Due Assignment #4B Reading Response

Due Assignment #4B Reading Response

Classification is the action or process of classifying something according to shared qualities or characteristics and it is important because it allows scientists to identify, group, and properly name organisms in a standardized system. In the writing of Wright, Dye, and Badke one example that describes this is the use of technology when it comes to the community of people creating data through the internet with the use of hash tagging a photograph, video or status which creates a group or a classification on whichever social platform its being used on. Through hash tagging people groups of common people can use these keywords to find others that looking up similar topics or things which is a form of classification.

Due Assignment #8B Reading Response

Due Assignment #8B Reading Response

In Meszaros reading ” who’s in charge here ” he uses his platform to questioning authority given to the likes of teachers, librarians, and students. In this writing Meszaros breaks down how authority I distributed in the school and shows how students regulate who they should listen to and who they consider authority figures within the school. In the article it shows how students respect teachers above librarians not due to the educational level difference between the two but due to the fact that the students want better grades they listen to the teachers and hold them to a different authority level than the librarians which makes sense to me.

Due Assignment #9B Reading Response

Due Assignment #9B Reading Response

In the Ted talk Vaidhyanathan comes up with some good points on how people feel about technology but I don’t feel like his statements are true. Although people use google and the internet I don’t feel like people trust these platforms and when the general public uses Google or any other internet search engine we feel as if we have complete privacy. We understand google has no loyalty to us, that’s why many things don’t get searched for and personal information often doesn’t get put into the internet. The problem that we the people have is the fact that websites like google and other make it harder for you to access many things on the computer without putting in some type of personal information into there databases which I find completely wrong.

Due Assignment #10B Reading Response

Due Assignment #10B

One great example from pop culture of an imagined future it the popular movie iRobot released in the early 2000’s which featured Will Smith. The movie described a world controlled by technology and robots and showed a world that untimely became a place where human interaction started to die out. Humans in this movie had robots which they used as servants and instead of living life as intended everything became a world controlled by technology and what technology and do to help humans, not what humans can do to help themselves. Information in this film was controlled by robots and computers and it also showed how flawed human programming of these robots were because later on in the film robots started to develop human- like feelings, which was never intended to happen.

Assignment #5B

In David Weinberger’s book titled “Too Big to Know,” he discusses the infrastructure of knowledge; or in other words, the process of reducing/filtering information into something more manageable to prevent information overload (having too much information). For example,  libraries usually throw away old  books in favor of those that are more new and informative to their users.

We generally reduce information by using resources such as online databases,  libraries, and Google. However, a deep understanding of these resources’ taxonomy  is required in order to become a great researcher. Knowing what category, keyword,  or year of what we want to locate will help reduce the amount of information given drastically. Otherwise, reading every result google displays would take months or years.

To conclude, finding the right data in the limitless pool of information would be impossible (information overload). Only an understanding of the infrastructure of knowledge, or the process of filtering information, would make it possible. Mastering this process ultimately makes us better researchers and learners.

Writing Assignment: Trolling

Trolling as a whole, is the act of making an offensive online post with the intentions of hurting, or getting an angry reaction out of another person. Trolling seems to be very mainstream, and examples can be shown in the media. As for celebrities such as musicians, actors, and actresses, trolling is done by so called haters. For example, according to Yahoo!, “‘The Walking Dead’ Star Alanna Masterson Fires Back at Fat-Shaming Trolls…” Alanna Masterson has shown to be a victim of trolling. This article explains how after shooting an episode of The Walking Dead, Alanna received mass amounts of discrimination. Fat-shaming, is a form of discrimination in which a person is scrutinized due to their weight. Alanna was discriminated since she obtained some baby weight. After having her daughter, she posted to Instagram “Dear Instagram trolls, body shamers, and the men and woman who think it’s ok to comment on my weight: I hope that you don’t have children. And if you do, I hope you teach them about kindness and acceptance” (Yahoo!). Basically Alanna took a shot back at the haters, not letting them bring her down. A clever yet inspiring response influenced her fans to show even more support. This is just one example of trolling, but these problems can be alleviated if we support one another.

Assignment 10B

The future is the place we will experience whatever is left of our lives, so we offer a substantial measure of the present to making preparations for it. Mental research has given bits of knowledge into such as future considering, which can take a few structures. Keeping up deferred goals to perform particular activities later on, foreseeing future occasions as an approach to get ready for believable consequences, and thinking the future to empower us to settle on better long time conclusions. The technology and imagination of the future is growing every single day. However, my example of an imagined future in pop culture would be Sylvester Stallone because his movie series are one of the most popular action stars in cinematic history, Oscar nominee Sylvester Stallone is best known for portraying boxer Rocky Balboa and Vietnam War veteran John Rambo.

 

Assignment 9B

Vaidhyanathan says “we trust google with our personal info and preferences and without access to knowledge because we trust technology that satisfies our prejudices” and I would say that I agree with his argument to a certain extent. Google has become synonymous with the internet as we, for the most part, will have it as our default search engine and if not, we change it so that it is, we even have an expression dedicated to Google, “Just Google it” which shows just much we have come to trust in Google. I know I am one who doesn’t like using other search engines because they aren’t as tailored to my preferences as I’ve grown accustomed to.

However, that is not to say that we should simply trust Google wholeheartedly. Even though, we know how Google will track and sell our information, save our data, create customized searches and advertisements of  their own and of other sites, this doesn’t mean they should get a free pass. If Google is compromised, then, millions of people’s data would be liable to be stolen. Plus, the fact they store and collect so much information could even be seen as an invasion of one’s privacy, especially, when you take into consideration how Google will “read” your emails.

While Google seems to be a mainstay when it comes to the internet, we need to remember at the end of the day, they are not always looking for our best interests.

Assignment 10B

Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 is an example of a literature imagined future. The location of this imagined future is in Los Angeles, although the time period is ambiguous. It was published in 1953, in relation to current events such as the McCarthy hearings and the result of world war II. In his novel, Bradbury describes a futuristic American city in which books including any type of literature, are banned. Books are not only banned in this society, but are repeatedly burned. In addition to this, creative thinking, meaningful thinking, and spending time alone is not orchestrated.

As for books,“Guy Montag is a fireman who burns books…” (Sparknotes). So, in this imagined society books are burned by firemen themselves. It is up to Guy Montag the protagonist of this novel, to help his city as various destruction is occurring. He must realize his full potential and meaning of life, involving the value of literature. Luckily he meets renegade intellectuals and other intelligent people such as a retired Professor, who inform him of their way of life. In a city with no intellect or meaning, personalities seem dramatically bland. I found this novel I read in high school to be an amazing example of an imagined future, because if we removed books or any sort of intellect what would our society be? Bradbury gives a clear overview of how destructive life in a non-intellect valueless world would be, possibly leading to war.

Assignment 9B

Under Vaidhyanathans argument, sadly I do believe that I trust Google but it depends. What I mean by this is every time any of us are on the internet (or at least for me), there is an instinct to go to Google. For researching for basic facts or a problem in society, I go straight to google. I do trust google to bring me to basic searches on the web. For example, if I have a question I google it to see different answers. I then by my own judgment, choose a site I see best fit for my question. However in regards to personal life I have seen google shows my twitter account, Facebook, Instagram, and Youtube. With that in mind, google worries me. I do believe I trust google for basic searches as a I said, but NOT for personal accounts and knowledge. I do not trust the taking of my accounts in a way that anyone can find or see them. But is there a solution to this problem? Like am I supposed to just delete my accounts? I do have a privacy setting, but I am not sure if this is enough to protect my identity on google. Lastly as for knowledge being a college student in my third year, I understand how to find relevant, useful, and valid information. Iv’e used data bases every year in my previous English classes, I do not use google for information related to academic research or intellectuality. As a whole, I trust google on some level but not on all levels.