WebLog 12

I choose to take no action in trying to change our ewaste habits, laws and regulations. I am certain that the major companies pay a good amount of money to have experts and specialist that find the perfect median and actions that we take. These experts analyze all of the current possibility and actions and tell the company to follow the one that makes the most sense. They try to be as environmentally friendly as they can be. They have to keep in mind the state of current economy and find the correct balance. The companies have to be able to make profit on their products and they have have to keep the prices of the products down so the customers will be willing to buy them. For example in the current day if the company was trying to be all green they would have to raise the prices of their products tremendously and they would probably have no sales because people do not have the money and are unwilling to pay the extra to own a more environmentally friendly product. The same goes to the quality and the lifetime of the products. They are designed to last as long as they can while keeping the price low and reasonable.  Yes, it seems like they have a short life and we always have the last generation device home in the closet but that's because it's cheaper to buy a new device than repair it and also we can choose to recycle them but most people feel like its their product and by recycling they would be essentially throwing the device away. Again like I said, we should and probably could the current habit and laws but I'm sure the experts actively work on that issue and find the appropriate median.

A Comic Rendition: Comparative Revolutions and Social Media

Group members: Mario Jastrzebski, Jeff Bona, Emily Eicher, Matthew Koballa http://Pixton.com/ic:7gawf9ns


Collins, Terry. "Alon Ben-Meir: The Arab Spring: A New Era in a Transforming Globe." Breaking News and Opinion on The Huffington Post. Web. 14 Nov. 2011. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alon-benmeir/the-arab-spring-a-new-era_b_1082577.html>.



Marks, Joseph. “Social Media’s Role in Arab Spring Still Unclear.” NextGov. 16 Sept. 2011. Web. 14 Nov. 2011. .»

"Unexpected Changes in the Middle East." RIA Novosti. 03 Mar. 2011. Web. 14 Nov. 2011. <http://en.rian.ru/valdai_op/20110303/162841075.html>.

Shirky, Clay. "The Political Power of Social Media." Foreign Affairs. Feb. 2011. Web. 14 Nov. 2011. <http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/67038/clay-shirky/the-political-power-of-social-media>.

Zak, Paul J. "Why Social Media Is Driving Political Change in the Arab World."Psychology Today. 5 Mar. 2011. Web. 14 Nov. 2011. <http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-moral-molecule/201103/why-social-media-is-driving-political-change-in-the-arab-world>

WebLog11

http://twitter.com/#!/MarioJ_FYS/status/130776796827357184/photo/1

http://twitter.com/#!/MarioJ_FYS

BlogPost 10:

 “Does Facebook and Its Users Constitute a Superorganism?”

 Yes. There are many superorganisms within Facebook. It was first created by a single person and then it just spread like crazy. That one individual (Mark Zukerberg) showed it to his friends which all liked it and then those friends spread it to their friends creating a swarm and many other big groups. Once Facebook had a big enough user base people started to create groups and forming "superorganisms". For example a group of people RSVPed to a particular band's concert that they all like and enjoy. Others create groups about topics that they enjoy and share it with other people around the world who may join the group and discuss that particular topic. Those two examples along with who you choose to be friends with and choose to share certain information from your prorfile with, those are all examples of superorganisms. There are thousands if not millions of superorganisms on Facebook. All of the groups, lists, friends and attendance lists are superorganisms which individuals create and work in a group to share or accomplish a particular task or subject.

Annotated Bibliography

Annotated Bibliography   Research the literature to determine the conceptual boundaries of your topic. For this  bibliography, include 4-6 references. Each reference is to be cited using an acceptable bibliographic style such as APA, Chicago or MLA. Beneath each reference, include a succinct summary of how and why each reference informs or contributes to your topic.  Also, situate each reference within the conceptual field by discussing what the reference is about including the historical, political, cultural and/or economic perspectives it establishes about digital media and/or social justice. (Blog credit)

Wielicki, Tom, and Lukasz Arendt. "A knowledge-driven shift in perception of ICT implementation barriers: Comparative study of US and European SMEs." Journal of Information Science 36.2 (2010): 162-174. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 23 Oct. 2011.
<http://0-journals.ohiolink.edu.library.jcu.edu/ejc/pdf.cgi/Wielicki_Tom.pdf?issn=01655515&issue=v36i0002&article=162_aksiposouaes>

This reference contributes to my story very greatly. This article is about a wide range of topics that relate to my story, such as: ICT literacy skills, digital divide, pros and cons of expanding the digital world in Europe. I especially like this article because it makes a comparison between European countries, including Poland and the United States. Not only does it explain the differences, it also helps me draw conclusions from the statistics and other various factors that contribute to minimizing the digital divide. This article is mainly about medium sized enterprises however in the long run, the problems that they face and changes they incur so will the individuals.

Poland Riga Digital Literacy. Country Profiles Wikispaces, 2007. Web. 28 Sept. 2011. <http://countryprofiles.wikispaces.com/Poland+Riga+Digital+Literacy>.

This is a great reference because it uses statistics from various sources to illustrate and explain the literacy level and the competence of various age groups in Poland and shows how they changed over years. This website also contains statistics on how many people have computers, internet access and if/how they utilize it. This is a great source because I can break down the figures and explain why they are and compare them to the ones of United States’.

"Poland Internet Usage Stats and Telecommunications Reports." Internet World Stats - Usage and Population Statistics. 1 July 2010. Web. 28 Sept. 2011. <http://www.internetworldstats.com/eu/pl.htm>.

This website has statistics about the population of Poland and their internet usage. Some of the other important information that will tie into my project nicely is the information about the ISP fierce competition. Also mentioned is the country’s very low Gross Domestic Product and how it effect the deployment and adaptation of the technology to customers and/versus companies. I plan on using this information and statistics to expand my explanation on Poland's digital evolution.

Ponder, Jaroslaw K., and Ekaterina N. Markova. Bridging the Eastern European Digital Divide: Significance of Mobile Telecommunications in Poland and Russia. Tech. University of Wuppertal, 2005. European Institute for International Economic Relations, 2005. Web. 28 Sept. 2011. <http://tinyurl.com/4xlzw5n>.

This source contains information about utilization of mobile telecommunication and the narrowing of digital divide. Because Poland is much more advanced in mobile market than computers this paper explains how it is cheaper to own and use a cellphone’s 3G data to access the web and because of that a lot of people rely on cellphones as their main data connection. In terms of the project I will explain that the mobile market in Poland is much more advanced and cheaper than here in the US and how and why because of that people choose to mainly rely on their cellphones to stay connected versus ordinary computers.

Poznanski, Przemyslaw. "There Will Be More Internet in Poland." Gazeta Wyborcza. 30 Sept. 2011. Web. 23 Oct. 2011. <http://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c?hl=en&ie=UTF8&prev=_t&rurl=translate.google.com&sl=auto&tl=en&twu=1&u=http://wyborcza.pl/1,75248,10381218,Bedzie_wiecej_internetu_w_Polsce__Nawet_w_Polsce_B.html&usg=ALkJrhhHLK90-GFcOA7Wgcwn60dHtmMcKg>.

My dad sent me the link to this article when he was reading the newspaper and knew I was looking for information like so for my digital story. This article is different from any sources that I have because it is written by a Polish journalist for the national newspaper. It gives another view on the factors that contribute to digital divide and statistics and polls that were done with in the country and not by a foreign annalist or research group. I have used google to translate this article so my instructor could read it and verify its content. A big part from this article that I take away, besides the age and statistics is the whole budget issue. I find it amazing that European Union gave Poland 255 million euros to complete the expansion of broadband but it came very short, it is about a fifth of what will be needed to finish the project.

Marciniak, Mirosława. "Absorption of Structural Funds in Poland within the Context of Information Society Development on Rural Areas." Economic Science for Rural Development Conference Proceedings 18 (2009): 210-216. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 23 Oct. 2011.

This is my back up source that I don’t really need because the information it provides has been already covered and cited with previous source(s) but I decided to include it to build up my ethos and credibility.

This article talks about trying to minimize the digital divide between the urban and the rural areas of the country and people’s reluctance to. It also brings up excellent point about the money issue. What I found interesting was the fact that most low budget projects get approval and get done while the big projects which involve millions of dollars are denied and I wonder if it is so because of people's reluctance.

BlogPost 9

“Describe an example of Emergent Behavior that you participated in or that you witnessed”
Justify why your example constitutes Emergence, describe the scenario from both your individual perspective and a global perspective (outside observer)

During the emergent behavior activity on Wednesday, I have participated in and witnessed a lot of emergence but I found one particular example interesting. That was the one when we had to create words with the letters that were on the back of our t-shirts.  This particular case showed a lot of emergence because it was interesting to see how people split up and tried to form words with the letters that were assigned. Everyone that had a vowel was very wanted because its very easy to build words around them. In my particular case I had a consonant, C, and i found my self wandering around the atrium trying to fit in only to realize that no one wanted me as its is not a common and easy letter to work with. I think that I had it bad, now think about X, V and Q , no one wanted them. That's what my experience was like, little groups forming and me walking around trying to fit, ending up by myself. As an outsider, the professors in this case also had an interesting view. I'm sure they saw people trying to find groups and few walking around trying to integrate their letter in or expand the word.

Weblog 8

Following are the two debate queries.  Please provide both sides of the issue for each query with references.  (1000 words).

2.) The evolving capabilities to speak out and criticize the Chinese government using microblogs and other Internet social media will lead to more and greater freedoms for the Chinese people.

For:

Chinese government limits it's citizens' rights to freedom of speech and the amount of truth that's in the media by censoring and actively monitoring blogs, news and other media outlets. People would like to tell the truth about what is really happening in the country but they can't because the government censors every media outlet because they do not want to information to get out and become public. That's where the micoblogs come in. I am not exactly sure how they work and why they are not censored but they are not and the people of China can express their anger and the truth about what is happening in the country. The rest of the world loves the microblogs because they can get the real unaltered news and if something bad is happening in the country other nations can act on the injustice and the infringement of laws and more importantly basic human rights and needs. While the microblogs are not censored the government certainly knows about them, and because of that it is very important for people to be careful and not say the wrong things because they may end up in jail or to be never heard of again. However because the microblogs are some how uncensored it shows that people are slowly finding ways around the censorship and the "great firewall". In my eyes the use of microblogs will eventually begin a protest and/or a revolution and will overthrow the government or at least gain some more just laws in the future years.

Against: 

Although a lot of Chinese people use the microblogs to let out their anger and let the rest of the world know what is truly happening in the country it could cause more harm than good. While the microblogs exist and are being used, the government still monitors and kind of controls them. I say kind of because the government can control what is being put on these microblogs by telling the journalists that they will get in trouble and punished if they publish something that the government disapproves. Also there are tens if not hundreds of agencies and groups that the government hires to monitor the blogs and edit any posts that they disapprove of. If the government became fed up with the information that is being put on those blogs they could easy set harsh consequences for these actions that would discourage people from using those services. Government already knows that its citizens are discontented with the way things are and voicing these concerns over the internet will not accomplish anything, it will only make things worse by newer and stricter laws and consequences. If the people of China truly wanted to rebel, EVERY SINGLE citizen would have to take action and voice his/her opinion and displeasure at once in hope of a big outrage and achievement more freedom or rights that way.