Jalisa Williams Powerpoint

Digital diversity is not easy to define being that over the semester we have been trying to find an understanding of what exactly the course entails. My personal understanding of the term digital diversity refers to the various forms of technology that is used, and the ways in which they are used.  Digital forms of technology can be used in many different ways. This includes the way in which they are used, who they are used by, applications and services provided, and interactive forms that are implemented from producers. The world is moving in a fast paste, and thus the forms of technology being invented must keep up. There are over 300 million people in the world with little to no access to technology, further creating a divide in the digital world with regards to access and information. The digital divide is further widened due to age, race, gender, income and geographic locations. The gap is in regards to the opportunity and access to information and communication and use of the internet.

We as a country have access and the resources to the benefits of the diverse forms of digital technology. However there are other developing countries that do not. Where we find old forms of technology to be wasteful and unbeneficial to the productions of our lives other countries find useful ways to discard and make profits. This process is referred to as E-waste. This process contributes to the digital divide in a global sense. There are many aspects that must be considered to conclude the definition to digital diversity.

The world is moving away from personal interaction to be seen, heard, and understood through digital forms. The technological world is advancing on a wide scale in fast paste where other parts of the world cannot keep up, or find it difficult to do so. With all the inventions the attention span of people cannot be solely concentrated on one task rather is spread through various interactions all in media form. So in a nutshell digital diversity refers to everything digital in variation; the way in production,
usage, consumption, users, the services provided and interactions within.

As a group we struggled with the initial start of the presentation and research question. With such a program as not being implemented much into the overall success of a given country it was difficult to focus on one specific area. Once we received the topic, we all just kind of sat around and wondered what we could actually turn this project into. We all started by looking at the website of the Program which is linked here (http://one.laptop.org/). In are group, we exchanged ideas and came up with a list of possible ways that the presentation could be put together. Transferring this information back and forth we generally wrote down ideas and narrowed the focus research question to a sub-ten list. After this list was posed to our group members we broke the list into step and assigned each member of the group a focus point. And this is how the question was developed. In our separate topic assigned we piled together information that would better help us understand the program of One Laptop per Child.

                This further moved into the development of the thesis, which took more time to develop. The thesis was not master until one of our last meeting times scheduled. We took the direction of researching first then that would force us into a well developed thesis statement. Minor changes were made to the thesis once it was established. We narrowed in our research focusing on one area in the country; that area being Africa. Also, we took the direction and implemented an opposing view to the basic mission further creating critics to the development, necessity and opportunity the foundation holds to the education of children. The presentation style was thought of by one of our group member prior knowledge with presentation style. This website (http://prezi.com/#prezi) is how the presentation was created. The last day of our group meeting time we created an order in presentation that we believed would flow best. We put the finishing touches to the presentation and to that extent our presentation was complete.

                If our group had the chance to do the presentation over again there would be nothing I would change. I felt that each member in our group explained and presented the ideas of the OLPC in a constructive manner. Every piece of the presentation fit in perfectly making the overall project and presentation itself a success.

 

Tracking the amount of media usage is far harder than one may think. Being aware that ones actions is being watched makes you alter your judgment on the amount of time spent engaging in media usage. For the past week we were assigned to log media usage hours for items such as texting, phone usage, general internet usage, time spent on Facebook and such. In some ways this data is inaccurate because it is the end of the school year and many students are focusing on end of the year school work. However, I believe this graph included with class data is an accurate way in showing how time is wasted when other priorities are at hand.

Picking one part of my life (Not school) analyzing the impact it has on this always on pie chart is texting. Texting in part is sending and receiving messages on my cellular phones all throughout the day. Texting is a daily routine for me as I engage in this activity at all cost. Although texting is prohibited in most area such as in class, at practice, or even taking off before a flight, I still find a way to send and receive. I believe that Craig Walker captures this idea when introducing the idea of CPA. The continuous partial attention is the popular notion of media multitasking. I believe I am a victim of this being that I will stop what I am doing to send a text, or find it very important interact in conversations. Switching my attention back and forth in multitasking media usage in different areas in my life. This article on text messaging is harmful to many because it distracts you in ways you would not think of http://newsblog.barnesjewish.org/2010/11/12/excessive-texting-can-be-harmful-to-teenagers/ .

After this class an all the reading required to read within I find the media usage to be unbelievable. I think the media world has taken over much of what our generation engages themselves in today. Now with the conclusion of this class I find myself being more aware of my time spent on media items, in ways that my attention is directed and how much of my time is wasted. I find better ways to concentrate on one media item at a time overall making the most of my time and my time more valuable.

Texting 19 hours

Phone Usage 1.45 hours

Facebook .15 hours

School Work 3.45 Hours

General Internet 3.45 Hours

Ipod Usage 2.15 Hours

“Connection is the goal. The quality of that connection, the quality of the information that passes through it, the quality of the relationship that connection permits- none of this is important.” quoted by Zadie Smith herself. Well in comparison what is important to the creator himself. As found in this article published in the New York Times http://topics.nytimes.com/topics/reference/timestopics/people/z/mark_e_zuckerberg/index.html Mark Zuckerburg says, “Facebook’s most important metrics are not its membership but the percentage of the wired world that uses the site and the amount of information — photographs, news articles and status updates — zipping across its servers.”
I agree more with Smith’s article siding that in our generation none of the information shared online is important to the daily functions of life, rather through social interactions or digital advancements. The generation Facebook’s that Smith refers to is obsessed with an ideal lifestyle fix to connect with the online world. As quoted in The Young and The Digital by S. Craig Watkins one girls in our growing generation states That “Facebook is a big part of our lives in this day and age. And if you’re not apart of that, then your are missing a huge part of your friends lives also.” One must really have to stop and ask yourself what is becoming important to us. Both the movie watch The Social Network and the readings from Young and the Digital portray the internet and social media in particular as a world changing social force and it is indeed.
There has been many arguments over Facebook such as the true inventors and how money should be split but never over the true intentions over why Facebook was created. As Mark Zuckerberg put into quotes in the movie The Social Network, “ The thing that we are trying to do at Facebook is just help people connect and communicate more efficiently.” Although this statement may hold some truth, in all reality and as argued by Smith Facebook is really taking away the efficiency of relationships and placing them in a remote superficial virtual world. Smith expressed this by saying “A lot of social networking software explicitly encourages people to make weak, superficial connections with each other.”
In all, there is a lot of time being wasted with people trying to find online interest with there “friends” who they no longer speak to. Nowadays most in our generation feel Facebook and other technological advances such as cell phones or laptop computers are essential to the point that they view as if something is socially wrong with someone who does not have or use them. I stand to say this is not true. Although I have all (Facebook account, cell phone and Laptop) I don’t find myself being as connected to either in a way were they play that much importance to my daily living or social interaction with people. I find social interactions being more beneficial with face to face meetings and actual conversations.
The world changes everyday. Clearly in today’s world Facebook is playing a huge part in the current way we view things. Facebook is now creating social norms and in essence creating online ethical guides. “Culture influences how we view ethics.” (Digital Media Ethics) But with the way Facebook is evolving at such rapid speed it is now changing culture and therefore setting its own ethical guide for the Generation to follow. Although I’m not fully agreeing to the revolution of Facebook, I feel as if it is going to be the future of connections unless we all take a stand now and stop letting time fly past us while we are concerning ourselves more with the new uploaded pictures or status updates of the 500+ people on our friend list.

The digital divide is widening on many aspects in the technology world. A revolutions is coming about in efforts to close the gap entailed between the divide. The divide comes in forms of technological disadvantage opportunities in minority groups communities. According to Charles Ess, in Digital Media Ethics the digital divide represents the disparity between “the information rich and the information poor”. As the world is devolping and there are new advancements being created the digital access to minority groups decreasing further and further.

In this article by CNET Networks, http://www.bridgethedigitaldivide.com/ we can find many ways in which to bridge the gap. Although this is the first thought when the digital divide is first thought about, the definition goes much further. Thus, the digital divide is expanded by Alondra Nelson and company in Technicolor: Race, Technology adn Everyday Life, to “training, access, education, content, telecommunications infrastructure and such”. But a true definition can only be displayed once e-waste has been implemented.

E-waste can be described as the discarded surplus, obsolete, or broken electrical or electronic devices. By inserting E-waste into the definition of the digital divide, as seen in the video “Ghana: the Digital Dumping Ground”, can conclude that E-waste is not helping close the divide rather adding to the problem in other ways. In this frontline special we witnessed how devloped countries shiped “wasted” computers and such to countries such as Ghana, China, and Vietnam where they melt down these pieces to contract its precious metals. In this process the workers are being exposed to many dangerous chemicals and toxics that cause negitive health affects. By emplementing e-waste into the definition and understanding of the digital divide we can become more ethical on the gains of others in other countries. If we as a devolped country were more concerned about where this waste was being shipped, we could decrease the amount of danger and hopefully close the gap in the digital divide.

During our in-class digital media debates we used an “exclusive” model to ask if violent video games cause socially damaging desensitization. Our group argued that violent video games causes desensitization related to real world violence causing gamers to be less empathetic to real life situations. Also, that the interactive nature of video games makes the violence more desensitizing than other forms of media. How violent games desensitize gamers to the real life consequences and actions. Lastly, how these violent games desensitize one to proper life skills. The other side argued many studies surrounding the topic were flawed and biased, with no clear evidence that there is a connection between violent video games and socially damaged desensitization. There are many myths about video games that are coved in the following article http://www.pbs.org/kcts/videogamerevolution/impact/myths.html. Both sides really have no clear evidence because there is no real way that this study can be tested. Being that we cannot totally isolate a test group of individuals and expose them to violent games and not expose another tested group of individuals. Violence in video games can only be seen as a factor to studies as such.
The truth however can be balanced somewhere in the middle between both sides argument. It is to my belief that this is actually true. I believe that the violence in video games and social violence is connected in some ways. Not that it is the sole cause of outside violence but is influenced in some way. The amount of influence however, does not show a significant threat to society where violent video games should be banned. This is where the equal balance comes in, because violent video games in some way affect a small amount of people, but is not affecting the greater majority who are more likely exposed.
There is nothing that can be done to change the current settings of such violence in video games. Violent games are rated much like any other “potentially” harming item. Often times the ratings are ignored for the fun of the game, rather than being instilled for the proper level of classification. One classification is the level of matureness of the gamer. Thus, regulation rules are left to the buyer. As stated by Charles Ess in the book Digital Media Ethics, “self-regulation leads to the best balance between free flow of digital content and protecting children from potential harmful material” (Page 138). Therefore, this leaves many high violent games to be purchased by almost anyone. This issue could be debated back and forth revolving the same studies, and mentioned facts in the class debate. When generally we should shift our idea from being an either/or and choose both sides; agreeing that violent video games does cause socially damaging desensitization to a certain level, that has yet to show a significant level for government regulation.

Now a day the technological world is more advanced than say ten years ago. The technology used today is far beyond a simple research method. With platforms such as online videos, blogs, Facebook and Twitter, online social networks has reached a new peak that is being spread nationally. These platforms are being used today to start, organize and spread revolutions. Today’s blogs is dealing with the way in which news is being reported in Egypt through social networking platforms.
The use of technology in the revolution in Egypt was used for far more than just a tool. In a different sense one could say the technological platform was used as an aid. It was used to reach a mass amount of people in a short period of time. The objective was to reach the younger generation that the parents that held government positions could not reach. This younger generation included high school students as well as college students mainly targeting those who most often logged on to Facebook or Twitter accounts. This was done so that a large amount of younger people would be aware of what was going on. In this article http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/11/egypt-facebook-revolution-wael-ghonim_n_822078.html much credit was given to the success of Facebook for the uprising of the revoultion. Social networking is now the easiest form of technology one can use in the generation we now live in. Many opinions throughout the video stated that they believed social networks such as Facebook and Twitter gives a more realistic view point than compared to television broadcasting. As they felt television and such brainwashed many into certain beliefs.
The use of technology today can now be seen to shape ones belief on a common ground. It is used more now to reach a certain class of people in a large amount. These two platforms give a sense of unification to one world. It was stated in the video that because of these social networking platforms (Facebook and Twitter) ones view is no longer individualistic, rather is now shifted towards a holistic view on a broader spectrum.

The term Cultural appropriation is used to describe the act of borrowing aspects of another cultural. This aspect comes from the evolution of the massive market of the internet. The internet was designed to share information as a creative process. Now as one of the world’s largest investment, the internet market is now a battle between the actual market and the idea of sharing information for free. The major idea of cultural appropriation is the concept of borrowing material in a balanced way which is where and why the copyright laws as well as privacy law are now in practice. Initially these laws were established to create a balanced between the author and those of the public to serve as a protection for the greater of the community. Over the many generations of the development of the internet the public slowly gained control of the battle and is now what it seems like is no longer worried about the illegal side of the copyright or privacy laws. It was argued in Digital Diversity Ethics that the generation gap is a serious causing copyright morality (Ess 2009). The cause with is still unknown to the great majority.
In a personal view we must set standards as to whether this is any good from an ethical standpoint. In the film guarding the Family Silver they focus more on the trade marketing side of productions as a way to protect your investors and consumers, but at this point this doesn’t seem to matter anymore because copyrighting has reached a level that is out of control. Some cultures may not frown upon copyright violations, because of where they are. The idea of cultural and language to control our identity is a unique way of expressing each individual and or cultural. The film RIP: a Remix Manifesto focuses on cultural and how it always builds on the past, yet the past will try to control the future so to solve this problem there must be an attempt to limit the control of the pass.
I believe that there should be some law to stop this violation of copyrighting or at least find a better way in controlling this which means that there has to be some control in the present generation of new technological inventions.
In the following link (http://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/faq-infringement.html) you will find and article that infringes on copyrighting which is discussed in the RIP: a Remix Manifesto film.

My name is Jalisa Williams and I am ending my fourth years here at Washington State University. Through my time here I have spent four years on the WSU track team. I have decided to double major in Criminal Justice and Sociology with a minor in Political Science. I enjoy working with children as I spend most my time around people. I am originally from southern California and plan to go back after graduating here this upcoming May. In my free time I enjoy sleeping, cooking, reading, writing, and listening to people’s experiences. From this class I hope to gain a lot of inside knowledge about the digital world. Technology grows everyday it seems like and it is so hard to keep up with so I hope that this class will expand what I already know about the digital world and its usage. I am excited to learn new things and cant wait to see what this class has in store for me.