Final Blog Post

 Technology- Past and Present

By- Ava Daniels

When comparing the 20th century to the 21st century, there are multiple clear changes. Everything from the clothes we wear, the way brands advertise, the music we listen to, the technology we use, and much more has all been changed and evolved. The biggest changes that society has seen when comparing the two centuries is without a doubt technology, and in so many different ways. With all of this changing and evolution, the question “how has this advanced technology changed society and does the public think about it?” is raised to the surface. There are many pros and cons to the evolution of technology that you might have even noticed in your everyday life. 

When it comes to naming the pros, that part is easy. For starters, technology is meant to make life easier and less stress free; at least that is how it is advertised. Cars can now drive themselves, refrigerators can talk to you and make grocery lists, and looking up anything on the internet is as easy as three taps on your mobile device. As good as that sounds, all of these can be a double-edged sword. I think that when people consider these things, they don’t always consider the bad that comes along naturally. What happens if the self-driving car crashes and who would be at fault? If Siri, Alexa, and other communication devices can respond to statements made by humans, are they listening to every conversation you have? If information is so easily accessible, will this make people lazy or geniuses? All of these questions are important things to think about when looking at the evolution of technology. 

 I think that technology is an amazing thing and, in fact, does make life easier. Being able to freely express creativity is a great thing that has come from new devices and technology. However, it does not affect everyone in the same way. When looking at how technology benefits different demographics of people, we start to notice even more pros and cons. When looking at younger generations compared to older generations, the differences are crystal clear. People who are born into technology are raised differently than people who were born without it. Traditional learning using pencil, paper, books, and other tools is hard to find now in today’s society. Now, if you were to walk into most classrooms all of the students would have less books and more Chromebook’s, less pencils and pens and more keyboards, and less in-person meetings and more Zoom calls. It is now easier for teachers and professors to communicate outside of the classroom with their students as well as parents. It is also easier for students to do research for papers or projects and there are many resources online to help them study. 

Even though technology has made things in a classroom setting easier for all, there are still some cons that come along with this. For instance, some people believe that newer generations are being less challenged in school because of how easy it is to access information. Some also will argue that inaccurate data is being presented on the internet and people are more influenced. When focusing on life outside of school technology is very influential on babies and younger children. Through the ages of 2 to around 5-7, the human brain is taking in a lot of information from their surroundings. Even though children now have access to multiple learning and skill building apps, are these causing children to be less or more creative? Even though mobile devices now have restrictions that can be set regarding screen time, if a child is introduced to technology at a very young age, will their imagination be less developed by the time that they are older? I think that it is very safe to say that these are all possibilities, however, I also think that it is impossible to shield children from technology without living somewhere remote because of how popular it has become. I don’t think that technology is having a negative effect on today's youth, but I do see some side effects that can happen if technology is overused.

Paying attention to me personally, I love technology. I believe in freedom of expression and I think that technology helps aid in many ways when it comes to it. I also think that it is amazing what technology can help people create and I applaud those who take time to learn how technology works and how it can improve. Throughout my childhood I knew about the latest devices but my parents wanted me and my siblings to have an imagination of our own without relying on said devices. We had limited screen and television time and had to create games and things to keep us entertained and I am very thankful for this.  I think that in the future when devices and technology are even more advanced than now, I will control my children's screen time and teach them that there is life outside of technology. 

Blog #11

 EOTO- What Did I Learn?

By-Ava Daniels

One presentation that I found very interesting was given by Sloan Wood on the topic of whistleblowers. Before this presentation, I knew about whistleblowers but not the correct word that describes them. In a class that I took called website design, we were tasked to research, learn, and write an essay about Edward Snowden so this made me familiar with the concept, just not the word “whistleblower”. 

Who is Edward Snowden and what makes him a whistleblower? In the year of 2013, former CIA systems administrator and computer expert Edward Snowden did what many people might consider to be the impossible; He released confidential government documents to the press from the National Security Agency when he was employed by them. Snowden had raised concerns to other people through his job before releasing the documents, but was ultimately ignored. This caused him to take things a step further and release the confidential documents. This is what a Whistleblower is; a person who reports things to the public such as corruption, fraud, or misuse of private information. Because whistleblowers can be external or internal and sometimes work for the government, most companies have policies in place for people to discreetly report wrongdoing that they may witness while working. 

There are pros and cons to whistleblowing. One of the pros is that the public or other people who work for a company will now be informed of this wrongdoing. One con is that you put your job title at risk even though you might be doing a good thing.  

Blog #10

 EOTO #2- MEDIA CONSOLIDATION

By- Ava Daniels

Before researching and learning the true definition of media consolidation, I did not know what it was or knew the actual term for it. I also did not know an issue big enough to make me stop and think about how current events are shared was something that I believe more people should know about. 

To start, what is media consolidation? According to John Light of Moyer Media, Media consolidation is the concentration of ownership of our news sources into the hands of fewer and fewer corporations. In other words, less and less corporations are owning news sources available to the public. Because of this, the news and current events that are being shared may be censored or filtered so that these individuals in charge of these organizations can pick and choose what is broadcasted. This also means that these mass media outlets are taking away from journalists that could potentially be gathering more information and getting more information that these corporations do not want to be released. Dating back to the early 2000’s when President Bush was President of the United States, The FCC (Federal Communications Commission) was in favor of this and was “pushing a plan to gut its 30-year-old newspaper/broadcast cross-ownership ban”. This would allow a corporation to own multiple broadcasting networks such as local newspapers, television, and radio stations. The reasoning for more media consolidation on one end was that it would save local journalism as well as cut costs (Josh Sterns). However some argue the complete opposite; that media consolidation actually does not save local journalism and, instead, makes journalists jobs harder. 

So why should people care about this and who does this affect? The main thing to think about when looking at this issue is how many people rely on these newspapers and TV and radio stations; a lot of people. The main demographic is generally older generations seeing as social media and different forms of social communication, especially digitally, are what younger generations of people use to get updated on current events. As stated earlier, most of the news that is broadcasted to the public is filtered through. Along with this, the news is also being published by businesses that are “out-of-touch” with current events instead of journalists who are on the ground. Limiting journalists also affects the news published and personal stories reported and documented related to local and global issues. Specifically minority groups such as immigrants, females, and people of color. 

Recently, in 2021, The Federal Communications Commission was challenged about media consolidation but the appeals court upheld their decision. However, it was found insufficient that the ownership of minority and female media outlets were not considered enough (The Seattle Times) and there was not enough statistical data. I think that more people should definitely know about media consolidation and the effects that it can have on people and themselves. Because of it, journalists are not writing as much, media and news that is released to the public is filtered and important details about serious issues are being hidden from citizens.  

Blog #9

 Diffusion of Innovations

Diffusion Theory

By- Ava Daniels

When looking at the innovation of the computer after being released to the public, the growth and popularity rate went up exponentially. According to the Diffusion Theory that explains the rate of which innovations spread amongst consumers, the rate is very high when looking at computers. There are multiple reasons for this.

The main reason for the exponential growth is the high demand. After the first personal computer was released, the demand grew because of the many things that computers could do. In the early years, they were used for organizing funds by companies, sharing ideas from journalists, and more. In recent years, they have evolved and advanced to the point where anything can be created, purchased, or researched. People have also found ways to use computers to make the world around them easier to live in. 

While there are positives to the innovation and growth of computers, there are also some negatives. Some people believe that since recent technology advances with computers and devices, people have become more “lazy” and are now relying on computers to do simple tasks for them. People have also reported physical damages caused by computers such as muscle and joint pain, overuse injuries of the shoulder, arm, wrist or hand, and eyestrain.

The spread of computers has been fast paced and worldwide. Even though there are some threats to the overuse of computers, I still think that the positive effects of computers outweigh the negative. Adding on, I believe that computers help to encourage creativity and the spread of even more ideas that will help to further advance the world. 

Blog #8

 The Age of A.I

By- Ava Daniels

For years now, it is no surprise that using technology can put you in danger of being tracked, your personal information being sold or shared without your knowledge, or your identity being stolen. As every year goes on, these technologies become stronger and newer. Although this is common knowledge, for most technology users, some still do not know the full extent of it. Others also argue that advanced technology and tracking of data is a good thing and is changing our world in ways that some could only imagine.

From the Age of A.I video, I learned both sides of the perspective or pros and cons of A.I and advanced technology. Some side with the fact that data being collected by companies about your time on social networks as well as personal information actually helps people. If everything is being customized by the way that devices are used by an individual person, then the world will soon adapt to you instead of you having to personalize it yourself. For example, tracking the apps that you use, when you use them, what you use them for, what advertisements are being clicked on the most, and things pertaining to that nature can all be used to personalize the world around you. The other side of the argument is that the use of A.I does not help the world adapt. The reason for this is because the companies that create the algorithm might not have the same outcomes or end goals as you. This would eventually do the opposite in making technology easier to use.

Although I have many takeaways from watching this video, one of the main takeaways is that technology is only becoming stronger. Over the past few years, I personally have seen many advancements in technology. From the innovation of automated responses such as Siri and Alexa, to A.I generated technology used in healthcare the possibilities are endless. I believe that A.I could be very helpful in the near future and will create things that will make life easier. With that being said, I also fear that A.I will soon become too powerful for humans to control.  

Blog Post #7

 Antiwar

By- Ava Daniels

After exploring the ANTIWAR and American Conservative websites online, I am surprised about the tone in which the articles and pages were written. The content on both of these sites is not typically what would be broadcasted on a larger and more popular mainstream news station, or to the public in general because of the voices being openly antiwar. I think personally, I am not used to seeing strong antiwar voices such as these for a few reasons. The first reason being that I do not really keep up with current events like the ones talked about in these articles. I have also never heard of these websites because of this. Another reason why I think that voices like these are not represented or seen in mainstream news stations is because I think that coverage about war and conflicts going on in the world are what people would rather see. I think that more people are likely to watch and read mainstream media if it has something to do with a tragic event. I also think this is the reason that it is harder to find websites such as these examples in order to hear strong antiwar voices. 

Blog Post #5

Supreme Court- HISTORY Reflection

By- Ava Daniels

After reading the HISTORY article about the Supreme Court, I ended up learning a lot of things that I did not already know. One of those is when the Supreme Court actually started. Before reading this article, I assumed the Supreme Court was established years before the actual date it was; 1789. I also did not know the main jobs and duties of the Supreme Court. I knew that the Supreme Court had duties having to do with the law, but not to the actual extent that it is. For example, the Supreme Court is the top of the Judicial branch and has control over the United States Laws and assesses said laws.

The most important takeaway from this article about the Supreme Court is the job and purpose. Laws in the United States are important, because of this, the Supreme Court's job is extremely important. Establishing, editing, and evaluating the laws are all a part of the Supreme Court. 

The most surprising thing that I learned about the Supreme Court was the change in seats from when it was first established to the present. The first Supreme Court had six seats. Today, there are a total of 115 Justices have served, which I think is very interesting. 

One thing that stuck out to me in the video on the Supreme Court was that Once appointed, you serve for life. The reason that this stuck out to me is because I’ve always thought that like the President or a government position, the time served is limited. This also changed the way that I see the Supreme Court because if the same people are staying in these seats for a long time, then the same ideas are being generated and no new ideas or thoughts can be accounted for or even considered. 

Blog Post #4

 Peer Review- Each One Teach One

By: Ava Daniels

One hobby that I have recently taken up is learning about and working with computers. Because of this, listening to my peers present the history of different communication technologies and relating a lot of them to computers was very interesting. Some of the presentations that stuck out to me were the history of search engines and emojis. 

One of the main reasons that I was very fascinated about the history of search engines was because I had never heard of them before. I always believed that when the internet was released, a search engine came with it, however, it was very hard to find and access files when it first was released to the public. It wasn’t until Web crawler designed the first search engine. Although this was revolutionary, it was still hard to filter through the good and bad websites on the internet when it came to accurate and resourceful information. The key to this would be PageRank. PageRank was designed to solve this problem. Some of the impacts of search engines is that it is so easy to look up information in the present, some fear that people are going to stop taking time to learn important things. Impacts on how teaching looks in the future and school systems is also what some predict. I personally could see this happening considering that I use google on a daily basis. 

Another timeline that I enjoyed hearing about were Emoticons . Because I know Emoticons  as something used on technology only, I was surprised to learn that Emoticons, more likely known as emojis, were actually first used in 1881. They were used in a newspaper and looked very simple. No color or variety to choose from, and some may describe them as boring compared to the ones we use today. 

Blog Post #3

 Each One Teach One- History of the Personal Computer

By: Ava Daniels

In 2022, it is hard to go out in public and not see at least one personal computer. Personally, ever since I can remember, in my household we have had either a desktop or laptop in the family office. As we got older, we all got our own personal computers. With this being said, I have grown up with this technology around me all my life. Because of this, I often take for granted how far the personal computer has actually come when thinking about its timeline. In order to fully grasp the evolution of personal computers that we know today, it is important to highlight the first ever computer invented.

The ENIAC began construction in the year of 1943 during World War 2. It was built in the basement of a building on the University of Pennsylvania and was being built by the United States Government. Even though the ENIAC was being built for World War 2, its construction was not completed until after the war had already ended. Although the war was over, the ENIAC was still being put to use. Its first official task was to make calculations for a hydrogen bomb. This computer took up a 30-by-50 ft room and cost over $400,000 to make and, at the time, was the most powerful calculating computer. 

The first personal computer was built in 1974 by MITS and was called the Altair, however, personal computers didn’t start to gain popularity until the year of 1977. This is due to three life changing personal computers that were released that year; Apple Computer, TRS-80, and the PET. Because the internet was not released until 1983, these computers were mostly used by technicians, computer enthusiasts, and small or large companies to organize finances. 

Moving forward in history, the PowerBook by Apple released in 1992 was very important. Even though the success rate of this personal computer was not where Apple wanted or expected it to be, it is important to highlight because it introduced the concept we know today as laptops or folding computers. In the same year of 1992, Microsoft released their 3.1 software. Microsoft has had softwares previous to this one but what is special about this release was True-Type fonts that came with it. True-Type fonts allowed for people to be more creative with their writing by changing the color, font, and size of their text. Moving forward even more, in 2009, Apple came out with their ultra-light MacBook. This MacBook was equipped with WiFi, high-capacity battery power, and a built-in camera. This was revolutionary for the personal computer timeline. 

Today, we have hundreds of different personal computers to choose from. Desktops are becoming less popular but still advancing everyday while laptops are rising in popularity exponentially fast. When I walk around my college campus, there is not a room I go into where I don’t see an Apple laptop. The look of computers have changed a lot but it is also important to look at the function and updates. Before, these devices could only be used for a small amount of things such as typing. They also only had green or black and white fonts. Now, you can do a much wider variety of things. You can create 2D and 3D objects, play video games, search anything on the internet, communicate with anyone from around the world, stream tv shows, and much more. The possibilities with new personal computers are endless. 

Blog Post #2

Values of Free Expression

By: Ava Daniels

The eight values of freedom include the following; marketplace of ideas, participation of self-government, stable change, individual self-fulfillment, check on governmental power, promote tolerance, promote innovation, and protect dissent. In my opinion, each of these values have good meaning to them, however, some are more important than others. 

Check on Governmental Power

This value is not only about opinion but the right to action and that, in my opinion, is a key part to this value and makes it that much more important. It states that freedom of press results in knowledge of abused powers. The restraint of abused power by governments has a right to be called out and changed by U.S citizens when it comes time to vote in different elections. This value is important because it gives people the right to some authority over speaking out about misused power. Along with speaking and voicing opinions, action can also be taken. 

Participation of Self-Government

This value of freedom is very important in my opinion. It states that in order to vote the right way, if you will, a citizen has to be educated and know what, as well as who, they are voting on and for. Being involved and participating in self-government ultimately means having access to candidates' opinions, what they stand for, and what their position values. Being denied this information or this information being policed can result in citizens making choices that are not very wise when voting for candidates. 

Blog Post #1

Top 5 News Sources 

What Are my Top 5 Sources of News?

By: Ava Daniels

Over the past few centuries, there have been multiple different ways of how people obtain getting their fair share of the latest headlines and news from many parts of the world. Recently, a lot of news is spread digitally, through mobile devices, television, and other forms of technology. Below are my top 5 sources that I use to get my information about current events on a daily basis.