COM125 Assignment - Online Gaming, Identity and Reputation (Choice)

I play an online text based game called Utopia: World of Legends. The game site can be found at http://games.swirve.com/utopia. This game is a fantasy based game where you are given a new province. You can choose your race and personality of your province, and then you build it up within your kingdom. Each kingdom has 25 provinces that communicate together through a forum and your kingdom is given a number. For example, I am in kingdom 9, island 38, resulting in my kingdom being (9:38). My province is any name I want. We together as a team, go to war, give aid to each other and attack other kingdoms. As you play this game, you build a reputation through acres of land and networth. As you grow, the bigger your lands, the bigger your army, and the bigger your networth, leads to, the bigger your reputation. However, every 6 months the whole utopian society is reset, which means your province is started anew, but you still stay with the kingdom-mates. As every age turns, you stay with the same kingdom-mates until you delete your account or defect into another kingdom. I have never met my kingdom-mates in real-life however; I have developed a good reputation and an online identity. None of my kingdom-mates know my real name, and refer to me as Sir Porter (my province ruler’s name) or Silver Accord (my province name).

Our kingdom communicates through the personal kingdom forum that is built into the game site. Usually, that is the only means of communication. However, other kingdom’s who are intensely passionate about this game, chat usually through IRC or other chat programs with their kingdom-mates usually to be extra-organized during wartime. My true identity has no use in this game. My kingdom-mates are not interested in my real life; they are more interested in how well I do in growing in my utopian life. I believe that this game has become a daily part of my life. I usually check up on my utopian province 2-3 times a day. Usually, nobody is too interested in my true identity. I am pretty sure other kingdoms do not care about their kingdom-mates true identities either. I feel like I have a second-life through this utopia province.

My online identity may be stolen by someone knowing or stealing my username and password. I believe that is the only way my online identity can be stolen. If someone stole my password I would be extremely pissed, because not only have I developed a relationship with my kingdom-mates, it took me a long time to build up my province and create a good reputation. The ways kingdoms are assigned are purely random. However some cheaters want to be in the same kingdom as their real-life friends and use deception in order to make it work. First, the cheater would make two provinces. They will obviously be in two different kingdoms. Then the cheater would build up his province and develop a high networth in one of his kingdoms. The cheater’s other province would be in the kingdom he wants his friend to be in. After achieving a reputable networth in the first kingdom, they would message a noobie in his second kingdom and ask him to switch accounts with his first kingdom. They would show him the high networth province and lure the noobie into switching accounts. Then the cheater would give his friend the noobie’s username/password and be in the same kingdom. Trying to be in the same kingdom as a real-life friend is nearly impossible and resorting to this method is the only way.

If anyone is interested by my blog post and wish to join this online gaming community, sign up, and I will be more than happy to guide you through the game, and give u strategic advice.

COM125 Assignment: Second LIfe

The best way to learn is through experience. Second Life can be a virtual real-life experience where you can actually learn about real life. As I joined Second Life and created my own character with avatar, I am taken to an island to learn basic skills. In order to reach the mainland it took some exploring. I really like it after I reach the mainland. I can fly and even teleport. This simulation game is similar to “The Sims”. I used to play “The Sims” a lot for it was fun and also gave me a good experience on real hands-on experience on a real-life based simulation. Second Life is interesting because u can build your own buildings and even buy weapons to battle others. It has a wide array of options you can do with your character. You can also throw parties, become an empire or just be a bum. This new virtual reality world seems like a real world where u can experiment and experience new views on life.
Although some people believe this is not a game, to me it is. I find it an amusing way to learn about new experiences that I may never be able to do in real life. I believe the economy issues in Second Life are similar to real life economics. Although this is a short post, I believe I have covered my whole experience on Second Life here. So, as you can see, Second life is an experience where I can learn about life with a hands-on experience.

COM125 Assignment: Network Neutrality

Network Neutrality is basically a reactant to major companies wanting to monitor the usage of the Internet within all computers under their networks. It’s the principle where major companies, such as AT&T will takeover the Internet, and make it act like cable TV. That is just plain ridiculous. In my opinion, Companies trying to take over the internet will never occur and the efforts of the major companies will all go to waste. However, we can see what would happen if network neutrality did not exist. For example, the new iPhone can only be used under the AT&T network. So that would mean, in order to use this new gadget, you would have to be subscribed under AT&T. While you are under their network, they have the ability to monitor you at all times.
The current debate over network neutrality is, would it be beneficial or would it mean the end of the Internet? Due to the facts of Internet monitoring, if network neutrality didn’t exist, we would all be in trouble. All the internet users, especially online business owners would crash and be forced to go bankrupt. Network neutrality is essential to the Internet at the moment.





Through network neutrality, the major companies and the people who use the Internet are at stake. If the major companies go through with their plan (which will never succeed) they would practically be taking over the world. For many people, the Internet is the mainframe of their daily lives. If they take over, our rights would be infringed upon.

Trying to control Internet usage, and trying to limit what we can do and what we cannot, is violating to our own lives.

I support network neutrality. I use the Internet in public settings daily. If that were taken away from me, I would feel like I’ve been stripped and manipulated.

COM125 Assignment: Modern Journalism

New York Times

“Within Discredited Stem Cell Research, a True Scientific First”

By: Nicholas Wade

White Coat News – News from the Boston Area Medical Community

Korean cloning fraud covered an accidental stem cell first, Harvard paper says

http://www.boston.com/yourlife/health/blog/2007/08/korean_scientis.html

By: Elizabeth Cooney

There is one major difference between print news and online news. Usually print news will tell facts and much more factual information going very in-depth with factual information, while online news will share opinions and personal views of the writer with usually just a short summary, in order to just get a gist of the news story. Print news usually has direct quotes by important people who have contributed to the article. With the quote, the writer will work around that quote and write more in depth about the article.

I cannot say which is better. In my opinion they both have their advantages. While I was reading the newspaper, there were advertisements here and there, but not to the point of online news sources. There are way too many advertisements, however I believe that newspaper’s advertisements cost more for companies compared to online news source advertisements. At the same time, more and more people are learning to block out advertisements that are on print. For example, a turn of the page will block the advertisement out from your head, however, an online news source would have an advertisement that pops up as soon as you enter the site, making sure you saw the ad before they accessed the site. Most revenues for newspapers come from advertisements. If those ad’s move to the internet, the newspapers will be left with nothing and will eventually fall.

As technology advances everyday, I am starting to believe that online sources will take over print. With internet access becoming more and more regularly available to the public, most people who actually pay for internet service will want to take full advantage of it by going on free news sites and trying to get as much as a possible out of the internet. With readily available information over technological advancements, who would want to pick up a hard copy and read it.

A huge advantage I find in online news sources is the database. The data is archived and can be readily accessible through a search making it a huge resource. Also, another advantage is the real-time information update. So, as you can see, online news is emerging into the “new” news source.

http://www99.epinions.com/content_3321077892

http://media.seekingalpha.com/article/41360

COM125 Assignment - Internet and Politics

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/07/27/remember-compassionate-conservatism/

Remember ‘compassionate conservatism’? By: Steve Benen – Citizen Blogger

The tone of Benen, is one of anger and full of scoff. He scoffs at the ignorance of Bush and his administration. The way Bush turned his back on compassion and religion is quite unheard of.

As of late, weblogs are affecting local politics like never before. The public sphere is making it more and more easier to find opinions on different topics and political issues.

“Habermas develops the normative notion of the public sphere as a part of social life where 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.” (Thornton)

This public exchange of opinion is becoming bigger and bigger everyday. The evolving technology of internet weblogs and online journals by citizen journalists is making it easier to discuss political views and responses to political actions.

Ever since the invention of the internet, politics has been changed. Through freedom of expression, many people are acting as journalists and sharing their views on certain events and new political happenings. The internet now acts as a medium for advertising campaigns as well. Through the internet, many new politics are becoming more publicized and through the same internet, those politics are being discussed about and talked about in depth.

These new communication techniques involve more of the public into politics. Nowadays, internet access in a household is as common as having milk in the fridge. Because all these people can have access, the participation into the political field has become more than ever.

“The role of traditional media (television, magazines and newspapers) in modern democracy is increasingly problematic, and serious questions have arisen about its capacity as a site for political criticism or rational debate.” (Thornton)

Television, magazine, and newspapers do not have much leeway for public opinion and discussion. Through the change of media into a more technological field, the internet poses as a medium for exchange of ideas and concerns as well as factual information for all internet users. As you can see, the development of the internet has deeply impacted politics merely by this new form of journalism allowing the freedom to express your thoughts and ideas.

Thornton, A. (2002) Does Internet Create Democracy.

COM125 Assignment - Web Application Review (Google Calendar)

http://calendar.google.com

Google Calendar

This web application is basically an online calendar where you can coordinate events, keep track of events and set reminders with. You can add or remove certain events and write descriptions about that certain event. This calendar is useful because other contacts or buddies can view your calendar online, if you give them access to it.

The design of the site is very straightforward. You can switch views of your calendar to, a certain day, week, month, or view your upcoming agenda. As you proceed, you click on a date and add a description and time to that event. The social aspect is to give access to your contacts, in order to plan accordingly on upcoming events/get-togethers and as a reminder tool. This site is very useful because it allows for you to keep track of your schedule and it allows for other to keep track of when you are available or unavailable.

I personally use this calendar to keep track of my girlfriend’s schedule and for her to keep track of mine. This way, we can more easily decide when to go out on a date or plan a vacation. We use a function where we can both edit the calendar and add or remove events. It allows for a sense of availability for the both of us.

Also, you can view calendars for upcoming tours, special events, concerts and other events. For example, you can look up Faith Hill, and it will show you her calendar of events, and you'll be able to catch her next concert in your area.

The site is very useful for g-mail users. As a part of Google, G-mail and Google calendar go hand-in-hand. Your contacts from g-mail can be imported into the Google calendar to allow others to see the calendar. The utility of this application is very high for the working, highly active individual. It really helps you stay organized. I rate this application 4.5 of 5.

COM125 Assignment - Voyeur with Sousveillance

Privacy derives from the word private. Private should be kept to yourself like private files, or private social security numbers. We want those things to be kept private. When someone infringes on our privacy, per se the media or big companies, we are being in a way, attacked. Being attacked is not fun, nor is it beneficial to the individuals being attacked, in any sort of way. On the other hand, the counter-part may have a benefit that is exponentially bigger and can gain tremendous amounts of money or power with one action.

There are many different levels of privacy. So there must be an extent to privacy infringement. Generally, privacy can be most easily invaded with video cameras or photo cameras. Sousveillance is now a major means of regulation by big companies wanting to minimize theft and danger.

"The term 'sousveillance' stems from the contrasting French words sur, meaning 'above', and sous, meaning 'below', i.e. 'surveillance' denotes the 'eye-in-the-sky' watching from above, whereas 'sousveillance' denotes bringing the camera or other means of observation down to human level, either physically or hierarchically"(Wiki)

These utilities that are originally supposed to be used to help the public people are being placed into the wrong hands, leading directly into wrong uses and turmoil within the world of privacy. For example, in a dressing room, if someone sets up a camera, your privacy is being invaded. The cameras should be used for protection or monitoring.

“But cameras accidentally catch innocents, too. Virginia Shelton, 46, her daughter, Shirley, 16; and a friend, Jennifer Starkey, 17, were all arrested and charged with murder in 2003 because of an out-of-synch ATM camera. Their pictures were flashed in front of a national audience and they spent three weeks in a Maryland jail before it was discovered that the camera was set to the wrong time.” (Sullivan)

A prime example of privacy infringement would be spying on instant messaging or means of internet communication. If someone were able to spy on a one-to-one conversation, an unwanted third-party member would be infringing on your privacy. Now imagine video chat as your only method of instant communication online. You would be using the camera for the right purpose. Imagine just chatting long distance to a cousin in Thailand about your family matters and personal business. Imagine someone spying on an online-video conversation of married couple where the husband is away on a business trip for a year in another country. Infringement on that type of conversation is taking invasion of privacy too far. If I knew the person spying on my conversation I would be extremely hot-headed and want to give excruciating pain to this third-party that is uninvited in to our video conversation.

That is one of the ways privacy can be invaded. Another way is through big companies that want to get a cheap and efficient form of advertising, through e-mail, also known as spam.

"Moving text-based communication from paper to the computer screen has had a profound impact on the way individuals and businesses correspond. Once the exclusive domain of academics and researchers, internet messaging begin to expand to the general public in the early 1990s. Technically literate entrepreneurs quickly realized that this new media also provided an unprecedented new advertising opportunity."(Lackaff)

Secretly taking the identities or email addresses of people is immoral and not looked happily upon. This form of advertising gets me quite annoyed because the Buffalo web mail System does not have spam-blocker. So, as you can see, ruthless individuals who practice privacy infringement is not only a form a profit but can make huge impact on the lives of innocent human beings.

Works Cited

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sousveillance

Bob, Sullivan. (2006) "Privacy Under Attack, But Does Anybody Care?" msNBC 17 Oct. 2006. 17 July 2007 . http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15221095/

Lackaff, D. (2003). Norm maintenance in online communities: A review of moderation regimes Unpublished master's (preliminary) thesis, La Trobe University, Bundoora, Victoria, Australia.

COM125 Assignment 3: Copy-right or Copy-wrong?

In this day and age, there are many ways to acquire “free” music. Usually through a peer-to-peer program which enables sharing of files, people download files with just a couple of clicks on the mouse. Whenever a file is downloaded, the content creator loses out on profit, while the public gains. This method is illegal and is becoming an epidemic which needs to be vaccinated. Going into this problem of regulation, I will try to pose a solution or plan which will make both parties content. However, with a new proposal, there is always some type of drawback, which I will try to limit to the least.

Making a law too callous will have severe drawbacks. For example, in Italy, a law has been passed that can lead to imprisonment for piracy.

“The more than three million people in Italy who illegally download music, films, games or software from the Internet might be advised to take note that they now risk as much as three years behind bars if they get caught.
The new Italian legislation, passed on May 21, is Europe's toughest law against illegal file-sharing over the Internet. This tool now at the disposal of the Italian police has been cheered by software producers as well as the music and movie industries but also criticized as too harsh by groups that fight to protect civil liberties.” (Sylvers)

We can clearly see the conflict between the creators and the public. Also, deep parts of the public who download illegally are children. If a child is imprisoned for downloading a movie and a song, their future will go down the drain. That is absolutely absurd. Passing a new law, does not seem like the right solution to this problem.

The majority of illegal downloading is music; therefore, my plan will be for music only. I am proposing a satellite-based Radio-on-Demand. This device will work with XM and Sirius radio in order to solve this problem. This device will include a mini-keyboard built into the device. With all the functions of satellite radio included, for a small fee every month (~15$/month) you can listen to any song you want on demand. For example, if you wanted to listen to “The Eagles – Hotel California”, you would go under the “Classic Rock” category, and type in any keyword like “eagles” or “California” and it will stream the song through the satellite radio system.

There will also be a “history” section to playback any song you have already streamed. Through this device, copyright laws will not be broken, because it will function as any normal radio station playing songs. The user will be able to listen to whatever they want for a small fee, while a small amount of money will go to the record labels. In order to be fair, for every instance their song is requested through on demand, the record label will be paid a certain amount. For example, if the Goo-goo Dolls are requested more than Savage Garden, they will be paid more.

If all 50 million illegal users subscribed to Radio-on-Demand, 750 million dollars will be generated every month, allowing a profit for the record labels.

“The RIAA has claimed that internet file sharing of copyrighted music material has resulted in a $4.2 billion dollar per year loss for record companies, recording artists and other music industry-related entities.” (Goldstein)

With a revenue of 750 million a month, that will definitely make up for the losses.

This seems like the best solution I can concoct.

http://www.iht.com/articles/2004/05/31/piracy_ed3_.php

http://ezinearticles.com/?Illegal-Music,-Is-That-Download-Worth-It?&id=614308

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright

COM125 Assignment 2: Messaging Instantly

The Internet was the product of some futurist thinking by people in the early 1960’s who saw vast prospective value in allowing computers to share information on research and development in scientific, communication and military fields. Instant Messaging plays a popular role in human society today because it is one of the best means of communication through the internet between two parties and has now become a worldwide application. There are many different programs you can use to “chat” with people, mainly your buddies on the internet. They are AOL Instant Messenger, MSN, Yahoo, ICQ, and there are still programs that are in development for an even wider array of chatting methods. Recently, even video-chat methods have been uncovered and made internet chatting even more complex and popular.

The development of Instant Messaging started in the 1970’s on operating systems like Unix, where multiple users were connected. One of the first chatting protocols was a chat room network protocol known as Internet Relay Chat, or IRC. IRC was started in Finland in 1988 by Jarkko Oikarinen known on IRC as WiZ, was the developer of the first Internet chat network, called IRC, short for Internet Relay Chat. He wrote the first server and client in August 1988, while working at the University of Oulu in Finland. Although there were other chat room protocols available, IRC gained popularity during the Soviet Coup of 1991, when a group of Soviet government leaders attempted to overthrow Mikhail Gorbachev. While doing this, there was a media blackout. During this blackout, IRC was the only way to know what was happening in the Soviet Union until order was restored. Following the blackout, people started using IRC for other matters, such as technical support chat rooms.

In the last half of the 1980s and into the early 1990s, the Quantum Link online service, now known as AOL, started user-to-user messaging.

Quantum Link looked like the picture on the left. If someone wanted to use instant messaging, they would click on "People Connection". The screen was visually divided up into sections and messages would appear as a yellow bar saying "Message From:" and the name of the sender along with the message across the top of whatever the user was already doing, and presented a list of options for responding.

Instant Messaging offers real-time communication and is the closest thing to a real conversation. There are many benefits in today’s society from the development of Instant Messaging. Allowing instant communication from two people with access to internet, wherever in the world, may be one of the biggest developments in technology today. Many people today use Instant Messaging because it is easy to use, and it is a way to communicate with people for free. For example, instead of a high-priced phone call to the other side of the world, you could talk online just by subscribing to a free service.

I believe the only problem with Instant Messaging is the division of different programs. For example, someone on ICQ cannot chat with someone using Yahoo Messenger. The development of a unified Instant Messaging client would be one of the biggest advancement of the technology today. So, as you can see, Instant Messaging has become a huge part of everyday society for almost any individual with access to the internet. This advancement has played a huge role in technology and will continue to play a big role in the different means of communication worldwide.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_Link

COM125 Assignment 1: My Introduction

Hello,

My name is Dustin Silver Ko. Believe it or not, my middle name is actually Silver. Sometimes, I wonder why my parents middle-named me Silver, instead of Gold or Platinum or Diamond. If my middle name were Diamond, I would be Dustin Diamond Ko. [Like Screech from "Saved by the Bell", HAH]
Moving along, I am 21 years of age and I was born and raised in New York City. I grew up in a very urban lifestyle, where it taught me a lot about the real-world and how to handle different people in different types of situations.

The reason I am taking this course is because I need this course to fulfill my requirements as a Communication Major student.

Hmmm, It seems like I'm running out of things to say... Maybe I'll just rant.

So I was thinking about how people want to lose weight because they think they are fat... but I always think about how I wanna GAIN weight because i wanna get fat........... WHY CAN'T I GET FAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!