Works Cited for Presentation (presentation slideshow included)

http://www.engadget.com/2015/04/27/hai-lam-league-of-legends-retirement/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_sports http://na.leagueoflegends.com/en/news/esports/esports-event/rally-your-college-2015-nacc http://na.lolesports.com/ http://www.sbnation.com/2015/4/27/8502649/heroes-of-the-dorm-storm-blizzard-espn2-esports-arizona-state-cal-video-games Google Images https://twitter.com/Hai_L9 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9IrBG3wbufc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DEiJCbfhGxM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-hHF2OOhwI http://www.twitch.tv/directory/game/League%20of%20Legends http://www.twitch.tv/imaqtpie http://www.twitch.tv/tsm_bjergsen/profile http://lol.gamepedia.com/Bjergsen?cookieSetup=true https://twitter.com/rif_kingz

Hacking and "Moo-sak"

Hacking is a very real threat these days while also being an effective tool for democracy and against human rights violations.

Anonymous is a disparate community that has online and offline political affiliations and impact. For example, hackers in the group took up the mantle against Scientology by disrupting their Internet capabilities as well as some “ultra-coordinated motherfuckary.” Though, the "church"'s tax exempt status is, agreeably, very debatable, the church of Scientology isn't much different than any other organized religion.  L. Ron Hubbard took the best spiritual elements of  religions that he had studied and threw in an alien Sci-fi plot because he was a terrible Sci-fi writer whose plots had holes the size of craters. If you listen to Tom Cruise's video, he says nothing different than any person involved in any religious doctrine.

 And in fact, the narrative of only you can make change is repeated in thousands of self-help books as well. Why does their narrative sound any crazier to people than that of these Christian Mega Churches, for example? 

I had not realized how many tools that Anonymous had given to Tunisian cyber activists, OpTunisia, either but was unsurprised by their warning that, “This is *your* revolution. It will neither be Twittered nor televised or [sic] IRC'ed. You *must* hit the streets or you *will* loose [sic] the fight. Always stay safe, once you got [sic] arrested you cannot do anything for yourself or your people. Your government *is* watching you." 

The other end of the spectrum is children trying to prank people  through changing a background and getting charged with cybercrime when disciplinary action should be taken instead of criminal action. 

But, we also must be able to keep people safe by punishing cyber attacks as well. If planes are vulnerable to hackers, as posited by technology experts, then it is important to be able to charge people with a crime. But there needs to be leniency for people like eighth grader Domanik Green, who attends Paul R. Smith Middle School in Holiday, Florida. His 10 days suspension was warranted and maybe could have been longer because he could have cost a teacher their job. 

But the fact that he was also charged with an offense against a computer system and unauthorized access was probably going too far. Charging him with a crime doesn't help this middle school student learn anything other than the government is willing to put you on the chopping block and ruin any chance at a normal life with opportunities. If they do go through with the charges, I don't want the kid to get anything other than community service so he learns a lesson and not forced out of actually getting something positive from this experience. He was certainly in the wrong here but shouldn't be treated like it was intended to be malicious when he is a minor who is still learning and making mistakes. 

We also need to keep in mind that wearables will increasingly be able to access your health status which could be life saving or could be a tool to enable people who already have mental health issues regarding health (hypochondria, Munchhausen, Munchhausen by proxy etc) to be even more anxious.
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In other news, I am unsurprised that digital music has finally matched physical sales. It was a long time coming. If you want a physical copy of a digital product, you can still use your computer to burn a CD for driving. The digital copy is not limited by the use of one medium. 

Streaming services have started taking a hold of the market because we are now starting to move from the early adopter stages into the main stream stage of media usage. 

It was only a matter of time before people started buying digital media more than physical media. 

E-commerce and e-business: reading response for 6 April 2015

E-commerce encompasses a variety of different transactions online between businesses, consumers, and even governments.

E-commerce, for our purposes, is "the use of electronic communications and digital information processing technology in business transactions to create, transform, and redefine relationships for value creation between or among organizations, and between organizations and individuals," (wikibooks).

Categories of e-commerce: business-to-business (B2B), business-to-consumer (B2C), consumer-to-consumer (C2C), and mobile commerce (m-commerce).

Types of e-commerce:
Auctions online (eBay), peer-to-peer (P2P)(Napster), and classified ads (Craigslist?)

C2C examples can be eBay, systems like Puca Trade (a Magic the Gathering online trade system with a fiat currency to use for trades between users), Craigslist, etc.

M-commerce is taking hold because of increased access to mobile devices such as smart phones and tablets. Banking has become as mobile as the devices accessing the applications.

Economic forces, marketing and customer interaction forces, and technology (multimedia convergence in particular).

Raketen is the third largest online retailer in the world behind Amazon and eBay. But, the company's business model is more of an online bazaar than it is an online auction house or mediated store front. The stores make their own pages and can update then however they wish. The only catch is they must be up to community standards that allow the company to pick and choose who uses their system.

This is a humanizing approach to online use because, for example, a chicken farmer was able to sell his organic eggs online and deliver them through over-night shipping to ensure freshness. Eggs from the store can not compare to fresh eggs that have not been sitting around for a week.

Gendered Internet use: reading response for March 30 and April 1

Hi As a woman on the Internet, I agree that I use the Internet and video games for different purposes than my male counterparts.

If I am playing a game, I am less likely to enjoy games with the strong male protagonist in favor of more female oriented media.

When online, I tend to gravitate towards a variety of different things whereas my boyfriend, for example, uses it for more niche oriented exploration. Not to say that what I focus on isn't niche as well, it is just that I look at a broader picture of the media I wish to deal with than my brother or my boyfriend. But, Uses and Gratification says that we each use media to satisfy our desires and therefore gratify ourselves in our using of the technology.

I love games like League of Legends, Skyrim, Laura Croft, and other games that allow me to play as a character that resonates better with who I am and what I want to get out of a game. I love to feel empowered by my game play. If my heart is racing, I did something right or very, very wrong and am cursing my stupidity.

I grew up playing video games and there is even a picture of my brother and myself playing the original Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) in our diapers somewhere in a photo album.

In fact, my dream job would be to work for Riot Games, the owners of League of Legends, and do communications work for them. While league often portrays the female characters as hyper-sexualized, it also makes me feel empowered to be able to play so many female characters that also extend beyond a human persuasion. There are many different races and creatures in Demacia, the realm in which the game is set. And, there are many different skins for players to choose from, though most are still highly stylized to be on the "sexy"  end of the spectrum.

But the fact is that I am very aware of the sexual depiction of women in games, if they are portrayed at all. But, a rising number of games are allowing women more options by including female characters or the option to change the gender of your character.

I feel that most game companies are motivated by the bottom line and nothing more. We have seen time and time again that game developers are putting out unfinished products that are highly glitchy and sometimes outright broken. The newest Assassin's Creed game was like this straight from Ubisoft.

As more female gamers come into the forefront of gaming, we will see a continued increase in female protagonists and fewer portrayals as the damsel in distress.

As the I am Laura Croft video shows, everyone can become a strong protagonist, even if they are female.

Social Media and Revolt: what is its role?

Social Media is a very useful tool in order to promote causes, however, it's a week I do not allowed people to actually become activists.

Social media promotes weak ties that, while allowing the propagation of new ideas, do not move people to action in a manner that is reminiscent of past social change movements.

Close friends move you to action when it comes to "revolutions", and word of mouth is more powerful a tool when governments keep services, such as Twitter, blocked or limit access in a way that makes it dangerous to publicly go against the government.

Twitter and Facebook can and will be blocked by governments who feel that it threatens their power. And while it is not impossible to access these sites after they have been blocked, it is dangerous if you have been caught on them.

The Civil Rights movement in the United States was strengthened by the ties individuals had with one another. Having these friends with you while becoming political dissonance allows one to feel safer while fighting whatever oppressive force instilled the desire to fight back.

In my opinion, I feel that any successful movement must still have word of mouth in order to bring people to action but social media can be a tool that is used to rally these people,though it is not necessary.

Social media allows small movements that are easy to become a part of to propagate throughout sharing on these sites. But it is arguably a hollow action, as most social media movements simply involve speaking out against one thing or another while not necessarily doing anything productive about it.

Word of mouth has always been an essential tool to bring  people together. Our friends and kin are more likely to move us to action through our strong ties to them and our similar beliefs.

I think that social media can be used as a rallying point but, ultimately, a successful movement must also have a physical component to it and not simply a digital component because governments do not ready to what amounts to a lot of hot air being blown at them. They have to have someone jumping down their throats to make anything actually happen.

New Media Campaigning: reading response/notes 18 March

Reading response to the chapter on Innovation, Infrastructure, and Organization in New Media Campaigning in Taking Our Country  Back.

Obama's speech on February 10, 2007 echoed the message of Howard Dean's announcement speech from June 2003. (I vaguely remember this happening because I was 11 years old at the time.)

Dean's campaign is responsible for starting the first full-fledged online political campaign in the United States and set the standard for Obama's successful campaign to get into the White House.

Blue State Digital (BSD) was key to rebuilding the technical infrastructure of the Democratic party after Kerry lost. Jascha Franklin-Hodge, Clay Johnson, Joe Rospars, and Ben Self launched the company after having worked on the Dean campaign. BSD built themselves as a provider of tools and strategies for online campaigning.

Web 2.0 has allowed campaigns to lower costs while increasing campaign donations via ease in dissemination of political information at a lower cost than traditional media.

Three themes that are largely absent from accounts of new media and politics: innovation, infrastructure, and organization.

Legality of much of the Dean campaign was always in question as there was no Federal Election Commission (FEC) ruling on it at the time, prompting many meetings with the campaign's lawyers on the legality of certain campaign choices.

Through "structured interactivity", Dean's online applications allowed his supporters to contribute in some ways, such as campaign contributions, while not allowing others, such as certain choices of the campaign.

CRS 490 - 3/16/15

CRS 490 - 3/16/15

Public Sphere - Where discourse takes place

How does the internet affect our political views?

• The Internet allows users to share with like minded others in an echo chamber that continually reaffirms their views with the views of others that, through the non-inclusion of outside voices, re-enforces these original views. Ex: anti-vaccers
• Also allows dissent though through allowing all content a place for view.

Where can we have the most impact; politics or advocacy groups?

- Advocacy groups:  crowdfunding, outreach (good and bad forms of this exist), social program change

http://www.forbes.com/sites/amitchowdhry/2014/07/03/reading-rainbow-closes-kickstarter-crowdfunding-campaign-at-over-5-4-million/

- Politics; "if voting was important politicians wouldn't let us do it" political advances get nowhere

Has technology made us more educated/informed voters?

Depends on how you look at it. We can get lots of information of someone’s political views very quickly with one Google search. I feel that it made me a more informed voter when voting for president in 2012 because it allowed me to find the candidate that I was interested in instead of allowing mainstream content to shape my view of the election. In which case I would have voted for either the two main party candidates. For most people, however, I will admit that they won’t look at the information as deeply as I may have. This means that it has the POTENTIAL to make us more informed voters if we decide for ourselves to seek the information out. It does not mean that it couldn't as easily be used to dumbly look through the same echo chamber politics in the US is prone to using.

Politics and New media: reading response for 16 March `15

I am not surprised at all to find out that the Obama campaign, in either election cycle, has been using different technologies and techniques in order to keep a finger on the public pulse for politics.

Obama's team pioneered the use of Social Media as a way to reach out to the public while campaigning across the country: whether it was online townhall meetings or the use of Houdini in the first election for president that they participated in. Obama's administration, whether you agree with their policies or not, have been expanding the government's use of social media in a successful manner.

They have found out that keeping the technology "in house" has saved them headaches by being  easier to fix when an issue arises.

The finance team for Obama's campaign raised MORE money this past election cycle that the one prior to it probably BECAUSE they were so willing to integrate with newer technology as it comes out.

Also, I would argue that we were still starting  to cross the threshold from early adopting of smart phone technology in 2008 compared to 2012. And, it is probably because we were further along in the adoption process during the second election that they were able to raise more money than previously.

The one thing I dislike about the Atlantic article is that about half way through the FIRST of two pages, it focuses on Harper Reed and not the technology that he uses. He used the word #YOLO, along with others on the Obama campaign. He knows a club owner and is a Hipster-esque nerd.

And while I wouldn't mind learning about him on his own, I feel that this article should be split into two distinct articles: one about the campaign and one about the man himself. But they decided to combine them and make it unnecessarily long. Longer than even a print medium would use. And, since it is online, it needs to be short, sweet and to the point unless the title suggests that it is going to be a combination piece.

There isn't enough multimedia on the piece either, making it long and drawn out. And while I probably won't have much multimedia on this blog, I am not trying to draw in readers. I am simply replying for a class assignment while this author is attempting to draw people in and get them interested.

Frankly,the author choosing to do that lost my interest altogether though I kept reading.

I do enjoy the statistic on the second page of the article that states: "In 2008, Facebook was about one-tenth of the size that it is now. Twitter was a nothing burger for the campaign. It wasn't a core or even peripheral part of the strategy, "(Madrigal).

I think this is interesting because: 1) I joined Facebook when I was a Sophomore in high school. It was only a few months shy of 2008 that I registered for an account in the website; 2)I noticed a major change in the focus of Obama's campaign with which social media platforms were being used. They tended to focus more on Twitter and the use of YouTube for livestreams online.

While I was more socially and politically aware than my peers in high school, partially because  most of my friends were of age and able to vote in that election cycle, I wasn't fully aware of how they were mainly focused on one site or another at the time.

Though, I certainly realized the change between the first and second campaigns when I was of age to vote.

I also realize that many people I know have adopted Facebook after myself during the time Facebook expanded exponentially. For example, my entire immediate family is now on the site. My grandmother and her siblings are on the site as well now.

I have also been able to keep track of my cousins who I have never actually met before because they live out in California on Facebook.

And while Twitter is 140 characters of short, sweet and to the point, it can lose something in translation when you just need a few more characters to finish the sentence.

So, I definitely feel like the quote resonates with me as I have personally been involved with how the Internet has been evolving just like anyone else who has been signing online to newer and better services these few years.
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The Internet has the potential to be wonderful for democracy as it creates a public sphere where there wouldn't have been one before. Everyone who has access, in theory, has a voice.

It can also be a rallying point for people who would otherwise not have a voice, ex: Ferguson and the Occupy Movements around the United States.

The Internet both allows established forces in government to stay in power while also allowing people to dissent and possibly overthrow government forces, case in point The Arab Spring.

The Internet has a lot of potential for democracy as well as other political agendas,  such as ISIS.

If you want access to it, it exists. Much like how people say if it exists, there is probably porn of it. No matter how wrong and taboo it is, it will be accessible through the Internet as well.

Wikis: Reading response for 4 March 2015

My primary use of wikis has been to look up information to questions I have regarding a multitude of topics. I have used niche wikis such as Memory Alpha (Star Trek), Minecraft Wiki (Minecraft, obviously), Bulbapedia (Pokemon), and Wookipedia (Star Wars) to name a few; spoof wikis such as Uncyclopedia; and the most common wiki, Wikipedia. Wikipedia even has a list of all the wikis out there available for people. As such, I agree with Mr. Reagle when he says that wikis are a teaching tool that has the potential to be snap shot of the culture at the time of their inception and continued use.

I have never used  a wiki for logistical purpose to, for example, organize a camping trip like the example in the video. I have only used wikis for referencing things. However, the creation of a wiki is as simple as creating a site using Google Sites and picking a template. Then, you enter all the information you desire with the hep of Google's integrated systems. 

A lot of the criticism of Wikipedia is that basically everything can be put into the source instead of having to pick and choose. But in order to learn a lot, many people still hold this perception that you must read between the pages you need to become knowledgeable. But I believe that the use of hyperlinks allows us to still get into that deeper digging. You can dig and dig through pages forever by clicking hyperlinks from one page to the next. You go down the figurative rabbit hole of the web. 

We also become more a part off the information finding because we have the ability to now interact with the information. No longer is the information given totally over to one gate keeper. It can be created by the community at large and saved. Some sites, like Wikipedia, have editing standards that require documented information in order for a change to be allowed an saved thereafter. Others, like Wookiepedia, require no more than the click of the button and then peers review the information that has been given and adjust accordingly and the process starts all over again. 

Wikis are a tool that, like any tool, comes with the need to be responsible. It takes personal review to determine if a site is acceptable to your own standards. Like any technology or tool, there are risks and benefits. I tend to believe that the benefits often outweigh the risks in these cases as having access to literally all the wealth of knowledge of human kind through my phone(at least that does not have a pay wall)  is wonderful. So what if they collect some basic information about me? They are giving me a free service that I can easily have access to. Phone books have had access to phone numbers and addresses for many years. Why is Google's information any different?

Reading response for March 2

Technology and our brains is interesting in that our brains are easily able to adapt to whatever new stimuli it is given.
Having grown up with the new technology of the Internet, I don't know a time where the internet was not present. My father is in the technology industry and as such I have grown up with old and new technology but the internet was always present in my life.

I am not surprised that we are evolving to match our current technology. Humans have always used tools in order to continue to adapt to our situation. The Internet and mobile devices as well as other electronics are no different.

Having grown up around arcade machines and having had a programmer as a father, I have grown up and adapted to many new and increasingly faster technologies. The arcade machines seem archaic in comparison to the fact I can play touch responsive games on my mobile phone. Let alone the fact that I have many different mobile devices that have more computing power than the bulky desktop computers that I had as a child.

My father was using the Internet when it was still primarily messaging boards that engineers and other technologically proficient early adopters.

This having been said, my parents were careful ad to when they exposed us to what technology. My brother and I didn't have access to our own computer, which we shared and had dial up, until I was six. And it was downstairs where my mom could monitor us.

I didn't even get a cell phone until I was 13 and was on my school's track team so it was purely for logistical purposes.

Parents are the gatekeepers of technology for their children. And often expose their children to these technologies before these children might actually be ready to handle the technology.

My best friend has a 10 month old daughter and every time I am with her all she wants is to play with my phone. However, my friend has also made sure her daughter has access to physical copies of books like we did when we were her age.

As technology changes, we must adapt both our methods of parenting and our methods of adoption of this technology.

Biotechnology is a very real future. We must just be careful to not abuse what we have.

Reading response for the 18th of February and the 23rd of February

In regards to net neutrality, I believe that it is better for us to try and actually weigh the consequences of attempting to disallow companies to not have fast lanes.

The consequences of disallowing this, to me, possibly outweigh the benefits.

In regards to privacy, I believe the consumers give up some of their privacy in order to use services for free.

The fact is that in order for Americans to be free, we must retain our liberties. However, when we sign user agreements, we give up some of our liberties and freedom and privacy in order to use these services.

This is not to say that this is a bad trend. I only state that users need more transparency when it comes to these user agreements. As most user agreements are written in legal jargon, the average citizen is not going to read these. While I understand that it is written in that manner because they must cover every option, I believe that having a quick manner in which users can read what information is being used and collected would be appropriate.

In regards to the mobile Internet, I believe that the FCC should be able to currently regulate it based on the fact that mobile Communications are based on data packets that get sent through proprietary towers. As this is the case, it should be within reason for them to be able to classify the mobile Internet as within their jurisdiction.

The issue I have with mass collecting of data is that the information can always be misused. Obviously, the issue at hand is that we have been collecting this information for you without regard to privacy or obscurity. The thing is that demographic information can give away a lot more the most people are comfortable with .

Since web sites like Amazon allow wish lists to be public, they leave it open poor people with no intentions to get access to seemingly private information.

I personally do not like the idea that someone can figure out where I live, where I am, and what I do on a regular basis concerning because these people with ill intentions can access services while pretending they are me.

In general, the idea of net neutrality seems like a good one. However, I truly believe that making sure that companies are able to do business as usual is important. I also feel that it is important for people do you know what information is being broadcast on the web. These two concerns must be taken into account when writing any new legislation in regards to the Internet and how it is used.

I also believe that it is important that Internet service providers do not block lawful content for throttle this content in a manner that makes it difficult for anyone to access the content that they are paying to access.

Also, I want to note that I "wrote" this using Google Voice on my phone. And, except for a few errors in grammar and a little frustration with the microphone, it turned out pretty well. This is an example of the free services that we voluntarily give our information to companies to have access to. All with the aim of making our lives easier. 

Net Neutrality

Reading response for 16 Feb 2015 in New Media and Society; on net neutrality and possible implications for and against:

In regards to China changing social media regulations, I am not surprised at their attempt to un-democratize the Internet via regulations on Speech. Any attempt at freedom of speech has always been squelched by China and governments similar to them.

I am not quite sure about Americans and the concept of Net-neutrality because of the possibility that the government will do something similar to that of China and regulate speech as well as speeds. Especially given the track record they have in regards to Wiki leaks and the like. If they feel that the content is "lawful" they would allow it while "unlawful" content would possibly become expanded beyond the appropriate realms. Americans need a realm where all governments have no power: only the people creating content should have power over what they can and can't post.

As we have seen with the Patriot Act, if you give them an inch, they take a mile. Frankly, I am highly skeptical of our government and their ability to do anything correctly. Both sides of the Net-Neutrality coin have decent points. I see no reason that companies shouldn't be allowed to Legoize in order to provide better, faster content.

However, I also agree that companies shouldn't be allowed to throttle competitors to those companies that they wish to work with.

The issue I see us having is coming up with a middle ground between these viewpoints in order to achieve a balanced approach that benefits all involved.

Human rights, taxes and Apple (Reading response for 11 February 2015)

Apple and many other corporations have been able to avoid billions of dollars in taxes through the creation of subsidiaries across state and international borders, Naturally, local governments in California who have been financially defunct in recent years are upset.

Another symptom of this financial strategy seems t be a disconnect from the local people themselves. Google has created WiFi for their local community while Apple, when asked, stated that that they paid taxes for that and the government should provide that service.

I am not personally sure that I agree with either side on this. I think that companies should work with their local governments in order to create a better community and  do this through charitable donations, which Apple does through their matching gift campaign. And they brought jobs to the local area and employees spend money in the local economy. A community should not have the ability to bully any company but conversely  these companies should also help local schools  through donations of technology or partnerships that benefit both groups.

My father owns a small business in the R&D technology industry and our company often donates to the local school systems while we also give individual donations.


The tax strategy that Apple Employs  is now called Double Irish with a Dutch Sandwich, because Apple created two offices in Ireland and through the Irish branch have ties to Luxembourg and the Netherlands.

This is also frustrating for small businesses in the technology industry because these large businesses are able to pay a comparatively less percentage on taxes which leaves individuals and these small businesses on the hook for deficits.

However, California, unlike other states, does not have a balanced budget amendment. Which means that the state borrows money in order to improve while not bringing in the money for these improvements. They are attempting to run a government like a business and it doesn't work because governments are fundamentally different.

We also have to look at how Apple and their companies manufactures their goods.

Apple outsources production of their products to places like China where treatment that we consider cruel and unusual, as well as often a violation of the human rights of workers,

This includes work weeks that are excessively long along with the treat of being let go if you don't go to these long shifts; unreasonably bright light levels to facilitate 24 hour shifts; safety protocols aren't followed in many cases; high enough suicide rates that many companies have started to put in suicide nets to stop people from successfully jumping to their deaths without addressing the root cause of the issue.

Foxxconn is the most infamous of these companies and they make or have made products for:

(Source of list: Wikipedia on Foxxconn)

Reading Response for Feb. 9

MP3: the Meaning of a Format by Sterne

• The Internet allows users to use P2P sharing systems that allow for the wide distribution of information and other interests for people.
• MP3's are the most commonly used file format for the wide distribution of music as it allows more music on a device with less information
• Relies on the use of an algorithm, called perceptual coding,  that is based on human hearing that looses certain pitches in favor of the smaller file size as well as a techniques called lossy compression.
• Telephony, while linked with the invention of the telephone itself, also now encompasses phones communications, VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol)/ Internet calling, mobile phone communications, faxing, voice mail and video conferencing.
• Telephony also, at it's inception and forward, have helped to shape how we understand hearing  and helped to shape what it means to hear as well as how new technologies must be shaped around our ability to hear. 

The Future of the Internet and How to Stop It by Zittrain

• In a basic manner, the Internet is a type of "hourglass architecture" in that  the network can be carved into conceptual layers with at least three layers to it: 
  

1. "physical"=bottom and consists of the wires and airwaves that data flows through; 
2. "application"=top and consists of what activities people wish to use the network for;
3. "protocol"= middle and "establishes consistent ways for data to flow so that the sender,the receiver, and anyone necessary in the middle can know the basics of who the data is from and where the data is going." (pg. 67-68)

• Division of labor improves the systems of the Internet.
• The shape of an hourglass represents the ability of anyone who is interested to join in on creation of content and resources.