Thursday, February 22, 2007
NeoVox Article
I am most interested in the privacy and surveillance issues that surround the implementing of new technologies. How much will they change our private lives? As a private person, I want to know what the future holds for me.
Snow Crash - the beginning
Although I’ve read up to Chapter 24, I decided to go back and skim the first few chapters of the book. It is confusing from the beginning; but I think it’s meant to be that way.
The main character of the book is generic; he could be anyone - he delivers pizza for CosaNostra Pizza #3659. But he is called, “Deliverator” perhaps because he is the ultimate pizza deliveryman. In 2010, pizza delivery is a major industry; it is run and managed by the Mafia and is so analyzed that delivery is guaranteed in 30 minutes or less. It is so … managed that the boxes have LED timers on them. The job is a rat race and the area has “the worst economy in the world.” There is no competition because it goes against the Mafia ethic.
Not too sure about the burbclave - it seems to be a maze of streets. “Now a burbclave, that’s the place to live. A city-state with its own constitution, a border, laws, cops, everything.” (6).
“Hiro” is not introduced by name until the second chapter. Hiro Protagionist and his roommate, Vitaly Chernobyl, lives is a spacious 20 by 30 U-Stor-It (cheap extra storage space for Californians with too many material goods) located in Ingelwood, California. Reality is such an exciting life!
Which is why Hiro spends his free time in a virtual reality via the computer. In the Metaverse, he can be who he really wants to be. He is a hacker and has a nice house in an old neighborhood just off the busiest on the street. In this virtual place, users wear a piece of software called an avatar, computer generated image. The place is crowded as well but the avatars walk right through each other.
These first few chapters bounce from physical reality to virtual reality and back again.
The main character of the book is generic; he could be anyone - he delivers pizza for CosaNostra Pizza #3659. But he is called, “Deliverator” perhaps because he is the ultimate pizza deliveryman. In 2010, pizza delivery is a major industry; it is run and managed by the Mafia and is so analyzed that delivery is guaranteed in 30 minutes or less. It is so … managed that the boxes have LED timers on them. The job is a rat race and the area has “the worst economy in the world.” There is no competition because it goes against the Mafia ethic.
Not too sure about the burbclave - it seems to be a maze of streets. “Now a burbclave, that’s the place to live. A city-state with its own constitution, a border, laws, cops, everything.” (6).
“Hiro” is not introduced by name until the second chapter. Hiro Protagionist and his roommate, Vitaly Chernobyl, lives is a spacious 20 by 30 U-Stor-It (cheap extra storage space for Californians with too many material goods) located in Ingelwood, California. Reality is such an exciting life!
Which is why Hiro spends his free time in a virtual reality via the computer. In the Metaverse, he can be who he really wants to be. He is a hacker and has a nice house in an old neighborhood just off the busiest on the street. In this virtual place, users wear a piece of software called an avatar, computer generated image. The place is crowded as well but the avatars walk right through each other.
These first few chapters bounce from physical reality to virtual reality and back again.
Sunday, February 11, 2007
Smart Mobs: the Next Social Revolution
Chapter 7: The Power of the Mobile Many.
Netwar: January 20, 2001
"Go to 2ERSA, wear blk." More than one million residents of Manila received this SMS text message and assembled to bring down the government of President Joseph Estrada. It was non-violent ... no shots were fired. "Netwar is an emerging mode of conflict in which the protagonists--ranging from terrorist and criminal organizations on the dark side, to militant social activists on the bright side--use network forms of organization, doctrine, strategy, and technology attuned to the information age ... The know how to swarm and disperse, penetrate and disrupt, as well as elude and evade. The tactics they use range from battles of ideas to acts of sabotage--and many tactics involve the Internet." (162).
Smart mob technology can benefit or destroy a society.
Chapter 8: Always-On Panopticon or Cooperation Amplifer?
"Maybe you should refuse it." Is this a healthy response? "It's not just how we use the technology that concerns us. We're also concerned about what kind of people we become when we use it." (185).
Three kinds of potential threats are:
1. Threats to liberty - survellience by most merchants who use our information to design their sales pitches.
2. Threats to quality of life - possible deterioration of communities as the conveniences wear on our sanity.
3. Threats to human dignity - stress on interpersonal relationships - less humane behaviors. "If pervasive computation devices and anthropomorphic software agents lead people to confuse machines with humans, will people grow less friendly, less trusting, less prepared to cooperate with one another?" (193).
Will our lives become Panopticons ("all-seeing places") of the 19th century - inmates with no privacy? OR Will these new technologies cause societies to reorganize at a higher level of cooperations? We are presently in the midst of finding out.
Netwar: January 20, 2001
"Go to 2ERSA, wear blk." More than one million residents of Manila received this SMS text message and assembled to bring down the government of President Joseph Estrada. It was non-violent ... no shots were fired. "Netwar is an emerging mode of conflict in which the protagonists--ranging from terrorist and criminal organizations on the dark side, to militant social activists on the bright side--use network forms of organization, doctrine, strategy, and technology attuned to the information age ... The know how to swarm and disperse, penetrate and disrupt, as well as elude and evade. The tactics they use range from battles of ideas to acts of sabotage--and many tactics involve the Internet." (162).
Smart mob technology can benefit or destroy a society.
Chapter 8: Always-On Panopticon or Cooperation Amplifer?
"Maybe you should refuse it." Is this a healthy response? "It's not just how we use the technology that concerns us. We're also concerned about what kind of people we become when we use it." (185).
Three kinds of potential threats are:
1. Threats to liberty - survellience by most merchants who use our information to design their sales pitches.
2. Threats to quality of life - possible deterioration of communities as the conveniences wear on our sanity.
3. Threats to human dignity - stress on interpersonal relationships - less humane behaviors. "If pervasive computation devices and anthropomorphic software agents lead people to confuse machines with humans, will people grow less friendly, less trusting, less prepared to cooperate with one another?" (193).
Will our lives become Panopticons ("all-seeing places") of the 19th century - inmates with no privacy? OR Will these new technologies cause societies to reorganize at a higher level of cooperations? We are presently in the midst of finding out.
Thursday, February 8, 2007
Smart Mobs: the Next Social Revolution
Chapter 4: The Era of Sentient Things.
Virtual reality? I went to www.dictionary.com and found eight entries. The one that seems to fit the best is, "a hypothetical three-dimensional visual world created by a computer; user wears special goggles and fiber optic gloves etc., and can enter and move about in this world and interact with objects as if inside." (WordNet 2005) or augmented reality? a mingling of the virtual and physical world.
Different kinds of research include the following:
Information in places: media linked to location; (OnStar)
Smart rooms: environments that sense inhabitants and respond to them;
Digital cities: adding information capabilities to urban places;
Sentient objects: adding info and communication to physical things; (embedded chips)
Tangible bits: manipulating the virtual world by manipulating physical objects;
Wearable computers: sensing, computing, and communicating gear worn as clothing. (helmets)
Why not plan a vacation to Cooltown or World Board to experience the latest in technology.
Chapter 5: The Evolution of Reputation.
"Reputation marks the spot where technology and cooperation converge." (114).
Rheingold writes of the early versions of reputation management: eBay, Epinions, Slashdot, Amazon, Google.com. How do these social network work? The participants cooperate based on a system of reciprocation "offering mutually profitable cooperation only to partners who are willing to return the favor and punish those who do not". Freeriders are punished and those who don't punish the freerider are considered freeriders too.
Social networking has its rewards and its punishments.
Chapter 6: Wireless Quilts.
Rheingold continued to investigate smart mob wireless networks and located them in places where computer users gather - coffee shops in particular those that sold expensive coffee - in Starbucks.
A community of "homebrew innovators" -- volunteers that banded together to create a new media that increases in value when it is shared. A radio beacon is used to connect with the Internet; an inexpensive means to spread a public good, the smart mob theory in practice. An example that Rheingold elaborated on is the work of Colonel Dave Hughes who brought wireless broadband to Indian reservation, in Mongolia, and in Wales. He was looking for a way to make communication affordable in rural communities. "Bluetooth" is another example of inexpensive connection to the Internet.
The Federal Communications Commission is try to control the use of the Internet but - "The highway is a commons" (153) where people from all classes can meet and share common interests.
Virtual reality? I went to www.dictionary.com and found eight entries. The one that seems to fit the best is, "a hypothetical three-dimensional visual world created by a computer; user wears special goggles and fiber optic gloves etc., and can enter and move about in this world and interact with objects as if inside." (WordNet 2005) or augmented reality? a mingling of the virtual and physical world.
Different kinds of research include the following:
Information in places: media linked to location; (OnStar)
Smart rooms: environments that sense inhabitants and respond to them;
Digital cities: adding information capabilities to urban places;
Sentient objects: adding info and communication to physical things; (embedded chips)
Tangible bits: manipulating the virtual world by manipulating physical objects;
Wearable computers: sensing, computing, and communicating gear worn as clothing. (helmets)
Why not plan a vacation to Cooltown or World Board to experience the latest in technology.
Chapter 5: The Evolution of Reputation.
"Reputation marks the spot where technology and cooperation converge." (114).
Rheingold writes of the early versions of reputation management: eBay, Epinions, Slashdot, Amazon, Google.com. How do these social network work? The participants cooperate based on a system of reciprocation "offering mutually profitable cooperation only to partners who are willing to return the favor and punish those who do not". Freeriders are punished and those who don't punish the freerider are considered freeriders too.
Social networking has its rewards and its punishments.
Chapter 6: Wireless Quilts.
Rheingold continued to investigate smart mob wireless networks and located them in places where computer users gather - coffee shops in particular those that sold expensive coffee - in Starbucks.
A community of "homebrew innovators" -- volunteers that banded together to create a new media that increases in value when it is shared. A radio beacon is used to connect with the Internet; an inexpensive means to spread a public good, the smart mob theory in practice. An example that Rheingold elaborated on is the work of Colonel Dave Hughes who brought wireless broadband to Indian reservation, in Mongolia, and in Wales. He was looking for a way to make communication affordable in rural communities. "Bluetooth" is another example of inexpensive connection to the Internet.
The Federal Communications Commission is try to control the use of the Internet but - "The highway is a commons" (153) where people from all classes can meet and share common interests.
Tuesday, February 6, 2007
Smart Mobs: the Next Social Revolution
Chapters 1: Shibuya Epiphany. One definition for epiphany is "a revealing scene or moment". The author, Howard Rheingold, shares with his readers his sudden realization of the path technology is taking. The texters oyayubisoku that Rheingold observed in Toyoko are referred to as "the thumb tribe".
Rheingold interviews Mituko Ito, a Stanford graduate, who is studying how identity and place are produced through and within digital media infrastructures. In Japan wired phones are very expensive, so many families members own cellular phones instead. Also, she has developed a theory that because the space of the home is too confining that the family members have privacy issues. Their cell phone is their "own space". The Japanese culture, especially the teens, would prefer to send text messages because privacy from their parents is important. They "construct a localized and portable place of intimacy, an open channel of contact with generally 3-5 others." By spring of 2001, 90% of high school teenagers possess cell phones.
This makes me appreciate my personal space more than before.
Chapter 2: Technologies of Cooperation. In 1992 Rheingold questioned this "What do people gain from virtual communities that keeps them sharing information with people they might never meet face to face?" Marc Smith, a UCLA graduate, answers, "social network capital, knowledge capital, and communion." Public goods are things that are shared and benefit all regardless of whether they helped create it. Those who didn't help create the goods are referred to as "freeriders." An interesting strategy of Tit for Tat, a mind game, is described in depth.
Just think the PC and Internet would not exist today if it were not for the collaborative efforts of computer enthusisasts.
Chapter 3: Computer Nations and Swarm Supercomputers. "Peer-to-peer networks are not owned by any central authority and cannot be controlled, killed, or broken by the central authority .... Companies may produce software for P2P networking, but the networks that emerge are owned by everyone and no one."
Search for Estraterrestial Intelligence: SETI@home is a network of community computation (also know as distributed processing or P2P). The network is a worldwide group of over 2 million people who analyze signals collected by a radio telescrope in Puerto Rico. The telescope pulls down about 50 billion bytes of data per day. Another example of P2P is Napster.
There is this sudden realization that most computer users participate is P2P networks.
Rheingold interviews Mituko Ito, a Stanford graduate, who is studying how identity and place are produced through and within digital media infrastructures. In Japan wired phones are very expensive, so many families members own cellular phones instead. Also, she has developed a theory that because the space of the home is too confining that the family members have privacy issues. Their cell phone is their "own space". The Japanese culture, especially the teens, would prefer to send text messages because privacy from their parents is important. They "construct a localized and portable place of intimacy, an open channel of contact with generally 3-5 others." By spring of 2001, 90% of high school teenagers possess cell phones.
This makes me appreciate my personal space more than before.
Chapter 2: Technologies of Cooperation. In 1992 Rheingold questioned this "What do people gain from virtual communities that keeps them sharing information with people they might never meet face to face?" Marc Smith, a UCLA graduate, answers, "social network capital, knowledge capital, and communion." Public goods are things that are shared and benefit all regardless of whether they helped create it. Those who didn't help create the goods are referred to as "freeriders." An interesting strategy of Tit for Tat, a mind game, is described in depth.
Just think the PC and Internet would not exist today if it were not for the collaborative efforts of computer enthusisasts.
Chapter 3: Computer Nations and Swarm Supercomputers. "Peer-to-peer networks are not owned by any central authority and cannot be controlled, killed, or broken by the central authority .... Companies may produce software for P2P networking, but the networks that emerge are owned by everyone and no one."
Search for Estraterrestial Intelligence: SETI@home is a network of community computation (also know as distributed processing or P2P). The network is a worldwide group of over 2 million people who analyze signals collected by a radio telescrope in Puerto Rico. The telescope pulls down about 50 billion bytes of data per day. Another example of P2P is Napster.
There is this sudden realization that most computer users participate is P2P networks.
Monday, February 5, 2007
Technology During my Lifetime
Over the course of my life, I've adjusted to the changing technology. It seems that the longer a technology is around, the physically smaller (more compact) it becomes and the cheaper it is to purchase (although the it becomes less durable). These technologies help us communicate more effectively, entertain us, as well as make our work less manual.
I've seen how playing and recording music (audio) has changed since I was a little girl. My grandmother still played a Victrola, a phonograph that had to be manually cranked ... to the record player that played vinyl records at speeds of 33 rpm, 45 rpm, and 78 rpm ... to the 8-Track tape player (short lived) ... to Cassette tape players ... to the present Compact Disc (CD) players. Oops, I almost forgot about the newest in music, the iPod which plays MP3 files. One medium that hasn't changed that much is the Radio.
I've also seen changes in television, although less dramatic. Our first set was a rather bulky "black and "white" and then we upgraded to "color" (only after the black/white sets were obsolete) which received reception via rabbit ears or an outdoor antennae which ... on a good day would get reception from three stations. The TVs became smaller over time and then cable TV became available to select customers, usually in urban areas ... today there is digital capability and satellite TV stations from all over the world.
Does anyone out there remember the rotary dial telephone? or party lines? Phones eventually became touch tone ... then cordless which gave the user mobility ... and lastly the cellular phone which gives the user even more mobility and allows us to send "text messages". Where would we be if we couldn't make phone calls while shopping?
Cameras have also evolved. I remember the "black and white" pictures of when I was a little girl and then the "color" pictures as a teen. They needed to be fed film and had to be developed before they could be seen ... then along came the Polaroid camera where the picture developed before your eyes ... I was so amazed! Next came the camcorder (cameras that recorded moving objects that played in VCRs) ... and now we have digital cameras that don't need film. If you don't like how you took the picture, with the touch of a button it is deleted. VCR players have also come a long way in their short history. The first VCRs were Beta and VHS players ... today we play our movies in DVD players.
Typewriters have advanced from manual (a lot of energy was need to type) ... to the electric (the keys used to jam when you typed too fast). IBM developed a machine to allow faster typing - the "Selectric" (a ball rotated as you typed along). Eventually IBM developed a magnetic typewriter that allowed revisions to be entered, thereby saving the user from either making messy corrections or retyping the entire document. Computers were on the horizon ...laptops ... and then all the benefits of the Internet ... and typing became "keyboarding".
We'll have to watch and see where technology takes us next.
I've seen how playing and recording music (audio) has changed since I was a little girl. My grandmother still played a Victrola, a phonograph that had to be manually cranked ... to the record player that played vinyl records at speeds of 33 rpm, 45 rpm, and 78 rpm ... to the 8-Track tape player (short lived) ... to Cassette tape players ... to the present Compact Disc (CD) players. Oops, I almost forgot about the newest in music, the iPod which plays MP3 files. One medium that hasn't changed that much is the Radio.
I've also seen changes in television, although less dramatic. Our first set was a rather bulky "black and "white" and then we upgraded to "color" (only after the black/white sets were obsolete) which received reception via rabbit ears or an outdoor antennae which ... on a good day would get reception from three stations. The TVs became smaller over time and then cable TV became available to select customers, usually in urban areas ... today there is digital capability and satellite TV stations from all over the world.
Does anyone out there remember the rotary dial telephone? or party lines? Phones eventually became touch tone ... then cordless which gave the user mobility ... and lastly the cellular phone which gives the user even more mobility and allows us to send "text messages". Where would we be if we couldn't make phone calls while shopping?
Cameras have also evolved. I remember the "black and white" pictures of when I was a little girl and then the "color" pictures as a teen. They needed to be fed film and had to be developed before they could be seen ... then along came the Polaroid camera where the picture developed before your eyes ... I was so amazed! Next came the camcorder (cameras that recorded moving objects that played in VCRs) ... and now we have digital cameras that don't need film. If you don't like how you took the picture, with the touch of a button it is deleted. VCR players have also come a long way in their short history. The first VCRs were Beta and VHS players ... today we play our movies in DVD players.
Typewriters have advanced from manual (a lot of energy was need to type) ... to the electric (the keys used to jam when you typed too fast). IBM developed a machine to allow faster typing - the "Selectric" (a ball rotated as you typed along). Eventually IBM developed a magnetic typewriter that allowed revisions to be entered, thereby saving the user from either making messy corrections or retyping the entire document. Computers were on the horizon ...laptops ... and then all the benefits of the Internet ... and typing became "keyboarding".
We'll have to watch and see where technology takes us next.
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