Discussion questions 11/6

1.)    My opinionated answer to the question in the article is that video games are good for people to interact within a story and the ability to make choices that will make the story evolve.  Tom Bissell talks about having an “extra life” in his book Extra Lives: Why Video Games Matter.  Why do you play video games? (why don’t you play video games?)

2.)    Why do you think that people that play video games ignore the systemic social issues in the games that they play?

3.)     Of the video games that we played in the last class, did you notice anything different or similar about those games compared to other more popular games that you have played before?

Discussion questions 11/6

1.)    My opinionated answer to the question in the article is that video games are good for people to interact within a story and the ability to make choices that will make the story evolve.  Tom Bissell talks about having an “extra life” in his book Extra Lives: Why Video Games Matter.  Why do you play video games? (why don’t you play video games?)

2.)    Why do you think that people that play video games ignore the systemic social issues in the games that they play?

3.)     Of the video games that we played in the last class, did you notice anything different or similar about those games compared to other more popular games that you have played before?

Weblog 11/1

Our social action project accurately defines the affects of internet privacy issues.  We warn the reader of how many things that could happen to anyone at any time.  The reason for this happening can rely on both the users and the companies that own these sites.  There are kind of two sides for our issue.  On one hand you can blame the users, saying that they should really think about what they post or put on face book.  Whatever they put on the internet is there forever.  The companies could also say that there are in fact privacy settings, but most users just choose not to use them.  On the other hand, the users could fight back and say that there is no reason that our personal information such as our social security numbers, credit card numbers, addresses, etc.  I know for a fact that sometimes there is no other choice than to put your social security number online for a job application or even getting into college.  It seems like we are getting more and more involved with the internet with everything we do and that can be a good thing, but I believe that some things should not just be thrown out there.  I believe that if someone is fired because they post a picture of themselves doing something inappropriate, their boss should decide whether or not they want them in their company.  With that being said, I think that there really is no excuse for someone’s identity being stolen because they had put all of their personal information online because they were forced to for a job or school.  I really think that falls on the hands of the companies.  In an article on pcworld.com, there is a list of the biggest online privacy threats.  Their list was from one to five: 1.) cookie proliferation, 2.) seizing cloud data 3.) location data betrayal 4.) data never forgets a face 5.) scanning in the name of cyber security.  My opinion of this article is that it really boils down to numbers 1 and 2.  I think that cookie proliferation seems like it’s no big deal and everyone just clicks yes or allow.  I think that this is a really big issue and it needs to be altered somehow for the better.  Seizing cloud data is definitely another issue that I really haven’t thought about a big threat to privacy. I thought that something like this would be safe.  These “surprises” only feed our social action project and prove its relevance.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/2031908/the-5-biggest-online-privacy-threats-of-2013.html?page=2

Weblog 10/25

http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/consumer-reports-facebook-privacy-problems-are-rise-749990

 

 

My social action project group is focusing on the problems with privacy through facebook and the overall internet in general.  This article shows a study from a pretty well known magazine Consumer reports.  It shows that almost everything that someone does on facebook can be used harmfully towards you in some way.  They can take some little piece of information that doesn’t seem important or seem like burglars or identity thieves can do anything with it, but as Consumer reports shows these small pieces of information can make or break something happening.  One example that really shocked me and kind of stood out of the rest was that if you “like” a facebook page about health conditions or treatments, an insurer can use that “like” against you.  Now I find that a completely wrong thing to do.  I think that most of the time people who like a page about health conditions or treatments, it is trying to promote a good cause like bringing awareness to breast cancer or something like that.  I would never have thought that something like this could happen.  Another interesting example that was in the article was that 4.8 million have used Facebook to say where they planned to go on a certain day.  I know that this does happen a lot.  I have seen and witnessed people do this over and over again.  I think that if you want everybody know where you are going, then you should already know the consequences for letting the world know where you are going, especially if you are alone.  This is just another reason why I do not use social media.  I think that privacy is important and if I want to tell people where I am going I can call them, without telling the whole world.

Weblog 10/18

http://www.whas11.com/home/12-examples-of-people-getting-fired-over-Facebook-101977118.html

I now found out that for my Social Action Project I will be working in my group trying to achieve awareness to the dangers and downsides of exposing to much information on facebook.  We are going to do this through book inserts in the Grasseli library.  I am glad I got picked for this group because I thought it was a good idea.  For my weblog today, I am doing an article on the same kind of topic and the article gives 12 instances that people got fired because of what they posted on facebook or some other kind of social media.  My opinion is that the people who are posting these things on social media deserve what they got.  For example, I don’t understand why in the world you would post a picture of yourself at a graffiti party with your friends passed out with swastikas and anti-Semitic remarks on their foreheads?  I think it is almost common knowledge now that your boss of future boss is looking for exact instances on their employees.  In fact a relative of mine has a job where that’s all he does is look on people’s social media and decides whether or not to hire them even before he has an interview with them.  I think that this will highly effect the workforce and I think it will be a good improvement for most companies.  I think if I were put into the position of whether or not to monitor what my employees do,  I would have to say that I would monitor their social media.  This not only makes them think what they are posting, but it creates a kind of reality to what they are really putting online that can be tracked and traced to their name forever.  I think that the fact that it is there forever is the bigger deal.

Discussion questions 10/9

1.) Do you think there will ever be a toxic-free future? Why or why not?
2.) Do you think that the SVTC and other similar organizations are good for the companies that own these chip plants? Why or why not?
3.) Is it worse to dispose e-waste in other countries or to expose ourselves to toxins here in our country through the chip factories?

Weblog 10/4 Ewaste video

http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/ghana804/video/video_index.html

This video shows the crazy amounts of terrible things happen to our old electronics that most of us in the United States and other prominent countries don’t even know about.  We send our “junk” over to these countries so that other people risk their lives every day for terrible wages by burning these electronics so they can gather the metals and actually make some money.  The video is so sad especially the part where the man who is burning the material says that it makes him sick and he knows that but if he doesn’t he won’t make any money so he continues to ruin his health.  What I think is one of the most important things for people to understand, especially for those who will say that,” it’ll only hurt them and not us” is that it is hurting us.  It is ruining the whole world and our planet.  It burns the atmosphere and its killing the trees, the animals, the plants, and it is effecting how we breathe. 

The part where I don’t understand is how China’s leaders allow all of this hazardous waste in their country.  I know for a fact that the United States would never allow something like this to happen here.  I can’t believe that there are people in China simply ignoring this because of money. 

With everything being said, the economic point of view is that it is nearly impossible to take care of this ecologically friendly.  It would cost so much that it is not worth it.  I think that the only way that e waste can be handled correctly is through some kind of volunteer work and donations to develop factories like Pucketts in India that was talked about in the video.