Book review/ The Victorian Internet by Tom Standage

Through decades of trial and error, a series of inventors, doctors and investors struggled with the amounting difficulties of telegraph. With one mans passion for the telegraph, eventually failed and passed on to the next, the telegraph actually started to hold some weight.  By 1844, a set of wires had carried news of the birth of Victoria’s second son from Windsor to London. Another set had carried the words “What hath God wrought” from Washington to Baltimore. In the decade that followed, wires snaked across Europe and America, and an undersea cable joined continents. Then, as now, culture sprang up around the Net, complete with its own language and etiquette. What then happened was not that the telegraph became the nervous system of the revolutionary underground, but that business men directed their field agents to better opportunities without informing their rivals, and cut their communication costs by sending only key words which stood for agreed sentence.  Claude Chappe, an eighteenth-century Frenchman, devised the electric telegraph’s optical precursor, a series of towers topped with wooden machines bearing huge, movable wooden arms that could be used like semaphore. Alas, Chappe succumbed to depression and paranoia, then killed himself by jumping into a well outside the Paris Telegraph Administration..” Chappe’s competition in America, the hapless portrait painter and amateur inventor Samuel F. B. Morse, held the American patents for the electric telegraph but saw only a small fraction of the royalties due him. His British counterparts, William Fothergill Cooke and Charles Wheatstone, spent decades battling over the rights of the invention. Although Cooke and Wheatstone’s telegraph used a clever arrangement of magnetized needles to spell out messages by pointing to letters, Morse’s system of dots and dashes proved more efficient and reliable.In a chapter titled “Information Overload,” Standage looks at an issue that is still of concern. The radical effects of speedier communication were felt first in business. “Any business that wanted to stay competitive had no choice but to embrace the new technology. The result was an irreversible acceleration in the pace of business life, which has continued to this day.” This pace accelerated further with the invention of the stock ticker, of which it was written, “The letters and figures used in the language of the tape are very few, but they spell ruin in ninety-nine million ways.”The genius of Thomas Edison, the quintessential American inventor, was in a way a by-product of the telegraph system. Edison earned early fame as a star Morse-code reader (which may have been because his partial deafness made it easy for him to ignore other auditory distractions), and fed his ingenious mind with experimentation in various telegraph offices. At 21, he went to New York and, unable to afford a hotel, slept on the floor of the Laws Gold Indicator Company. Edison soon figured out how the Indicator, an early stock-ticker, worked. He invented a better version, sold it to the company, and was hired as an “in-house R&D” department. But, ironically, it was the improvements [Edison] and other inventors devised that would eventually lead to the demise of the telegraph and the community that had grown up around it; for any industry founded on a particular technology faces the danger that a new invention will render it obsolete. Standage declines to speculate what invention might render the Internet obsolete. But he does conclude, with the wisdom of hindsight, that our own awe at the far-reaching changes the Web has made in our society is provincial and nearsighted. “If any generation has the right to claim that it bore the full, bewildering, world-shrinking brunt of such a revolution, it is not us—it is our nineteenth-century forebears.”   

essay 5

  

I must come straight with everyone, I really was skeptical about taking this kind of course in the beginning. I thought that I knew enough about the internet to get by in today’s world, wrong! I was so wrong, “Basic concepts of new media” the course title is vague, but in actuality all the basic concepts that we learned are just a drop in the bucket of all the knowledge out there. The internet has created this vast new world that is so young and exciting. This course had helped me realize this. In a way it humbled me, I feel that it has opened a whole new window in my life. And I’m really excited about it. I now take a more active role in exploring the working of some programs in my computer that would otherwise never have been explored.

 

     I could honestly take this course over again, simply because a lot of the concepts we learned, even though they are basic to some people, were fresh for me. I admit to not fully engaging in all the activities that we had done, but I did try my hand at most of them, I feel privileged to have been born into the computer age. I believe this does in fact give our generation an upper hand. It was interesting concept that we had discusses in class, our generation had always been around technology. This had never occurred to me that this may be why I excel in most technological things over my parents. One thing I am proud to walk away with, even though may be a small feat to some, is creating hyperlinks. This was a new concept to me, but very useful to me know. I also had never created a blog before. Using wordpress.com was really fun and interesting to me, I enjoyed updating my weekly blog and physically seeing it on the internet. Other interesting aspects of the class were all the new websites that we explored. I am addicted to flikr know and will most likely be contributing to it very soon. I added several websites that we explored in class to my favorites list.

 

  Chris Anderson’s article “The Long Tail,” really stuck with me, in fact it literally stuck with me because I saved it to my hard drive, in order to read it again. The article help we realize the power of the internet. Not only can it connect to different cultures, it allows those cultures to share information, music, artistic projects, ideas, etc. There is a vast amount of content in this world that has far more creative value than what mainstream media decided to show. Chris Anderson puts it well by saying, “For too long we’ve been suffering the tyranny of lowest-common-denominator fare, subjected to brain-dead summer blockbusters and manufactured pop. Why? Economics. Many of our assumptions about popular taste are actually artifacts of poor supply-and-demand matching – a market response to inefficient distribution.” I have always despised the mainstream media, it always seemed shallow and superficial to me. Now the internet has the capability to let the otherwise smaller artist to reach their audience. An audience that thoroughly enjoys that particular product, the idea of having to be subjected to what ever Hollywood decided to put out is over. I could not be happier about this concept. Not only does it give the less popular artist a chance to shine, it may allow them to even get paid for what they otherwise wouldn’t have. It’s an entire new economic model for the media and entertainment industries. It is really exciting for everyone involved, users, creators, producers, everyone now has a shot at some so called stardom.

 

This course opened my eyes to the world that exist outside of my own. I admit my ignorance and will make an effort to explore the possibilities that exist using the internet. I can’t really say if they will have any residual benefits in the years to come. Like most new things it takes time to realize the benefit, but I have seen drastic improvements in my life so far. I have worked to pass on the little knowledge I have to other in hopes to improve their life. Concepts of new media means so much more to me know than when I  first entered the classroom. I have learned much about the capabilities of the internet and the potential that it creates. I am now an enthusiastic user of my computer that once upon a time needed a dusting of every time it was put to use.

   

   

GROUP POST

Florida Times-UnionVery local orientated, with pictures of local events and fundraisers. The web page Seemed to care a lot about the community. There were also pictures and links to the columnist, which I thought was really special. The news tribune didn’t have much of news concerning the rest of the world, so overall it’s a great local publication for locals or people moving there to read.San Diego Union TribuneThis Website seemed to be very up to date with the technology available. They had a lot of links to choose from and seemed to be updating the page every several hours or so. I liked it overall, it had a welcoming feeling to it, allowing the reader to be able to browse through days of information. The Sun (UKMy initial reaction to the webpage was shock because of the headline news story of a women being stuck on the loo for two years, wow! The webpage seemed to have a Hollywood tone to it. It was bright and flashy with saucy pictures all over it. I did Check out the world news section and was surprised to see pictures accompanying the headline for every world story. Overall the online news publication seemed a bit too flashy, but I imagine some people would love it, I’ll give it a 7 out of 10.Milwaukee Journal SentinelFor some reason my browser made the print really small and I could not read it the second time I visited the webpage. The first time I visited it I recall giving this online news publication the highest score of all. It seem to have it all, local, classified, RSS, world news, etc. I was very impressed and gave them a 10 out of 10.

ASSIGNMENT 4

this is the link to my com 300 page

Bringing technology gaps in the public schools districts 

Millions of children in the public school district still have no access to computers in their schools.  Laptop computers have been deployed for a while in some progressive school districts, but not others. Why some educators emphasize good teaching over tech gadgets, some teachers have aimed to blend the two and the results have been astonishing. I strongly believe that the digital divide is a big part of the overall academic performance gap in our ethnically diverse society. Therefore, it needs to be addressed in public schools. A recent study of how e-learning systems affect students’ learning outcomes was conducted and an elaborate two phase study was designed. The firs study created a constructive e-learning environment (CEE) and discovered how students expected their learning outcomes under this environment. CEE is composed of three constructs, which are explored, collaborated, and constructed. The statistical results showed high level of students expectations on every construct. This learning environment was then deployed in the classroom environment. The purpose was to compare the learning outcomes and knowledge development of students who studied the course using CEE with those students who learned it under a traditional learning environment. The results showed that the students who used the CEE had better learned outcomes and knowledge development that the students who did not.

  It is evident that technology in the classroom can be a catalyst for improvements of the students learning capabilities. Without the proper equipment and infrastructure, students and teachers are unable to use technology to enhance learning, leading to frustration and disillusionment. “We’re expecting our 21-century students to function in 20th- century classrooms,” Barbara Thalacker, the state education technology director, said. “If we don’t put more money into this state, that is known for high technology across the board, we’re not equipping our students with 21st-century skills.”  While there continues to be a digital divide in public education nationally, most school staff and students today have access to up-to-date computers and operating systems, if not at home, then at their public library. They use the latest operating systems and applications to create PowerPoint and video presentations, write research papers and build websites. The difficulty arises when students bring these projects to school only to discover they are unable to run them properly on the computers in their classrooms and computer labs. This hinders the learning process and contributes to discouragement. Addressing this deficiency requires costly upgrades and software changes.  The first step in implementation of any computer replacement plan is to educate the key players in the school district about the need and implications of failing to enact the proposal. These might include the superintendent’s cabinet, department heads, the finance department and the school board. The most critical component leaders must address is whether the source of funding is ongoing or one time only. Leasing, rather than buying, new computers makes sense financially because it allows the district to ease into the financial commitment and prevents the district from having to go through the same process every few years.Schools struggle to keep up with advances in technologyAndrew BeckerSTAFF. Oakland Tribune. Oakland, Calif.: Nov 15, 2006. pg. 1

VOIP Extra Credit Assignment

After evaluating Vonage I found that they do offer VOIP  services. Their payments plans seemed to be pretty simple with an option to pay a one time annually fee of 239.99$. Thats the only option that I found, other that a offer that said you pay as low as 1cent per minute for long distance calls, which I found to be extremely reasonable. The whole experience was very easy, I found that I could keep my same number. I really could have had their service in a few clicks of a button. I of course wouldn’t buy into this primarily because I don’t make enough long distance or international call to justify the annual fees, although it would be cheaper that what I pay know for regular phone service.

After evaluating Speakeasy I found that they do offer VOIP but only for businesses and so on. It seemed relatively easy to set up, but pretty steep in price. the Price ranged form 19.95$ per month to around 749.00$ per month. So i defiantly think that I wont be signing up for their service any time soon. I also didn’t find a place to see if I could keep the same number. Overall the two companies are offering the same thing but for different clientele.

reading week 10

How do you expect VoIP to impact cable and telephone networks (both are regulated infrastructure industries) ?

In the next decade or maybe even sooner than that, I suspect that the telephone industries that don’t jump on the VoIP bandwagon are going to get left in the dirt. This is a revolutionary idea that is going to streamline to many people world wide. As quoted in the articles it is compared to as re-inventing the wheel. The VoIP idea bypasses the phone companies completely and its charges most importantly. I can see most major phone companies that have the money and technology will begin to offer VoIP plans sold along with computers. Some telephone companies have been using this technology for years. The only problems that exist with VoIP technology is that it relies on wall power, like most computers. If the power was to go out for any period of time this would have a effect the connection entirely. Once telephone companies develop a solution to this problem I suspect moderate growth in the VoIP technologies.  I don’t think that VoIP will have such a drastic affect on cable companies because their uses are Internet related, maybe further in the future we will see an affect.

1. What are some major issues affecting VoIP technologies?

2. What are some reason VoIP may not be the dominant way to make phone calls in the future?

3. In what ways with the explosion of VoIP technologies be an disadvantage to some distant cultures who have limited Internet access?

GROUP POST

after evaluating a total of 4 websites I will compare the 4. As far as the images, video and sounds go I thought that the San Diego News Tribune had it the most dialed. It was inviting and load at the same time. The Sun of UK seemed to be to entertainment based. They could highlight some important political stories, although they are not having elections like the U.S. so their website was plastered with highlights of the presidential race. The three other websites seem to cover all the same stories, which isn’t bad just redundant information possibly. The best website overall with a rating of 9 out of ten is the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. This news organization, even though it was local, seem to have it all. Most importantly is has a community based watch dog link, it also allowed local public photos to be updated.

reading week 9

Information is the key to success some would say. This had been known for as long as man has been around. With the use of the internet, information is now more accessible than ever. Universal access to the internet allows for the general public an easier than ever means to information. With that information can come economic, political and cultural freedom. Look at Myspace for example, somebody who maybe talked to one or two friends daily now has 5,000 friends to talk to daily. When considering economic growth, the internet had created countless economic opportunities for entrepreneurs who in turn create more jobs for the general public. Special interest groups have also used the internet as a useful tool to lobby, beef up their memberships and create strategic communications throughout the political community. All these successes are created via the internet. Its outstanding ability to spread information has created opportunities that were unimaginable several decades ago.

qeustions:

1.If the internet had never been created would the new culture of today be differant than the pre internet days?

2. consideraing the capabilites of the internet 10 years ago to its capabilty today, will universal access rapid change the internet as it did in the past?

3. Is universal access achievable now, and if so why are their strict rules hindering our capabilites to do so?

Assignment 3

this is my assignment 3.

Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, these seem to be the only two faces you see anymore on politically connected television networks. It is no surprise why these two presidential candidates have the spotlight on them at all times, not only do they create sparks during debates, they also are two very unusual candidates to see face to face, let alone running for president. This is the sole reason I had chosen these two figures to compare and contrast webpages. In the following paper I will be analyzing each candidate’s website, comparing and contrasting the content available, focusing on form, content and writing style.

 

 First I will examine Barack Obama’s website, who is the junior senator from Illinois. Upon first examining the webpage of Mr. Obama I was expecting to have to enter my information to be able to view his web page. Usually they want to be able to send you information about that candidate via email, but I was surprised when it gave me the option to opt out of the information section and simply hop right into the website. I was not too surprises with the layout of the webpage, its background was blue with shades of light blue throughout, it had a very bold but relaxing tone to it. Most pictures that were offered of Mr. Obama were of him standing tall looking to be in deep thought. The writing style was extremely neat and organized, with a soft and relaxing tone to all of it. It was very user friendly offering a place to watch video, write blogs and jut explore every detail about Barack and his campaign. There were several tabs to select from and I took them and the first tab being the most important to the last being the least important. The first tab was a Learn tab that gave you the option to learn about the candidate, his family, gives facts that when entering are mostly directed against his biggest opponent   Hillary Clinton, in summary declaring here a liar. The next tab is the issues that Barack stands for. The next tab is the media tab, which gives you links to Baracktv, photos, downloads, mobile. The next tab is the action tab where it gives you the option to donate, there is also a place to donate on the main page that is in bold red letters. The next tab is the people tab, which gives you where he had been and where he is going to be.

 

  Hillary Clintons web page was striking similar to the colors of the American flag, just screaming patriotism. It was more cluttered than Baracks webpage, but had striking similarities in the tab options. Not too different than Baracks. The biggest difference was the writing style. It is obvious that Hillary is falling behind in the race and it really shows on her webpage where the majority of the content that is fist viewed is asking for help in ione way or another. Some key words that rang aloud were help, join and find. All related to helping her campaign, or joining her fight and finding supporters for herself. I did not see to may jabs at Senator Obama, much unlike I saw on his page. Maybe it was hidden deeper in the webpage were I had not found or maybe they have backed off that strategy because of a possible backfire. I was also surprised that Hillary did not have the word “Donate” as bold and big as Obama.

 

  Overall I found the two web pages to have striking similarities, but also had much different tomes to each. It seems that Hillary is desperate in her website, where Barack is riding the wave on top and is much more calm and collected. I’m sure if the situation was reversed that they both would be singing different tunes.

group project

through out my search for news organizations websites I found huge amount of resources to choose from. I picked one news organization that I had heard of and one news organization that I had not heard of. This way I could compare and contrast a popular organization to maybe a less favorable one.

the first news organization I chose was the BBC online news website. I first encountered a browser option with categories with news from each continent, then you would click on that option and there would be only a few major news stories, nothing to in depth though. Then on the other side of the page it seemed that there was more effort put into the sports, radio, tv, world news and weather tabs, each individual box was accompanied by a photo and r.s.s. option. I clicked on the r.s.s. tabs and it gave me very up to date(with in 5 min) freshly posted news stories. Overall I was not too impressed with the bbc news site. For being such a mainstream new organization I would expect more effort.

the next website that i explored was www.wn.com. this website even though not the for-runners, for news as far as i knew, did have a lot ore options to choose from. It did not have any rss options that were visible. It had a handy little stock price tracker that I though was a neat addition. It even offered a place for the public to upload pictures and video onto the website. it was offered in twenty different languages and gave the top stories from all over the world. Overall this website was far better than the other. It obviously was more maintained and manicured than other news organizations websites.