believe this is true, people do blindly trust google. Your google profile is molded to fit what your search history is. YouTube which is owned by Google is a great example. What to watch option, looks at your history to recommended users videos. Just recommending videos tells users that Google looks at user’s preferences without their knowledge. Since it does satisfies the users taste, most users do not think twice about it, trusting google. Chrome, another example saves usernames and passwords to make it easier for users. With this you don’t have to re-type usernames and password everything it’s asked. Google stores that personal info and since it satisfies users, users don’t fear it. I do trust Google, to some extent. Google is a search engine, it is up to me and my knowledge to see which sites are safe and useful. I am a person who doesn’t display personal information in sites. It is up to the users to see what information is out there and if they don’t like it, there are options. I also do like that Google stores my preferences, it makes my life easier and I see content that I like.

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Assignment #8B

Posted on November 8, 2016 | Leave a comment

Meszaros journal article, “Who’s in Charge Here? Authority Authoritativeness, and the Undergraduate Researcher” mentions questioning authority. Meszaros demonstrates how novice researchers only focus on administrative authority, ignoring crucial facts. For example, students are only focused on getting a good grade and in order to accomplish it. They will blindly follow the direction given by their professors, ignoring whether they should question the instructions.

Personal epistemology theory, which is based on subsequent cognitive development researchers show there are two types of young adults. Dualist, who will believe anything they’re told by “authority” without researching themselves. While Multiplists, believe that anyone’s opinion is valid. A young adult who is a dualist and a multiplist is not enough. Young adults don’t take it upon themselves to researcher the knowledge they acquire. These filters hinder the way a students can and should analyze information. Meszaros mentions that these student should question the authority, and question the knowledge the “authority” claims.

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Assignment #7B

Posted on November 1, 2016 | Leave a comment

The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) law allows federal records to be disclosed. These records could either have never been released before or, they could help better see decision made by the U.S. government. The American agency that administers the work proposed in FOIA is the Archive. The Archive hold a wide range of topic dealing with the national security, foreign intelligence, and economic policies of the Untied States. The Archive does not seek U.S. government funding, which allows them to not be influenced by the government. The FOIA does benefit  citizen because it helps and allows the citizens to know the truth. Helping citizens to better understand and be well informed on topics that deal with their government. Information on the government is important, which is why the Archive is extending it’s research to countries outside of the U.S. With the information the Archive has provided, citizens can view the history of their government. Knowing the history helps us see why certain actions were taken and will better inform us of future ones.

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Assignment #6B

Posted on November 1, 2016 | Leave a comment

Martin’s book  chapter is available to read as a PDF on the web because, he wants to share his knowledge of research strategies. Martin shares how knowledge is built in mainstream research: “Funding in particular areas and for particular applications is of fundamental… hierarchy within research communities keeps most junior researchers in line.” Martin shows us why the research structure is set up a certain way, some researchers may want to go outside of the mainstream idea. If they do, then they lack being noticed and funded. Martin then shows us another type of research, community participation. This type of research allows anyone to join in research projects with no credentials, leaving control to the community. Martin challenges professional researchers by giving other types of strategies. In having the chapter available as a PDF, Martin gives the audience a chance to research which type of strategy is better for them.

The availability of this book chapter being online does exemplify Martin’s idea that scholarship should be liberated. Martin liberated his idea of how knowledge is build, in doing so he shows the readers why research is done the way it is. Since most research is targeted to certain groups by writing research a certain way, excluding non-credential researchers. Martin’s chapter is written for the reader to better understand, allowing more opportunities for individuals.

 

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Assignment #5B

Posted on October 27, 2016 | Leave a comment

David  Weinberger, “Too Big To Know” discusses infrastructure of knowledge. Weinberger mentions that there was always a vast amount of information. With the help of the internet the amount of information can now be seen. The only difference is that the information that was shown in the past was not just information, but knowledge of it as well. The internet has given us the same amount of information but now, some information is useless. The task is left for us to decide whether the information we obtain is what we need. Weinberger gives an example of what books a library has in its collection. Libraries don’t obtain all the books published, they filter to see what books they should have by the users. Weinberger mentions six type of filters we can use to simplify the web, but the web has no shape. The web is endless with no boundaries and no structure for foundation.

An understanding of knowledge infrastructure can make us better researchers by allowing us to see how to tackle the vast amount of information. The web has endless information and no structure. It is up to us to find “filters” for the information the web gives us. Information of the data is useless, unless we have the knowledge to understand it. Since there is no structure to knowledge, the way we understand the information is different for each person.

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Assignment #4B

Posted on October 18, 2016 | Leave a comment

Classification is very important because as human, since the beginning we’ve used classification to know where things belong. Wright states that classification comes from two basic cognitive capabilities: binary discrimination and liberalization. With these capabilities we are able to make higher-level of distinctions. Areas all over the world has come utilize this way of classification without any interference. Now that we are in the digital age, we need a way to classify the vast data the internet contains. Using  metadata, we are able to describe and give information about other data.  Metadata, according to Badke, does not exist on the internet. The internet’s search engine uses keywords instead of metadata,  so you are able to get the information from the internet but, the problem arises when you want to retrieve the information you are looking for. In order to help the internet’s classification better, folksonomy is used. Dye shows how folksonomy greatly improves the search engine’s classification by using tags made by the  users. As humans, we need classification in the internet in order to retrieve data faster and easier. Since users are making their own tags to classify, information can be retrieve faster.

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Assignment #3B

Posted on October 12, 2016 | Leave a comment

I do believe people have a “right to be forgotten”, on certain situations. Just like with everything in life, we have to see things in the middle. There are things that people do in the past that should be erased from the internet, as long as it will not cause harm to anyone.

The “right to be forgotten” can clash with our 1st amendment. For example, some people do not want their past to be shown and would like their past to be forgotten. The first amendment allows people to have the freedom to say what they want, including someone’s past. If someone has a criminal record and wants to keep it hidden, it can hurt people. At the same time people do have the right to erase information about themselves, if they wish. The “right to be forgotten” is not black and white, which is why it can get complicated at certain times.

Digital identity is the identity that the internet gives you. When you search or place information of any form over the internet, you leave fingerprints. These fingerprints is your digital identity, it comes from social networks, online purchases, online searches, etc.

The people who control  your digital identity are the companies you visit online. These companies will sell information you gave to other companies. The government can also see what an individual looks at over the internet, they can do this to monitor or protect citizens or just to monitor people.

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Assignment 2W: Article Questions

Posted on September 29, 2016 | Leave a comment

Newman:

  1. Since companies now have responsibility in protecting individual’s privacy. Why did the European Court not work with these companies to better establish the “right to be forgotten” rule?
  2. How can France know if individuals improved their credit report if only the negative information is shown?
  3. If a European individual wanted to buy products in the U.S. How can companies know of their past patterns, if they don’t have access to it?

Seaman:

  1. Why did Gawker not have a guideline on what articles represent their values?
  2. In the U.S. companies can hide information from individuals, why can’t this same right be given to individuals?
  3. Does creating an explanation of a company’s mistake help the person who was affected? How can we better help those who the stories were about?

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