Final Quiz Essay Questions

One of the issues raised in class was that we are being forced to tradeoff flexibility and accessibility to information for lack of personal privacy.
1. Site two to three examples why someone might make this statement
2. Indicate whether you agree with this statement (and why)
3. Indicate whether you think it is an important issue (and why)

This issue is an interesting one, which I do have some opinion on. Other people may make this statement because of some things we learned in class. For instance, the first example is that Google stores everything that anyone has ever searched. Because Google is so flexible, everyone uses it, but it is not private, because Google knows who makes what searches. Many people would also say that identity theft or being phished is a problem with privacy, because online banking and shopping are so prevalent, and there are many openings for some people to steal your information. People may also make this statement because nothing on the internet is private; everything you do is logged and the internet companies know who is who. So while you may have access to anything on the internet, people know what you are doing at any time. I agree with the statement that we are trading flexibility for privacy. Everything is so readily availible, but is also closely monitored. Everytime you click a link, information is sent to ad companies and hundreds of other places. Anyone can drop a phishing email on you, or steal your information at any point in time. I do not think this is a particularly important issue, because there are ways around all of this. Real banks still exist, so if you need to do some banking, go to the bank. Don’t send any information over the internet you don’t want people to see. Don’t click on suspicious emails. It is a lot of common sense, mostly. The internet is a public domain, so just be as careful as you would on the street. You’re careful about not dropping your wallet, so be careful about your information on the internet.

---

Imagine that you are planning to set up a home business to do event planning. Indicate 3-4 technologies that we discussed in class that would help you to make your business successful. For each technology, explain how it would help the business. Include at least one link to a website that you might use.

There are several different things you can do to set up a successful business using internet technology. You could set up a website, use twitter and social networking, and have a blog. A website could be a source of more “permanent” information, such as contact and location info. It would also be the main thing that people would see, before your twitter or blog. The best idea is to have a professionaly made website if you are serious about a business, and put it on a reliable host. I have heard many good things about godaddy.com and people have suggested it to me. Another idea is to use twitter. Twitter is one of the most popular social networking sites, and if you have people following your account, you can have hundreds of people know about your updates in a matter of seconds. Another idea, which is similar to twitter, is a blog. Since twitter has a text limit, you can only put a certain amount of text on it. But, a blog gives you unlimited writing space, so you can write large news updates or events, and still have people be able to respond. I have used blogger.com in the past, and I am most comfortable with it.

---

Explain the meaning of the term: “Digital Divide”, who it is affecting and what the issue is. Identify 2 possible solutions to this problem.

Digital Divide means the seperation between people who have access to technology, and the people who don’t, technology meaning computers and internet. This divide mainly effects areas of the country in poverty or isolation. Places that lack money and have high unemployment rates are less likely to have access to said technology, as internet subscription rates and computers are not as readily availible to those with no money. The issue is that since the internet is so widely depended on by the majority of the country, people without it are being left behind. Much communication is done through email, and more and more companies are now asking for job applications to be submitted online. This leaves the people without internet behind, as they are missing many opportunities that may help their situation. There are several solutions to this, but the two I have though about most are funding more libraries and distributing netbooks. Giving funding to more libraries would allow them to purchase more computers, and giving more access to the people. Using a library is free, and if people can get there then they can use the internet. Another way is offering netbooks to people in these lower income areas for a very low price. Some of these devices are going for less than a hundred dollars right now, and if public wifi was installed in more places, then more people could easily overcome the divide.

Wikipedia Project

Is done. I posted it up on there, but who knows how long itll stay up. So...I took a screen shot of it.

heres the text used for the article:

The Gary Busey Experience

The Gary Busey Experience was a Boston based Thrash/Grindcore band, formed in late 2007 at Emerson College.

History

In late 2007, former band member Roger Tower approached several people about starting a metal band. He asked Clay Lowe on guitar, Leo Lydon on guitar, Nick Vecellio on bass and Danny Joseph on drums. All agreed, and the band began practicing at the Music Gym, in Allston, Massachusetts. After several practices, the band had their first song written, it was named “Penetration.” At this point, the band could not afford to practice at the Music Gym any longer, and were left to practice in one of the dorm rooms at Emerson College. On one of their practice days, someone wandered in after hearing the band from the hallway, and offered the band a slot on an upcoming show with several other Boston bands, most notably The Carrier and Shipwreck A.D. The show was held in the Emerson College Multipurpose Room in Piano Row on February 25th, 2008. The Gary Busey Experience brought the majority of the turnout, mostly friends who were interested in seeing the act perform for the first time. The band wound up playing a 20 minute long set, with only 2 full songs written. The rest of the set was improvisation, but it was said the band performed so well that no one even noticed. However, because of the mosh pits during this show, further bands were banned from playing in the Multipurpose Room, therefore throwing the Gary Busey Experience into the history books. During the next few months, the band began work on a demo cd, titled “Blunts and Blastbeats.” It was never released to the public; the only way people could hear the rough demo was on the bands myspace.

During the summer of 2008, the band remained inactive, due to members spread out across the country, although Leo and Clay continued to write new songs, and brought them back to the table in the fall of 2008. When the band reunited in 2008, they were left without vocalist Roger Tower; he was spending a semester in Europe. The band decided it would be best to move on without him, to continue what they started earlier in the year. Nick Vecellio was moved from bass to vocals, and the band picked up two more members after that, adding Erik Magnus on bass, and Jared Diamond on Vocals as well. This would be the final lineup for the band, sticking until the band dissolved. After adding Jared and Erik, the band began to practice more and more, and began expanding their track offering much more, as well as making the songs much more technical and epic sounding. The band played several more shows in this time, playing shows with bands such as Powernap on Satans Floor, Cirque De Carne, and now signed to Relapse Records, Revocation. The band quickly gained many fans during this time, drawing a large crowd at every show. The band was well known across the area for being serious musicians without the serious attitude, as well as jumping in the mosh pit while playing, and having the crowd name their new songs. Also, during this time, the band recorded a new, more produced demo called “Hotel Thrash Party.” Some of the songs were released again on myspace, replacing the older tracks, but again not produced onto CD. In early 2009, the band began rerecording “Hotel Thrash Party” in the studios of the New England Institute of Art. Unfortunately, due to unforeseen problems, the demo was never finished, and is still being worked on to this day. Shortly after, in the summer of 2009, the band went on indefinite hiatus, as guitarist Clay Lowe went to Los Angeles for a semester, and the band decided that he influenced the sound of the band so much that they could not continue without him.