Presentations: Week 3

First of all, I want to say that all of these presentations are interesting and original.  At least half of them I would have a lot of fun with presentations of my own.  Now let's begin with week #3.......

1. MARK:  "Online-Enabled Environmental Activism"

          I thought Mark did great on talking about cyberspace and online communities and how they are important tools in helping to save the environment.  It's something I had never thought of, even though I have visited greenpeace.com a few times.  I never thought how important these tools are to get more people involved in the cause.  I had never heard of the Love Canal Incident.  That is terrible how all those tons of waste were just dumped there, only to have schools and housing built right on top of it all.  One might not think about it, but there would eventually be disease, birth defects and filth eminating from the ground from all that buried waste.  I thought the CMC involvement with email networks, internet sites, virtual communities, and the RCRA sounded very helpful to the cause of environmental restoration.  Ecosnoop is the most interesting aspect of the entire presentation and topic.  How better to report anti-environmental issues than in real time by real people who care.  More and more people are buying and using iphones, so hopefully most of these people will download the Ecosnoop application and use it.  I believe that single application, if those who work for it take action, will really make a difference worldwide in our real space communities.  Basically speaking, Ecosnoop creates a virtual community of iphone users that have that application to save real communities.  I have heard the acronym NIMBY and knew what it stood for, but I was unsure exactly the meaning behind it until now.  More and more people need to take action to protect their neighborhoods from filth and hazardous materials.  It's a community action that is needed in every community on this planet.  I believe Mark should argue how the Internet and online communities make environmental differences at almost a real-time pace.  There are more efficient actions taken in saving the environment.  I agree that Mark should not really touch much, if at all, on the history of environmental issues.  I would focus on Ecosnoop and the impact that it has had and could potentially have given what it does and what that could lead to in helping the environment.

2. SARA:  "Presenting Yourself Different in Cyberspace"

          I thought Sara had a great topic.  We touched on some of her material in class this semester a great deal.  We know Facebook allows for a variety of connections between peers and strangers.  I don't think everyone realizes how we act differently in various types of communities.  Much of this, as mentioned, is due to the anonymity factor.  As Sara discussed, users of Facebook and other similar social networks know that their information is in their profile and that people can look them up.  People know where others live.  There is not much anonymity.  Therefore, Facebook and other similar social network users will tend to act and speak with more caution.  On the other hand, with anonymous sites such as "ChatRoulette.com", where you cannot tell where someone is from or anything else but see them, users will dress weird, get naked, act drunk or stoned, play with themselves, and all other kinds of strangeness, because they know they won't be found.  There is not much, if any, caution thrown to the wind in anonymous sites.  I like the argument of "people display themselves differently in various virtual networks"  Sara had great examples to support her argument with Facebook and ChatRoulette as to anonymity vs. non-anonymity sites and user behavior.  I really thought that the suveys were beneficial support to her argument as well.  Surveys work for a variety of topics in support of the argument at hand, and this is one of those topics. 

3.  CASSIE:  "Social Networking Sites in the Classroom"

          I liked Cassie's argument that claims social network sites should be used by teachers and students in the classroom to enhance learning of various content areas.  I truly believe this as well.  Children, with uneducating types of video games, being bored, friends around, and other distractions at home and in the classroom, truly need to be engaged in the school lecture if they are to learn efficiently and thoroughly.  I believe WoogiWorld.com is a great and valuable site to teach to children.  Parents and teachers have to teach their children that they just can't run wild on the internet.  Kids, as mentioned, need to have challenges in their life, so it teaches them to strive for success in the face of adversity throughout their younger and older lives.  These challenges on WoogiWorld prepare children to face real life and its challenges more effectively.  We all know how many challenges life puts out to us sometimes!  I laughed about how children can earn  watts, then I realized something really significant.  The WoogiWorld site is about teaching children and presenting them with challenges.  A child has to come up with ideas to overcome challenges.  Therefore, if you have a brilliant or good idea, you get the "light bulb above your head".  How is the output in light bulbs measured?  The output is measured in watts!  So, if a child gets an idea, out pops the light bulb, and they earn watts when they overcome the challenges.  I thought I would put out a little humor for all of you that read this (Julie).  Cassie did great in her focus on elementary students.  You have to start to teach them when they are very young, so they get stay out of worse troubles when they get older and start to make decisions on their own.  Also, if you teach them when they are young, their creativity, perseverance, and learning-engagement starts early, and they can become smarter and more successful in life at an earlier age.  As Julie mentioned the previous week, a good benefit of social networks sites is that they tend to make more of us "creators" and less of us watchers.  Children that visit and participate in sites such as "WoogiWorld" can learn to overcome challenges, learn efficiently, and become "creators" with their own ideas for challenges instead of sitting back to watch others create ideas.  Cassie has great support for her argument in "WoogiWorld.com" alone. 

4.  DENA:  "Social Media"

          I thought Dena was thorough in her presentation about social media and how it creates more and more legal issues.  This is very true, but not many people think about it.  People post whatever they want, steal coprighted media off the internet, and break rules of all sorts.  The problem, of course, comes in what is free speech and what is not for what is posted.  I believe that complete regulation and enforcement of internet rules is impossible.  As mentioned in Dena's presentation, there is not, and really cannot be, one single agency that can regulate and enforce copyright acts, cyberbullying, slander, theft of intellectual property, and the such.  Perhaps, if we had one agency to handle all this, they would always be extremely busy, but could probably take care of everything.  There is too much goings-on, however, on the internet, for one agency to keep track of everything and decide court cases.  I am happy with the Good Samaritan Clause, which protects social network creators and those who control it, because it does help decide many court cases.  However, the clause at times does protect those social networks and other sites too much for what users get away with in those networks.  I believe the creators and operators of some or most social networks need to place more rules in effect that keep potentially-deadly situations at bay.  They need to have more moderators or those online that can monitor activities more.  It would be a very hard job keeping millions of negative users at bay though.  There are also gray areas with the Megan Meier Cyberbullying Act.  It will be hard to enforce what you cannot completely define, that being cyberbullying.  What all does "cyberbullying" entail?  There might always be new ways of bullying someone online that the Act cannot keep up and contain until its too late as has already been the case in some suicides that we have heard of.  We hear almost everyday about copyright media being stolen from online to someone's own music or movies collection, More and more copyrighted and intellectual material thieves are being found and prosecuted through use of the DMCA, but they cannot keep up with the growing numbers of donwloaders who are stealing the material.  In a perfect world, one agency would curtail all of this, but it may never happen.  I thought Dena did a great job, and her argument was solid.  She seems to have enough support for her argument.

5.  MICHELLE:  "Human Computer Interaction"

          I want to start off by saying that Michelle has a VERY INTERESTING topic and her presentation was undoubtedly spectacular!  I am somewhat partial and favorable to her topic, so I enjoyed it a lot. 
I like Michelle's argument of  how interfaces and computer designs are helping to create the transition from real to virtual space and vice versa.  The argument hits the nail on the head, and Michelle has ample support for that argument through programs and projects she showed and explained.  HCI is certainly very important as more and more people use computers.  No person that is new to computers wants to struggle with how to even perform the basics of the computer on the screen.  We definitely need user-friendly GUI's.  I thought Michelle's mention of how lots of computer users "humanize" their computers by naming them and putting them into commercials was interesting.  It is the truth.  Most of us, I believe, come up with a name for certain computers that we own, depending on what the computer is going to be used for.  The name is listed in the "system" tab of the control panel.  Other people actually have a name for their entire computer setup.  Also, how many of us have seen ads and commercials with humanlike computers in one form or another in them.
I am happy that Michelle opened my eyes a little to something.  I really haven't stopped much to realize that most computer users these days do gaze their eyes on their monitor much more than they do their own significant other.  That is pretty sad.  I liked the idea of Project Looking Glass.  That is a great idea to mimic user actions in computers to create a more friendly GUI.  Finally, I really enjoyed hearing about the "Madotate" program.  I am going to buy that program when I get around it.  It looks very fascinating!  I am personally one who likes doing things in 3D on my computer, and that program seems to be right up my alley.  I know that many other users who like 3D activities and 3D organization would get a kick out of this program.  Will we ever truly ever have "second life".  That is, will humans ever live completely in virtual reality space?  It's very exciting to think about, but most likely will never happen.  It sure is, in my honest opinion, something to act upon and try to create.  You have a thorough, fun, and very thought-provoking topic, Michelle!  Great work!

6.  BRITTANY:  "Mobile Location-Based Advertising"

          I like the idea of New Media Direct Marketing.  Mobile advertising sounds like it will be more effective and efficient than current advertising (snail mail, emails, etc.).  It sends more relevant ads that people will respond to instead on deleting.  People will get these ads on their cellphones for shops and companies they are located close to.  Users don't have to go out of their way to buy items on sale.  The coupons that are given to frequent shoppers of certain stores is a brilliant idea.  People, in the moment, and with coupons or other worthy incentives, will be much more likely to visit stores and buy up these sales than people that are at home, relaxed, and not wanting to leave their house.  Yes, there is the tracking and spam issues that scare many people.  However, given great values for their money and time cut off their travels, I believe more people would take advantage of mobile location-based ads than those with ads in their email inboxes.  I, too, would narrow down her argument to mobile devices and how people market through them.  There were just too many ideas in Brittany's presentation.  Mobile device ads with all that support for them should produce a thorough and argumentative paper. 

7.  MARK:  "World of WarCraft - The Cost of Access"

          I have played WOW, but I didn't know it was the 3rd best-selling game of all time.  I believe Mark's argument is right on the mark (pardon the pun!).  Mark has lots of meaningful support for his argument of how Blizzard basically ruined the game for most players by fracturing the community within the game and pushed the learning curve out.  The New Quest System worsened the game by eliminating the community of practice.  As I know, the guild is a very important part of any game like this.  It is vital!   Gamers want a challenge, and Blizzard took it out.  They took the use out of guilds.   I am glad that Blizzard has seen the errors of their ways, and is incorporating the challenges and guilds back into W.O.W. .  I mean, what challenge is it to wipe away your earned reputation just because you messed up and have a few dollars in your wallet to save yourself.   When a company removes challenges, there is less need to learn.  Most gamers want to learn what to do and how to do it on later levels.  They want that skill gap.  They don't want to go to 3rd party sites to learn how to play.  Let's keep it challenging, fun, and more what the players want.  Hey, Blizzard challenging games bring more players.  You know what more players bring!

8.  CHRIS:  "The Growing Digital Divide"

          I believe Chris has a good argument about how community fragmentation will continue to spread the digital divide even further.  A lack of community interaction among communities with similar interests unbridge the digital divide.  Fragmented communities, due to their inconsistencies, create a larger divide.  Is this useful and safe?  I believe it is alright to do, because the digital divide needs to have some spread in it.  Think about it.  If we close the digital divide altogether, we, in effect, create more and higher-level problems than we have now in cyberspace and elsewhere.  As newer and fast-emerging technology comes out to the public, the digital divide is digitally dividing more.  The "who has" and "who has not" gap becomes even larger.  If you think about the flip side of this, things become a little out of control.  I never thought about what would happen if there was no digital divide, but Chris' topic and support opened my eyes a little.  Chris should tie everything in a little more towards his argument and he should have a great paper.