Final Assignment Update III

After countless revisions, I finally believe I tailored the paper to make it clear that higher education systems are a Technopoly. I seemed to gone out of order with this paper, constructing my body paragraphs first. It turned out that one of my body's went off topic, sort of introducing what I was going to write about, therefore, made that part the intro.

I did not end up using a lot of outside sources besides my own experiences, mainly because I've come across a lot of Technopolist illustrations during my time here at Rutgers. Coincidentally, as I was studying for one of my other exams, they actually quoted Postman on how Technology is transforming the way we organize our information. I somewhat quoted him in the paper, which brought up the information management process example.

There are a couple messages coming out of this paper that I included in my conclusion. One, technology will never stop growing. Students of this generation make it a necessity to use technology, and that has grown onto education systems as well. Colleges and high schools use computers and their applications just as much as students use technology to entertain themselves. I have not gone to a class lecture in which the professor or teacher(in high school) has not used Powerpoint. Secondly, I've learned that a Technopoly is not necessarily the worst for society, which I had put in my conclusion. Computers, machinery in general might be more worth than the human body, but it's creating a very efficient environment, but also creating a very inefficient environment. It has its upsides and downsides, but Technology advancements is putting everything to obsolete.

Final Assignment Update II

I finally had the chance to get back to this paper after taking two finals today (Thursday). Progression seems to be going well with 4 pages of good content, and still looking for some good supports for quotes taken out of Postman's book. My ultimate argument states that higher education institutions are Technopolies because of the way information is managed and organized. Specifically, college catalogues like Webreg demonstrate how a vast amount of information needs to be electronically managed. Though, the important part about this argument is that technological advancements attract us, giving us the option to either use technology to organize the flow of information, or keep traditional ways.

Another part of my essay I just started developing was how students have first inherited Technopoly characteristics, where students took those characteristics and made education institutions adapt to these characteristics as well. It's difficult to summarize, but it's still in the work, and should all make sense when the final product is done. I also plan on stating how dominant technology is over print material on a college campus. Because I'm in the library almost every day, I rarely see people constructing research papers using reference books, they're using the Internet, and that is why you see more computers occupied than reference books.

Overall, I'm satisfied with the way the paper is turning out, although, it still needs an intro, I constructed my body paragraphs first to see what arguments I could develop.

Final Assignment Update I

After reading the potential Final Assignment topics over and over, I finally chose to do the first one related to Neil Postman's "Technopoly". I came to the conclusion that "Made To Break" was an interesting book, but I would not enjoy writing about the environmental movement in this country as much as I would enjoy writing about how colleges are indeed Technopolies.

Unfortunately, it was tough for me to start out this paper. The question is a little unclear to me, somewhat vague, but I believe I started out with some good points based on how much Technology is used within a college campus. The question asks to consider the intent and role of higher education in this country and how higher education actually works and functions, however, it's tough to go beyond our borders of Rutgers University, we haven't experienced the life of another college campus. That's how I look at it.

One of my first examples was to define Technopoly with Postman's words, and support it with a lab research study I participated in. The study revealed how college students are stuck in the Technopoly's "state of mind," forgetting about the consequences the Internet has with so much information. Moreover, I used the example of how computers have made print material on paper obsolete, making us resort to computers for everything. Specifically, the school newspaper is being replaced by Campus notices through e-mail, since no one reads the newspaper.

I would like to write about how college students of a college campus make the higher education a Technopoly. Though, I'm unsure of the way it'll relate to the "role of higher education." By writing about how college students make a college campus a Technopoly, I want to exemplify how students run the educational system, transforming schools into a Technopoly along their actions. It's complicated, but I believe it will turn out well.

The Facebook Effect: Critical Analysis (pp. 214-333)

Without a doubt, Facebook is on a distinguished path to completely dominating the sharing of information. Everything on Facebook is "relevant news" and Facebook continues to capitalize on each new innovation they come up with. The remaining portion of this astonishing story reveals the evolution of Facebook's success and growth as a "company that is connecting the world."

Facebook commenced its dominance by integrating multiple tools/applications all onto Facebook. Consumers across America are attracted to the most simplistic, yet most entertaining ways of accomplishing their goal, or to keep them busy, and Facebook perfected that by creating the "platform". While members of Facebook are busy keeping up with friends, the "platform" allowed members to use applications that were entertaining to them like "graffiti" or games like Farmville. This I find why Facebook has become so successful as people across the world join Facebook just to play Farmville.

Moreover, throughout the reading, I found that Zuckerberg was a tease. He enjoyed negotiating, but most of all, enjoyed talking about money. It seemed as if since the creation of Facebook, he teased other companies, venture capitalists in how much Facebook was worth, although in the back of his mind, he never and will ever intend to sell the company. He will always have full authority of it, just like he wants it. However, a chapter describes how the ads within Facebook started. Thanks to Microsoft's Steve Ballmer, who invested $15 billion incorporating ads in Facebook, we have ads scattered all over the page, in which I always think are viruses. Though, I found it entertaining that when the new Facebook ad deal started, it ruined relationships. One of the functions of the new Facebook ads published your recent purchases to your news feed, in which somewhat spoiled a surprise present for a Massachusetts man who bought a ring on Overstock.com for over 51% off, where his girlfriend saw the ring on her news feed.

More importantly, I have found Facebook a social networking tool in which you should be careful of what you share. Advertisements were the real beginning of where Facebook analyzed the information you had, in which created these algorithms that popped up all over your page. Personally, as a more reserved person, it's uncomfortable to know that my information is stored somewhere else besides my own brain. Facebook ads have re defined privacy in American culture, and Facebook is gathering all of our information so cleverly, all un-noticed. Because Facebook knows we love the entertainment keeping ourselves busy with the games and thousands applications available to us, they allow these third party advertisers to obtain our information if we agree to a specific agreement before playing the game. These apps do not notify what they're doing with our information, as we are merely ignoring the warning message before the game because we just want to play the game.

On the other hand, Facebook is sitting on top of the internet industry at the moment, and will continue to. It's functionable in over 36 languages, and topping rivals across the world like Orkut and Myspace. Myspace has turned into more of a Music database, as I believe Facebook will one day, conquer the internet music platform. ON a deeper note, Facebook is a "digital democracy" (p. 290). Web 2.0 has enabled from shy/reserved people, to celebrities and more extroverted people to speak out if their voices can not be heard. Ultimately, Zuckerberg has executed Facebook perfectly, an idea that started so small, to a world social networking power that shows no signs of slowing down. It's inspiring to see the smallest ideas can become the biggest things, and that remains my vision towards my ideas. Props to Zuckerberg, he nearly has every college student procrastinating over Facebook.

The Facebook Effect: Critical Analysis pp. 107-214

While reading the second part of The Facebook Effect, I pondered the life of Zuckerberg and his Facebook entourage. Part of the second section reveals the story of how Facebook was funded. These young men, age 21 at the oldest were dealing with venture capitalists, working out deals to evolve Facebook. I could not imagine how promising and exciting it felt to be dealing with billionaires like Don Graham, CEO of The Post. Zuckerberg even had an offer of $75 million in which Viacom, one of the biggest media powerhouses today, to buy out the company. Though, whatever offers that came in to invest, Zuckerberg made the right decisions because, "Thefacebook had plenty of money. Now it could build a real staff. No longer would the servers be strung together with baling wire. The real growth was about to begin" (p. 127). Growth is an understatement when it comes to what Facebook has done to the social networking world today. Recently, Facebook announced that they will be incorporating an e-mail service as a little extension to Facebook messaging...Though, it is quoted by Zuckerberg that this won't put Gmail and Yahoo! obsolete, but I can't doubt that Facebook can someday overpower the e-mailing world with the success they have proven.

Further on, it became more and more evident that Facebook was exponentially growing. By having a "company" label on Facebook, Chapter 6 sums up how Facebook became a company, much of it focusing on recruiting intelligent employees, and the increased demands in having ads on Facebook. One thing that popped out out to me while reading was "Facebook High," a considered extension of Facebook to high school students as Zuckerberg and Moskovitz discussed how to expand Facebook, and what to do with graduates from colleges using Facebook. Though, the meaning of this chapter sparks further discussion. The high school extension was the start of specific privacy's on Facebook, such as networks and limited profiles which have re-defined what "privacy" is today compared to past generations. Privacy was re-defined when the "News Feed" was introduced, allowing each user to stalk your friends on every action they do. Surprisingly, at the time Facebook users were indifferent of Zuckerberg's opionion on the News Feed. Users were not interested in stalking their friends, stating that it's invading privacy which sparked chaos such as protests, large Facebook groups against the News Feed. However, today, the News Feed is the essential and most important aspect of Facebook, and browsing your News Feed is no longer considered invading privacy. On the whole, the News Feed is what makes Facebook dominant, and different from every other social networking website. Privacy has changed and has been brought to a whole new level, and Ben Parr, the student originally against the News Feed sums it up perfectly, "We are more comfortable sharing our lives and thoughts instantly to thousands of people, close friends and strangers alike. The development of new technology and the rocking of the boat by Zuckerberg has led to this change...News Feed truly launched a revolution that requires us to stand back to appreciate. Privacy has not disappeared, but become even easier to control--what I want to share, I can share with everyone. What I want to keep private stays in my head." (p. 214)

For the most part, Facebook was being pursued like a criminal in a car chase. It had seemed like Viacom and Yahoo never stopped offering deals to Zuckerberg to take over the company, but from his CEO lessons and his mindset of having rare ideas, Zuckerberg baited these billionaires until they couldn't offer more and kept the company. Even $1 billion cash did not fully intrigue Zuckerberg, and thankfully it didn't, otherwise the social networking world would not be the same.

Experience of Auditing a Wikipedia Entry

As a Wikipedia auditor, with the responsibility of actually evaluating the references of the NETFLIX article, I was eager to search and find non-legitimate sources or poorly credited information as I knew Wikipedia is not the most legitimate, valid source to use. After reading the Netflix article over a few times, it was interesting, yet tough to determine in separating the strengths and weaknesses of the entry.

After the many presentations presented in class, it seems that the overall consensus of scholarly-ness of Wikipedia is that Wikipedia can be used to obtain shallow or the general/basic information of a topic, though going into details would not be the best way to learn information. As seen in some presentations like Hurricane Katrina and Non-medical Cannabis, there was a lucid difference in the strengths and weaknesses as references directed to unreliable websites and missing information. In my case, Netflix was rather hard to differentiate what was poor information because many references came from reliable technology sources, or the actual Netflix blog. On the whole, Netflix's strength is that a good portion of their information is accurate because the usage of Primary sources instead of Secondary. Two-thirds of the references would be considered "scholarly" and the last 1/3 of the sources was information that could of been cited by a Primary source (i.e., the same exact info could of been found on the Netflix website or blog). On the other hand, the only weakness of the entry is that some minor information references were missing, or the reference link did not exist any more. All in all, the Netflix Wikipedia entry, or any Wiki entry is not scholarly. In my opinion, no Wiki article is scholarly, unless everything is cited from a Primary source. By using Wikipedia, information is relatively bias, has missing information/missing citations, therefore, is not a source to learn all aspects of a topic.

Based on the strengths and weaknesses of each topic presented in class, a lot can be determined on how technology has a huge impact on American culture. It was interesting to see how Wikipedia has made information so easily accessible, and that every web user has believed this information is valid and reliable. The strengths have revealed very few things about American culture compared to the weaknesses. For example, in the Netflix entry, a large portion of it was bias for a reason. Because the American culture is about big business, making money and monopolizing industries, it seemed as if the editors and contributors to the entry were leaning in favor of Netflix when it came to sections about competition and legal issues they were involved in. This strength tells us that technology, including unreliable sources like Wikipedia are a great channel for advertising because technology users are looking for the quickest information no matter the validity, which is the weakness of American culture. Weaknesses disclose that the American culture is a culture relying on the easiest and quickest information possible. The evolvement of technology has led us to depend on information that comes through the web, not knowing that a lot of this information can be false. Technology has simplified processes into the fewest steps that we have begun to want information the fastest way we can, sometimes only getting to know the superficial information of a subject. Unfortunately, technology continues to grow, and Wikipedia is just the beginning of how American culture is changing.

From this project, I learned a more in depth perspective on Wikipedia and how American culture is deeply effected by technology, for the good and bad. Wikipedia can be seen as a great development within technology because of its storage of information and how it can be used as a learning tool to an extent. Essentially, technology is freedom. Therefore, freedom within Wikipedia allows anyone to edit, and post anything without the support of reliable sources onto the website. From this project, I'll be using some extra caution with Wikipedia, but I will also notice the changes that technology is causing year by year.

The Facebook Effect: Critical Analysis (pp. 1-106)

As expected, "The Facebook Effect" by David Kirkpatrick is the most interesting book we have been assigned to read this semester. Because I did not see the movie, "The Social Network" I believe reading this book made it more entertaining to read than for others.

The first half of the making and early developments of Facebook can be summarized as chaotic, brilliant and promising. Beginning with an introduction to Mark Zuckerberg, the main founder of theFacebook, just reading his small biography reflected how smart this kid was and what potential he had as an entrepreneur. His introverted, shy personality, racking up honors in all aspects of his academic education has built him to one of the few youngest billionaires in the world. It was amazing to read how small they began with a tight budget to afford servers and a small operating space of the Harvard dorm room that typically was like every other college dorm room--filled with bottles on desks, clothes on the floor and un-made beds. Believe it or not, theFacebook domain name started at the cost of $35 at register.com that barely had a business plan as Zuckerberg and his colleagues (that do not receive enough credit) were working on other projects that they thought would be more successful than theFacebook. Astonishingly, theFacebook was limited to only Ivy League schools and with the help of Saverin, Moskovitz and Hughes, theFacebook was able to grow exponentially as these intelligent young men took their entrepreneurship to new levels.

I asked myself all along as I was reading the first half, what would be the social networking world be like if Zuckerberg and his colleagues did not focus on theFacebook and focused on the other programs they were developing? Zuckerberg was a man with so many ideas, wanting to create so many programs and then have people run that it almost came real that he could of just abandoned theFacebook. Programs like Coursematch, Facemash, Synapse, Six degrees, Wirehog all developed by Zuckerberg could of influenced him in abandoning Facebook. Moreover, what if Friendster executed the right way, or maybe the Harvard Connection, ConnectU, all developed by others became more popular than Facebook? I certainly believe that the social networking world would not be very much the same.

However, the development of Facebook was not a walk in the park. Not only did the Facebook crew come across money/budget issues, but they were actively dealing with the law, privacy rights, and even the conspiracy of taking theFacebook idea from other students at Harvard. When first starting up the site, Zuckerberg had find different ways to run it because it was invading the servers of the Harvard network as it grew larger and larger. Further, they had Cameron and Tyler Winkelvoss and Divya Narendra bring Zuckerberg to court stating that he stole the idea of Facebook from them, which potentially could of made Facebook a complete disaster. Though, decisions like taking the business to Palo Alto at the summer house, introducing advertising through Y2M's agency, abandoning Wirehog and taking in few investments for Facebook allowed these entrepreneurs to become successful and the dominant power in social networking. Because theFacebook is purely not a dating site, mainly to keep track of schoolmates and has useful privacy settings, it separates itself from Myspace (which is on the downfall) and Friendster (which is a complete failure). Without theFacebook crew and the chaotic journey towards success, they sit at the top, owning the most popular social networking site in America. High schoolers, college students, and now even and older population are on Facebook to connect, but most importantly, putting older technologies obsolete like e-mailing.

Made To Break: (Critical Analysis Part III pp. 187-281)

The last segment of Giles Slade's "Made To Break," continues to focus on technology obsolescence of the American culture, instead of the many daily products that consumers have used and then immediately thrown away, which started the whole concept. Having read "Computers" this portion of the book was not as entertaining as it started, much of it discussing the competition between large technology corporations such as IBM, Microsoft and Apple. If there was a message I got out of reading this last portion, it would of been that competition is key and that the execution of a new product must find some sort of success to compete.

As boring as I made the reading seem, Chapter 7 (Chips), foreshadowed the technology we have today as the "1960s saw the beginning of a shift toward an information society that would reshape the American cultural landscape" (p. 187). More specifically, the developments that IBM came out with in the computer fields, and the chips that were used in calculators all led to the vast videogame industry. Here is what I found fascinating; as a result of technology obsolescence, "games become faithful models in culture. They incorporate both the action and the reaction of whole populations in a single, dynamic image...The games of a people reveal a great deal about them" (p. 216). From pinball machines, to Gameboy, to Atari, to the Nintendo, videogames are a large part of American culture. Americans do not just enjoy the entertainment videogames offer, but some gamers even take their videogame experiences into reality by imitating characters' actions. Moreover, it is seen in a PBS Frontline video (Digital Nation), that even military recruiting bases have incorporated videogames into the process by having young kids play games like Call of Duty to get the experience. One testimonial reveals that a teen male was so into it, that he joined the army to get the real life experience instead of just playing the videogame.

Further on, Chapter 8 is dedicated to the obsolescence of weapons. It is seen that wars have sparked competition between countries to determine whose weapons were more powerful as it's quite apparent that World War II and the Cold War were major factors in the obsolescence of weapons. Though, it was delightful to read about Gus Weiss, who worked for the government, NASA, and the Navy, taught Economics at Harvard, fought through a disease, and most importantly played a major role in learning/observing the weapons of other countries.

Finally, Slade goes into e-waste and the obsolescence of cell phones, which I believe is the most popular product in becoming obsolete. Slade immediately starts the chapter off with what I was thinking when I read the chapter title, "Electronic components have extremely short lives...phones built to last five years are now retired after only eighteen months of use" (p. 261). Everyone in the United States has experienced an electronic device breaking and having to purchase a new one, hoping it would last longer, but actually doesn't. Slade describes what e-waste is and why it occurs, and then narrates how cell phones are another device behind MP3 players and computers that are obsolete products. Slade notes, "As mobile technology settles into place, wristwatch manufactures are making a huge--if largely unnoticed--effort to find new possibilities for extending their line" (p. 275). I find this whole obsolescence concept very clever, yet the most intelligent concept, especially if you're competing and trying to run a business. Tech companies know the process, consumers have demands, and companies want the money. Obsolescence will never die out.

Websites/Apps That Make Our Technology Experience Interesting

Jonathan Zittrain's TED presentation reiterates that the negativity and pessimism behind technology's effects on culture and society hinders the positive effects of what technology has done for us. It is evident that technology has come a long way in enhancing our performance, making daily functions more simple, and even adding some entertainment to our routines. While completing the in class activity, I have identified a few websites and Apple applications that have that positive effect that Zittrain explains. For example;


1. Kik Messenger: a social networking/cross-platform messenging application made for the iPhone and Droid markets. It takes the concept of BBM'ing (Blackberry) and putting that same interface and system for iPhone and Droid users. Once downloaded, contacts (your friends that have Kik) are automatically inputted as it reads your phonebook, and even your Facebook friends. Kik takes texting to a whole new level, making it quick, easy and very similar to instant messaging. You can see when your friend is typing, and can be used over 3g wireless networks.


2. Epocrates: This now Droid and Apple application is useful when it comes to finding out what pill/drug you are dealing with. This app has come very handy when it comes to mixing up your pills in the cabinet or finding pills that are unidentified. Epocrates has a complete database of all possible pills/drugs and makes it easy for a user to identify them by choosing definitive descriptions such as what shape and what color. After determining the drug/pill, Epocrates has a detailed description of the drug, including side effects, dosage and content.


3. Gilt Groupe: If you're someone who likes designer brands, this e-commerce site makes shopping more exciting and affordable for you. Each day, Gilt offers its members a selection of designer and luxury merchandise items. Sales for each brand start noon ET and last only 36 hours, and these prices can be discounted to up to 70%. However, to be a member of this "Groupe" you must be personally invited with a link to get access to Gilt sales.


4. Sound Cloud/Hypetrak: Hypetrak is a music blog that covers a variety of genres. The blog updates us on pop culture, new music, and videos of recent performances of pop stars. Sound Cloud, which is part of Hypetrak, is a blog where all music can be listened to through a user friendly and intriguing designed interface. Sound Cloud's diversity in music introduces new artists and new types of music to viewers, though, not downloadable.


5. Download Helper: Download Helper is an add-on feature for users of the Firefox browser. Downloadable on the Firefox website, this tool allows you to "rip" music off any website (pretty much any website), when there is no download link available. For example, if I went on Sound Cloud, played a song, I would "rip" the song by clicking the DownloadHelper icon at the top of my browser, and saving it as an mp3 file.

Made To Break (Critical Analysis II: p. 83-185)

Believe it or not, without World War II, technology and obsolescence might not have been invented for a very long time as it "changed radio radically...and was the first electronic war" (p. 100). These events in the 1900s essentially created a new culture for America, and Giles Slade introduces four men who contributed in creating the first technologies in America which led to obsolescence. It was Lee DeForest, Guglielmo Marconi, David Sarnoff and Edwin Armstrong that introduced FM radio. They did not only introduce radio itself, but they made the radio and FM so powerful that automobiles started integrating radios into the dashboards. Sooner than later, radios would be one of the cause of why automobiles were considered obsolete, because there was a constant demand for new technologies within a often used machine. Interestingly, Slade narrates that these four men were all in competition, always trying to better each others products and receiving the most credit for their inventions. Marconi, who owned Marconi Wireless, and Sarnoff, who was the creator of NBC and RCA were the masterminds behind marketing the new technologies invented by DeForest and Armstrong (not discrediting Marconi and Sarnoff's own developments). It is then explained how FM radio became such a huge hit, making AM stations, the phonograph, and certain televisions obsolete.

Further in, Slade goes into a larger view of obsolescence, taking a step away from using the small products that started the concept of obsolescence. He uses larger examples and concepts that illustrated a movement in America at the time, changing the culture. Much of these examples take place during the World War II era, which was a major time in history in developing technology and obsolescence. For example, Levittowns demonstrated suburban obsolescence. These small, easy to built houses were used for veterans coming back from the war, but mainly allowed a new way of living putting the old way of living obsolete. Even today, we see how obsolescence kicks into the housing industry. In East Brunswick, NJ, which has a mix of residential and commercial areas, the Golden Triangle Project is attempting to build apartments, studios and even condos for small families next to the transportation center (NJ Transit Buses) in which the parents work in the city so that transportation is easily accessible. Though, on the other hand, reading this portion of the book made me feel like I was reading "Computers" all over again. Slade introduced the very first developments of the computer, the ENIAC and ABC computer. However, a quote by Brooks Stevens explains business back then and even today, "our whole economy is based on planned obsolescence and everybody who can rad without moving his lips should know it by now. We make good products, we induce people to buy them, and then next year we deliberately introduce something that will make those products old fashioned, out of date, obsolete. We do that for the soundest reason: to make money" (p. 153).

You can't really argue with Stevens here. Today, it's almost guaranteed in every companies business model that there is some sort of 'obsolete' aspect incorporated within. Like Apple, Windows, Television in general, each company aims to having their product become old fashion at a point. Just recently, Windows has put my Microsoft Office obsolete, as the Office 2011 for Mac is now on sale. However, I will not buy it because it is $150 dollars, and the new MS Word is terribly complicated with a least functional design, in my opinion.

France to Subsidize Music Downloads to Combat Piracy (Current Event Article)

Music piracy- the stealing of music, is a major controversial issue around the globe, and almost impossible to prevent because of the technology we have today. P2P sharing networks, torrents, the ability to "rip" music off websites have allowed music listeners to obtain music without any cost, which is severely hurting the music industry, including the music artists.

In order to prevent music piracy, France is the first country to show valiant efforts in preventing this issue. As French culture is very distinct in keeping traditional ways, the government names this initiative "Carte Musique" to maintain the French pop culture and not using technology to steal music. This "Carte Musique" program primarily targets citizens of "12 to 25-year olds" as it will allow these citizens to buy a "50Euro gift card for the price of 25Euros" and the rest will be paid by the French government. Moreover, these gift cards, much like an iTunes gift card can only be purchased once a year, but online music providers are to lower the price of songs/albums so that the card serves its purpose and its value. Unfortunately, iTunes and Amazon will not be participating in this initiative because the "Carte Musique limits the benefits each website operators may receive from the program."

In my opinion, in agreement with the class discussion, this initiative is quite creative on France's part, and I do believe it will be successful only in France to an extent. With the technologies available today, such as hacking, and music blogs that share instant music, citizens in France are still going to download and steal music off the internet no matter the price. Though, it's a very true effort amongst the French to make these citizens get into a habit of paying for their music and purchasing media through the "Carte Musiqe" program. Unfortunately, if this was ever to come to the United States, it'd sure be a failure. Each person in the world with the little bit of knowledge of computers, has DC++, Limewire, or knows how to rip music off the internet. Our society wants to avoid costs on any product they can, unless they are true fans of the artist and want to support them.

Made To Break: Critical Analysis (p. 1-81)

"Made to Break" by Giles Slade is a fascinating read if you're "techno-curious" and how the business side of technology functions. This book is the perfect explanation on how each tech company are producing their products, but most of all, how obsolescence is business; "Once it is used and thrown away, 'the customer keeps coming back for more'" (p. 16). Much of the first half of the book historically defines how technology economically effected business in America and how computers, automobiles, and many of the important machines have formed the obsolescent society we live in today.

Briefly, Slade goes into the early stages of an obsolescent society. It seems as if it all started out with the development of name brands, packaging, designs of the products we use everyday, and then expanded to more luxury type products that became obsolete, such as the computer. I found it interesting that it was an industrial economy, the World Wars, and women in general were major factors in creating obsolescence. For example, "As wrist watches came into fashion near the end of World War I, pocket watches became obsolete" (p. 15), the demand for sharp razors, condoms and Kleenex tissues are just a few early products that were constantly replaced and formed obsolescence. Later on, it is introduced by Dalby that automobiles took obsolescence to the next stage. Henry Ford introduced the Model T as the first automobile to become obsolete as a result of "mechanical quality now more or less given, people became interested in sophisticated design and presentation, especially those Americans who had been exposed to European culture during World War I" (p. 37). Because of the Model T's bumpy rides, noisy and smelly quality, competitors such as Chrysler came into play, and women specifically designed cars came out into the market.

Later on in the first third of the book, Slade continues to narrate the growth and development of obsolescence, mainly focusing on the how it all started. Between the 1920s and 30s (Depression era), a more in depth type of obsolescence was invented that explained why "so much of the world was in transition, new things constantly replaced by old ones and so many old values were coming into conflict with new ones" (p. 62). This trend made obsolescence so powerful that it was involved with "everyday lives, ordinary people were becoming familiar with the need to discard not just consumer goods but ideas and habits" (p. 62). Moreover, I found it interesting obsolescence as a whole (not just progressive or planned), had even created a new profession, consumer engineering. Because American culture was changing the way we shop, dress, and the way we function using technology, obsolescence allowed companies to study it and take advantage of it. Ironically, Slade incorporates the Technocracy that Neil Postman writes on. Obsolescence became the definition of a growing Technocracy. From new demands for slicker designs, better efficiency, and products to constantly replace the worn out ones, obsolescence invented the Technocracy as a Technocracy depends on obsolescence.

The World and Wikipedia: Critical Analysis Part II (p. 114-225)

Being an infrequent user of Wikipedia, I could not really relate to Dalby's second half of the book as he primarily supported his reasoning through real-life Wikipedians' stories that exemplify his points. Indeed, Wiki is a great resource (in my opinion) and is proved to be used constantly despite the questionable content and quality, but I have not come across one person who 'wiki's' everything to get their information. Therefore, I don't fully agree with the beginning second half of "The World and Wikipedia" that starts off with "why we love it."

Do we really love it? Or do we enjoy having it at a couple clicks away? Dalby uses a multiple reasons, some repetitively stated in different examples to explain why we love it. One reason explains the American culture's transformation from living full of paper, to the "virtual nation" (p. 120). Again, here we can mesh in Neil Postman's Technopoly; because we are in a Technopoly and involved in an intense digital nation, we love being anonymous, and therefore, allowing us to edit/post anything we'd like on Wikipedia, it's ultimate freedom-- which brings Dalby to another interesting reason as to why we love Wiki: because "it lets us write about whatever we want...we have all the space we want" (p. 130). This reasoning is what I personally agree with most. Out of curiosity, I Googled every noun on top of my head, Pokemon character (as Dalby said there was a page for every pokemon), and towns across New Jersey, and they all had Wikipedia pages. The Internet has no space limit, and the access to Wikipedia gives us the unlimited freedom to edit and write whatever we want without having it deleted or not published at all. This is ultimately why encyclopedias on library shelves, the cease to using Britannica and Encarta have become obsolete despite Wikipedia's questionable credibility.

On the other hand, I enjoyed portions of the book where I gained some information about Wikipedia. Dalby pops in facts about who manages Wikipedia and how Wikipedia works along each chapter. I always wondered, if Wikipedia is not trusted, why is their relatively strong, well written articles? Surprisingly, Wikipedia have administrators, ones who are constantly on the site maintaining the site. Moreover, there are actually professionals who write a lot of the content on Wikipedia, such as professors, scientists and politicians. Even though a pure amateur can simply edit a Wiki page, there are a selected number of Wiki contributors who are trusted that contribute constantly, and it's not always a random Wiki user providing us with information.

Dalby concludes his well-supported thoughts of Wikipedia reiterating the multiple examples of articles constantly changing that end up spreading invalid information. Again, no matter how invalid the information Wikipedia holds, our society, and particularly this generation want quick, simple information at our fingertips. Wikipedia perfectly fit those needs, and we will always use it as our resource instead of an official encyclopedia. Yet, Dalby questions the future of Wikipedia and how it will effect society. He uses this statement to leave a thought on how we use it: "No one can claim that Wikipedia, as a whole, is a 'reliable source'. Instead, accepting it as not the least reliable of online guides, and drawing thirstily on its footnotes and external links, we - I'm speaking now for myself and all the others, writers and journalists, scholars and scientists, who actually use Wikipedia already - judge each article for reliability on its merits" (p. 220). This statement polished a thought I always had on Wikipedia. That is, Wikipedia can't be trusted for the information it provides, though, it's a great resource to learn the shallow details of your search.

The World and Wikipedia Critical Analysis Part I (7-113)

Andrew Dalby, the author "The World and Wikipedia" commences the book with real supported examples of how 'wikipedians' are editing reality.  Many of Dalby's examples of how Wikipedia is constantly changing explain why significant facts over this reference source can not be trusted or used for validity.  Dalby states, "it is the evidence of the awesome power wielded by those who write on Wikipedia.  Whatever they write." (p. 12), to set the tone for the rest of the book: why we should, and why we should not trust Wikipedia no matter how much we hate or love it.

Dalby interestingly introduces how Wikipedia has formed describing "three traditions of books specially designed to help in the quest for knowledge" (p. 19). The three traditions primarily are encyclopedias used as far back as AD 79, that have developed more sophisticated overtime such as Shen Kuo's and Pliny's first encyclopedias that grew from sections to volumes then finally to the digital format (Encarta/Nupedia). He continues to emphasize the rapid growth of Wikipedia across the world in more than 20 different languages; this is the perfect example of Neil Postman's Technopoly. Because the development of computers/technology world and how each piece of information can be accessed through the Internet, Wikipedia became an easy resource to obtain information that we would need to get at a library or pay for at a trusted/reliable website.

However, even though most of us students use it as our primary reference source and giving more credit to amateur writers/editors, we are also giving Wikipedia the dominant hand of encyclopedias over resources that are trusted like Britannica. There are millions of people out there that despise what Wikipedia is and what it has to offer because now, "Britannica simply couldn't maintain its business model with banner ads-- they would either have to become open content (and therefore have a moral justification to ask for volunteers) or become a pay service. It seems they've chosen the latter route, which is great news for Wikipedia..." (p. 53). Moreover, Wikipedia has become an internet bully, a source for internet vandalism. Wrong perceptions such as false biographies like of John Seigenthaler Sr. and, cyberspace threatening in France have all taken place through Wikipedia. Now known to some people as the "encyclopedia full of crap" (p. 62), we still use it despite Wikipedia's credibility and the trouble it started.

If it is so untrusted and not edited by reliable sources, Dalby perfectly explains why we always end up on Wikipedia. As Wikipedia was often edited, and rapidly producing articles, "the main search engines, like Google and Yahoo...systematically place Wikipedia pages at the top of their responses for nearly every enquiry and the great majority of surfers do not look any further" (p. 83). Therefore, when we are searching for anything in general, "Wikipedia is the largest available source of serious text across all subject areas. Favoring Wikipedia was the simplest way to ensure that the average Google results page would look useful" (p. 85-86).

The first half of the book concludes with a very popular issue today, plagiarism. Because Wikipedia has become the most popular reference source since 2005, the Internet, or shall I say this "Technopoly" we are in have caused the past couple generations including this current one to find information the simplest, most easy way. That is, use Wikipedia. Finding information that is useful and somewhat sounds right, we're all going to use it and we're not going to go out of our way to use other cited, reliable sources instead like Britannica.

As I'm sitting in the library writing this post, I'm looking at the bookshelves to the left of me, full of encyclopedias, and reference books. Not one of them looks like it has been touched. It might sound unfortunate that we have put these credited resources obsolete, but technology seems to be just as credible as finding information from the encyclopedia sitting on the bookshelves of a library since the growth of Wikipedia has taken over the Internet.

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Technopoly: Critical Analysis Part II ( pp. 92-199)

Technopoly, to me, is one of those books where you end up not knowing what you read for a couple pages because it is so bland and straight up not interesting. Though, Neil Postman picked up the pace in the second half of Technopoly, and I became quite interested in what was coming in the next chapters.

Postman commences the second half of the book (Chapter 7) describing the evolution of medical technology in the United States. Much different from European medical practices, the "American medicine was attracted to new technologies. Far from being 'neutral,' technology was to be the weapon with which disease and illness would be vanquished" (p. 97). Postman expands on this concept by realizing that modern doctors perform their procedures differently since they depend on technology because 1) it's more profitable and 2) using machinery to spot the problem of a patient is likely to be more accurate so they won't get sued. However, that is the problem with the American medical system, and it can be simply supported by the fact that "40 percent of the operations performed in America are not necessary" (p. 105). That is the effect of technology, it changes EVERYTHING.

Having my right hand fractured twice, I went to my regular physician, a hand specialist and to the hospital all within a week. All of them wasted my money by taking more than multiple x-rays, despite taking x-rays at the the first doctor's office in which the photos could of been transferred to every other doctor I visited. Beyond the fact that it was clear my hand was broken from the discoloration and swelling it's pretty ridiculous that doctor's are not even asking me questions or analytically observing my hand without the tech tools they use.

Further on, Postman continues on by agreeing and disagreeing to a metaphor on how humans are machines. There are many aspects of a computer that are similar to a human, and Postman interestingly makes a point that "If computers can become ill, then they can become healthy. Once healthy, they can think clearly and make decisions. The computer, it is implied, has a will, has intentions, has reasons-- which means that humans are relieved of responsibility for the computer's decisions" (p. 114).

Vaguely knowledgeable on "scientism," I thought Chapter 9 was fairly interesting on the differences between social science and scientism, as these two concepts contributed into defining a Technopoly. Postman supports his arguments with examples from scholars/scientists like Stanley Milgram, Sigmund Freud and D.H. Lawrence. I found it interesting that unlike social research, the study of science aids the Technopoly to solve subjectivity with straight hard facts.

Postman concludes the last two chapters of this novel by discussing the importance of symbols in a Technopoly and how significant that symbol is. He explains how the computer is now the symbol of a technopoly and how the statue of liberty is the symbol of America's freedom. Most importantly, Postman uses the last chapter to answer, "Can a nation reserve its history, originality, and humanity by submitting itself totally to the sovereignty of a technological thought-world?" (p. 183). He uses this question to answer what technology has done to America, making Technopoly essentially a problem in society. Later in the concluding chapter, Postman reiterates the importance of an education (specifically science and history), and that technology is drastically changing the way students learn and behave in the classroom. Therefore, Postman proposes "a curriculum in which all subjects are presented as a stage in humanity's historical development; in which the philosophies of science, of history...are taught" (p. 199) to better our humanity and not have such a negative effect from this Technopoly.

P.S. Just witnessed a bunch of websites with these algorithms. Amazon.com emailed me about a sale on watches and how there is a sale...I searched watches a week ago!

Technopoly: Critical Analysis Part I (pp. xi-91)

It seems as if the authors of both "Computers" (Eric G. Swedin and David L. Ferro), and "Technopoly" (Neil Postman) have this deep skeptical, negative feeling of technology in the near future. As Swedin and Ferro conclude "Computers," by predicting that in the near future, computers will "completely transform humanity's ability to manipulate reality" (p. 149), much of the beginning of Neil Postman's "Technopoly" explains how technology has transformed the American Culture for both the good and bad.

Postman commences his book by disagreeing King Thamus' claim that "writing will be a burden to society and nothing but a burden" (p. 4) by stating that "every technology is both a burden and a blessing..." (p.5). Postman uses King Thamus' story as a platform to question how the advancements of technology are benefiting us, using the example of "winners and losers" (p. 11). Further, he takes his questions to witness how America has gone under "collisions everywhere..." (p. 16), forming a new American culture that is making the old fashioned/traditional life obsolete by explaining how schools have taught our children to "operate computerized systems instead of teaching things that are more valuable to children" (p. 11). The rest of the first chapter merely sets the tone for the rest of the first half of the book as it mainly criticizes the effective, dangerous movement of technology, which Postman calls it, the Technopoly.

Further in the reading, Postman deeply goes into a transition movement describing Tools to Technocracy. I never thought of this whole movement in depth, but as soon as Postman compared tools to technology by stating "tools did not attack the dignity and integrity of the culture..." (p. 23), it became real to me that technology can really be a threat to the American culture because we are all beginning to depend on it. Technology is in fact attacking our culture as it is seen in "Computers" that "the computer has opened up global communications to multitudes. By improving the means by which we communicate, entertain ourselves, travel, calculate, and do a thousand other things, the computer will be an essential tool in reaching for the stars..." (148-149).

It then comes to my interest and questioning of Postman's conclusion of how America is "the only culture to have become a Technopoly" (p. 48). Postman includes four reasons why a Technopoly has developed in America, one of them being because of the "men who were quicker and more focused than those of other nations in exploiting the economic possibilities of new technologies...Samuel Morse, Alexander Graham Bell, Thomas Edison..." (p. 53), all also stated in "Computers" because of their major inventions that drastically changed technology. Though it comes to my mind to argue that America is not the only Technopoly. In "Computers" we saw that European nations like England, Germany and Russia were developing technologies such as the inventions developed at Bletchley Park in London, and the release of Sputnik in Russia. Why doesn't Postman consider Asia, primarily Japan and China to be in a technopoly?

Critical Analysis Part II: Computers (pp. 85-149)

If we were to credit the incredible and fascinating development of technology in the past decades, we should definitely be commemorating only a selected few. In the past generation we have been introduced to newer electronic device each and every year, and both authors of "Computers" educate us on how the major technology corporations have established a new virtual world within the second half of the life story of technology. Personally, I enjoyed this half of the book as a good part of the content primarily focused on how major corporations today like Apple, Google and Yahoo! started their dominance of the technological world.

As Swedin and Ferro continue to write about every possible technological invention that has contributed to computers, many of these inventions are now expanded on or still lasts today. For example, the Apple II which cost "$790 with 4 kilobytes of RAM" has now been developed into iMac's that have up to 27-inch screens with 4 Gigabytes of RAM. Moreover, operating systems have evolved superbly. As seen with Microsoft, who provided IBM PC's with their Windows operating system starting in the early 1980s (as early as Windows 3.0), we now have Windows 7, and XP, in which most businesses and corporations use to run their operations. Another example of an expanded or developed technology is Gopher. Gopher, founded in 1980s aimed at "finding information content on the Internet easier...by creating a massive online library" (p. 124). Sounds familiar right? Jerry Yang (Yahoo!) and Larry Page (Google) made "the web search engine business extremely competitive in the late 1900s" (p. 129) as they both created their well profited businesses, Yahoo! and Google.

Presently, there are numerous of technology companies out in the very demanding technology market, but only a couple are the dominant ones. It's obvious that those dominating companies are Apple and Microsoft, Google, and Yahoo! and all of their stories to becoming powerhouses today is what made this reading exciting. The founders of all these corporations have one thing in common: they started small, and grew like a beanstalk as they all had the highest ambitions. Paul Allen and Bill Gates (Micro-Soft) were "enterprising teenagers both worked as programmers for several companies...just for the fun of it" (p. 88). Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs (Apple) both showed their impressive abilities to build homemade computers during high school, and worked in well respected companies like Hewlett Packard. In depth, Swedin and Ferro reiterate that the smaller technologies were essential to building what we have now. Companies like Compaq, Dell, Gateway; several different operating systems like Linux, Lotus and Windows; and programs like WordPerfect and Wordstar are all essential developments for our current technological world today.

After all the talk about the fierce competition that still lasts today between Apple, IBM (they have been a quiet company in the past 6 years), and Microsoft, Swedin and Ferro briefly introduce the developments of the Telephone that was invented by Alexander Graham Bell in 1844 that continues to be a prime source of communication today; wireless networking, that was started by Norman Abramson in 1970 started in Hawaii; and the "social standard of net etiquette" (p. 123) founded by Usenet became the start of social networking, now that we constantly are using IM language such as LOL, BRB, G2G, smiley faces, etc.

All in all, the authors of "Computers" conclude the book questioning the future of technology as we have read a long 149 pages of early technologies. Computers specifically has "accelerated the pace of technological change, so much so that some pundits predict a singularity in the near future when computers completely transform humanity's ability to manipulate reality" (p. 149) and we have now become a world stuck in a virtual world. Everything we do each day involves technology and traditional products have become obsolete. As a college student, still young and somewhat tech savvy, I am excited to see what technologies continue to make up this virtual world.

Critical Analysis: Computers (pp. 1-83)

The first half of Computers by: Eric G. Swedin and David L. Ferro is a very thorough introduction of how early technologies have introduced our tech savvy world today. This detailed read can be categorized into a couple genres based on the many facts consisted in each sub-chapter. Each new invention that has contributed to the developments of computers have a brief biography of the man most responsible for the founding, along with some history facts of what occurred at the time of the invention. Within the 83 pages, there were a few main concepts (inventions/developments) that I find critical to the development of computers.

First, America's involvement in wars in the 1900's seems to have a large responsibility for the rapid developments in technology. Both World War II and The Cold War ignited technological advancements. From the "ABC Computer" that primarily did calculations invented by John Vincent Atanasoff, the "ENIAC" which "created artillery ballistic tables" (p.39) invented by J. Presper Eckert, and projects that benefited Air Force tactics such as "Project Whirlwind and Sage" (p.48) are a few developments to be acknowledged. Like Swedin says, "without this Cold War- induced spending, computer technology would have developed more slowly." (p. 48) Moreover, I give a lot of credit to the early governments that ran America as they funded and continued research for better technologies. Because of the demand for more efficient technology, the American government, including the Navy, Air Force, and U.S. Department Bureaus supported inventors in their projects to a certain extent. For example, "the governments of the United States, the Soviet Union, and their allies recruited their best and brightest to serve in defense-related research and development. Scientists and engineers developed more advanced computers, computer networks, the Internet, better medicines, better alloys, industrial ceramics, and technologies with no civilian use, like the neutron bomb." (p. 48) Another prime example of government involved projects was Project Whirlwind and Sage. "The Navy agreed with Forrester and cond continued to fund the expanded project...and the Navy also realized that the digital computer would be used in many other applications besides flight simulators." (p. 48)

On the other hand, Swedin and Ferro mention developments in technology that are the foundations of American culture. For instance, Silicon Valley, California, currently a technology concentrated area of the United States was the spot for developing computer hardware, and transistors. Now, Apple, Adobe Systems, HP, Intel and Yahoo! are just a few large companies based out of Silicon Valley. Not only did early technological advancements establish technology regions, but it structured the higher education system as inventors and scientists studied at schools that are now considered Ivy League. Herman Hollerith, Grace Murray Hopper and John Von Neumann are examples of ones who attended schools like Harvard, MIT and Princeton to create the elite schools they are today.

TFLN Extra Credit Event

If you missed out on Friday's extra credit event, you unfortunately missed an interesting and entertaining program. I departed Livingston Hall quite amazed, yet a little disappointed about not winning the raffled book because I was only a couple numbers behind the last winner. However, there were many moments along the event that made my evening quite memorable, herein are a quick summary of just a few.

Texts From Last Night (TFLN), founded by Ben Bator and Lauren Leto own a unique story behind the development and success of their blog that posts one of a kind text messages that are hilarious and sometimes outrageous submitted by users each day. I was impressed with the way this small idea of socially sharing text messages has all of a sudden"blown up" (as they described the development of TFLN) to be something life changing and profitable.

Both Ben and Lauren, graduates of Michigan State University and law school drop outs, amazed me when they said they had only spent $200 initially to start up a fully functional domain website. They further amazed me when they said what the benefits of being entrepreneurs of TFLN. They have an iPhone app that has been purchased by approx. 1 million people (that's $1 million right there), have a TV show coming out in the near future on the FOX channel, a few books published and plenty of advertisement deals within the website.

After their brief storytelling, I found the texts they presented to us on the Powerpoint presentation not the most original and funny. The only one that got me laughing and chuckling for the rest of the night was the text that had a kid throwing milk at a girl while screaming "osteoporosis." It was also pretty fascinating to see Ben Bator open up his email presenting to us the thousands of texts that are sent to him to potentially be published to the website. Another segment of the event I liked, but thought it could of been better explained was when they described their daily routines each day. I anticipated for both of them to have relatively easy lives, exciting and easy-going, but as entrepreneurs, they have a lot on their shoulders. I'm not sure what their celebrity statuses are, but Ben spends everyday sitting in front of his desk scrolling and reading through the texts, making a decision if its TFLN worthy. Both Lauren and Ben did not describe their daily lives in too much depth, but that they are business people, in the business world.

All in all, it was a fun experience, and did not expect anything less. The story behind TFLN is inspiring and original. It might be another college drop out success, but it shows that the smallest ideas can turn out to be the best ideas. Like Lauren said, find something that you have an utter interest for and expand on it, because you never know what you can do with it just like them.

Reaction To Tech Log & Creating a Blog

In the 21st century we live in, technology has become more than a second world, but a culture and a tool that we can not imagine ourselves living without. Unfortunately, we have forgotten about traditional and old school technology, and have restored them with tools that have become addictions to our daily lives.

Technology seems to be an essential part of my life according to my technology usage log. If I'm not in class or not sleeping, I'm constantly interacting with Technology, more so, the Internet. Glancing at my log, patterns have developed each day visiting the same websites everyday... it's practically a daily routine. The Internet, the main technology I use, has made previous technological tools obsolete. It is incredible to realize that with the Internet, we can access anything or everything needed in our lives. From e-mail, to news, magazines and a professor's lecture notes, everything can be obtained through the world wide web.

Personally, I feel like I use technology too much (particularly the Internet). If I'm not interacting with it, I feel like I'm missing something or forgot to perform my routine. Moreover, it has became clear to my lifestyle that technology has a large effect on who I am. Instead of pulling the Sports section out of the Star-Ledger every morning, I'm often on a sports website reading articles on paper, which is 10x better for my eyes. Without the Internet, I wonder how occupied I can keep myself as it is the primary tool to cure my boredom, but it would be difficult for myself to keep in touch with long distance family members. Each and every day, I start my day using the Internet, and end my day on the Internet. Technology seems to keep me fully entertained, educated, and up to date with my interests.

On the other hand, creating a blog for this class is new for me and very exciting. As many blogs as I read/follow, I never thought about creating one myself as I thought that I would be too self-absorbed about writing my own thoughts to a particularly small audience. However, posting my first post, I feel that blogs are more interesting than I thought. It's definitely another social networking tool, but it's a place to be real, to be deep, a place to write with freedom. Creating a blog to me means that you want to get your voice out that is hardly heard. More importantly, it means to express who you are, and why you are like that. Blogging has shown me that it is far more than a Facebook, as Facebook shows off your popularity, not your true self.