Post 8: Privacy Online

 The first Ted Talk video, by Juan Enriquez, is about the awareness people need to have about the things they do and say online. It also goes in depth about how people can now use facial recognition software to find out almost anything about you. This is because your face is tied to all the accounts you use. For example, the facial scanner with use your face, and find Facebook accounts matching your identity. Then it will know about where you live, the things you eat, and what your hobbies are. The speaker mainly relates your online presence to a tattoo. It is completely permanent and it will be with you for the rest of your life. You should also expect that people will be able to see your tattoos, as well as form their own opinions on them. This analogy is a great way to explain the importance of staying safe while using social media of any type. 

In the second video, Catherine Crump talks about how the government actively uses automatic license plate scanners to track your daily life. Cameras are attached to stop lights, traffic signs, and even police cruisers. With all the information they are able to gather about you, they are then able to figure out where you go on a regular basis. This means that the government will know where you get your groceries, if you go to church, and even how many kids you have. This is an extreme invasion of privacy, and more people should be educated on this topic. The government should be more open to the public about the data they are collecting form us. I believe that if the general public were to know about this occurring, there would be massive protests and strikes across the country. 

The third video is about the government and their ability to invade our privacy when it comes to phone calls, emails, and texts. Over a landline phone, the government can easily listen to all of our conversations as if they were the person we called. However, with smart phones, they can't do this. This is because modern day smart phones have layers and layers of encryption to help prevent this. Apple does not even have access to the text messages we send to each other. The purpose of this Ted Talk is to educate people of the fact that the government is pushing for the ability to listen to our conversations. They claim they want this power so that they can catch criminals and prevent crime. However, not everyone is a criminal, so it is not fair to the law-abiding citizens. Also, the general public does not want the government to have access to our private messages. 

In the fourth video, Darieth Chisolm tells a story about a horrible period of her life, where her ex-boyfriend got revenge. He had taken explicit photos of her while she was sleeping and posted them on a website with the purpose of humiliating her. Obviously, Chisolm was devastated, as well as filled with anxiety and anger. This story should be used as an example to show others why you should never take explicit photos and videos of yourself. You should also never consent to anything if you feel even slightly uncomfortable. In her case, she had to deal with an extremely toxic and abusive boyfriend. If you are ever put in that situation, it is crucial that you seek help immediately. 

Post 7: Diffusion of Innovations

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/71/57/8d/71578de28da4d2471f243c0f5c5a492f.jpg

 Everett Rogers and his famous "Diffusion of Innovations Theory" can be applied to nearly any major technology. The theory gives a representation of how a technology will rise and fall in terms of relevance and popularity over time. A fantastic example of a recent technology that follows this theory is the popular social media app, Instagram. 

Since Instagram was the first easy method of sharing photos with friends and family, it grew in popularity very quickly. The rapid increase in popularity meant that it flew past the early adopters phase relatively quickly. However, first the innovators phase needs to be discussed. This phase is dedicated to the very first contributors to the technology. This includes the founders, early investors, and a small percentage of the first users. This stage is arguably the most important, as a strong foundation is needed to build a successful technology. Instagram gained traction very quickly, as it was a completely new concept that resonated very well with the public. The app had an incredibly strong early adopters and early majority phase due to it growing to over a billion users in 2018. Users kept using the app frequently, due to consistent updates that added interesting new features and easier accessibility. I would argue that Instagram is currently in the late majority phase. This is because nearly everybody has the app, or has at least heard of it. There aren't a whole lot of people who are just finding out about the app for the very first time. However, the app is still incredibly popular for being created in 2010. In the next few years, I believe it will still be a very popular app, but it will slowly creep towards the laggards phase. 

https://biznewske.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Everett-Rogers-350x250.png

Some people will not be adopters at all, meaning they will never download and use Instagram. This isn't a bad thing at all, as the app is mainly used for leisure and not productivity. It can usually be a distraction from work and other important activities throughout the day, so keeping it off of your phone isn't a bad idea. On the positive side, it is a great way to keep in touch with friends and to be able to see what they are up to. When a new technology comes out, it is important to weigh the positives and the negatives to ensure the product is valuable enough to you. 

Post 9: EOTO Online Influencers

 The Rise of Online Influencers

Online influencers are people who have gained a large following on social media due to the things they have said and the things they have done. These people have large amounts of influence, which can be a very effective tool when used in the right ways. With all of this influence, many positive and negative events can occur. To elaborate, if an influencer decides to spread awareness about a lesser known charity, the amount of donations to that charity will likely increase significantly. Influencers can easily spread positive messages, as long as they understand their audiences. If Kim Kardashian posted about a charity for helping feed homeless children in California, it would be significantly more effective than if she advertised a charity for wounded warriors. This is because the majority of her fanbase are young females, and they are more likely to support something they can somewhat relate too. Negative ways influencers can impact their audience is if they believe and support something that has a negative impact on the people around them. For example, some influencers in the past few years got caught promoting scams, such as NFT, cryptocurrency, and gambling scams. This basically means that they told their audience to perform a specific task, with intentions of financial gain. These are just a few examples of how online influencers can make a huge difference of somebody's life. 

https://findyourinfluence.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/The-Garcia-Diaries-2021.jpeg

The first online influencers looked completely different than the ones that we see today. They consisted of early bloggers, TV show hosts, and news personality's. Some of the first bloggers that were considered influencers were "mommy bloggers." In short, mommy bloggers were new moms that posted tips, tricks, tutorials, and struggles on their blogs. Many women across the world followed these blogs as they wanted to be educated on how to properly take care of a baby. This concept grew throughout the early 2000s, which led to blogs to spread to almost any topic imaginable. Online influencers began spreading to platforms such as Youtube, Instagram, Twitch, and recently, TikTok. These relatively new apps allow them to create and post monetized content for others to enjoy. Influencers of these platforms hold significantly more influence than you could imagine. For example, some big name youtubers gain over a billion views every year. That is more people impacted in one year than the population of nearly every country in the world. With this, these influencers can significantly impact politics and election results. With a large number of followers, people can create an opinionated post and have thousands of people agree with what was said. Fortunately, many large influencers stay away from talking about politics, as if they chose to be a republican or democrat, they could immediately lose half of their fanbase. Obviously, vocalizing your political opinions isn't necessarily good for business, as not everybody is going to agree with you. 

https://th.bing.com/th/id/R.ddf5e48014129d1007fc982e4b734abe?rik=d08ET4i8ktnTxg&pid=ImgRaw&r=0

Post 6: The Progressive Era

    
It is no secret that the government filters news in such a way that we only hear what they want us to hear. Nearly all mainstream news outlets cover the exact same events, but with their own bias thrown into the mix. This makes it difficult to find purely unbiased and untampered news nowadays. Antiwar.com is a libertarian website built for reaching credible news regarding the plans and actions of the American Government. On their about page, they state: “This site is devoted to the cause of non-interventionism and is read by libertarians, pacifists, leftists, “greens,” and independents alike, as well as many on the Right who agree with our opposition to imperialism.” This libertarian mindset focus's on bring power to the people, by the means of freedom. Founded by the 

https://th.bing.com/th/id/OIF.qx7G2cpJ0kA8DVYq16RKFA?pid=ImgDet&rs=1

Randolph Bourne Institute in 1995, the website is dedicated to informing like-minded people about events involving the government. The articles and analysist papers available on this website are often found on mainstream media. For example, one of the first links on their website is titled, "US $2 Billion Loan for Poland to Spend of Military." Without this website, many Americans wouldn't have known that the Biden administration is spending taxpayer money on other countries. Reading deeper into the article, I also found that the US is providing an additional $60 million just to cover the cost of carrying out the loan. It also talks about how there are approximately ten thousand US troops currently stationed in Ukraine. This is all under one linked article on the Antiwar.com website. Once again, these news events will often not be covered by mainstream media outlets, as the government does not want the public eye to talk about these events. Personally, I have never heard of this website before, nor have I been educated about all of the events happening overseas. This shows how the American public needs to be more conscious of how their tax dollars are being spent. Scrolling further down the main page of the website, I found that news articles were being organized by the country. Most articles are for countries in the Middle East, as that is where a lot of conflict occurs. However, there are categories for China, France, and some Latin American countries. 

https://th.bing.com/th/id/OIF.50sJo7uad08NJ6K8kOVtVA?pid=ImgDet&rs=1

Another website, theamericanconservative.com, acts as a hub for news sources and information. The website titles are about news events that are relevent to the general public. For example, I found one titled, "Yes, Social Media Censorship Is a First Amendment Issue." This article is super relevant as nearly everybody today uses social media in some sort of way. Being censored on these outlets not only restricts what you can hear, but also what you can say. Of course, private companies can do whatever they want, as you did legally agree to their terms and services. This does not mean that censoring the voices of certain people with large amounts of influence is necessarily correct. 

Post 5: Emoticons & Emojis

     A very interesting technology that I learned the history of recently is emojis and emoticons. I have never really thought about the history of these very simple but expressive little picture's, but I suppose they have got to start somewhere. More specifically, there were first created by Carnegie Mellon Professor Scott Fahlman in 1982. The first ever emoji was a small and sideways smile that looked like this, ":-)". Fahlman begin using these characters that resembled a smile in order to lighted to mood of some messages he want sending. He chose those characters as a way to add some personally to his writing. A few years later, in 1997, Japanese phones began to popularize the usage of emojis to express emotions over text. More and more emoticons we being created, leading to more creativity when it came to messaging friends and family. In 2010, the giant technology company, Apple, implemented emojis into their phones. After this, the popularity of emojis skyrocketed. Everybody who had a iPhone was always spamming emojis with their messages, as it was a fun and relatively new concept. More and more people began using them as time went on. Now, there are hundreds of emojis to choose from. This makes it so an emoji can be added to nearly any text message that is sent nowadays. There are many pros and cons of using emojis. An example of a positive aspect is that it can help people convey feelings and opinions in their messages much more efficiently. For example, I can just put a smiley face instead of having to type out a sentence reacting to a friends joke. On the negative side, the can be overused to the point that they start to lose their effectiveness. They also can sometimes be hard to understand. For example, the crying emoji can be used to express sadness, but people also use it for when you start crying because of too much laughter. When the sane emoji has multiple meanings, it can sometimes be difficult to understand the true message. 

To conclude, my favorite emoji is probably the guy saluting. I use it whenever I agree with somebody, or when we decide on a plan of action. I also really like the laughing emoji, as I add it to the majority of text messages I send on a daily basis. 

Post 4: EOTO Com Tech Timeline

The History of the Popular Social Media Hub, Instagram. 

Instagram is relatively new material in the grand scheme of technology. However, it was an original pioneer of modern day social media. Created on October 6th, 2010, this new social media app designed for the iPhones running IOS 4. To help put that in perspective, IOS 17 is expected to come out in just a few weeks. Instagram was the very first app to allow simple and quick picture sharing across the internet. Being able to share photos to whoever followed your profile was an entirely new concept to smartphones. This concept is what helped Instagram gain enough funding to actually come alive. Once released, the broader public eye also had this level of appreciation for such an innovative concept. Users took notice to how different Instagram was in comparison to other early iPhone apps. 

It took Instagram only a week to reach one hundred thousand users. Even more impressively, it took just two months to reach one million users. Finally, in 2018, the number of users reached a billion. This kind of traction doesn't just occur for any ordinary app. Instagram is not a one-trick-pony, as it became a news outlet, networking app, hub for video/picture sharing, a full marketplace, and a source of income for many users. Before we dive into this discussion, lets discover why it was created in the first place. 

Before all of the fancy features and abilities the app has now, Instagram was just a webpage dedicated to uploading, editing, and sharing photos with your friends and family. You also had the ability to add artsy filters too, which was a rather entertaining feature back in 2010. The creator, Kevin Systrom, developed the app out of his love and passion for photography. Originally, there was no talk about adding video to the app. Systrom was fully focused working very hard to perfect one thing at time. I believe this is part of what lead to his monumental success. He work diligently and carefully over many years to ensure everything added to the app would have its purpose. After coordinating with some of his early investors, they came across the name Instagram, as it is a portmanteau or "instant" and "telegram." If interested, I have linked a great youtube video that goes very in depth about the history of instagram and how/why it was created. 

Nowadays, Instagram acts as a hub for all sorts of information. The ordinary user has Instagram downloaded just to check up on what their friends and family are doing. Many people attach an Instagram account to their business, as sharing reels and creating engaging posts is a great way to promote a product. In addition to this, the app also serves as a marketplace for many companies. Their is now a way to attach links to products directly to posts. With this, you can also run advertisements to help promote your brand. With all of this being said, it is clear that Instagram has grown significantly since its original release almost fourteen years ago. From a basic picture sharing app to a multi-billion dollar business, Instagram has come a very long way. I believe all the additions to app over the years have benefited millions of people all over world. For the future, Instagram should continue to serve as a core for all sorts of people to come together are boost productivity. 

References:

https://www.instagram.com/

https://www.techradar.com/news/ios-17

https://www.investopedia.com/articles/investing/102615/story-instagram-rise-1-photo0sharing-app.asp#:~:text=When%20Was%20Instagram%20Launched%3F,a%20billion%20users%20by%202018. 

https://www.inc.com/eric-markowitz/life-and-times-of-instagram-the-complete-original-story.html 

https://www.thearticulateautistic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Instagram-icon.png 

Post 1: My Top 5 Sources of News and Information

My Personal Top 5 Sources of News and Information (and why)

Like almost everyone, I receive my regular intake of news and information from various sources. Whether I am watching TV, browsing the internet, or just chatting with my friends, I have access to information about the world around me. Here are my personal top 5 sources for news and information. 

Number 5: Television

https://th.bing.com/th/id/OIP.YMr6XqRxeH
kylk73pgx6jQHaEK?pid=ImgDet&rs=1

I feel like television is an obvious choice, as nearly everybody uses their TV to access their news. Whether it is the early morning before work or late at night before bed, there are an ample amount of news channels to tune in to. However, I have TV ranked in my fifth spot. This is mostly due to the fact that I am a teenager, and most people in my age group don't watch the news channel. Like many Americans, I don't have cable, nor do I own a TV. I prefer to use my laptop, as I always have it with me anyways. When I want to watch my favorite shows, I utilize streaming services instead of cable, as sometimes they don't even have advertisements. I will add that this changes significantly from person to person, as my parents receive probably close to ninety percent of their news from the news channel on their TV. With that being said, the television ranks number five on my list. 

Number 4: Twitter (X)

https://www.rev.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/twitter-post-2-2048x1152.png

Twitter is one of those apps where you can find just about anything. With an estimated 500 million tweets a day, Twitter is one of the most popular apps available. To better put that in perspective, thats roughly 6000 tweets every single second. I personally don't use Twitter as much as some other people, strictly due to the fact that it is mostly public figures arguing with each other or they are just promoting their brands. However, sometimes it can be fun to hear what celebrities talk about and what they are interested in. I mainly use Twitter for updates on sports, influencer news, and information consisting of what the general public has to say about certain world events. My usage of Twitter is definitely increasing as I begin to follow more and more people. So, if I were to make this list in a few months, Twitter may rank higher. As for now, I only use it once every few days. 

Number 3: Friends and social life

https://cdn6.dissolve.com/p/D929_36_478/D929_36_478_1200.jpg

Of course, I receive a bunch of information from my friends that I talk to. We always talk about other people, local events, sports, worldly events, and just about everything you would expect. As a rather extroverted and social person, I spend a lot of my time chatting with people about a variety of topics. I chose to categorize this as one of my sources of news and information because it is simply a method of doing just that. Of course, the stories I hear from my friends, family, and coworkers aren't always going to be the most accurate source of information. However, it comes close to being my most frequent source of knowledge nowadays. 

Number 2: Reddit

https://mspoweruser.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Reddit-Hero.jpg

Using Reddit is definitely one of my personal favorite methods of receiving news and information. This is due to how easy it is to find the exact answers to the questions I have. Chances are, if I have a problem with something, somebody else has already had the same problem. After a quick search, I can usually find a whole thread of random people who helped another random person with their issue. The best part about the answers is that they are from regular people and not businesses that give out useless automated responses. This is extremely helpful as you know the person on the other end has discovered the same problem as you. I also use reddit to receive regular news and updates about many topics that I am interested in. Their are thousands of very specific communities where people talk about very specific topics. For example, I am very interested in photography, so I joined a community full of people with the exact same camera model as me. This way, I can ask very specific questions that have a high likely hood of being answered. This is so important to me because this means I won't waste a lot of time with reading information that has zero interest to me. 

Number 1: Instagram

https://www.smallbusinessbonfire.com/wp-content/uploads/
2017/09/instagram-stories-promote-business.jpg

I believe that Instagram takes the number one spot on my list without much competition. I have used my original Instagram account consistently since April of 2013 (yes I checked). I also have started my own freelance photography business, with a secondary account being used to organize it all. Between these two accounts, I send and receive a lot of information on a daily basis. I follow a lot of my friends that I have met over the years on Instagram, and it is how we keep it touch while at college. When they post, I am able to see exactly what my friends are doing. Typically, people post about certain accomplishments, places they're visited, and people they've met. All of this is information I consume regularly. Also, I follow a bunch of businesses and celebrities that I enjoy keeping up to date with. All of this news keeps me captivated to the app, as it is all relevant to me and to what I like to pay attention to. 

Post 2: The Founding Area

 

https://corbettpr.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Founding.jpg

The Founding Era (1774-1779) & The Powerful Supreme Court

I learned many new things about the Supreme Court while reading this article by History.com. More specifically, I learned that the Supreme Court Justices are not just nominated by the President of the United States but also need to pass through the Senate. The Senate has the authority to either confirm or deny these presidential nominations if it deems the nominees unfit for office. This is a very simple but important power that was given to the Senate. It ensures that the President can't just nominate anybody that might give them a political or economic advantage. 

One of the most important take-away points about the Supreme Court is that they are the absolute final court system you can go to. This means that once your case reaches the Supreme Court, there will absolutely be a decision made. This is because the Supreme Court is the most powerful court system in the entire world. This is why only the biggest and most important court cases end up reaching this court. 

https://th.bing.com/th?id=OIF.%2b1O6qDzxBoHuD2cJbyos9A&pid=ImgDet&rs=1

The most surprising thing that I learned about the Supreme Court is that the number of Justices is able to change. Originally, in 1789, the court contained six Justices. Over many years, the number of justices has been altered to as little as five and as much as ten. In 1869, the number was changed to nine, and that is the number it has stayed at since. I was also surprised to learn that over one hundred fifteen people has served as Justices since the creation of the Supreme Court. 

Before watching this video about the Supreme Court, I did not know how busy the Justices actually are. I learned that petitions to be accepted into the Supreme Court arrive by the thousands. The Justices have to read each and every petition and decide whether they are worth being brought up in the worlds most powerful court system. The court bases all of their decisions off of the Constitution, as it is the most fair and just way to bring order to these cases. I also did not know that the average term for a Supreme Court Justice is sixteen years, with many terms reaching the thirty year mark. In the video, Supreme Court Justice David H. Souter was interviewed. He had said that it takes upwards of five years to really get the hang of working as a Justice. He claims that it is very long and hard work, but that it gets quicker as you get better at it.