Live Tweeting Story

http://www.buzzfeed.com/mbvd/washington-state-woman-unkowningly-live-tweets-her-husbands

This article was tragic. It describes a woman who works as someone who monitors traffic was live tweeting an accident one day. She tweeted that there was an accident, and there was one confirmed fatality. The day continues and she explains that she is worried about her husband because he drives home that way and was not answering her phone. She continues tweeting, and later finds out that the person who died in that accident was indeed her husband. She had live tweeted the entire event without ever knowing.

This article just shows how the Internet can connect two people when they have no other way of being connected. She live tweeted an event, and heard from the police later that night that it was in fact her husband, but back in the moment she was able to share her reactions to other worried friends and family what was going on.

One of the best features that Twitter has to offer is immediate response, and news updates. Although the woman was not with her husband when he passed away, her live tweeting and attachment to the situation allowed her to be slightly more connected to him than if she had no technology at all. Twitter has capabilities of helping in situations like these, offering information, news and the circulation of ideas to people who are interested in learning immediate details of a situation.

Yet Another Form of Social Media

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2507258/Justin-Bieber-funds-Shots-Me-app-lets-selfies.html

Justin Bieber has helped fund this new app for smartphones called "Shots of Me". At first one might think this is very similar to Snapchat, or Instagram, or any other app where you take pictures, but the purpose of this specific app was to help fight against cyber bullying and inappropriate commenting.

This app definitely does have overwhelming similarities to the other apps of its kind, but it does have the purpose of only being for taking selfies, pictures that someone takes themselves, of themselves.

The app only works through the front-facing camera to protect against people taking pictures of anything other than themselves. There are no filters to alter the images like there are on Instagram, so the picture you take is exactly what you look like with no alterations. One of the ways this app was designed to fight against cyber bullying was that comments are restricted. You can send a personal and private message to someone if you want to comment on their picture, but the public will not be able to see anything, preventing the spread of harmful comments.

Justin Bieber has invested $1.1 million dollars into this project, but so far, this project has been a flop, and is not nearly as successful as many people had hoped. Maybe over time it will become more successful when more people learn about the app and become more familiar with it.

Wikipedia Band Game

We all now know about Wikiwars, where the object is to race through the links of Wikipedia trying to find the fastest path from one word to another, but this article explains a different game that uses Wikipedia and other websites to help you create a band name, album title, and image for your band. http://www.buzzfeed.com/spenceralthouse/lets-play-wikipedia-names-your-band

This is what my first time came up with...
My random band name is "Dapaloides" (it is an extinct genus of bony fish)
My random quote turned album title is "Any reaction, both are transformed" (the last part of a quote by Carl Jung)
This is the third photo on the page that will be my album cover.

Clearly, this game is foolproof. These random links give exceptional band names, album covers, and titles just like they seem to be in the real world.  If you ever want to start a band, I would absolutely recommend this game.

New Design Changes

Even though the semester is winding down to an end, I thought I'd change my blog up just a little bit more. I changed the fonts up, made some adjustments to the layout and template and was even inspired to create a new blog to use during my semester abroad next semester in Spain! All of this practicing with this blog has allowed me to become much more knowledgeable in the world of blogging, and I'm excited to keep a new one up-to-date in the Spring!

Reblogging Little Antithesis

http://thislittleantithesis.blogspot.com/?view=classic#!/2013/10/waldeinsamkeit.html

I loved this blogpost This Little Antithesis!

I thought that this article might be one of the greatest that I saw this semester from the perspective that sides more with technology than with it's users. Many times people blame technology, and the new inventions of such, but we have the capability of walking away from it whether we are off-the-grid or not. We are the ones who have the choice of using phones, computers, and all other devices. If we don't want to be connected to the world, we can personally choose not to, and try to step away from it. We need to learn to have the self control to walk away from technology when we need to.

The quotes listed are all very representative of how we cannot always escape technology, but how we can learn to embrace life with it, and take steps to walk away if that need be the case. I thought that this quote said it best when he wrote, "to once again drink deeply from a mountain stream. And to stretch out under the open sky at night, gaze up at the stars, and use my phone to name each and every one," proving that our natural world and the use of technology are completely morphing into one, but it's necessary that we learn how to manage the interaction between the two separate worlds.

My Time as a Blogger

Throughout the semester, I have blogged for this Internet Studies class. At first it felt a little weird to make posts to the Internet, where it didn't seem like anything I wrote was going to matter. It was like I was typing to myself, only no one was ever going to respond, like an online, open diary or something.

The blogspot website is extremely easy to use once your blog is set up as you'd like. There were so many options for the layout, background colors or themes, fonts, etc. of all the different aesthetics for the blog itself. My favorite blog posts from the semester were articles or videos I found that had information that surprised me. For instance, I never would have guessed that there is a festival where all of the cat enthusiasts of the Internet gather together to dress up, watch videos, and do all types of crazy cat-related activities. There was so much I didn't know about the Internet before this class, and through exploring the web for articles to help with my blog, along with the readings and class discussions, I learned more about the Internet than I realized there was to learn in the first place.

My advice to future bloggers is to write about what interests you. I think it is clear when someone posts about what they are interested in vs. a completely boring article that they didn't actually read, but simply found and posted to their blog. I think that blogging about any topic is beneficial, especially for this class because it allows you to explore and find things on the Internet that you may not have researched, or found otherwise. I would tell students to set aside a time every week to blog, because I know I did that, and it helped me save time, and be responsible with time management.

I really enjoyed writing the blog for this class because I researched topics that I was interested in, and I would recommend that other students do the same. I learned how to embed videos, which I didn't know how to do before, and I learned all of the information that was dictated to me through the videos as well. My main advice is to just blog your hearts out kids. It's easy, rewarding, and can oftentimes actually be really fun!

New Technologies That We Will Need Forever

http://www.buzzfeed.com/livestrong/10-technologies-we-wont-be-able-to-live-without-in-the-next

This article blew my mind a little bit. The technology that is being designed and invented is so impressive, and will absolutely change the world as we have come to know it. We already possess many different varieties of technology, however the ten pieces of technology discussed in this article are very noteable as ones that will make changes many of us never thought possible.

I don't even know how to choose which of these new technologies I thought would be the most influential because they all have the capabilities of enhancing life for different groups of people.

The technologies included in the article are the following:
1. Advanced genomics and personalized medicine (saving lives based on individual tumors and injury zones). 2. Injury-Proof Car (think of all the lives that would be saved from deadly car crashes). 3. 3D printing (similar to cloning, only non-living items can be recreated and printed). 4. Prosthetic limbs that restore the feeling of touch (this allows amputees to gain back their body part, and be able to feel the things that they are touching as if it was the original body part). 5. Portable laser pens that heal wounds (the laser in the pen welds a wound allowing it to heal better and faster). 6. The sunscreen pill (this pill will be able to protect the human body against getting sunburn). 7. Robots (these robots are actually being put to good use). 8. Brain-controlled prosthetic devices (that will allow paralyzed patients to move again). 9. Smart glasses to help blind people see. 10. Injectible tissue engineering (has the potential to treating damaged joints and this may become more developed over the next decade).

It is weird to me that the science fiction of the past, is not only occuring in the present-day, but humans are actually developing further past the wildest dreams of the past generations. The technologies being invented are so extravagent, detailed, and intelligent that it is hard to decipher what is fact or fiction anymore since all of these seem to good to be true. And all of this in the next decade... we'll have to wait and see what actually happens, and which, if not all of these will come true.

We've Always Been This Way

http://www.buzzfeed.com/charliewarzel/proof-that-technology-hasnt-changed-who-we-are

This article explains that we have not changed in our obsession with technology, simply the technology has changed instead. It is undeniable that our society is slightly media-obsessed, and many people think that has become especially true since the development of the smart phone which has provided an instant connection from your pocket to the rest of the world in a matter of moments.

The article shows pictures of people on our form of technology now, ignoring others when sitting with them, connecting themselves to others throughout the world, while neglecting to have a common interaction with an actual human being. There are then a slew of present-day pictures compared to those from the early 20th century, showing the similarities between the time periods.

Even in the early 1900's people were ignoring human interactions through their reading the newspapers, much like how people currently look to their phones. The article explains that even though the world is changing, and technology is becoming more and more prevalent in our everyday lives, we as humans are not changing the way we react to this new technology.

I thought that this was really interesting because when I think of technology, I never considered the newspaper to be one of them. But as newspapers became so common in the 20th century, people used them to get the news, much like how people currently use their phones to get the news online, or through some other social media outlet.

There is then this quote at the end of the article:

"The art of conversation is almost a lost one. People talk as they ride bicycles — at a rush — without pausing to consider their surroundings…What has been generally understood as cultured society is rapidly deteriorating into basebsss and voluntary ignorance. The profession of letters is so little understood, and so far from being seriously appreciated, that…Newspapers are full, not of thoughtful honestly expressed public opinion on the affairs of the nation, but of vapid personalities interesting to none save gossips and busy bodies."

-Marie Corelli, Free Opinions, Freely Expressed, 1905.

Clearly, with every new technology that is released to the public, we are going to become enthralled with, and have a period of time with pure obsession, and crazy tendencies when concerned with our devices, but this has happened to generations before our own, and will most definitely happen continuously into the future.

Is the Internet Making Us Crazy?

http://www.newsweek.com/internet-making-us-crazy-what-new-research-says-65593

This article explains the anonymous "nobody" gone famous in a very short amount of time, who eventually went crazy from his use of the Internet. Jason Russell was the man responsible for the Kony documentary of 2012, where he explained that the warlord of Africa, Joseph Kony had to be caught. The video was going to be published for 2012, but then deleted. Apparently within the first few days he only got two hours of sleep, perpetually checking and updating his Facebook and Twitter.

He was eventually diagnosed "reactive psychosis" which is a temporary form of insanity based on his overuse and obsession with keeping up-to-date with the social media. Apparently this is a new diagnosis, but it is very common with the prevalent obsession with the new technology. He was hospitalized for a few months, and was later released. The Internet has a deleterious effect on the mind's of many people associated with it, and this is proving to be very dangerous to many Internet users across the globe.

Creative Commons Licenses Finally Becoming More Common

Creative Commons is a non-profit organization which aims to expand the variety of creative works that are available for others to legally alter, build upon, edit, and share with other individuals. The organization was founded by two men we have learned about throughout the semester, Lawrence Lessig, Eric Eldred, and Hal Albeson. Since the organization was founded in 2001, the licenses have been supported by many people who support the act of the creators of works to have control and rights over how they share and distribute their copyrighted works to the public and licensees.

            The Creative Commons licenses are the copyright licenses that the organization developed for the creators and owners of work to control what rights of the works are reserved, and which are best to be waived in order to benefit citizens other than the creators. These licenses are free to the public, and are very easy to read and understand, that are based on copyright laws. These Creative Commons licenses allow the copyright owner and the licensee to create their own negotiations under the section of the copyright law that states, “All rights reserved,” allowing to the copyright owner to dictate some of their own negotiation of rights.

            Warbreaker is a fantasy novel that is an example of a work that falls under the Creative Commons licenses. The novel was originally written by Brandon Sanderson, who later released a few other rewrites of the novel, releasing one chapter at a time, and now the entire novel is available digitally through Sanderson’s online website. Because this novel is under the Creative Commons license, Sanderson had the ability of publishing the new additions to the book on his own website, rather than through a publisher, without concerns of the copyright laws.

            Move Under Ground is a novel written by Nick Mamatas that is a mash up of a variety of other works including the style of Jack Kerouac, and Cthulhu Mythos by H.P Lovecraft, creating a horror novel with an interesting plot. Mamatas makes multiple references to Kerouac’s On the Road by mentioning the characters of the novel, using some exact phrases, as well as mentioning Kerouac himself. Through the Creative Commons license, this book is available to be read at its website for free download.

            A Briefer History of Time, by Eric Schulman is a humorous parody of the original novel titled, A Brief History of Time by author Stephen Hawking. The cover of the book, as well as the title was parodied from the original, with Schulman detailing what he believed to be the fifty-three most important events of the earth, all characterized in one book. Ironically, I learned, Stephen Hawking wrote a sequel to his book a few years later, and that book he also titled, A Briefer History of Time, at first without realizing the parody that was written of his original novel. Schulman’s novel is aimed at teaching the public on actual events, while also allowing the reader to laugh and joke with the simplest aspects of life, such as “why, even though the Universe is expanding, it doesn’t get any easier to find a parking space,” (Schulman). This novel is available under the Creative Commons Attribution- Share Alike License, which I will go into detail about now.

            The Creative Commons license is a public copyright license that helps enable the free distribution of the copyrighted work from the creator of the work to the licensees. There are four different baseline rights of Creative Commons licenses that are attribution, share-alike, non-commercial, and no derivative works. Each different type of right for a license has different icons that symbolize the purpose of the right. These are then used to create a total of sixteen different combinations, six of which are the regularly used licenses.

            The six regularly used Creative Commons licenses are as follows: Attribution alone, Attribution- No Derivatives, Attribution- Share Alike, Attribution- Noncommercial, Attribution- Noncommercial- No Derivatives, and Attribution- Noncommercial- Share Alike. Each of these licenses controls certain rights for the owner of the copyright as well as the licensees.

            The Creative Commons Attribution- Share Alike license allows individuals to share, copy, alter, remix and distribute a work so long as the altered work is attributed to the author or owner of the original that is specified, without suggesting that they supported the creation of your personal work. Basically, this means that you do not need to ask permission of the owner or creator of the original work, but you must give credit where credit is due, and acknowledge the fact that ideas, characters, etc. are from another individual’s work, not purely your own. Additionally, if the work is altered in any way from the original, that is, remixed, transformed, etc. the work may only be distributed if the license of the original work is the same, or similar in any way. Under each of the five others, the requirements are slightly different to apply to the different varieties of licenses.

            I chose to discuss this type of Creative Commons license because it is one of the most common, if not the most common type of license used. The requirements for this type of license are basic. Each of the three listed novels above are examples of the Attribution- Share Alike Creative Commons license, accrediting the original versions of each, as well as allowing the distribution to occur on individual websites.

            The Creative Commons licenses are useful and important because they allow the creator of a work to select which rights they reserve, and which can be waived to benefit the recipients of the work, or other individuals who wish to alter the work in some way. It is crucial to remember that these licenses are based upon copyright, not in place of it, because this is where many individuals accidently misuse the licenses. Lawrence Lessig strongly believes that work needs to be less strictly copyrighted so that individuals have the capability of making new creative works, allowing collaboration between individuals and already published works. The Creative Commons licenses provide potential interaction between the copyright owner and the licensees, and are becoming increasingly accepted by the public.

"Creative Commons." Creative Commons United States. 2013. 29 Nov. 2013 
        <http://us.creativecommons.org/>.
"Creative Commons." Wikipedia. 2013. 30 Nov. 2013. 
        <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creative_Commons>.
"History." Creative Commons. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Nov. 2013.

Remember Me?

http://mentalfloss.com/article/53792/17-ancient-abandoned-websites-still-

This is a list of seventeen websites that are once popular, now abandoned websites that still work, people just forgot about them. I personally remembered the Space Jam website as well as the Amanda Please website.

I think it's interesting that when something is placed on the Internet, or a website is created, like energy, it is never really destroyed. Even if a website is not maintained, or is not visited for years, it still exists, and someone can still reach the website if they are really trying to. I remember using Neopets, and other websites that are probably no where near as popular now as they were when I was a child, but they still exist.

The semi-permanence that websites have on the Internet is both appealing and frightening. Some websites should not exist forever, but they inevitably will. The website I created in middle school still exists, and was almost too easily found when I googled it. I wish that would stay far more hidden in the depths of the Internet. On the other hand, the Internet is so reliable in its ability to keep information and websites, that it is a great storage place so that information, photographs, etc. cannot be easily destroyed, even if a computer or piece of technology goes down.

The Internet's a Crazy Place, Kids

http://www.buzzfeed.com/ryanhatesthis/a-fifth-grade-teacher-wanted-to-show-her-students-what-happe

This article explains how a teacher of a fifth grade class was attempting to teach a lesson on what happens when you upload your picture to the Internet, a place where anyone can do anything to it. The lesson proved to be extremely valuable, since in a mere 24 hour time period, the photograph was shared on Facebook over thirteen thousand times, and many people from many countries spanning the globe have made alterations to the photograph, demonstrating the teacher's point exactly.

The series of photoshopped, and altered images began in a mild tone, with simple aspects changed. First the language of the text on the sheet of paper was altered, and slowly the images trickled into the person holding the sheet of paper to be changed. There were some animal face swaps, some radical sign swaps, and of course a series of Nicholas Cage swaps. People became very crafty, demonstrating very obviously to her students that the Internet is a very creative place, however it really is important to be careful what is uploaded to the Internet, because once it's out there, it is almost impossible to get it back with no one seeing it, no one altering it.

I think the idea of this teacher was a very successful one, because within 24 hours she showed all that can happen to one photograph being placed onto the Internet through the social media. I don't think this teacher anticipated quite the response that was gathered, further proving the lesson to be a success. The Internet is a wild and miraculous place, where truly anything can happen.

Faith in Internet Restored

http://www.buzzfeed.com/summeranne/stories-that-will-restore-your-faith-in-the-internet

This article is titled, "21 Stories that will Restore your Faith in the Internet," first implying that faith in the Internet has been lost along the way somewhere, and second, ensuring that these 21 stories are all significant in some way, which after reading the article, they absolutely were.

Each of these stories shows the capabilities that the Internet has to offer us that save, change, and enhance the lives of people/animals/society at large. My favorite stories began with the "Batkid" article, where a five year old child with cancer was given an entire day to be his favorite superhero, and save the city of San Francisco. The news spread on Twitter, the social media website of what was going to happen, and so many people wanted to help, that the entire city turned into Gotham city for the day, and this little boy's dreams came true.

Another story that I thought was particularly special was the Redditor who posted that his uncle with down syndrome was dying and always loved getting mail, so he would appreciate a letter or two from strangers who would be willing to send him letters to open up in bed. Not only did a few letters come to this man, over a thousand letters and gifts were sent to him, and he was extremely happy.

The majority of these stories were successful through the use of social media to reach a wide audience. If it wasn't for these social media outlets such as Twitter, Facebook, Reddit, etc. to find these lost dogs, the lost families, as well as to send out simple requests. The power of the social media is undeniable in that if word needs to be spread quickly, it will be spread through the overwhelming use of social media sites.

Although I use the Internet and social media websites everyday, I still find it strange that they have such power to do amazing things in our everyday lives. For some people, the Internet can completely change their life, whether it helps them find their long lost family, or helps them fund a tremendous want or need, or enhances their life in some other way. The Internet can be a cruel place with bullying, and strangers being mean for no reason at all, but it can also be filled with trust, hope, and people who genuinely want to help the world, and this article really helps us remember how.

Amazon on Sundays

http://www.buzzfeed.com/sapna/amazon-will-start-sunday-deliveries-in-new-york-and-los-ange

This article explains that the world's largest online retailer has made a deal with the United States Postal Service so that packages will now be delivered on Sundays as well as every other day of the week.

Because the U.S Postal Service has lost billions of dollars throughout the past few years now that sending mail is less prevalant. Amazon charges $79 a year for it's Prime Users who pay for 2-day express shipping, so Amazon wants to be able to ship packages on Sunday to fulfill that request of the customers.

This year in particular is a smart time for Amazon to partner with the U.S Postal Service because like the article states there are six less days between Thanksgiving and Christmas this year, so the competition for purchasing gifts is going to be higher than average. Amazon made this deal at the perfect time because people will be more likely to make purchases from Amazon knowing that they can receive packages on Sundays rather than waiting extra days to receive them. People will also be more likely to join the Prime Membership so that they can receive the 2-day express shipping during the holiday season, and can receive these packages on a Sunday if they were purchased on a Friday.

I thought this article was interesting because the Internet that changed the Postal Service so much, is now mingling with them again, attempting to find a happy medium between the two different outlets. The Internet, or Amazon specifically, is not only trying to help themselves, but is also trying to help the Postal Service earn back some of the money loss it has acquired over the last few years, to once again becoming successful, and a reliable, easy way to receive purchased goods.

Twitter Break Up

http://postgradproblems.com/this-guy-live-tweeted-his-neighbors-breakup-and-it-was-amazing/

This article explains that a comedian was on his rooftop when a couple came up there, got into an argument, and broke up, all while he was live tweeting the entire situation. I found this story to be extremely hilarious, with the perfect quotes from the couple themselves, the hashtags of the comedian, and the story in general, but it also made me feel slightly bad for the couple and the lack of privacy. Although they were on the rooftop, fully aware that there was a stranger in their presence, a breakup, and relationship in general is very personal, and this one was broadcast for the entire world to see.

One of the most favored aspects of Twitter is the fact that it can be used to present live and expedient information to the public, however, the idea of that stemmed from news, or important news rather than this raw, personal interaction. The capabilities of Twitter are clearly very prominent, and this article helps explain why Twitter is so successful whether it is used for important information, or as a humurous article. Nevertheless, I think Rachel and her boyfriend did not expect to be online Twitter sensations through their vocal breakup.

The Smart Phone Has It All

This video demonstrates thirty different objects that you no longer need because the smart phone was invented. Although I know the smart phone has seemingly limitless possibilities, it was crazy to me to see it all in a row. It's weird to see all of the different items that people used to carry around separately, and to realize that all of the items are encapsulated into this one tiny device.

When I think of cell phones, even smart phones, I instinctively just think of telephone, texting, Internet, and games, without thinking of any of the other applications are included like a flashlight, thermometer, compass, calculator etc. It still to this day is amazing what capabilities smart phones have in progressing technology, as well as updating old school technology as well.

Online is Creepy in Real Life

This video is mocks the use of social media, and how there are certain things that people post online, that if they were to announce in person, in the real-world the same way, would be unbelievably odd. The first one is "broadcast your relationship." Everyone knows that when a relationship is "Facebook Official" it means that the relationship has officially began, but before that, there must have been some ambiguity to it.

The second example is "fight with strangers" which as we explained when we discussed people leaving comments on YouTube, people feel disconnected from other people through the computer screen and therefore leave comments and start fights with strangers for no reason at all.

The third example is "publicly liking things". On Facebook, people "like" random pages on Facebook whether it is a musical group, random hobbies, or completely random topics. People do so publicly, and then to go one step further, other people can "like" the fact that you "liked" something.

The fourth example is "overshare" where people can share pictures, ideas, etc. repeatedly to the world. This happens so much online because people don't have the ability to tell people it's annoying, or that they already spoke of that topic etc.

The fifth example is "follow" which when expressed in this video, is obviously the creepiest thing.  Simply because you have a similar interest, or you don't actually know the person at all, you simply think they're cool you deliberately "follow" them, not something that would ever be considered normal in person.

The final example is "be really honest" which is when people feel detached, and therefore post their true feelings online when they normally wouldn't necessarily be able to in person. Now that Facebook incorporated feelings into status updates, this also eases the ability to be honest, or divulge their personal information to the world.

Jimmy Fallon #MOMTEXTS

Every week on Jimmy Fallon's show he has a segment where he posts on Twitter a hash tag and then waits to receive people's responses. People submit their responses, and then Jimmy Fallon chooses the best or funniest responses. In this episode, the hash tag that he sent out was #MomTexts which led to some pretty fantastic responses about mothers and their lack of knowledge of technology.

One of the first responses was from a mom that did not know what a "less than three" meant when it formed a heart. The second mother texted the child saying that "Aunt Mary died. Lol." thinking that "LOL" stood for "lots of love" rather than "laugh out loud". Another of the responses stated that the child had "received 12 consecutive completely empty text bubbles from [her]  mom the other day. Apparently she was trying to unlock her phone." One of my personal favorites was the one that said, "my mom couldn't figure out punctuation so she would type it out: "how are you question mark," which is a perfect example of people of older generations trying to figure out technology that they are unused to.

This entire video made me think of our class and how even if someone isn't used to a form of technology, it is almost crucial to join so that they can stay connected with the rest of the world, and younger generations. It makes me think of all of the parents and grandparents joining Facebook and Twitter to stay connected.

My grandmother bought a laptop and a cellphone just because she wanted the new technologies, and she then got a Facebook, and she calls me and my siblings regularly trying to figure out how to comment on pictures, or to make a status. It is the most frustrating thing in the world trying to explain technology to her but I think her generation is trying to learn how to be youthful, and experience technology the way we are.

I think that this video was overall really entertaining, and really representative of the direction technology is heading with the older and younger generations.

Viacom International Inc. vs. Youtube Inc.

In 2007, the company Viacom International sued Google-owned company, YouTube, claiming that it engaged in extensive copyright infringement. They claimed that YouTube had allowed users to upload videos that were strictly owned by Viacom. There were over 150,000 clips taken from the Viacom website and published onto YouTube, and during the time that these clips were online at YouTube, they were collectively viewed over 1.5 billion times.

Viacom has a policy with copyrights, and they believed that YouTube deliberately breached this policy by "performing, displaying, and reproducing" the copyrighted works of Viacom. YouTube on the other hand claimed that it did not infringe on any of the copyright regulations of Viacom, and that they did nothing wrong.

The court case ended with Viacom winning, and because they did not seek any damages from Google, the judge warranted that the materials be returned back to Viacom, as well as the details on all of the people who had watched the videos, like the trafficking reports, which caused problems of its own. This court decision caused people to be concerned with the fact that the website could find direct individuals based on the IP addresses, as well as the time viewed, and the login name. Many criticized the ruling saying that it was a "setback to privacy rights" however the judge maintained the decision saying that Google was required to give all of the information. Eventually Viacom and YouTube came to the decision to keep the individual's privacy, and that YouTube would hand over materials anonymously.

Although the court case was very long and confusing, and is still somewhat in the news, it demonstrates that even very well-known companies can get into trouble through simple copyright issues. Stealing others' work is always judged harshly, and it is crucial that companies and individuals be careful when citing or attempting to use works of others. I thought this court case was interesting because it was with companies so well-known. As a viewer of this case, I would have thought that YouTube never would have wanted to deal with a copyright issue like this, however because they thought there was no issue with copyright infringement, they continued, but eventually did get into trouble and had to remove the clips from their website.

Slaves of the Internet Article

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/27/opinion/sunday/slaves-of-the-internet-unite.html?_r=0

This article is about a journalist who is 46 years old and is still asked to write articles making no money, literally zero dollars, something that he believes should have ended while he was still in his 20's. The article explains that all jobs require work, time, effort, etc. and that it is demoralizing when someone suggests that your work is worth nothing at all.

The article continues explaining that the Internet "seems like capitalism's ultimate feat of self-destructive genius, an economic doomsday device rendering it impossible for anyone to ever make a profit off anything again," because access to the Internet is primarily free of charge, and easy to achieve. He claims that he is making the exact same or less money than he was making in the 1980's, which does not seem fair.

The Internet provides so many people with so much information, which is an unbelievable and helpful accomplishment, however it does hinder so many people that need to make their living through the Internet. Even when he accomplished great success with one of the articles he wrote, he made little to no money even though the article was reblogged, reposted, and shared throughout countless social media websites. While I appreciate the Internet, and cannot imagine research or the simple act of learning random information without the Internet, it seems unfair that those producing the information are getting paid virtually nothing for their knowledge. Everything on the Internet is so easily accessible that making money for journalists is extremely difficult, and it almost seems unfair that these people have lost the capability of providing information while making a substantial living from it.

2013 Internet Cat Video Film Festival

http://www.buzzfeed.com/travisrandg/things-i-learned-at-the-2013-internet-cat-video-film-festiva

I kid you not, this is real. This is a one hundred percent legitimate festival in Minnesota, the second annual to be exact. Over thirteen thousand people attended this event, applauding the various cat videos that have been created over the Internet. This article depicts this festival as "the Superbowl of cat videos, crossed with the Oscars," and explains that the purpose of the event is to take the online experience offline, where people can meet others with the same interests in this cat genre.

The article is filled with cat puns, and different pictures and videos of the highlights of the entire festival. I knew that this was a genre, and that there were tons of cat videos filtered throughout the Internet, but never did I ever think the genre was this broad, with so many followers. The pictures I saw in this article were so surprising to me. I literally felt like I was in a different world, and I had absolutely no idea that this existed, or that so many people would be so completely interested.

There was a butter statue of a cat. There were men wearing leopard print leggings. There were cat slippers. As far as cat video events go, I'd say that this one was pretty successful. I certainly learned a lot from this article alone that I had never known before.

You Be You, Not The Computer

Through the Internet, the format of relationships has drastically changed. Rather than having face-to-face conversations, going on dates, and having long distance and lengthy telephone calls, the internet, and social media websites specifically have allowed for society to become lazy. Typing words into a screen, where there is no legitimate human interaction makes it easy for relationships to become more distant, and not as raw and natural as real-life relationships.

As a member of the generation that uses the Internet as a daily necessity, I appreciate all that social media has to offer me. Because I am from New Hampshire, without social media it would be extremely difficult for me to keep in contact with my friends and family from back home. This is beneficial for all of my friends who have different class schedules, my parents who have different work schedules, and people that I want to stay connected to from all over the country. Making telephone calls to every person I want to talk to would be impossible, so this creates a function ability that I could not imagine my life without. For this purpose the social media is an exceptional tool that mediates my relationships for pure purposes. There is a difference in my opinion however of maintaining preexisting relationships, and creating and developing new ones.

When I meet someone new, it is almost guaranteed that I will be awkward, shy, and will indubitably walk away from the conversation regretting something that I said. While I appreciate the fact that social media would help me prevent some of the inevitable embarrassment, the internet helps me be someone I’m not rather than propelling the person that I am. Part of what makes me so unique is the fact that when I am with a group of people I say exactly what I want, with no filter. Whether I realize I shouldn’t be saying it or not, it comes out in my speech, and people are either accepting of it or they are not, but in that moment, they know exactly who I am. If I use social media to have a conversation, I will stare at the chat box and run through countless possible scenarios. I will try to be witty, or intelligent. I will use the backspace button time and time again because I want whatever I say to be perfect, but in the real world, this is not possible.

Just recently, I met someone new and after our in-person conversation that surprisingly went very well, we added each other on Facebook. When he sent me a message later that day, I became anxious, nervous, and I instantly had to message another one of my friends to live stream me advice through the entire conversation. Rather than saying the first statement that would come to my mind, I would ask my friend, we would analyze the situation, and we would reshape what I was thinking to make it sound better. Hopefully the boy never realized why it took me several minutes to come up with such simple messages.

Although the interactions have been continuing both in person and through social media, the boy directly told me that I sound different when we talk online than when we talk in person. I realized that this is probably by no means a compliment. No one wants to talk to someone who is so different in different situations. I realized that I use social media as a crutch to ease my stress of actual conversation. Social media allows me to stop thinking for myself, and to use others, and to use time and strategy to have a conversation, rather than having an authentic interaction with another human being. Typing into a computer screen should not cause as much stress as it does, and it should not inhibit on my true identity and character the way that it does when I talk to someone new.

The Internet and social media helps us create false identities. Whether we realize it or not, we put on a façade, and the social media websites help us to do so. People post photos of themselves that have been edited; they add information that makes them sound intelligent, or funny, or any characteristics that they deem acceptable for the world to see. People show the world the person that they want to be, or how they see themselves rather than who they truly are. It is unhealthy to base relationships based on these false or exaggerated accounts of ourselves rather than being human, and being our own odd, individualized selves. Baym confronts the issue of identity, in his essay, and while I do not believe that everyone intentionally edits their online version of themselves, it is inevitable to morph your identity to be more attractive to the Internet world. Baym believes that the different windows on our computers allow people to be “thinking about the self as a multiple, distributed system,” rather than a single entity (Personal Connections in the Digital Age).

Although the Internet and social media provide great strengths in maintaining relationships and having simple interactions, it limits and even prohibits growing and fostering new relationships where personal identity can become lost in translation. It is important to acknowledge that different identities are impossible to eliminate while performing versatile tasks on the Internet, but to stay true to your identity when handling relationships. Relationships with other human beings are essential, and having conversations through social media is a barrier that can only be avoided by communicating in person rather than through a screen. Your personal identity is the only thing that is truly yours, so it is important to not let the social media or the Internet take that power and morph your personality into that of anyone else, or of a different, untrue version of yourself. 

Internet Explorer Advertisement

While on the topic of Internet Explorer advertisements, I decided to share this commercial as well. It consists of a boy sitting in his room commenting on blogs and tweeting about Internet Explorer and how it sucks (similar to what we've been talking about with people leaving hateful comments to get reactions and conversations started).

I like how Internet Explorer makes their ads, acknowledging that they have a reputation attached to their name. They even show the boy typing "Internet Exploder". They use wit and humor to let the audience that they know how they are perceived in the world, but how this perception should now be altered since they have made so many changes to the website over the past few years.

By the end of the commercial, after the other bloggers continuously post about the benefits that Internet Explorer has, he changes his mind and blogs that "IE sucks...less." Then the screen flashes to the symbol of Internet Explorer and the words say, "Progress. Comebacks come in many shapes and sizes," proving that it will take some time for people to make adjustments, and for Internet Explorer to make a comeback and be a competition to all of the other internet browsers with better reputations.

Reconnect with the NEW Internet Explorer

I saw this Internet Explorer advertisement in my Advertising class last week and instantly thought of our Internet Studies class.

The video demonstrates many of the things that all of us kids from the 90's can relate to, referencing snap bracelets, YoYos, floppy disks, The Oregon Trail video game, Gigapets, troll dolls, Hungry Hungry hippos, Lunchables, portable cassette players, water guns, high top shoes, bowl haircuts, and chains on our pants.

The advertisement is very reminiscent of our childhood, and the music playing in the background makes the viewer root for Internet Explorer to make a comeback. Internet Explorer does a good job acknowledging the fact that when it was introduced back in the 90's it was a child just like us, and now that time has passed, it has changed and matured, and we should be willing to give it another chance.

At the very end of the ad, it says, "You grew up, so did we." and then the words, "Reconnect with the NEW Internet Explorer" pop onto the screen. I thought this was a very powerful ad because it really does tug at the heart strings of us who grew up alongside Internet Explorer in the 90's. I even downloaded Internet Explorer onto my computer because after viewing this commercial, I felt the need to at least give the site another chance.

Lawrence Lessig on Colbert Report

Lawrence Lessig on Colbert Report

I am reblogging this interview from the This Little Antithesis blog.

Throughout this interview, Lessig attempts to explain the viewpoint of his book where he discusses the issues with copyright laws, and how Congress needs to make amendments so that people may have joint custody in copyright. He claims that 70% of students illegally pass files through the internet, however remixing files should not be illegal because it increases the value. If the value is increased for one individual, he believes that remixing is beneficial.

I think that Colbert represented the ideas of most viewers during this interview. He drew a picture of Snoopy in the book and claimed that because it increased the value of the book, he could change the name of the author to be his own name, and publish it as his own. Lessig agreed and said that since the value was increased, it was not an infringement of copyright, and that they would have joint custody, which is an interesting idea. I do not think I agree with Lessig, however I think that the ideas he puts forth are interesting, and may someday lead to a development on the copyright issues.

Ryan meets Wikiwars

After first learning about Wikiwars in class, I decided to practice and play with my friend Ryan. He too had never played before, so after I explained the rules to him, we each chose a few sets of words and we rotated through them to find our answers. For the first set of words, we started at Cosmopolitan (magazine) and ended with sandbox. Because Ryan was new to the process, I won, but we thought that our routes of reaching the end goal were interesting to see along the way.

Ryan: Cosmopolitan (magazine) -->  Australia --> The Great Sandy Desert --> Indigenous Australia --> Cannes Film Festival --> Film Festival --> Projection Screen --> Magnesium Carbonate --> Mineral --> Rock --> Sandstone -->  Sand --> Beach --> Sand art/play --> Sandbox. Total: 14 moves

Laura: Cosmopolitan (magazine) --> War of the Worlds --> The Invisible Man --> Monster High --> Fashion Doll --> Boy --> Child --> Toy --> Ancient Egypt --> Egypt --> Sahara --> Dune --> Sandbag --> Sand art/play --> Sandbox. Total: 13 moves

Although our number of moves for the first round was almost identical, I tried to go through the the route of a desert, while Ryan started in that path and then went astray when he started researching film festivals. For the second round, I wanted to start with Michael Wesch, and Ryan wanted the end word to be "Turbo Grafx 16" which is apparently a game console.

At first, this seemed like it could be somewhat challenging, however both of us quickly realized that it was an easier connection than originally appeared. We took the same path, and finished at almost the exact same time.

Ryan and Laura: Michael Wesch --> New media --> video games --> video game console --> Turbo Grafx 16. Total moves: 4 moves

For the final round, we began with the word artichoke and ended with the Boy Meets World television show. My path was very long and winding, with me never finding the connection. Ryan on the other hand, went broad and then went back to detail:

Ryan: Artichoke --> United States --> television network --> American broadcasting company --> Walt Disney Studios --> ABC studios --> Boy Meets World. Total: 6 moves

Overall, these Wikiwars ended up getting very intense and heated, and we found ourselves getting distracted from our homework for more than an hour playing more than these three rounds. More and more people got involved, and it's already quite the tool 0f distraction.

Welcome to the Twitter World

http://www.businessinsider.com/why-you-should-care-about-twitter-2013-9

This article entitled, "Why You Should Care About Twitter," and it explains why Twitter is so important to society, and how it is one day probably going to become more popular than Facebook.

The greatest upside to Twitter is that the information uploaded to the site is in real time. There have been multiple instances where citizens of Twitter upload news stories before actual news stations reach the scene. For the Boston bombings, the shooting outside of MIT, and the assassination of Saddam Hussein, Twitter users tweeted about the incidents almost instantly after they occurred.

Twitter currently only has about 250 million monthly users, however the CEO originally anticipated double that number by the year 2014, and that is incomparable to the vast 1 billion users of Facebook. Many people think that although many users post unimportant and useless information, the actual capabilities of Twitter are great, and beneficial to society.

I originally had no idea how to use Twitter and still think the concept is interesting, however I do see the benefits that Twitter can offer everyday citizens who want to stay connected with the real-time events occurring in the world.

The Traffic of Believe, Neptune Monologue

When I looked into the statistics of my blog so far, I was shocked to see that there were 311 page views, not including my own. The audience is still limited to the United States, but I thought it was interesting that there were so many views on a blog with such view, and probably very uninteresting posts.

I also thought that the statistics were so precise, in that the website tells you the percentage on the different browsers and operating systems. My blog has mostly been viewed on Google Chrome, and by a Mac Computer. For these statistics, I was more interested in the fact that they were offered to me than the numbers or percentages of each.

We Live and We Learn

Today I have spent a solid bit of time exploring Youtube tutorials on how to embed videos into blogs, and I have finally mastered the craft. I embedded the Social Media Revolution video, and then I went back to embed the Tim Berners-Lee Ted Talk rather than simply posting the link.

After  I finally accomplished this, I decided to add a Gadget while I was still in the mood of learning new things. I decided to put a search bar in the side bar, so now viewers have the option of searching my blog for something specific that I have posted. I think this is a helpful tool that hopefully may come in handy for someone along the way.

Social Media Revolution

This video was created in 2011, as the Social Media Revolution. It gives detailed facts and statistics about the social media and the Internet that I always find to be chilling. In class we've talked about how much the Internet has changed the everyday lives of citizens, and this video expresses that through different online and offline aspects of life.

It's still unbelievable to me to see how much the ordinary lives of people have changed in the seemingly few years the Internet has been available to ordinary citizens around the world. With the invention of the world wide web being so recent (24 years ago) it has such an impact on the evolution of human growth and development as a society. One if every five relationship begins online, and 3 out of every 5 gay relationships begin online. 93% of businesses use social media to advertise for their companies. Facebook has more users than the entire population of the United States.

The facts are undeniable and it is so interesting to see how much the world has the potential to change so quickly and drastically. This video really helps me see the influence that the Internet has over people and their lives.

My First Time...

I remember one of my earliest times with the Internet included begging my parents for an AIM (AOL Instant Messenger) account which I finally received in sixth grade. I thought it was so cool to change our buddy profiles, with different fonts, colors, quotes etc. I remember calling my friend's house phones and telling them to go on AIM because it was hands-down the coolest form of communicating back in the day. I would always have my buddy list up, and it was a big deal when I saw the name of the boy I liked pop up. Although I only used AIM and sometimes Meebo (I don't remember why I ever used that) for a few years until receiving my Facebook in high school, I owe my first time to the Internet to AIM. It was the classic time-kill, and always entertaining.

I'm a little bit embarrassed to say that when I was in middle school my older brother showed me how to create a website through Gmail which I obviously thought was amazing. I had my own website. And I thought it was the bomb. I just googled it for the first time in years and I am horrified that I ever thought this was a good idea.

https://sites.google.com/site/pumbaarules7615/

There are typos out the wazoo, all that is posted is my homework from one week of school in eighth grade, and on the second page, which I know I spent so much time on consists of inside jokes that I had with three friends. Although now it is humorous to look back on, I can't believe that I made this and without a doubt in my mind, I posted it in my AIM profile for the world of my friends to see.

Thank goodness the Internet has changed since then, and hopefully I've evolved in what I am capable of creating in this vast world wide web.

Blog Change

Okay, y'all. I finally made drastic changes to my blog rather than simply changing around the layout. I decided to change the template I used from a simple template, to a picture window. I then changed the background and the color scheme to be more aesthetically pleasing. I changed the fonts around, and I played with different layouts, and finally, I think I have created a blog that I'm happy with. I get bored with things very quickly though, so there will probably be more changes to come very soon!

Tim Berners-Lee Ted Talk

http://www.ted.com/talks/tim_berners_lee_on_the_next_web.html
In this Ted Talk from 2009, Tim Berners-Lee discusses the 20th anniversary of the World Wide Web, it's history, value and other factors and then discusses more changes for the future. He teaches the audience different lessons, and suggests that people put up raw, unadulterated data. A powerful quote from the speech is when he says, "I wanted to reframe the way we use information, the way we work together," explaining some of the history of the World Wide Web, and what he expected to happen in the future.

He gives the audience different lessons and advice for using the Internet. He wants people to link data, because he wants that to be the next part of the World Wide Web. He wants every person to do their work in linking data and becoming connected. He wants everyone to harness their frustration and to see the potential, because ideas and possibilities can become realities. He then wants the audience to involve others because he said the exciting parts of the new technologies were not the technology itself, but rather the community that helped create it. Technology is not what make experiences great, but the people who you are with that help the situations. Finally he discusses that you can never stop. He explains that if you were to think that you created the Internet you could lay back and relax, not worrying about anything else, but he could never stop. He is passionately involved in his new project that he calls Linked Data and is hoping that it will become just as much of a success as his twenty year old World Wide Web.

Articles on the Boys of the Internet

1. Bruce Sterling Blog
http://www.wired.com/beyond_the_beyond/
While rummaging through the internet sites filled with information on the various authors we've read in class so far, I discovered Bruce Sterling's blog entitled, "Beyond the Beyond," where he posts videos, pictures, and links to various other sites which are all about different new aspects of technology. 

His newest blog post was a video about the type of technology called the Senseye, The Eye Tribe Tracker which has the capability of tracking the movements of your eye on different technological outlets. It is being called the world's first affordable eye tracker, and in the video it demonstrates the accuracy of the senseye to the size of a fingertip.

Sterling's blog posts are all very insightful to new, different forms of technology, with what different groups of people and organizations are creating, as well as his own personal comments on the different posts.


2. Article on Bruce Sterling and the Internet
http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/12/bruce-sterling-on-why-it-stopped-making-sense-to-talk-about-the-internet-in-2012/266674/
This article, written by Alexis C. Madrigal is called, "Bruce Sterling on Why It Stopped Making Sense to Talk about 'The Internet' in 2012," which I thought was a very interesting title since our class is Internet Studies. The article begins by explaining that there are five simple reasons to stop discussing the internet which are Apple, Google, Amazon, Facebook and Microsoft.

The article continues to explain that the term "the internet" is so broad and diverse that it can mean countless different things, relating to the infrastructure itself, memes, culture, it's speed and distribution etc.

Bruce Sterling admits that in 2012, it doesn't make sense to talk about the Internet anymore, but rather that it would be better to simply study Google, Apple, Amazon, Facebook and Microsoft because these powerful and successful companies are shaping the Internet to the image that they want to see in the future.

I thought it was interesting that the Internet, so diverse and vast can be narrowed down to five American companies that have most if not all of the control on the direction that the Internet moves and flourishes. To have the Internet so dominated by these five entities is almost unreal based on how many different websites and companies exist world wide that also use and thrive with the Internet.


3. Internet Hall of Fame
http://internethalloffame.org/inductees/tim-berners-lee
This article explains why Tim Berners-Lee has been inducted into the Internet Hall of Fame, since he created the World Wide Web, and has other various accomplishments with the Internet and his career.

At the end of the article is a short video that shows Tim Berners-Lee receive his award for being inducted into the Internet Hall of Fame where he makes a brief speech where he discusses his past work with the Internet as well as the people who helped him along the way, and his plans for the future.

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