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.

EOTO Com Tech Timeline (Blog #4)

The Rise and Fall of Cassette Tapes

Music has been around since the down of time. Sounds creating rhythm, beats, emotions, and much more, have been the ultimate bridge between societies and cultures for thousands of years. But the Cassette was about to change the worlds view of music. The Cassette was first developed by the Philips company in 1962 in Belgium. Philips released the invention to Europe at the Berlin Radio Show on August 30, 1963. The invention was released in the United States in November of next year 1964. 

    With music being so universal and listened to all around the world many individuals tended to drift towards the music arena. During the times of the cassette from 1962 to 1990s music equipment was quite expensive. The cassette gave anyone with aspirations to create music on their own instead of paying for expensive recording booths and engineers. Along with the monstrous size of the reel-to-reel and the requirement of training which only left professionals to really use the reel-to-reel. The cassette was the newest revolutionary item being made and many believed that this was the future. Any newest artist that could attain a microphone and a radio to record advocated heavily on this item. Along with creating your own individual music to play for your loved ones. One could also carry their favorite tracks from the new hottest music artist. But another company really helped the cassette bloom into the invention it was meant to be.

    A product extension of the cassette tape was called a Walkman. Sonny’s Walkman was compatible and made for cassette tapes. This device allowed all demographics of individuals the ability to listen to their favorite music on the go. The Walkman was a housing piece for cassette along with carrying a battery and a headphone jack. This was the executioner of the original vinyl along with the reel-to-reel system. Vinyl’s were the hottest commodity up until the cassette was invented. They could only do half the things of a cassette. They both produced music but vinyl’s main factor of decline was not able to take it on the move. The cassettes building process and materials consist of easily available resources. The outer casing is just a plastic molding that encompasses the magnetic reel-to-reel tape that the music resides in. A reel-to-reel is a spool of the magnetic tape which if transferred over to the other spool moving it across an electrical signal which, entails music to play. When music is played through a Walkman the electrical signal runs through the cords of a headset to the ears of the listener allowing to jam and groove to their next destination! 

    With this huge boom of cassette tapes there would soon be a downfall to a new and better invention. After “its peak in the 1980s the cassette was quickly surpassed in the 90’ by compact disc (CD) sales”(Katty Sommerfeld). Just as the vinyl and the reel-to-reel recording system the cassette tape was a thing of the past almost nonexistent. With the CD it had newer and better features than the cassette which is why the switch was so prominent. As of today, cassettes are on the rise again. They are gaining some attraction due to the customization of each Walkman with special designs and colors another ushing factor is that people see it as a fashion statement. Taking a step back to the past when times were a bit simpler.