The Final Thoughts on Tech

 Technology is an extremely scary topic. Yet, it is so strange that everyone is very comfortable with it. The problem with technological advancements and privacy have been a recurring theme throughout Media Law and Literacy. It has also been mentioned a large amount of times throughout my blog posts. The reasoning behind this, though, is because people seem to forget how worried we should be. It feels like one day there is a news article slandering Facebook that everyone sides with, and the next day everyone is back to using it.

Facebook has been the main subject of many of my speeches and essays this year. This just shows even more evidence to the fact that there are so many things wrong with the company. If I can spend a whole semester writing about the negative consequences of Facebook, then something needs to change. Throughout the semester, my main problem has been with privacy. Technology and companies that control it are always trying to take and use your privacy. Yes, that includes Facebook. They make it seem so harmless to gather your information. After all, it makes it so much more convenient when you do not have to type in your password every time you open Google. However, people should come to realize that their information is not being kept safe. It is being used to make money and target specific ads toward people.

What is so wrong with that? Some people will not mind getting ads that are catered to their needs and wants. Well it turns out that information taken by any company can be stolen. There have been so many instances in which a company’s storage was stolen by anonymous hackers. Now with your information, someone could be trying to steal money from you or even your identity. I always like to mention California when it comes to privacy laws because they have put in a system that allows users to willingly stop the taking of their information. It is called the California Privacy Consumer Act. I have argued for it multiple times and I will continue to speak for it. If technology continues to grow in the way that it is, we should have control over our privacy as much as possible. There is no way to give up technology at this point, so we might as well fix it.

When it comes to my relationship with technology, I am not so innocent either. I, too, ignore the problems most of the time. It is just so easy to forget about the problems when technology is a part of everyday life. I am thankful for my classes this semester because they constantly are pulling me back into the real world to see the dangers. Personally, I think I have a more healthy relationship with Social Media than most others. I only really use Snapchat and YouTube if that counts. I have Facebook and Instagram, but I rarely get on it. Sometimes when I am talking to someone about Instagram, they mention that they need to check how many likes they have received on their latest post. I constantly wonder about this. I have asked a few people about how their mind works with the need for likes. I honestly do not understand how liking posts can affect your mental health so much.

I feel like maybe I am on technology too much sometimes. It controls so much of life that I do not even think about it. I rarely am off my phone except for when I am eating. I always try to put away my phone when I am at dinner. The funny thing, though, is that it is not something that my parents taught me. My family never really ate at the dinner table for an official dinner every night. They usually would just make food and we would get some and leave. Most of the time, when we did eat at the table, my parents would be on their phones. I think I just find it more uncomfortable when I am on my phone instead of talking to the people I am eating with. Sometimes I break that rule, but I generally try to avoid my phone.

I think social media and technology are more worrisome for younger people. The younger you are, the more innocent you are. The more innocent you are, the more trusting you are. As a child, I was so willing to give away information. One time I was messaging a stranger over a phone game and offered to give my email, and the other person told me that it was dangerous to give information so willingly. I learned my lesson that day and will never forget it. I was lucky that someone nice was talking to me. It easily could have been a creep. The fact that kids are also putting so much hope into social media is also scary because an online presence will never keep you relevant forever.

In conclusion, there is an understandable fear behind technology and social media. There should be more regulation over it and the companies that control it should be more limited. I hope that people start to realize that there needs to be a change.

Whistleblowing Should be Protected

 One of my fellow classmates, CJ Vagnone, wrote his own blogpost about whistleblowers. I am going to review some of the topics that he covered here, but I strongly suggest reading the original. In Vagnone’s post, he describes the importance of whistleblowers and why they should be kept safe. 

A whistleblower is a specific person in a company or a government that leaks information to the public to give insight of wrongdoing or secrets. Whistleblowers are meant to keep the integrity and honesty of large corporations such as Google and Facebook, as well as companies across the world. For example, Julian Assange was a whistleblower that released private information that the United States government was hiding. This information made the United States look really bad, yet it was important for citizens to understand that there were innocent people being harmed in other countries, even Americans. The United States did what they could to silence Julian Assange and he was arrested after fleeing the country. At this time he is in a prison in London.

Julian Assange

At first glance, whistleblowing might seem scary. To be fair, it is a risky job and there is a lot of uncomfort to speak out against wrongdoing when you are surrounded by it. As Vagnone stated, whistleblowing is usually protected and not illegal. There are supposed to be laws put in place such as the Whistleblower Protection Act of 1989. This, of course, is because people deserve to have knowledge of the secrets being kept against citizens and those who speak out should have the freedom to do so. In Julian Assange’s case, he should not be in trouble legally and there is a major issue that he is in prison.

Whistleblowers have been known to help before. After all, that is how Nixon was impeached. Watergate was information that was leaked about Nixon covering up illegal activities. The health problems behind using nicotine and tobacco were also information that was leaked to the public. There are plenty of reasons that whistleblowers are and should be protected. So for the safety of everyone, we should work to protect whistleblowers.

AI is a Scary Advancement

 The change of Artificial Intelligence is bound to happen no matter what. It is only going to get more advanced and there are some good and bad side effects. Over all, it will make life so much more efficient and easier. While that is a nice positive, there are many more reasons to be scared for the future of technology. Even with more efficiency, it brings more control for the technology itself.

The main concern that is visible from this video would be the lack of privacy as technology progresses. At the moment, the United States is the leader of artificial intelligence in the world. It looks as though China will be catching up very fast. China has little to no privacy at all in the country. The United States wants to stay in the lead, but China is advancing so fast and their lack of privacy helps them with information. The United States is supposed to guarantee privacy to its citizens and when that right is threatened by companies like Facebook, there is backlash from citizens. In China, citizens can not go anywhere without a camera identifying everything about them in a matter of seconds. Their privacy issue is so bad, that they have a social score that indicates whether they are good for the community. If they have a good score, then they can be rewarded with discounts and such. Low scores can lead to punishment like travel ban.

Technology has gotten so advanced that it is able to make well thought out predictions. Artificial intelligence is able to learn a new game and beat the best players in the world in no time. It can beat the best Chess players. It can beat the best Go players. It can develop so much to a scary intent of being able to think for us. Self driving eighteen wheelers have already been put to work in some places. These trucks carry out the duty of a truck driver without the actual driver. A driver does monitor it sometimes, but generally the truck can successfully do its job without help.

Technology is a strange concept that has grown so fast. There are few regulations over it and it may be too powerful to stop soon. I, personally, am a bit afraid of the future and the ways that we can be controlled even subconsciously. I hope that one day the California Consumer Privacy Act becomes a more nationwide concept and that we do not go overboard with the advancement of artificial intelligence. The California Consumer Privacy Act is a system that was recently put in place only in California. The legislation says that if you do not want your information being used or sold, you can choose not to let them. The act was passed unanimously and it should be a more accepted document throughout the states.

[Extra] Presidential Paper

 History can seem somewhat boring to most students, but they have not been able to experience the fun side of history. Everyone just needs to find the spot in history which interests them. I personally am interested by presidential knowledge, so I am going to share some fun facts about presidents to prove it can be interesting. I had to present a topic in my Human Communications class and I chose presidents. This is a better explanation for that presentation.

Presidents have been known for having weird pets. Back when John Quincy Adams was president, his friend, Marquis de Lafayette, gifted him a pet alligator. Adams did not really know what to do with this present, so he gave the alligator its own bathroom for a bathtub. Adams was known for scaring people by sending them to that bathroom.

Photoshopped picture of John Q. Adams with his alligator.

Andrew Jackson was known for being a pretty vulgar president and not as formal. He swore fairly often, but he also had a pet parrot. Parrots are notorious for repeating what they here and speaking. Yep, you guessed it, Jackson had a swearing parrot as his pet. After Jackson's death, the parrot was brought to the funeral, but the parrot had to be taken away from how vulgar it was being.

Photoshopped picture of Jackson with his swearing parrot

Martin Van Buren was donated two tiger cubs by Kabul al Said, who was the Sultan of Oman. Congress told Van Buren that he should donate it to a zoo because there was no reason for him to have tigers. Van Buren fought to keep them, but the tigers were donated because Congress ruled that it was more of a gift to the United States than a gift to the President.

Martin Van Buren

Calvin Coolidge was a president with many fun pets. They had a lot of dogs, cats, birds, and raccoons.... Yep Coolidge had a raccoon named Rebecca that was cherished by the family. It even ate Thanksgiving dinner with them. For more pets, the family had, a black bear, a kangaroo, twin lion cubs, a small antelope, and ducks.

First Lady Grace Coolidge with their raccoon, Rebecca

Even though it is exciting to see what kind of animals that presidents own, there are plenty of fun facts about the presidents themselves. For example, William Henry Harrison holds the record for giving the longest inaugural address in history. His speech lasted a good 105 minutes. This is quite ironic because he is also the president who holds the record for the shortest term held. He died of pneumonia a month into office.

William Henry Harrison

Theodore Roosevelt holds the record for the most handshakes in one day because it used to be common for presidents to shake hands with people whenever they wanted. It is more of a safety concern nowadays. Roosevelt's distant relative, FDR also holds the record for the most terms held by any president. This record cannot be broken because there is a limit of 10 years, or 2.5 terms held by a law now. At the time, FDR was elected for 4 terms, but he only completed 3. The law was added with the 22nd Amendment which was not in effect during FDR's presidency.

FDR (left) Theodore Roosevelt (right)

William Howard Taft is best known for being a big guy. He is a president just after the "Forgettable Presidents Era." Most people forget about him still, but the main thing he is recognized for is getting stuck in a bathtub. This funny story comes up anytime people think of this historical figure. BUT, it is not actually true.... Taft never actually got stuck in his bathtub, however, he did have a custom built bathtub because of his size. He also is the only president to become the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.

William Howard Taft

Many presidents are known by their full name and middle initial. Whether it's John F. Kennedy or John Q. Adams, middle initials can help a president stick out. Harry S Truman is quite different however. The S does not actually stand for anything. It is just a letter. When giving the oath of office, Chief Justice Harlan Stone mistook the "S" in Truman's name to be his mother's maiden name. Truman made Stone restart the oath of office to get his name correct.

Harry S Truman

James Buchanan, who is my least favorite president, is the only president who never got married. Instead of having a wife to serve as first lady, Buchanan's niece, Harriet Lane, did the job. Woodrow Wilson, is the only president to be buried in Washington D.C.. 

There have been 46 presidents, 45 completed presidencies, and of those 46, 8 have died in office. 4 of those 8 were assassinated and the others died of natural causes. One of the presidents who was assassinated was William McKinley. He was shaking hands with citizens as I mentioned was common earlier. A little girl came up to shake his hand and commented on his lucky flower that he had. She said that she liked it. McKinley decided to give her the "lucky" flower, but the next person in line to shake his hand, shot him.

William McKinley

Andrew Jackson was almost assassinated, but luckily survived. His assassin walked up behind him and shot his gun twice, however, the gun misfired. Jackson, in self defense, attacked his killer with a cain. Jackson repeatedly his the gunman with his cain so much that people had to pull him away. Jackson would have killed him even when his gun was dropped and the man was broken. The man was taken to the hospital to save his life, but then was put on death row as his punishment.

Jackson's attempted assassination

Franklin Pierce is seen as one of the worst presidents, but why is that? Maybe he actually is. Well it may be true, but he was not completely paying attention during his presidency. On the way to his inauguration, his family was riding a train. The train derailed and Pierce and his wife watched one of their sons get decapitated in front of them. This made them extremely depressed for the rest of their lives. It is said that Pierce's wife brought darkness with her everywhere she went. She would normally sit in the dark and cry. Pierce signed the Fugitive Slave Act, but he was endorsed to when he was kind of out of it.

Franklin Pierce

Finally, I want to talk about James A. Garfield. When Garfield was elected, the Republican party was split between the Stalwarts and the Half-breeds. Garfield was a Half-breed. Basically that means that he wanted to reform the system of assigning people in government. Before, the people assigned in the cabinets and as ambassadors were friends of the president or people who donated to their campaign. The Stalwarts wanted to keep that system. Chester A. Arthur was the Vice President chosen because he was a Stalwart and they wanted the votes of both groups.

James A. Garfield

When Garfield won his seat as president, a man named Charles Guiteau wanted to be an ambassador. He had donated to the new president's campaign and thought he deserved a position. After being denied a position, Guiteau went home and claimed the God talked to him. Apparently, God told him that Arthur needs to be the president no matter what. So, after stalking President Garfield, Guiteau went up to him and shot him multiple times. Before shooting him, Guiteau yelled, "This is for the Stalwarts, and this is for Arthur!" Arthur, confused about his name being mentioned, went into hiding while Garfield was taken to the hospital. 

Garfield's assassination

Garfield fell into a coma. The doctors at the time, did not accept germ theory and were not careful about cleaning while doing surgery. They also fed him unhealthy food in his coma because they thought that they should feed him food that a president should eat. Garfield ended up dying of infection from the ignored germs. Doctors and historians today say that Garfield should have survived.

[Extra] Playing with Words

 It has only been half of a semester and yet, I feel as though my learning and writing has enhanced greatly. Writing has never really been my favorite, but I would say that I am decent at it. There were rare times in the past where I felt like writing in my free time, and now I have been getting that feeling a little more often. Especially as I run a blog now. I feel as though going through these experiences of writing and drafting, studying analyses, and even messing around on scrabble has helped me toward becoming a better writer.

Starting with the planning, drafting, and revising, would make sense because I am doing that while writing this. This process is very enlightening as it helps me scan through my work and pick out mistakes. Planning what to write about is very advantageous due to being able to know what you are writing instead of guessing along the way. It makes sense to be able to know what you are writing and when you are writing it. This planning leads perfectly into the drafting portion as you know the basic layout of what you want in the end. I know previously I have written short stories that have suffered from lack of planning and drafting. I would start at one point and end up at another, but it would not always make sense when I read it back.

As I have been navigating through these processes, I have been able to examine the benefits. Drafting also gives you a chance to establish your plan. It is like a prototype. It will not be perfect, but it will be a good model for what you want your final product to be. It is much nicer and cleaner than just writing from an empty sheet and leaving the mess that was spewed onto the paper. The revision, admittedly, is something that I have regularly done. It is more of a simple standard that is used to clean the final product up. This is mostly the only thing that I consistently do, until recently where I have discovered the perks of including the others. Even with revision in this class, I have learned better ways to do it. It does not hurt to read through paragraphs multiple times to check them. I used this process to also write my paper on Matt Richtel’s “Blogs v.s. Term Papers.” In this, I studied the piece, planned how I wanted to write it, and revised the final product. It is much easier to do than it seems after learning the full process.

Scrabble is another thing that has improved my intelligence in this class. Every Friday, we get to play Scrabble in English class and that is the whole class for the day. While it is entertaining, it also has taught me new words. It is an easy way to be creative with word creating. For example, Dr. Lucas posts on her blog about different words and strategies that could be used in Scrabble. A very helpful one is the series of two letter words that she posts. Two letter words come in handy because if you want to put two long words next to each other, you can rack up a lot of points by keeping the words close enough for different, two letter words to form.

Another strategy that I have used multiple times was proposed in “A Close Study of the Board.” This game has a lot of strategy along with the requirement of knowing words. The game really makes you think about everything you are doing. Where you place letters could give the other team an advantage or a disadvantage. It would be “unlikely that the opponent will be able to play consonants… on both sides of the ‘l’ or the ‘x’” in the word “lox,” which is convenient because vowels are always one point. So by playing your own consonants next to double or triple letter spots, you spoil their point gain. It is a friendly game and competition that also helps in the long run with team work, strategy, and word building.

Lastly, and what I think has improved my overall learning so far, would be the analyses that we have studied. There have been the more simple subjects that we studied such as the image by Ian Falconer in “From Observation to Implication.” We have also studied more in depth analyses like “Blogs v.s. Term Papers.” The simpler pieces that we have looked at are not actually simple. They are just fully written excerpts compared to other pieces we have seen. These are usually just pictures or comics that we have to describe and examine.

At first glance, there is an obvious difference in the middle of the image of “The New Yorker” cover. The brunette woman sticks out whereas the other women seem close to identical. While this seems pretty easy to comprehend, there are many other deeper parts to this picture that you do not notice at first glance. My mind was blown when Dr. Lucas pointed out that all the blonde ladies had a very obvious “A” on them, signifying that they are “A’s” if they were being rated on a beauty concept presented by Falconer. That was something that I would have never considered and now I have learned that digging into a piece could be harder to spot than a first glance.

For the harder analyses, pictures normally will not do. We study a written piece, in this case, written by Matt Richtel as I stated earlier. Again, I completely missed all of the deep parts I originally searched for. In the beginning of the planning period, I was just writing opinions, but that was not the point. The point of the paper was to write about how Richtel decided to compose and lay out his writing. I tried to comprehend things like, why would Richtel “[end] the article by returning back to professor Davidson[?]” I determined that it is to reinforce an idea that was established earlier. That is at least how I interpreted it. I have come to understand that interpreting these concepts are not always set. There are different conclusions that can be drawn each time.

In conclusion, these different subjects that we have covered in class, have already started to develop me into a better writer and student even in this short time that we have been in class. I cannot wait to continue to see how my writing improves even more. I am also excited to see how these blog posts will bring me more creative outlets to pursue.

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The Power of Online Influencers

 

Online influencers may seem like a new concept, but it has really been around for a long time. However, it is now becoming more common knowledge about how it is used. Online influencers are people who have built a large reputation, usually on social media platforms such as Instagram, Snapchat, or YouTube. Brands frequently use these media influencers to advertise their products similar to how celebrities are used in commercials. Even without advertising, these influencers are still able to lead others to use and buy what they do. Influencers do not necessarily need to be paid by advertisers to be considered an influencer. As long as they have a large audience that can be persuaded, they can receive this classification.

Back before the internet even existed, influencers were active. This included athletes, models, and politicians. Models frequently impacted others in what to buy based on what they would wear or show off. This obviously still happens, but it is boosted by the internet’s existence. Athletes sported different outfits and equipment which caused others to favor those products. Once the radio was invented, advertising was forever changed. Companies began to realize that they could get people to buy from them by suggesting it on a system that most people subscribed to. Soon, corporations were getting famous celebrities to endorse their products and other formats followed suit. Cereals began to also advertise from their boxes for example.

Technology has developed so much since then. It has been an increasingly complicated subject, quickly developing faster than people can process. Social media is a new way that influencers can be invented. YouTube was created in 2005. Instagram was created in 2010. These programs were just little applications that were meant to intrigue and connect with people. They did just that. There were social media platforms before these of course, however, these are the main platforms that people make money from. Most influencers are derived from these as well as apps like TikTok. People like the Kardashians have built their fame up with social media. On social media, they are also able to access revenue through product placements. In the beginning, making money from social media was unheard of and silly. These days, children would rather be social media stars than movie actors. It is a new job that people have discovered and long for. And it is not as unrealistic as becoming famous in Hollywood. Most of these are accessible from anywhere and can happen over night. 

These people who have found popularity online, are some of the most influential. YouTubers who people watch regularly seem like they could just be these fun, normal people. They are not very special and crazy. This can form "parasocial relationships," which are one-sided relationships where one person spends plenty of time and money on the other person, who does not know of their existence. The person who longs for a relationship will become attached to the person on the screen and will agree to their opinions and their endorsements for products. This is more of a problem on Twitch which is a stream website where the streamer can interact with the viewers. This is definitely an unhealthy relationship that should be pushed against, but many streamers have been talking out about this. 

Ludwig is a popular streamer who made a
video explaining parasocial relationships.

It seems so easy to influence and advertise in a video, but it is also available on platforms like Instagram. As mentioned prior, Instagram is a major social media outlet that many people can grow from. Instagram has become a system much larger than pictures. It now has longer videos and live streams. This is more of a site for celebrities to relate more to their audiences. They can show off what they want, including their product preferences. There are so many ways that people can influence others, especially with the significance of the internet. It has become so intense yet easy. 

Are Anti-War Voices Silenced?

 Anti-war voices will always be silenced! That is something that we are taught a lot throughout this class: Media Law and Literacy. It is a very true statement, though. This is especially true in the United States. Throughout the many wars that we have been in, it has been commonplace for those who spoke out against it to be jailed. For example, during the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln suspended Habeas Corpus. This gave the government the right to throw people in jail without a secure reason, including rebel silencing.

This was also prevalent during the first World War. This is a little more surprising because Woodrow Wilson ran in 1916 and won on the basis of staying neutral in the war. Wilson proposed that it was best to stay out, and yet once we joined, anti-war voices were jailed and thrown away. They were heavily silenced because the government wants you to believe what they think is right. 

Another example would be during the age of Manifest Destiny and Imperialism. Manifest Destiny was a period in American history where the original 13 states were not enough for people. They decided to push west to gain more land. However, land was already inhabited by people and there were few people speaking out against this land gain. Those few people were often silenced and looked down upon. There were more people against imperialism, though. Again they did not have a loud enough voice to make a difference.

Dr. Smith introduced some websites to us for this blog post in order to entertain the idea of being anti-war. They were websites that I have never heard of and I believe most people have never heard of. One was literally called "ANTIWAR.com" and the other was just called the "American Conservative." Both websites are strong anti-war voices that speak out against war and violence. They also speak out against problems that most people overlook. These websites are so unknown, most likely because the government would prefer them to be quieted. The government usually gets what they want too. 

There is a fun contrast against this, nonetheless, that I would like to bring up because it is fun. This is not completely American history because the United States did not exist yet, but it was about to. When the colonies were gaining courage to speak up against Great Britain, there were loyalists who chose to speak against war. The voices were not silenced and were actually respected by the British government. Yet, they were silenced by patriots who wanted to be free from Britain so I guess it works both ways.

The World Wide Web

 For my Each One Teach One, or EOTO, project, I chose to present the evolution and history of Emoticons and Emojis. After listening and watching everyone's presentations, I chose to read up on and review The World Wide Web presentation by Cj Vagnone. This was a very interesting and fun subject to learn about because I had no idea how new some of these ideas and developments were. The internet is clearly a new and adventurous place with new laws being set often and plentiful inventions being introduced regularly.

As Cj's blog post and presentation stated, the "World Wide Web," or WWW, was the first web browser ever created. It was made in 1990 and was established by Tim Berners-lee. Tim Berners-lee was also the creator of Hyper Text Markup, or HTML, and Hypertext Transfer Protocol, or HTTP. Both of these inventions are continuously in use today. HTML is used in order for each website to have its own URL. HTTP is used to retrieve linked websites and move across the internet. The WWW was eventually renamed to "Nexus." The first graphical web browser to run on Windows was called "Cello." It was created by a Cornell Law student and was created in 1992. It was not released, however, until 1993. Later that year, a new software came out that was able to produce a picture alongside of text. This was so impressive because previously, the software would download pictures or text by themselves in order to show them.

Internet Explorer was the main browser and software in use for many years. It did not have much competition until the early 2000's. In 2004, the game began to change with Mozilla Firefox being released. Its browser was released in order to bring security and make it more viable as well as being faster than other browsers. 2008, however, was the release of the biggest browser known today, Google Chrome. Google Chrome was a big deal at the time because it was the first browser to introduce multiple tabs. This was very relevant because tabs could crash or be closed and the browser would still be up and running.

Tim Berners-lee

The advancements in these softwares and the internet itself is such a crazy concept. It is astonishing that the first browser to introduce multiple tabs was only 13 years ago. At this point, it is expected. Browsers and softwares have enhanced so much so quickly. Browsers now are so much more of an improvement than downloading pictures and text.

[Extra] Richtel's Order of Ideas

In “Blogs v.s. Term Papers,” Matt Richtel reports on the two sides of the argument proposed by the title: Are blogs or term papers better for the students who are writing? Richtel examines the interests of professors such as Cathy N. Davidson, an English professor at Duke, who “[want] to eradicate the term paper,” as well as other researchers like William H. Fitzhugh, founder of The Concord Review, who believe that term papers provide “a dramatic leg up [with]...critical thinking [and] argumentation.” Richtel uses the compelling sides of these arguments to provide an in depth explanation of these researchers’ views.

Matt Richtel does a good job at playing an observative role. Richtel never states his views, but instead reports evenly and fairly between the two arguments. Richtel starts off by describing Davidson’s point of view. He starts off with this opinion because most people are used to the standard of writing term papers. Richtel wants to grasp the reader’s attention from the beginning with a new idea to replace the one most known. After proposing this idea, he then explains Davidson’s argument for why term papers should be replaced. Richtel uses the term “punish[ment]” to describe term papers and calls blogs, “relatively, fun[.]” Richtel makes sure to spend time convincing the reader of this concept to make them question which side they should take. Later Richtel will try to convince readers of the other side as well. This idea is then bypassed to explain a new point of view. 

Cathy N. Davidson

This new point of view, however, is what most people are used to. Richtel brings us back to the standing of term papers and how they are helpful and more useful than blogs. To begin this stance, Richtel explains how “defenders of rigorous writing” see blog posts. This is a look into what most people have grown up with. Term papers have been the standard for so long. Richtel brings an extreme view into the conversation to make a point. The point being, many people see the blogs as silly or illogical. Richtel states that instead of a blog, students should just write a twitter post. The creativity in this extremity is prevalent. The sentence is only 140 characters, which was the maximum on twitter at the time.

Douglas B. Reeves

Douglas B. Reeves, a columnist for the American School Board Journal, is chosen as the opener for this opposing side of the argument. Reeves does not completely trash the belief behind blogs, but he makes sure to support his own beliefs. Reeves strongly encourages writing term papers to give a “dramatic leg up in terms of critical thinking [and] argumentation,” however, he believes that blogs are meant for entertainment and not education. Reeves’s argument is interrupted by statistics of the amount of term papers that are written. His perspective is short lived because another person who shares his views is about to be introduced to back him up. Fitzhugh is introduced to explain the study used for the statistics mentioned, published by him. The study shows that term papers are requiring less from their students and slowly becoming easier. In other words, one could say that the term paper is “being murdered.” Fitzhugh pushes the idea that blogs will not help students in anything. Richtel emphasizes Fitzhugh’s beliefs with quotes containing slander against blogs. This is a major contrast to the beginning of the article. This proves that Richtel is showing no bias because he is including both sides evenly. 

After showing the push from both sides, Richtel brings in a third mindset. Why not provide students with the opportunity to write both blogs and term papers. Andrea A. Lunsford, a professor of English at Stanford, is picked to represent this opinion. Lunsford pushes for the idea that students seek for ways to express themselves and blogs are an amazing way to do that. Though, term papers still provide important skills that blogs will not. Therefore, Lunsford starts a school year off with her students “writing a 15-page paper…[for] the first few weeks.” Afterwards, she lets her students use the ideas in said paper to make blogs, web sites, and presentations. Thus giving students both perspectives and the skills provided from both.

Andrea A. Lunsford

Richtel then ends the article by returning back to Professor Davidson. Richtel does this to show that the blog posts are much more acceptable today. Blog posts were seen as “bad writing.” The creativity behind the intent of blog posts, however, has become more prevalent and noticed. Now, as Richtel pointed out, people like Lunsford, who has spent many years examining how students react to writing, are able to use both blogs and term papers. By ending the article with Davidson’s story, it shows how much writing has advanced. It gives hope for better solutions to come.

In conclusion, Richtel used this pattern of perspectives to relay his unbiased observations to the audience. By describing some of the pros and cons of each stance, he lets the reader decide which side to lean towards. Then Richtel throws in a more inclusive option for both sides. Richtel’s article is a well developed explanation of the argument for blogs and term papers.

    Richtel, Matt. “Blogs vs. Term Papers,” The New York Times, 20 Jan. 2012, https://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/22/education/edlife/muscling-in-on-the-term-paper-tradition.html.  

Diffusion of Innovations

 The Diffusion of Innovation theory is comprised of the percentage of people who adopt an idea or buy a new product over time. The person who popularized the theory, Everett Rogers, defines it as "the process by which an innovation is communicated over time among the participants in a social system." This is a common happenstance when it comes to new inventions. The innovation's release will initially start the rise of popularity. This will be accessed by a small group of people who have a jump start to the new piece. This small group is called innovators. Innovators have more risky behavior and are willing to to help an idea they agree with. Generally, they have the highest social status or at least a higher up social status. Being higher up means that they have more money to invest in these risky ideas. As the communication channels begin to publish ideas and reviews of these new innovations, more people and groups will become more open to partaking. Early adopters are the next group to participate in the new product. Early adopters are usually younger, more wealthy people who want to be on the front end of a trend. They are more socially aware and can help push the product to a higher popularity. Using a social system, as well as time, the product will become much more mainstream. 

Early majority will follow the early adopters. It will most likely take some time before the early majority is fully developed, although this will bring the most popularity to the subject matter. The early majority normally have a somewhat high status, but definitely have connections to early adopters or each other. Once the item hits it's most popular state, it will start to decline in the amount of adopters. The late majority is then accounted for here. These are the people who join in once it has become a lot more common. It is the new trend that everyone is involved in, so everyone wants to join in as opposed to being left out. Late majority is mostly seen as the average person. They do not jump the gun to join in on the craze and instead wait to see if it will be worth it. By this time, other companies have most likely developed similar products if it is an item. The late majority then slows down the popularity as the laggards finish off whoever is left from the fad.  Laggards are the very last people to join in. This group most likely would include older people who are used to sticking to traditions and have little connection to other groups.

Let's use an example to better explain the process of this theory and further understanding of this. For this example we will be using the invention of the radio. The radio was a major step for the progression of communication. It enabled new ways to listen to music, hear news, and advertising capabilities were increased. The radio was invented by Guglielmo Marconi in 1896. However, the radio was not popularized in the United States until the 1920s. The early 20s, maybe even a few years before, are when the innovators were actively buying these new radios. The early adopters would then follow, giving the radio more popularity with the communication transferred by the adopters. The early majority was probably achieved around the early 20s. This began to give rise to music like jazz which was very popular at the time along with speakeasies which were illegal bars. The radio made music very popular and vise versa. The late majority was around the mid 20s where almost everyone had one. The laggards were those in the late 20s who hesitated to get a radio or never did. For some people, there was no reason to get the radio. Live music may have been preferred for some people or maybe some people did not like to listen to music.

The Horror of Internet Privacy

Privacy on the internet is so rare. So many websites are trying to take and keep information about everyone and many try to hide it. There are very few companies and websites that keep your interests in mind. From the videos I watched, I think they all made very great and interesting points for privacy. There are some scary tactics out there. A lot of these tactics are hidden in the terms of service which are meant to be too long and confusing. The first video explained how everything we do on the internet is traced. He explained that your internet usage is similar to getting a tattoo. Companies will hold on to pictures and messages and use them for their own gain. Most of the revenue made from social media is from selling information of the users. The second video moves on to explain that even the government has eyes everywhere. Our privacy at home is not as apparent as most think. Just from scanners and cameras, the government is able to tell where you are and when you were there. This is problematic because there is nothing that we can hide and do privately. We do not deserve to be spied on every hour of every day. Now it does make it easier to catch people who may be threatening the government, but this is doable even by giving us space and privacy.

It is understandable to think that there is no reason to have privacy. After all, you probably did nothing wrong. Why should you be worried? Well, you might be surprised to find out that there are hackers that are good at doing what they do. These companies that consume and hold your information could be hacked, releasing all of your information to people who can use it against you. Your identity could be stolen or used to bribe or threaten you. The third video dives into the hacking aspect of this concern. The fourth video, though, is by a person who was taken advantage of due to her information being taken. It wasn't necessarily taken from her internet, but it still gave a clearer understanding of how our government reacts to the internet and our privacy.

With the internet still being a relatively new invention, we just do not have a great enough understanding of it. Laws are still forming around this advancement and precedents are being set regularly. The sixth, and last, video is a man who explains how companies are taking advantage of these lack of rules. He points out a doll that can be connected to the internet and talk to a child in real time. The creators of the doll made a statement saying that only professional hackers would be able to crack into the internet connection of the doll. The speaker, however, showed proof that the doll could easily be manipulated. The doll was picking up conversations of everyone nearby, and the speaker from the doll was intercepted and a person from outside the room could speak through it. This shows exactly how unsafe companies and their products can be. The fifth video is a speaker showing off a product to combat these unsafe companies. With all of these companies like Google and Amazon, they are able to read and save your emails. Andy Yen, though, created a new website that takes the message in the email you are trying to send and then creates a randomized code to make the message secretive. Then, once the message sends, the code is unscrambled for the receiver to read. It confuses the interceptors, while also letting the messengers converse. This new website is a great way to make yourself more private on the internet.

The History of Emoticons and Emojis

The word emoticon is a mashup of the two words “emotional” and “icon.” Emoticons are “glyphs used in computer-mediated communication” to represent an idea. This could be people and faces or animals and cars. Eventually emoticons became emojis. Emojis are very similar to emoticons, but are more official and widely used today. Emojis are Japanese creations and are formed by the words, “e,” meaning picture, and “moji,” meaning character. Now emojis are the new normal that people constantly use. Emojis even replace words in most cases, but can also provide emphasis to a conversation.

The first emoticon was created in 1982 by Scott E. Fahlman, a Carnegie Mellon professor. He created this in order to give emotion to his messages. The first ever emoticon was the smiley face. It contained a colon, a dash, and a closing parenthesis. He also reversed the emoticon to create a frowny face. This consisted of the same symbols, except instead of closing parenthesis it used an opening parenthesis. This started out on the Carnegie Mellon campus but eventually branched out to other places through discussion boards and emails. Fahlman originally used these emoticons in emails.

Eventually Fahlman’s idea of expressing with symbols reached out across the world. In 1999, the first emoji was then created. Emojis were invented in Japan by Shigetaka Kurita. He created 176 emojis using a grid made up of 144 pixels, twelve by twelve. Emojis made it much easier because with emoticons, you had to use punctuation and symbols similar. This could become confusing if you wrote out an email and then used random punctuation. So, there was more ease in communication due to the creation of emojis when there was just one symbol. It was not until 2010, that Unicode started including emojis. Unicode is used in the coding of text. Apple and Android released 722 new emojis through Unicode in 2010. The next year, in 2011, IOS 5 was released. This incorporated an emoji keyboard as a new feature which would become the keyboard that holds 3,961 emojis today. 

As the invention of the emojis advanced, more and more were created. In 2012, however, Fahlman spoke out in an interview. He said that “they ruin the challenge of trying to come up with a clever way to express emotions using standard keyboard characters.” When the creation of the emoji first arrived, there were many people creating new emoticons. Fahlman mentioned that he loved seeing all these creative contributions. There were emoticons that represented people like Abraham Lincoln and Santa Claus. The word “emoji'' was not added to the dictionary until 2013. There are no plans for the emojis to be added to the dictionary though. That would be quite ludicrous and time consuming. 

As the years progress through this era, emojis start to become more prevalent in society. They are used for us to show emotion so commonly in texting and emails. They became so commonplace, that they inevitably were used in commercials and media. Here, their use was to show off people’s actual emotion rather than give context through text. McDonalds ran an ad in 2015 displaying people as emojis. In 2017, the release of the Emoji Movie smashed the box office numbers and gained much popularity. Its Rotten Tomatoes score was a 7% and yet still showed that emojis are so used that a successful movie could be made about them. 

So the invention of the emoji changed the world and subsequently the way we communicate. In some ways, the new communication strategy is helpful. It gives more explanation behind sarcasm and conversations, but in other ways proves that we are using less words to explain our lives. We constantly find shortcuts to make typing to each other easier. The original emoji and its companions were added to the Museum of Modern Art to further show that it made a significant impact on the world.