Beginning today, students of groups of at least 4 were given the task of presenting on a topic relating to the workings of the world wide web to the class. My group had decided to present on the idea of Online Shopping and how it has marked a great change in the marketing and consumer industry as you can purchase whatever you may fancy online without having to physically be at the store itself.
Topics that had gone over by other groups were Drones and Cyber-crimes while Monday's groups gone over AI (Artificial Intelligence) and Self-Driving Cars. If I had to pick one that kind of interested me the most out of all of them would be the one regarding cyber-crimes, since I think that it will never disappear for good.
I'm aware, or at least have a fundamental understanding, of the statistics in terms of the cyber-crimes that are committed day-by-day, but it always gets to you or fascinates/intrigues you once the numbers are revealed (and they sure did for me). I mostly detest the idea of meeting someone through online for the first time since you can never truly be sure of his/her origins and that their displayed information could easily be fabricated; I prefer to have the sources firsthand and then judge whether or not the person he/she presents themselves as is truly genuine and not roaming around with a fake identity. The video displayed during said presentation regarding a man well over his 20s wanting to have some sort of sexual affair with a minor (14 year old) and completely disregarding the consequences was beyond creepy and I'm glad he paid the price. However, not everyone who commits cyber-crimes go away unpunished which is extremely unfortunate.
Only time will tell when people will truly receive punishment for trying to ruin other people's lives through cyber-crimes.
Wednesday, December 5, 2018
Wednesday, November 28, 2018
When Machines Are Self-Conscious
There has been quite a buzz about AI (short for Artificial Intelligence) for quite a while now; at what point do we consider them to not fully be artificial or non-artificial? It's hard for me to see if AI has truly gone beyond its namesake, meaning it's hard to tell when AI has transformed past from being artificial (to be able to possess mostly human capabilities).
My reasoning behind this is because of the idea brought up on Monday on that AI had to have created its thought process from some source via someone or something. To my knowledge as of right now, there hasn't been anything invented yet that had created by its lonesome, without human handiwork. I feel as though when people create programs/inventions and implement artificial intelligence within it, there thoughts and input are placed within them, thus having the AI possess a similar sense of thought to its creator.
Despite all that, I can agree to an extent with what top dogs such as Elon Musk, Bill Gates, and Stephen Hawking have said about artificial intelligence: that it is possible for it to become the most greatest threat to mankind. If it had come to a point in time where machinery had exemplary AI and can fluently act like humans, this world may end up being completely taken over by such feats (why have humans when machines, at that point, can do similar things but much better). I still think we have long ways to go though and I am not expecting to reach that point in life yet for at least a few decades. But, with the rate of technology improvements and improvisations exponentially increasing, I feel that it is only a matter of time before AI can possibly manifest this now technologically-driven world.
My reasoning behind this is because of the idea brought up on Monday on that AI had to have created its thought process from some source via someone or something. To my knowledge as of right now, there hasn't been anything invented yet that had created by its lonesome, without human handiwork. I feel as though when people create programs/inventions and implement artificial intelligence within it, there thoughts and input are placed within them, thus having the AI possess a similar sense of thought to its creator.
Despite all that, I can agree to an extent with what top dogs such as Elon Musk, Bill Gates, and Stephen Hawking have said about artificial intelligence: that it is possible for it to become the most greatest threat to mankind. If it had come to a point in time where machinery had exemplary AI and can fluently act like humans, this world may end up being completely taken over by such feats (why have humans when machines, at that point, can do similar things but much better). I still think we have long ways to go though and I am not expecting to reach that point in life yet for at least a few decades. But, with the rate of technology improvements and improvisations exponentially increasing, I feel that it is only a matter of time before AI can possibly manifest this now technologically-driven world.
Tuesday, November 20, 2018
Startup to Startdown
Apparently, we had started watching a documentary titled Startup.com, which recaptured the tale of two friends had formed a company (regarding to some manner of technology) and seeing the struggles of running said company as well as the slow degradation of their relationship business-wise. I'm pretty sure that this was first shown in this class on November 14th, the one day that I missed because of my stupid train.
I always get to UWT by the use of the Sounder Train since I think that it would take me way to long to arrive on campus otherwise (I would have to leave my house probably two to two-and-a-half hours before this class just to make it on time; concerns about traffic). I start from Tukwila Station, meaning that the last train ride to go North would be 8:08 and I would not arrive on campus until 9:00. It just so happened that the train had mechanical difficulties and did not arrive for another half-hour, meaning that it would be likely that I would miss class. I don't really KNOW anyone in that class either (in terms of contact information), so it's not like I'm able to really ask for sure what I missed until the next day of class (or the professor for that matter since he never responds to emails anyone since he does his own thing).
Luckily, I did not have that problem on the 19th as I got to see a little bit of that documentary. I honestly wasn't too interested in the film itself since it feels like the situation that the friends got into felt like it was bound to happen at some point, so I wasn't too surprised at the end result. Overall, I thought the documentary was just a measly "meh".
I always get to UWT by the use of the Sounder Train since I think that it would take me way to long to arrive on campus otherwise (I would have to leave my house probably two to two-and-a-half hours before this class just to make it on time; concerns about traffic). I start from Tukwila Station, meaning that the last train ride to go North would be 8:08 and I would not arrive on campus until 9:00. It just so happened that the train had mechanical difficulties and did not arrive for another half-hour, meaning that it would be likely that I would miss class. I don't really KNOW anyone in that class either (in terms of contact information), so it's not like I'm able to really ask for sure what I missed until the next day of class (or the professor for that matter since he never responds to emails anyone since he does his own thing).
Luckily, I did not have that problem on the 19th as I got to see a little bit of that documentary. I honestly wasn't too interested in the film itself since it feels like the situation that the friends got into felt like it was bound to happen at some point, so I wasn't too surprised at the end result. Overall, I thought the documentary was just a measly "meh".
Wednesday, November 14, 2018
The Great Virtual War
The online virtual world had its own shares of worldwide conflict, not just the conflicts going on in the outside world. Much like the World Wars I-II alike, this “dot.com” bomb situation lasted for many decades and even though this phenomenon had eventually come to a close, the sense of a virtual war never truly ended due to a never-ending evolution of technology that would always been soon surpassed with another.
This sort of “dot.com” became a craze, with everyone major (online/virtual) company trying to take advantage of what was conceived as possible in the World Wide Web. It had become a competition between top dogs such as Microsoft, Google, Amazon, among many others trying to see which people would flock over to which products/creations/applications that would help make ordinary individuals’ lives much more convenient and time-efficient. Not only that, it was a competition to see which company or companies would gain the most stock and revenue in order to have loads of cash in their back pockets, though it was soon to be seen as momentarily successful.
Approximately near the end of the 1990s, the consequences of heavily relying on the buying out of failing companies led to them to eventually declaring bankruptcy. There was unstable and imbalanced sums of money being put into some companies to the point to where the stock brokers who worked under said companies had no choice but to sell out in order to save themselves; companies ultimately crashed. Despite this war ending, I question if it ever truly ended since we always end up moving forward and looking back on what we've done and trying to improve upon it. Technology opens the gate and/or is the basis into creating evolved/new technology; the cycle always continues, so the virtual war continues through the decades of time.
This sort of “dot.com” became a craze, with everyone major (online/virtual) company trying to take advantage of what was conceived as possible in the World Wide Web. It had become a competition between top dogs such as Microsoft, Google, Amazon, among many others trying to see which people would flock over to which products/creations/applications that would help make ordinary individuals’ lives much more convenient and time-efficient. Not only that, it was a competition to see which company or companies would gain the most stock and revenue in order to have loads of cash in their back pockets, though it was soon to be seen as momentarily successful.
Approximately near the end of the 1990s, the consequences of heavily relying on the buying out of failing companies led to them to eventually declaring bankruptcy. There was unstable and imbalanced sums of money being put into some companies to the point to where the stock brokers who worked under said companies had no choice but to sell out in order to save themselves; companies ultimately crashed. Despite this war ending, I question if it ever truly ended since we always end up moving forward and looking back on what we've done and trying to improve upon it. Technology opens the gate and/or is the basis into creating evolved/new technology; the cycle always continues, so the virtual war continues through the decades of time.
Wednesday, November 7, 2018
Erik Hanberg
On October 31st, our first guest speaker for the TINST 207 course arrived to present the story of his life as someone working in the virtual world (his name, Erik Hanberg). To be quite frank, I didn't take any notes on his presentation only because I primarily cared about having three questions for the question sheet. Meaning, I don't remember too much in terms of specifics, but hey, I have to do this assignment so I'll just fill in as many words as I can.
That being said, his presentation was quite interesting in terms of learning about what he does in the virtual world. From what I can remember, he became known for some of his works such as the Little Book series.
I guess I can go over some questions I was curious about. For example, I was wondering if there was a specific book or book series that intrigued him into wanting to become an author. It's always interesting where people get their inspirations from since everyone has their own method of how they want to live their life. I wish that were the case for me since I have no idea what I want to do with my life. I've taken two years in WSU and essentially spent three quarters at UWT already and still can't find my calling in life; it's quite frustrating (despite everyone saying you'll find your way eventually, but there's only so long eventually should/will last). Honestly, kudos to Erik Hanberg for having his place within the technological, virtual world since technology continues to advance.
That being said, his presentation was quite interesting in terms of learning about what he does in the virtual world. From what I can remember, he became known for some of his works such as the Little Book series.
I guess I can go over some questions I was curious about. For example, I was wondering if there was a specific book or book series that intrigued him into wanting to become an author. It's always interesting where people get their inspirations from since everyone has their own method of how they want to live their life. I wish that were the case for me since I have no idea what I want to do with my life. I've taken two years in WSU and essentially spent three quarters at UWT already and still can't find my calling in life; it's quite frustrating (despite everyone saying you'll find your way eventually, but there's only so long eventually should/will last). Honestly, kudos to Erik Hanberg for having his place within the technological, virtual world since technology continues to advance.
Tuesday, October 30, 2018
Hot Topic
It's been noted near the beginning of the quarter that everyone would have to partake in a student presentation on a topic, but I have no idea if the topic(s) we choose will be what we present or if it's from a randomized list. Regardless, I'm not too sure what I would want to present on since there's nothing related to technology that I have a strong opinion on as of right now.
However, if I were to choose something to talk about, I would probably choose within the subject of robots. Because technology has advanced so much, the usage of robots have dramatically increased exponentially. This is because they have been used to help individuals within facilities (such as factories) to help increase the rate of work. What I would elect to present would be on how robotics have advanced technologically, whether it was based on specific machinery that was invented or (re)discovered and addressing their functions.
I guess I'm sort of interested in this topic because I was sort of immersed in it back in the day. During one of my high school years, I decided to join the Robotics Club that was available at my school mainly to see what it was all about and to get a little bit of an idea of what robotics was. I was a total rookie, so I often would require the assistance of other veterans to complete whatever tasks were provided to us. The main takeaway I got from this small experience was that so many different mechanical parts were necessary in order for a robot to do a relatively simple command like tossing a ball.
Yes, I may not know much about robotics at all, but I was able to see what it was like for a brief moment, which can help me formulate some sort of presentation if I had to present on the topic of robotics and its evolution in machinery.
However, if I were to choose something to talk about, I would probably choose within the subject of robots. Because technology has advanced so much, the usage of robots have dramatically increased exponentially. This is because they have been used to help individuals within facilities (such as factories) to help increase the rate of work. What I would elect to present would be on how robotics have advanced technologically, whether it was based on specific machinery that was invented or (re)discovered and addressing their functions.
I guess I'm sort of interested in this topic because I was sort of immersed in it back in the day. During one of my high school years, I decided to join the Robotics Club that was available at my school mainly to see what it was all about and to get a little bit of an idea of what robotics was. I was a total rookie, so I often would require the assistance of other veterans to complete whatever tasks were provided to us. The main takeaway I got from this small experience was that so many different mechanical parts were necessary in order for a robot to do a relatively simple command like tossing a ball.
Yes, I may not know much about robotics at all, but I was able to see what it was like for a brief moment, which can help me formulate some sort of presentation if I had to present on the topic of robotics and its evolution in machinery.
Tuesday, October 23, 2018
Who Can You Trust?
It's no unknown fact that technology has drastically shaped and changed the world in a vast number of ways, but at what cost? Journalism is one but many things that have been by affected by the inclusions of technology. By definition, journalism is the process of writing or gaining information that can then be made available for the general public; in a sense, that can be done by anyone, and that's a big problem. Who is it that you can trust to get your information?
In my case, most of the news that I get or at least become aware of is from Twitter, and then followed by television. This is partially thanks to how the search engine in Twitter works as topics are set up with a hashtag; the more content there is in the hashtag, the greater the quantity of the news. This helps for me if I want to know something on the fly since anyone at any time can write up a tweet to briefly describe the issue or news at hand. However, I am well aware that that's not always reliable.
For your average day-to-day citizen, there's no real repercussion when it comes to delivering news; anyone can do it and can create it in any manner they so choose. Clickbaiting has become quite a regular thing in the current world since certain titled web pages or articles can be used to interest you into reading their product, but it could end up displaying incorrect or incomplete information.
Journalism might not necessarily be dying, but it is being changed in such drastic ways that completely deviates to what journalism once was, making it seem like traditional journalism is dead. I think traditional journalism will continue to suffer as the years go by since we live in a technology-driven world; people will continue to discover or reinvent new technology so that it can be applicable in everyday situations. The general basis of journalism will never die, but will just be redefined.
In my case, most of the news that I get or at least become aware of is from Twitter, and then followed by television. This is partially thanks to how the search engine in Twitter works as topics are set up with a hashtag; the more content there is in the hashtag, the greater the quantity of the news. This helps for me if I want to know something on the fly since anyone at any time can write up a tweet to briefly describe the issue or news at hand. However, I am well aware that that's not always reliable.
For your average day-to-day citizen, there's no real repercussion when it comes to delivering news; anyone can do it and can create it in any manner they so choose. Clickbaiting has become quite a regular thing in the current world since certain titled web pages or articles can be used to interest you into reading their product, but it could end up displaying incorrect or incomplete information.
Journalism might not necessarily be dying, but it is being changed in such drastic ways that completely deviates to what journalism once was, making it seem like traditional journalism is dead. I think traditional journalism will continue to suffer as the years go by since we live in a technology-driven world; people will continue to discover or reinvent new technology so that it can be applicable in everyday situations. The general basis of journalism will never die, but will just be redefined.
Tuesday, October 16, 2018
Stringing the Web
I have had a few experiences when dealing with creating a web page of some sorts through coding classes, and they are not the most fun to deal with. The main thing that makes making web pages difficult is the convention that is required in order to have your page published and presented the way you want it to be presented.
However, the few cases where I have created a couple of web pages for other classes wasn't to hard to construct; just to organize. I once created web pages with function-able hyperlinks to my other web pages, which was what I considered the hardest part. To have links that can be clicked upon, I had to specifically type: <a href="nameofhtml.html">Hyperlink Title</a>. Luckily, I have the notepad program on my computer which enables me to easily save said txt.file into html so that it can be converted to a web page, making the process a lot easier.
The next hardest thing for me when making the web pages was the specific notations for things such as header, body paragraph, etc. The main thing was that for each label inside of the "< >", I had to make sure that I correctly close it with the backslash inside the "< >" with everything else I want to say written right in between.
Based on what I have done, I can only imagine how crumpled up an html document can be if one is trying to create a long, detailed, expansive web page as anyone else can find up on the world wide web (by Tim Berners-Lee). I guess my experience overall with this assignment (creating a web page) was average; just manageable enough to not stress too much over it.
However, the few cases where I have created a couple of web pages for other classes wasn't to hard to construct; just to organize. I once created web pages with function-able hyperlinks to my other web pages, which was what I considered the hardest part. To have links that can be clicked upon, I had to specifically type: <a href="nameofhtml.html">Hyperlink Title</a>. Luckily, I have the notepad program on my computer which enables me to easily save said txt.file into html so that it can be converted to a web page, making the process a lot easier.
The next hardest thing for me when making the web pages was the specific notations for things such as header, body paragraph, etc. The main thing was that for each label inside of the "< >", I had to make sure that I correctly close it with the backslash inside the "< >" with everything else I want to say written right in between.
Based on what I have done, I can only imagine how crumpled up an html document can be if one is trying to create a long, detailed, expansive web page as anyone else can find up on the world wide web (by Tim Berners-Lee). I guess my experience overall with this assignment (creating a web page) was average; just manageable enough to not stress too much over it.
Sunday, October 7, 2018
No More Privacy
Everything changed when technology came into fruition, traditional tasks included. This is no different from mailing, which has completely adapted into every day lives. While the concept of mailing is fundamentally the same between email and the traditional postal service (that is, sending something to someone from one place to the other), they are applied much differently than they appear to be.
The traditional postal service procedure has been introduced centuries ago and is still relatively used in today's society (though pales in the comparison to electronic mailing). The sender packs in contents to be sent in some envelope or package and then writes down the mail address of sender and receiver, as well as applying a stamp. It is then a continuous process of the mailmen sending said mail to a multitude of regional and international postal offices before the receiver finally receives his/her mail. However, the concept of electronic mail completely bypasses the typical postal service procedures making it time efficient and easier to do; you can usually expect to send and receive email in an instant.
While it's easy to construct and deliver an email, ideas of said mail is now no longer under your protection; it becomes a part of the World Wide Web (which was created by Tim Burners-Lee) for everyone to see and abuse. While ideally, the traditional postal service takes and delivers mail to its rightful owner, emails can leave a whole lot of information that can be used by any creature on the keyboard which can make us vulnerable to endless spamming and unnecessary content. As we continue to evolve, so does technology, meaning hat these sorts of underlying problems will never go away and that we will have to continue to adapt to these constant changes.
The traditional postal service procedure has been introduced centuries ago and is still relatively used in today's society (though pales in the comparison to electronic mailing). The sender packs in contents to be sent in some envelope or package and then writes down the mail address of sender and receiver, as well as applying a stamp. It is then a continuous process of the mailmen sending said mail to a multitude of regional and international postal offices before the receiver finally receives his/her mail. However, the concept of electronic mail completely bypasses the typical postal service procedures making it time efficient and easier to do; you can usually expect to send and receive email in an instant.
While it's easy to construct and deliver an email, ideas of said mail is now no longer under your protection; it becomes a part of the World Wide Web (which was created by Tim Burners-Lee) for everyone to see and abuse. While ideally, the traditional postal service takes and delivers mail to its rightful owner, emails can leave a whole lot of information that can be used by any creature on the keyboard which can make us vulnerable to endless spamming and unnecessary content. As we continue to evolve, so does technology, meaning hat these sorts of underlying problems will never go away and that we will have to continue to adapt to these constant changes.
Tuesday, October 2, 2018
How it All Began
We all now live in a world where technology has become a dominant part in our lives. At this point in time, even if you are not immersed into technology, it would be best to understand where it came from and its implications as everyone should know what technology is capable of. It's hard to go wrong when it comes to being more aware of the world you live, being notified of what is currently going on in the world at this very moment since something is always happening.
Taking a course such as TINST 207, with the course being titled as "Living and Working in a Virtual World: Technologies of the World Wide Web," I sure hope that such a course will be able to show us the roots of the world wide web and everything that had been created from it. However, what I will be interested in is if lectures will revolve around computers or if the professor will also have the content divided into other forms of technology as well. What I mean is that the history of technology will also go over things such as gaming electronics, printers, interactive tech (such as smart-boards and tablets), among any other types.
Personally for me, I don't think that this course is going to be a lot of things that will truly shock or surprise me, but rather that it should help me become a bit more enlightened as a whole since I don't always keep up with the daily news. Overall, it should be interesting to see what this class will provide for everyone involved in it.
Let's see what you got Andrew Fry! Surprise me.
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