1. The internet originated with a goal to build a
new media network, initially described as an information superhighway with the
main purpose being to share information. The government’s role started in the
1960’s. The US Defense Department researchers developed the forerunner of today’s
Internet as a way for military and academic researchers as various locations to
share access to computers. Soon after that, the researchers developed e-mail. It
was originally as primary tool for universities, government research labs, and
corporations involved in computer software and other high-tech products to
exchange email and to post information.
2. Search
engines such a google offer a more automated route to finding content by
allowing users to enter key words or queries to locate related Web pages.
Google became a major success because it introduced a new algorithm that
mathematically ranked a pages “popularity” on the bases on how many other pages
linked to it. Google made Voice Search and mobile apps to allow a person to use
it on their smartphone.
3. Social media has been proven to be an effective
tool for democracy, and for undermining repressive regimes that thrive on
serving up propaganda and hiding their atrocities from view. People have used
social media to aid political repression by protestors. People can make
hundreds of twitter, Tumblr, YouTube, and Facebook posts to persuade people. A
current example are the “Anonymous” hackers of the internet., who are known for
their politically and socially motivated internet vigilantism.
4. It seems to me that Google has the greatest
tendency for evil, despite their motto. I think this because of the amount of
branching and buying of other companies. The description in the book gives me
the impression that they are not just competing, but actually trying to take
over all whole digital corporations. The least evil seems to be Amazon. This is
because beside from Zappos, the company seems to be working somewhat
independently and only trying to compete against the other companies with
technology such as the Kindle.
5.
Moving from the print-oriented industrial age,
the digitally based information age have affected individuals, communities, and
nations positively and negatively. The individual and communities benefits from
the Sematic Web by making our lives easier by having meaningful categories in
one place, such as family, friends, and calendar. The nation benefits by being
able to broadcast and get information to its people in a quick and easy manner,
which is what people want. All three
groups are negatively impacted in the area of security, making it more of a
challenge to keep personal information private. Examples of this are government
surveillance and online fraud. A large reason this is negative because cross
the line of what is appropriate, and post things that should not be online.
6.
I grew up with two older brothers, so of course
video games were nothing strange to me. The only two types of games I played a
lot were racing and shooting games, which we played a lot in our house. I don’t
actually think they defined my childhood at all! I think the strongest memory I
have was my dad telling me that guns were just for games, and that they should
not be used to hurt anyone/anything. To this day I still enjoy shooting games
with friends and my brothers, but I can honestly say I have never, nor will I
ever use a gun for evil.
7.
In chapter 3, I was surprised to learn that
video game making started way back in the 1880’s, starting with the penny
arcade. But modern gaming didn’t actually emerge online until 1999. Also, the three
leading genres played are action, shooter, and sports games. I had the
assumption that most games people played nowadays were racing games. Also,
children/family entertainment was a close fourth, which I found interesting
because I thought parents didn’t want their kids playing video games.
8. Video games have affected society by becoming a
permanent place in culture, being a subject of social concern. Three main reasons video games play such a
large role in society is because they are intertwined with media culture, are
strong in advertisement, and may cause addictions and other concerns. For the
individual, they can be good, but for society video games tend to be bad. Children
and teens in masses are exposed to violence and misogyny at an early age. Also,
people tend to become so obsessive with their games, becoming so bad that it
can jeopardize many areas of their life such as school, social and family
relations, and even psychological well- being. An example of game companies
being aware of this are Halo and Call of Duty. They make money from long
term engagement like selling expansion packs that people ‘must’ b
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