What Are We Paying For?

In chapter 8, Mark Giese discusses the history of the Internet and the different ways the Internet has been used in our society. On page 154, he discusses the Internet on a collegiate level, and what it is that we pay (or do not) pay for. He quotes John P. Doyle by stating,

“One of the keys to understanding why colleges and universities make their computers available to the public is the fact that it doesn’t really cost them anything. The computer servers are always on.”

Giese continues Doyle’s thoughts by stating that

“…even at the institutional level, the costs associated with the growth and maintenance of the Internet are diffused and indirect. Once the investment in computer hardware is made, there is little additional cost associated with making access to the Internet available to a wide range of people”

I thought that the idea of the low cost of creating a serve with wide range access to a large group of people was very interesting, especially here at Fordham. With the campus being almost 99% wireless, I always wondered how the IT department was able to fund the ever-expansive wireless project. However, now I understand that making these services available to a large group is fairly inexpensive, comparatively to what it could be. I also now understand why the IT department is able to provide us with free customer support and free programs such as Symantec Anti-Virus and the dreaded Cisco Clean Access Agent.

Who controls the Internet?

I think the issue of control, brought up in Chapter 3 by James Beniger is very interesting. He begins the chapter by describing the evolution of walking paths in Harvard Yard. He says, “As new buildings open, both on campus and off, and popular courses move from one part of the university to another, the resulting shifts in Harvard’s pedestrian traffic are recorded in new footpaths cutting across the various lawns of the Yard…Harvard does not attempt to reseed- it simply paves over all the new paths chosen by sufficient pluralities of feet. In choosing to act this way, Harvard has eschewed top-down control in favor of a bottom-up variety, forsaking the centralized control of the landscape architect in favor of decentralized control by emergent popular habits.” (P.60) Fordham, on the other hand, does not take this approach. In September there was a path of beaten down grass, between two trees, leading from the street by Spellman Hall to O’Hare. Maintenance reseeded this area and put barricades around it to prevent students from walking on the new grass. What makes them think that students won’t walk along the same path once the barricades are removed? Or will the barricades be there forever, suggesting top-down control?

Beniger likens Harvard’s bottom-up paving of popular footpaths chosen by students to the bottom-up development of the Internet. In the early days of the Internet, before it became what we know it as today, it was simply a computer network run by the U.S. Defense Department. Beniger describes how the Defense Department tried to stop the rise of a virtual community of science fiction fans. However, the community was so strong and vocal that they succeeded in gaining “control”. The Defense Department, like Harvard was forced to allow a bottom-up development of the Internet by frequent users.

This brings up the question of control. While Harvard owns the concrete paths they have paved, no one owns the Internet. James Gleick is quoted as saying, “It isn’t a thing; it isn’t an entity; it isn’t an organization. No one owns it; no one runs it. It is simply Everyone’s Computers, Connected.” (P.61) While I’m not sure what will happen, in terms of control to the Internet in the future, it’s interesting to think about it’s current state of decentralized control.

Epilogue: Cyberspace

Epilogue: Cyberspace, Shmyberspace

“In the epilogue to this volume, he raises the most basic question of all- Do we actually need cyberspace technologies? Is there a problem that cyberspace is needed to solve? Postman suggests that the difficulties contemporary information technologies were meant to address were, in fact, resolved in the 19th century. Thus, we suffer from too much information and from empty simulations that take the place of genuine experience. Far from a dismissal, Postman reminds us that in fulfilling new functions, older, more important, ones may be ignored; in creating new forms, more traditional and satisfying ones may be forgotten; and that in generating new codes and meanings, we may become lost in a Babel-like sate of incoherence.”

Postman believes that the problem we faced in the 19th century was trying to increase the ability to communicate with people faster. He suggests that this problem was solved with inventions such as the telegraphy, photography, radio, movies, penny press, and more. He believes that “we have solved the problem of information scarcity” and should instead be trying to gain meaning in our lives. He goes on to state that “people who are enthusiastic about virtual reality machines” are those trying to escape the real world and are seeking friendships in a simulated world because they lack the social skills to make friends. Postman states that their real problem is “boringness, friendlessness, thoughtlessness.” This reminds me of Second Life and how people are using it to create an avatar in order to belong to a simulated world. The fabricated world created with the idea that they can escape the real world and create a fantasy one. This empty simulation is what Postman argues against. I don’t believe Postman is against new media, but rather is disheartened by what it has created.

Postman states that the “tie between information and human purpose has been severed.” In some ways I have to agree with Postman. Our generation has been inundated by information and new media and has been captivated so much as to say were trapped by new mediums. For example, so many people will rather text some one or write on their Facebook page rather than call a person. There’s an intimate connection lost when you text someone or use a social networking site that is present when you call someone. This relates to Postman’s suggestion that people continue to want to communicate information faster and have lost some meaning in doing so. Moreover, Postman states that “we must now turn to our poets, playwrights, composers, theologians, and artists, who, alone, can create or restore the narratives that will give a meaningful pattern to our lives. They are our weavers who can liberate us from cyberspace and put us back in the world.” Postman made a real bold statement because it’s difficult to entirely agree with him; I’m a bit torn between both ends of the spectrum. Although I feel that we have lost some meaning through the use of cyberspace, I don’t think that we need to liberate ourselves completely from it. Instead we should limit our use of cyberspace and try and gain a greater connection with the real world. However, Postman’s argument creates a skeptical outlook about the future. As we keep moving towards an increasingly technological and cyber world, will we be entrapped by it and are we going to need total liberation as Postman states? It’s definitely some worth thinking about.

Moral Ground

We all know that sex sells. With such a lucrative market, there must be a reason why pornography is so successful. Pornography is so successful because it allows for people to full fill dreams or fantasies which may never be achieved in real life. With that said, is viewing pornography immoral? The class seemed to be divided on the debate of whether virtual funeral crashers were immoral.

Obviously viewing pornography on the Internet could be detrimental to a child. It is up to the parents of that child to ensure that this type of material is not seen by them. It is not the government's responsibility to filter tv, reading, movie, or Internet material. Parents should be mature enough to realize what is appropriate for their child's development and not depend on someone or some entity to do their parenting for them.

The media can create dread for parents and many may over protect their children. Many people do not realize the strength of persuasion that the media has. The media creates news and news is what people talk about. The news also tends to focus on the negative. So when people read an article about how pornography has become an epidemic they quickly over react. If fox news said that an apple a day will send you to the doctor today most people would stop eating apples. So when the government and media propose pornography as a danger their will be steps taken to ban or diminish the sources of porn. I am not saying that porn is a good thing or bad thing. I am saying that you can not control what people will want to do regardless of rules or regulations. They will do it anyway e.g. alcohol abolition.

Do you think pornography is wrong or immoral?

Porn's Prominent Place

In chapter 11, I was shocked to see a section describing how pornography has furthered technological advances. When it comes down to the details, the thesis has a lots of support.

The essay goes all the way back to the Gutenberg press arguing that a book about sexual positions and another about various sexual stories were two of the most prolifically produced texts. Almost every medium has fostered a development in pornography.

Next came the development of the paperback book which was created on cheap paper products. These texts were frequently pornography and erotica (Zimmer and Hunter go so far as to argue that variations on this are now found in modern supermarkets).

Next came porn photography during the Civil War where the "soldiers sought more than just letters from home" (187). Then came pay-per-view cable, videotaped pornography, and finally internet pornography.

The internet has provided its users with instant access to information, music, videos, and pornography as well. Every new medium brings with it advantages in positive and negative ways and the internet is no different. It has brought about changes in all forms. Communications and Cyberspace states that internet pornography is now a $1 billion business and pornography as a whole is $56 billion.

The question is, is this a good thing? Many people argue that the internet has brought with it great advances and major downfalls. Opinions?

Unseen Consequences of New Technologies

In Chapter 8, From ARPAnet to the Internet, Mark Giese discusses the founding of ARPAnet, the origin of today's internet. He traces it to the Defense Department's way of creating a manner in which to communicate if all other forms fail during nuclear war. ARPAnet, it was called, was at its foundation, antithetical to the usual way the military worked. They wanted a non-centralized and interconnnected system, much different from the normal hierarchy of the military. But the most interesting point of Giese's chapter is the example it makes of being unaware of the consequences or other uses for a new technology. Marshall McLuhan, a famed member of the Media Ecology community, always warned of the effects of new technologies. No one can ever fully understand how something new will change the world we live in and ARPAnet is no exception. The military eventually lost the battle with computer researchers and the internet slowly became a social network. Little did the military know that there system originally meant for back up communications in the case of an attack would become public and be used world-wide.

Google Chrome OS: a new cyberspace

Google announced this week that they would be launching a brand new "Google Chrome" operating system. The Google Chrome web browser was the fundamental influence for Chrome, bringing together all of Google's apps like Google Docs, Gmail, Gchat, blogger and more into a reinvented, 21st century interface. The catch is, that's all there is to the operating system; there's no hard drive and no native apps--just a browser, housing everything you need.

As Beniger assesses in Communication and Cyberspace, "For those who seek to advertise, politic, persuade, or otherwise control large populations, cyberspace presents two attractive features: First, because cyberspace has the feel (and currently the tradition) of interpersonal communication, it would well serve to conceal the inherently impersonal (and thus less persuasive) aspects of mass communication. Second, because almost all of its communication is inherently accessible, retrievable, and machine readable by virtually anyone, cyberspace would itself foster unprecedented mass processing to support centralized control."

The second point about communication (and technology) being "inherently accessible, retrievable, and machine readable" is what struck a parallel for me with Chrome. Chrome enables users to access their content from any computer with web access just as if they were home on their computer. In many ways we already have these abilities with the plethora of Google apps that are already circulating, and Gmail is evolving to be (and already is for those who acknowledge the vast capabilities) much more than an email client. Chrome monopolizes on the simple idea of communication and digital interaction and creates their own "cyberspace." You now have a completely wireless, fully accessible operating system.

Google is marketing Chrome to be used on NetBooks and that it has all of the capabilities of a normal operating system with the usage of Google Docs for word processing, Gchat for your AIM needs, Hulu for your television, Google Calendar, and many more. Does the Chrome OS entice you? Do you feel comfortable with having all of your information and important documents stored solely on Google's servers?

Privacy

Privacy has become more and more of an issue in recent years. In the reading, privacy is discussed and it is also brought up how much we are tracked daily. I think there is no way to escape getting tracked in the technologically advanced world we live in now. We must give up our privacy and allow ourselves to get tracked in exchange for security. If we want to keep our privacy, then we would most likely lose a sense of security because we would not know what is going on around us, we would not have as much information as we do because people's personal security would be the priority.

Computer Time: Is Our Health Effected?

There have been numerous reports stating the harmful effects of continuous exposure to TV and computer. Some of the latest research claims that sedentary behaviors may be associated with high blood pressure. Joe Eisenmann stated that, "the cardiovascular disease risk factors suggest that risks may be immediate and not just indicative of potential problems.... sedentary behaviors are linked to obesity, and that obesity is linked to high blood pressure, but this is the first time that we've linked those behaviors directly to elevated blood pressure."

Children today are growing up in a different world. Often enough many children find enjoyment from playing online or accessing any bits of media they so choose. Formerly parents were concerned that they were spending too much time in front of the computer screen and this might pose a threat to their health, but now parents have something else to worry about. Their children have become the generation that can access any information at anytime. Parents again should question whether the vast amounts of information presented through the internet can actually impede their children's long term learning abilities. Often enough this generation may look up various information they need online to have a quick answer. The question is -will they remember it in the long term or will they feel confident that they can just look it up again? In Lance Strate's chapter 22 (Cybertime) of Communication and Cyberspace he mentions that, "Beyond the problem of the information glut, there are very legitimate fears concerning the loss of privacy, fears our every move leaves behind a trail of electronically recorded transactions" (State 376). So now, parents can worry about more than just the health of their children, but now, their online safety. As social networking sites allow users to post pictures and blogs, should parents fear that their children's post could be a mistake that one day prevents them from being hired for a job?

Stress, Health, and Cybertime

I didn't know anything about cybertime before I read Prof Strate's chapter. It had however occurred to me, especially with the recent change to daylight savings time, that there is something unnatural about the way we let time rule our days. Time is an arbitrary conception and I wanted to see what others thought of the idea that the rhythm of life as we know it today may not be natural or healthy. Ancient peoples connected time with the rising of the sun and the moon. People awoke when the sun rose and slept when it set. Doctors refer to our sleep schedule as our circadian rhythm and it turns out that this is mostly based on the concept of daylight. A change in out circadian rhythm is related to all kinds of health problems. These can be as mild as jet lag or as severe as sleep disorders and bipolar disorder.

The chapter also speaks of the nanosecond culture which can create stress because of the instantaneous effects of cybertime on the increasing speed and impatience in which we live out lives. This instantaneous and constant connection to cybertime, while we are in a real time world adds to the stress of nanosecond culture.

I don't have any formal research to back these claims up at the moment, but what are your thoughts?

NO TIME!!!!

A major issue with today's culture is our impatience regarding just about anything. We have grown up in an age where everything is expected to be instant. Whether it be instant food, instant entertainment, or even instant treatment to illness, we expect everything to be completed as fast as possible. In particular, I feel that we as a generation take the internet and its amazing abilities for granted. We expect the web page to load instantly, and the song to download nearly instantly, when in reality it is amazing we have this technology at all. I believe we all need to take a step back and realize that this technology is only in its infancy. We should understand that what we have already is amazing and really super fast. Our generation, labeled, "The instant generation", needs to realize that there is value in being patient. If we continue this lifestyle we will only dwell on the waiting periods, instead of valuing that precious time.

Ever wish there was a ctrl +Z for life?

In Strate’s article on cybertime, he cites Brenda Laurel in her thoughts on reversibility in computing. She talks about the idea of undoing one’s thoughts; essentially undoing time. Laurel writes,

“What if I failed to save a copy of my spreadsheet before I monkeyed around with a scenario that turned out to be disastrous…I don’t really want to page back through versions of my work; I want to turn back the clocks.” (374)

Laurel brings up a very interesting point here. I can’t even begin to count the number of times that I’ve made changes to a word document and wished that I hadn’t. We spend all of this time reading, researching and writing, only to redraft. But as Laurel states, what if we liked our original draft? How do we undo what we already undid?

I think that the idea of “undo” and “redo” are beyond resourcesful; however, do their effects eliminate the idea of “time”? For example, let’s say you wrote an entire paragraph that took you 15 minutes. After reading it over, you decided that the paragraph does not fit with your paper, and you delete it. Does that mean that you also deleted time? And for that matter, if you then decide that you want that paragraph back and you undo your delete, did you just take advantage of the idea of time?

When it comes to a digital world, I think we need to redefine what we mean by time. In a world where we can undo and redo hours of work in a matter of nanoseconds, by what do you really gauge time?

Cybermedia Space

“The building blocks of physical, perceptual, and conceptual space combine to form our sense of space in everyday life.” Physical space can be subjective, pertaining to what the space exactly is, and therefore “this sense of space is mediated by our physical environment, our sense, and language.” In making sense of this “space,” with regards to electronic media, a “personal presence” helps create sense in an artificial context.An example of this “artificial” or “electronic space” is given in the text: “It is not entirely clear where your voice is when you talk on the telephone (at your end, at the receiving end, or somewhere in between?), and therefore it is not entirely clear where you are (perceptually or conceptually).” You know that you are talking on the phone to, lets say your mom, but you do not know for sure where you mom is based on the telephone conversation. Of course there are audible clues, which may lead you to draw a conclusion of where you mom is without her telling you, for example noise on a busy street in New York. However, there still is a “space” where this conversation, this exchange of voice, occurs and that is the “artificial sense of space.”

Defining a space in an artificial, electronic environment is not done in the same way that it would be in a physical environment with walls and furniture. In an electronic, or mediated, space, the aforementioned “personal presence” online is one that is necessary for defining this space.

Often times you will hear people refer to online media as the “cyberworld.” YouTube stars will call their fans “YouTubers” and Twitter users will call the interaction of tweets the “Twitterverse.” This “world,” which is electronically present, is one that is defined by the personalities that are developed by individual users on their individual computers. While that concept of a person creating an avatar on their computer is a tangible idea, the interaction and exchange of information, thoughts and comments on the specified media platform (YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Blogger) is where we encounter this “cybermedia space.” The “twitterverse” is a cybermedia “space,” or platform, where ideas are exchanged along with YouTube and facebook. If something “happened on facebook,” it occurred within the realm of online interaction between individuals who are on facebook, but the “place” where this all happened is intangible and unfathomable to the human mind. It literally occurs on facebook’s servers and follows the path of the code written by the developers, but that is not the thought process of the average user. The thought process of the average user is that if you click on someone’s profile and then write on their wall, that’s exactly what you are doing. The GUI makes it appear as if the process is simple and normal and this is why any person can accept facebook or any other social media platform for exactly what it is with out (much) question.

Cybertime and Privacy

Before reading this chapter I was unaware of the concept of cybertime. This is probably due to the lack of attention that is given to it. As Prof Strate states, “the concept of cyberspace has proven to be both popular and powerful, the idea of cybertime has been all but ignored.” Prof Strate considers many different aspects between the relationship of time in cyberspace and how it relates to computers, computer-mediated communication, and online interaction.
Prof Strate then goes to discuss the computer as a medium and its representation of time. Prof Strate presents us with the example of surveillance and states:

“given the hyper speed of computing technology, surveillance can occur in real time. Total recall becomes total see-all…Gelernter is enthusiastic about computer power and its potential to revolutionize such activities as news gathering, traffic control, hospital organization, and the political process. It is therefore difficult to decide which is more frightening: the implementation of the system that he describes, or Gelernter’s seeming obliviousness to the threat it poses to freedom and privacy. Moreover, he misses the irony of installing mirror worlds in a culture characterized by rampant narcissism. Mirror worlds, as symbolic representations or maps of the present (and the past), also represent the computer’s potential to both control and contain the outside world through hyper speed surveillance and information processing and the ability to respond immediately.”

It is interesting how cyber time will completely mirror that of reality and be able to present us with images of the outside world. The constant surveillance that we are under is frightening. Every move we make, every step we take can be recorded without our knowledge. Such a system can be beneficial to our society, but as Strate suggests are we willing to give up our freedom and privacy in order to establish such a system? Do the gains really outweigh the losses? This poses the question of how far will society go in order to know our position at every point in time, whether its real time or cybertime. If such a system was fully implemented, it’s similar to just inserting a computer chip in our bodies and tracking our every movement.

Moreover, many people were astounded by Google Earth and its ability to allow a person to view satellite imagery. Although this program was pretty cool, it may just be a predecessor to the system Gelernter was speaking of.

Instant Gratification Generation

In Chapter 22, Professor Strate talks about J. David Bolter as one of the few people to make the connection between the clock as a close ancestor of the computer rather than the steam engine. The chapter has a quote from Bolter which says, "...Men and women began to work, eat, and sleep by the clock, and as soon as they decided to regulate their actions by this arbitrary measurer of time, the clock was transformed from an expression of civic pride into a necessity of urban life. The computer too has changed from a luxury to a necessity for modern business and government." (p.363)

Later in the chapter Professor Strate refers to Rifkin and his idea of the 'new nanosecond culture'. He says, "We have come to expect the instantaneous, so that it no longer excites us... When sitting at a computer terminal, delays of a few seconds seem interminable and five minutes is an eternity. Hyperspeed breeds impatience, haste, and intolerance, both online and in the real world." (p.367) We, as young adults have become accustomed to having everything at our fingertips and getting information instantaneously. This mindset has earned the title of "instant gratification generation". An interesting example of this is the Fordham internet situation. Fordham students can frequently be heard complaining about the "slow internet". If we can't get to a webpage within 10 seconds we freak out and complain about the slow connection. The popularity of smartphones also illustrates how people need the convenience of information anytime, anywhere.

Clocks and Computers

In Cybertime, the analogy between the clock and the computer is very fascinating to see. Once the clock became common, people relied on it for the information it conveyed. Time became an important aspect of the day to day lifestyle when clocks became standard. Days were ruled by the time and people obeyed the information it conveyed.

The computer has had the exact same effect. Every business, college, student, etc. is completely reliant upon the power within computing. The computer runs finances, businesses, classes, and most other things. If there was ever an issue with computers, the world would be a much different place. We are reliant upon this new technology like people became reliant upon the invention of clocks.

With this new technology and our utter dependence on it, are we more susceptible to bigger issues? If we can no longer have modern society without the internet, computers, and cybertime, what are we supposed to do if they all fail?

Computers, Watches, and Cell Phones: OH MY!

In reading the beginning of Professor Strate's chapter on Cybertime not only made me realize how considerably unique and different, yet similar clocks and computers are, but it made me realize more about technological changes. Even in the past few years we have turned to cell phones, as possibly another form of technology to be considered in this grouping. Not in so much as Professor Strate speaks of the internal of the computer working in computer time and time pieces working as passes of our time, but cell phones in some ways determine our time.

Think about everything you use your cell phone for... not only calling or texting, but in most cases is your main way of having a grasp of time. How many people still wear watches... well, how many "young" people still wear watches?

Just tonight at a rehearsal, someone asked, "What is the time?" While everyone fumbled through their pockets and ran to their bags, my director simply lifted her wrist and said, "10:22pm". Surprised, everyone looked up and someone said, "Now who still wears one of those...?"

Though we are a technologically driven generation, we run on the world's time and are constantly going. Maybe computer have it easier. They are on their own time, on the cyber time explained in this chapter. And all though this does not correlate exactly to the idea of cyber/computer time, I think it gives us an idea of the ability for technology to work on its own time, and the mechanisms of a clock to be able to give us real world time.

Privacy

The professor discusses the loss of privacy due to the computer's ability to recall data. It seems that everywhere we are we can be tracked. It has become nearly impossible to cover a trail in our society. Somewhere something we are doing is has been recorded by someone. Records of the websites we visit are archived, stores at which we swipe our credit card are documented, and surveillance cameras observe us. These traces have become hurdles for the common criminal. For the rest of us, the threshold of privacy has been breached. As we discussed earlier in the semester, Internet alias' have become a past practice. We are now willing to share our full names, pictures, employment history, etc. for all to see. Is the release of our private information on the Internet safe? Will it serve to risk improper use of our personal information and/or defame our character? Binary data is factual information and it can be stored and used for or against us.

It startles me to think that everything I do in the cyber realm may be kept track of. So before I share stories or pictures or anything on the Internet, I pretend that my mother is sitting next to me and if there is any doubt I leave it for my hippocampus. Whenever I want a good laugh I look at pictures of my hair cut in high-school. If had put those pictures on the Internet not knowing who has a hold of them I'd probably be more red faced than I am right now for having told you about it. Always remember that employers want you to maintain your image more than you do. Use discretion!

Internet Timing

In reading Chapter 22, "Cybertime," I realized my lack of focusing on how the roles of digital clocks and our computer's internal clock. But one point made in the article that stood out to me, by way of relation, was the third phenomenon of cybertime. This third phenomenon is the subjective experience of time through computers and our interaction with them. This point immediately brought to mind how my friends, and myself included, struggle with time in conversations on the internet. When we send an instant message and it takes two minutes for a reply, that wait could alter the meaning of the answer and allow for a variation of interpretations. We are used to immediate answers and it is this timing on the internet which determine the mood of conversations. The only way someone can try to tell the emotions or attitude of another individual over the internet is the timing and rhythm of the back and forth conversation.

Hypertext

"The book is obsolete," declared theorist Marshall McLuhan ... He was quick, though, to explain himself: "Obsolescent does not mean extinction. Quite the contrary. For example, handwriting has been 'obsolete' since Gutenberg, and certainly since [the typewriter], there is more handwriting today than there ever has been." Instead, the book, he suggests, will be raised to an "art form."

He makes a good point in that just because we have keyboards and computers doesn't mean we have left our pens and paper idle. I write every day, and I also enjoy reading a text book rather than reading from a computer screen. Will we ever leave books behind for good? I can't imagine that happening. Although in our book Communications and Cyberspace, in chapter 17 (Pedagogy and Hypertext), author Stephanie Gibson argues that the hypertext form can be utilized in the classroom in many ways. For some, the textbook remains a one dimensional means whereas hypertext allows you to discover and interact with the material you are learning. Gibson sites one of the earliest interactive hypertext packages- The Perseus Project- that allowed it's user to explore ancient Greece. There were " archaeological photographs and diagrams, photos of period artwork, plays in the original Greek language with translations, contemporary commentary, maps, and several glossaries all linked together to allow myriad approaches to the material" (Gibson 282).