Last Week!

1. What might you have done differently if you were in the position of artist Ken Zeran, mentioned in this chapter?

Abelson discusses the Ken Zeran situation in chapter seven of Blown to Bits. Ken Zeran was an artist and filmmaker when someone posted his phone number on an AOL bulletin with an advertisement about t-shirts relating to the Oklahoma City bombing. Ken Zeran's phone number was listed under the contact information, but he had nothing to do with the t-shirts. Ken asked AOL to remove the post and they did so, but the original user posted the same incorrect information again on AOL. After AOL promised to prohibit anymore posts from this user about the t-shirts they did not follow through and Ken's next step was to get the police involved for his protection. Radio stations started to get involved in the case, but later apologized when they realized the true story. As a result Ken tries to sue AOL for defamation, but the court ruled that AOL is held to a different standard then publishers. I would probably follow the same steps as Ken, but take additional steps as well. I would change my phone number and email address so I would not be associated with this incident. Also, I would try to contact higher level employees at AOL so that they would take more action. I would also consider creating a blog to explain my side of the story and try to get other people to defend my side since AOL basically did nothing.


2. What might you do with access to UWB radio transmissions if you had a receiver in a car?

In Blow to Bits by Abelson, he discusses the topic of UWB or unltra wide brand radio. On page 288Abelson says that UWB, "splatter[s] radiation all across the frequencies of the radio spectrum". Abelson also explains that UWB uses low power and large bandwidth to carry information in a short time period a small distance. It does this so that it will not interfere with  any normal radio receiver. This technology is used to connect television, cable box and DVD player without having to use any other cables. Also you will be able to transport your music from your computer to your car. It would be really convenient to not have to hook up my ipod to my car radio, since I do not have an audio jack my ipod goes through the radio and you have to keep changing the stations. With this technology it would be a relief and my music would instantly be in my car. Another idea could be sending directions directly to your car, which would be extremely helpful. I always use mapquest and my gps and then decide which directions to follow. 

Week Thirteen

What’s the value of a bit? It seems that going after folks who have traded songs or movies online is a huge expenditure of effort and money. Is DRM-protected content the way to go? If you don’t agree, propose another method for the distribution of digital multimedia so that content creators can still be compensated.  DRM stands for digital rights movement, which prevents infringement of illegally downloading music from the internet. Obviously when you create something you hope it will be successful. When a singer completes a song they are waiting for the revenue from the song. If people are illegally downloading the song then the singer is losing out on the revenue. When the internet became popular sharing music online became a trend as well. People would share music fro free, which is illegal. Soon there were investigations and people were fined for illegally downloading music. Not only were people fined they were arrested. As a result people stopped downloading music illegally and iTunes was created. At a low cost people could download music online without a penalty. Today almost all of my friends download their music from iTunes and I rarely hear of people downloading music form illegal sites. The cost of illegally downloading a song could cost anywhere from $200 to $150,000 according to Abelson. Knowing this information could change someone's opinion about downloading music illegally online. I am sure people still download music illegally online, but there are not that many options as to where to find these websites and there are several restrictions. In the long run I do not think it is necessary to arrest or fine people for illegally downloading music. It takes too much time and effort to find these few people and there is little success or value in charging these people. Even though there are restrictions from iTunes dealing with transferring the music it is much safer and smarter to buy songs from there instead of downloading it illegally.

Week Twelve

1. Considering the Prisoner’s Dilemma in this chapter, provide your own insight on how sites such as eBay “work” for most participants of this popular online auction site. Do they really work? Or is there too much risk?

When you compare eBay and the prisoner's dilemma there are four factors to consider. One, when you and the person you are buying from cooperate, you send them the money and they send you the item that you bid on. Two, you send the money to the person, but they do not send you the item. Three, you do not send the money, but the person sends you the item. Four, neither of you send anything so nothing positive or negative happens. For this they still have the item you wanted and you still have your money. Even with these guidelines most people would take further action if they did not receive the final item. There is a rating scale on eBay where you can post any comments about the person and you can rate them. If there are negative comments then this makes the sender look bad and prohibit further sales. On the other hand the person who is sending you the item now has all of your private information so if they did not receive your money for some reason they could potentially find you. Websites like eBay work because the benefits outweigh the negative aspects. 

2. What professional benefits do you see by investing some time in a FOAF-style network?

The benefit to FOAF-style network is the social connections or social networking. A friend of a friend can you help you find a job in today's society. Also, having friends on Facebook or Linkedin can help you connect with people in certain companies that you can benefit from. If your work information is displayed on your Facebook profile then anyone can see the information and can potentially refer you to a company. This is useful because creating a profile is easy and allows for connection to be made. These profiles also allow you to see mutual friends, which can be a benefit to you in a larger setting because now you can approach someone and talk to them about mutual people. In the book Shirky talks about playing "dodgeball" a social networking device, which is how he met Andy. This device allowed Shirky to know that they were in the same place at the same time. These networking tools are crucial in today's society where everything is becoming digital. Without having a profile you are limiting yourself to opportunities. 

Week Eleven

1. Based on the quote from this chapter, ““revolution doesn’t happen when society adopts new technologies--it happens when society adopts new behaviors,” do you agree or disagree? Cite examples to support your position.


New technologies occur in society because people want them and create them. Our society wants change and always strives to be the best at everything especially in the technology department. However, when new technology first appears it takes people awhile to adjust and adapt to the new improvements. In the book Shirky mentions emails in chapter six. When email was first invented no one thought the it would actually replace the postal system. Not only has email replaced the mail, but now people use the phone less as well. There is no need to pick up the phone and call someone when you can instantly send them and email. Email is inexpensive and has instant results that is why people are constantly using email. Yes I do believe with the quote mentioned in the question because when society decided to adopt new behaviors such as email, society grows and adapts to the new behavior. Now email is not only a noun, but it has transpired into a verb by saying that I am emailing someone. Email can be accessed just about anywhere from the computer to a cell phone. 

2. Look deeper into the concept of a “information cascade.” Can you cite an example of where following the actions of others was a sound idea? Where doing so ended up being a poor choice?

Information cascade is when people watch the actions of others and then make the choice to follow their actions. A good example of an information cascade is described in chapter seven by Shirky. Post World War Two in 1989 when small protests broke out in Leipzig, Germany against the German Democratic Republic. The protest size started to grow larger and when the government went to address the problem there were too many people and issues for it to be easily fixed. Later in the year over 400,000 people marched in the streets in Leipzig when the Berlin Wall was torn down. A poor example of an information cascade could be if union workers go on strike from working due to wanting a higher salary or different benefits.

Week Ten

From the audio book chapter on Free:
1. Why is “zero” such a hot-button word?

Zero is a hot button word because when people hear the word zero they automatically hear the word free thus jump to the idea of taking the item. Today's society is driven by money. People want to be rich and successful thus they need money. When you hear that something is free people are shocked and do not hesitate to take the free item. Since everything today has a price tag people are surprised to see that something is free. When you do find an item that is free people splurge and take as many items as possible because you do not have to pay. Free or zero cost items allow people to indulge because you do not have to think logically that the price might affect you. You do not have to open your wallet, thus the free item does not affect your bank account.

2. Explain and give an example of a mental transaction cost.

Mental transaction cost is when you decide whether or not to purchase a product based on the price tag of the product. Is this product worth the money? Do I actually need this product? These are common questions you might ask yourself when you are trying to decide if you should purchase the product. This is why a zero cost of an item is so important. An example of a mental transaction cost is when you are deciding whether or not you should buy a new pair of jeans. You might look for a coupon for the store first to save you money. When you go to the store the average price of jeans might be about $50, but the jeans you want are $80. You might not try on the jeans you want or even look at them because of the price.

Week Nine

1. The “power law distribution” or “long tail” phenomenon, as seen in behavior online on the Wikipedia, suggests that the concept of an average user of wikipedia is meaningless. Support your answer: how do you think a local, “JMU only” version of the Wikipedia would compare to the worldwide version? Would it be very similar? Higher quality? Less quality? Why?

To have a JMU only version of Wikipedia I think would be successful, but not at the beginning. It takes time for any new trend to pick up speed and that is what would happen with the JMU version. This new version of Wikipedia would consist of current JMU students, faculty members, alumni and perspective students can join as well. Anyone can write on the website, which leads to concerns of people writing incorrect information on the website. Also there would be a limited number of users and the amount of users would vary depending on student enrollment. I think that students might post information that is not important or could be hurtful to others so that could be a negative effect of the JMU only version of Wikipedia. Overall I think having a JMU only version of Wikipedia would be an interesting experiment and most likely successful.

2. After reading the article about Scratch and exploring the Scratch website, what are some observable benefits in creating a space to share student work?

There are several benefits of creating a space to share student work. For example the Scratch website was created initially to focus on an area where students can be interactive and share their work with other peers. Students are able to share, evaluate and discuss each others projects posted on the website. This allows students to learn how to communicate effectively together, collaborate their ideas and help others. It is important for the younger population to learn the new technologies because they are the future and technology is the future. Scratch not only allows academic growth, but it gives younger students the opportunity to learn a new website and new technology. This website allows them to be innovative and creative. With the website students are allowed to demonstrate their work without having to talk to people if they feel uncomfortable in a large setting. Some students may feel more comfortable posting their work online and working together that way. Scratch is a great idea and will be popular and successful in the future.

Wiki Summary

The main points of the Wiki Presentation:

1. A wiki promotes meaningful topic associations between different pages, is not a carefully created site, and invites all users to create and edit their own pages.

2. Ward Cunningham created the first wiki by creating the software the Hypercard stacks. This is a Mac software which allowed the users to build stacks on their own computers by linking information.  

3. Wikipedia is the largest wiki with 3.4 million articles while Britannica only has 500,000 articles.

4.  Other leading wiki services are Wikispaces, PB Works, Google Sites, and Media Wiki.

5. On Wikipedia the blue links are to pages that exist and the red links are links that have yet to be written.