Surveillance: Keeping People Safe and Companies Growing

After watching the show about the schools that are monitored my cameras, I began thinking about surveillance in general. To be honest, as I mentioned in class, I think that surveillance leads to productivity and overall a better environment. Cameras in the work place and classroom are often very discreet, and as long as employees and teachers are notifited of thier presence, I feel as thougth they should not have a significant impact on peoples actions.

If the teachers you hire and employees you hire are leigitnment people with good intentions and a good work ethic, then cameras keep them safe. An environment in which employees work to thier maximum and don't waste time on the clock is an environment prone to success and growth. If teachers and employees that are being surrveilled are allowed an appropriate amount of break time during a work day, then every action while not on break ideally is should be a productive one.

SMS Alert

So I was thinking about this texting phenomena that we were discussing in relation to the article we read for Wednesday....

And I have come to the conclusion that while the power of texting can lead to scary and uncontrollable situations in some extreme circumstances, the overall power of cell phones and texting has improved the way society works.

We have been able to cut out the uncertainty of correspondence between people and now how means of direct and almost communication. Texting and email alerts have lead to a society that can run faster, smoother, and more reliably.

What do you guys think? Agree or Disagree

Blogs from Many Places

So during this work week we have not discussed much new material, but I thought it would be interesting to share some popular and unique blogs with all of you. I mean our blogs arn't too personal or particularly interesting, but some people put a lot of their time and emotions into blogs.

This is one of the most popular blogs in the world. It is a group blog this discusses technology.

This blog is called lifehacker and is a place for people to go "for comments and advice on just about anything".

This is ablog dedicated to making people's lives easier. Its an interesting blog that lest readers's into secrent about how to make their lives more convenient.

Idhe and Greenhouse Gases

After reading the introductory material about Idhe this past weekend, I became interested in what other kinds of topics, on a more in-depth level that Idhe explores with his idea of Phenomenology. So, I visited his homepage and came across an article that interested me titled: Whole Earth Measurements . I focused on the first part of the article titled, "How Many Phenomenologists does it take to detect a 'Greenhouse Effect'?" It's a short passage that discusses and debates between the different ways that technology and humans have interpreted and are interpreting pollution, our environment, and raising temperatures due to CFCS and other potentially harmful chemicals.

In this article, Ihde debates between what really is harmful to our earth and what is natural. He debates how we use technology to measure Greenhouse gas and if maybe our calculations are based on faulty math, and maybe we are just not sampling enough data or looking at a big enough picture to come to conclusions.

Read the article and let me know what you think!

P.s. I know you guys have missed me, I've been reallyyyyyy sick :(

Wikipedia Controversty.

So this week I found a really interesting article relating to Wikipedia and it's entry on President Obama.

I stumbled across it while checking out a different article at wired.com.

Check it out, it discusses how since the president moved into offices pa there have been several ommisions to his page.

Do we treat Wikipedia differently than other wiki sites?

A wiki is a resource meant to me alterted by users for other users, but does this clash with people thinking that it's wrong to omit cotroversial information about our president?

Is it wrong that people are trying to save-face for our president by omitting his ties to controversy of the past?

Lexia to Perplexia: Expression for the Masses

At first, Lexia to Perplexia scared me. It was, as discussed on Wednesday, Stelarc like, and really out there. It was not very self explanatory and didn't interact with the users of the website as you would anticipate. After thinking about the concept though, and contemplating what a "scaled down" Lexia to Perplexia web site would be like, I concluded that writing that took alternate forms will be the writing that dominates the future.

It's easy to skim a 5 page article of jsut text, get a few points out of it and call it a day. But you cannot skim Lexia to Perplexia, nor can you leave the website without experiencing writing involving more than just the physical reading of words.

In the future, sites like Lexia to Perplexia will allow individuals of all interests and backgrounds to feed off information of others. An interactive website lets people, who might have not taken the time or energy to read a "text-only" document, to reap the benifits of literature and the resources of it as well.

If you think about, we experience mini-lexia to perplexia sites everyday. Check out the layout of facebook, you have photos, information, a place to comment, multiple pages, and links to other pages. If you took the presentation qualities of facebook away, each one would look the same. It would have a box stating your birthday, year in school , and institution, and then that box would be proceeded by a box stating, interests, hobbies, about me etc.

If each person's facebook was composed of blocks of plain text, there would be no captivating qualities of the site.

Facebook's links to pictures, it's ability to record videos, the the ability to comment, is what makes each any every one of us FACEBOOK ADDICTS. (more or less ;))

For some reason UTUBE would not let me imbed this link, but PLEASE check out this clip from Conon O'Brian. It gives a comedic outlook on the technology of our day.

Writing and Technology: Both Sides of the Fence

Today we identify creativity and personality with our writing. Our media projects are prime examples of how writing can morph into many forms. Well we are in the 21st century, and in general, we accept how much technology has enhanced our experiences with education including writing. But, I have to wonder, what traditionalists would think of this. Is arguable that media forms don’t enhance writing, but distract from it? Personally, I think arguments could line both sides of the field on this one. On one side, words are words and writing is writing, and the people that should get recognized in the field and accepted are the ones that put words together in unique, captivating ways. On the other side, writing can be argued as more than just words juxtaposed together. Writing is an art form that allows people with knowledge and experience to get heard and become integrated into society. Writing incorporated with media allows people to become communicators and engage others with their ideas and thoughts.

I am interested to see what everyone has to say about the media being so integrated into our writing. Cleary, media is an integrated part of our writing culture as college students, but what do you all think that the writers of the 20th and 19th century would think of how many shapes and avenues writers take today with their work.