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.

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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.

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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.