The Information Society..

I remember at the beginning of the course, Prof Tracy mentioned that Dale Bradley also taught this class and I wondered what the heck the difference was.. NOW I KNOW!!!!! Kudos to you Prof Tracy, for making this class not only very awesome, but extremely informative. I love Dale Bradley with all my heart, but I do believe I would not have been able to get the same experience as what this class taught me. 

By being able to immerse ones self in technology, and practically evaluate the ICT's we already use, I feel like I now have a new perspective of social media. Twitter itself may be a fad, just as everything seems to die off someday, but it sure does shape the way our society lives, interacts, and communicates. It shapes relationships- and not just personal ones, but relationships between government, corporations, small business, celebrities, fake celebrities, and nonprofit causes. It literally brings the world to my fingertips in front of a 13" screen. 

I think that this was a valuable learning experience because we were not forced to look from afar. I didn't have to sit at home at night wondering how this knowledge would ever apply to my life, because it became clear to me that it pretty much is my life.. or at least a huge part of it. I have learned to never dismiss a social media technology. Before this class I primarily used my networks online as social ones.. but now I value their full potential. I also am more comfortable utilizing these technologies with helpful tools like twhirl and google reader, and delicious.

Overall the information society is an extremely interesting view of society and it leaves me with so many questions. Last semester I was introduced to the idea of it by my 2p65 class when we had to read Richard Florida's article about the creative class. Here's an interview with (my lover) George Stroumboulopoulos: Richard Florida on the Creative Class. Its extremely interesting.. but at the same time, is this achievable/viable?

I still wonder, what about the people living in the 'third world', what about the people who are being continually pushed further and further away from the information society. I want to now learn about the implications for those beyond our own sphere. We live in a globalized world yet there are still so many regions or groups/classes of people not in touch with the kind of technologies we discussed in the class. They have the ability to transform.. but will they?

So much thinking to do, and schooling. Anyways, awesome class. 

We Shape our Tools and in Turn They Shape Us?

MMM, Marshall McLuhan

Technological determinism?

Flight of the Conchords- The Humans Are Dead

Personal Information; A Never-ending Battle

My privacy online is very important to me.. but I find hard to control. Like someone suggested in class, our personal information is the price we pay for being able to utilize so many different online services. I know I feel really hesitant before signing up for a service, site, or revealing any information online just like I would if someone asked me in real life. But usually, I give it away anyways. When I was younger I made up fake names, emails, zip and postal codes but I find now I am more likely to just be selective and limit who and where I give information to. Information for free contests, surveys and prizes I find I give up more easily. Which is actually strange when I think about it, who says some company I have never heard of before telling me I can win a cruise for free is NOT going to share and distribute the information I give them. They probably purely exist to gather and sell profiles about people like me who are gullible and want free things! 

I THINK that I am taking proper steps to protect myself, and I do not google my SIN card number or bank account info but I still wonder.. in what ways, unknowingly, have people or companies have collected information about me. And WHAT in the heck do they do with it? Even people like me who feel sneaky, like we've gone under the radar still receive telemarketing calls on cell phones at 3am.

CBC: Anonymity a Thing of the Past?

It makes me feel a little paranoid, conspiracy obsessed but especially with new location centered technology.. is it really people's business where I am, what I'm doing? The online/offline fears of privacy are becoming mixed. I guess that may be the price for living in a capitalist society. But are people going to be willing to pay that price?

Privacy Issues

Privacy, has always been a very important thing for people, but especially in modern times with heightened issues of surveillance and continued power inequality it seems to be more of an issue than ever before. On the Internet, I am very wary of my personal privacy.. but by looking on my Facebook in class, it is still something I am not in control of. Even by Googling my name, people can see race's I have run and the terrible times I have gotten, and find out where I went to high school. Now I understand that no one is really "out to get me" but there is still potential for private information to be used in a negative way against me, or without my knowledge.

I think that I am mostly concerned about people being able to contact me at home, or on my cellphone because those are mainly for personal use and I would not want them 'invaded' by an unwanted outsider.

On Facebook, ever since I have had a profile I have made sure to put as little information on it as possible. I don't put my year of birth, my exact hometown, address, or cell phone number. I do this because a lot of the time people add me that I am not particularly close with, but have become acquainted with once or twice. A lot of the time I don't want these people calling me or texting me.. and so I do not share my phone information or address. I do put up a lot of pictures, but I have recently taken many off.. I find a minimalist approach to social networking is best. People are going to find out things about you either way, but as long as I can try and stay in control of that information, its okay by me.

I do have a horror story, I can't remember if it is Facebook or Myspace- but same difference. A friend of a friend who we shall call Lucy.. in high school, Lucy got an email from someone she had never met saying he had fallen in love with a girl over the Internet, but this girl had recently revealed that she had been copying Lucy's pictures to send to the boy, rather than her own. Along with some information gathered from her profile, the girl had convinced this boy that she looked like Lucy! Lucy then freaked out.. understandably.

THIS is why people should always, always make their profile pages PRIVATE. The story sounds like something made up, but it actually happened just like in the movies!! Crazy!! Moral of the story, other than making your profile private- add other security features like taking your name off Google.. a lot of people don't realize this as we found out in class, and were not comfortable with it. My story tells that a lot of people are unaware of who is looking, using, and circulating their information without their personal permission. And this was just a harmless Internet girlfriend.. who knows, it could have been a serial killer or something

Search Engine Differences/Similarities

My keyword is "American Association of Advertising Agencies" which I decided on by clicking 'random article' on Wikipedia.

Google: The association's site came up first, followed by job listing searches, executive videos, a multi-cultural advertising intern program, and some news articles about the association. It seemed like a pretty broad search result for a single company/association. There were no "sponsored ads" on the side bar.

Yahoo Canada: Many of the same links came up with a few more from American sources. There were about 13 "sponsored ads" along the side.

Live Search: All American sites about the association plus Wikipedia, and only 1 "sponsored ad". When I clicked the "only in Canada" box, the site list changed dramatically, and included a broader range of information centered around geography like Quebec but also Asia & the States.

Overall, the results differed a fair amount. I would suggest that this is an important factor that should always be taken into consideration when searching for information. Just like when I search on scholarly journal databases, I use more than one to find what I'm looking for- people should be aware that certain search engines do not always present their results in the same way, and often do not advertise this fact. I think that I have a biased love for Google so I choose it over anything else.. but who knows, they are not any more/less honest than any other search engine. And if they are, go Google!

Search Histoire

So, I would post a picture of my google searches BUT I left my email signed on a home's PC where my brother goes online, and my findings were not at all accurate...

Anyways, if someone were to view my searches, I think it would be pretty obvious that I am a student. Firstly, because there are about a million searches through Google Books for "Documenting the Documentary" and "The Beaver Bites Back" which I do not consider leisurely reads. Also because I frequently search on Google Scholar. Actually, someone could probably figure out what kind of classes I was taking or what my paper topics were because I recently wrote 5 marathon essays.

Other than school, my searches often are about music and lyrics. (PS- I downloaded this thing called Tunelyrics which is an app for macs that is AWESOME, it runs with your iTunes and retrieves lyrics as the song plays) I also have searched for local bus transit, lifeguarding sites, file sharing sites, and local websites especially for movie times.

In conclusion, a third party would be able to find out my musical interests, that I have worked or work in aquatics, where I live, and that I love going to the movies on Tuesdays because it is cheap night in my hometown. They would also know what school I go to and where I plan on going next year. Overall, this kind of creeps me out. And if I went through that AOL fiasco where people's searches were released, someone would definitely find me. Especially because in class we recently had to google ourselves.

This information is probably not too valuable, unless someone kidnapped me and was pretending to be me. Or for a marketer of some sort.. looking to target me as a consumer.. which would not even be a good idea because I am extremely poor.

Brainstorm

Three things I have learned so far from 2P26:

1. People can make a serious living by tweeting, googling, blogging, facebooking, and networking. And it sounds awesome. I felt like this class should have been mandatory for business comm students, I'm only in the Media, Culture & Society stream, but I love marketing and this is such a practical tool for anyone involved with a business small or large. Specifically for small businesses though, because many of these social media tools are FREE. $$$

2. I could make a serious living by doing the above, and it would be awesome. 

3. I have also learned, along with my other classes this has popped up, that people really really need to learn to be media literate. Especially with the serious privacy issues online, you cannot go out giving random sites your postal code, SIN #, and other ID information. But people do it, and don't realize what an impact it can have on them. By learning about privacy settings, acknowledging the importance of privacy, and being informed about how information circulates through a corporate world.. the common internet user would be way better off. 

I also learned that misinformation is a huge part of the web. But at the same time, I make up information half the time to give to sites I don't exactly trust. They feel sneaky lying to us, but just as easily we can lie to them.. or so I think. Who knows what people know about me, my family, my friends. This is how people get paranoid..

4. Because #2 was not really a real point, I have also learned the importance of evaluating social media in our world. I was introduced to Twitter in this class, and at the perfect time it seems as it has exploded in popular culture. Politicians are tweeting from the White House while kids are given detention for touching a cell phone in class. McLuhan said that the media of an era changes the way we live, interact, etc. Social media seem like a new thing, that actually has the ability to change the way we think, act, interact, and grow up. The ethical consideration of new Media technologies like Twitter I think have to be very carefully considered. Especially media etiquette because I greatly dislike someone texting when I try and have a conversation with them.. c'mon people! John Stewart is my hero for this one.. Twitter

T-t-technologic

Cloud Computer's seem to be the new cool thing, my friend got a free one from her bank and my boyfriend just got one to replace his ancient gigantasaurus laptop. Their main function as the link above explains, is to be like a social media connection everywhere you go. Nice! Especially because every building seems to have WiFi, these tiny computers seem to be the way to go.. internet, chat, camera.. its all you really need with the combination of a handy desktop at home. PLUS for girlies, it fits right inside a purse. How about that.. 

Also, they start at $300 which seems pretty affordable, around the same as an iPhone? hmmmm

LinkedIn

So, I thought I had already blogged on this, but here we go!
LinkedIn is a very useful site, especially for helping a first-timer make an organized and presentable resume. My profile is not fully updated, but I made sure to put some work experience and figured I can always update it when I have more time. So far I am at 70% "profile completeness" according to the site. I think that this is a useful website to get your name out there, you never know who will look at it. It just adds to your chances of recieving a callback, without necessarily having to go out and print of 1200 resumes. It is probably my least favourite part of finding a job, I would rather have 1200 interviews. I will still end up going out and distributing a hard copy of my resume, but I will also be crossing my fingers that maybe someone will come across my online resume and say WhOA, we could use that girl. (maybe in my dreams?)

My first reaction about the site was that it was super cluttered. If I could give them any suggestions I would say to get ride of some of their links, as not all of them are necessary. Also, it would be nice if there was a bit more student friendly material. We all know how hard it is to find student jobs, especially after graduation. I think that LinkedIn could make a lot of business if they specially targeted recently graduated students.

I recently stumbled upon the Mark by Ben video on YouTube which is also an independent website by Mark Gullet's son Ben. Mark Gullet worked for the Tampa Bay Lightening hockey team, but was recently let go. Right under the video there is a link to his dad's LinkedIn profile. Very cool.

Deanna's Blog

I enjoyed reading Deanna's blog because she is so upbeat and happy ALL of the time!
You can locate Deanna's blog here: Deanida's Blog
Her writing style is very casual, pretty much the exact same as how she speaks in REAL life.. I left a comment on her blog, but I don't think it ever got accepted. Anyways, she writes about whatever she is thinking, and is very honest about her opinions which is very refreshing. Its definitely not like reading a boring text book. Go Deanna!