Quality vs Quantity, Blog # 4

“It is far better to be silent, than to increase the quantity of bad books"
- Volitaire

The Internet is an organized meeting grounds for all types of information for everyone to see. With such a large database and audience, the production of quality ideas and facts can not be regulated against the production of useless, and more often than not incorrect ones. For some, the Internet is part of a combination, and even the sometimes the sole provider of information in their life. This can be said for the younger generation where using technology has become second nature and widely encouraged. If these people are viewing and using this incorrect information, there is an abundance of ill-informed people going about their lives prone to making mistakes. Although the background history on each Star Wars character may be valuable material to some, the 15,000 plus word count as opposed to the 10,000 words used to describe World War Two on Wikipedia is a major conflict of interest when it comes to quantity versus quality on the Internet.

The most important question to ask when you seek something on the Internet is that, is this credible? You may be inclined to just say ,“yes, why would someone post false facts about Power Engineering job duties?” but it is not as simple as that. Even articles on the most world renown sites such as Encyclopedia Britannica that are used in schools to teach, average 2.92 mistakes which is second only to Wikipedia, the evil of all education sources. Just like you can not believe everything you see on TV, you can not believe everything you read on the web. Wikipedia is like a game of telephone, where someone posts information that justifies credibility to them, and another person may come along and change it, and then another, over and over until the article may become something completely different then what the original user had intended. This can also be said for other websites as it may sate that there is a source to the material on the page, but who is to say that source is reliable, or the source that the source used is as well. Wikipedia acts as a scapegoat when it comes to assessing information on the web, but the problem branches out further to all parts of the Internet.

People are beginning to realize just how insufficient a lot of the information on the web is, but they are mostly experts on specific subjects who come across inaccurate facts. What is to be said about the average person, who will decide for them what is right and what is wrong when searching the Internet. Whether it be the disappointed housewife who’s turkey came out dry because she used a missing step recipe, or a new investor who is out his grocery money because he got a bad tip on the stocks, quality of information effects everyone who uses the Internet and must be at the forefront of discussion when analyzing what is confidently reliable. More programs like the WikiProject Public Policy Initiative where students at universities write articles pertaining to important information need to be put in place in order to restore the reputation of a global community on the web. If ever in doubt, use the five W’s ; Who is the source of the information, what information are you getting, when was the site created, where was the site created, why am I at this site and finally how can I tell if this is reliable? Those questions in combination with common sense and just an overall awareness of what may or may not be true will significantly decrease the amount of false information you absorb.

Sources :
PowerPoint on Quality of Information
It's a Wiki, Wiki World
Improving Wikipedia's credibility

CyberBully Man

The term "bullying" often refers to schoolyard tough guys picking on smaller kids and humilating people to get attention. But, more recently the Internet, cell phones, and other technology has been used to threaten, humiliate, insult, or embarrass kids and adults alike, this is called "Cyber Bullying". This creates a whole new dimension of bullying, because anyone can be a bully, not just the bigger, stronger, “tough kids”. These new sources of technology enable bullying to happen virtually anytime, anywhere, and it can be done completely anonymous. Cyber bullying attacks kids emotionally and mentally, instead of physically as the traditional standard of bullying would have it. These feelings can lead to loss of concentration, low school achievement, and absentees from school. Cyber bullying is often used as an anonymous tool of revenge, that can sometimes lead to serious mental and emotional problems, sometimes even suicide.

There are many types of Cyber bullying, one of these types consists of sending nude or vulgar pictures by email or mobile device, this is often called "sexting", which can result in serious legal fines or even jail time. Sometimes these personal messages and photos are sent to friends of boy/girl friends, and when a relationship comes to an end, these pictures could be forwarded to friends and be posted on the internet as a way of revenge. Even if a nude or vulgar picture of a minor (someone under the age of 18) is on someones phone or email, they can be heavily fined and put in jail for child pornography.

One of the most famous cases of cyber bullying happened to a young girl named Megan Meier. This young girl committed suicide on November 6 1992 due to cyber bullying. Megan had befriended a 16 year old boy named “Josh Evans” on a popular social networking website called "myspace". But, Megan was unaware that the account was created by one of Meier’s friend’s mother and friend. They had created this fake account because they had heard Megan had been spreading rumours about her daughter. So these grown women decided to create a fake person to befriend Megan, gain her trust and companionship, then slander her and make her feel worthless. Megan had been battling depression for several years before this event took place, and was perhaps the driving force that pushed her over the edge, in which she took her own life.

Cyber bullying is becoming a serious problem in todays youth. The problem will never be fully solved, but it can be prevented and minimized to a certain extent with the right approach. The only way this can happen is if people start to realize the seriousness of cyberbullying.

The Internet, Blog # 3

The Internet can be utilized for many things, whether it be the young aspiring chef looking for a new recipe or a shady criminal buying excessive amounts of goods with stolen credit card numbers. Both positive and negative activities are being carried out on the Internet everyday by millions of people. Some use it to stay in touch with loved ones via Face book or E-mail, while others become removed from reality with programs like Second Life where they spend ample amount of time on the computer and not living life. The consistency of quality information on the Internet is also falling at a rapid rate since creating websites and sharing ideas and facts is open to almost anyone, credible or not. If your not checking the information you get from the Internet you could be viewing useless material conjured up by a fake professor. Criminals also use the Internet in many ways to ruin lives through identity theft and cyber-bullying. With so many negative aspects of the Internet, personally it's hard to find the positive ones but for me there are a few. Communication is a vast percentage of how I use the Internet on a daily basis, and I'm not sure how I would be able to reach the people that I do without it. Face book, MSN and E-mail all allow me to know what other people are going through or about to do in life and vice versa for my life to them. Google has also become a "go to" provider when I need help finding a certain piece of information, inspiration for completing school assignments and directing me to certain entertainment such as Youtube or game websites when I'm feeling bored. I have not experienced any of the negatives aspects of the Internet other than being on it way too much and often, but it does make me cautious of how I use the Internet and what I may do if I was ever in a vile situation. When it comes to the future of the Internet, I'll save you the burden of reading my Tron-like theory of how the Internet will become an alternate reality where you can do and see the things you do now but in person, by simply focusing on what will be posted on the Internet. In the next 40 years, I see the quality of true and important information like news to become an even smaller portion of the things posted on the Internet. Things like porn, forums for which Pokemon is best and new diet methods will overflow on search engines. I do not see much change in the layout of how the Internet is used today, but I am eager to see how communication will change. Technology is already advanced as it is, I can only imagine what will be discovered 40 years down the road.

Blog #4,

Since the Internet has been around there has been cyber bullying. This form of bullying is even more cowardly than normal bullying because, anyone can do it without the victim knowing who it is. Eliminating the face to face encounter that has to do with bullying, has made it easier for all people to participate in this cruel act. Face to face bullying or cyber bullying?, which of the two is more devastating? Cyber bullying in many ways is more devastating in both controlling and what the victims do to themselves. Most people when they hear the words "cyber bullying" think of a time they heard a story about it or remember when they either were victim or the bully. No kid no matter what they have done, deserve to be bullied whether face to face or over the Internet. There are many stories and cases of bullying that sadly end in suicide, or attempted suicide. All this could be prevent if only people around the world would just take a minute to think, "what if I was the person I am doing this to?"

A far too popular case that most people think of when cyber bullying is mentioned, is "The Megan Meier case". This worldwide story tragically is one of the many cases of bullying that drives the victim to take their own life. Bullying should not grow to an extent like this where, the victim thinks the only way to escape the pain is death. In this case it started as a so called "prank" and to find out if Megan Meier was gossiping about her neighbors daughter. Lori Drew, and Ashley Grills both adults created an account to talk with and find out if Megan was talking about Lori's daughter, this soon harmless prank to them would turn quick, into a severe case of bullying. Both Lori, and Ashley participated in sending message's to Megan, starting off seemingly harmless but then turning bad. Trying to end the whole scheme Lori and Ashley sent the next sentence to Megan Meier, which pushed her over the edge and causing her to commit suicide, "Our world would be a better place without you". Twenty minutes after sending this message Megan Meier was pronounced dead at only age thirteen. It is truly hard to think that anyone would stoup to doing this to a person who has done nothing wrong.

Bullying should never happen no matter the reasoning behind it. If you have ever been bullied or bullied someone you know the emotional, personal, and psycological effects that happen to the victim. The Internet has many great things on it, but with cyber bullying still out there it is effecting millions, and millions of children around the world. Cyber bullying causes many kids to take their own life each year because they have no other way to escape it. Cyber bullying can only be stopped one way and that is for the Internet to be no longer there, but in all likeliness when will that happen? Cyber bullying will be a virus that comes hand in hand with the Internet no matter what, but its up to everyone around the world to help decrease the amount of cyber bullying that goes on.

Links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suicide_of_Megan_Meier
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gD9OUas5pDs
http://cyberbullying.us/blog/megan-meier-federal-cyberbullying-case-decided-today.html

Cyber Bullying

Everyday cyber bulling is going on every day unreported and undetectable. Cyber bullying has slowly becoming a pandemic to teenagers. We may never be able to completely stop cyber bullying, but we can only be there for the victims they strike. Since technology has advanced so fast, some people haven’t found anything better to do but to make themselves feel better and make other feel insecure. There are too many cases of cyber bullying that go unheard. Understanding the consequences that cyber bullying is something that the bullies will never understand until they push their victim to the limit leading them to suicide.


A perfect example of cyber bullying being pushed over the limit is the Megan Meier Case. Megan Meier was a 13 year old girl who has had troubles with bullies her whole life. Since the third grade she had suffered from ADD, and severe depression. Megan had opened up a Myspace account. She met what she thought was an attractive boy named Josh. Josh was actually the mother of an ex friend named Lori Drew. Despite Megan knowing about the mystery behind Josh, she got really attached to Josh. One day Josh had sent Megan a message reading “I don't know if I want to be friends with you anymore because I've heard that you are not very nice to your friends". While Megan responded Josh pushed her over the limit saying "Everybody in O'Fallon knows who you are. You are a bad person and everybody hates you. Have a bad rest of your life. The world would be a better place without you." Megan replied with a message saying "You’re the kind of boy a girl would kill herself over”. 20 minutes after the conflict Megan attempted to hang herself. She was pronounced dead the next day.


It’s truly cold hearted to think someone would be able to hurt such an innocent person so horribly. Throughout the existence of the internet, the worst thing that has come out of it was the suicides that it has caused due to cyber bullying. Students know that once they get home the bullying should stop and they’ll be safe. Although kids should feel a sense of security at home, they aren’t. The bullies are following their victims home and on bullying them through the internet. The only thing we can do to stop the chain of cyber bullying is to spread the word. I truly learned the horrible effects cyber bullying can do on a person.


Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suicide_of_Megan_Meier
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6MxxqcH_Mkc
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=3882520&page=1

VALS Survey and the 15 Appeals

The survey tells me that I am an Experiencer and secondly an Innovator. For the most part I do agree with the surveys results because I do enjoy having high end products and I do seek variety in life. My interests and hobbies are all types of sports and exercise related activities and I would like to believe that I can take on a leadership role while displaying a positive and intriguing personality. I however disagree with the fact that I put an "emphasis" on looking good or having cool things because there is a clear difference between enjoying having nice things and needing them.

An Experiencer is a young, self-motivated consumer who buys on impulse, searching for new and exciting things. They spend a lot of money and they spend it frequently. This survey is also very conflicting in the sense that it says I buy things to show off my vanity but at the same time do not buy them to show off power or status but as an expression of taste and independence. I don't see how I can do both.

There are a few appeals that stand out in relation to my results and they are as follows:

The need for affiliation

The need to achieve

The need to dominate

and the need for attention.

At first glance they seem to point to the conclusion that I have the need to be a jerk or arrogant human being but I suppose in order to be an individual in this world you have to say and do things not everyone will support. I think the ads that appeal to me most are ones that are satirical, clever and also ones that promote a positive message. Provocative and violent ads are for the narrow minded in my eye, and I do not consider myself part of that demographic.

Analysing Ads for the AIDA Effect # 2

The reason I choose this Ad is not only because it is very powerful and shocking as some would say, but it also has a lot of meaning personally to me. Me and a close friend were on the topic of driving and how fatal it can be if someone were to make even the slightest wrong decision while doing it. I showed her this ad and not even twenty minutes later she got a phone call telling her that two of her friends had died in a car accident. I couldn't believe it, and still to this day have a hard time coping with the coincidence of that event. What I've said doesn't appeal to the objective of this assignment but I thought it would help put a face to the accident depicted in this advert and just how serious reckless driving can be. The audience for this commercial is basically anyone who has ever interacted with a vehicle and also victims of car accidents. It starts off with two teenagers showing affection in a calm environment until a car unleashes chaos and death upon innocent bystanders. The music, change in color from vibrant to dark, and constant images of death and depressing situations all show just how extensive the damage was from one wrong turn. The only thing I disagree with in this ad, and it may just be me over analysing, but when they refer to the accident as a "mess" in the slogan, "the faster you go, the bigger the mess" it just doesn't sit right with me. Calling multiple people's deaths a mess seems like a demeaning way to describe such a tragedy. The call to action is to obey speed limits and just drive cautiously all the time, because you never know just how bad an accident can be.