Final Week

As our group completed our final project, I've been thinking a lot about internet privacy and the issues that will continue to worsen as technology develops and we are forced to place more trust in outside "hosts" in order to achieve the ease and speed of instant, anywhere access to our information. Users are increasingly relying on wireless or mobile devices and applications. While this allows unprecedented freedom and flexibility by not being tied to a desktop computer plugged into the wall, it brings about new problems with storing information at a remote location. Experts agree that cloud computing will become much more prevalent in the next decade, either exclusively or in combination with desktop PC use, and the legal aspects of protection and privacy are still lagging behind. There is little protocol in place for how information storage companies are supposed to protect sensitive information. Many users are enticed by the ability to access their information from anywhere and fail to read or understand the user agreements that offer them little privacy or protection. What happens when a host company hires an untrustworthy employee? What happens if the company goes out of business without notifying its users? What about mechanical malfunctions that could erase volumes of data? I see two avenues to take:
1. Best case scenario-- a person is aware of the risks of remote data storage and backs up every piece of important information locally (safe, but removes the ease and convenience that cloud computing is supposed to provide)
2. Worse case scenario-- a person relies on the "cloud" for everything at the risk of losing important data and privacy (convenient, but not as safe)
There will always be a trade off as we continue to develop new technology and applications. This is supported by the experts who say that we will not be "living in the cloud" entirely any time soon. They present a more realistic hybrid where we store the most important and private information locally (where we maintain control), while using the cloud for easier access to other data and applications. We will never have it all--we have to choose between convenience and control.

Michelle's AHA

My aha for the week is a shout-out to the classmates that I've worked with during this class. I have been lucky to be paired with great partners and teammates, and I've learned a lot from you all!

Angela's Aha Moment

I have to say I learned a lot from taking this class. I was introduced to Xtranormal and Wordle. I had never seen either one of those sites before. This class also made me open my eyes to maybe try and look at politics in a different form. Maybe the next election I'll actually try and form my own opinions by catching up on the campaign happenings on the web.

Even though I learned a lot from this class I don't know that I will ever take two classes at the same time again. Even though the information was entertaining for this class the time for all the searching and reflecting took more time than I think I spend in my classroom classes. I found it hard to take two classes and maintain my family life as I like it. I know my kids are glad this class is over so we can focus on Christmas. I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year. It's been great getting to know everyone even if it wasn't face to face.

Angela's Final Thoughts

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=37OLJPjoews&feature=player_detailpage

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hcc85yBqOZ0&feature=related

Here is a couple of cute cartoons I found that helps sum up what we have learned in this class.

The first cartoon shows how family life has changed with technology. Watch the dog. I like how at first he's eating along with the family and then his bowl changes to an automatic feeder and then he changes to a toy robot dog. The big homemade meals turns to pizza out of a box. I do believe some families have let technology take over their family life. What do you do with your family?

The second cartoon shows how everyone is so focused on computers and socializing with technology. When it is taken away do you know what to do? I urge everyone to have a family night without technology. Shut off the TV, pull out the cards or board games and enjoy old fashioned conversation with your family.

Week 8

      The week I have reflected on what I have learned and how it can and will help me in the future. Learning and using multiple communication methods like Blogs, XtraNormal, YouTube, and Social sites will help me connect to others in the future. 

      With wanting to get into management, connecting with others will be key to performing well. The variety of communication methods will also make for more interesting meetings. While one communication method will work, having knowledge of a variety of tools is never a bad thing.

      The video is interesting because I have never thought about how deaf people would use something with volume like YouTube. But after watching the video, I noticed myself picking up on things that I would normally not pick up or pay attention to on a video, like her lips mouthing the words as she signs them, as well as her facial expressions. I am interested in how many other sites are devoted for different circumstances. While deaf could still read words, how would someone blind use social networking?

Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sd2gw88FOro&NR=1

Websites:
http://www.xtranormal.com/
http://www.youtube.com/

Week 8 Aha

My Aha came this week, its just starting to hit me that I'm almost done with college, each assignment is one step closer to being done with each class. May can't get here fast enough, although it seems like not long ago that I was just starting on this adventure.

Amanda Week 8 AHA moment

My AHA moment for the week is that we are at the end! It's been a long ride and I am glad it is done but found the information I learned invaluable.

Amanda Week 8

The question was brought up on Moodle, where do we go from here? I have copied my paper in:
I would not have been able to predict this type of digital age ten years ago. Mainly I believe I would not have been able to because I was only in my young teens. What our digital world might look like it ten years is really beyond me but no doubt it will be even greater than what it is now with all of the technology changes and great innovations that have gone on and will continue to happen. In the next five years I doubt there will be huge changes but there will be changes. Technology changes so quickly that innovations that happen within these next 5 years will allow applications and people to be better, faster and stronger than what we are now. I think we will become even more connected than what we are now, or at the very least the capability to do so. I think that people will reach a point that they will understand that they need some unconnected time so perhaps the future is actually getting rid of all the extraneous information and sites and really making our lives more efficient and increase the ability to be accessible. I think people are getting to a data overload point and unless things change in the future, people will actually be less intelligent then they are now. The way we use the internet and social sites need to start fostering intelligence and capability not allowing people to be stupid and take what they read for granted, not checking the facts to verify what they are reading, teaching, speaking about is actually a truthful statement. I think the language of the internet either needs to change or be separated from real life. Children coming up in this society see something written on a billboard or document or text that says R U going 2 C me tmorrow? All that does is foster stupidity for the people now and for the children that are up and coming and learning. Education needs to become the importance again and teachers need to balance the cool factor of the internet and what is on it with what they need to be teaching. Teachers need to vet the information they are teaching and showing to students, especially those that are younger and very impressionable and don’t have the background knowledge of how to critically think and answer questions, write and speak appropriately and how to act. My hope is that ten years from now we are focusing back on that and have a nice well balanced learning curriculum that allows people to truly learn book information and life information. The more that we can help teach those that are young now the better off our children’s future will be and the future of this world. Our children need to learn from the mistakes made in our generation so that when they are the CEO’s of companies, they don’t cause the same problems for their children that have been caused for our children currently.

I am sure there are people who don't agree and that is their opinion and I would be very interested in hearing those!

http://mashable.com/2010/09/07/next-5-years-social-media/
http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/the-future-of-social-media-being-everywhere-a-steve-rubel-interview/ (article and video in one)

Week 7 politics and social network

This weeks topic was politics and social networks. I feel as if I keep up with technology and some social networks. I however don't keep up with politics. Unless of course it's by the unwanted up date from my dad. He is a true Republican and I of course grew up with a republican so I vote republican also. BUT...I have to give Obama credit for using technology and social networks to reach the younger generation. The younger generation is more apt to form their own opinions rather than carrying on family preferance. There are so many web sites out there with information about politics that anyone can educate themself on the current political issues.

http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2008/The-Internet-and-the-2008-Election/01-Summary-of-Findings.aspx

Week 7 AHA

I really do not like politics. I think I have listened to more politics from this assignment than I have in my whole life! I guess the only thing I didn't mind was being able to watch the videos on my own time with out my regular TV shows being interrupted.

Week 7

This week we studied the use of social media in political elections, particularly the 2008 presidential campaign. I wasn’t really surprised by any of the information or statistics because the election wasn’t all that long ago, and I recall hearing a lot about Barack Obama’s ability to connect with younger voters through the internet. I was interested by the comment that politicians are so unreceptive to the use of technology in their campaigns. In this article from The New York Tims, Michael Cornfield (professor of political science at George Washington University ) said, "Politicians are having a hard time reconciling themselves to a medium where they can't control the message. Politics is lagging, but politics is not going to be immune to the digital revolution." I thought this was important because all of the candidates except for Obama seemed to be lagging behind in the last presidential election and I wonder how much of an impact this really had on the results.

I was also interested to read this article about the social profile of political candidates. Josh Bernoff divides internet users (or non-users) into the following categories: Creators, Critics, Collectors, Joiners, Spectators, and Inactives. I felt like this was a much better way of examining the role of social media in politics. Most other statistics just showed the rate of participation, not what that participation entailed. I think it says very different things for a person to be a Creator versus a Spectator. Both are “involved” in the political digital society, but one is a leader shaping that society while the other is a passive absorber.

Week 7 Aha

My Aha came from reading about the use of the internet and social media during the last few presidential campaigns. Although some people are probably surprised by how much the candidates use technology, I’m surprised by how little it was used in the 2000 and 2004 elections. I feel like the American public was already well on its way into the digital age, particularly by the 2004 election, and Howard Dean was the only one using the internet (he even admits the success came by accident). Perhaps the potential leaders of our country could have been more in tune with the way of the future.

Amanda week 7 aha

I had the AHA today that I am quite content not being so plugged in and need to take a break from it more often. Long live quiet time! :)

Amanda Week 7 post

This week we studied about politics and social media. I found this topic very interesting yet infuriating but that's mostly because some of the politics rubbed me the wrong way. I do have to say while interesting, I found some of the links that we were supposed to read as not very reliable resources. I believe one was someone's blog and while it's great to hear their opinion, however educated it may be, unless they are known as an expert or are associated in some way to a news outlet then I do not believe they are credible. There were a couple of links from the New York Times which I found to be very well written articles and credible. I believe that social media will continue to be used but it runs into the risk of becoming too impersonal. I believe that it needs to be well balanced. There must be some social media usage and some "old school" usage for people to really connect to someone, a blog and a website just isn't going to do it. I am a younger American and I did not utilize Twitter or Facebook for the 2008 election and I expect that I am receiving information that way that the president receives the opinion of his voters that way as well. That has not seemed to have been the case with Obama's forum that he set up so he could "hear" his voters. I do think it is good though because it has brought in the young Americans to vote and feel like their voice matters and I believe that is the best thing to come out of this social media push.

http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/nov2008/tc2008115_988160.htm
http://www.promotionworld.com/se/articles/article/081027SocialMediaandthe2008Election.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBzjRdEMjEU

Week 6 PEW Internet - Internet Usage

For this weeks assignment I was to survey five people over 50 on questions regarding their internet usage. I was so interested in the findings that I decided to go a step further and interview five people in each of the other age groups 40 to 40, 30 to 39, 20 to 29. The questions were:

1.Do you ever use the Internet to...send or read e-mail? Did you happen to do this yesterday, or not?

2.Do you ever use the Internet to...get news online? Did you happen to do this yesterday, or not?

3.Do you ever use the Internet to...do any banking online? Did you happen to do this yesterday, or not?

4.Do you ever use the Internet to...use online classified ads or sites like Craigslist? Did you happen to do this yesterday, or not?

5.Do you ever use the Internet to...use a social networking site like MySpace, Facebook or LinkedIn.com? Did you happen to do this yesterday, or not?

6.Do you ever use the Internet to...use Twitter or another service to share updates about yourself or to see updates about others? Did you happen to do this yesterday, or not?

E-mail was used by everyone but one person in the 30 to 39 and she said it was because of texting. She can text people easier than sending an e-mail.

News was interesting. The 50 and older group still likes to get the news from TV or the newspaper but the 30 to 49 year olds like the internet because they could access more news and also be able to search for what is interesting to them. the 20 to 29 year olds said they just don't like the news.

Banking shows a trend through the age groups. The 20 to 29 year olds bank on line and had used it the day before. The 30 to 39 year olds bank on line but one person didn't do it the day before. The 40 to 49 year olds everyone but one bank on line but only two checked it the day before. The 50 to 59 year olds only two bank online and those two did check it the day before. The older group said they didn't trust doing anything with financials on line.

Classifieds were more popular than I thought they would be. Only three out of the twenty interviewed did not use on line classifieds. I was one of the three. Maybe because my husband is on there all the time I don't feel the need to look for used stuff that I don't have money to buy anyway.

Social Networking had more 50 and older people than the 40 to 49 age group. Only two out of the five used the internet for social networking. I found that shocking. I also was shocked to see that not all of the 20 to 29 year olds used social networks. One guy said it was because his girlfriend had a Facebook so she keeps him up to date on anything happening.

Twitter or other sharing sites had very few people. In fact only three out of twenty used this. The three used blogs because they are in school and required to blog. That is the only reason I blog. Before this class I would not have even thought of blogging.

Check out http://www.pewinternet.org/ and see what surveys you find interesting.

Angela's Week 6 AHA Moment

I have to say I have learned so much by taking this class. I have done research papers before but I have never came across the PEW Internet. This was an interesting web site. I spent hours going through different surveys. I will remember this web site the next time I need to come up with some facts for a paper.

2008 Campaign

The 2008 election changed how elections will be campaigned in the future.  The ability of the internet and social media sites to reach such a large amount of people for free is a great resource for anyone.  The candidates were able to reach the youth voters with using these sources, and the response they received from the youth is amazing.  Some even going as far to make this YouTube video below, which is very entertaining, and supports everyone to go out and voice their opinion. 

The youth in politics has been a group that is typically less likely to voice their opinion by voting, but that could be forever changed.  Social media and the internet allow people to plan events much easier, and they are able to reach a larger audience for free and very fast because of the internet.  The YouTube video has 17,872 views, and this is what someone did on their free time, just to encourage people to get out and vote, and the video is slanted in Obama’s favor.  I can’t wait to see how much the internet and social media sites are going to affect the next election.  I have already seen websites that have some people who have had their name mentioned as potential candidates Donald Trump and Jeb Bush are the two most recent names.

I thoroughly enjoyed this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5sMBT_jmKg

It amazed me that someone looked into the statistics of the election like this report did.

http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/results/polls/#USP00p1

This website only has a couple facts on this page; there are a large number of facts through the pages.

http://obama-mccain.info/compare-obama-mccain-age.php

Week 7 Aha

My week 7 Aha came when researching statistics of the 2008 election.  I found it interesting that younger generations voted for Obama and as the age group increases their voting for McCain increased.  The most interesting statistic though was that 95% of African Americans voted for Obama.  While these numbers may be typical in some races, for this to occur for the highest race in the United States says to me that Racism is still in the minds of African Americans.  http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/results/polls/#USP00p1

Age & Technology

The common denominator that I came across in all of my research on the Pew Internet and American Life Project was age. While this wasn’t news to me, it was interesting to see the data to back up what I see in the world every day: younger people are much more technologically savvy and use more varieties of technology to communicate and share information.

The surveys that I studied were about the use of “apps” on cell phones, the use of wireless technology to access the internet (either from a laptop or a cell phone), and the concern over internet privacy and subsequent attempts to manage an “online reputation.” While the data confirmed that adults are less likely to use smart phone “apps” (many confessed to not even knowing if their phones have apps) and wireless internet, it was also nice to see that the numbers are growing. I’m sure that there will always be an age gap in the use of technology as younger people are the ones creating and using new innovations first, but more adults are quickly catching on.

Here are a couple of links that I found. This video is about the rising number of adults using Facebook. It cites statistics from 2009 showing an increase of over 150% in Facebook users over the age of 35. I’m sure this has grown even more since then. This article comes from Australia, but it describes a phenomenon occurring in the U.S. as well—more and more people are abandoning landline telephones for the sole use of a cell phone (again, this is led by young people). I fit into this group—after making it through four years of college relying on a cell phone, it just didn’t make any sense for my husband and I to pay for a landline when we graduated and bought our house.

Michelle's Week 6 Aha

My Aha comes from one of the Pew surveys that I researched for this week’s assignment. The topic was Reputation Management in Social Networking Sites and the data showed a decrease in the level of concern over sharing private information online as well as a decrease in the use of privacy settings to control the sharing of private information. I feel like internet privacy has been a bit of a “hot topic” over the last few years, so I was surprised to see that people are less concerned about it. I originally thought that the decrease in concern would be because more social media users are taking advantage of privacy controls to protect their information, but the survey data shows otherwise. So not only are we less concerned with privacy, we’re doing less to protect ourselves online.

Amanda Week 6 AHA

My week 6 AHA is about how adults are picking up social networking more and more each year and how young adults additions are starting to level off. It is amazing to me how adults are picking up technology and social sites more and more and not just adding but participating.

Week 6 Aha

The differences in how and how much people use the internet by age, sex, and race is somewhat interesting.  I figured that the younger groups would be higher than the older groups, but I was surprised that they were actually fairly close.  I was extremely surprised by the difference in how race and having the internet has an affect.  I didn't think there would be much of a difference, but I was completely wrong.  I wasn't surprised and found it amusing that men and women use the internet much the same way they act in real life.

Racial inequalities online and how men and women use the internet

This quote amazes me “When income and education are taken out of the equation, white people still are more likely than black people to have high-speed internet at home, by a factor of 10 percentage points. The gap between white and Hispanic homes is higher still -- at 14 percentage points.” (Sutter)

While I think it is funny that this is even studied, it is interesting.  I was amazed that there are people who still do not have access to the internet.  While the percentages don’t look like much, I thought about them compared to unemployment, and then I realized the real numbers were huge.  Whites are more likely to have the internet than Blacks and Hispanics by a combined 24%.  To me this is astonishing, yet it makes me wonder are White people  wasting time on the internet, or are Blacks and Hispanics out of a lot of loops because they do not have access to the internet. 

            I think these two quotes are not surprising, because they reflect how men and women act in the world without the internet. 

“Men reach farther and wider for topics, from getting financial information to political news. Along the way, they work search engines more aggressively, using engines more often and with more confidence than women.” (Fallows) 

“Women tend to treat information gathering online as a more textured and interactive process – one that includes gathering and exchanging information through support groups and personal email exchanges.” (Fallows)
I thought this video was interesting http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7XyWTGepCHo  while it isn't specific to any area, it does have statistics about the internet, and how much and how fast it has grown.

Works Cited

Fallows, Deborah. How Women and Men Use the Internet. 28 December 2005. 17 November 2010 <http://pewinternet.org/Reports/2005/How-Women-and-Men-Use-the-Internet.aspx>.

Sutter, John D. Report: Racial inequalities persist online. 8 November 2010. 17 November 2010 <http://edition.cnn.com/2010/TECH/web/11/08/broadband.digital.divide/index.html>.

Cyberbullying

I found the website http://www.commonsensemedia.org/digital-citizenship/6-8 from our assignment very interesting and helpful as a parent. I have two young children growing up in this digital world where they are exposed to computers every day. Computers are introduced to them in Kindergarten. As a parent we need to be aware of what our kids are doing. I know it may seem easier to put a computer, tv, and gaming system in their rooms so they are out of your way but what kind of parenting is that? I allow my kids to us the lap top in the livingroom on the couch as I watch what they are doing. The school has plenty of interactive sites to go to for educational homework. I hope as my children grow older I'll keep the reigns tight enough that they feel they can talk to me about problems they may have in school or online with friends or not so good friends. I think the key is to keep the communication open with them so they fel comfortable coming to you for support. Our children have more issues to deal with than we did as a child. We delt with bullying but now cyberbullying seems harsh. I think it's easier to say things on line when they don't have to face the person looking at them.

http://video.foxnews.com/v/4000500/

Angela's AHA Moment

I have to say that until this weeks assignment I didn't realize how bad cyber bullying had gotten. I have a child that is almost ten but I still limit the amount of time he is on the computer. I have also not allowed him to have a phone yet. I see some of the kids walking around the neighborhood with their phones out texting while they walk. The kids now days don't know how to play or socialize without a phone or computer. I don't want my kids to become obsessed with these devises! I think it's our responsibility as a parent to monitor our kids activity. I found this web site that a parent posted because his son committed suicide. It was touching and kind of an eye opener as to this can happen to anyone.

http://www.godtube.com/watch/?v=JB10FCNU

Week 5—Personal Online Identities

This week’s topic of cyberbullying and personal responsibility is an important one in the discussion of the digital age. While technology makes it easy for people to communicate and share ideas, it also opens up its users to invasions of privacy and potentially negative situations.

I read this article by Lesli Roterberg about the importance of beginning internet safety education at a younger age, before it is too late. Roterberg cites a statistic that only ten percent of cyberbullied children tell their parents that anything is going on. I would assume that many children tell no one, not even a friend, because of embarrassment or shame about what is being done to them. While prevention is important, it is also necessary for parents to monitor their children’s internet activity and to provide support so that children won’t be too afraid to ask for help.

I came across this series of videos and the first one, “Feathers in the Wind,” struck a chord with me. I’d heard this parable before, that spreading gossip is like releasing feathers and it is impossible to collect the feathers or right the wrong, but I think it is a lesson that children and teenagers need to be reminded of from time to time. While this applies to spreading rumors both on and off the internet, I think it is always easier to spread untrue information online. Someone can easily forward or copy and paste the “feathers” until they are far out of reach.

Week 5 AHA

The thought that has stuck out in my mind over and over again this week is that today’s kids are lucky. When I was younger, the internet was just becoming popular and most of us didn’t know how to use it safely or comprehend its full potential. My friends and I frequently talked to people we didn’t know in real life and shared way too much personal information with the internet world. And this was years before Facebook even made it so simple.

I think that kids and teenagers today are lucky because they know from the start that the internet isn’t always good and they are (hopefully) taught how to be more careful than I was when I was younger. Luckily nothing bad ever happened to my friends or me, but we were certainly naïve at the time. Our parents knew even less about the internet than we did, so they weren’t doing a very good job of monitoring what we were doing. It’s unfortunate that we have to operate out of fear now, but it can be a good thing if it is teaching kids to be safer.

Week 5 aha

Although I have learned some things from websites this week, I think the simplest way to prevent cyber bullying is to have an open and honest communication with an adult.  I think cyber bullying would be easy to deal with, because most social networking sites like Facebook allow users to limit who can send them messages and post on their pages. 

I thought it was interesting to read that adults reported being victims of cyber bullies more often than kids.  I think part of this is adults are more willing to report this behavior, and kids are not sure who to talk to or how to handle the issue.

Nov. 9 - Nov. 15

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yb2QDNt06Qc

James Tyler – 1990 to 2005

It amazes me that cyber bullying has not drawn more media attention, and only does when someone commits suicide, but then the media is off on a new topic in a very short time.  Cyber bullying happens every day around the world. 

I liked how the video showed the bullying escalating from jokes to cyber bullying, and the effects that bullying had as warning signs, Grades dropping, less friends, less effort, and physically hurt himself before hanging himself.  These kids don’t want to commit suicide, they want help stopping people from bullying them, and they give signals before they get to the point of suicide. 

The quote “I can’t take this anymore.  They’re always after me.  Why, why are they doing this?  I don’t know what I’ve done, no one is helping me.  Make them stop it please.  I don’t want to live like this anymore.”  Is interesting, all of the signals are subtle, but when put together, they throw up a giant red flag.  I wonder if he said directly to a caring adult that he needs help with this problem. 

Although there should be a punishment for bullying, the punishment could never be as evil as being bullied to the point of suicide.  Teenagers struggle enough with fitting in and creating their own identity.  Cyber bullying enables bullies to get to them even in what was their safest place, their home. 

I like the website http://cyberbullying.us/blog/ because it is a blog and people can post replies instead of just reading an article and moving on.  A collection of minds on how to stop cyber bullying is a great idea and should be a more popular site.  The article wrote yesterday is interesting because it discusses adults being victims of cyber bullying also.

I also like website http://www.ncpc.org/cyberbullying because although it has a large amount of information on the home page, it has bold headings, and bullets instead of paragraphs, which are much easier to skim through to the information the user is looking for.

Amanda week 5 AHA moment

My AHA moment came from watching the video in my week 5 post that adults are just as bad as children or worse because the adult needs to start realizing their actions and setting an example for their kids and other kids. Adults also need to monitor childrens internet use so that it can help with this.

Amanda Week 5 post

I have found this week pretty interesting because I did not know that much about digital citizenship or what that meant and how cyberbullying is growing rapidly in our community. I find the concept of digital citizenship to be almost self explanatory but yet a lot of people don't see it that way. I agree that while it is easier for me to be forward and make that comment that I wouldn't necessarily do to someone's face if I am making comments in the digital world or sending an email to someone, that when I do make the more forward comments I still try to be tactful and respectful. I haven't actually made a dig at that person and put them down to make them feel bad about themselves. That would make me look bad and feel bad as a person. So for those people who do that, I would bet that most don't do it in person because they don't have the guts to or would feel guilty or both. So if that's the case why be that way on the internet? It's like someone has dual personalities and just a thought but maybe one day the "bad" personality will override the good and they are no longer a good employee because they are negative and put people down. I just think why have two personalities, be yourself both in the digital world and in the real world. I think this is why cyberbullying is becoming rampant, because no one or few, have started to address this with their kids and students that if it isn't ok to do or say to that person face to face, it is not ok to do that to the person digitally. I think it has come to light that the ball has been dropped and have had to learn about it through suicides by students that have made the news. It's time to step up now and help parent and educate children and adults to make it stop.
http://www.digitalcitizenship.net/
http://www.cyberbullying.us/
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/video/cyber-bullying-familys-online-nightmare-11224685

Angela's AHA Moment

What is LinkedIn?

I've been getting a lot of request to be connected on LinkedIn. About six months ago realized how fast it was growing and what people were using it for. After doing research on Reid Hoffman it gave me a better understanding of where it came from and why he created it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WsoEgbD3CxM

Reid Hoffman

Reid Hoffman’s first startup was Socialnet. Socialnet is an online dating network. From there he moved on to the board of PayPal. PayPal is an electronic money transmission service. When he sold PayPal he used that money when founding LinkedIn. LinkedIn is a business social network site. With this social network people can post information about their career and job experiences to share with other professional people in the work force. Reid stepped down from CEO of LinkedIn in June 2009 and is now an entrepreneur and partner at Greylock Partners. Greylock Partners is a firm that works with entrepreneurs to build market leading companies. At Greylock, Reid deals with consumer internet, enterprise 2.0, mobile, social gaming, online marketplaces, payments and social networks. Reid is also known as an Angel Investor. An Angel Investor is someone who provides capital for a business startup, usually in exchange for convertible debt or ownership equity. As you can see Reid keeps himself busy with his entrepreneurship.
http://www.linkedin.com/in/reidhoffman

http://www.greylock.com/team/team/43/

Global AHA

My aha moment came from watching Ethan Zuckerman's TED talk:

The segment when he shows the various maps and cartograms really put into perspective how narrow our world view is. I used to always feel good when I watched the news, as if I were being a responsible adult by knowing what is going on in the world. However, after realizing how little I actually learn about the world from watching the news, I think I need to reassess my media choices.

Movers & Shakers

The founders of some of the most popular social networking websites are almost all young, driven, and (now) extremely wealthy. The biggest commonality I see in many of the social network pioneers is that they created their websites in order to meet a need noticed among themselves and their friends. I saw this demonstrated a few different ways when I watch The Social Network a few weeks ago. In the movie, Mark Zuckerberg is basically just fooling around with various website ideas based on what he and his friends want to accomplish online. His enemies, the Winklevoss twins, are basically following the same process as they try to build their own social networking service. Although I didn’t research him for the “Who Are These People” assignment, I was interested in Jack Dorsey and the founding of Twitter after watching Ethan Zuckerman’s TED presentation that explained how huge the website is in some other countries. In this article, he gives an explanation similar to Zuckerberg’s for his original idea from ten years ago that evolved into Twitter. Basically, he wanted the benefits of websites like Live Journal where users could notify friends about where they were and what they were doing, but without being tied to a computer. Obviously his idea had to wait until smartphone technology caught up with him, but Twitter is huge now.

The other characteristic that has separated these website founders from many of the others who have been less successful is their cutting-edge work ethic. Some websites are successful until something newer and better comes along, leaving them in the dust. Both Facebook and YouTube have undergone upgrades and changes that keep them competitive amongst newer social networks. This video is from YouTube’s founders and was posted when they were acquired by Google four years ago. They explain how the partnership with Google will help to push YouTube forward—something that has definitely happened in the last few years.

Amanda Week 4 AHA

My AHA moment came from researching Reid Hoffman. I had the misconception that people who find Facebook or Napster, etc. are somewhat of a one-hit wonder. I now think that their "one-hit" helps them to get further into the market and give them opportunities that they wouldn't have had. Just like Reid is on the board for a couple of companies and is an angel investor in 5+ companies. It's nice to see that maybe their success wasn't a fluke and that they have the smarts to stay in the business, if they choose to after they make their millions :)

Amanda Week 4 topic

For week 4, I looked up Reid Hoffman of LinkedIn. I have posted the contents of my paper for discussion.

I decided to look up Reid Hoffman. He co-founded LinkedIn in 2003. LinkedIn has more than 63 million members in 200 countries around the world. He led LinkedIn through its first four years and also to its profitability as Chief Executive Officer. Prior to LinkedIn, he was executive vice president for PayPal where he was also a founding member. He was instrumental in Ebay’s acquisition of PayPal and was responsible for the partnerships with Intuit, Visa, Mastercard and Wells Fargo. Currently he observes on the board of Gowalla and Swipely and is also a director at Zynga, Mozilla Corp., Six Apart, Shopkick, and Kiva.org. He is an angel investor in multiple influential Internet companies that include Dig, Facebook, Flickr, Last.fm, Ning, Six Apart and Zynga. He also went through a period of writing articles speaking about how startup companies can help bail us out of the current recession. For one of the articles, he gives his “Rule of Three for Investing” and states that he hopes it helps someone out there to be successful. He calls himself a serial investor and with all of the companies he is currently invested in, I would say that is a pretty good name for himself.

I posted this so that other's could see. I just think it is amazing how much he is involved in now whether he is an investor or directly involved in the company. It was also very interesting to read that he is also a co-founder for Facebook. I guess it's a small world when it comes to niche technology markets!

http://www.greylock.com/team/team/43/
http://techcrunch.com/2009/04/19/reid-hoffman-my-rule-of-three-for-investing/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=erLT4wttTnc

Week 4 aha

I thought it was interesting this week reading about Mark and his donation of $100 million to schools.  The timing made it appear that his intentions were to make is image better before the movie about him came out.  If he had done it at any other time, I would have thought it was just for a good cause, but there are obvious politics being played in this scenario.  The majority of the money is going to a group which his girlfriend runs, which has not been widely publicized.  Either way, the $100 million dollars back in the public instead of in his bank account, which will help a little bit of the economy.

Topic of the week

                While I think it’s a great idea to help schools out, I think that throwing money at the problem is the wrong way to solve the problem.  While higher salaries will attract more teachers, there is a reason that Newark has a 50% dropout rate.  There are social reasons why the dropout rate is so high, it doesn’t matter how good the teachers are in the schools, if the students do not go to school. 

                This is could all have been a political stunt to try and prove his character in the recent movie about him and Facebook portrays him incorrectly.  Either way, I think that he taking the wrong approach to solving the problem, but I think that putting the 100 million into the economy, instead of having it sit in his bank account will help the economy.  There are social and personal reasons that are driving kids to drop out of school, gangs, drugs, and substituting income for their parents are common reasons for dropouts.

                This video states that Mark is announcing on Opera his donation to the school later in the day.  It is interesting that this information was leaked before the Opera show.  I wonder if the “source” could have gotten in trouble for leaking information before it was supposed to air.

Video:

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

Website

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2010/09/facebook_ceo_mark_zuckerberg_s.html

http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D9J7FVV00.htm

Social Communities

I have always liked numbers, and the exercise with looking at the actual time spent online made me want to search more to find out how much time others spend on social sites.  It’s amazing that “Social Networking takes up nearly a quarter of all internet usage time.” (Ostrow)  I wonder if these stats include people using their cell phones.  I thought it was also interesting that people are using e-mail more and more on their cell phones.  To me, this is boarder-line over-connected, being an introvert, I need time daily to unwind from everything and relax.

The speed at which the internet has grown in such a short amount of time is amazing.  What could be even more amazing is the speed at which people are using social networking sites over the rest of the internet, like it is the only way to connect with people.  One stat that surprised me is “Facebook trailed the phone at 99%, it beat text messaging at 93% and email at 91%.” (Global Time Spent Social Networking Rises 82%)  Facebook is extremely popular, but when it comes to adding family members it can be a touchy subject.  I am really surprised that people use e-mail to communicate with family members.  I would have thought that people would use text more often for short messages, and call family members if the information was sensitive or there was a large amount of information.

This video is from 2006, but I think that it is still amazing at how powerful these websites are.  It is interesting to get responses from kids who use the websites continuously, one even stating “he has no life because he spends so much time on MySpace he doesn’t have time to hang out with friends face to face.”

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=1699088n

Works Cited

Global Time Spent Social Networking Rises 82%. 27 January 2010. 1 November 2010 <http://www.marketingcharts.com/interactive/global-time-spent-social-networking-rises-82-11767/>.

Ostrow, Adam. Social Networking Dominates Our Time Spent Online [STATS]. 2 August 2010. 1 November 2010 <http://mashable.com/2010/08/02/stats-time-spent-online/>.

Angela's AHA Moment

After doing the digital diary I was amazed at the amount of communication that took place during the day at work. I knew I always seem busy but never realized how much interaction between coworkers customers took place. It was hard to keep a diary. I really had to think about everything I was doing. Communication is taken for granted sometimes.

Digital Culture

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64-K6DVVXyQ

http://edfutures.com/blogs/kempedmonds/how-technology-creates-digital-culture

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_network

Digital Culture is the technology of communication in which we have become accustomed to. How many people were blown away byte amount of time spent on digital communication when keeping the diary this week? I think as technology grows so does our desire to use it. I fought my husband about up grading our cell phone service. I didn't think it was necessary to pay for Internet service on our phone when we had it at home. He won but now I can't imagine not having the Internet on my phone. I've become accustomed to having everything I need at my finger tips.

It's amazing how fast the digital culture is growing and how many people use digital technology. Even my grandparents have become accustom to using cell phones. My grandma makes grandpa carry is cell phone when he does chores just in case something happens. It gives her peace of mind.

The digital culture is out there everywhere. It's up to you to decide how to use it; for good; for bad; or for ugly.

Amanda AHA moment

My AHA moment is that I have realized I want more socialization in my life but haven't been able to achieve that balance yet. I plan on trying to do that more and start to get a bit more organized so that I have more time. I will have more time as soon as I get done with one of my classes so I look forward to some down time and socializing more whether it would be virtually or in person.

Aha

With all of the discussions about time spent on social networking sites, I wonder about the accuracy of our statistics. I read several different articles through my research as well as those posted by others on their blogs and most surprised me. I'm not questioning the validity of the data so much as I question the samples that have been used to gather the information.
For example, one of Amanda's articles posted below says that people spend seven hours on average using Facebook per month. The problem with averages is that they really don't reveal that much information about a given topic. There could be people who check in on Facebook for one 5-minute session during a month. There could also be people who are spending over 5 hours per day on Facebook. In the end, it might all average out to seven hours per month, but without including the range, the average statistics don't mean much. Not to mention taking into account those who open several different browser windows on the computer screen and don't actively use all of them at once (I am definitely guilty of this). If I were keeping data just based on my own use like I did for the Digital Diary assignment, I would have to take into account that much of the time I spent "networking" is actually spent multi-tasking (i.e. I have Facebook open, but I'm really watching television or talking to my husband and then checking the webpage periodically).
My "aha" has to do with the media's portrayal of social networking. I think we have grown accustomed to hearing all about "Facebook addicts" and the people who spend hours at a time on social media. I've seen statistics to confirm this, but I have also seen statistics that show the opposite (such as the seven hours per month mentioned above). I think that the authors of these articles are using statistics to prove a point, whether they are biased or not.

Internet "Community"

This week’s topic of “Community” led me to rethink the ways that I use social networks. I’ve always been one to use a social network as an extension of my real life networks. My “friends” online are people that I know and spend time with offline. One of the biggest changes that I see is the use of social media more frequently in the business world. While my job would not benefit from the use of advertising or building an online network, I have several friends and acquaintances that are using websites like Facebook to make connections and bring in new business. I came across this video from Mike Locke, a web consultant, who describes the importance of maintaining the real business websites rather than relying on social networking to grow a business. He says that when potential customers or contacts are looking at a business, they are more likely to search for the company’s website than to look at a Facebook profile or Twitter account. I think this brings up a good point about social networking—it doesn’t work the best for all situations.

Our assignment to keep a diary of time spent on social networking sites pretty much confirmed what I already knew: I spend a lot of time online. I thought it would be interesting to compare my social media use to others, so I found a couple of articles that describe who is using social media and which sites have the most time spent on them (Spoiler Alert: Facebook wins!). Here are the links:

Facebook Passes Google in "Time Spent," What Does It Mean?

The Social Habit: Who Uses Social Media And How?

Week 3 Aha

I knew I played games on Facebook at work in my down time, but I never realized how much.  And the numbers are lower than what they used to be, because now I work on homework during down time at work also. 

I struggle to spend very much time after work on social sites because of 2 classes, martial arts, and a relationship all take a lot of time.  Typically by the time I get online for social sites, I am too tired to think of something to post.  This should change soon, with only 2 classes left after these, I am not sure what I will do with all of my time then.

Personally, I would rather have interaction in real life, instead of social sites.  Although, I understand using social websites in the winter when it is freezing outside and no way to get anywhere.  

Amanda's week 3 thoughts

Looking at how much time I spend on social networking sites, I am realizing I really do spend a very little amount of time on them. So I am looking at it wondering if I need to spend more time on social networking sites so that I can socialize more if I really even have time to. I do want to socialize more in the digital world but I don't want to take time away from other things that I am doing. Right now with two classes, my job, my son and the occasional time that I pickup a shift at my other job, I don't really feel like I have time to. Because I have been so busy it has also affected my real world social life. So I think until I can get done with school and things calm down a bit, that I will have to be ok with the fact that I can't socialize much, digitally or real world, right now.
I have attached a couple of links talking about the average time spent on Facebook and how usage is going up and I have got to be honest, I have no idea how someone can find 7 hours to be on Facebook. I can barely find 30 minutes!
The video I posted talks about how time spent online is important for teen development and how they are learning social and technical skills online. I agree but it is also a difference in generations.
I look forward to April when I will have that time!

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10457480-93.html
http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/online_mobile/facebook-users-average-7-hrs-a-month-in-january-as-digital-universe-expands/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58X7YPebJVo

Angela's Aha Moment

Even though I'm on Facebook, I have never blogged before. I found blogging harder than putting a post on Facebook. Blogs seem to be longer than a normal Facebook post. Maybe that's why I like post better than blogs. For the same amount of time I can read 6-8 post to one blog. I don't understand why people would want to blog their thoughts. I've always had a hard time putting my thoughts to paper. I'd rather talk to a friend about my thoughts. I can see where Facebook has allowed people who are not comfortable talking to people in person the courage to talk on Facebook. I always though I was technical savvy until this class. I have already learned three new things in the last two weeks; Wordle, Xtranormal, and blogging.

Michelle's AHA

After reading Amanda's post below and seeing The Social Network yesterday, I also question Zuckerberg's motivation for not going into "damage-control" for his public image. The movie makes him look like a world-class jerk. As his character explains in the movie, part of his motivation in creating Facebook was to rehabilitate his image after the Facemash debacle. The movie also portrays Zuckerberg as someone who cares so much about acceptance that he would do almost anything to be invited into one of the Final Clubs at Harvard. He is obviously not the type of thick-skinned person who wouldn't let something like this movie bother him, so my "aha!" is that he probably is engaged in damage-control, just not in the typical celebrity way. Most celebs would issue a statement, hold a press conference, or schedule some interviews to set the record straight. Meanwhile, Zuckerberg has remained fairly quiet about the movie and focused the attention on his $100 million donation to the Newark public school system. That is not to say that his donation was intended to be a distraction, but his timing is convenient.

Amanda's AHA moment

After reading Michelle's blog, it gives me a bit of a different perspective on Facebook. The way she uses it with her students is a great idea. Students are on it often, they will want to be friends with their teacher (probably only if they are a good teacher so good job Michelle!) and what better way to keep them engaged then using the forum that they like and want. Good idea about posting those reminders and helping them with their homework because for that one who doesn't ask because they think they are stupid, it might get answered for them and they can learn. Thanks Michelle!

Who wants help?? I don’t!

Hi! I’m Michelle and I, too, am a Facebook addict. The thing that separates me from some of my fellow addicts is that I have no desire to recover. I feel like I use Facebook in the way it was intended—to keep in touch with friends and acquaintances. I don’t play the games, I don’t use the quiz applications, and I rarely post status updates. I do check it multiple times a day, often from my Blackberry. However, I try to keep my interactions from crossing over into “annoying” territory. Facebook was started when I was in college, so I was one of the original users as soon as it was offered at my school. At this point I’ve invested six years of my life to cultivating my profile—I can’t quit now!

One of my concerns as a high school teacher is how to keep my Facebook profile private from my students and co-workers. I don’t want to imply that my profile is full of profanity or inappropriate photos, but I worry about mixing the two areas of my life. One may wonder why I wouldn’t want to be Facebook friends with co-workers….this video explains my thoughts exactly! I prefer to keep my work life and my social life separate. As a teacher, it becomes extra difficult. The constant questioning from my students about why I wouldn’t be their Facebook friends became a distraction. My solution? I created a second Facebook—one without the privacy restrictions of my “real” Facebook. Now when students (and co-workers) search for me, they only find the “school-friendly” profile. My personal rules are that I don’t seek out students, but I accept every student’s request if they ask to be my friend (no playing favorites). It allows me a way to connect in a place my students are already checking daily (I’ve posted reminders about tests and projects as well as answered homework questions over Facebook), while allowing more control over the information that I put out there. The following articles discuss some of the pros and cons of teacher-student Facebook interaction:

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/tech/news/6174564.html

http://www.eschoolnews.com/2008/10/10/schools-grapple-with-teachers-facebook-use/

A-ha

I haven’t thought about Facebook being used for good or bad things.  The video of the escalated relationship issue was entertaining, but something like that could easily happen in real life, or the post by Ande Gibbs about a daughter finding her father 30 years later in life.  The thought of Facebook taking over someone’s life because of games, or just trying to keep in contact with everyone is crazy to me, but this happens more and more often.

Face Book Addiction

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facebook

http://articles.cnn.com/2009-04-23/health/ep.facebook.addict_1_facebook-page-facebook-world-social-networking?_s=PM:HEALTH

http://www.videojug.com/film/what-is-facebook-addiction


Hi! My name is Angela and I'm a recovered Facebook addict! I started my online networking with My Space. It seemed like overnight my friends changed over to Facebook. Of course I followed and found it to be better than My Space. to this is where the addiction started. All of my high school classmates joined. Facebook made it so easy to keep up with what everyone was doing. It was like we were back in high school again. Some I hadn't talked to since graduation. It was fun seeing how people turned out after high school.

Then I started playing Farm Town. Farm town was a competition to see who could make the most money and set up the biggest farm. I was in competition with my husband who at the time was laid off so he farmed all day while I was at work. I would spend my evenings farming to keep up. It was impossible! I even hired my son to farm for me while I fixed supper. Then one day I opened my eyes and looked around my house and realized it was a mess! I spent alomst two hours a night on Facebook and my house was suffering. My addiction had taken control. I had to quit cold turkey. I'm happy to report I have been Farm Town free for the last eight months!

Facebook

Links:
http://technolog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2010/10/21/5322759-facebook-hides-photos-of-your-ex-so-you-dont-have-to?GT1=43001

http://gizmodo.com/5669207/the-difference-between-facebook-and-twitter

Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrlSkU0TFLs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRsRLZiyH20&NR=1

So I will be the first to admit I do not use Facebook that often. I only use it to keep in touch with old friends and the occassional keeping up with what my friends are doing. I do not typically do a status update but I will occassionally post new pictures. I do look forward to seeing the movie, Social Network. I too don't understand why someone is that ok with something being made showing them in a bad light. Maybe Zuckerberg is just so full of himself he really does not care about those he has wronged and how he is portrayed?
I had seen that you can do blogs on Facebook just because of a couple of posts from my friends but I have never had the desire to go read them or to create one. There are just so many other things that I can spend my time on and feel much more productive. For example, last weekend, I went through my son's clothes and packed away everything that no longer fits and won't fit for that season next year. I organized all of his toys so that it cleaned up my living room and organized his room. He's three so there was no shortage of toys! As a result, Children's Mercy is getting a large donation of toys, my living room is less cluttered, his room is less cluttered, all of his clothes fit in his dresser and overall I felt like I had accomplished a lot in that one day. If I had been on the computer, like I am now writing this blog, I wouldn't have gotten anything done and a hospital wouldn't be getting a nice addition of toys for their extremely ill patients.
With that said though, I can see how an online journal for someone could take the place of a paper and pen journal so I can see how that time allotment would replace itself.
Also, my work has a site that is being used as a forum for communication. Yesterday, there was a post from a mom on the Working Parents site, asking for a page of cool tips and tricks for a Facebook wall and gave the example of a <3 or @EnterName to prompt a hyperlink for a friend. That is just showing that people are trying to learn this technology so it can be used but it can also contribute to the downfall of intelligence. If a child learns now that they can type R U coming? How are they learning to communicate in a business world or even just having the knowledge of proper grammar and spelling?
As you can see in my Facebook video posts, I find the whole concept (the video shows it quite well) a bit strange and not needed. But that is just my opinion and to each his own. Enjoy!

21st Century IQ in a Digital Society

Week 2 Facebook

Links:
The Facebook Movie Is An Act Of Cold-Blooded Revenge – New, Unpublished IMs Tell The Real Story
Facebook Blog

Video:
Video: CollegeHumor Originals: Facebook - Off

I am on Facebook nearly every day for one reason or another.  I never knew there was a Facebook blog.  The last article in the blog had thousands of comments and likes.  I’m not sure I would ever post on Facebook blog because I use Facebook for only gaming and keeping up with friends.   And posting something for millions of people to read and respond to does not suit my style, also I don’t really care what a million strangers think, since they wouldn’t know the whole situation.

I thought the article about the Facebook movie was interesting, with how it gave some insight into the actual creation of Facebook, and how the creator will not watch the movie.  It makes me wonder why Zuckerberg would allow the movie to be made without a larger protest if he is against it?

I especially liked the video clip about Facebook face-off.  I never realized that this scenario could happen in real life, but some people will do anything to get what they want.  Also with the legal system years behind technology, I’m still not sure if there is anything a person could do through the legal system to punish the person for pretending to be them online.