Wednesday, December 16, 2015

Convergence

In terms of technology, convergence is when technology is created which could not exist unless previous technologies came before it. Or technologies coming together to perform a similar task.

My first thought when this topic was brought up was modern day cell phones. These items could not exist if landline phones did not exist, or wireless, or the internet, or digital photography. And that's only naming a few of the technologies which reside within the default cellular phone.

The characteristics of this happening are usually data throughput, access, computational speed, and memory usage.

-Data Throughput: The measure of how many units of information can be processed in a given amount of time to a determined location.

-Access: How an individual is able to obtain this technology and be able to use it.

-Computational Speed: How fast information can be processed in an amount of time. Moore's law can apply to this section which states that every 2 years computational speed will double.

-Memory Usage: The computers ability to both store information and obtain information at one moment and then get rid of it or place it back in storage the next moment.

What Makes a Community? Can Tech Be a Community?

To me a community can be formed from a combination of those of a similar mindset, a place to gather, and the willingness to aid one another to name a few.

When you go online to a particular site such as Facebook, a forum or a game there are bound to be people who are there for the same reasons that you are. More specifically on a site such as Facebook you can search their website for officially made communities that range from several topic, in a forum based setting each individual forum is based on a specific topic which people of a like-mind communicate with one another.

Facebook, forums, and games can also serve as a place to gather. From personal experience however I view games as the better of the three examples provided. This is because I feel there is a better interaction between the players through their microphones which they use to talk to each other as well as the actions of their avatars. With games you can better see that everyone is in one place in a server.

The willingness to aid one another is a tricky subject for both a real community and a internet one. Mainly because on both cases the question becomes "Whats in it for me?" which to me still counts but to some may not. The willingness t aid someone can range from information gathering, obtaining an item of physically doing the task alongside the person in need of help which can be done online but through slightly different means.

Wednesday, December 9, 2015

Classmate Presentation

Presentation: Bitcoin
By: Leif Fieldden

A form of digital currency which cannot be created and has to be found.

It is produced by businesses around the world and cannot be controlled by anyone. Because of this governments cannot properly tax Bitcoin and there are difficulties attempting to regulate it.

If an individual is unable to find their own Bitcoins they are able to purchase it. How it was explained in the presentation Bitcoin prices are not set in stone, a person who is selling Bitcoin sells it for a determined price and an another person from somewhere in the world who wants it for around that price can buy it. Bitcoin can be bought with normal currency.

In order to own Bitcoin you must have a Bitcoin wallet which can be bought online. Different wallets offer different levels of protection.

An individual who has been suspected to be the inventor of Bitcoin is a man named Satoshi Nakamoto, but this is not conformed and is suggested by the presenter.

Bitcoin at one point was used on secret websites selling questionable to illegal goods such as porn, drugs, and at times weapons.

Thursday, December 3, 2015

Guest Speaker Erik Hanberg

Not to long ago our class was visited by a man named Erik Hanberg, who is currently serves as one of the commissioners for the Metro Parks in Tacoma. Hanberg is also an author of science fiction novels, and has started up several small companies and web sites.

Part of his speech was dedicated to telling the class how websites such as Amazon and devices such as the kindle have made ECommerce easier to perform than ever before because everybody has an opportunity to sell goods, promote themselves online, and are able to publish their writings by putting them online. He also states hoe the internet is an opportunity for creative and self driven individuals that are willing to succeed in the world of technology.

He also mentions later on that the amount of online privacy we have today will most likely be the most we will ever have. This is surprising to me not because of paranoia, but because I thought we already had no privacy online.

He also talked  briefly about the effects of disintermediation, which is the removal of the "middleman." In terms of publishing a book this may be a publishing or marketing company. He also stresses how one in this position needs to spend his/her time working and promoting oneself or else their work may go unnoticed by the general public.