Ted talk,Mind Control & the Internet, and Clive Thompson on High-Bandwidth Buddies response

The Ted talk discussed this concept of “filter bubbles” which happens when you use a search engine; the way this works is that when you look up something on a search engine the results you receive would be totally tailored to your interests. The video goes on to talk about how this way of searching will leave us with a lack of true connection to the world which I think is true because if your search results were always based on what you like and not take account any other elements such as others point of views like the ones found on the Ted talk they explain how that instead of connecting us to everyone it forms a sort of bubble among bubbles, a space that is all for you and without any exposure of anyone else’s. I believe this would eventually be detrimental for people and the way they come to discover and understand things because they would be limited to only their currents ideas instead of a sea of other people’s ideas.

The article "Mind Control & the Internet" by Sue Halpern goes much more in depth with this idea of a personalized web experience. They discuss technology that help people with various disabilities, technology that just helps in a sense upgrade the average person, personalized ad’s, and technology that would be used for war. They explain how they helped various people regain their hearing which is a very fascinating ability that technology is capable of because it helps and doesn't cause harm which what technology should be used for. The article also talked about technology that would enable an average human to carry a greater memory capacity that can store various sorts of information such as new languages. They point out how various ways that companies sneak in ads based on previous searches that user had done which to me seems very devious on the company’s part because it influences people to buy when they weren't really planning on it. However what seems most frightening to me is that they want to implement technology for war in the article they described how scientists were developing helmets that enable solders to communicate with one another without making a single sound.

The article "Clive Thompson on High-Bandwidth Buddies" by Clive Thompson talked about relationships between people who think alike compared to relationships with people who don’t think quite alike. The article went on to explain how people who had more acquaintances and few close friends was more beneficial in gaining new ideas then it was to have less acquaintances and more close friends. They concluded that close friends will ultimately share very similar ideas as a pose to those with more acquaintances because they will often not share similar ways of thinking thus opening your mind up to a more variety way of thinking.

Both articles share this sense of isolation from the internet world as a whole because it is become much more personalized that people are just not having enough exposure to different ways of thinking other than their own which will ultimately hinder their growth as a person because they will not be able to obtain the wide array of knowledge from others.

“How Obama Did It” by David Talbot Response

“How Obama Did It” by David Talbot discussed the various methods implemented through the use of social networking to help Obama with his campaign. They discuss the MYBO database, micro blogging, and SMS messaging.

MYBO is Obama’s website that is not only informative or interactive but it also helped collect money from the voters to help support Obama’s campaign. The website provided a sort of meeting place for everyone to gain various information on Obama and to keep updated on how he was doing. It was different from the other candidate’s sites because it added an interactive element to it that was open to everyone and in a not so serious way. They accomplished this by allowing members to communicate with one another on the site, which also allowed them to share other tools such as video posts on YouTube. Perhaps one of the most key was that this system allowed donations to be made electronically by anyone; once or even monthly. Which the article pointed out was far more effective than the other candidate who would receive large donations per person but only once per person.

The Micro blogging efforts also helped a great deal because using sites like Facebook, MySpace, and twitter etc. really helped generate a good fan base that reached the masses because of the sites growing popularity. The article mentions that twitter alone mustered up 50,000 followers for Obama.

Finally adding SMS text messaging helped keep connected with updates that were deemed worth reading and never pointless. They also allowed supporter to forward these messages to other people and also spread the word faster.

This article helped readers understand how Obama became such a great success through the use of the MYBO database, micro blogging, and SMS messaging and without these elements it would be tough to determine how popular Obama would have not been, however because he implement the technology in his campaign Obama rose to be a beacon of hope for America.

Growing Up Online PBS Presentation

There were many issues raised in the PBS presentation “Growing Up Online” there are issues of cyber bulling, online predators, creating a whole other identity through social networking sites such as MySpace, and learning in the classroom.

These issues were very tragic at times for example when they spoke about the boy named Ryan Halligan who committed suicide in October of 2003 after suffering bulling issues both in school and online. Communicating with another boy who also wanted to commit suicide also contributed to Ryan’s suicide because they would send messages to one another talking about how there was no other way and basically supporting one another. It was a very sad and unfortunate story because Ryan was very young and shows how the Internet has the capability to connect us with not only good influences but also bad influences.

Another example of children finding a bad influences online is a girl named Sara who likes to posts as a way of self expression, sends revealing photos to her boyfriend through the internet, and talks about connecting to a website that supports people who are trying to lose a significant amount of weight due to their eating disorder. The Internet can provide a lot of detrimental material for young people or for any user for that matter, however there are also vast amounts of knowledge that can be gained from the Internet as well.

A great example of this goes on in the classroom and how many students use websites to cheat such as Sparknote.com that summarizes an entire novel to be able to understand it by reading it in under minutes. They also talk about how classrooms have upgraded from using black boards to smart boards that is basically a large computer screen. They also have pod cast available for their students for they can revisit them later and multiple times. I believe that this is very good for the future of learning because technology can get a lot of things done faster and can also provide new ways for students to understand ideas such as using videos or enlarged pictures.

In the case of Jessica Hunter she created a new persona named Autumn Edows that transformed her from a shy and awkward person into a sensual Goth model. She had no friends, was bullied, felt alienated from society. Through this new identity Jessica gained this sense feeling beautiful, famous, and just different. This shows how the Internet gives anyone the power to reinvent himself or herself and how other others see them. But for Jessica it ultimately turned out to be a positive experience for her because it did help her gain confidence and a way to create and reach out to others like herself.

Finally Evan Skinner is a concerned parent about online predators and just safety in general when it comes to her 4 teenagers. She keeps her computer in her kitchen where she can supervise them .She talks about how her children like to keep secrets from her and how her children refuses to hand over their passwords to their social media sites. I believe that the children should hand over their passwords because the mother here had a very fair way of going about it about sealing the envelope and only opening it when they are in trouble which sounds very secure and fair.

This whole presentation brought up many strong issues and challenges that the Internet can bring upon people especially young people, but the Internet also gives people a new dimension in terms of exploring oneself and allows us to learn in a new way that is faster.

Adriana Ochoa