Week 16: Final Blog- My Overall Experience

  This semester having to keep a weekly blog taught me a lot about how to dig deeper into stories and about how scary the online world is out there, even more than I thought. 

 After taking this class, it made me rethink how much I want to use social media and when I do, how much information I give out. Before taking this class, I knew there were dangers to online but some of the articles I read really left an impression on me. I am even scared with the Alexa's in my house that I used to think were so cool but after watching the Ted Talks about how they are used to spy on you, I feel paranoid around them and unplug the ones we have in our house from time to time. I even put a sticker over the camera lens. 

Overall, I enjoyed keeping a weekly blog because it was nice to have a place where I could give my thoughts freely with no judgement and no feeling of it being right or wrong answers. I am now considering starting my own blog as it also a good way to destress and practice writing my own stories for my "hopefully" future job as an anchor. I am going to miss this class because it was enjoyable and eye opening  and I hope the next set of students take as much out of it as I have and take advantage of being able to express yourself on the blogs. 

Week 12: Online Presence

  Compared to most people in society, I would describe my online footprint as being average. I have a Facebook, Snapchat, and Instagram account that I use frequently but spend more of  my time on Instagram and Snapchat. 

  My social media sites mostly consist of posts about my family, friends, traveling, golf career, and my time in college. When I put my name into Google, mostly pictures of me in golf tournaments showed up and a few pics of me from my Instagram along with my Instagram username as well, so people must link my account to golf when they visit it and know I use Instagram most frequently. If a future employer was to look me up, they would know I took a sport very seriously and that I'm close to my family along with loving to travel by clicking on my Instagram handle in the search engine.  As far as personal information, I have not given out too much accept for my phone number and email on Facebook but I have always been very cautious about putting that kind of information out there on sites because I know once it is, there is no taking it back.  When I first created my Facebook account, I didn't mind giving out my email and phone number because it seemed harmless and innocent me was thinking what an easy way for my friends to have my contact information. If I knew what I know now and how scary it is to give these sites access to that kind of information, I would never have done it. 

  In my opinion, social media can make people feel lonely and depressed because it's a place where people can gloat about their lives.  More often than not, it's staged but it still makes others feel depressed about their lives. For example, I had a friend once that hated going on Instagram and seeing all these girls post pics with their boyfriends because it made her wish she had one and question why she is lonely. It's not healthy and the thing that people don't understand is that most of the time it is not how it seems. Yes the girls might be posting cute pics with their boyfriends, but some of those relationships are not how they appear on Instagram. Another example, are Instagram models that have the perfect bodies and perfect lives which often makes people feel self conscious and depressed but the photos are so edited it's not realistic and their so called "perfect lives" are often staged. I remember awhile ago an Instagram model made a youtube video talking about this topic and explaining why she deleted her Instagram. She talked about how she was tired of going to the extreme length all the time to stage her life  and editing her posts to the point where she didn't feel like herself. She mentioned at one point she knew it had gotten bad when she would just put on a dress go somewhere nice to take a picture to post and drive home just to make it look like she was living the life when in reality she was home in sweats watching tv. 

 A lot of times we don't realize how scary social media really is but after reading all these articles about how they steal your information and people have killed themselves over depression caused by stuff on these sites, I am not sure I want to be a part of it anymore.  

Week 13: Dataveillance

 Dataveillance is the surveillance of ones activities by studying a data trail created by actions such as credit card purchases, phone calls, and internet use. It is often done discreetly through hard drives and the social media sites you may visit. It is most frequently used a lot for chasing fugitives, prosecuting criminals, and spying on suspicious figures. 

There are three different types of dataveillance, Personal Dataveillance, refers to the collection and monitoring of a person’s personal data when the data has caused some suspicion. Ex. birthdate, address, social security and any other numbers that are unique to you. Mass Dataveillance,whcih refers to the collection of data on groups of people, which most often happens discreetly. Facilitative Mechanisms, in this case a group is not targeted and an individual's information is placed into a system or database along with various other people where computer matching can unveil distinct patterns. This kind of monitoring has some benefits and some down sides. The benefit is it helps to monitor criminal activity and eventually catch them, the down side is it takes away the privacy from the innocent public like me or my friends and family. I personally do not like knowing that my personal data like, birthdate, social security, address, etc are out there because someone could take that data and use it fraudulently because who is to say it's fully secure. In an article I read about dataveillance for my presentation, it talked about Mass Dataveillance and how certain groups like muslims and Spanish get monitored more because of their race. I see that as another downside to this type of surveillance because it is not fair to make assumptions like that and take away more of someone's freedom because of our society's common discriminatory views.

In my opinion this kind of monitoring should not be allowed to this degree and should only be used for people who have raised suspicion because it's not fair to put innocent people in jeopardy of data leaks and discrimination.

Week 5: Progressive Era

Week 10: Eight Values of Free Expression

   Individual Self-fulfillment in my opinion is the most important value because allowing people to express themselves and feel heard is beneficial to any society and it helps prevent future issues  with people feeling ignored resulting in potential rioting. 

  In society, people want to feel important and like their voice is being heard and having free speech allows them to do so and find people with the same opinions. People feel just how the title states, self-fulfillment when they speak out. In places like North Korea and China for example, there have been a lot of issues because people have not had that freedom and it makes them feel trapped. My freshman year, my roommate was from China and it was her first time in the States. I remember her telling me how much she liked it here already because of the freedom to do things and express your opinion because in China you could go to jail for saying certain things and for even having social media, which is one of the most common places people speak their opinions. She told me about how people started to back lash on the government and it's becoming a larger issue. 

  Allowing people to have their dignity is important and without the freedom to speak your mind, it gets taken away. Now having said all that, I do believe free speech should be within reason because too much can get out of hand as well. Having that feeling of self-fulfillment is something a lot of us take for granted but we should be thankful we have that right because most people would give anything to have in in their country. 

Week 3: History of the U.S. Supreme Court

   The Supreme Court today still remains the most powerful Judicial Body world wide. It all started in 1789 with article 3 of the Constitution that granted Congress the right to create inferior federal courts.  President George Washington signed the act that made the law official which stated that the Court would be made up of six justices that would serve until they died of retired. The Supreme Court had its first meeting on February 2nd, 1790 at the Merchants Exchange building in New York City where they discussed how everything would be run.  The Government moved to Washington in 1801 where the Supreme Court was given temporary quarters in the unfinished capitol.  John Marshall, who was a lawyer, was the first to be named Chief Justice. Under his power, the Supreme Court for the first time proved its powerful capability by striking down an act of Congress calling it unconstitutional. Because of Marshall, the Court was given its own building and gained respect from the public and Government as it is now looked at as a co-equal branch of Government. In 1831, the Court had its greatest self destructor that started with a man know as Dred Scott, a slave who self claimed freedom under an act of Congress run by Taney. The Court later stated that congress does not have the power to abolish slavery and that blacks could never be citizens which angered many with slavery being a sensitive point during that time, causing the courts authority to be plummet for years.

  Today, the Court still looks at the traditions established by John Marshall in the Constitution to resolve any issues that arise and receive about a hundred cases a week whether it be a petition or a letter regarding an unjust ruling in a lower court.  Initially, Americans did not want to accept the courts authority but after 200 years, they finally have come to that point of acceptance after realizing what is truly stands for and today the Court is well respected.

        

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Week 6: Com Tech Inventions and how they've effected our society

  In todays world, technology is constantly improving around us making us more addicted each day. Its been proven that one in eight people have a smartphone addiction and the numbers are expected to increase in years to come. 

In the video from this week, it was demonstrating how sad and shallow our world has become since technology has taken over. People  are like zombies on their phones because their eyes are glued to the screen with no care for the rest of the world, instead of showing emotion in the real world we use our phones with emojis to show how we feel. Since smartphones have been around, it's almost like we have forgotten how to act in person without a screen to hide behind as displayed in the video. So many of my friends can't take a break from their phones for more than an hour. One of my biggest pet peeves, is when I am hanging with someone or we are out eating and they are on their phone. My friends often do it and I get so annoyed because it makes me feel like the boy in the video where my friends are blind to me and what's around them. Phones have also taken away our privacy and has allowed embarrassing moments or any moments we don't want re live in our life to follow us around which was demonstrated in the video when the girl fell and people already had their phones out recording and posting on social media. This kind of access has ruined peoples lives before and it is only getting worse as technology improves and soon if we don't all become more aware, our society is going to become one giant screen with no care for what life is really about and what's more important. 




 

Week 4: Fake News Fight

  After reading the article about Facebook users phone numbers being accessible, it made me want to rethink how much information I put on my page because just a phone number and your name put you at risk for identity theft and non stop scam calls "The exposed data could put users at risk of scam phone calls and other fraud, said Eva Velasquez, president and CEO of the Identity Theft Resource Center. A phone number combined with your name and any public information on your Facebook profile could help scammers convince you they're legitimate. Velasquez suggests making your social media profiles private whenever possible." (C|net, Eva Velasquez). When I was younger and first made my Facebook account, I didn't realize the dangers of putting my email or phone number on my page were because I was nieve and Facebook in the beginning was good at hiding this kind of information from its users especially since most were blinded by the excitement of a new social media site that was like no other. 

  In the article, it talked about how Facebook is cracking down on user data being released but personally I don't know if I buy that because Facebook makes money off of selling its users information to companies so why would they give that up. The only reason they are making that statement is because they have been exposed and want people to think Facebook will protect your privacy so users continue to trust them. If I could give one piece of advise that I have learned after reading these articles,  it would be never put anything on Facebook that you wouldn't give to a stranger. 

Week 2: New Technology for Communication

  Lately,  I have been seeing a lot of articles about how we are coming upon the so called "Post-Cellphone era" which is where gadgets like smart watches and other wearable devices are making the demand for cell phones less. When apple first released the Apple Watch in 2015 it was a hit because people loved the idea of being able to call or text anywhere anytime without having to hold a phone so you can multitask. Runners could send a quick text by speaking into the watch or talk on the phone  while moving. The newer watch also allows you to check your emails which is great for a business person who is in a meeting and can't use their phone. Apple has released 5 models since 2015.  Having this watch has opened up an even bigger door for communication because now you don't need your phone to get in contact with someone, all the power is in your wrist.  In the most recent model that came out this year, you can also check Instagram and Facebook and use it how you would on the iPhone which is a big plus for most people with social media being one of the largest forms of communication today. My parents recently got newest apple watch and they love it! It's funny because I hardly ever see them using their cell phone now that they have the watch, instead they answer their texts and calls on the watch and my mom looks through her social media on it. Maybe I need to look into getting the new hot form of communication! 

Week 7: History of Google and how it effects communication today

  For my presentation, I did the history of Google and how it effects our world of communication today. For starters, I want to give you a little background of Google and where this great idea started that would change our world forever. It all started on September 4th, 1998 by Larry Page and Sergey Brin. They met at Stanford and started working on a search engine together called Backrub. The name actually comes from a mathematical term for how many backlinks a page has and Google is a play on word of “googol” a mathematical term for 1 followed by 0’s. In 1998, Andy Bechtolsheim , Co founder of Sun wrote a check for $100,000 to the non-existent company after seeing a demo as he knew it would be the turn of the century, little did he know what it would one day evolve into.  

Google took over worldwide pretty quickly with their first international office launched in 2001 in Tokyo. They did very well when it came to businesses as they offer Google images, Google toolbar, Google charts which allowed businesses to be more efficient in presentations. Google did not only make an impression in the business world but also among society with Google messaging, calendar, alerts, and the main Google search. Today, we use Google search on a daily basis and as a matter of fact I used it to research for this presentation. Ever since Google came along, going to the library to research information is little to none. Google has also added many services that have made advertising and keeping in touch with one another easy anywhere anytime. Google has also made the need for established media such as newspapers and magazines almost none because of its access to everything at the tip of your fingers which is the new wave of communication.

Overall, I think my group did a good job on our presentation and had a lot of interesting information that kept the audience engaged. I also enjoyed this project because I learned a lot of information about services/devices that we use today that I would never have known. You know what they say, you learn something new everyday!