EOTO Peer Presentation #2

     As a class I thought a lot of individual presentations were more interesting than the whole group. Although I think the first group had the most interesting as well as informing presentations as a whole. I think the propaganda and the disinformation ones were well put together and most importantly I think they are vital to society and how we go upon each and every day. 

    Whether that is false information or the government telling us one thing even though another is actually happening. There is usually a reason, it may not always be a good one or one that we agree with. When it comes to the project as a whole, I think that they went into depth very well and I believe that it was the most question raising presentation. I definitely found myself more engaged with this presentation than the others. 

    If we are talking specifically, I think that being aware, misinformation and disinformation, as well as propaganda all go together and create an aspect of people are out to get us, or the government is out to get us. When that is not the case. There will always be people trying to gain information for their own well-being, as well as people who want to keep everyone safe in the long-run. Sometimes there is a fine line about that and the people who should cross it. 

    When it comes to being aware, I think it is necessary to know all the facts before jumping to conclusions. When it comes to the government, you never really know what is the truth. You have to do your own research and find out the best options for you. Not everyone is going to tell you the right thing or the best thing for you. That is for you to decide and that is where being aware comes in. That also ties into things like propaganda and disinformation, because everyone is trying to get you to think a certain way for a certain reason. It is again your decision to make up your mind for yourself. Do not look at things one way, but look at them from all different points of view.

Artificial Intelligence

     A.I. is going to change the world, it already has. Every step people take further and further in technology, it is a step closer to a world that's easier, but that may cause some problems.

   

Already A.I. has taken a huge toll. In the future it will be at every corner of every company to make them more efficient. To be more efficient, you need to eliminate the variables that cause hardship, in this case it's us, humans.

    There are things that A.I. has made a bad impact on as well, like equality in the workplace and how the economic benefits are distributed. The wealthy get wealthier and the poor get more poor and A.I. is going to make that gap very vast. This is one of the long time cons of A.I. In the same category of cons of A.I. it is one of those things that will continue to grow and grow until it is uncontrollably powerful, just like how militaries are and oil companies. They use their tools to get richer and more powerful while pushing everyone away to get there.

    One thing I thought was interesting was the quote, "we thought we were using the internet, but did not know the internet was using us." This being said, they also talk about all the data that comes off people. Every action we do and the decisions we make create data that the internet, apps and companies use to make the world more fitted towards each individual. 

    Privacy and national security are all in our heads. Everything we do and everything other countries do is well-known by the government. The government takes tabs on every person and what they do. No matter who you are and what you may symbolize. There are huge pros and cons, being you don't know who has what information and if it may get into the wrong hands. When it comes to national security, it is very interesting. If you think the government has a huge amount of information on you? Then you could only imagine the things they keep tabs on all over the world. They say it is for our safety but in reality it is for their own. 

    I think that there should be regulations about how much information and data is gathered. Although tech keeps on building and evolving for the good, it may not always stay good. Over time there will be more cons and more problems with technology. It is definitely scary the companies we trust and put faith into are constantly gathering info and selling it. It is also scary the sheer amount of information that is being gathered and consumed by companies and people who make money off of our decisions. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5dZ_lvDgevk

https://www.britannica.com/technology/artificial-intelligence

Citizen Journalism

    Citizen Journalism is considered to be any individual who reports and informs the general public without being called a professional. People who report, document and share news through digital and paper outlets. This has a lot of benefits within the world of journalism and news. 

    They give unbiased opinions towards the events or circumstances. It also helps communities report incidents that usually go under-reported. In the long run this helps communities' hold individuals accountable for the things going on or the things not being changed.

    In some countries where the government controls parts of the media, apps and websites like Instagram, Facebook and Twitter became huge in countries where there were not a lot of news being spread. First hand account videos and pictures are very important when it comes to wars and crisis' happening on the other side of the world. One example would be Ukraine and most of the wars in the middle east. Without first hand information from these accounts, we would not truly know the things going on. 

    Citizen Journalism over the years has been one of the main defenses against propaganda and false information being spread. There are always pros and cons, it depends on if you are benefiting or being hurt by the unbiased opinions and stories being shared. I feel like this would be more of a tool for the poor or the minorities or anyone who is a victim. Where they can use their information and story to inform others and find solutions and ways to fix the problems. 

    With the blog post that I am currently doing right now, it is a kind of Citizen Journalism. Sharing information that I have learned and giving my opinions on the things I learn about. That is what it is all about. I think most people find themselves doing some sort of this. Whether that is posting an opinion online or writing something, most of what we do can be considered Citizen Journalism so I think it affects me daily. As well as my family and friends in this day and age.

In the 1920s there was discussion between Walter Lippman and American philosopher John Dewey where they debated the role of journalism in democracy. 

    Also they talked about the extent the public should participate in the news gathering and collection process. This also came up as a topic again in the 1990s. Where people started taking advantage of the low-cost social computing devices and technology with no ties to any company or organization. Scholars have sense discovered that the quality and content of Citizen Journalism has been very well made and portrayed. 

    I believe that there are a lot of important sections in the Mediasphere, but Citizen Journalism may be the most important if not top 3. Over the years it has risen and created all different kinds of solutions and ways people can inform the community and general public. Without this I think that we as Americans would have our rights violated. So with that I do believe that this is apart of everybody's life pretty much every day. Most of the time we have something to say, in class, online or maybe you wrote it down in and sent it out. 

https://www.britannica.com/topic/citizen-journalism

https://nieman.harvard.edu/articles/citizen-journalism-and-the-bbc/

https://reporter.rit.edu/features/citizen-journalism-whats-deal

Online Privacy

    In the first video it talked about things like electronic tattoos. Pictures of your face, pictures of you with people and anything on the internet. It will always be there, he says something interesting like, "maybe we are that closer to immortality." I think this should resonate with everyone. Specifically because we as people usually post things online or are included in pictures or activities online. As well as cameras all over taking pictures and videos of us as well. this is very important nowadays, because we are always being watched no matter what we do. We are no longer private citizens with all the technology being put out to watch and record what we do and how we do it.

    The government is one of the biggest supporters of surveillance and watching people. I think that changes need to be with made with them and that is the issue. Although, if they were doing their job correctly they would crack down on the usage of these websites, apps and footage and prevent them from being leaked all over the world. Also prevent the private companies from gaining all these peoples valuable information. 

    I believe laws should be put in place to make sure that there are no extra or unneeded footage of people. If their is any information that is not absolutely necessary to a website, app or the law enforcement, it should be destroyed to prevent people from gaining that information. It should also be destroyed incase other countries gain this information and use it against us. I think there are already cases of this happening and apps that were created on the app store. I also believe the least social media and the least things you accept online will genuinely help you. It will prevent companies from gaining unnecessary information and selling it to other companies. I think steps just need to be put in place to make sure everyone is more safe. Over time and over the years the websites and companies gaining money off information have only grown stronger and developed new ways to do so. 

Diffusion Theory Innovation

     The innovation that I believe really had an early impact on people through technology was YouTube. I remember as a kid I would always use YouTube to figure out solutions to problems, watch new things that came out, or watch influencers (Although that term wasn't used at the time). It definitely made an impact on my education, family and friends growing up. I remember having teachers use it to show the class lessons, my friends would use it to watch funny videos and we would talk about them in school. 

I think the earliest adopters of YouTube were little content creators and people posting compilations of videos of sports and other things of that nature. I also used to see a lot of people using the platform to play video games. They would post hours of gameplay of them talking and playing with friends. Overtime people starting streaming on YouTube. 

People loved and still love YouTube, it is easy to use and has a lot of useful information. I still constantly use it for entertainment and for information on things. I would believe that people adopted it slowly overtime, because most of what people wanted to watch, would be needed quickly and easily. YouTube provided that. I don't think there was a lot of hate for YouTube other than they did not pay very well. If anything I think that early adopters decided that they could make something better and eventually branched out to their own things like YouTube. Being Twitch, TikTok, Instagram, etc. 

    This is definitely another one of those websites where they track what you watch, and then show ads for similar things on your feed in the future. I do think that this is one of the most useful tools or the one I use the most. I think that YouTube has done a lot more good than bad. I do not find them making any situations where consequences were needed. They often have a strict reviewing process and most inappropriate videos get taken down pretty rapidly. 

    In this case I believe the positive definitely outweighs the negative, and the cost over time may be worse, but in real time I believe it is very useful. 

https://sphweb.bumc.bu.edu/otlt/MPH-Modules/SB/BehavioralChangeTheories/BehavioralChangeTheories4.html