Benbasket

Resistance to Civil Government

2009-08-18T08:01:00.001-07:00

Resistance to Civil Government

Base on my personal view on these four words, “Resistance to Civil Government”, I expect this passage to go on non stop to criticize the government and sound out to his (Thoreau) audience how bad the American government is. Just as I expected, he condemn the government of America right from the starting paragraph, “That government is best which governs least”. What a short and intimidating sentence this is! I think every word he sounded is out against the government of America.
The government, in America particularly, is selfish and only cares for non other than “itself”. Why do I say “itself” rather than “himself”? Sharing the same thought hopefully, I think that Thoreau is trying to say that the government is an animal; as it is only an animal that we human uses “it” to describe him. Only an animal cares for no one other than itself. It will think of how to ease its own hunger first before coming to think of others, including their babies. (Page 752, line 4 to 8)
Furthermore, he also made a very harsh comment towards the important people of America, also my favorite line in this whole passage, “as almost legislators, politicians, lawyers, ministers, and office-holders, serve the state chiefly with their heads; and as they rarely make any moral distinctions, they are as likely to serve the devil…” I personally think that the reason he said all this is either the fact that the government is really that towards his contrast of being a “devil”, or that the officials and all are nothing but professional boot-lickers. In the later part he is also contrast the officials as “clay”. I think that the reason behind this is that clay, which can be mould, means that whatever the government ask you to do, you do. (Page 753, line 8 to 14)
The main idea of this passage is to sound to the world of citizens that “we” should voice out our thoughts and ideas if we were to think that something is wrong and not right. We must not hesitate and regret, then petition: that will be too late. It is said by him that only a wise man will not leave the right to mercy of chance. “We” must voice our ideas towards the government and thus “we”, the majority, will out win the government. He is absolutely right and I agree towards him. But again, this passage is bias. The credibility of what he says is a mystery; but in this passage, he voices out strongly, and that means that the government must have done something harsh on him, if not his love ones.

Declaration of Independence”

2009-08-18T07:58:00.000-07:00

“Declaration of Independence”

The first thing that comes in to my mind upon reading these 3 words, “Declaration of Independence”, is the movie called “National Treasure” acted by Nicholas Cage, featured in the theaters last month. In that movie, Nicholas Cage is so called the “treasure protector” and is out there to discover the traces of the treasure. The Declaration of Independence is something that they had to steal it from the museum in order to crack the mystery behind it. That is the first time I am introduced towards these 3 words.
After reading this passage, to me, I think that the declaration of independence is something the Americans wrote to the British to announce independence of America. In the first few paragraphs, I can clearly see that the Americans portrayed themselves as a free will country; that humans are free to speak up and vote; that all men are equal in America; that human rights are well featured. Due to this mind-set, the Americans is proposing a government that is chosen by the people of America and that it shall work under all circumstances as long as it is what the citizens wanted. However, if the government have shown abuses and usurpations, it is the human/people if America to overthrow this government.
One of my favorite quote, “….shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.” This quote simply means that men are a custom to sufferings that men are born to suffer; and if a system is corrupted or what, the system shall stay, whereas it is the men that is kicked out of the form of government. Following, the passage also state that, “but when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism…” this line says that in a nick of emergency, that there are unbearable corruptions or what so ever, the leader will hold all the say to overthrow that someone who is unbearable.
I find these 2 quotes very interesting as it reminds me of the French Revolution during the declaration of the human rights and privileges. If I am not wrong, I presume that the America declaration of independence is derived from the French revolution. This whole system of handling a country, appeals to the world that they are fond of doing things in the name of their people and that America is a state that is “free” and independent from then on.

Frederick Douglass

2009-08-18T07:57:00.001-07:00

Frederick Douglass

“I now come to that part of my life during which I planned, and finally succeeded in making, my escape from slavery.” This quoted which I quoted from what Frederick said, has given he a rough idea of how this journal of the day shall begin. He “was” a slave once and fought against his fate as a slave to where he is now, a “free man”. I must say, the cruelty treated towards the slaves is unbearable. The fact that they did not even allow the slaves to attain education as they are afraid that if they attain education, slaves might rebel and escape, just like Fredrick.
No one wants to be a slave, neither do Fredrick. In the means of being a slave, Fredrick was actually planning to escape, with the view of getting more money. His determination to work from day to day, night by night had really paid off. Till the day when he has the ability to escape from slavery, it is his friends that he can’t bear to say “bye”. This shows how passionate he is and that he has strong cords of affection towards his friends. Finally, he escaped and reached New York.
What I find interesting is that upon his escape, he describes his feelings as. “I felt like one who had escaped a den of hungry lions.” His contrast here of using “hungry lions” to his slavery job is something which I don’t understand. Is it that the people that he is serving and doing is as bad as lions? And hungry lions meaning they want to eat him up? Or that he is just trying to say that he is as “free” as the prey of the lions when they escaped?

Sarah Margaret Fuller

2009-08-18T07:50:00.000-07:00

Sarah Margaret Fuller

What a male feminist she is! I mean, the first impression she gives me is that, she is fighting the rights for the women and attacks us (male) as the hypocrite. But as I read on, I find that what she is saying and conveying makes absolute sense. In her essay, she is trying to fight for women rights and in a way, “free” them. This is how i felt; not many women can rise above the others and dismisses critics against them. Her attempts to smooth away the social and radicalism, with her articles, have made her an admirable women.
But what I don’t understand from her passage is that, what exactly is she fighting for, for the woman? Is it rights and fairness or others? Anyway, I come to agree to this very statement of hers, even though she is criticizing me, male. “As men become aware that few men have had a fair chance, they are inclined to say that no women have had a fair chance.” She talks about “fair chance”, and it is a very strong word even till this era; let’s not speculate things that arise from this word “fair chance”. But seeing the world today, women are never equal to man in the working force. The man always stands a better chance in succeeding positions and jobs than that of women. This controversy remains ever since women are introduced to the work force.
Furthermore, in her passage, she mentions that “all men are born free and equal”. That is something which I feel is the quote of my day! Many people agree to this statement, even I do. But at the end of the day, we are still discriminating the women and not treating them fairly. What she is asking for is, she wants an explanation of why are men not being fair towards the women? Then why are they treating them unfairly?

Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream” and “letter from Birmingham jail”

2009-08-18T07:48:00.000-07:00

Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream” and “letter from Birmingham jail”

The fight for racial equality has been a serious issue ever since the Declaration of Independence was written. Although countless people had tried to stand out to fight for their own race’s equality, none had succeeded, especially in changing the mindset of people. However, there is one men whose electrifying address, “I have a dream”, helped build up momentum for the civil rights movement. He had great ideas upon what it takes to be a pluralistic society. Moreover, he also laid out a sweeping measure that banned and ruled out racial discrimination in hotels, restaurants, and other commendations. This faithful leader of the “blacks” had even won the Nobel Peace prize in 1964. This prestigious prize proves that he made vital contributions to the society, which was especially significant to the blacks.
In both of his famous speeches, “I have a dream” and “Letter from Birmingham jail”, there is a similar approach that he engages in both his speeches. He uses simple English to convey to others the seriousness of his main purpose of those speeches- to ensure equality among races, the whites and blacks. Furthermore, I think that King also wants to induce true assimilation into the American system and that his “dream” is somewhat similar to the “America Dream”, that anybody from any social status can achieve higher social standings. Furthermore, he is also making use of this true assimilation to fight for a pluralistic country- a true pluralistic society is one that accepts all.
In both speeches, he voices out the importance of racial harmony to America and also the causes and effects of this racial dispute. Looking deep into his first speech, entitled the “Letter from Birmingham jail”, he started out saying, “Anyone who lives inside the United States can never be considered an outsider anywhere within its bounds.” This quote means that anybody, be it the whites or blacks, must see themselves as an outsider. All the more, they should treat each other like how they treat people of their same skin color. They must stop what ever they are all doing and start to compromise with one another in order to seek a one true identity of America.
In response to compromising, King further stated that, “And I am further convinced that if out white brothers dismiss as ‘rabble-rousers’ and ‘outside agitators’ those of us who employ nonviolent…” This quote distinctively shows that the whites are the “bullies” in Birmingham now and that the blacks are employing a nonviolent approach towards those insightful abuses and discriminations. This shows that King and his men are willing to give in now. It is to the whites to take it and perform the process of normalization. The main issue now is “time”, as quoted from King, “….time itself is neutral; it can be used either destructively or constructively.” He knows that time is the key issue here and in order to achieve equality among races, it can take either 10 years or 100 years or even never; depending on how they well they construct their time engagement. If one don’t have the intentions of patching up with the blacks, it doesn’t matter how long it takes as it will never be achieved. That is why in King’s speeches, he builds in a sense of urgency in his decree.
In order to appeal to everyone in America, King also uses simple English to convey his thoughts. In his second reading, “I have a dream”, he brings across the subject of justice and equality using simple English. “Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksand of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood.” I am sure that anybody could understand what King wants to induce from these lines of metaphors. In short, King relates the issue of racial injustice to quicksand, sucking and despising people into the quicksand and never will they stand up again. Moreover, we must build up a relationship as hard as rock, so that no one can infiltrate the brotherhood of the whites and blacks. However, at what cost to achieve assimilation?
King doesn’t want to achieve pluralism in the means doing harm towards his fellowmen. He wants to instill “true assimilation”, meaning, accepting the minorities or majorities by true heart and not because the law says so. “Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.” This quote from King means that he doesn’t want to achieve freedom by having bitterness and hatred among people. Like what I said, he wants to instill true assimilation in America. As I mentioned in the early paragraphs, in King’s speeches, he engages a serious approach. This serious approach of his is trying to people in America to know that this issue of racial injustice is very important and they must pay absolute attention to it. He also stated that there is no turning point once his speech was being heard. There is only one choice; to continue what he is fighting for and not restrain. “And they have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone. And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead. We cannot turn back.”
I find this quote very interesting. He is right! The white’s freedom is closely related to the freedom of theirs. That is why both races must walk on together- and that they cannot stop as in any point of time they stop, racial injustice will arise again. That is why they have to march ahead to attain assimilation and mend any mistakes along the way which carries a threat to destroying their brotherhood. In his “I have a dream” speech, what is it that he wants the audience of his to learn about this very dream? What significance does his dream play? “I say to you today, my friends, and so even though we face difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is deeply rooted in the American dream. I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meanings of its creed: ‘We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal.’”
In his very dream, he wants people to know that he dreams about this country’s prospect, which means that it is not being achieved yet: that equality will be achieved in America. He made use of a good relation of bringing up the American dream into his dream which made his dream significant, as it is related to all people of America. None of them can deny the American dream and so towards his dream. Looking towards the present “now”, the question is, “has his dream be achieved? Or that after all, his entire dream was just a day dream?” In the society of today, there is no doubt that racism is still being seen and applied on. However, there is no sign of discrimination in hotels, within the police men and other public places. But people change their way of performing racism- they joke about them behind their backs. Is this a pluralistic society? Has his dream come true? It is a fact that the assimilation that King wanted had come true in the eyes of law. But deep down within the people’s heart, they still carry colored lens on their opposite race. For that, the true assimilation and having a pluralistic society had not achieved. For that his dream was a day dream. That is something which is justifiable.
It is said that in the Declaration of Independence, the architects of the nation, America, has promised something. “Black men as well as white men-would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” However, the pursuit of happiness has only been promised towards the whites then. What about the blacks? Had the Declaration of Independence forgotten about them or did they choose to forget about them? Who will answer to their happiness? These are the questions I asked myself and I am not able to find a solution to it. I think that King’s approach was a good one. However, I think that he needed more time and he must learn to put his words into action. I can see his cries and unhappiness in his speeches, but I see no actions being carried forward to: probably it is due to his early death. Furthermore, I think that he should make use of those neutral white men and make use of their presence to spread the verse of equality. Ultimately, to attain true assimilation, both the majorities and the minorities have to give up something and compromise. It doesn’t matter which ever group gives out the most. The most important thing is not to give up something in the process of hatred and unhappiness. That is very important as to attain true assimilation; both races must accept each other whole heartedly.
In both readings, “I have a dream” and “Letter from Birmingham jail”, they both issued out something that America is lacking and can be achieved only if they are willing to work together and induce the true meaning of pluralism. Both essays also tell me the importance of racial harmony and do not in any circumstances perform racial discrimination as it is evil and that one is doing harm on others. I shall conclude this essay with this final quote, stated by King in his speech, “Letter from Birmingham Jail”. “Injustice everywhere is a threat to justice anywhere.” May the people of America understands the true meaning of this quote and not perform injustices towards their fellow brothers as it is a threat to the path of a pluralistic society.

Solutions to discrimination in gender wage pay

2009-08-18T07:44:00.000-07:00

Solutions to discrimination in gender wage pay

When one considers wage pay, they tend to compare the amount of pay rather than anything else. Well, if they compare within their own sexes, they might get the same wage pay; if not it will be differential on account for their difference in their company position. However if they were to compare it with the other sexes, the results will be different. As male compares with female, for the same position and equivalent amount of job, the male tend to earn more than the female by 25% (Thewlis and Miller in their article about “advancing women in the workplace”).
Putting yourself in the women’s point of view, would you not find this atrocious? This is simply a case of sex discrimination/biasness appearing in the workforce. This gender pay difference getting out of hand and I feel that justice has to be implemented in this act of sex discrimination. Women of the world, don’t you see a problem in this instance: Females are getting less wage pay than the males in contrast of the same position and work load.
Thewlis and Miller had full proof speculations about women in a large absentee from the technological areas and engineering, but constitute the large majority of entrants on education courses. Conversely, if a female has been found working in the male dominance group, her pay would obviously be much lesser than the males; this is simply unfair!
On the other hand, Thomas and Wei of “Gender wage gaps in China’s urban Market” believe that gender wage differential is being cause by working experience. This omission of work experience may lead us to overstate the residual wage gap between men’s and women’s earning. There are countless problems leading to gender wage pay differentials. What the countries in this world today needed is a solution to this terrible sex discrimination act.
The problem about women receiving less wage pay for the same amount work done as men is a major concern. This gap still remains even after accounting for differences in human capital. Economist agrees that many employers use a job applicant’s observable characteristics such as race, sex and attainment of a degree as a signal about unobservable traits such as ability and motivation. Few studies have even considered whether more educated women experiences less of a wage gap.
Therefore, I think that there is only one explanation to it: Gender discrimination. Gender discrimination in the work force has caused the pay- wage to be bias and unfair. To solve this everlasting situation, I have prepared a whole list of solutions. I believe after applying these solutions, there would not be such thing as pay wage difference between the both sexes.
On account on a journal that I have found, “Fixing women’s wages” by Lynda J, states that the basic idea of this issue is that employers should set salaries based on job requirements without regard to the demographical characteristics of a job’s typical incumbent. If two jobs of the similar work require equivalent levels of skills, the two same jobs should also have equivalent salaries. However early studies found convincing evidence that jobs that were dominated by female incumbents were paid less than male dominated incumbents, not because they were intrinsically worth less, but because they were dominated by women (Treiman and Hartmann 1981:93; Remick 1984b; Steinberg et al. 1986)
To solve this problem, Lynda found a suggested a pay equity process which involves several stages, and at each stage, there are policy choices to be made (Steinberg and Haignere 1986; Ames 1993). First, she uses a method for evaluating the worth of jobs-including; in particular, the specification of a set of criteria for determining relative worth- must be developed. Second, jobs must then be evaluated against those criteria. Finally, job performed predominated by women must be compared to jobs performed predominated by men. If according to the establish criteria, the jobs are deemed comparable, any disparity in wages between male and female jobs must be addressed.
Pay equality is achieved when the job rate for the female job class that is the subject of comparison is at least equal to the job rate for the male job class in the same establishment where work performed in both classes is of equal or comparable value. Furthermore, the job rate for the female job class must be at least as great as the job rate for the male class. In the later part of this journal, Lynda stresses that pay equality initiates is to ensure that job content fully determines wage setting and that the gender composition of a job is not a factor in determining the wage.
On the other hand, Mark M and Irene P of “Does and advanced degree reduce the gender wage gap”, have a different approach upon solving gender pay wage problem. They see education attainment the key to gender pay wage discrimination. In their article, they test whether obtaining an advanced academic degree, an MBA, reduces the gender wage gap among people pursuing business careers. To allow this test to happen, Mark and Irene compares the gender wage among a group of MBA recipients with the gap among another group that considered but did not attain an MBA. The results through this test suggest that women with advanced degrees do have a smaller gender wage gap.
With reference to this result, Mark and Irene come out an explanation, Review of the Relevant Literature, to it with consideration of Breckler’s models. Women may have poorer employment prospects because of prejudice on the part of employers, co-workers or customers. Typically, they would expect that a more educated person tends to work with, and for, other more educated people. To extend that higher education promotes tolerance, a women with an advanced degree may confront relatively less sexism in her work environment. I feel that attaining education is a good way of solving this gender discrimination issue in pay wage; as education provides a signal to the employer about a worker’s innate ability.
Furthermore, an employer who carries prejudices for a women’s productivity may well be reassured by an advanced degree; education screens tend to weed out the less capable people. This is believable and also a relevant approach to be taken as an advance degree could also assuage this concern by signaling a strong commitment to job and career. Overall, the hypothesis that more educated women suffer less pay wage discrimination is consistent with the theoretical literature on discrimination.
Comparing the argument of Mark and Irene’s article to that of Lynda’s, I think that both articles basically have the main focus upon solving gender pay wage discrimination. However, the article of Mark and Irene’s solution is more of the women’s personal changes of attaining a high education. But Lynda’s journal states a thorough system which checks the pay wage, biasness between men and women, of the employers and solves the solution from then. Now, let me show you another article of a different approach. Sandra E and Elizabeth B argue that an increase product market competition will drive out costly discriminations in the long run.
In their article, “Importing Equality, The impact of globalization on gender discrimination”, they argue that an increase in competition from trade should reduce the residual gender wage gap more in these industries than in competitive industries. They find that while trade increases wage inequality by modestly reducing the relative wages of less-skilled workers, at the same time it appears to benefit women by reducing the ability of firms to discriminate. This implies a positive relationship between market power and employment discrimination: because a firm must forgo profits in order to indulge in a “taste for discrimination,” employers with considerable market power will be better able to practice discrimination than those with little market power. I think that increased production market competition in an industry over time will reduce earnings and employment disparities between men and women.
Adding on, employers with a “taste for discrimination” against women will hire fewer than the profit-maximizing number of women, employing more men who are equally skilled yet more highly paid. As a result, non-discriminating employers can drive discriminating employers out of the market because discrimination is costly: employers who discriminate against women sacrifice profits in order to indulge their taste for discrimination.
In the later part of this article, Sandra and Elizabeth use Methodology testing the simple prediction that increased competition from trade lead to declining discrimination against women and thus a declining gender wage gap is less straightforward than it appears. This approach implicitly makes two assumptions. First, it assumes that discrimination against women did indeed exist, at least at the beginning of the period under study, and that this discrimination was reflected in lower wages for women relative to equally skilled men. The second assumption in this methodology is that increased imports are equivalent to an increase in competition within an industry and that this increase is exogenous to the residual gender wage gap.
Lastly, Gender wage gap could also be solved using equations and theories. From there, new wage decomposition is produced and thus solving gender wage pay differentials. Kevin and Tony’s journal on, “Does it mean more or less: The male/female wage gap and the proportion of females at the establishment level”, had shown equations about deriving a new set of gender wage pay policy to tackle gender discrimination in wage pay.
To do this, Kevin and Tony first briefly review Arrow’s model of employer discrimination in the labor market. After thorough reviewing, Kevin and Tony then pursue the GSS data set and test the theoretical predictions at the establishment level. Their measure of segregation is the ratio of the number of females employed full time divided by the total full-time employment in the establishment, and this is labeled the establishment female proportion. From this, employer discrimination has been found.
Thus they introduced the individual-level wage equation. The objective of this equation is to estimate the differences in sex composition in the establishment account for 26 per cent of the gap in wages between male and female (they have found). Subsequently, from the results shown, traditional wage gap decompositions are derived to compare with other data sets. This exercise will also provide the background to introducing a new method of wage decomposition. Finally, Kevin and Tony examine the public policy implications. In this context, it is reasonable to assume that the goal of this public policy is to fix the proportion of females in the establishment across the sexes. As a result through researching by Kevin and Tony, new wage decomposition is developed and will be referred to as the Characteristics Decomposition. The results of this decomposition suggest that a fixed-percentage employment equity program could reduce the male/female wage gap by 8 per cent.
I believe that all these four articles have valid solution to discrimination on gender pay wage. Although all three have different approaches, but they all have adequate information to substantiate their sayings. If one looks it in another way, by combining all these four approaches into one solid approach, it may cleanly rub of discrimination in gender pay wage. With the form of systems to oblige by Lynda and economical studies by increasing in competition from trade to reduce the residual gender wage gap from Sandra and Elizabeth; adding on Mark and Irene’s education attainment and the faithful equations derive from Kevin and Tony to reduce gender wage gap, this looks like an all ready missile to bomb gender wage gap.
This problem will be solved, looking into the long run, in no time ahead the future. Economist has been venturing out in the market seeing women as a more superior worker than the men in this 21st century. In no time ahead of us, gender wage gap will be solved and that will better promote non-sex discrimination in countries.

Work cited:

1) Lynda, J, “Fixing Women’s Wages: the Effectiveness of Comparable Worth Policies” Industrial and Labor Relations Review, vol.48, No. 4, Jul 1995.

2) Sandra, E and Elizabeth, B, “Importing Equality? The impact of globalization on gender discrimination” Industrial and Labor Relations Review, vol.57, No. 4, Jul 2004.

3) Mark, M and Irene, P, “Does an Advanced Degree Reduce the Gender Wage Gap?” Southern Economic Journal, vol. 70, No. 4, Apr 2004.

4) Thewlis, M and Miller, L, “Advancing women in the workforce” Equal Opportunities commission in 2004.

5) Thomas, G and Zhang Wei, “Inequality in the rewards for holding up half the sky: Gender wage gaps in China’s urban Labor market, 1988-1994” The China Journal, No.41, Jan 1999.

6) Kevin, T and Tony, S, “Does it mean more or less: The male/female wage gap and the proportion at the establishment level” The Canadian Journal of Economics, vol.32, No.4, Aug 1999.

Bonus Question2: Why is second life not a game?

2007-04-06T04:50:00.001-07:00

Bonus Question2: Why is second life not a game?

Firstly, let us ask ourselves, what does the term “game” means? According to Kramer Wolfgang, a game is any activity, which is executed only for pleasure and without conscious purpose. In this definition, every activity that brings pleasure is a game. For example, people dance, play musical instruments, act in plays, and play with dolls and model trains.

After exploring second life, I feel that it is not a game, rather a virtual part of you living in the virtual world. It is different from playing games. In second life, we have to first pick characters of our likes, aka avatars. Upon choosing, you be exploring yourself in a virtual world. While Second Life is sometimes referred to as a game, it does not have points, scores, winners or losers, levels, an end-strategy, or most of the other characteristics of games. (Wikipedia, 2007)

Furthermore, Second Life has its own economy and a currency referred to as Linden Dollars (L$).Residents create new goods and services, and buy and sell them in the Second Life virtual world. There are also currency exchanges where Residents can exchange US$ or other real world currencies for L$. These exchanges are open markets, except that Linden Lab sometimes changes in world Linden Dollar "sinks" or sells Linden dollars to attempt to keep the exchange rate relatively stable. There is a 3D modeling tool in Second Life that allows any Resident with the right skills to build virtual buildings, landscape, vehicles, furniture, and machines to use, trade, or sell. This is a primary source of activity in the economy.

In a game, there must be rules, goal, and competition. In rules, it defines and the stucture of the game. Everything that is in the rules is part of the game. Everything that is not in the rules does not belong in the game. The rules are the borders and the heart of the game. (Kramer, 2000) In every game, there is a goal. The goals of a game define the purpose of the game. Lastly, competition allows winners and losers- that provides players with a purpose and motivates them to get into the game. A competition needs a system, in which the game results can be compared. The competition and the measurement of the game results are criteria, which limit the game and the cause that certain feelings will not be fulfilled throughout the game as in books, movies, and music. (Kramer, 2000)

However relating the above paragraph to second life, it seems that second life is more of an simulation (an electronic equivalent of this type of role-playing and it serves to drive synthetic environments and virtual worlds) that game. Second life reminds me of “Sims City” A game with that is not considered a “real game”- mainly to build houses and estates. Second life can act as an entertainment or leisure, or something you do online with your friends to chat and to explore or create a virtual relationship together.

Citations:
Kramer, Wolfgang (2000, December). What is a game? Retrieved April 5, 2007, from Games journal Web site: http://www.thegamesjournal.com/articles/WhatIsaGame.shtml
Wikipedia, (2007, April 04). Second Life. Retrieved April 5, 2007, from Wikipedia Web site: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_life
Fishwick, Paul (1995, October). What is simulation? Retrieved April 6, 2007, from http://www.cis.ufl.edu/~fishwick/introsim/node1.html
Levy (2006). "World of Warcraft: Is It a Game?" Retrieved April 3rd 2007 from http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14757769/site/newsweek/page/3/print/1/displaymode/1098/

Qotw10: second life~

2007-04-06T03:42:00.000-07:00

QotW10: Second Life!

The above screen shot is taken while I was exploring myself in the world of communications, where I am still learning to communicate in the virtual world. Eventually, I get to learn stuff like gestures- a “hula” dance, which I find it real lame! But at the same time this second life program is something new and I find it intresting!

As you can see from the above screenshot, I have chosen someone who looks simple and neat. I did some changes to him- I made “myself” more muscular and TALLER(cause in the real world I am much shorter) and I even created a jacket to match my yellow gloves- this only proves one thing, I have no fashion sense. Anyway, I like this character as he looks decent and approaching unlike the other male characters who looked so much more exotic compared to this pleasant one.

Lastly, this is the only place I can find with an interesting mask above. I would love to explore more places, but I have limited computer capabilities, besides, my computer is too laggy to carry on my ideal expedition. So sorry for the limited place I can get to visit. But I really enjoy the flying part- it is so cool! Although I always landed into the water- which they will prompt me with a message saying: “don’t worry, your avatar will not get drown”

QotW 8: Internet creates democracy

2007-03-23T12:18:00.000-07:00

Citizens of Singapore!

In this week’s assignment, I am going to adopt a local blogger’s blog to address/discuss about politics in Singapore. His blog URL and title is: http://bleongcw.typepad.com/simple_is_the_reason_of_m/2007/03/the_first_world.html, Titled as. The First Worlds, Our Destination? His name is, Bernard Leong. He is currently an adjunct assistant professor in National University of Singapore Entrepreneurship Centre.

Key conversations:

In Bernard’s blog, he talks about how difficult it is to implement the vision to take Singapore to the first world. Furthermore, he listed 5 features that he feels that the first world should have. Bernard Leong wrote a very interesting piece about Singapore’s progress towards the First World. And, he outlined some characteristics which he thought represents what it means to be in the First World. I quote his opinion on the politics in a First World country.
“The real issue is that when you are in a first world country, you always hear all different points of views. One political party gains power and starts to undo the other’s legacy. So, in the end, political ideologies trump over public policies. Although it might not be as efficient as others, at least the politicians have to learn how to humble themselves to convince others to agree with them.”
I agree fully with Bernard’s opinion. Even the wackos get their say in first world countries. True, it is not time-efficient to listen to the opinions of wackos. But therein lies the rub. How do we know they are wackos? Could the “wackos” actually be geniuses in disguise, just that the majority has yet to acquire the capability of understanding what they are talking about?
Politically, I think that it is important for diversity of opinions. Government policies are usually not made for the short term. As such, the effects of policies are usually felt some time down the road, and if it turns out to be a wrong move, the cost of repairing the damage is usually very high. This is why it is important to hear as many different views as possible, and to actually account for such views in decision-making.

Singapore’s political situation is in such a way that one party dominates the scene. This is not a bad thing in the sense that it allows the Singapore government to respond more quickly, and much more efficiently compared to other countries. However, this very strength could turn out to be Singapore’s own undoing, especially if the wrong policies were executed very efficiently.
I am aware that the PAP dominated Singapore government does its homework before embarking on any major policy. Nevertheless, the possibility of groupthink is very real. A bunch of highly intelligent policy makers might not be able to escape the effect of groupthink. Therefore, it is perhaps wiser to have a divided political system where no party is dominant. No doubt, that it is less efficient to try to convince another party, and to make some concessions in the process.

Therefore, I shall relate back to today’s topic of whether the internet (blogs) allows better democracy in Singapore. After reading Bernard’s blog, I think that blogs will definitely be a good way of playing in a part in desion-makings. As mentioned earlier, it is very important to hear different views from people around Singapore to truly know what they want and what they think about Singapore.

According to Alinta Thomton, Does Internet create Democracy, “citizens can exchange views on matters of importance to the common good, so that public opinion can be formed. This public sphere comes into being when people gather to discuss issues of political concern.” I agree with her argument.

Singapore in fact, allows freedom of speech and anyone can comment on anything they want. But in Singapore, one has to be careful of what they says and what they do. Because, in this “kiasu and kiasi” society, we as Singaporeans, often take what we can do for granted. Freedom of speech are often a way to scold the government and insult them.

To conclude, I think that Singapore can come out with an online blogging system which must be registered for. People all around Singapore can login and comment about issues and their thoughts. Just as what Bernard has stated in his blog, “in the west, you can say it with a considerable amount of comfort, but that also means that insults and personal attacks are more common as well.” Well, if such system is created, I am sure many Singaporeans will start blogging on “OUR” issues and not just “THEM” (the LEEs’)

Citations:

Thornton, A. (2002, October). Does Internet Create Democracy. Retrieved March 23, 2007 from http://www.zip.com.au/%7Eathornto/thesis_2002_alinta_thornton.doc

Bernard,L (2007, March) The First Worlds, Our Destination. Retrieved March 23, 2007 from http://bleongcw.typepad.com/simple_is_the_reason_of_m/2007/03/the_first_world.html

QotW 7: Twitter

2007-03-16T07:31:00.000-07:00

QotW 7: Twitties

An online community is where people interact with each other in a virtual world- like instant messengers, IRC etc. Community is an important aspect of life for most people. Cooley (1983) says that all normal humans have a natural affinity for community. He suggests that the primary factor inhibiting the formation of communities, no matter what their scale, is that they are difficult to organize. The structural process that is associated with community is communication. Without communication, there can be no action to organize social relations. The intimate nature of this relationship is best illustrated in the words community and communications. (Fernback & Thompson, 1995)

Through communication and community, it revolves around the issues of brining people closer together, even those that you do not know. One example of such community communication would be Twitter.com. Although it is not as good as the instant messenger (which explains it all, as it is INSTANT), but it is quite cool to a certain extend. Imagine this, you invite all your friends into twitter and start a live update (conversation) of what you are doing. It connects you and your friends together, somewhat like mass chatting or rather what we call as a conference. I never expect it to be so cool, as I have technophobia. However, twitter really amazes me of what it is capable of. Certainly, twitter can be considered as an online community can do what a basic instant messenger could. Things like, making friends, project discussions, sharing of personal information and even making potential mate partners through it.

The concept of community commonly refers to a set of social relationships that operate within specified boundaries or locales, but community has an ideological component as well, in that it refers to a sense of common character, identity or interests. (Fernback & Thompson, 1995) Through twitter, one need not know the other person in order to start a conversation. There are not restrictions in whom or how many friends you make. Its is a place where people from all over the world, come together and experience a completely new form of online community. Twitter is a social networking service that allows members to inform each other about what they are doing and what they think. It allows users to send messages via phone or instant messaging. (Twitter, 2007) However, the sending of messages are only now avaliable on the US and UK (the place where twitter is first founded). Technology is changing in a rapid pace. Who knows that twitter might be the next “hottest” thing to be done in the next 3 to 5 years?

Typical online communities can bring you more cons than pros if one were to view it in the long-run. Why? People of normally sign up for such communities would actually get “hooked” into such ways of communications, thus turning them away from real-relationships with their family and friends (Hiltz and Turoff, 1993). They will lose physcial communication with their friends and kin and end up being the best of friends with their “feelingless” computers. However much, Twitter does not breach this concern of turning your friends and family members into your personal computer. It is somewhat a mixture of social network community, but provides real-time updates that can be send through sms (Short Message Service) via hand phone as well. I believe that twitter and other online communities will make it big in time to come. As not only it brings strangers and strangers together, but also, it aids people by maintaining and strengthening friendships between one and other, regardless of how far you are away from each other.

Citations:

Fernback, J., & Thompson, B. (May, 1995). Virtual Communities: Abort, Retry, Failure?. Retrieved March 16, 2007 from http://www.rheingold.com/texts/techpolitix/VCcivil.html

Twitter (2007). Retrieved March 16, 2007 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twitter

Hiltz, Starr Roxanne, Kenneth Johnson and Murray Turoff. 1986. "Experiments in Group Decision Making: Communication Process and Outcome in Face-to-face Versus Computerized Conferences." Human Communication Research 13 (2): 225-252.

Privacy warfare

2007-03-09T06:09:00.000-08:00

Com125 Qotw6: Privacy

The British sociologist Anthony Giddens has described the ways that citizens in a risk society can no longer rely on tradition or fixed hierarchies to establish their identity or to give them reliable guidance about whom to trust in a society of strangers. Confused and anxious about status in a world where status is constantly shifting, we feel increasing pressure to expose details of our personal lives to strangers in order to win their trust, and we demand that they expose themselves in order to win our trust in return. (Rosen, 2004) Examples of these “exposures” are like when you register online for a free E-mail account- they would ask personal questions like what is your name and your date of birth. My question to these questions would be, “how are they even relevant to what I am subscribing for?” Personally, I believe that my online identity must be kept as a secret, or rather not revealing every part of my body to the naked crowd.

Psychologists tell us boundaries are healthy, that it is important to reveal yourself to friends, family and lovers in stages, at appropriate times. However, few boundaries remain. The digital breadcrumbs you leave everywhere make it easy for strangers to reconstruct who you are, where you are and what you like. In some cases, a simple Google search can reveal what you think. Like it or not, increasingly we live in a world where you simply cannot keep a secret. (Sullivan, 2006) We have to be clear with the conjunction of revealing myself to my friends and families and the revealing myself online towards people I don’t even know, who claimed to be your “friends”.
Privacy invasion is not just happening on the internet- in fact, do you even know that you are being spied on online and offline? In America, the legal, ethical, and policy issues surrounding personal sousveillance are largely yet-to-be-explored, but let us consider a simple parallel example, namely the recording of telephone conversations. Telephone tapping is the monitoring of telephone and Internet conversations by a third party, often by covert means. In America, such activities are very common. What is amazing is that a simple conversation with your friend is being exposed on the papers the very next day and everyone is talking about it- the best part is you do not even know about it. Even on business today, people are being spied on, for example, Hewlett Packard executives hiring private investigators to spy on employees and journalists. ( Sullivan, 2006).
The invasion of privacy is like an on-going trend that is spread around the globe- I think it is even faster than the SARS. Certainly, people just do not want to be left behind and instead following the trends- especially Singaporeans. For example, I saw a website in the internet. It is about Singaporeans with their hand phone, going around and taking videos. With respect to the first video on the website, it is about a dispute between two people over a car accident. However, the most hilarious thing I realize upon watching the video is that- the one who is taking the video is the main culprit of the accident. (Posted by Kevin, 2006)
The internet has vastly increased the opportunities for individuals to subject themselves to the demands of the personality market, resulting in ever increasing confusion and anxiety about how much of ourselves to reveal to strangers. (Rosen, 2004) We must be careful with what we do in and off the internet. The bottom-line is, never to reveal too much of yourself when you are unsure of the circumstances.

References:

Rosen, J. (2004). The Naked Crowd: Reclaiming Security and Freedom in an Anxious Age, Random House.

Sullivan, B. (17th October, 2006). "Privacy Lost: Does Anyone Care?". Retrieved on 8th March, 2007 from http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15221095/print/1/displaymode/1098/

Sousveillance. (2007, February 7). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved March 9, 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sousveillance

Internet Website Posted by Kevin: http://philiptiongson.typepad.com/my_weblog/2006/12/singapores_aunt.html

QotW5: Online Identity, Reputation, Deception

2007-02-22T13:04:00.000-08:00

Do you really believe in whatever I describe myself to be in this blog? This is the question many have to ask themselves, while chatting or reviewing others’ online identity. Identity plays a key role in virtual communities. In communication, which is the primary activity, knowing the identity of those with whom you communicate is essential for understanding and evaluating an interaction. Yet in the disembodied world of the virtual community, identity is also ambiguous (Donath, 1996).

The push factor for communicating in ambiguity is due to their reputation and online identity; that are often the motivating factors that push people to actively participate in forums and online communities. (Donath, 1996) However, due to the current widespread use of the internet as its many communication applications has brought the 'identity' factor to a whole new level. Along with this new freedom have emerged many unique issues and problems (Lackaff, 2003).

Having an online identity, one can include whatever they like on it. They can have fake names, fake pictures and fake profiles. But why did they fake up all these? To me, it seems like a privilege to set-up online identities, as no one knows who you are and that means you can type or chat about almost anything and everything. Creating false identities and masquerade are often present in online chat forums. One good example is the chat application called Internet Relay Chat (IRC).

In a Chat forum, it doesn’t literally means that people actually talk to each other and hear each other’s voices. Instead, it means that you hold live keyboard “conversations” with other people on the Internet- that is, you type words on your computer and other people on the Internet can see those words on their computers immediately. One can also hold simultaneous chats with people all over the world. There are a number of ways people can establish an online identity and start chatting on the internet- one of the most popular ones would be the Internet Relay Chat (IRC).

IRC follows a client/server model, which means that both client and server software are required to use it. Many IRC clients are available for many types of computers, so whether you have a PC of Macintosh, or Unix, you can use IRC. Each topic you join is called a channel. When you join a channel, you can see what other people on the channel type on their keyboards. You can also hold individual side conversations with someone. To me, this is the best time to use fake online identity. I am sure most of you have done that before. By distinguishing yourself as a female, when actually you are a male, to tap on girls online and relishing the conversation with another stranger. This happens very often! IRC is also a place for geeks to make friends. Why so? Probably they can find someone who they can really talk to online, be it personal problems or other issues, they will not know who you are unless they start asking a meet-up in person session. That is where disappointments comes in. The contents of the posting can reveal a great deal more about the writer. It may include overtly identity-related data: name, age, etc. More importantly, it provides a chance to get a sense of the writer's "voice'' and to see how he or she interacts with others in the on-line social environment. (Donath, 1996).

However much, there is a setback on the use of IRC. Other people or even your friends can use your nickname and hack into your account. They can simply tarnish and destroy your reputation in a second. This means a lot to some people; especially regulars who never change their nicknames and had constantly chatted or even made friends online. Furthermore, users can make people believe in what they said, when it is untrue. This can lead to serious outcome, depending on how much they believe in. Lastly, it is also advisable not to meet up in person with your online-chat friend. Because, you will never know what might happen if you met up in person. For example, you might be very disappointed in his/her looks and gets pissed on the fact that he/she did not live up to your standards as described over IRC.

The growth of internet usage in the past decade has changed both human society and the medium itself (Lackaff, 2003). In this modern era, it is so easy to create false identities. It may or may not be a bad thing- depending on what you are looking for. However, it is advisable that you do not reveal too much of yourself as the fact that we cannot prevent others to create false identities.

Work citations:

Donath, Judith (1996, November 12). Identity and the virtual community. Retrieved February 23, 2007, from Identity and Deception in the Virtual Community Web site: http://smg.media.mit.edu/people/Judith/Identity/IdentityDeception.html

Lackaff, D, (2003). A review of moderation regimes. Retrieved February 21, 2007, from Norm maintenance in online communities Web site: http://lackaff.net/node/20

E-mail Spam. (2007, February 17). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved February 23, 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IRC

QotW4: The Gift Economy

2007-02-08T12:36:00.000-08:00

Giving that ask for no returns

What confused me most when the topic, “Gift Economy”, was thrown onto me is do I look at it in a “layman” term, or do I look at it in-depth? Well, after reading ample amount of sources, I finally understood.

There are actually two types of economy, a commodity economy and a gift economy. In a commodity (or exchange) economy, status is accorded to those who have the most. In a gift economy, status is accorded to those who give the most to others. (Pinchot, 1995)

A gift economy simply means, giving and receiving. Gift exchanges should not involve explicit bargaining or demands that the gift be reciprocated, but a relationship in which there is only giving and no receiving is unlikely to last. The contrast to a gift exchange is a commodity transaction, in which no obligation exists after the exchange is consummated – the bottle of water purchased at a convenience store does not create an obligation to buy something there again. A gift is also tied in an inalienable way to the giver. This is to say that gifts are unique: it is not simply a sweater, but rather the sweater-that-Bill-gave-me. (Kollock, 1999) The Gift Economy offers us a means to learn, to understand, to take charge, and to change our world. It is a natural economy, steeped in millions of years of pre-civilization human culture and the culture of all life on Earth. If enough of us embraced it, the modern 'market' economy, built on the faulty and inhuman foundations of inequality, scarcity, false quantification of value, and acquisition, could not survive. (Pollard, 2005)

When dealing with a gift economy, price is not the main concern. That means, when I give you something, I do not expect any financial return from you, also I do not expect any direct return from you. Indeed, gifts of information and advices are not just subjected to an individual, rather, to a group as a whole. Gifts of information might be offered to a group that has a clearly defined membership (a private discussion list, for example) or to groups that are more loosely defined. (Kollock, 1999) In contrast to a gift economy, the commodity economies are benefits that come from making improvements in the technology of production. Price is often the main driving factor in this case. To sum it off, It is important to note that gift exchange and commodity transactions are ideal types, and any economy will be a mix of these two types of exchange as well as many intermediate cases between them.

In this modern era, the World Wide Web is taking part in most of our lives- thus we must be aware of this wonderful online gift and make full use of it. Today, information and advices can be found in many different websites. They act as a gift to all of us and indirectly fulfill our needs and enriched us in many ways. Information may lose value over time, but it certainly has the capacity to satisfy more than one. In many cases, information gains rather than loses value through sharing. While the exchange economy may have been appropriate for the industrial age, the gift economy is coming back as we enter the information age. (Pinchot, 1995)

“Google” is the world’s leading start and search engine. To me, information is best received through “googling”. If I need information about shopping, sports and entertainment, instead of going to websites and try to find the most suitable website to browse through, I will just go online and fire up my Google and start searching. This Google Company was founded in 1998 and became the largest search engine on the Internet in 2000. This site is a relatively new phenomenon to many. The secret to Google’s speed and accuracy are the algorithms it uses when it searches. It uses many factors to determine which are the most relevant pages that match our search, including how popular the page is, where the search term is found within the page. Furthermore, Google does not stop at only considering the page’s popularity; it also looks at the quality of pages that link to that page. Google started out as a search engine, but it has become much more than that today! It is practically its own universe. It has its own sites that tells and help you buy things online (Froogle), a mapping site (Google Maps), an email service (Gmail)- bet most of you didn’t know that! New services are introduced practically every month. Adding on, there are also different languages/versions of Google that suits people from different country- example, you are a Chinese that only speaks and read in Chinese. Fear not, Google has it all! They provide a Chinese Google website to suit you. This is simply amazing! (Google, 2007)

In conclusion, the changing economies of online interaction have shifted the costs of providing public goods – sometimes radically – and thus changed the kinds of groups, communities, and institutions that are viable in this new social landscape. (Kollock, 1999)Therefore, like what Gifford Pinchot said, “Not all economies are based on maximizing personal gain, some are founded on giving.”

Kollock, Peter (1999). 'The Economies of Online Cooperation; Gifts and Public Goods in Cyberspace" Retrieved February 9, 2007 from http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/soc/faculty/kollock/papers/economies.htm
Pinchot, Gifford (1995). "The Gift Economy" Retrieved February 6, 2007 from http://www.context.org/ICLIB/IC41/PinchotG.htm
Pollard, Dave (2005). "The Gift Economy" Retrieved February 6, 2007 from http://blogs.salon.com/0002007/2005/04/17.html
Google. (2007, February 7). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 21:40, January 26, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google

QOTW3: Sharing, Copyright and Creative Culture.

2007-02-03T00:38:00.001-08:00

QOTW3: Sharing, Copyright and Creative Culture.

“Piracy is Crime”

Today’s internet is made up not just of text, but sound, video, animation and more. Every once in a while a new feature or application takes the internet by storm and not only changes the way many people use the internet, but, at times, even change the world beyond the internet’s borders.

So what is it that we should be concern about copyrights? It did all this by putting into effect a very simple idea- let people share their music with each other over the internet. Despite all the hype, technology and lawsuits, that is what it all comes down to.

People nowadays can make digital copies of their CDs by using piece of ripping software that turns CD tracks into digital files (Windows Media Player, I tunes. Etc) – most of these commonly files are in the mp3 music format. With the evil heart of some, copies of these CDs where made repeatedly and sold throughout the whole nation on the verge of being catching and prosecuted. Yes, so what if you are being caught? Thousands and thousands of copies had already been sold and distributed around the globe. If this goes on, what will happen to content creators? Music industries and moviemakers? This has to be stopped! If you want to make copies of your own, follow the rules and oblige the law.

The music industry were badly affected because of this. Remember the Napster case? Napster went to court on copyright violations. The court cases dragged on for a while, but ultimately Napster lost and was put out of business. It may resurface as a legal, for- pay music sharing service at some point. However, despite the lawsuits, the genie is out of the bottle. Other software and file-sharing networks enable people to do the same thing. (Ares, Limewire. Etc)

The first important thing that people cannot forget is that: copyright is important. Initially, the creation of copyright is to give creators of new music, video etc. special rights to their creation for a limited time. The purpose of these copyright laws is to ultimately benefit the public by promoting “the progress of science and useful arts;” that is learning and knowledge. With these laws being implemented, creators can benefit from their creation and earn themselves fame and money-, which is a form of incentives towards them. On the other hand, the public’s interest is also being taken care of. The public benefits because the authors and inventors continue creating original works that these creators may not have otherwise developed and because these creations are freely usable by the public once the limited time has passed. It is important to strike a balance between both the interest of content creators and public good. (Ovalle, 2005)

It proposes that we adopt a legal architecture that encourages but does not compel copyright owners to make their works available for widespread sharing over digital networks, and that we incorporate into that architecture a payment mechanism, based on a blanket or collective license, designed to compensate creators and to bypass unnecessary intermediaries. (Litman, 2003)

One important thing that can be done, which is mentioned by Jessica Litman from her article, is to encourage music file sharing, as a distinguish from merely tolerating it. To do that, it should incorporate some licensing mechanism that can cut through the thicket of overlapping and conflicting rights. In addition, the legal defaults of such system need to be reset to “share” rather than “hoard”. So long as shareable is the legal default, we do not need to make sharing compulsory. We can allow creators who would like to prevent their music from being shared to make an election. The system should allow customers, computers and software to ascertain, easily, whether music is being hoarded or shared, and thus encourage the design of computer software allowing the sharing of shareable music while making it difficult to share hoarded music. (Litman 2003)

Another way of treating this matter is to let the public know and understand the set of rules behind sharing and copyright related law issues. For example, letting the public know what a “Fair use” is all about; that is, doctrine that allows certain limited uses of copyrighted material without the copyright owner's permission. While there is no bright line test defining the scope of Fair Use,states four general parameters that must be considered: (1) the purpose and character of the use, including the commercial or noncommercial nature of the use; (2) the nature of the copyrighted work; (3) the amount of the copyrighted work that is used; and (4) the effect of the use on the potential market or value of the copyrighted work. Fair Use commonly provides for educational and non-profit entities (i.e., schools and libraries) to disseminate copyrighted material. It allows students and teachers to copy reasonable amounts of material from books and other publications. Fair Use also allows journalists to use certain portions of copyrighted works in their reporting. However, keep in mind that the fact you are using the material for educational or journalistic purposes by itself does not give you carte blanche to use whatever you want. All four of the above parameters must be considered and the determination of what fits within the scope of Fair Use is complex. (Brady, 2004)

There are more of these set of rules that can act as a guideline for us, so as to not violate the law and remain a good public user.

A whole new application has sprung up recently: business peer-to-peer software. The most notable example is Microsoft-owned Groove software that enables people in corporations to create their own private workspace where they can share files, messages, and software. Multibillion-dollar corporations have already signed on and using the software. This could another alternative to accommodate both public and content creators’ interest. In addition, businesses also use Bit Torrent as a way to more efficiently distribute software. So ironically, a technology that started as guerilla music- sharing software might find fruition as a corporate mainstay.

Citations:

Ovalle, C. (2005). What is Copyright? Retrieved on February 3, 2007, from http://sentra.ischool.utexas.edu/~i312co/3.php

Litman, J (2003). Sharing and Stealing. University of Michigan. Social Science Research Network. Retrieved on February 3, 2007, from http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=472141#PaperDownload

Brady, K (2004). Copyright FAQ: 25 Common Myths and Misconceptions. Retrieved on February 3, 2007, from http://users.goldengate.net/~kbrady/copyright.html

COM 125 Week 2: Internet Technology featuring E-mail.

2007-01-26T11:00:00.001-08:00

Benjamin Chen Bao Da.

The history of internet draws us back to the early development of communication network. Communication network allow different computers to be able to communicate with each other. With the conjunction of today’s development and infrastructure, we are linked together by internet. There are various forms of internet that people use today as a form of communication. For example electronic mail, hypertext and IRC (also know as online chat channels).

However, in my essay, I am going to talk more about how electronic mail (aka E-mail) we use today is being influenced by this development. Electronic mail, or e-mail might be the most heavily used feature of the internet. One can use it to send messages to anyone who is connected to the internet or connected to a computer network that has a connection to internet. As such, millions of people send and receive e-mails everyday. E-mail is a great way to keep up with distant relatives, friends, co-workers.

E-mail is often known as the killer application. Killer application in this case means, a computer program that is so useful or desirable that it proves the value of some underlying technology. This shows how powerful E-mail is today. E-mail started in the year 1965 as a way for multiple users of a time-sharing mainframe computer to communicate. Then, E-mail is being used to distribute news and bulletin board-like messages and it soon grew into discussion groups/ newsgroups. People in the 1970s would make use of E-mail to discuss about technical issues and cultural topics. (With reference to an online reading, History of the Internet From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

As compared to the modern era, 2007, e-mail had been totally revitalized to something people use in their daily lives. We use e-mail for multiple purposes today. For example, in a business organization employees communicates with their employer through e-mail and in our daily social life, we are making use of e-mail as a personal communication. The creation of e-mail has affected all of us so greatly that even in schools, students are taught to use e-mail and other forms of internet engines.

However, the question of how exactly e-mail works is something that not many know of. Well, here is a brief explanation of how the e-mail works. E-mail messages are sent in the same way as most internet data. The TCP protocol breaks your messages into packets, the IP protocol delivers the packets to the proper location, and then the TCP reassembles the message on the receiving mail server so it can be read. In the modern era, one can also attach binary files, such as pictures, videos, sounds and executable files to your e-mail messages. (With reference from textbook: How The Internet Works and Online readings: History of the Internet From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

One of the most contentious issues that surface on the internet in the last few years has to do with what internet users called spam. Spam is unsolicited junk e-mails that commercial companies send out, be it asking you to buy or review their services. Individuals are also capable of spamming too. Do you know that spam can cause major problems? Spam floods the internet with unwanted mail, which can lead to delayed or lost of mail. It clogs the Internet pipeline, making other information slower to send, or even delayed. Furthermore, spammers usually hide their real e-mail addresses and that made it even more difficult to track them down and block them from your e-mail.

Spam has other dangers as well. Spam is often used to swindle unsuspecting victims, for example by sending out false e-mails claiming someone needs to log in to a bank, and then sending the person to a spoofed bank site. The spammer then steals financial information. This technique is called phishing. Phishers attempt to fraudulently acquire sensitive information, such as passwords and credit card details, by masquerading as a trustworthy person or business in an electronic communication. Phishing is typically carried out using e-mail or an instant message, although phone contact has been used as well.

In conclusion, it is advisable to block spam. Various ways have been devised to block spam, including having e-mail filters on e-mail software- which is very common among most users nowadays. This software also examines the content of e-mail messages to try and determine whether it is spam. Furthermore, by enforcing technical requirements of the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) can be used to block mail coming from systems that are not compliant with the RFC standards. Many spammers use poorly written software or are unable to comply with the standards because they do not have legitimate control of the computer sending spam. (Information retrieved from online readings: E-mail Spam From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

Works Cited

Preston, Gralla. How Internet Works, Eighth Edition. Indianapolis, IN 46240: Que, 2007.
History of the internet. (2006, August 20). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 21:23, January 26, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=History_of_the_Internet&oldid=70771572

E-mail Spam. (2007, January 25). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 21:30, January 26, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-mail_spam

Phishing. (2007, January 23). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 21:40, January 26, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phishing

Terrible Weekend

2007-01-22T20:39:00.000-08:00

It was one of the worse weekend of my life. Pills, medicine, sleep and CONGEE... i cannot eat anything else as im down with fever and acute tonsilitis. Anyway i get acute tonsilitis very often, like once every 2 moths. I hate that man! its really terrible and you are like helpless. i vist the clinic so often that the doctor recognizes me. Thats not something to be proud of. Alas, i went to the doctor and he gave me the medicine that i always eat (antibiotics and paracetamol) and as im recovering on Sunday, im struck with fever and cough again~!! and i spend the whole of yesterday coughing and coughing. when today arrives, i cannot take it anymore, thus i visit the same clinic today. Im recuperating now and hopefully i can get back to school tom! hopefully!

My first time

2007-01-19T11:48:00.000-08:00

Hi, i am benjamin Chen. currently studying in UB-SIM. Sad to say, this is my last semster before i set forth for ARMY life----irritating. Anyway, its the route to being a man~. i am one with not much talents. the most applicable one to talk about would be playing soccer and basketball--but its been a long time since i work out, so i can only last for at most 30mins. after which i will be so breathless that i cant even spell my own name! im serious!
this is pretty cool~ i never dreamt that i will actually be writting a blog--and its gonna be read and viewed! i never had an interest in reading and writting blogs, as (to be honest) i think its a waste of time. But after attending the lecture on Com 125 (introduction to internet), it changed my view totally. There is actually more than just writting a blog. people acutally blog for other purposes, e.g. talk about products be it gadgets or diamonds.. showcase reviews on products they bought and many more. There is actually more to it. Well thats all for the introduct. thank you for your time. Will post in new stuff tomorrow!