Thursday, April 23, 2009

assessing assessments

I still need to find:

Book resource
Journal Resource
Video resource (already decided on youtube)
Newspaper (found two on NYT and local Mercury, but am still deciding)

Interview will be Excel Que, who currently attends Davis (he still hasn't returned my call)

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I have not yet assessed my resources.

Resources reflections

No more star trek. Sorry all.

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1. Google, or I went through my personal library (aka my textbook), and I called up one of my friends (who currently goes to Davis for my interview.

2. I went from focusing on Youtube's bias towards companies towards comparing youtube to Hulu and Veoh on grounds of user friendliness due to this bias, and how youtube should improve themselves.

Thursday, April 9, 2009

Creator's log, (Star)date 4/09-09 - Entry #11

In class assignment: narrow down, research questions, list of what is intriguing about "this topic"

social networking in and of itself is pretty much bubkiss to me, but I could narrow down my thesis by choosing a specific incident where a company's privacy was taken over the citizen's (though if I did this I doubt I'd be able to fill a single page). I could also simply cut out the part about trying to predict what this tendency would lead to, etc.

Creator's log, (Star)date 4/09-09 - Entry #10

Previous DD was a joke.

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Assignment: Make a thesis statement + provide some possible sources.

1. In addition to the revolutions to internet culture the existence of youtube has made, there are also many worries of copyright infringement as well. In an effort to protect the company's privacy, the citizen's privacy has been overridden multiple times (for example, the case of Viacom forcing Youtube to hand over data detailing viewing habits of all their users). How might this continue? Is it even worth protecting the company's privacy over the citizen's?

2. The wikipedia article is a good starting point, and several media news sites (such as kotaku) may have articles of this in their archives as well. Youtube itself might be able to help, and if all else fails, google is a fallback option.

Creator's log, (Star)date 4/09-09 - Entry #09

DD is now 9/09/09.

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Assignment: assess Wikipedia as a resource to assess Youtube.

1. The youtube article seems to be accurate overall, though according to the talks, some details such as a couple dates or technical details (such as the details of HD streaming).

2. The wikipedia entry does not delve much into how youtube is good for social networking, but the article does tell a lot about privacy and copyright issues. The article may also be used for comparing differences in streaming technology (improvement, dates HD was introduced, details of HD, video formats commonly accepted, etc.

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Creator's log, (Star)date 4/07-09 - Entry #08

I would like to move DD up a bit. This will require investigation.

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Today's assignment: assess youtube as a "networking" site.

Youtube is a site that uses a designed flash media player to allow users to both watch videos and upload their own. It is, in effect, the largest video sharing site in the world. This is partially for its simplicity. If you want to watch a video, simply click on the link and it will load for you (assuming you have a recent enough version of macromedia flash). However, if you wish to upload a video, you must sign up for a free account, and upload from your profile. Uploading is easy, and one even has the option of editing notes etc. into the video afterwards.

Youtube is designed to target everyone. The young and old, the outgoing and introverted, the smart and the stupid. If you have internet, you probably use this site. However, based on the types of videos that overwhelmingly inhabit this site. It is likely that unless you're a NEET and lurk the internet religiously, you don't use it that much.

Youtube as a site represents a reasonably fast and very convenient way to not only share videos, but also easily access videos at one's leisure. Youtube is very useful in several meanings. It can be a vlog, it can be used to provide a series of shows, and it is most useful for killing time.

Even the privacy on youtube is convenient. Since most of one's profile page is dominated by one's uploaded, favorited, channeled, etc. videos, one's personal information is limited to a couple of lines under your name in a sidebar, and even that is optional if you don't want to provide it. However, the information you do provide is technically apparrent for all those who visit your profile page.

Youtube is one of the largest sites of the world, and is at the frontier of sharing "technology" whether one makes use of it or not.

Thursday, April 2, 2009

Creator's log, (Star)date 4/02-09 - Entry #07

New assignment: assess "Text Me all about Yourself: The Rise of Mobile Networking"

The author, Clayton Dach, uses this article to praise and note the growth of mobile networking sites such as Twitter. He claims it is a revolutionary and enjoyable service, and many people are starting to use it every day to bother other people with the most banal nuances of their lives, as if other people care. To Clayton Dach, this is a good thing. These services are revolutionizing the world by doing what they do. And the quotes he has taken from other people certainly look like the users are enjoying these services.

However, are these services really revolutionary? Really beneficial? Really a good thing to have? Clayton thinks it is, however he fails to consider the viewpoint of the reciever, whether or not he even cares or wants to recieve these "tweets", and if they're a nuisance or not.

Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Creator's log, (Star)date 3/31-09 - Entry #06

DD has not changed.

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New assignment is to assess a couple resources on technology and privacy. This is posted a bit late, but hopefully valid nonetheless.

1. http://www.hastac.org/node/1960
A good look at the privacy worries that Facebook causes, as well as the privacy settings on Facebook itself. Discusses how such issues may affect life or change people as well as society, and is rather thorough. However, it could have been longer and more thorough, as he notes the change in Facebook's ToS, but chooses not to comment on it (more than just "Facebook is a jerk for doing it, here's a link to a source) and instead ands the article there.

2. http://www.uic.edu/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/2378/2089
A very long and very thorough article. However, this article applies nigh exclusively to China, and so it's use for us, in California, is very limited and hard to see. Also, is this article needed its own table of contents, I feel that it could have been made shorter in order for it to be more accessible/friendly for the average person.

3. http://consumerist.com/5150175/facebooks-new-terms-of-service-we-can-do-anything-we-want-with-your-content-forever
This article once again concentrates on facebook as a facet or example of today's privacy issues. This article, however, is different because it focuses on this site's ToS change, instead of privacy for facebook in general. The article, however, is short, to the point, and rather opinionated, so some people may be left wanting a bit more detail, whereas the other too gave a very good amount of detail (possibly too much so in the second article). It will however be a very good source for people who just want to be able to figure out what's happening in a short time.

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Creator's log, (Star)date 3/17-09 - Entry #05

Brainstorming Technology:

What is Technology?
Something that is not operated completely manually, usually is electronic in nature, and is made to help achieve things faster than would otherwise be possible.

What represents THIS technology?
A computer, or a car.

Who controls this technology?
The user, through the designed interfaces.

What happens when you lose control of your personal information:
Then everybody knows who you are, and you will no longer need to fill out long tedious forms for medical bills, etc. People are no longer interested in your life, if they were in the first place, and you will suffer depression from acute lack of privacy.

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Creator's Log, (Star)date 03/03-09: Entry #04

I'm running out of ways to update creatively.

Today's assignment: a thesis statement and outline about California's new budget cuts.
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Schwarzenegger's budget plan should be getting more support that it currently is. He is indeed cutting a lot of services to save money and a lot of people will be hurt, but it is completely true that people cannot spend money they do not have. There have been people that argue against the cuts saying that we should just raise taxes a little instead of cutting our way out of deficit. However, what Schwarzenegger said is correct, people should not have to suffer high taxes simply because the current system does not work. California needs to save itself and cutting, while it will hurt, is at the very least the morally correct way to do it.

Outline:
I: Intro
A. Thesis statement^
II: P1
A. Cuts and how they will help
i. Different cuts he's planning
ii. How much the cuts will shave off
iii. How they will affect people
III: P2
A. Why we should try to cover our deficit with cuts only and no raised taxes
i. both moral and fiscal reasons.
IV: P3
A. How this will all put us closer to our goal of no deficit and why this is better w/o raised taxes
i. basically combine the above two to give a sense of whole and how this will move.
V: Outro
A. Reiterate everything
i. Make it compact so reader gets accurate summary
B. End with flair