Living in a Virtual World Class

Okay, so i thought i would send off my final blog, with a review of this class and our Professor. Oops maybe i should wait until after the final.....
JUST KIDDING..
On Blogging: I have never thought about blogging, EVER. Nor did i EVER want to. Not sure i ever will again. I There is just something too personal about putting all your ideas, comments, opinions out there for someone to stumble upon and rip to shreds... my ego is too fragile.. Okay my skin is too thin. And yes, i know they dont' all have to be that way, they can be more informational, I can see the benefits to keeping people informed about what's up. Like the annual Christmas Letters sent to all generically. So i will resolve to take small baby steps, like filling in the "im doing...." on facebook.. LOL.
On Content: Loved the class. Great topic and insight into how the Internet works. My Friend, who works at Weyerhauser IT dept laughed when she saw our book, but truth be told, i loved it and found it very helpful. I think i may even keep it for reference and not resell it.. She never needs to know..... :) I think my favorite part was the Scavenger Hunt, of course taking first place didn't have anything to do with it..... It was awesome! My little husky dog almost got hijacked by my daughter on my arrival home. But Juneau (he came with that name) has replaced my computer mascot (Yoda) and is adjusting just fine. The guest speakers were awesome as well, opened up insight into a Tacoma i never knew and I've lived here my whole life practically. Quite frankly, i have always been afraid of downtown Tacoma, not a very good place to hang when i was a teenager or even later than that. I'm sure Professor Fry remembers those days. I am happy to see that Tacoma has cleaned itself up and has created a culture to be proud of.
On the Professor: I wish all my professors were as fun and animated as he. Not a big surprise he acts! I liked the fact he was so straight forward, and tested on what he taught. I really dislike professors that disassociate their tests from their content. But Professor Fry was right on.
I would totally recommend this class to any major. Don't ever quit teaching this class Professor Fry.. it's awesome and a great reprieve from the accounting classes i have to take!! I enjoyed the class thoroughly..

Illegal file sharing

Yeah! I definitely was excited to hear on this book. I want to read it! Okay, so maybe I'm not like rushing out to buy it. But we have all thought about pirating things, maybe have done so. And like Professor Fry, said the line is so thin. Do we have the right to copy a CD (or download it on our MP3 player) since we already own it? We all raised our hands, i certainly won't stop doing that.
But I have to admit, i have burned DVD's with pirate software too, and one of my Friends just gets all over my case for it. This is why it's so expensive for the rest of us, he says... I guess that's what retailers tell us too, right? Shoplifting drives up the prices.. makes sense. Okay, I'm convinced. I will TRY not to do it again.
As far as downloading illegally from Limewire or Nabster, i had a friend who tried to "help" set me up with Limewire and ended up totally killing my computer. virus, or something, it was bad, and i was upset, needless to say, i have honestly never attempted since then to ever download illegally from a site.
I would like to learn how to protect myself however, when it comes to file sharing. I just don't know enough about it. I have the WiFi on my laptop and it's always asking me if i want to share with " so and so... " another computer. And i really don't' like the idea of someone on my computer. OR snooping around it. So for the protection factor alone, i am very interested... So i should go and download the ecopy.. just kidding... I'll check it out.
I have learned that whatever it is that i want, the public library usually has and reserving it really takes no time at all. It's all online now. So we watch most of the movies we want to see between netflix and the library. I just wish they would start carrying textbooks and save us hundreds of dollars in those fees. And speaking of that, if i could pirate anything.... it would be the textbooks, i think that is ridiculous the gouging they do to us. Talk about Exploitation.... (see just about anything can be justified... LOL)
And PS the group did an excellent job presenting the book, i was engaged.

World without secrets

Incredible, the amount of technology. This was a great book to hear about after the South Sound Tech conference, not to mention the World security conference last month. The author brought brings to light how technology being created is stripping away at the privacy that we hold so dear. WE get so excited over these really cool things being created yet Businesses and governmental agencies exploiting this technology. Like the guy getting a speeding ticket by just being tracked by the GPS. Incredible!!
I guess i shouldn't be surprised, i think our world, our culture is already hyper desensitized. If you have been around long enough to know or remember what TV looked like 20, 30 or so years ago, you would have to agree. Leave it to Beaver and brady bunch days would never have thought about crossing the lines of invading privacies. Well, maybe i'm wrong, but society as a whole would be way more appauled by the invasion. Honestly, i don't think that many people are concerned about the ramifications. Especially after 911. Some people think we need to have more sensorship and we need to be spying on more people. If we had, we may have uncovered the plot before they had a chance to fly thier planes into the buildings. "All for the greater good"... that is how our privacy will all be rationalized away. Interesting book, interesting topic. Good presentation.

In-class presentation

Well, we are doing our presentation on a book by Lee Seigel. "Against the machine: Being Human in the Age of the Electronic Mob".
Devin Reynolds, (who incidentally sold our anonomity out) and my other accomplice will be presenting a third each of the book. I have the first part, my other accomplice has the second part and Devin has the third. If you need more information, i think Devin just about covered it ALL. :) Nicely done Devin!

Not to change the subject but i got to attend the South Sound Technology Conference 2008 . Professor Fry, hosted the conference. I will definatly post more, but it was very impressive and informative. I am sorry i didn't get a Brain, though.

Scavenger Hunt

We have completed everything so far, except #12 & 4.
this is fun!

Virtual Tours/Worlds and where i'd go.

I never knew there was such a thing online until Professor Fry discussed this in class. But what an awesome racket to get in on if you have the capabilities to be a host of one of these sites or the know how to create the technology. The future can only look brighter for those entrepreneurs. I can see this taking off into something as addicting as the online games, except better. I'm sure, however, it will come at a cost. Someone will be up in arms about what ills it will be doing to society. But that's a whole other subject.
So who will use these virtual worlds as technology sits today? Besides the obvious gamers, people who could never afford to take vacations, people who want to see the places before they actually take a vacation there, school kids doing a report on another country, and then there is Me... I know for sure i will never go to places like Australia, or Japan, maybe never Europe. I have a few other places I'd like to go first and those seem to be a challenge to schedule in and afford. So if you can't see it in the flesh, whats the next best thing? A virtual world. Yeah! I bet there are ways in which the entire family could get in on that too.
I can't wait for the virtual world to be interactive, when i can do a virtual visit that feels like i'm on the Starship Enterprise or a new galactic federation world, i am so there! Even better, visit the places in Star Wars like tatooinne, maybe i could throw my Ex in to the Sarlac. (oops better not, i might get in trouble for that!). But i could go to Yavin 4 and train to be a Jedi Knight or do the Kessle Run in 12 parsecs with Han Solo and Chewie. THAT would be Awesome! And yes, I know there are games that i could already be playing that do those things, and strangely enough i haven't had time to mess with them. Too complicated, so depending on how complicated the virtual world is, i may not have time for that either. But i can only imagine, that with time i won't have to take several lifetimes killing myself in games & running out of life to figure out how to use the dumb remote control buttons in combinations that do things as simple as jump or changing a weapon!

Kevin and Feed Tacoma

Kevin discussed his Feedtacoma.com site, what it is, how it was born, contents, etc.. I was impressed and awed. Makes me want to live in Tacoma, well I'm close anyway...
As far as functionality, it is pretty impressive that a site can be self maintaining or at least have minimal maintenance on Kevin's Part. What a contrast to Derek Young, Exit 133, who worries when he takes a vacation. That being said, i realize Exit 133 is a founding contributor to Feedtacoma.
I also thought it interesting that Kevin thinks his website concept would only work for small community type cities, not too big, not too small. I kind of think it would work anywhere where people are contributing online into their communities. Maybe a lack of content or fresh ideas might be a challenge, but surely businesses, pta's, schools and local papers could jump on the bandwagon, if only to promote their businesses and events.
Of course i realize one of the nice concepts of the site is not being bombarded with advertisements. But Kevin's site offers a "shop" and i think that could be used effectively for local businesses benefits without peppering the website with ads.
All in all- great concept - great site- even for the neighboring cities and suburbs. I may not live in Tacoma, but i do go to school here. And i live close enough to enjoy and appreciate all that Tacoma has to offer. I'm glad for places like Feedtacoma, and Exit133, they keep us informed of what's happening around us.

Financials Online

I was one of those people who faithfully balanced the checking account up until a year ago. I was so busy with school that i kept putting it off. So for months, it started to pile up.... And the sky didn't fall.. It dawned on me that online banking was the very thing that kept the sky from falling. I have been online banking for a couple years but mostly to pay bills, transfer balances and make sure payments when thru.
Is it safe? Well i'm not entirely convinced anything online is safe. If hackers want in, they will find a way. We can keep inventing "safe" ways to protect our information, but they will always find a way to break into the system.
Many websites develop ways to keep your information safe and the more deterants the better, i think. Knowing what i know today, i don't think it will stop me from using the convenience of online banking or financing, but i certainly am a little more aware of the dangers.
The nice thing is that even your credit reports (from two of the bureaus) are accessable online these days. And that is definately somethign that everyone should be checking yearly.

Purchasing online

I usually don't get scared when purchasing online. Fraud is usually covered by your credit card companies and so far (knock on wood) i haven't had any problems with them helping to retreive funds i didn't spend.
So is there anything i wouldn't feel compfortable buying? I think it would be more a question of "where" or "whom" i wouldn't feel compfortable buying widgets.
*A badly rated seller from Amazon or ebay.
*I won't buy from Abesbooks anymore because they won't put ratings or feedback options to identify bad sellers.
*Anywhere i get a bad gut feeling,
*I also probably wouldn't purchase from Craig's list if it were out of state and had to be shipped.
* I don't think i would ever buy information from say intellius, or people finders or places like that. I don't like what they are doing and i would hate to waste money for information that is wrong.
But all in all, there really isn't much that i wouldn't buy online as far as widgets are concerned. I find it convenient, most of the time faster. Spending gas and time driving all around town for the best price, model etc.. is usually slower than just finding it online and purchasing it. I like to look at places where people put ratings or feedback on products, you can't get that from a store front.

Vanity Search

How trippy is it to see your name on the internet? Much less associated with people you don't even know? It would seem there are many places to find my name, as well as maiden name, and another name i was happy to dump, but public records, Peoplefinders, intellius are not so willing to do. All had info on all the above, name, age (sometimes wrong), town living in, relatives )(as i mentined before are not related). However there is some small hope that no one wants to pay for the REAL meat of the information. And do they get all the names or just the particular block they choose? Some places i had up to three or four different blocks of names. Other than that vanity search was pretty uneventfull, alot of WSPTA newsletters posted, Volunteer list for the school district , facebook, my space, and classmates.com. All pretty much typical. I was suprised that my name didn't appear on geneology.com . As the last time i ran it, many years ago, it popped up there.
Address search: we have done before, google was so outdated, like by 5 years (we could tell by the tree that was pictured but had fallen many years ago.) They finally updated it last year. I went to msn and just searched the address and of course msn had thier own map too. Pretty much the same but horrible angle. Can't see much due to all the trees. But it has to be fairly recent. Which incidentally is the same one that zillow uses. But zillow has more information specificallty about the house. Some correct, a lot not. Like the space available, they don't count additions apparently, nor is it listed. Baseboard heating, nope, not even. They have the sale amount off just a tad i wonder if they round up? The same with property value, taxes and the like. I hadn't noticed but our land has more than doubled in value, woo hoo. They listed the wrong High School, it should have been switched in 1984 when a new HS was added.
My husband looks at this kind of stuff all the time, i really don't care, maybe when and if we ever sell i would, but for now we arent' going anywhere and the less they know or have correct i think the better, in most cases.

Epic 2015/ Future of newpapers

I thought the EPIC2015 was a very interesting perspective on the future of media. To be honest I had not given it much thought as to how our Internet and the WWW are affecting the media.. It makes perfect sense that the future of the newspaper in hard copy form will eventually cease to exist. I think it, like everything else will be accessible by Internet or by cable, probably will show the paper and they can either read it or have it read to them. Especially with the world going green, we will have to be more conscientious of our resources. As while paper is a renewable resource, it still costs money to make it renewable.
However, It would be hard to imagine the world without journalists. I can't see the profession being discarded by the rantings on blogging, for sure. I think we will still need the caliber of journalism to keep the readers engaged and informed. It is interesting that Professor Fry has sanctioned Wikipedia, when every other professor refutes it. If anyone can write in Wikipedia, and not everyone is an expert on the items that are being written on, then how can we know it is the truth or factual. Unless, like Professor Fry suggests, backing it up with other solid documentation. Like newspapers articles or professional journals. Which i would pose, why not start with the professional journals in the first place? Don't get me wrong, I like Wikipedia, it is the first place i go if i need it dumbed down for me (like statistics!) or I want a quick answer. It has its purpose.
But back to the future of newspapers or our current future that is. I think they are and have been moving to the Internet to gain more readers. However, most local papers do not ask for subscriptions or make the consumer pay for access to the site. But we all know of the Wall Street Journal and they certainly don't give out their journalism for free. Okay maybe a smidgen but not complete articles. Those are reserved to the subscribing members. Will they be free eventually? At any rate, I don't get the paper, we have tried, but it always piles up, unread. When I had to subscribe to the Wall Street Journal, they gave me the physical copy as well as online access. I RARELY ever read the hard copy, I always went to the site online. I tend to agree with the student who said some of the demand for or lack of demand for the newspaper is heavily weighted on generation. I know my own mother and my in-laws still don’t have the Internet and probably never will. They only form of news they will ever get is in the form of the paper or TV.

email vs. postal

Although email and the postal service are similar, I don't think that one could replace the other entirely, nor should they. I am a greeting card sender by email, my friend is totally a snail mail greeting card sender. She argues that handwritten greeting cards are more personal and are genuine, she would never send an thank you card or birthday card by email EVER. I argue that email greeting cards are just as genuine and if it weren't for email greeting cards, I would never send a thank you or birthday card, my verbal "thank you" would have to be enough (possibly a hug with the "thank you" if local). It takes way more time for writing cards, looking up addresses, buying stamps, and then sending them off in the mail box. Golly forbid if you run out of stamps or the postage changes and you need a 1 cent stamp!! Now, if I had just bought the "forever stamp"!!!! It really is that long since the last time I mailed something. But finding the right e-card can be challenging too, but even then it wouldn't take you a fejw days like the postal service would take to send it. For sure email is quicker, more convenient and can be just as meaningful as a handwritten postal mail sent card. I still type notes on the e-card! But some people prefer to send and recieve by snail mail. So for my freinds sake, let there be snail mail!
What I don't understand why businesses and politicians send their ads in the mail, the money they spend on items that just fill the recycle bins and landfills are mindboggling. And I don't read them either, DOES anyone REALLY read them? There has to be something really good that catches my eye before I’ll look. Of course this is Junk Mail and I guess I don't really read the junk emails I get either, delete, delete, delete. In that way, they are definitely the same. I can at least hit delete on email, no landfills or recycling bin to fill.