Last Day of Class

Tonights class was the last for this semester. As we wrapped up everything we learned, I reflected on the various discussions that took place throughout the course. I must say, I really enjoyed Castells book. I liked his multidisciplined approach, the way he brought ideas from physics, computer science, economics, communication and network theory. It was difficult to follow but I felt a greater sense of accomplishment once I (sometimes I had to read a passage several, uh more like a 8 or 9 times to fully grasp the meaning) understood the material.

I enjoyed the different perspectives that each member of our class shared, it was a diverse group, spread across several generations. Some of us like technology, others tolerated it, nevertheless providing wonderful insight. I learned much in this course and hope to gain greater knowledge in new media.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I know Thanksgiving was last week and this blog is supposed to be about new media, however, I had an experience I wanted to share. Saturday, two weeks ago, after returning home from running some errands I saw what appeared to be a homeless man rummaging through my apartments recycling bin looking for some soda cans and other bottles he could return for money. I’d seen this fellow before and always wanted to help him, remembering that I had some soda cans of my own in my apartment I quickly ran up to get them in hopes that I could give him the cans. However when I returned 2 minutes later he was gone so I walked out to the street to see if I could find him. I quickly located him at the next apartment building over where he had continued his search for recyclable goods. I approached him with all of the empty soda cans there were in my apartment, a total of nine. I held the cans in front of me as I approached, and once he recognized my intentions he held open a black plastic bag which used to hold as bottles and cans. I poured the cans into his bag and as I did so, he smiled at me and I realized that he did not have any teeth. He then made some unintelligible noise and I realized that he could not speak. Yet, his gratitude was genuine, and I was so touched by it. I mean, I gave him less than a dollar. This experience got me thinking about the things that I am thankful for. I know its cliché but here is a partial list (non prioritized);
1. My family
2. A place to live
3. A place to live that is heated
4. Water
5. My job
6. Food
7. My car
8. My bikes
9. My clothes (this guy had very little and it was so cold outside)
10. The educational opportunities I have
11. Cell phone
12. Freedom
13. My religious beliefs
So, what are you thankful for?

Voice Recognition Software

This week I decided to write about my experiences setting up voice recognition software on my laptop. The idea for this week’s blog came from a discussion we had in class last week. Someone said (I’m not sure who, it may have been our professor), keyboards will soon be obsolete on computers. Furthermore I do not type very fast and I thought it might be useful to have this type of software on my computer so that I would be more efficient writing papers.

When I purchased my computer last year I noticed that there was voice recognition software installed. However, I was unsure of the quality of the program; voice recognition software for Windows Vista. So I searched on the Internet for potential voice recognition programs and found that the windows software was rated fairly high. The other software applications and I found cost about 60 to 150 dollars. So I decided to set up the software on my computer instead of paying additional money.

After purchasing a headset with a microphone I went through the setup process for the software. During this process I learned how to use the software and the various commands which cover everything from placing a, or opening Microsoft word. It took me about 90 minutes to go through the process during which time the computer learned how I pronounce words. It was a relatively pain free process.

For my first attempt at using the software I “wrote” this blog entry. The first part of a blog is the corrected version and the second part is a version that came out as I spoke it to the computer. If I caught mistakes while reading I made the necessary corrections. If I did not catch them or if the mistake was a word like it and or misuse of a word I let those errors remain. Overall I enjoyed the experience of setting up the software and am excited about not having to type. Has anyone else had experience with the software? If so what has it been like to use this type of a program? There a lot more things I have to learn and I look forward to experimenting more with the software so that I can become even more efficient “writing” papers.

Results: 15 mistakes out of 380 words = 96% accuracy rating. See uncorrected version below.

This week I decided to write about my experiences setting up voice recognition software on my laptop. The idea for this week’s blog came from a discussion we had in class last week. Someone said (I’m not sure who im and then our professor), keyboards will soon be obsolete on computers. Furthermore I do not type very fast and I thought it might be useful to have this type of software on my computer so that I would be more efficient writing papers.

When I purchased my computer last year I notice that there was voice recognition software installed. However I was unsure of the quality of the program; voice recognition software four windows best to. So I searched on the Internet for potential voice recognition programs and found that the windows software was rated fairly high. The other software applications and I found cost about 60 to 150 dollars. So I decided to set up the software are EMI Computer instead of paying additional money.

After purchasing a headset with a microphone I went through the setup process for the software. During this process I learned how to use the software and the various commands which cover everything from placing a, or opening Microsoft word. It took me about 90 minutes to go through the process during which time the computer learned how I pronounce words. It was a relatively pain free process.

For my first attempt at using the software I “wrote” this blog entry. The first part of a blog is the corrected version and the second part is a version that came out as I spoke it to the computer. If I caught mistakes while reading I made the necessary corrections. If I did not catch them or if the mistake was words like it and or misuse of a word I let those errors remain. Overall enjoyed the experience of setting up the software and an excited about not having to type. Has anyone else had experience with the software? If so what has it been like to use this type of a program? There a lot more things I have to learn I look forward to experimenting more with the software so they can become even more efficient “writing” papers.

Teleportation would be ridiculously expensive

I wanted to continue my discussion about teleportation this week by examining the costs (as in money) associated with this technology. Assuming for a moment we could build a device powerful enough to teleport a person, (Theoretically teleportation is possible, for proof read about EPR correlation) it would be ridiculously expensive. Let me explain. For illustration purposes, lets compare teleportation of human to sending a fax. Looking at the process, a fax is converted from atoms (ink on a paper), to bits (digital reproduction), sent (teleported), converted back to atoms (ink on paper) once the fax arrives. Additionally, from a bandwidth/processing perspective, sending a 2 or 3 page fax is not very data intensive.

So lets examine the process of teleporting a human. The first step would be to scan (digitize)every molecule in the human body and the human body has as many molecules as the sands of the sea, or so it seems. To be exact, 10^28, that is, 10 followed by 28 zeros of molecules! If this scan could be performed, we would send the digital information to some receiver, most likely via the internet or some other type of connection. If this were possible, then the digital information would have to be reconstructed, each molecule would have to be placed within 1 nanometer of its original location! There is not enough computing power in all of the computers in the world, combined, that would allow for this type of 3-D scan.

But, if it were possible, it would require the most powerful computers. Thus, teleportation would be a very expensive process. Which leads to a recurring theme of my blogs and our new media class. The digital divide, the gap between the haves and the have nots. I wonder how big the digital divide would be if we get to this point of human teleportation? I wonder how this (teleportation and the resulting increase in the digital divide) would change society?

Wouldn't it be nice if we could teleport

I am having difficulty scheduling time to return home this Christmas, with work, school, writing my thesis, and other papers I am submitting for conferences and trying to stay in decent shape for next summers triathlon season. I may end up flying home for a weekend during Christmas, if I can find a flight.

Consequently, I began reflecting on teleportation and how simple this would make travel. (For a movie based example of teleportation see Jumper, not such a great movie, but the idea of teleporting is wonderfully portrayed) Think about it, if you could teleport, you could live anywhere. I could go home during the hoiliday season every night leading up to Christmas, and any other night. I could live on the Gold Coast of Australia and attend school/work in CT. This ability would instantly negate the need for any type of transportation, planes, cars, trains, buses, bikes, etc. Imagine the money saved from purchasing transportation in all its forms. Roads would become obsolete, as would airports, and train stations.

I will talk more about the science aspect of this next week, but would this ability be something beneficial to society? What would be some long term effects?

It is 10 pm Thursday night. I just got out of class and wanted to talk about a documentary we watched called; hate.com. In a nutshell, it discussed how hate groups have utilized the internet to perpetuate their doctrine. The internet allows them free speech and more importantly, global access to impressionable people. The documentary presented several examples of hate crimes that were inspired by this internet based propaganda. It also had interviews with those who set up these sites, often proclaiming they had done so in the name of God

My initial reaction was laughter, not at the crimes, but at the rhetoric spouted be these hate site creators. My thought was surely, people don't believe this stuff. Anyone with minimal intelligence would see through the lies. When I heard one of the "pastors" of these churches calling for a global purification, I thought of the crusades of the middle ages-people committing crimes in the name of God. These "pastors" don't understand the bible, or the teachings of Christ, who they claim to be committing these crimes for. It is difficult for me to believe there are people out there who would fall for these charlatans.

So my question(s) is, what is our responsibility when it comes to preventing these types of crimes? Should we shut down these websites? Should we prosecute the leaders? What responsibility do we have to prevent this type of hate? What can you or I as one person do?

Digital Divide/Nanotech

I wanted to relate an issue that we have discussed several times in class and one that always seems to be prominent in our textbooks and other technology related writings. The issue of digital divide always lurks in the background during any discussion of new media. Essentially this issue relates to the haves and the have not’s, which is nothing new, Marx addressed this idea in his theories. And as the name suggests, digital technology in the hands of the powerful/rich allows the gap/divide to grow between these two groups. The rich get richer is another way of looking at this, and digital technology is a tool that can perpetuate this issue.

So my question is (perhaps more so for those of you who are not in my class that read this) do new technologies make rich people richer? Or is it a case of having the technology and knowing how to use it as opposed to just having the technology. I tend to think it is more of the former. What do you think? If the next revolution begins with the diffusion of nanotechnology (please see last week’s post) will the digital divide increase? Will the rich get even richer?

Nanotechnology based revolution?

I want to discuss nanotechnology again this week. Christine Peterson who was the head of the Foresight Institute, a nanotech think tank, stated in 2004 regarding a potential nanotech based industrial revolution, “[the nanotech revolution] is going to be very big, much bigger than computers, because it will change everything around us. Computers only really altered one major aspect of our lives, but nanotechnology will change almost everything, from consumer products we buy to the way we practice medicine.”

I initially rejected this claim. I did not agree that nanotech is bigger than the steam engine? Electricity? Telegraph/telephone? Computer? Flying? Although, as I thought about this, I realized that nanotechnology could revolutionize each of these devices. (perhaps not the steam engine or telegraph). For example, the power of a computer is determined by the number of transistors (also known as switches) on its chip. As transistors have continued to shrink over the last 30 years computers have become more powerful. However, there will be a limitation to how far the transistors can be shrunk. Enter a switch that is one molecule wide. Thousands of these switches could fit on the smallest transistor we have today. As such, a cell phone equipped with a postage stamp sized chip utilizing molecular switches/transistors would be thousands of times more powerful than the highest end computer available now!

What would happen if we incorporated these nanotech chips into cars, bikes, planes, trucks, trains, clothes, and so on? Would this revolutionize society? Would this revolutionize human life? Furthermore, the increase in computing ability is only one aspect of life. What would happen if each industry (transportation, medicine, manufacturing, etc.) experienced a nanotech revolution?

Nanotechnology, where will it take us?

I found the ideas mentioned by Castells about nanotechnolgy to be very interesting. He stated that with nanotechnology, theoretically, a chip could be made with the computing power of 100 computers (in 1999) that could fit in a single grain of salt! I was amazed by this. When this technology becomes viable, it seems, the possibilities will be limitless.

Because the computers will be on a molecular level, they can be incorporated into the fabric of our clothes and the paint on our walls. This would truely be a flat screen tv, just paint your living room with paint containing nanotubes, and presto, every wall and even your ceiling will be a tv. With the nanodevices in our clothing, this could alert us to smoke in the case of a fire.

Currently, nanotechnology is being utilized in sunscreen, and in computer hard drives by way of a giant magnetoresistance heads "that, through nano-thin layers of magnetic materials allow for a significant increase in storage capacity." Also, in 2000, the nanotube equipped jumbotron lamp started to diffuse into society by providing light at most sports stadiums. Other future uses, include medical applications which will allow a more accurate delivery of medicine to affected areas within the body, cancer cells for instance. (I will talk more about potential applications next week)

Not all are excited about nanotech. Some research shows that inhalation of nanoparticals can cause cancer. Others worry that the development of autonomous nanobots could lead to a situation where nanobots attack humans. See novel Prey, by Michael Crichton for a worst case scenario of this. So where does this technology leave us? What are our responsibilities when it comes to nanotech development?

"Welcome to the United States, we have some of the slowest internet in the world."*

In class last week we talked about what Manuel Castells (for those of you not in this class, he is the author of The Rise of the Network Society, the first book in a trilogy regarding the information age. It is a very interesting, albeit dense read) refers to as “technological retardation”. He explains that this occurs when technology does not diffuse (utilized by a large portion of society) because of institutional obstacles. He gives as an example China’s technologically advanced society, which in some instances was centuries ahead of Europe as far as innovative development. For instance, their use of paper, the printing press, gun powder and the compass, all developed hundreds of years before Europe. But, around the 13th century, the government began to squelch technology development, which lead to, as we know now China’s fall from the technology leader board. (See pages 7-12 in Castells, it really is interesting reading)

So this brings me to my topic for this week, high speed internet, which in the US, is not so high speed. According to some data (I pulled this information from various internet sites, thus my inclusion of a range of values for the US. Additionally there is some discrepancy regarding the measuring of download speeds, i.e. megabits v. megabytes. The former is 1/8th the latter, so 8 megabits equals 1 megabyte. For this entry, I am going to assume everything to be in megabytes, but I have a feeling that cable/telecom companies would advertise megabits to convince us, the consumers that we are getting an incredible deal) the US ranks among the world, somewhere between 16th to 25th place for internet download speeds. In other words, there are 16 to 25 countries that have faster download speeds than we do.

I have two issues with this. First, the United States invented the internet! (This is like the US men’s basketball (also our invention) team failing to bring home the gold medal in the 2004 Olympics, it is simply wrong.) We should be leading the way as far as innovation, this includes download speeds. I understand that the US is much larger than countries like Japan, France, and Korea, all of which have faster download speeds. Still the US should be top 5, at least top 10, in this area. Secondly, how does this affect our country in the global community? Are we in a state of technological retardation because of government bureaucracy? Because of corporate greed? Will we miss opportunities because we are not in a position to handle new technologies that are yet to be developed?

Here is how the US compares with the rest of the world. Not surprisingly Japan is number 1 with an average download speed of nearly 70mbs. (Incidentally, 70mbs will cost you about $22 dollars per month in Japan) The US, as mentioned earlier is 16th to 25th with an average download speed of 2.3mbs! Does this bother anyone else? I wanted find out the fastest speed I could get at my apartment. According to Comcast (my internet provider) they highest speed they offer is 16mbs (megabits or megabytes?). It will cost me $43/month for the first 6 months, and $68/month thereafter! Wow, I probably could have qualified for a mortgage a few years ago for $68 dollars a month! So not only are we over 4x slower (in this area, 35x slower nationwide) than Japan, we pay 3x as much. Again, anyone else bothered by this?

Links
http://pressesc.com/01179677598_us_internet_slow
http://www.betanews.com/article/US_Internet_speeds_still_slow_compared_to_the_rest_of_the_world/1218831113
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/techpolicy/2007-06-25-net-speeds_N.htm

* Among post modern societies.

Cell phone as a wallet?

I would like to continue the discussion from last week regarding tools or uses of a cell phone. I mentioned that I would look into RFID technology that allows users equipped with this technology to make purchases with their cell phone. The technology was introduced in Japan in 2004. Since then several million users have adopted/incorporated this technology into their daily existence. Thus far, in Japan, most RFID equipped patrons utilize this tool for making small purchases, movie tickets, bus and train fares, fast food, convenience store purchases and the like.

Despite Japan’s rapid adoption of new technology, there have been issues. Namely, critics say, is the need to have cash for a large portion of their purchases. Japan is still a cash driven society. (Unlike the US where we can purchase just about anything with a credit/debit card) Also, special RFID terminals are needed by businesses to allow patrons utilization of this technology. Therefore, until Japan adopts a more electronic friendly purchasing practices and until more businesses install the required terminals, this technology may take some time to diffuse into Japanese culture.

I like the sound of this technology. But, how safe is it? If someone got my cell phone could they potentially empty my checking account? Or charge thousands of dollars to my credit card? Are we as Americans ready for this type of technology? Is this useful?

What are your cell phone stats?

For the last week, I have been keeping track of everything I use my cell phone for. (See results below) If I am honest with myself, some of the uses surprised me. Specifically, how many text messages I sent and received. Text messages outnumber my calls over 3 to 1. Also, last week I used the traffic enabled GPS application on four separate occasions, traveling nearly 300 miles under the watchful eye of big brother. These were the items I utilized most during this last week. Other applications that I used on my cell phone included mobile web to check weather and search for theaters. Calculator, alarm clock, date book, pictures, video clips, and used it to check time.
Which brings me to the questions for you. First, what are your cell stats? Post a comment about the top three uses of your cell, and how many times you utilized each tool. Second, do you consider the cell phone the new “digital swiss army knife”? I am not sure who coined this phrase, but I like it and feel it is applicable to cell phones. If I can refer you back to my cell usage, I utilized ten different applications or tools (tool is more fitting for the knife comparison). I have other tools on my phone, I can check email, listen to mp3, download video clips and so on.
In Japan, they have been using cell phones to make purchases at stores and coffee shops. This is done using RFID technology. (More on this next week) I am interested to see where technology takes the cell phone, I like the idea of being able to buy things with my phone, but what are the privacy implications? What happens if my phone is stolen? Will the thief go on a shopping spree?

My cell stats (09/11/08-09/18/08)
Text messages total (75)
Phone calls total (22)
GPS usage total (295 miles)

Introduction

For my first post I thought I would introduce myself and mention the focus of this blog. As you can see from the blogs title, my name is Mike. I spent the first half of my life in Michigan and the second half in South Carolina. I love playing sports and try to learn a new one every two years. Last summer I began doing triathlons and have enjoyed competing with myself and others in this sport. Now that I am in New England, I would like to join a crew team. Other sports I would like to learn include surfing and kiteboarding.

I am currently attending the University of Hartford working on a Masters degree in communication. I am planning on graduating in May of 2009. Tentative, post graduate plans (for the moment) will be to continue my education by pursuing a PhD, also in communication. My career objective (again, for the moment) is to become a professor of communication. I want to teach public speaking and other communication courses. One area of research which has interest for me, is how people use technology to develop, enhance, and maintain their interpersonal, romantic and familial relationships. Also of interest are the underlying issues/ implications of our increasingly technology reliant society.

This semester I am taking a seminar in new media. One of the requirements for the class (and upon which I will be graded) is to set up a blog and submit a post each week, ideally about some aspect of technology. In essence this blog is a result of a class assignment, which is ok as I have been wanting to get into blogging for some time. So this class has given me the motivation I need to participate in this new media technology. In future posts I will discuss nanotechnology, text messaging, social networking, a brief history of the internet, and other topics that I feel are relevant to class topics and which have communicative implications.