Tuesday, April 23, 2013
Reflective Blog #7
"Should SMS be accepted as a new language and taught in schools?"
This blog will likely be a bit more concise than the others. In short, my answer is; no, it should not.
SMS is not a different language. It is short hand. And at that, it is highly personalized. Very few people have the same way of texting. Different age groups have different styles. Different cultures have different styles. Different cliques have their own words and specialized emoticons. There is just no way to classify this as a real language.
Beyond this, it is also very trend oriented. Every few years it seems to change. Different programs, different hardware, different media influences, etc.
At some point SMS will no longer be a popular mode of communication and we will move on. And some time later that mode of communication will become outdated and something else will take over.
So, no, I do not think that SMS should be taught in schools or considered a language.
Reflective Blog #6
"To what extent do relationships that are formed online and remain virtual differ from ones that are formed as a result of meeting in person?"
This is a very interesting question and one that I have a lot of experience with. The phenomenon of "internet friends" is in no way a new concept, and I would even go so far as to say it is one that is fading away.
10+ years ago, well before "web 2.0" was a thing, the internet was a much more mysterious and experimental place. People were using web forums, online chat rooms, gaming, using IRC to chat, share files, and share a lot of not-quite-legal information with one-another, and online dating was still in development. The fact that people could connect with someone across the globe and talk about something they had in common was still exciting and new to many people. That glow, I fear, has faded. Today the ability to communicate with anyone, anywhere, any time is pretty much a given. Social media is the dominant way that we communicate with one another, and most of those people are within our circle of friends.
This is not to say that people aren't meeting others online anymore. Forums are still active, online dating is huge, and chat rooms still exist. From my experience, however, it is just not the same.
That being said, I feel that for many people "online friends" and "real life friends" are different for everyone. There are groups of people out there who consider their online friends to be true friends. Taking World of Warcraft as an example, the guilds people create often have very tight bonds and these people sometimes share every detail of their lives with one another. They become very close and in many ways may even be closer than their "real life friends". Some, however, form relationships with people in chat rooms and forums that are strictly professional, or just people that they chat with to have fun and may never think about them otherwise.
In my own life, I have met many people online who later became my real life friends. I even met girls I dated through the internet when I was younger. Meeting someone through the internet was exciting because it meant you could talk to someone who lived an hour away that you may otherwise never meet in person and then connect in real life. One of my first girlfriends (a girl who lived 45 minutes from me) was met this way, and we still talk to this day even though she now lives across the country.
I also have had a number of friendships that were maintained solely online through various message boards, games, and things of this nature. I never made that deep connection with these people like some do - it was always just chatting about whatever hobby or game we were interested in. I think that this type of friendship is pretty interesting because it is almost like a specialized friendship or even a business partnership. You serve a mutually beneficial, and quite specific, purpose to one another and that is what maintains your relationship.
Ultimately I think what I said in the beginning - that this is different for everyone - is the real answer. It is all about how you think about people and how much you let them into your life. Either way, though, it is a very interesting topic and there are surely a million different opinions and likely a ton of research done on it.
This is a very interesting question and one that I have a lot of experience with. The phenomenon of "internet friends" is in no way a new concept, and I would even go so far as to say it is one that is fading away.
10+ years ago, well before "web 2.0" was a thing, the internet was a much more mysterious and experimental place. People were using web forums, online chat rooms, gaming, using IRC to chat, share files, and share a lot of not-quite-legal information with one-another, and online dating was still in development. The fact that people could connect with someone across the globe and talk about something they had in common was still exciting and new to many people. That glow, I fear, has faded. Today the ability to communicate with anyone, anywhere, any time is pretty much a given. Social media is the dominant way that we communicate with one another, and most of those people are within our circle of friends.
This is not to say that people aren't meeting others online anymore. Forums are still active, online dating is huge, and chat rooms still exist. From my experience, however, it is just not the same.
That being said, I feel that for many people "online friends" and "real life friends" are different for everyone. There are groups of people out there who consider their online friends to be true friends. Taking World of Warcraft as an example, the guilds people create often have very tight bonds and these people sometimes share every detail of their lives with one another. They become very close and in many ways may even be closer than their "real life friends". Some, however, form relationships with people in chat rooms and forums that are strictly professional, or just people that they chat with to have fun and may never think about them otherwise.
In my own life, I have met many people online who later became my real life friends. I even met girls I dated through the internet when I was younger. Meeting someone through the internet was exciting because it meant you could talk to someone who lived an hour away that you may otherwise never meet in person and then connect in real life. One of my first girlfriends (a girl who lived 45 minutes from me) was met this way, and we still talk to this day even though she now lives across the country.
I also have had a number of friendships that were maintained solely online through various message boards, games, and things of this nature. I never made that deep connection with these people like some do - it was always just chatting about whatever hobby or game we were interested in. I think that this type of friendship is pretty interesting because it is almost like a specialized friendship or even a business partnership. You serve a mutually beneficial, and quite specific, purpose to one another and that is what maintains your relationship.
Ultimately I think what I said in the beginning - that this is different for everyone - is the real answer. It is all about how you think about people and how much you let them into your life. Either way, though, it is a very interesting topic and there are surely a million different opinions and likely a ton of research done on it.
Monday, April 1, 2013
Network Tour
1. Describe, briefly, the overall network design strategy at Edgewood
2. What approach has been used when determining the specific technologies needed to expand the network to match the needs of the organization?
3. What types of technologies have been utilized to integrate the various facilities at Edgewood?
2. What approach has been used when determining the specific technologies needed to expand the network to match the needs of the organization?
3. What types of technologies have been utilized to integrate the various facilities at Edgewood?
4. Based on Joe's talk, what types of skills do you think are needed in order to work in the networking area of IT?
1. Joe talked about redundancy and fail safes a lot. He stressed how important it was to make sure the network was always up and if something did happen, the fact that they implemented systems to switch over the network traffic would save them. He also discussed how important their backup system was and the fact that it was updated every night and they even trade tapes between campuses to make sure there is a backup in case of a disaster.
2. It seems that it has all been an upgrade as you go kind of deal. As they have increased demand, they add capacity and work from there He mentioned they just upgraded their connection and are already maxing it out. It seems they are limited by budget, space, and time.
3. Standard cable Ethernet, fiber, and WiFi are all used throughout the campuses. Buildings and classrooms are hard wired, but the network is extended to mobile users through WiFi hotspots all over campus. Ot
4. It is obvious a deep knowledge of hardware, cabling, and the technology available is extremely important. Understanding basic networking theory, problem solving, patience, and solid pc troubleshooting skills are also likely needed. It would also seem that things like video surveillance and and understanding of telephone systems is important. A wide skill set is likely your best bet.
Reflective Blog #5
"Describe how using social networking technologies changes how you communicate with your family and friends."
Currently I am planning my 30th birthday party and a scooter rally on Facebook, as well as tracking my attendance at around 10 other events in the next few months. This makes it so I can contact everyone that is going, send reminders, get reminders myself, and search for other events too.
The ways that social networking has impacted how I communicate with friends is HUGE. There are times where I go weeks or even months without physically talking to friends, yet we will message on Facebook regularly to keep up. The convenience factor is the key here.
Currently I am planning my 30th birthday party and a scooter rally on Facebook, as well as tracking my attendance at around 10 other events in the next few months. This makes it so I can contact everyone that is going, send reminders, get reminders myself, and search for other events too.
As far as family goes - I try to avoid them online as much as possible. I have a few family members as friends but I try to keep in touch with them via phone or in person. It is nice, however, to see pictures of my cousins and other family members I don't get to see often.
I feel that the move towards social media and how ingrained in our society it has become is fairly inevitable. I have been a member of various incarnations of social media for nearly 15 years now, and have always known it would be huge. First it was personal home pages, then it was blogs, then it was your Myspace page, now it is Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, and many more that are used every day.
Monday, March 18, 2013
Reflective Blog #4
"Consider the impact of personal networking devices, in terms of the environment. What do you think are the biggest areas of immediate impact? How about long term impact?"
This is an area I am not hugely familiar with. I think, however, it is easy to see a few potential positives as well as some negatives associated with the environmental impact.
Let's start with the positives -
1. Less wired infrastructure could lead to less large-scale development, construction, and destruction of natural areas.
2. All-in-one digital devices allow access to many things we used to buy individually. Things like newspapers, magazines, books, cameras, video cameras, movies, cds, audio recorders, pdas, etc. are all being combined into singular wireless devices that allow access to most forms of media.
Now, some negatives -
1. Our need as a society to have the newest, fastest, devices often leads to cycling through technology well before it's usefulness has expired. This leads to more production and more waste. Both of which demand natural resources and contribute to pollution.
2. Unknown long-term health impact of large-scale wireless networks and personal devices. Who knows what these wireless signals could end up doing to us and natural over the next 100 years. Maybe nothing, but maybe we will see a huge epidemic of cancer and birth defects.
3. The need to replace old wired infrastructure with wireless infrastructure in buildings will create a large amount of waste when we need to dispose of mountains of old cables and outdated hardware.
4. Increased usage of these services creates more demand for more bandwidth, server space, and more meaning there will be more electricity used, more centers built, and a more impact on the environment. This could potentially be negated by the lowered demand for physical media such as dvds, cds, books, etc., however.
For some additional reading, here are a few interesting articles on the topic of wireless devices and their impact on the environment that I found after writing this up:
http://www.bsr.org/reports/BSR_CTIA_Wireless_and_the_Environment.pdf
http://www.gsma.com/publicpolicy/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/environmobiledevices.pdf
This is an area I am not hugely familiar with. I think, however, it is easy to see a few potential positives as well as some negatives associated with the environmental impact.
Let's start with the positives -
1. Less wired infrastructure could lead to less large-scale development, construction, and destruction of natural areas.
2. All-in-one digital devices allow access to many things we used to buy individually. Things like newspapers, magazines, books, cameras, video cameras, movies, cds, audio recorders, pdas, etc. are all being combined into singular wireless devices that allow access to most forms of media.
Now, some negatives -
1. Our need as a society to have the newest, fastest, devices often leads to cycling through technology well before it's usefulness has expired. This leads to more production and more waste. Both of which demand natural resources and contribute to pollution.
2. Unknown long-term health impact of large-scale wireless networks and personal devices. Who knows what these wireless signals could end up doing to us and natural over the next 100 years. Maybe nothing, but maybe we will see a huge epidemic of cancer and birth defects.
3. The need to replace old wired infrastructure with wireless infrastructure in buildings will create a large amount of waste when we need to dispose of mountains of old cables and outdated hardware.
4. Increased usage of these services creates more demand for more bandwidth, server space, and more meaning there will be more electricity used, more centers built, and a more impact on the environment. This could potentially be negated by the lowered demand for physical media such as dvds, cds, books, etc., however.
For some additional reading, here are a few interesting articles on the topic of wireless devices and their impact on the environment that I found after writing this up:
http://www.bsr.org/reports/BSR_CTIA_Wireless_and_the_Environment.pdf
http://www.gsma.com/publicpolicy/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/environmobiledevices.pdf
Thursday, February 28, 2013
Reflective Blog #3
"Nothing is really secure - Get over it!"
I think that this statement could be taken a number of different ways, but I am gong to assume that it is meant to tell people to not worry too much about security since everything is so insecure.
This line of thinking is pretty unsafe. Imagine if we applied the same logic to other parts of our lives. "Cars aren't safe so why bother using seat belts?" or "Racism isn't going away - get over it!". It would be a pretty sad fate for us to live out our lives not trying to make things better or improving upon our current systems.
The reality is that nothing is truly secure, true, but that does not mean we shouldn't at least try to make things secure. I'm not going to leave my house unlocked when I leave simply because someone could pick the lock anyway! Doing something as simple as making sure you password protect your WiFi network and choosing the correct security settings for network sharing could be all it takes to prevent someone from accessing your data.
I have a feeling that as wireless technology becomes more and more plastered into our culture, and as people become more tech savvy we will eventually get to the point where people understand the things we need to worry about, but until then I think it is probably a good idea to make every effort to get people to lock their networks down, put passwords or locks on their devices, use passwords that aren't simple, and whatever else they can do without it being a huge issue.
I have a laptop, smart phone, tablet, desktop pc, a wireless network at home, a wireless printer, a hard drive shared on my network, and more that I have to deal with. For me security is a concern, but it is definitely more in the back of my mind. I have passwords set on everything, I make sure that my sharing options are correct, I always put lock screens on my devices, and I try to use different passwords for everything online. I recently started using a password keeper so I could use unique passwords for all websites and not have to worry about forgetting them. Nothing too fancy, and nothing that is very inconvenient.
In the end, however, if someone much smarter than me really wanted to hack into my facebook to read my messages or steal data or get into my network and look at pictures of me hanging out with my dog (how exciting!) they probably could. That doesn't mean I won't try!
I think that this statement could be taken a number of different ways, but I am gong to assume that it is meant to tell people to not worry too much about security since everything is so insecure.
This line of thinking is pretty unsafe. Imagine if we applied the same logic to other parts of our lives. "Cars aren't safe so why bother using seat belts?" or "Racism isn't going away - get over it!". It would be a pretty sad fate for us to live out our lives not trying to make things better or improving upon our current systems.
The reality is that nothing is truly secure, true, but that does not mean we shouldn't at least try to make things secure. I'm not going to leave my house unlocked when I leave simply because someone could pick the lock anyway! Doing something as simple as making sure you password protect your WiFi network and choosing the correct security settings for network sharing could be all it takes to prevent someone from accessing your data.
I have a feeling that as wireless technology becomes more and more plastered into our culture, and as people become more tech savvy we will eventually get to the point where people understand the things we need to worry about, but until then I think it is probably a good idea to make every effort to get people to lock their networks down, put passwords or locks on their devices, use passwords that aren't simple, and whatever else they can do without it being a huge issue.
I have a laptop, smart phone, tablet, desktop pc, a wireless network at home, a wireless printer, a hard drive shared on my network, and more that I have to deal with. For me security is a concern, but it is definitely more in the back of my mind. I have passwords set on everything, I make sure that my sharing options are correct, I always put lock screens on my devices, and I try to use different passwords for everything online. I recently started using a password keeper so I could use unique passwords for all websites and not have to worry about forgetting them. Nothing too fancy, and nothing that is very inconvenient.
In the end, however, if someone much smarter than me really wanted to hack into my facebook to read my messages or steal data or get into my network and look at pictures of me hanging out with my dog (how exciting!) they probably could. That doesn't mean I won't try!
Friday, February 22, 2013
Reflective Blog #2
While the price of a acquiring a cell phone and associated service is going down, the cost of using a cell phone and associated service is going up. What do you think is meant by this statement?
I got my first cell phone in 2000 when I was 17 years old. It was a Motorola Startac flip phone with 3 lines of green text. No graphics, no colors, no games. If I remember correctly the phone was free and the service was $35/month for unlimited local service and a 1 year contract. Most people I know got pennies for a penny or around $50. The fees for roaming and long distance were absurd - but the monthly contracts were totally reasonable.
Now, however, we pay hundreds of dollars for our phones (depending on how inclined you are to have the newest/hottest tech), we are locked into 2-year contract, and our service is more expensive than ever. Between our monthly minutes, texting, and internet, it isn't unheard of to pay $100 for a single line of service. That may or may not include unlimited internet, but generally it does not. It also would not include the ability to tether your phone to other devices, to leave the country with your phone (without paying insane costs), and "unlimited" generally comes with a few limiting factors (eg they will throttle your bandwidth if you dare to actually make good use of the service you pay for).
But why? Why are we still paying huge amount of money for a service that is now used by, literally, billions of people worldwide. The best answer I can come up with is that the cell providers A. don't want to eat their infrastructure costs for upgrades such as 4g and new towers so they pass on these costs directly to the consumers in the form of inflated prices for things such as texts (really, 25 cents per text message in 2013?), overpriced internet, and no reduction over time once their costs have been recouped. B. they see the demand for service and lack of many other options so they are able to keep the prices high and C. their is little perceived demand for competition or innovation so the companies can do as they wish.
Infrastructure costs may be high, but I wonder how much longer cell companies are going to have the current hold they have on the market. Between smaller companies offering extremely competitive prices and VOIP services such as Skype, Gchat, and now Facebook, there are many options for those who don't wish to pay for these services.
I got my first cell phone in 2000 when I was 17 years old. It was a Motorola Startac flip phone with 3 lines of green text. No graphics, no colors, no games. If I remember correctly the phone was free and the service was $35/month for unlimited local service and a 1 year contract. Most people I know got pennies for a penny or around $50. The fees for roaming and long distance were absurd - but the monthly contracts were totally reasonable.
Now, however, we pay hundreds of dollars for our phones (depending on how inclined you are to have the newest/hottest tech), we are locked into 2-year contract, and our service is more expensive than ever. Between our monthly minutes, texting, and internet, it isn't unheard of to pay $100 for a single line of service. That may or may not include unlimited internet, but generally it does not. It also would not include the ability to tether your phone to other devices, to leave the country with your phone (without paying insane costs), and "unlimited" generally comes with a few limiting factors (eg they will throttle your bandwidth if you dare to actually make good use of the service you pay for).
But why? Why are we still paying huge amount of money for a service that is now used by, literally, billions of people worldwide. The best answer I can come up with is that the cell providers A. don't want to eat their infrastructure costs for upgrades such as 4g and new towers so they pass on these costs directly to the consumers in the form of inflated prices for things such as texts (really, 25 cents per text message in 2013?), overpriced internet, and no reduction over time once their costs have been recouped. B. they see the demand for service and lack of many other options so they are able to keep the prices high and C. their is little perceived demand for competition or innovation so the companies can do as they wish.
Infrastructure costs may be high, but I wonder how much longer cell companies are going to have the current hold they have on the market. Between smaller companies offering extremely competitive prices and VOIP services such as Skype, Gchat, and now Facebook, there are many options for those who don't wish to pay for these services.
Thursday, February 14, 2013
Staying in Touch
For this post I will be discussing "What technology do you use to 'stay in touch' and why?"
The ways in which we stay in touch are many and include obvious things such as postal mail, telephone (land line and cell), texting, email, Skype, Facebook, blogs, photo sharing sites, and more. Many of us today use a combination of these to keep in touch with one another. I would wager that the younger generation leans towards using Facebook, texting, and email as their main ways to keeping touch but for many these technologies have not yet taken hold.
As for me, I am almost purely digital. I keep in touch with my family and friends via Facebook, communicate with instructors and classmates via email. I do use the phone to talk to family and friends, but mainly just family these days. I text when I need info, and planning meetups usually involves a Facebook invite and maybe a text as a reminder. Skype has started to become common enough that I do on occasion use that, but it seems as if most people have not yet embraced the idea of video chat.
Looking at how this has evolved over the past 15 years or so of my life is pretty incredible. I am just old enough that cell phones weren't really affordable or widely used until I was a senior in High School and I still remember the days of 32.6 baud modems. I dialed into AOL every day after school from 9th grade until we got cable internet when I was in 11th. This period of my life completely changed my communication style. I went from always having to either call someone or go directly to their house to simply emailing or texting them. No longer did I write notes to friends, I simply sent IMs. And once webcams became available I remember chatting with people across the country for the first time and being amazed.
For me, digital communication is what I am comfortable with. I feel safe and confident behind a keyboard. I feel more able to express myself and I am able to keep track of things as well. I am a very unorganized person "offline", but on my computer I know right where everything is and how to find it if I don't. It is a matter of interest, convenience, and maybe a little because I hate making phone calls. And a lot because my handwriting is terrible.
The ways in which we stay in touch are many and include obvious things such as postal mail, telephone (land line and cell), texting, email, Skype, Facebook, blogs, photo sharing sites, and more. Many of us today use a combination of these to keep in touch with one another. I would wager that the younger generation leans towards using Facebook, texting, and email as their main ways to keeping touch but for many these technologies have not yet taken hold.
As for me, I am almost purely digital. I keep in touch with my family and friends via Facebook, communicate with instructors and classmates via email. I do use the phone to talk to family and friends, but mainly just family these days. I text when I need info, and planning meetups usually involves a Facebook invite and maybe a text as a reminder. Skype has started to become common enough that I do on occasion use that, but it seems as if most people have not yet embraced the idea of video chat.
Looking at how this has evolved over the past 15 years or so of my life is pretty incredible. I am just old enough that cell phones weren't really affordable or widely used until I was a senior in High School and I still remember the days of 32.6 baud modems. I dialed into AOL every day after school from 9th grade until we got cable internet when I was in 11th. This period of my life completely changed my communication style. I went from always having to either call someone or go directly to their house to simply emailing or texting them. No longer did I write notes to friends, I simply sent IMs. And once webcams became available I remember chatting with people across the country for the first time and being amazed.
For me, digital communication is what I am comfortable with. I feel safe and confident behind a keyboard. I feel more able to express myself and I am able to keep track of things as well. I am a very unorganized person "offline", but on my computer I know right where everything is and how to find it if I don't. It is a matter of interest, convenience, and maybe a little because I hate making phone calls. And a lot because my handwriting is terrible.
Monday, February 11, 2013
First post for networking
I have been blogging off and on for 13 years now. I have never really maintained a blog meant for other people to read, I have just always posted things about my life, my interests, photos, etc. So, while I feel comfortable writing blog entries - it is somewhat new for me to write focused blog entries on specific topics for class.
Two blogs that I love are BoingBoing.net and 2StrokeBuzz.com. BoingBoing is a blog that talks about technology, culture, and almost anything else. They always post really interest things. 2StrokeBuzz is a blog about the scooter scene. I love old Vespa and Lambretta scooters and this blog talks about scooter rallies, new products, and reviews gear and scooters as well.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)