I read the article http://www.privacyrights.org/fs/fs18-cyb.htm and it's a great link that explains in an organized manner the privacy violations of the internet and what information is being shared and how it is shared. I had an inkling of how open and transparent the internet is with your personal information, however, this really illustrated how badly rampant information sharing is. It's really pretty scary.
For instance, on some websites, there is a transparent graphic they place in the HTML that automatically tracks your IP address as well as other information from your computer. Websites also track where you've been on the internet and your search engines are also gathering information about you and sharing it. It tracks how long you were on a web page and what you searched for. There is no one really watching! There are measures you can take as a user.... by being careful, deleting cookies, enabling privacy options on your browsers, etc. But the adage that nothing is forever deleted on the internet is so true.
There are Flash cookies, code that is more persistent than regular cookies in that it can't be erased even when the user deletes cookies. Some well known companies use these and have been taken to court because of it (Facebook, etc.) because the usage of Flash cookies was not disclosed in their privacy user agreement.
A friend pointed me to a website where everyone's information was recorded without them knowing it...their name, age range, income, a picture of their house from satellite, and how much that house costs, etc. The Internet is such a Wild West of frontiers, there is hardly any accountability at all. So hopefully in the future, stricter laws can be placed to protect children, our information, from prying eyes as we get more interconnected.
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Week 4
So the Grammy website had a discussion panel called Social Media Rock Star Summit before the show (http://www.grammy.com/live). The panel consisted of the founders of Facebook, FourSquare, Pandora, and music celebrities Adam Lambert and Chamillionaire. The purpose was to discuss how social media plays an important part in our society and what social media means in the music industry. I thought it was a pretty interesting discussion and relevant to our ETEC class.
They discussed how social media enables change at a rapid rate in the society and the world and how the young people are at the forefront of social media and music. They discussed how it democratizes the public and empowers the individual to dictate personal interests rather than have it dictated to them, i.e. Pandora, a mobile radio station where users can list their preferences in genres/bands/artists and the radio station will stream music that matches these preferences.
What I thought was interesting was the discussion on what the founders of sites like Facebook and Pandora would imagine social media will be like in the future. They all agreed the future of social media is mobile, mobile, mobile, and that the average user in the future will not even have to sit in front of a computer. There will always be designated places for a desktop/laptop, but they say mobile is the big market and they hope videos, music, pictures, streams, etc. will be able to be shared amongst many people with one click from their phones.
Another interesting question asked of these founders is if they thought more females used social media than males. They skirted the issue, of course, but the Facebook rep said he thinks males initially discover and use social media, but then females take over and use it more than males, whether it'd be sharing family pictures or playing Facebook games and socializing.
A drawback they discussed was that certain foreign countries can't access certain social media because of bans/blocks/political reasons. This is in line with what Jin told us China was doing with Facebook and from what I hear from people in Iran where they filter youtube videos and social media. People in Canada and in European countries can't access certain streaming videos on a US site. The musicians said this is a big problem in the music industry because their label has different departments that control different parts of PR in the world and sometimes the chain of command is slower or there is a communication disconnect. They also suggested what the public needs to do is a "ground-up" push for more access by making their concerns known to their community leaders.
I think the Grammy website is a great example of how a site can be very useful using social media. They have HD live feed with multiple cameras streaming from different locations: the red carpet, the stage, and a director's cut. The user has the option of watching different streams by maximizing one screen while the other streams are in little windows below so the user can still see what is going on. They also have a twitter feed streaming live under the HD live feeds so the user can read the Grammy comments coming from twitter of people watching (by putting a hashtag in their comments #grammylive which then shows up specifically on the Grammy website as soon as one posts it).
They discussed how social media enables change at a rapid rate in the society and the world and how the young people are at the forefront of social media and music. They discussed how it democratizes the public and empowers the individual to dictate personal interests rather than have it dictated to them, i.e. Pandora, a mobile radio station where users can list their preferences in genres/bands/artists and the radio station will stream music that matches these preferences.
What I thought was interesting was the discussion on what the founders of sites like Facebook and Pandora would imagine social media will be like in the future. They all agreed the future of social media is mobile, mobile, mobile, and that the average user in the future will not even have to sit in front of a computer. There will always be designated places for a desktop/laptop, but they say mobile is the big market and they hope videos, music, pictures, streams, etc. will be able to be shared amongst many people with one click from their phones.
Another interesting question asked of these founders is if they thought more females used social media than males. They skirted the issue, of course, but the Facebook rep said he thinks males initially discover and use social media, but then females take over and use it more than males, whether it'd be sharing family pictures or playing Facebook games and socializing.
A drawback they discussed was that certain foreign countries can't access certain social media because of bans/blocks/political reasons. This is in line with what Jin told us China was doing with Facebook and from what I hear from people in Iran where they filter youtube videos and social media. People in Canada and in European countries can't access certain streaming videos on a US site. The musicians said this is a big problem in the music industry because their label has different departments that control different parts of PR in the world and sometimes the chain of command is slower or there is a communication disconnect. They also suggested what the public needs to do is a "ground-up" push for more access by making their concerns known to their community leaders.
I think the Grammy website is a great example of how a site can be very useful using social media. They have HD live feed with multiple cameras streaming from different locations: the red carpet, the stage, and a director's cut. The user has the option of watching different streams by maximizing one screen while the other streams are in little windows below so the user can still see what is going on. They also have a twitter feed streaming live under the HD live feeds so the user can read the Grammy comments coming from twitter of people watching (by putting a hashtag in their comments #grammylive which then shows up specifically on the Grammy website as soon as one posts it).
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Week 3
We had guest speakers from Japan and China in today's session in ETEC647. It was really interesting to hear the perspective of students living in the most technologically advanced societies in the world.
During our conversations with Ayako, Chiho, and Jin, it became very noticeable that both societies, although very advanced in mobile phones and technology, were very resistant to the wave of new social media that has taken off in the US and other parts of the world. It could be a cultural thing, but the overall impression was that the educational system in Japan and China viewed social media to be a purely pleasure based movement that should only be reserved for personal use during free time. It is not utilized with education in schools at all, other than connecting with students in other locations and holding meetings.
Jin mentioned that in China, social media is viewed as "working less" as opposed to traditional methods. These societies, whether it'd be cultural/political/governmental reasons are slow on the social media uptake, but yet, I find it fascinating that although there seems to be no desire to join in on the emerging technologies in education movement, these societies are yet looked upon on as the front runners in education and scores.
I personally think the reason why social media is huge in American society is because it is a society that continually strives for convenience. Japanese and Chinese view 'struggle' and 'inconvenience' as necessities that one must endure. They must take long train rides to school because that's what is done. They must read from textbooks, attend classes to get a degree and make sacrifices to make it work because that's how it's always done and what is expected. Maybe this leads to discipline. But on the other hand, the traditional methods leaves out the students who are left behind in the system because they just can't conform to what is expected of their society or they can't take the train ride to the school. What happens to them? The girls mentioned there is next to no online distance learning. What if someone is disabled in some way? How would social media in education be used to help them in these types of societies?
Very interesting conversation with the girls and the reasons why educational social media is not accepted in Japan and China were too deep for just a couple of hours. We have had conversations with students from Nova Scotia to Japan and China. It would be interesting to have more conversations with students from Europe and developing countries, if possible, to gain more perspectives outside of the US on social media.
During our conversations with Ayako, Chiho, and Jin, it became very noticeable that both societies, although very advanced in mobile phones and technology, were very resistant to the wave of new social media that has taken off in the US and other parts of the world. It could be a cultural thing, but the overall impression was that the educational system in Japan and China viewed social media to be a purely pleasure based movement that should only be reserved for personal use during free time. It is not utilized with education in schools at all, other than connecting with students in other locations and holding meetings.
Jin mentioned that in China, social media is viewed as "working less" as opposed to traditional methods. These societies, whether it'd be cultural/political/governmental reasons are slow on the social media uptake, but yet, I find it fascinating that although there seems to be no desire to join in on the emerging technologies in education movement, these societies are yet looked upon on as the front runners in education and scores.
I personally think the reason why social media is huge in American society is because it is a society that continually strives for convenience. Japanese and Chinese view 'struggle' and 'inconvenience' as necessities that one must endure. They must take long train rides to school because that's what is done. They must read from textbooks, attend classes to get a degree and make sacrifices to make it work because that's how it's always done and what is expected. Maybe this leads to discipline. But on the other hand, the traditional methods leaves out the students who are left behind in the system because they just can't conform to what is expected of their society or they can't take the train ride to the school. What happens to them? The girls mentioned there is next to no online distance learning. What if someone is disabled in some way? How would social media in education be used to help them in these types of societies?
Very interesting conversation with the girls and the reasons why educational social media is not accepted in Japan and China were too deep for just a couple of hours. We have had conversations with students from Nova Scotia to Japan and China. It would be interesting to have more conversations with students from Europe and developing countries, if possible, to gain more perspectives outside of the US on social media.
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