501

This is an interesting article that I read the other day. Its a news staffer’s point of view from covering the 9/11 attacks. I just thought it was interesting to hear his take on the entire thing. We expect to get news and up to the minute information, but we don’t always realize how we are getting it. They had to take in everything that happened that day, but still remain on the ball about updates and trying to get the story out. I just thought it was an intersting article.

The Internet and Democracy

As technology continues to grow, more people are relying on the internet as their main source of information. Instead of newspapers and magazines, people are now using the internet for their news. In addition to information, people are using the internet for all forms of communication. Whether its news, the weather, movies, sports, or politics, people can go on the internet and interact with others who have similar interests. As a result, we get group polarization. People with the same interests are sticking with their own kind and forming extreme beliefs. While this is becoming an extremely popular and growing trend, we must be careful. As Cass R. Sunstein discusses in his article, “Democracy and Filtering,” “the web gives us the ability to filter out unwanted noise and to create our own personal echo chambers, but democracy itself means each of us should be exposed to new topics and contrary opinions” (57). Thus a very important question arises; with extreme group polarization, is the internet still a wonderful development for democracy?

The internet is a great technological tool that allows us to access and obtain information faster than ever before. Recently, users have been able to not only get information from the internet, but it allows them to share their thoughts and beliefs with others, namely through blogs. “The rise of specialized sites and blogs increases the opportunity for people to read and write on an extraordinary array of topics” (Sunstein, 57). However, the internet allows people to filter what they see, hear, and read. As a result, individuals who exhibit extreme beliefs will be able to gain authority. If people restrict themselves to only certain points of view, it threatens democracy. Group polarization strengthens inter-group competition that will ultimately drive two groups that disagree on a particular topic even further and further apart.

According to Sunstein, the internet undermines the preconditions of a healthy democracy by creating a very narrow vision of the individual, because they will no longer be able to hear beyond their own opinions. To avoid this, individuals should be exposed to things that they don’t already have an opinion about. Before the internet, people were able to do this by scanning newspapers and magazines, and coming across articles about a topic that they either had no idea or opinion about (58). In order to have a democracy and a well balanced society, information must be shared through a variety of opinions and experiences. That is the true idea of a community. If we have too much group polarization and extremist ideas, it will be hard to continue in a well balanced and democratic society.

Despite the internet encouraging extreme group polarization, the internet is a great source of information and communication. It is a technology that we must learn to fully embrace as a society, because it will continue to grow and improve everyday. We are able to come in contact with information which helps shape us into individuals. It also allows us to communicate with those who reinforce our views and opinions. However, the internet is quickly leaving us with less and less space for us to remain as one. We must be wary of this. We must continue to allow ourselves to step outside our comfort zones and explore different opinions and experiences that our foreign to us. If we do that, the internet will not be a danger to our democracy, but rather it will help us grow and expand as a well balanced society.

Sunstein, C. (2004). Democracy and filtering. Communications of the ACM, 47 (12), 57-59.

Exploring Second Life

Going through Second Life was definitely an experience. After I finally successfully logged in, I was standing on rocks on a line of naked people. My character was then suddenly dressed. I thought it was really interesting how you could change the appearance of the person. It is so detailed. From the clothes, to their bangs, to their lips, it can all be changed. Changing her outfit and fixing her hair was the most productive thing I did on the site. While I was doing it, there were these people all around me and it sounded like there was shooting in the background, but I couldn’t really tell. After she was dressed, I was trying to navigate to different parts of the site. I don’t know, however, if I was even doing it right, because I didn’t run into any other people while I was on it. She was just going to random places and I either made her sit or fly. I think I need to learn how to better navigate the site. But it seems very intense and it was definitely a weird experience.

ICM 501

Here is an interesting article I found on the CBS news website about the growing technology of the text messaging.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/03/14/scitech/pcanswer/main544065.shtml

It talks about how kids in Japan are now having problems with harassment and sexual predators.  Text messaging is slowly outgrowing the internet and chatrooms, there is a danger of sex offenders over text messages now.  It’s not just words and phrases, but pictures and personal information can be sent over text messages.  Text messaging is growing quickly and its a scary prospect and I just thought it was a very interesting article. 

Texting as a Form of Communication

Oddly enough, email is no longer the fastest and most efficient way to communicate.  Although email is still extremely popular, and a great way to share information, text messaging is rapidly growing and threatening to surpass emailing as the most efficient way of communication. 

Text messaging is a rapid fire, conversational style of messages, that are commonly transmitted over mobile phones.  Teenagers all across the world are communicating by simply using the keypads on their cell phones to send messages.  It is becoming the primary way to socialize and communicate. 

Text messaging in Europe and Asia has been a booming form of communication for years.  “Texters” in Tokyo are even referred to as the “thumb tribe.”  Since 2001, 90% of Tokyo high school students had mobile telephones and most send and receive over a dozen messages a day(Rheingold).  Once a very strict social society, teens can now communicate with each other privately.  The social norms of society are being overtaken by this new found technology.

The thing that I found most interesting when reading Rheingold’s article, is that even though “texting” and the mobile phone is dominating culture overseas, if you ask teens about their digital communication, they don’t consider it “using the internet” (Rheingold).  Although text messaging is not used as dominantly in America, that same line of thinking still applies.  Teens today, no matter where they are from, do not see the internet and online communication, as a technological revolution.  This is the case, simply because they have grown up with this technology, and use it everyday. First it was email and instant messaging. Now its ”texting.”  But with text messaging, there is no need to even be near a computer.  In addition, phrases and words have been reduced to shortcuts, to make the typing and sending of the messages even faster and more efficient. 

 As a result, teens are now pushing the boundaries of communication.  It seems to me, however, that the older generations seem reluctant to jump on the text message bandwagon.  It could be that most people who are older and did not grow up with all this technology, simply cannot grasp the concept.  In my opinion, that is one of the main reasons why text messaging has not taken off in the US as quickly or as broadly as it has in Europe.  

I do think that text messaging will be the main form of communication in the future.  As technology continues to grow, society will continue to crave for the instant gratification of the short and quick exchanging of messages.  We will no longer need to have a computer in front of us, or sit and sift through long emails.  Instead, all we will have to do is grab our cell phone to have immediate access to information.  ”Texting” is cost effective and has proven, so far, to be a very valuable tool.  One that will only continue to grow in the future.     

Rheingold, H. (2002) Shibuya epiphany (pp1-28). Smart mobs. New York: Perseus

Here an an article about the facebook controversy that we were discussing in class.  The creators seem to have backed off this new feature after all the negative feedback, but I’m not sure it will be something that totally goes away.  I have never been on facebook so I dont have that much personal experience with the site but I do think that privacy is going to be a huge issue in the future and something that it simply won’t be able to offer anymore.  As the technology continues to grow, so we all these added features that will make privacy obsolete.  It will be interesting to see what happens. 

Evolution of Interactive Communications

Ever since the beginning of time, some form of communication has existed.  From the early Roman times, where smoke signals were used to send messages, to the invention of the telephone and printing press, to the innovation of computers, technology and interactive communication continues to grow and improve over centuries.  It is generally accepted nowadays that technology and interactive communications is vital to achieve success in today’s world.  However, it is still not without its drawbacks.  Controlling information and technology as a system of communication is a very complex process, and managing it is a major societal challenge. 

In today’s society we rely on computers and machines for a large part of our everyday lives.  Even everyday mundane things, such as pumping gas, getting money out of an ATM, or retrieving any type of personal records, requires some type of computer in order to function.  Most of our lives and identities are now all on computers: “In a few years, men will be able to communicate more effectively through a machine than face to face” (Licklidder 21).  We have long been involved in the process where each new invention has paved the way for new and improved information technology. While computers and technology continue to grow and make our lives easier, until it is perfected, there are some major risks and drawbacks by relying so heavily on computers and machines for our main form of communication.

J.C.R. Licklidder wrote an article in 1968 called The Computer as a Communications Device.  In the article, Licklidder gives insight about how, in the future, we will be communicating more by computers than we will be by face-to face interaction.  Licklidder even goes as far as to suggest that we no longer need to take business trips because communicating interactively will be so much more efficient.  He also adds that we will “seldom make a telephone call” (38).  Instead we will identify the people who we need to talk with, link our files through a shared computer and then communicate.  Although that sounds wonderfully efficient, will we ultimately suffer from the loss of all face to face contact and personal relationships?  We will no longer need to talk to each other, because our machines will be doing all the work for us.  Licklidder also says that in the future, with an all on-line community, every person will have their own OLIVER.  “An OLIVER is a complex computer program that acts on behalf of its principal, taking care of many minor matters that do not require personal attention and buffering him from the demanding world” (38).  We would be able to put our whole lives in this system and the OLIVER would take care of everyday things; like having a personal secretary.  Putting losing the face to face personal contact aside, although this seems like a great efficient tool, how accurate will it be?  What happens if your OLIVER system crashes? If we come to rely to heavily on a computer for doing everything for us, if we cannot completely control the computer and prevent it from ever making errors or crashing, we are putting ourselves at risk.

Taking it a little further, with today’s technology, we also are losing privacy.  Securing your identity has had a direct relationship with the growing information technology.  Even as the technology has improved, internet security still remains an enormous issue.  With online shopping and online banking, identity theft has become a huge problem.  With one click of a button, someone can go on the internet and steal your entire identity.  And while being able to have our entire lives and finances on the computer and literally at our fingertips, we take a huge risk by putting it out there.  With the internet, we lose all anonymity.  Once something goes on the internet, it is there for everyone to see.   Until we can protect ourselves completely, and have complete control over the information system, it still poses a very viable threat to us and our livelihoods.  

Even though computers are great and we would be nowhere today without them, they are not without their flaws.  They are still machines and they can break, freeze, or crash in a moments notice.  If we have our entire lives in the computer and rely on them for everything, will we be able to recover if there is a system error? It could have very dangerous results. T.P. Hughes wrote an essay entitled, Human-built world: How to think about technology and culture.  Hughes discusses our technology system after the World War II era.  Hughes states that since we have developed such a large technological system, we have acquired an intricacy, mass, scale, and rate of change making it extremely difficult for individuals to cope.  “He sees the irony of industrial society mastering the natural environment, but in doing so making a second creation so complex that it defies control” (88).  We have created machines and networks that, since we have not perfected, we cannot fully control.  If we rely too heavily on a system, when that system fails, it can have catastrophic results.  Hughes uses the 1979 episode, when an Air Force operation center in
Cheyenne Colorado, had a computer-chip failure.  The failure mistakenly alerted the center of a false attack.  This false alert could have set off a nuclear holocaust (90). While this system failure was described as a “normal accident,” a simple glitch in the computer system could have triggered a nuclear war.  

Although the information revolution does have drawbacks, we cannot hide from it.  The revolution has been developing and growing ever since the first forms of communication were invented.  However, we must realize that it is a very powerful tool and we must learn to manage and control it.  Technology will continue to grow, and we must grow with it.  Manuel Castells’s, a professor of sociology at the
University of California, Berkeley, argues that the information revolution has transformed the material basis of society and changed its culture (Hughes, 105).  Tom Forester, an author and editor of technology books, agrees.  He “characterizes the information technology revolution as dramatically transforming society. Developments in computer hardware are the most remarkable technology ever confronted by humankind and the digitalization of information. ” Forester believes that computers and the high-tech revolution will completely revolutionize all forms of production in our society (107).  Technology will continue to grow and revolutionize our society.  And while we are becoming more and more dependent on the information revolution, we continue to strive to manage and control the ever growing technology. 

ICM 501 Short Introduction

My name is Meghan Turner.  I am 21 years old and I from Huntington, New York.  I am currently pursuing my masters in Interactive Communications at Quinnipiac University.  I am a 5th year student, I graduated from Quinnipiac in 2004 with a BA in Public Relations.  I also play lacrosse for the University and I am finishing out my final year of eligibilty while I am getting my masters. 

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