journal com 300

Extra Credit

2005-05-23T08:54:00.000-07:00

Not only VoIP could be useful from personal home, but it seems that companies or businesses could have great benefits from it. Especially the ones that are always calling abroad. It would be a lot cheaper for them to use VoIp than regular phone lines.

VoIP

2005-05-23T08:28:00.000-07:00

I feel that it is hard to tell how VoIP will impact on cable and telephone. This new technology will probably work on some people but not necessary on everyone. I think that people might have a hard time to switch from the phone to the computer. But again, it doesn't concern everyone.
For me, it is a great technology since I call a lot overseas. I have been starting to use skype and for me it is a great deal, a lot cheaper than buying phone cards all the time. I can't wait to see the evolution of VoIP and see the reaction of the cable and telephone networks.

extra credit

2005-05-17T23:06:00.000-07:00

I found this article very interesting on the comparison of the usability of Bush and Kerry's websites. It made me realized the importance of the design of a website and how the little details can change everything. It is very important for a campaign to have a clear organization of the site and to make nice and friendly for anyone to navigate on it.

public space and accessibility

2005-05-17T22:32:00.000-07:00

wow! I feel bad by saying that but I never really though about disabled people, especially blind people, using internet. Everyone should be able to use the internet and it doesn't seem fair that disabled people can't. The meaning of public space is that anyone should be able to use it, to benefit from it. If the disabled people can't, then we can't really say that it is a public space since some are discriminated from it. I think it is important to have a universal design on the webpage so the disabled people can have accessibility to internet. I know that they say that those standards are very difficult and expensive, I really think they should all do it. It is important that anyone be part of this great way of communication. Hopefully, one day, they will find an easier way, and also chipest, for the webpages to follow the requirements.

Internet technology and political activity

2005-05-11T08:45:00.000-07:00

I do think internet technology has an impact on political activities like it has an impact to our everyday life. The reading about Joe Trippi, the organization man, we see how of a great impact the internet has on the political activity. During Howard Dean's campaign, Trippi was in charge of organizing it and he spend hours using e-mails and blogs to raise support. He found it easier to communicated with the supporters. The internet makes it easier to interact with people and answer their questions that to go doors to doors.
Concerning the electronic voting, I will say that they are facing many issues. Like we saw during the campaign, the technology of voting, ended up being a total mess and didn't help at all. They are now talking about e-voting but they are going to face issues such as security. Also, they need to make sure that everyone is comfortable using the e-voting and to be very clear in the instructions.
I don't know if one day the electronic voting will be without any issues but I hope that they will found a secure system that will work for everyone.

Extra Credit

2005-05-09T08:53:00.000-07:00

It is crazy how much we are bombared by advertisements everyday. I found interesting the point that the most ads we see are usually from the big companies with a lot of money. They want to give ads space to smaller ones so people could have a variety of choices. I still think that there are way too many advertisements and they should be limited.
The children are the most influencable and I kind of like what Sweden and Norway did by not allowing ads on children TV programs.
When I first got in the US, I was so surprised to see commercials every 10 minutes on TV. I found it very annoying when you are trying to watch a program and you are constantly interrupted by ads.
I don't think that all ads should be banned because it is part of the society but I definitelly think that they should limit them.

cyberspace

2005-05-09T08:24:00.000-07:00

I never realized before reading those articles that they were countries where the gouvernment censors sites. I was not that surprised to read about the governments of Soudi Arabia and Iran and their restrictions to the internet to the citizens since they are strict governments but still, I was shocked. Anyone, anywhere should be able to read, see and say what they want. I am glad that they are groups like Hacktivismo that are fighting for "Human Rights and the freedom of opinion and the freedom to seek". The great benefit of the internet is this easy way to communicate around the world and try to connect everyone in some ways. By restricting web sites, the governments of those countries don't give the chance to the citizens to have an opinion ans that is against the Human Rights. I thought the purpose was to reunite people but what they are doing is dividing. I hope that one day those countries will have the chance to navigate on websites without being blocked.

Mid term report

2005-05-05T11:45:00.000-07:00

For this first part of my final project, I have to say that I first felt a little overwhelmed. But by doing the queries and then the searches and read more about my topic, I felt more comfortable since I was learning more about it.
I think it is interesting to explore web browsers and their security since it concerns all of us. We are all using them everyday and it is important to know the risks and to be able to avoid them.
I definitely need to do more researches to get more information and examples. I also know that I need to work on my APA citation so here are the corrections.

Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Web Browser. Retrieved April 24, 2005 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_browser

David Kirkpatrick. Fortune Should you join the browser wars. New York: Nov 29, 2004. Vol.150, Iss 11; pg. 204. Retrieved April 24, 2005 from Proquest database.
http://proquest.umi.com.ez.sccd.ctc.edu:2048/pqdweb?index=18&sid=3&srchmode=1&vinst=PROD&fmt=3&startpage=1&clientid=3953&vname=
PQD&RQT=309&did=743563751&scaling=FULL&ts=1114392545&vtype=
PQD&rqt=309&TS=1114393121&clientId=3953

Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Mozilla FireFox. Retrieved April 24, 2005 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mozilla_Firefox

Swart, J. (2004, July 2) Security risks swell for Microsofts Explorer. USA Today. Retrieved , from Lexis-Nexis database.
http://web.lexisnexis.com.offcampus.lib.washington.edu/universe/document?_m=01b3f26b91712c01846f540151966dbe&_docnum=3&wchp=dGLbVlb-zSkVb&_md5=787fc2f4a4dc9509853b501584daddf2#know_base

Vamosi. R. (2005, March 21) Hackers reach beyond Windows, IE. ZDnet.com. Retrieved , from http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-5628404.html

Wednesday 5/4

2005-05-04T08:33:00.000-07:00

I do see a relationship between the ideas in this readings and the open source software movement. David Kirkpatrick talks about the fact that social networking has been improving and that people are using it more and more for either business or simply pleasure. Not only people are using it to become part of a network community, but they also use it to find a date, to find a babysitter or to find a job. It is a great way to connect people.
James Moore talks about a worldwide networking for a peace campaign. We can see that the social network can easily connect people from all around the world and be able to create a movement where anybody can join. The second power is a group of activist with concerns about the social development, environmentalism, health and human rights. The social network brings people together and give the opportunity to anyone to give their opinion about issues and it is easier for them to stay connected and communicated.

Social software

2005-05-03T09:06:00.000-07:00

Oups, I am late on that one. Got confused.
Blogging software definitely facilitate community because the communication among the people is a lot more flexible. You don't need to gather people at the same time, at the same moment. You can be chatting with your neighbor like you can be chatting with someone from another country. The blogging software is a great way for people to have the opportunity to express themselves and comment on some news article. I think it is important to give your opinion on things.
The challenges are that it is such an open software that everyone can say anything they want. They are no barriers. So, some people feel the need to go out of line and write disrespectful comments. They are no censorship really and I think they should think about doing it to avoid any bad comments. At least start by taking out the "anonymous" option.

Wi-Fi

2005-04-27T08:44:00.000-07:00

I found this article of Michael Best very interesting in the way that they want to bring new technologies to poorer countries. I think it is great that Wi-Fi could give this opportunity to developing countries to get this universal access at low cost. It would be a big change for them as the communication will get easier and faster. I bet it will be a great study for communication scholars to see how those countries are going to adapt to this new tchnology. Communication is a process and as communication changes, the people too.

GNU manifesto & the markets are conversations

2005-04-25T08:56:00.000-07:00

My haha for the GNU manifesto is the benefit of sharing a free software with anyone. I gives a chance to the people that can afford spending money on sofwares.
I would think that communication scholars should study the open source software movement. It seems to be an important aspect of the development of softwares. It is communication and it would be interesting to learn more about it and also to study the positives and negatives impact on the society.

Extra credit-History of voting

2005-04-18T19:47:00.000-07:00

I found this article about the history of voting quiet interesting and yet, amazing. We really came a long way to what is voting today. It is amazing to see on that painting, the way they used to vote. No privacy. They would just shout the name of their choice in front of everybody and the candidates were right there so they could solicited their vote. We wouldn't dare to do that today. It made me realized that not only technologies changed but also people.
Actually, I don't think that privacy is a problem today. During the elections, I saw many cars that had (and still have) stickers that were saying for who they will be voting for. It doesn't seem that privacy is a real issue to people. To me, and I think they should be, they are proud of who they want to vote for, and also they advertise their parties.

Electric voting?

2005-04-18T19:06:00.000-07:00

After reading those articles, I realized how much issues there are in the system of voting here in the US. I do think that it would be a good idea to use electronic voting, or at least, to give it a try. The article about the electronic voting in India was very interesting. It seems much easier and efficient to use that system. It might not be perfect, but according to the article, they have better results.
Also, I really liked the fact that on the electronic voting, they put a symbol next to the name. It really gives the chance to anyone to vote.
In France, the system of voting is a lot less technological but it seems that is working pretty well. Unlike in the US, they don't use just one ballot. They actually have one ballot (paper) for each candidates and parties. After taking several ballots, they go to a close place where they make their choice and put one ballot in an envelop and then, put the envelop in a box.
I am not saying that is the best system but I just wanted to point out that technology is not always the simplest. But France is a much smaller country that the US and it is much easier and faster to count by hand I guess. Even though that system is working for France, it looks like they are thinking of doing the vote by internet. I don't know if that is a good idea.....Will see.
I just thought I could share that with you :)

Extra credit-Affect and Machines

2005-04-18T08:46:00.000-07:00

I have to say I got a little confused at first and I am not sure I understood everything.
I found interesting how the authors related the Reaction, Routine and Reflection to the human system and the computers. Both have strong similarities but artificial system can't differentiate affect and cognition.

Being analog

2005-04-18T08:13:00.000-07:00

Haha! Norman got me good on the Moses/Noah thing.
Like Norman said, I don't think I could ever imagine my life without all the technologies that we have today. Technologies did changed everybody's life, in a good and bad way.
Before, people didn't use to travel too far because of the lack of transportations. Today, we are able to travel all around the world and share different cultures with others.
The negative way of this evolution, is when factories started to replace the workers with machines. It is more efficient and faster but a lot of people lost their jobs.
I was surprised to read that someone, Frederick Taylor, came up with the idea of treating people like machines. I have never heard of him before. I agree with Norman when he said that Taylor didn't understand people. How can someone be treated like a machine. I really found this idea absurd.

Week 3b reading

2005-04-13T08:10:00.000-07:00

The role of the internet in national and local news media use.
I had a big haha in this reading. When I was reading the text, it seemed to me that the use of the internet to get the news was high compare to other media. But then, when I got into the table 1, the survey shows that the internet use is the last that we use. I was very surprise. I guess news paper is the primary media and it is hard to break an old habit. People like their news paper and when I think about it, it is easier to carry it around in the buses or in the coffee shop.
I do think that the use of the internet for the news, is increasing especially with students. It's cheaper and you can get straight to a specific news.

Beginner's Guide.
"Infotainment" was my haha of this reading. It seems so true especially the TV news. It all about crime and violence. I don't really watch the TV news anymore, I rather go in internet.
The "Did you know" were really interesting. I had a big WOW when I read " the average person sees 400 to 600 ads per day or 40 to 50 millions by the time they are 60 years old." It is crazy to see how much we are being bombared by ads everyday and every where.

Too much information?

2005-04-11T08:30:00.000-07:00

As a student, I can say that I do feel sometimes overwhelmed by information. When I started to use Google for my researches papers I did feel frustrated and I didn't know where to start and which information to use. I definitely went through "information anxiety" like Wurman talks about it in the reading "We have the information you want..." I am getting much better at it, but at first, it was hard for me to interpret the data or to find what I really needed.

Both readings were interesting. I liked Murray' s estimate in "We have the information..." concerning the volume problem and the"information explosion". Quiet amazing!
I smiled a couple of times in the other reading "Information overload..." with the term "technostress" and also, "useless knowledge pages".
Like both readings are saying, we are in the "information Age" and it will probably keep increasing. It was first a great thing to have a lot of information but now, as the reading say, it has become a problem. I didn't realize that too much information could cost businesses.

haha's week 2b

2005-04-06T08:47:00.000-07:00

Principles of New Media
In this reading, Lev Manovich makes interesting connections and comparisons between old media and new media. They are of course both different in some ways because of the improvement of the technologies but they are also related. It was interesting to see how old media influenced new media. I really liked the example of the connection between the photography to the film. "Motion picture film" is actually a set of photography frames that are continuous.

The Medium Is the Message haha
My haha for this reading from Marshall McLuhan is that according to him, the electricity is a medium. I thought that it was an interesting way to explain of what is for him a "content" through the electric light. Through electricity, light, the medium is able to communicate like with TV or Radio and other. I guess I understand when McLuhan says "the electric light is pure information".

Extra credit "As we may think"

2005-04-04T08:40:00.000-07:00

My Haha's of this reading is how Vannevar Bush was able to see technologies in the future and to see how important it was already at that time.
Vannevar seemed very realistic on how can technologies develop.
I found interesting the part when he wrote about the Encyclopedia Britannica. "compression is important, however, when it comes to cost". Vannevar was already thinking about how to make life easier and cheaper with technology. The same with the "memex". He is thinking of a future machine to store books, records and others.... so you can consult the files faster.
Interesting to see how, not only communication but fast communication, was important at that time.
I think Vannevar had a good perspective on how communication and technologies would improve.

week 2 readings HaHa's

2005-04-04T08:10:00.000-07:00

Introduction to internet architecture and institutions
WOW! I have to say that I learned a lot with this reading. I never really know how internet really works. I just though that when I was using e-mails, my messages would go straight to another computer. I had no idea about IP and its packets. It was at first confusing to me but the network diagram made it easier for me to understand the whole process.

Brian Winston, Media technology and society
Another interesting reading. At first, it reminded me to the first week reading, "Mediamorphosis", where the new technologies have a very beginning.
What we have today comes from a long process. According to Winston, it is all about evolution not revolution. It was interesting to me when Winston points out that everything started with science and it does make sense when I think about it like for the electricity for instance. I found wiston's approach to the evolution of technologies very philosophic and scientist. It seems very important for him to know about the history of things.

first post

2005-03-28T11:04:00.000-08:00

Hello