Final Post (Blog #11)

Footprints On The Motherboard

    Technology is encompassed in every individual’s daily life. When talking about my usage of technology I believe I have made a healthy transition off. I have had issues when it comes to usage of technology when I was a bit younger. I had this idea that I had to constantly keep up with everyone else’s life. Keeping up on what people are doing if they are partying without me, traveling, friends hanging with other friends without me. This took up most of my time in high school and middle school. Since then, now in my college years I have deleted some of these apps that have added stress. For the past couple of months my usage of technology has been down. I restrict myself to using my cellphone strictly for work.

    I still have some social media outlets to keep people informed that I’m still alive and doing well in my endeavors. But the information is to good and easily accessible for me to completely rid myself of technology. , information can easily be altered and painted in the wrong light. The extent of the amount of information that can be accessed outweighs the negatives that are apparent in this world. I accept that there are negatives to technology but I do believe it benefits society as a whole. 

    When talking about friends and family and how technology interacts with these people is life changing. Being able to be hundreds to thousands of miles apart but still being able to interact with these people is world changing. Simply picking up the phone to make a call where one can see the other person. Technology is purely a positive in the topic of communications. Technology has buttressed my connection with my grandfather and grandmother. I share a lot of similar hobbies with my grandfather and the best way for him to kept in the loop is to share photos. Showing him everything I’m doing that we can relate to keeps us very joyous.

    With being very aware with how technology works in my younger years and now in my present life it has reduced my online footprint. One has to dig to find anything relating to me. Most of the things online about me are about sports and goals I have achieved. In high school and my beginning years of college I attained medals representing my success as a college athlete. My linked in can also be viewed when trying to do some research on me. That is my professional side of online footprint, but I also have Instagram which is where I stay in touch with friends. Anything I post online goes through serious thoughts because I know that nothing is deleted online. 

    Technology is a big part of my life. I steer myself and my usage to help better myself in my career and personal life. I will never let technology overpower me into believing things that do not align with my beliefs. Most people in the world should be strongly encouraged to use technology but also be aware of the threats that in can impose on societies.

EOTO Presentation Reax #2 (Blog #10)

What I Learned

When listening to Elliot Baratta’s presentation of misinformation, disinformation and malinformation I was captivated. The use of these is used a bit more often than people believe. Most information obtained today is altered a certain way. Media outlets spin and form headlines and titles to adapt and please their audience. Certain people only listen to the things that line up with their beliefs. So, news articles are altered in certain aspects to better equip the consumers. Misinformation is a form of information that is false to mislead others regardless of intent. For example Elliot mentions that there was a Tik Tok posted about Disney Land lowering the drinking age to 18. People believed it for a little just because people saw the economic return it could have for Disney. But in reality no state is going to lower the drinking age limit as that is a national law. There was also no talk ever about lowering the drinking age within the walls of Disney it was just pure lies.

 Now for disinformation which is commonly referred as 'Fake News' as the information given isn't true. Disinformation is deliberately created to harm, manipulate, or mislead others. The example here was that Trump was spending thanksgiving golfing and tweeting when in fact he was in Afghanistan feeding soldiers in a war zone. This story was fabricated to paint someone in a bad light. This is a form that happens to often with media outlets.

    Malinformation is a type of information is based off of fact but is taken out of context in order to mislead, harm and manipulate. This is where media outlets closely inject their own agenda or beliefs. They take actual events but just manipulate them slightly to contour to their consumers, The story that was used as an example was Trump disrespecting dump out the jar of fish food with the president of China. But in reality he was following the Chinese Presidents footsteps as the president of China tossed the rest of the fish food he had into the pond.

    Individuals have to be careful on what they believed is said vs. what is actually committed. Many news sources are not reliable in this day and age. “X” actually provides users with a warning that the information being displayed may be false information. This is where I try to stay up to date with information regarding the nation and the world. Be careful with what you believe is being put out there as only certain individuals know the truth. 

In The Age of AI (Blog #9)

    No Wrongs With AI

    After watching the video about In The Age of AI I was shocked on how much AI is used and what events are happening and what events will happen in the future. AI has been helpful in mnay different aspects. From efficiency, cost reduction and productivity to the negatices of data mining, unemployment and further separating the rich and poor.

    There are many aspects believed to the concept of unemployment within The United States at least. Many individuals believe that offshoring or outsourcing jobs is a key factor. Offshoring and outsourcing jobs refers to companies that reside within the United States move factories to other countries to reduce costs of resources and reduce cost of employees. But that is not the main driving point for unemployment. Offshoring only makes up 20% of job loss in the United States. Automation is the main perpetrator if this issue.

    Ever since automation was introduced it has lowered the standard of living. A 1-year decline in employment is a recession but, a 15-year decline gives an entirely different prospect. Many individuals do not have a economic cushion if they were let go from employment. This does not allow people to take courses to revamp their career path to the changing world. The lack of economic stability and the disruption from automation in people’s careers is highly toxic.

    The separation of rich and poor continually push each other farther and farther apart. Yet againinequalities have been rising due to automation. Automation is the substitute for of capital for labor where people attain a payroll with an honest living. The Individuals that have capital continue to invest and continue to win. This event will tear society apart rich will get richer and poorer will get poorer between labor and capital. ai is a set of tools that helps one maximize an objective function.
    

    The economics for certain individuals is not the only thing that is getting hurt, but the health of individuals is at risk as well. As well redound research articles have stated individuals that are laid off or recently have been unemployed have higher risk of health issues. Starting with depression, suicide, and cardiovascular issues. Not only does it affect the adults the children of these individuals are at risk of educational inhibitors. Kids of parents that are laid off often fall back a grade level, have trouble understanding certain topics, and sometimes don’t comprehend simple tasks.

    The next set of jobs to be taken over is hr departments, payroll, finance. These jobs are more clerical ones with procedures that are more routine processing data and or transferring information. With AI there is more cons than pros I believe currently. I believe the bad outweighs the goods that come from it. There is a threat to national and private security when establishing AI. Learning everything about someone weather that be their routine activities or how they behave or act. AI is something to be more researched and revamped to help society grow not grow apart.

EOTO Terms and Policies (Blog #8)

News Deserts

   

Have you ever gone a day without receiving any information regarding the news. What about not hearing about a momentous event that happen within the United States or even a couple towns over. The term describing these actions is a News Desert. A news dessert refers to a community that is no longer covered by daily or non-daily newspapers. The term emerged in the United States after hundreds of daily and weekly newspapers were closed in the 2000s and the 2010s.

Some may not know the apparent issues of having news deserts but, the issues that arise from this is detrimental to communities. For a little bit more clarity 1,558 of the nation's 3,143 counties have only one news outlet. This correlates to 203 town that are news deserts with zero newspapers anywhere not even one. Meaning there are likely thousands of communities that simply do not have access to local news.

As a result of the dramatic shrinkage in the number of local news outlets in recent years, as well as the decrease in local news coverage by surviving newspapers. The expansion of news resources has seized to exist or move towards more densely populated areas. This also arises due to the financial distress of local papers not being able to afford keeping someone on the pay roll. Most people believe that the information and news can be accessed online and via television. But that is not the point of news deserts. The news regarding local town policies or votes for government officials is lost due to no one reporting events. The ramifications trickle down to the, “risks of reducing the diversity of views and opinions,” says former deans and professors like Martha Minow form Harvard university.

Society constructs their days based on what is going on in the world at that time. Whether that is what traffic looks like because of the possibility of a crash on the highway, what they are going to wear because of the weather, or even who the next President of The United States is going to be. News deserts as we already talked about affects people in the present now imagine what society as a whole would react if there was no news. Society would come to a halt and collapse. But luckily news deserts won’t continue to spread to the extent of the extinction of news. But a certain demographic does certainly get affected. Communities on the side of the less fortunate typically suffer from news deserts. The community does not have enough resources to keep media outlets afloat. Along with the poorer side that is affected the next demographic is the elderly.

    The Elderly are used to local newspapers and sometimes are not that informed on the aspect of technology. Yes older individuals understand that one can attain information from news media outlets about things happening in the world but I believe they are less interested in the nation instead of local events. For my generation which is gen z, news deserts are not going to be prevalent in my time. The reason is that I have come to learn quick on where to get information regarding news. Still young enough to pick up on the technological advances that help me attain information.

    News deserts will forever be prevalent but I belive that they will no longer exist in due time. The reason is that as the global population grows people are going to move to more poorer places which would entail more economic opportunities. This would help buttress local news outlets and eventually news deserts would be something of the past.

Diffusions of Innovation (Blog #7)

Diffusion Theory Explanation (skip 54 sec)

Diffusion of Innovation 

Diffusion of innovations is a theory that seeks to explain how, why, and at what rate new ideas and technology spread. Diffusion is not a bad thing to happen in actualality is a great thing. Diffusion is the process of innovations being spread to all the possible outlets for consumers. Allowing individuals to become aware of this no idea, piece of technology, and or innovations. Some criteria that need to be met when considering why certain technology is adopted. This criterion consists of:

 

1.    Compatibility: How well does this innovation fit with existing values, patterns of behavior, or tools?

 

2.    Trialability: Can you try it before you buy it?

 

3.    Relative advantage: In what way is this innovation better than the alternatives?

 

4.    Observability: Are its benefits noticeable? If someone else is using the innovation, can I see it being used?

 

5.    Simplicity / Complexity: The easier it is to learn or grasp, the faster it diffuses.

 

With the ever-changing social norms in today’s modern world the innovation needs to correctly assemble itself in the fabric of society. If it generates any type of backlash or propaganda against the innovation it might not take off. Trialability is the action of putting the innovation through tests via the company. This term can also be installed with the public and consumers giving people a seed for their thoughts and ideas for what the innovation can help with. 

 

            Having an innovation that excites tends to be a leader in the list of other ideas. Having a relative advantage over other alternatives is a key to growing. Having aspects that make a idea even better to better suit different demographics will succeed in the end.

 

            Observability and simplicity / complexity are concepts that correlate with each other. With observability if the benefits outweigh the negatives and it is noticeable within the market it has a high percentage of continuing to the last criterion term. If the innovation is easy to learn and grasp of how it works this will be an innovation that can change the time line. 

 

            Innovations are also reliant on the adapters of the technology. There are three types of people that help with the diffusion of an innovation. Early adopters are the demographic of people that quickly jump onto a new idea or innovation. This group is a key demographic for the succession of a innovation. These people are the ones to quickly talk about it and diffuse the idea. Late adopters are people that are reluctant to new ideas especially if they perfected their uses for other inventions. The individuals that are generally not interested in the idea typically live happy with what they have already and don’t need anything else. 

 

            When talking about The Cloud Computing system some individuals were early adopters, late adopters, and the individuals that simply opted out. The cloud computing system is a data resource and computing power. This innovation is more for the tech savvy younger generations. This idea caught traction because it created an almost unlimited storage for all things involving computers and phones. This put the typical external hard drive at risk of being wiped out. External hard drives are heavy, a hassle if things get corrupted or lost. With the cloud it got rid of all the unnecessary. Some later adopters believed that their information is at risk of being leaked. Individuals felt comfortable with having all their information in their possession and not out in the open in some imaginary cloud. Yes the downsides is that personal information can be accessed through hacking but at the same time the goods outweigh the negatives. When considering the positives and negative analysis and weighing the odds comes down to how many people has it helped. I belive that if an innovation that helps more than it hurts then it is a good innovation.  

The Progressive Ara (Blog #6)

    When first coming across these ANTIWAR.COM and The American Conservative pages I was shocked. I was shocked at the copious amount of news stories and information there is. Being able to see some titles of news stories about actual realities of the world pertaining to foreign and domestic issues. 

    I do question most of the time why I can never find any news articles like these on shared in ANTIWAR.COM and The American Conservative. When observing the news article tittles I became very intrigued for example story’s like “Three People Killed in Russian Air Attacks on Ukraine's Kharkiv Region”. This title that does not come across media outlets has accurate up to date information regarding the war going on over in Ukraine/ Russia. I feel that major news outlets cover the wrong types of issues.

    I believe why websites like these are one not that apparent is because the U.S government wants to keep big events like these covered up in a way. This censoring does not allow for individuals have dialogue about real issues. This would in turn bring U.S citizens more aware of what is happening domestically and foreign matters. Keeping the population questioning and applying pressure on policy makers to make sure it the best for the country.

I believe the seeking for a website that is obscure is going to provide the most useful information regarding to present day issues. These topics of “antiwar voices” provide a great amount of controversy between political affiliations, world views, and other interests. I believe that the information provided from the authors is non censored, expressing freedom of speech, writing with ability to sometimes add their own opinion on these matters.

EOTO Technology (Blog #5)

The History of Paper

Before the existence of paper many individuals that walked this earth communicated on tree barks, cave walls and marked on papyrus and or clay. An invention that has stood it worthiness since the dawn of its creation is paper. Paper has been used for centuries since 2000 B.C. Its origin is from the papyrus plant cultivated in Egypt.
    About 2000 years ago inventors in China took the next step in communication. Creating cloth sheets to record writing and drawings. This was the birth of paper as we know it today. Ts'ai Lun was a the first to make paper a Chinese court official. What Ts’ai most likely mixed to create paper was mixed mulberry bark, hemp, and rags with water, mashed into a pulp, pressed out the liquid and hung the thin mat to dry in the sun.
    Europe was one of the later regions to obtain the process of paper making. The secret of paper making was held onto in Chine for about 300 years until it reached the middle east then another 500 years to reach Europe. Spain was the first European country to develop the paper mill soon after paper mills were beginning to pop-up all-over Europe. The paper mills made it easier to make paper and produce copious amounts of it. This led to the expansion of printing important books like the bible and legal document.
In 1690, the first U.S paper mill was built in Pennsylvania. The mills in the Americas used the Chinese method of shredding old rags and clothes into individual fibers to make paper. But as the demand for paper grew, mills changed to using fibers from trees. This was due to wood was less expensive and more abundant than cloth. 
    Granted this innovation has changed the world for the better by being able to right and keep important events documented along with drawings and books there is a downfall to it. The aspect of deforestation is detrimental to the earth’s climate causing a reconsideration and advocacy to save on paper and not waste. The invention of computers and digitalization of keeping documents is a main step forward out of using paper.