Citations

Ellison, N., Heino, R., & Gibbs, J. (2006). Managing Impressions Online:Self-Presentation Processes in the Online Dating Environment. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication. 11, 415-441. Hardey, Michael (2004).Mediated Relationships: Authenticity and the possibility of romance. Information, Communication & Society. 7, 207-222. Merkle, AuthorE. R., & Richardson, R. A. (2000). Digital Dating & Virtual Relating:Conceptualizing Computer Mediated Romantic Relationships. Family Relations. 49, 187-192. Stritzke, W.G.K., Nguyen, K., & Durkin, K. (2004). Shyness and Computer-Mediated Communication: A Self-Presentational Theory Perspective. Media Psychology. 6, 1-22.

The Future 7/5

From the readings, I found "Has The Internet Become Indispensable? Empirical Findings and Model Development" by Hoffman, Novak, & VenKatesh, and "New Methods, New Goals" by Shneiderman to be interesting.

The article by Hoffman basically talked about the Intenet being increasingly part of our daily lives or better yet an "irreverisble" innovation. Without the Internet, many people including me would not be able to send emails, chat, IM, shop, purchase tickets, do our banking, etc. A lot of people prefer to use the Internet because it's much convenient and accessible. The article discussed that college students are the heaviest users. Well, I can vouch for this because throughout my college life and still today I use it more than ever when researching or posting information for class like this one. I use it just as much outside of class just to take a load off from a days work. I think that the Internet is very educational because you can find further information from teachers or gain knowledge just by browsing. However, the Internet can be problems for many. For example, people don't have access to the Internet or don't have the skills in using the internet when searching. I think this can put a burden on people from gaining knowledge. Also, another problem is privacy, protection, and security. This problem rises because of the issue with identities being stolen and people. People do have the right to feel unease by the fact that their information is being tampered or being used by somebody else, but what can be done to solve this problem? Is there really a solution to this problem?

In the article by Shneiderman, it discussed re-designing the user-interface. The author discussed three methods for user-centereed designs such as user needs assessment, usability testing, and customer feedback. I think these are important because users want to have their input into the designs that would effect them the most since they are the ones who are going to use the computers. If they are not involved, then how can designes meet the needs of the users? I would prefer to use a computer that is user friendly because it makes it more easier and simple to just go to a website where I click on a link and sent directly to the information relating to the link without having to go through multiple links to get to it. However, designers have a hard time adjusting to expectations of the users because they are use to the old computing. Unfortunely, designers have to realize that the old computing is out the window and that it's what the user wants and expects of the designers, a more friendly, less frustrating user interface.

Two articles related to the topic:

http://www.baltimoresun.com/technology/bal-bz.pl.himowitz14jun14,0,5745588.column?coll=bal-technology-headlines

http://www.baltimoresun.com/technology/bal-te.ha.seniors02jul02,0,5143046.story?coll=bal-technology-headlines

Economics & Work 6/28

The articles I found interesting were “The New Commerce: E-Business” by Sheniderman, “Where Home is the Office: The New Form of Flexible Work” by Slaff, and “The Economies of Online Cooperation: Gifts and Public Goods in Cyberspace” by Peter Kollock.

The article by Sheinderman mainly talked about e-business, shopping on the Web, and potential risks. A lot people whether shop online than go to a store because it’s much more convenient, easier, and cheaper. Sometimes when people go into a store looking for a particular and they don’t have it, they mostly will look online to see if it’s in stock. The article mentioned how e-business can allow customers make deals and get the lowest price for a product by visiting product comparison sites. People makes deals knowing the merchant cannot refuse their offer based on the price comparisons. Also making deals can be effective tool in being a good negotiator. The article also mentioned how e-business can allow consumers to create the product they want by customization. This gives the consumer freedom to make the choice of how they want their product to look. Many consumers can make many changes to their product before actually ordering because if they don’t like it they can start over. Also, mentioned in the article consumers can create their own store online and sell creations. There a lot this going on where people are selling their paintings, antique items, etc. All of this e-business is beneficial to merchants because they make a bigger profit selling online then in their stores and since people do more shopping nowadays on the web, that’s a way to generate profit and attract consumers with their personalization and customization techniques on the web. However, there are downsides to online shopping. Merchants can scam you out of your money when making transactions such as never receiving a product after paying for it and the merchant can be found. Also, people get a lot of spam through unwanted sales messages trying to lure the consumer into getting a free ipod which actually is a virus that has just affected your computer. At this point it’s all about trust and whether you believe the advertisements and websites offering you products.

The article by Salaff mainly discussed about teleworking in which employees work directly from home instead in the office. A lot of job seeking websites advertise working from home ads. Many people prefer to telework because they don’t have to leave their home as much where as they would have to travel distance if the office is far from home. Setting your on flexible time to do your work as long it gets done is advantage because if you have something do during your regular working hours you can come back to it later. Also it allows workers to spend time with their children during your normal lunch break as if they were in the office. The article mentioned that teleworking and there is less hierarchical control. This allows many to release the burden and stress of being control knowing that they can now have more ease at doing their work and not having someone looking over their backs to see if the work is getting done. However, teleworking has its downfalls. It may be difficult for those who can access the Internet due to economic reasons such as the company not able to afford it. It can be difficult to adjust to teleworking at the beginning if the person has never done it before which the author refers it as the “transition ritual” to work. Also it could be hard for the family to adjust if they don’t receive love and affection anymore because all the focus is now on the work. Many workers can feel isolated at times because there is less communication with coworkers where they are use to communicating with them during their lunch break. Teleworking can be good in way that you have your on space to work without being surrounded by others, but at the same time it can be a little hectic at times.

The article by Kollock talked a lot about gift giving and public goods in gaining cooperation from others. Online, gift giving refers to offering advice, information, and suggestions over the web not to an individual, but to a whole group. It good give gifts over the Internet because what some puts on the Internet maybe useful to another person if it was not directly for them. Also, it’s good for the sender because in the long run they mostly likely will receive information knowing they helped others. Author talks about public goods and how every can benefit from them whether they have helped contribute to their product. It talked about free riding and how people use the public goods but don’t contribute any efforts to the goods. If there is no cooperation or collaboration involved among a group of people than there would be less public goods. Personally, I think it’s unfair to allow those who didn’t contribute get all the credit just because they are in a group and leave those who did the most in the dust. It’s just like working on a group project in class where two people do most of the work and the rest do nothing. The two people who did the work would be upset and angry for the fact that rest didn’t do nothing but try to be the boss. I know I would be if no one tries to input their ideas. Everyone has to cooperate in order to get what they want, but if that does not happen than the project fails. Just like public goods if no one make an effort to cooperate and engage, then getting the public goods you desire will not exist.

Here are two articles from the Baltimore Sun related to the topic:
http://www.baltimoresun.com/technology/bal-bz.ebay26jun26,0,4396656.story?coll=bal-technology-headlines
http://www.baltimoresun.com/technology/bal-bz.ym.ambrose12jun12,0,4806174.column?coll=bal-technology-headlines

Gov't & Politics 6/26

Although I’ am not into the politics thing and all, there were a few articles I found interesting. They were “The New Politics: E-Government” by Shneiderman, “Wirless Quilts” by Rheingold, and “The impact of the Internet on politics” by Cornfield and Rainie.

In the article, “The impact of the internet on politics”, the author talked about the Internet used as way for candidates to advertise their campaign online and how email cannot out beat direct mail and phone calls in getting the attention of registered voters. One statistic was that 38 percent registered voters had received phone calls about the midterm campaign, while only 15 percent had received email. I can see that happening because most people don’t read their emails as often or don’t have access to the Internet. Also, if people do check their email, they most often delete advertising emails. I know I do. I have received more phone calls and direct mail than email messages. In fact, I have never received any emails during the campaign. I guess I would delete it before reading it where as direct mail, I would actually read it. I found interesting that people who obtain political news and information online are more likely to have voted than those who do not get such information online. I don’t search the internet for political information because it’s not of interest to me; however, I do watch the television and read the direct mail so I still vote no matter what.

In the article, “The New Politics: E-Government, the author mentioned about how in order to get the kind of Government citizens want, they have to build an consensus and that new technologies involving communication and collaboration will impact democratic processes. It talked about how communication face-to-face maybe be easier than online such as in open deliberations. I feel that if citizens are face-to-face they may not express themselves more clearly than if they were online. Most people use the Internet as a social tool, so if they have access to the Internet they can automatically read, think about what they want to say, and response without having to meet face to face. Sometimes I whether express my self online because I often feel uncomfortable speaking in front of a large audience.

One interesting thing I found in the article, “Wireless Quilts”, was the fact that with new technologies citizens can receive important information through any wireless mobile device whether through a cell phone, PDA, or even a watch. I think it’s important as citizens to receive information wireless because we’re always on the go. We never have to check the Internet and sometimes the Internet does not always release news as soon as it happens. By having the wireless devices we can be informed immediately without delay. Also we can contact others through our wireless devices so that they can receive immediate information. The text described as an example if not mistaken that if a person is looking for another person, there watch could pinpoint the location of that other person. I like that idea because we would not have to go search for that person and if something was to happen in the location of the other person, than the person wearing watch could inform them.

Here is an article related to the topic: http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/oped/bal-op.egypt26jun26,1,7731231.story

Health & Welfare

When we’re concerned about not only other people health but our own health, we seek for information not through textbooks, but through the Internet. The readings talked about using the Internet as a medium for seeking health information. The ones I found interesting were by Sheniderman, Fox, Bauer, and Kaiser article.

One of the articles I found interest was “The New Medicine: E-Healthcare” by Shneiderman. One thing he talked about was improving medical record keeping making it available by network worldwide through what he calls it “World Wide Med”. This way when a patient is has to go to the hospital while on vacation; the doctor can easily pull up their record to check their medical history so they can provide the patient with proper care. I feel that if I’m seriously injured or ill and I need immediate attention, I would not mind another physician that’s not my own look at my records to see my medical history. If the doctor prescribes any medication, they can decide what I can use based on the records indicating any allergic reactions to any medicines that I may have.

Besides using the Internet for retrieving patient’s medical records, most health seekers (the consumers) use the Internet to seek health-related information whether it’s a general or specific topic there looking for. From reading the articles, most health seekers either use a search engine or go directly to a health website where they know they can find information. At times, I do use a search engine to look up health –related information before going to an actual health website. Most of the time people feel confident about the information they gathered while others feel confused with all the information they find or frustrated they can’t find enough information. Also, from the readings, most people participants in support groups or chats that pertain to their condition. I think this is good for people because they can get a sense of how other people feel about the same condition in which they can relate to as well and can get advice or support from them. From the reading, “Generation Rx.com: How Young People Use the Internet for Health Information” by Kaiser, it was interesting to find that most young people ages 15-24 information about sexual health issues such as pregnancy, AIDS, and STDS has the largest percentage of importance because most of the time see a lot of teenagers pregnant and thinking that they have not been educated enough about diseases and having babies. From the high percentage of 84%, it seems to me that teenagers do care and willing to learn about safe sex. Also, sometimes teens feel uncomfortable talking about sex with their parents or their health education teachers so they use the Internet as their parent for advice.

The articles by Bauer and Shneiderman talked about concerns of losing the patient-doctor relationship. I feel that a patient don’t lose the relationship with their doctor by using the Internet for information because the information they find may not be understandable to them so they rather the doctor explain it more to them. Also, even if they do find information, they still would like to meet with their doctor for suggestions, advice or opinions.

As far as confidentiality, I can understand that people would prefer to keep their medical history between them and their doctor and not expose it to the whole world, but they have to realize that no matter what they do to try to secure their privacy; someone is still gathering the information about them. Think about searching on the Internet, a cookie is storing information about the health websites you are or have recently visit. Think about talking to someone in a health chat room or support group about current condition, you are giving information about yourself to someone you hardly know. The person could possibly be a doctor or a stranger with the same condition as you. So basically, your information is not private because you are spilling it out to someone other than your doctor.

Here is an article related to the topic: http://www.baltimoresun.com/business/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-pill-box,1,26885.story

Education 6/19

Out with old, in with the new. What I mean by this is with new technologies such as email, discussion boards, Internet, cell phones, etc.; the old system of learning is being replaced. Most tech-savvy students whether participate in active learning than passive learning where the teacher is going on and on for two hours about the history of China. To these students the lecture is boring and they pay less attention to the teacher. Most of the articles that I read discussed about new ways of learning involving new technologies to meet the needs of students.

Marc Prensky, author of “Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants” calls today tech-savvy generation those in grades K through college Digital Natives, native speakers of the digital language of computers, video games and the Internet. We do as Digital Natives like to receive information quick without any delays, function best when networked, and thrive on instant gratification and frequent rewards. However, with our tech-savvy selves, this has cause problems for those who don’t know much about technology and they are referred to as by the author as Digital Immigrants. These people are use to the old ways of learning which they retain some aspects of their “accent” such as using the Internet as a second resource of information. Many instructors are having problems teaching those who speak the new language because they are use to speaking the old version of language, slowly, step-by-step directions. The Digital Immigrants feel that the old way of teaching is the best and only way for students to learn. However, these Digital Immigrants have to realize that they can not go back in the past and teach the same way because the concept of learning has changed since then. The best and only thing they can do is adapt to the new language the same way an American student studying abroad has to adapt to a new foreign culture. The new language is here to stay whether the Digital Immigrants like it or not.

The article, “Are you Ready for Mobile Learning” by Joseph Rene Corbeil and Maria Elena Valdes-Corbeil was interesting as well. The authors talked about the pros, the cons, and the instructional uses of several mobile devices, the benefits and challenges of mobile learning, and the readiness for mobile learning. With all the mobile devices they mentioned in the article, the one I use mostly is the USB Drive. I didn’t know what they were at first until someone explained it to me because I previously was using a diskette. I like the USB Drive better because it has a larger storage capacity than a diskette. I don’t have to use any new USB Drives like the diskette when it has no more space to save work. Around campus and other places, I have seen a lot people with iPods and laptops. Besides the devices I have mentioned and the ones in the article, all of them are very useful and helpful not only for students to learn but as well for teachers to teach. They can communicate with one another over email or instant messaging about assignments. Students can communicate with one another when collaborating. Teachers may find it hard to teach with mobile devices, but they will eventually realize that these devices can not only save a lot of time and effort in getting students attention to participate and learn, but help them out as well in the long-run.

In the article, “Boomers and Gen-Xers Millennials Understanding the NEW STUDENTS” by Diana Oblinger, higher education students known as the Millennial generation find the use of technology among their teachers is not inspiring. In my personal experience in college, it seemed boring to me when teachers would just lecture on and on about nothing. They rarely were using multimedia or PowerPoint to keep my attention. Most of the teachers, don’t know how to use Blackboard to post assignments or announcements or they didn’t use it at all. Instead of using Blackboard a lot, I email my teachers more than ever because that’s the only way I can stay connected to them. In the article, many institutions are trying to modify their programs in meeting the needs of their new students. For example; I like the idea of the beep-a-tutor program, where tutors response to questions within an hour anywhere. Maybe UMBC needs to adopt this program so when a person like me needs help solving a problem at that instance, I can beep- a- tutor for help. Also, I like the idea of the DrexelOne Mobile where students can receive important information and alerts from their web-enabled handheld device once it has been registered. I like this idea because if the campus is to close early and were not at a computer to check the schools website, then we are automatically alerted through our registered device.

Overall, new technologies have the greater benefits of meeting everyone needs and expectations.

Here is an link to an article related the topic: http://www.baltimoresun.com/technology/bal-bz.spanish17jun17,0,2040954.story?coll=bal-technology-headlines

Entertainment 6/14

The Internet, whether through computers or mobile devices, give users the abilities to find infomation, do reserach, listen to music, or play games. One issue that rises about the Internet is copyright infrigement. Many of the articles I read and found interesting disscussed this issue.

The artilce, Technological and Social Drivers of Change in the Online Music Industry by Mark Fox, was very interesting to read. The article basically talked about technological drivers of change such as digitization, compression, streaming media technologies and the social drivers of change involving access to free music and how these two drivers of change create online priacy of music hurting the music industry. I understand that the music industry is losing money over the fact that consumers are downloading their favorite music for free with technological changes illegally, but they have to realize that with all these new digital technologies being invented, users are going to download free music knowing they have the capabilities with the help of the Internet. Most consumers figure why pay for a CD that cost alot, when I can it free at the tip of my fingers? The article talked about Napster, a centralized peer-to-peer technology, was banned from allowing users to share copyrighted music from computer to computer for free. I feel that this threat is not going to stop users from downloading free music and buy music instead, because from reading the article, their are many other peer-to-peer technology that are decentralized which anonymous users have access in getting free music. This still does not help the music industry make a profit. The article mentioned about large corporations such as the "Big Five" , music labels being greedy for money by selling CDs at a higher prices than what they should be priced in music stores. Many people are not going to buy a CD a higher price when they can get it for free. I don't see anything wrong with copying or downloading music to a CD for yourself or friend and not selling them to others. I make copies from the original CD for friends, but what they do with it is their business because it's out of my hands from that point on.

The other article that I find interesting was "The People Own Ideas!" by Lawrence Lessig. The article mentioned about free culture and that if we are restricted to be creative or express by the control of copyright, how can this occur? For example, the article talked about being part of the culture life involves "remixing". Our culture evolves around words and "remixing" is developed through our words and the use of others. I don't feel that people are trying to intentionally remix the ideas of others as their own work, but to explain or express who we are as this unique culture.

Here is an article related to the topic: "Man Charged for Putting T.V. on
Web http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/03/AR2007060300788.html