Com125 Assignment13: The world linked with the Internet.

The unit, Com125 introduction to the internet is heading toward the end of the course. This com 125 course made me realize how the internet works effectively within our daily lives and around the world. While participating blogging assignments every week, I could see what other classmates think of the same topic, and in this way, I can evaluate my thoughts and opinions based on weekly set topics. The very first week , I signed up to Blogspot and started up my freshly decorated blog. It was just a start of the journey of this semester, but got me a lot of things to think about in relation to the topics of the internet at the end of the semester.

Now I really think that the world is a huge place which is connected with the internet. Since the internet has become a major role of our social networing system, the meaning of community has been changed from the physically limited place to the worldwide social networking gourp in terms of the internet.

Com125 Assignment12: Net Neutrality: The matter of choice on the web

Network Neutrality was the term which I was not familiar with before this week’s assignment, but as I kept searching on the net, the debate for or against Network Neutrality has already been growing. As above, the video clip explains explains why network neutrality is an important issue for internet users through a comparisons to traditional utilities.

What is Network Neutrality?

Put simply, Network Neutrality means no discrimination. Network Neutrality prevents Internet providers from speeding up or slowing down Web content based on its online source, ownership or destination (http://www.savetheinternet.com/). If I pay to connect to the Net with a certain quality of service, and you pay to connect with that or greater quality of service, then we can communicate at that level. According to Public Knowledge, Network Neutrality is about the choice (http://www.publicknowledge.org/). Who chooses to see and uses the contents on the internet? That is us who use the internet everyday. Anytime, we can connect to the internet and get online contents that we want. What makes this possible is ‘network neutrality’. This is because NN prevents the ISPs (Internet Service Providers) blocking access to the websites that you chooses to see.

Now, anytime and anywhere with an acess of the internet, you can go onto Google search engine to get online resources. But, imagine, one day, you can have a problem to access to Google website which possibly means you are restricted to access Google, or getting a really slow access on it. In that case, you will choose to go Yahoo or some other search engines to get the resource. This scenario is possible due to network companies’ financial interest. If Google signed an exclusive agreement with another search engine company for example, Yahoo. It would then be Google’s best interest to converge you to use Yahoo search engine website. Here is the thing. The founder of World Wide Web, Tim Berners Lee said that the free market does have certain rules and restrictions, which in itself creates a dialectical relationship. I only hope that the interests of business do not out weight the interest of our "free" society.

Not only in an economical aspect, but also in social and political aspects, Network Neutrality plays an important role. The internet contents are generally open sources to people who want to get them. In the democratic society which we are in, has freedom of speech, and freedom of choice. A huge open source like the internet should not be able to control the users due to economical purposes of network companies. Net Neutrality is the reason why the Internet has driven economic innovation, democratic participation, and free speech online. It protects the consumer's right to use any equipment, content, application or service on a non-discriminatory basis without interference from the network provider. With Net Neutrality, the network's only job is to move data — not choose which data to privilege with higher quality service. Without Network Neutrality, the internet will be more like TV or Radio stations that broadcasting contents are decided by the network owners. If the internet is controlled by the certain regulations of private media corporations, the internet is no longer regarded as an innovative and revolutionary medium for us. Therefore, Network Neutrality should sustain on the web to parallel opportunity for freedon of choice of us.

Com125 Assignment 11: Online Economies in Virtual Communities

Pros of Second Life Economy

We are now living in a community which puts us into various ranges of social networks. Traditionally, offline communities have been defined as cohesive units that provide a gathering place for sharing common interests. Whereas, now in information society, the role of offline communities move onto online so called ‘virtual community’. Though we are belonging to our social network physically, we can create and broaden our social ties on the web. A popular online community website called, ‘Second Life’ offers us a public form of visibility. Second Life does not have physical boundaries within interactions between the users, so that makes possible to widen social network through online activities. Also, Second life use to maintain and existing social capital, together with other forms of communicative contact through chat rooms. It also helps increase existing patterns of social contract and civic involvement. Thus, Second Life can boost your existing ties. Not only providing a place for virtual interactions with each other, but also Second Life has an amazing function for virtual economy. Also, the user can explore the virtual world, meet other users, socialize, participate in economic activities such as creating items and trading those items like virtual property from one another.

Cons of Second Life economy

This trading process is exchanged with the online currency called ‘Linden dollar’. Here is the matter. Let’s say you have Linden US$ 10,000. Can you trust the money that you have? Can you consider the Linden dollars as the real US dollars? Even Linden dollar is an exchange tool for buying and selling things on Second Life community, it could be hard to consider the money as a verified trading tool in terms of a real currency. This is due to the lack of safety of online trades. In real life, banks are intermediates between buyers and sellers and also they keep and manage your money. As long as your money is in bank accounts, we believe that we can get the money when we need. However, who plays the role of the bank in virtual community? Does Second Life organization as safe as real banks which we can invest our money online? Online community where the problem of hacking have become a global issue, I doubt the creditability of the 3D virtual economy.

Among numerous happenings of online communities, I remember one which was broadcasted on news few years ago in South Korea. A 14 year-old boy who was addicted to play an online game called Lineage kept spending US$30 for buying game items for his avatar and every month using his mom’s bank account details. Also, a Lineage player’s ID, password and the information of the game server got hacked and his items which was worth more than US$1,000 was sold by a hacker. Even more, according to Korea Information Security Agency (www.kisa.or.kr), approximately 1.2million crimes happened during trading game items and ID/Password hacking. Even though, an online security section called ‘Item Bay’ on Lineage, but the crimes within virtual economy is easily looked down upon in comparison to real life crimes. The online market in virtual community is now more than 100million us dollars. Significantly, this is not only the problem of the US, but is a growing global issue of 3D virtual community. Online open communities like Second Life do not have any boundaries and also it can be spread rapidly online brining economic issues.

Conclusion

All in all, currently what we need to consider is that users of online community such as Second Life should be aware of the possibility of threatening personal identification. In one way, the impact of Second Life has brought us a new meaning of community and built a new public form of global community. But more importantly, the limitations of issues of contact and privacy of Metaverse 3D world still can occur economic and social problems. The appropriate control of the online market, and producing new security program for protecting personal information, and indicating the cautious problem of online market for people in online community. Therefore, all these solutions for the safer virtual community is embedded by not only the network agencies, but also, government and individual’s efforts.

Online: A better place for new articles

When 9/11 was happened, what we could see on TV was a repeated coverage of the World Trade Center being collapsed by the terrorists’ attack. The certain coverage was going on every TV channel over and over again. However, that is the certain image of what the media broadcast system chose for broadcasting. More sources such as updated images, videos and articles about the 9/11 event was available online. In September 11, 2001, as soon as you went online such as Google, Yahoo or CNN website, you could see all different sorts of information about why 9/11 was happened, who Osama Bin Laden was and where it was happened. Such global news like 9/11, the impact of online news articles and the online images have stronger diffusion effect than print newspapers.

Online newspapers: A variety free source

Online news articles are available online 24/7 free. People can just connect the internet and read the article by a mouse click. Unlike news articles, major print newspapers are not free to get them, and also they contain quite a number of articles and information. Print newspaper readers might find their interests on the first page head line, but what they can know about the specific article is limited. For example, The New York Times published the article about the California wildfire happened Oct. 23 as a main article with an image of a brush fire burning on the first page, but there is nothing more than that. However, The CNN website published the article on the web and noticeably, what I can get from the website is not online the article and the image, but also a lot of links and videos which are related to the ‘wildfire’ event in California.

Presentation of Online and Print newspapers

The way they present the articles are different. I read the article titled ‘Victims in Wildfire’s Fickle Path Say, Why ME?’ published on The New York Times on Oct. 24. As soon as I got the newspaper, the main picture on the first page caught my attention straight away. The image was a helicopter prepared to drop water on a brush fire burning yesterday in Escondido, California. Compared to the big strong image, the article of the wildfire was not written much which was totally a little article on the main page and continually half page of the page A13. While it was happened, that was the main event which I wanted to more about, but I could not find various and interesting sources about the event. On CNN website, I could click a link to a video clip showing where it was happened, and the situation of the wildfire moment. Whereas, the print newspapers can possibly be biased on a certain view, the internet newspapers are mostly likely fair. This is because you can link to other websites quickly, so the online article reader can look up the article in various points of view.

Reference:

http://search.cnn.com/search.jsp?query=wildfire,

Wednesday, October 24 2007, The New York Times 'Victims in Wildfire's Fickle Path say, why me?'

Com125 Assignment9: Jame Oddo, a YouTube politican star

Personally, until couple of years ago, subjects about politics are not one which I am interested in as well as articles about politicians. Unless a political article published on the first page of the newspaper, I would not bothered to know about politics. However, now the articles, stories and even gossips about politicians are available not only on newspapers, but online web blogs. As I surf the web, I read an article about politics and get to know more about it. The sphere of politics is not an enervated and boring story anymore, is an easily accessible and interesting topic on the net to people.

Com125 Assignment8: 'MSN web messenger' review application

The site: MSN Messenger
URL: http://webmessenger.msn.com

Functionality

MSN Messenger is a freeware instant messaging client that was developed and distributed by Microsoft in 1999 to 2005 and in 2007 for computers running the Microsoft Windows operating system (except Windows Vista), and aimed towards home users. It was renamed Windows Live Messenger in February 2006 as part of Microsoft's Windows Live series of online services and software. MSN Messenger is often used to refer to the .NET Messenger Service (the protocols and server that allow the system to operate) rather than any particular client (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Msn_messenger).

A discussion of the site’s design

Unlike other websites, MSN messenger provides a small screen sized a quarter of normal websites which makes convenient to open up the web browser while working on other websites. While you talk to others, you can customize the chat screen to whatever you want to make and send it to web-chat partners. Also, there is a number of emoticons available using IM such as smiley faces, winks and nudges which you can use on web chats by a click. On MSN messenger, you can see a lot of links which connect to the websites, so that you can check emails while on MSN messenger, easily link to the internet shopping website, or a game website. This is how it is designed for MSN Microsoft to advertise their products.

Social aspects

As soon as I get home, the first thing I do is turning on my laptop. While doing it, I am logging onto MSN messenger automatically. Also, after meeting a friend from a class or anywhere, one thing that I ask before I go home is, “Do you have a MSN ID?” Since the internet have provided a place to interact with people online, MSN messenger became so popular among friends and colleagues. We can talk online after classes and works. It gives us a different pleasure to communicate online with people compared to offline interactions. In that sense, MSN messenger keeps going our social ties and relationships interactive.

Not only keeping interactions with people, but MSN messenger is productive. While you log onto it, you can share mutimedia files between friends. Also, as soon as logging onto MSN web messenger, a little screen pops up and show news headlines of current hot issues. Thus, everyday MSN messenger provides somethings productive for me.

Beneficial aspects of MSN messenger

One of the great benefits of MSN messenger is a fast and convenient communication with others online. Even more, the conversations between me and others can be saved in computer hardware as well as all instant messages. Even if the message receivers are not online, you can still send instant messages, and they will be stored until the friend logs on and checks them out. At once, people can have multiple conversations with many friends. I have friends who I do not meet often physically, but I can still keep in touch with them for years through MSN messenger. MSN messenger is not only an online software which keeps people interactive, but it is where people share files and interests in the global wide.

Com125 Assignment7: Online community: where people build their relationships

The meaning of friendship

How can we define the term, friends? As we live in the society where people are able to connect to each other online, the meaning of friendship is getting blurry. In the past, about 10 years ago, friends mean a lot to each individuals, which indicates friends are people forming relationships with us doing physical activities. However, now in 2007, we can easily form a relationship based on the online network though a number of online blogs and an internet access across the world.

“When I see somebody with a large number of supposed friends, I suspect that they’re using the term ‘friend’ to mean ‘acquaintance,’ or that their motives in getting Friendster-recorded friends are not really about the relationships for the their own sake.” — Bob (danah boyd 2006: Friends, Friendsters, and Top 8: Writing community into being on social network sites)

When we go on our friends' web blogs, we see lists of friends, or celebrities who are linked to people's web blogs. We think that they are cool with bunch of friends' list. As an exmaple of Facebook, we can go on others' blogs and find out who they are, what univeristy they go to, and who they hang out with mostly and so forth. From what is represented on blogs, we think that we know a lot about someone and become a 'friend'. Through my friend's friend, and their friends' friends, we keep expanding our social relationships online for the sake of popularity. Are they really 'friends' or just 'colletors of acquaintances'?

Online Community: A place to maintain social relationships

A virtual community, e-community or online community is a group of people that primarily interact via communication media rather than face to face (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_community). The fact that people can interact with others and moreover, form social ties without face to face relationships, attracts online users to join the online communities. Because it is online community which is linked through Web browswer, it can be spread out so quickly. This is one of the attactions why online communities are becoming more popular. You can just go online and type friend's ID to add him/her as my 'friend'. Compared to offline community, online community is a lot simpler to contact to each other between friends. If someone leaves a message on my Facebook blog, I can simply reply to the message. Whereas, to communicate in offline communities, people should make a time and get together which involves time consuming.

Online communities offer more chances to get involved in relationship with friends than offline communities. Though I've been travelling and studying abroad for years, I could still keep in touch with friends from my old schools. A website called, 'www.iloveschool.co.kr' provides a place for people look for their friends and teachers from their elementary schools, middle schools and high schools. Once I join the website and add my schools and the completed year of the study, I can see friends/teachers who joined the website and message them. Sometimes, I can even talk to them online on webchats. So far, I've found a lot of friends and teachers from my high school through the website. Not only looking for friends online, but online communities keeps maintaining relationships with people by emailing and messaging to eachother no matter where they live. Therefore, online communites are now located in us playing as a webmessenger role for our social ties and relationships.


Reference:

danah boyd 2006: Friends, Friendsters, and Top 8: Writing community into being on social network sites

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_community