Final Blog Post - My Relationship with Technology.

 My Personal Relationship with Technology. 

Technology is a tricky subject to come to terms with. Yes, in the FUTURAMA Ride video the future (now modern day) is pictured as us having colonies in space, traditions and faiths preserved, limitless promises through technology, new sciences to feed the world, and so much more, which we have not accomplished. The video does, however, talk about a few things that we have been able to accomplish such as underwater hotels, self-driven cars, moving walkways, and the lunar rover. Although the video does talk about the advances in technology, it does not touch on the same kind of effects as "Tears for Fears" video. "Tears for Fears" touches on the idea that we are addicted and attached to our phones. The main idea is that no matter what is going on and what the world is going through, phones will always come first, along with posting and getting the message out there. I think the video does have some true to it, but I also believe that it is an exaggeration of the truth. I believe that we are stuck to our phones, but I also believe that that has brought us closer together as a community. With the help of our phones and instant videos and photos we have been able to bring things like Citizen Journalism into light, the collecting and reporting of information via social media, public platforms, and traditional news outlets. These types of revolutionary upbringings have changed the way that people have been able to communicate through technology. 

Personally, I know that Social Media and technology have changed my life in many ways. Yes, I do think I am hyper fixated on my phone a lot and it does distract me at times, but it has also brought me many opportunities and ways to share the things that I have done. Instagram and Tik Tok have become my two main forms of sharing my art. My future, as of right now, revolves around my art. My dream is to open a studio, share art, teach art, and primarily center my future around those ideals. I have other social medias like Snapchat, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and a couple others but I do not put a lot of energy and time into those because I prefer the ones that I truly found a community on. My art Instagram account has acted as a virtual portfolio and a way for me to connect with other artists both at school and I have also met a lot of people through following them and the other way around. 

Social Media has altered the way that people have been able to connect with families as well. My family all lives in different states and through social media we have been able to connect with each other and see each others posts to stay connected with each other. We text each other but sometimes with school, work, and being in different states it is hard for us to all be able to text as much as we want. My mom, aunts, uncles, and grandparents do not use social media often, especially as much as me and my cousins, but they do check sometimes in order to keep up with us, which shows to me, that social media is not as bad as people make it out to be. 

Blog Post #11 - What I learned in EOTO #2

 EOTO Presentations. 

During the second round of EOTO presentations I learned about a lot of different topic, along with my own, Echo Chambers. Through my peers I was able to learn about false flags, cancel culture, confirmation bias, Spiral of Silence Theory, and more. 

I learned the false flags are a political or military action carried out with the intention of blaming an opponent for it to justify an attack of invasion. Nations have done this by staging real simulated attacks on their own side and accusing their enemies of the attack in order to get one side on the same agreement of attack. An example of the U.S. pulling this kind of trick was Operation Northwoods. Operation Northwoods was against the American citizens and it was meant to stage and commit acts of violent terrorism against the American military and citizens, blaming them on the Cuban government and using it to justify a war against Cuba. 

Cancel Culture was another topic that we learned about and we learned that it is primarily when a group rejects and stops supporting someone because they have said or done something that is offensive to another. Cancel culture ultimately is responsible for holding people accountable for his or her actions. It is used to show what can happen and a good way to keep people self aware of their actions. Celebrities have even had many instances where their lives were altered due to cancel culture. J. K. Rowling is an example. She was "cancelled" because her offensive comments about the transgender community came to light. Chrissy Teigan also was "cancelled" because of old "mean tweets" that she had made. She was so scrutinized that she could barely leave her house. 

Confirmation Bias is another topic that we went over. It is a biased decision making process, typically unintentional, based on preconceived opinions and stereotypes. They occur when someone collects evidence or information that is in agreement with their opinions and beliefs and ignores anything that disproves or argues against them. 

Blog Post #10 - The Age of AI

 The Age and Era of Artificial Intelligence. 

Computers and artificial intelligence are smarter than you. Feel okay about that? Probably not. Now how about if you were to hear that no matter your opinion, artificial intelligence is taking over industrial businesses and cutting jobs. Probably worse, right? Well in the new age of AI, there is a huge tech war. This tech war is basically consisting of countries trying to be the first to be the ones that can improve and invent full artificial intelligence. The creation of artificial intelligence is longed for in businesses because of the efficiency and speed that they can produce, but with that, there is a lack of jobs. Yet, some argue that new jobs will be developed in different aspects. There is also a statement along the lines worrying about women's roles because most of the jobs overrepresented by women are most likely to be automated. 

Even big formats such as like social media and Google are the ones that are looking at us, we are not just looking at them. The algorithms that those website and internet browsers have are able to use certain Algorithms to be able to predict what you are going to look up next, and Google's use of these kind of surveillances started pretty early. The original start of Google used an unofficial motto "Don't be evil",  to reiterate their idea of showing that advertising does not bode well to them. The founders decided they needed to save their company when numbers were down and they started using something called "digital exhaust" in order to use data logs and surplus data to create predictions as to what a person would want to click on next, bringing their numbers back up. Of course they did not want people to find this out, I mean, who would? In that case they used behavioral prediction to take the uncertainty out of life. Facebook even came up an experiment in order to test out what they had the power to do. They put an "I Voted" sticker out for those to be able to click and add to their profile to see whether or not it would urge those to vote, and their numbers said that it urge about 340,000 people to go to the polls. Things like "Hey Google" are also now new surveillance that have been able to enter almost all rooms in a house. These new ways of surveillance will be able to not only recognize who is speaking and be able to pick up on the little things such as moods and your livelihood. This raises the question on how surveillance can help, but also, is it getting too far? 

Blog Post #9 - EOTO: Echo Chambers

 Echo Chambers. 

According to GCF Global, an echo chamber is where a person is knowledgeable about information and/or options that will only fuel their own thoughts. In other words, an echo chamber is you only seeing your point, which causes you to be clouded about the idea of viewing other perspectives. This can create misinformation and stop a person from talking about the other point altogether. Ways that you would be able to recognize an echo chamber would be seeing if those you are talking to are only giving one perspective on the topic, it the viewpoint is rumored or not definite, if facts are ignored that could possibly go against the believed, or when you neglect to even allow to the idea of the other viewpoint to be brought up. Say you're in a group with people that all believe in one main topic or idea, then another person comes and tries to tell you their viewpoint, but it does not match. The echo chamber would be the original group having their opinion on the idea and not letting that other person try to explain their idea.

Echo chambers can be created anywhere that information is exchanged in anyway whether it is online, in person, through friends, or somewhere where information could be learned easily. The New York Times even says that online there are plenty of echo chambers that you could be accustomed to online. When you like songs, like posts, visit websites based off of ads, and little things like that go into the algorithm and affect what you see on your page. When things are put on your page from this algorithm it will feed into the things that you see and only let you see what you are are already familiar with, thus creating an echo chamber in your social medias. It is also said that an echo chamber is another form of a "filter bubble" so you will only be put in certain groups or pages that relate to the things that you already look up, this cancels out the rest of the world. You are stuck in a revolving circle of only the things that you look at and you are learning. Lanier says, "People tend to get into this echo chamber where more and more of what they see conforms to the idea of who some software thinks they are - like a Nascar dad who likes samurai swords", basically explaining that you become what you see and are surrounded by. Those that only see and hear specific things, will submit to those things that they are associated with. 

Blog Post #6 - The Chart of Cable News: Diffusion.

How Cable News Adapted to the Chart. 

The chart of Diffusion is made up of 5 sets of people and the Long Tail. Pioneers were the first to adopt an idea. These are visionaries who saw the idea and potential, also can be the most expensive time of the products existence. With CNN this would be the time when the idea of a New Network prospering and growing slowly. After the Pioneers would be the Early Adopters. These are the people that see how it could work and how it could grow, and when businesses love the idea. In terms of CNN this would be when Ted Turner bought CNN with his hopes of growing the brand. Next step would be the Normal People (Early Majority) starting to see the idea. This is also when society was buying into the idea. For CNN this would be Turner overcoming the hatred that he was originally receiving and him continuing to grow CNN. After would be the Late Majority. This is those who did not originally see the brilliance of the idea would start to come around. For CNN, Turner started to gain this progression when it came to the growth of CNN and overcoming their biggest competitor. The Laggards come second to last which are those that just simply do not see the point in the product. CNN and every brand, or anything really, will always have the Laggards and those are the people that will never turn their ideas around into seeing the point as to buying it or investing in it. Lastly is the Long Tail, which is the point which we learn that there will never be a zero percent of people that do not have the product of have the product. This is what businesses fear. CNN and other brands use this as a way to try and move back to the Pioneer stage and think of new things to add to the brand in order to reinvent. Without reinvention, then brands will hit an impasse and they will hit  a wall on new people to find the brand. 

Blog Post #8 - The Progressive Era: Anti-War.

Lack of Anti-War. 

When it comes to Anti-War topics, you do not seem to see much of it, do you? Seems a little odd that peace and the humble life of not having fear is lacking in the media, doesn't it? Ever wonder why? Well, there is a way to read up on Anti-War and crisis awareness pages, you just need to seek them out. Looking back, you can see that those who would speak out against war would be punished harshly, even though their intent was to abolish the violence that countries were enduring. Antiwar movements have risen in the sense of hoping to prevent the government or officials from escalating fights and, of course, war with other countries. One of the most recent rises in the Antiwar movement was those fighting against the war of Ukraine and Russia, in the hopes of deescalating that tension. Dissent Magazine  says, "Perhaps the most obvious, and most significant, reason for the absence of a large and persistent antiwar movement is the nature of the enemies the United States has been fighting since the fall of 2001." Antiwar "propaganda" began to be considered a crime and you would be put behind bars, but why? Well, the government makes it harder to go against their wishes when things like, "According to the just war doctrine, war is an appropriate response if all attempts at nonviolent resolution of the conflict have failed. It is also permitted as self-defense against a serious attack, and if there is a reasonable chance of success. Those engaging in warfare must not create a situation that is worse than the one they are trying to eliminate", are said to the public. The Progression of the world would not be available without growth and prosperity, but it seems like the government and officials all have the same ideas on how to do that, destroying those that could possibly be in his or her countries way. 

Blog Post #7 - What I Learned in EOTO.

 What I Learned in the EOTO Presentations. 

During the EOTO presentations I learned about many different innovations. The drones was a very interesting object to learn about. I learned that they were first coming into light in March of 1917 during WWI and were invented by Abraham Karem in his Los Angeles garage. Drones changed the course of the war and were a very vital play in the war tactics following their creation. They are also used for monitoring climates, but do have their pros and cons, as anything else ever created does. Pros of the drone include enforcing safety and enhancing surveillance, reaching areas that people otherwise can not when there has been a natural disaster or event causing lack of easy accessibility,
they help just overall get high views of different locations which creates more jobs for people to do those things, faster delivery with the help of a flying object, and very useful for businesses. The cons include being easily effected by the changes of weather, there is a danger aspect which means they could potentially harm someone, flight time does not last very long with their charge, they can be used for the wrong reasons such as stalking or viewing those without permission, and they can be pretty easily hacked. 

I also learned about the Post Service and its growth. The Postal Service was originally traced back all the way in Egypt around 2,000 BC. The postal process played a key role in communication back to back through the empires and across terrains. The governments use of the postal service for communication and for those of high profile and wealth, grew. It was very expensive to be able to do this type of communication so only the most wealthy and high profile really participated in early years. It also was not available to everyday people. The first source of government mail and communication was in France in 1477. Far later in 1792, the first post office was created with the passage of the Postal Service Act.