UWB radio transmissions

In the text, UWB stands for Ultra Wide Band radios. It spreads radiation across the frequencies of the radio spectrum. So, in your home, this would make it possible to make your television wireless, and I would assume all other types of technology in your home. The major concept here is one day, we may be able to take these technologies in our homes, and connect their functions to the car through the utilization of UWB transmissions. This concept blows my mind away. In modern day cars, you have a built in GPS as well as built in charging stations for your phones, ipods, etc. And now, we are talking about getting rid of all of this, and having a receiver able to connect to technologies in your home. So, this would take away the GPS, because you could always access Google Maps from the receiver. This would take away your iPod, because you could access an unlimited amount of music from the Internet which would also go through the receiver. If we are thinking wireless, most smart phones these days can access wireless to maybe get on a better connection. Since this receiver picks up technologies at home on a wireless network, you may be able to leave your phone at home, and make or receive calls through your receiver. I do not know how that would work, but it's just a thought.

Ken Zeran

To have your contact information falsely represented the way it was in this story can go down as a "worst-case" scenario. From reading the story, it seemed Ken was a little too relaxed about the whole situation. To retaliate in any way would probably be the last thing I would do. To have your information misrepresented like that is an immediate lawsuit, and to bring it to court right away. His first response was to call AOL, and have them remove the advertisement. I would not even bother with that step. I would go to a lawyer, plead my case, and sue them for as much as possible. The longer you wait, the more likely for yourself to retaliate which means the less credibility you have.

What is the value of a bit?

DRM, stands for "Digital Rights Management." Once the Internet became so popular, it was too easy for pirates to copy and illegally sell digital media and products. Therefore, the purpose of DRM is to stop illegal reproduction and distribution of these products. I do agree that illegal copying of music and videos is a real problem in this world. People who work so hard to make these albums are not getting the full profits they deserve. However, I don't think it's the artists who are the most upset. Major record labels are the ones most frustrated. When artists sign to record labels, the companies make the majority of money off of CD sales. When pirating of music became so prevalent in society, the companies wouldn't make as much money off of the music they were selling. However, through pirating music, you see it is much easier for artists to become popular. The more popular you are, the more people will come out to your concerts. Concerts are where artists make a majority of their revenue, because it gives them a chance to break away from the record companies where they do not have a financial obligation with them. So, in a way, artists should not complain about this. This is an illegal action, and I do agree that it is wrong. However, with the abundance of pirating music, it has been making artists more money, and leaving the record companies in the dust. However, people still buy CDs all the time. Personally, I love adding to my collection and checking out the artwork, and other things artists add in their little pamphlets that come with each CD.

FOAF-style network

Just when you think social networks could not get more innovative, think again. When I was first exposed to this idea, "friend of a friend," I thought about LinkedIn. I know they are different, but I feel there is a minimal amount of social "business" networks. With "friend of a friend" may change the whole game of getting employed. For example, the whole "interview process" begins with getting recognized. Being recognized, in my opinion is the hardest part in getting a job. If your resume is not impressive, and your cover letter is just average, consider yourself unemployed. However, you take this same instance, and your references are all presidents of major companies, you may have a shot. Your best references in the near future may come from a "FOAF" network. People build credibility in numerous ways. With a FOAF style network, it is just another way to get recognized. In this economy, the unemployed can use all the help they can get. Also, this may benefit businesses all around the world. So much money is put into research and background checks to make sure the individual they are about to hire is the right choice. With this style of network a company may better understand the type of person you are through the people that you know. If it's a social network I am going to assume it's free, which takes much of the economic pressure off of research departments.

Prisoner's Dilemma

First, we have to define the term before I reflect on it. Prisoner's dilemma deals with the "seller to consumer" relationship. First, there is a transaction where both the seller and customer are "ethical" in which they both respect each others' part in the transaction. Second, the seller takes advantage of the customer. Third, it's the exact opposite where the buyer takes advantage of the seller. Fourth, they both take advantage of the situation. When discussing auction sites like "eBay," this "prisoner dilemma" is very present through every transaction. Close to the beginning of the semester I shared a story dealing with eBay where the second part of a prisoner's dilemma took place. I thought I would share it again because it directly relates to the material. I am a huge basketball fan, especially a Knicks fan. Over the years it has been very hard to support them. What do you do when they are consecutively horrible? You look back on the glory years to make yourself feel better. So, I wanted to purchase an Allan Houston jersey to take myself down memory lane. I found the perfect size, and perfect jersey. The title clearly said, Medium, not specifying if it was an adult size or children size. When not specified, I think we all assume it is adult. As a frequent online buyer, if it is a kid's size, people go out of the way to specify this particular characteristic. I receive the jersey in the mail about three weeks later, and the jersey is as big as my right leg.   

There are two possible risks I see as being major in the online auction process. First, you go through the same experience I did, and not receive your money's worth. Second, identity theft when providing credit card information. However, "PayPal" is a great way to protect your information which gets rid of the second risk. I do believe they work because I have many friends who have had great experiences with eBay. I believe we need to be careful and conscious of the risks before getting involved so we avoid mistakes like the one I made.

Information Cascade

I believe the best way to describe an information cascade is the followers and trends we see in today's society. People go on TV and look at the clothes people are wearing, and the music people listen to. When it is repeated, and drilled into people's minds everyday, you see people exactly replicate these actions without even thinking twice about it. Your own instincts become the majority's instincts, and this is where we see a loss of identity when everyone is following each other, rather than follow their self. It almost seems logical for the insecure. You have nothing to worry about if you wear and listen to the same music everyone else is. I browsed over some other reactions to this blog post. I saw someone mention the JMU riot. Now, we have been doing this event for years on end. We look at the paper and you have 12 convicted felons that were non-JMU students, and maybe one from JMU. For some reason, one person decided it would be a good idea to throw a beer can at an officer. It seemed like people's instincts were following the majority, and loss all clear sense of thought. Within minutes there were thousands of beer cans being thrown into the air. Now, I am not saying JMU students did not participate in the riot because they definitely did. However, I believe they got caught in an information cascade that was brought from the outside where they thought these type of actions were okay. Without an outside influence, I believe there would be no problems today.

“revolution doesn’t happen when society adopts new technologies--it happens when society adopts new behaviors”

I could not agree more with this quote. Today, new technology is part of our daily lives. It has become such a routine in our culture that it has lost its popularity over the years. People are not looking for the craziest inventions out there, they are looking for change. I would just like to cite back to our presentation last night. At the end, you asked the group if it is easy for a company to utilize social media through viral marketing. The answer is simply "no." Everyone is exposed to technology and social media everyday. What grabs attention of the public these days is something new. In this particular quote, "new behaviors" is not new technologies. It is utilizing the technology we have, and reaching the public on a level where they can relate to the company. Something that shows you would be just as creative without the technology at hand. I think that best describes this quote.

Mental Transaction Cost

A "mental transaction cost" is literally the thought process in deciding to buy something based solely on the price of that particular product. Everyone at least thinks for a split second on whether to buy something. Well, when referring back to the last post, when someone offers you something free, where can you point out a time when that individual's mind is contemplating his/her cost options? The answer is never! This is why "zero" has such a major influence, especially on the hard working Americans. It completely gets rid of this "mental transaction cost" and by instincts, 100% of the time you will take that offer. So, in a nutshell, this is the best description I could come up with, and I believe there is a high correlation between how in depth the mental transaction cost will be depending on how high or low the price is.

"Zero," The Hot Topic

Zero is such a hot topic because it frees people's minds of rational thought. I believe this ties right into "discounts," and "sales" where people think they are actually saving money. Nothing is free in this life. You have to work hard in order to achieve possessions. Especially in America, which is known as the hardest working country in the world, when something is presented as "free" it almost seems like a no-brainer without even thinking of the quality of the product. Also, when something is presented as free, people do not even think of the possibility that the company is trying to tie you in to buy more of their products. Don't get me wrong, when I am in the heat of the moment, I would do anything for a free shirt, or free product in general. I know exactly the motives of a company when I see something is free, or on sale, and yet, I still contribute to that particular business. I don't know why but it has to be an individual's largest weakness, and companies around the world are continuing to capitalize on this very notion.

Scratch

The site seems like a great opportunity for this society to learn. The saying "two heads are better than one" will never lose its meaning, and I believe Scratch had this saying in the back of their heads when creating this website. What I like most is that anyone can do it. There is no discrimination which is so important in learning. It provides a chance for some younger minds to display everyone is intelligent in their own way. I think this is a great way for younger individuals to get a grasp of reality. By reality, I mean how influential the Internet can be in today's society. Being able to share projects with one another creates a constructive environment. If the website grows more and more popular, society may move towards a collective approach rather than the individualistic society we see today. If this moves to the classroom, even in elementary school, children will be one step ahead in this world. However, I do see some negatives/consequences from this. Younger children have low patience, and may become dependent on a website like Scratch. I don't know about anyone else, but as I became older, I probably never read one book in middle school or high school. Why? Because of "Sparknotes." I can see for even larger projects, students will rely on Scratch as a resource for ideas, which may result in many plagiarism cases. With every benefit, there is always a flaw so I am in no way trying to put down Scratch. All I am trying to do is face reality, and weigh the options. Other than that I think Scratch is a great website, and I see success in the future for them.

JMU Only

I believe a JMU wiki would differ greatly from a worldwide version. JMU has specific guidelines, or a checklist, to the typical student they want at their school. So, after getting accepted, its as if you are now part of one big club. Also, after attending college for at least one year, your opinions tend to get biased. If the assignment was to talk about what is the best college in the United States, JMU's wiki would be completely different from the world's perspective. After the riot last year, the world had this perception that JMU was a no-for-good party school that is detrimental to society. However, if JMU's society was to create a wiki on that experience, they would be able to tell the world there were about 12 felonies committed that day, and 11 of them were not JMU students. People from all over the country came to JMU on that day because we have a great student body who are smart, and also like to have a good time. So, I believe the wikis would be far from similar, but JMU's wiki would definitely have a higher quality in respect to the subject I brought up. I say this because we know exactly what is going on, experiencing national news of events like the riot first-hand. JMU knows what happened that day, and the rest of the nation/world does not.

Main points on Wikis

The first major point I believe is important is the definition of a Wiki, which "all users are allowed to edit any page or create new pages within the website. The second main point is "project management." When working on a project with multiple people, wikis are very user-friendly when trying to manage a team. On the wiki, you can create links to meetings, agendas, documentation, and other things related to the overall project. This type of collaboration gets rid of annoying emails that may never get read. Third, wikis make it very easy to track project status. This promotes creativity because every project does not need a destination, or an end. As the lecture states, when using wikis it's easy to be a part of a "running project." Fourth, I think it is important to be knowledgeable interpreting a wiki page the correct way. Wikis allow you to link to pages that don't even exist. Blue links are to pages that do exist, and the red links are to pages that do not exist. If someone is an expert in that field, they can take a challenge in creating the page that does not exist. Lastly, history is very important. So, the last important point is how Wikipedia first got started. Wales and his community of volunteers had a dream of providing a "free encyclopedia in the hands of every person on the planet." So, it's a great story, and a great source of information.

Should drug companies be required to come clean?

Of course they should come clean about issues like this. If drug companies are selling products and not mentioning potential side effects, that type of behavior promotes deceptiveness in our community. Overall, it is unethical. Even though it may steer people away from the product, it is better to be truthful than not. So, if you leave out important information, and someone does get a side effect, it will ruin that products reputation, and acts almost like "bad karma." I don't know what else to say other than companies need to tell the truth because it is unethical, and, the truth will come out one way or another.

Proprietary Software, Advantages?

First, open source software is defined by "peer production" through collaboration with the "blueprints" which is available to the public at no cost. From what I read, proprietary software is the exact contrast of open source software. Usually with this type of software, the source code, also known as a "trade secret," is kept from the public. Access to the source code by a third party usually requires the party to sign a non-disclosure agreement (NDA). I believe there holds advantages with both software. In open source, you can get opinions about your product all over the world. I think a good example of the "concept" is wikipedia. It is a working website, where people continue to post information on numerous topics until they get the best explanation or definition. Even though you may have a patent or copyright on the software, there must be some paranoia held in making it ultimately available to the public. So, I believe this is an advantage for proprietary software in being that you cannot access the "source codes." People can still view the software without altering the original product. Also, you may be at a comfort level in knowing it is almost impossible to take this particular idea and "run away with it." However, according to Harvard Business School, software companies are taking a "best of both worlds" approach by creating products using a combination of OS and proprietary software code. I just thought this was very interesting because I never knew you would be able to create a software that implements both open source and proprietary. As I read the article, it states, "In the past, a pure OS model was the big thing, but there were many firms that found it was very hard being profitable." An example they provided was Sun Microsystems, which ended up being acquired by Oracle because it was "too open" which is a major disadvantage of open source software. At the end they still cannot determine if the "mixed" approach is the best way. Overall, controversy will seem to exist within the topic for some time. 


 Sources:
1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_source

2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proprietary_software

3. http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/6158.html

Community of Practice

I believe online communities are very helpful to the individual, especially when someone feels "alone." In an online community, it's the exact opposite of this where you feel a sense of security. For example, my aunt lives in upstate Connecticut. The closest city is about 2 to 3 hours away and the woods is basically her back yard. I would not say my aunt and uncle are secluding themselves from society, but the property is very "out there," and it always has been. We only see each other a few times per year. Even when I got a cell phone text messaging was not really helping their connection with the rest of the family. Once more and more social networks starting coming out, the family began using them. Me and my aunt have now been part of a great online community for the past three years. With school I am online a lot, but I try to stay away from the social networks because of the addictiveness is entails. However, when my brother, father, aunts, uncles, and cousins are constantly participating in this online community, it gives me great motivation to participate. It has helped keep the family much closer rather than distant. We get the best of both worlds here. The family has been getting into this routine about posting facts and asking questions daily. I do learn something new everyday in the classroom, but I never thought I would be learning something new from an online community we create between our family. So, I am not only learning about each family member's lives and keeping up to date, but I am also learning cool new facts about this life in general. The Internet is a great tool and I suggest everyone to start taking advantage of it.

Social Networks Becoming Invisible

Personally, this transition would affect me a lot. If we are moving towards a complete "online community" it will be a very depressing time for myself. I love to go into a music store and search around for my new favorite CD that I will listen to for weeks. Sadly enough, the only books I read are textbooks that are mandatory for school. I do remember in a lecture we had a few weeks ago, you spoke of Google Books, where you ultimately could do anything you wanted with it. You can buy a book or you can just "browse" by typing words into the search engine. Google will display every time that word comes up in that specific book. If I enjoyed reading books, this would be a very fascinating feature. So, if books were to make this transition I really would have no problems with it. My entire life has been surrounded by music. My friends from home to college are obsessed with finding that new, awesome, underground band that no one has heard of. And I hear of new music either through radio, going to music festivals, or word-of-mouth. However, when my friends tell me about new bands, it all comes from the Internet which is really no surprise. Overall, I'm somewhat split on how I feel about the situation. For movies, the only place I ever feel good advertisement and promotion is through commercials on the television. I rarely find new great movies through the internet. I am not dependent on the Internet which is a comforting fact. I like to hear about music through my friends and I enjoy seeing commercials for up-and-coming movies. There's not much more I can ask for.

EBay

I have used EBay many times in the past. One experience sticks out to me as devastating. I am a huge New York Knicks fan and for years I have been looking for an Allan Houston jersey that is my size. I came across one jersey that read medium. I say to myself, "Perfect! finally an adult jersey my size." The jersey in the picture looked reasonable, and since it was a close-up the display looked very big. A couple weeks later I get the jersey in a very small package. It ended up being a "kid's medium" which it stated no where on the advertisement. Before completing the order I had to place all my debit card information through "PayPal," which made it very easy purchase. Overall, this was the only time I had a bad experience. I have bought plenty of old Nintendo 64 games and old controllers in mint condition through fair prices. So, with the example being the only terrible experience through EBay, I am sure I will be using the service in the near future.

You have an important personal question...

Before coming to JMU, as a Freshman the college campus can be very intimidating. I had a lot of personal questions running through my mind. Questions like, "How am I going to survive? How am I going to live on my own? How do I do well in a college class?" The first thing I ran to was the internet and the first search engine I could think of was Google. The procedure was fairly quick, and very easy to access. I typed in the search engine, "tips for first year college students." All these questions were circling through my head, and Google made me extremely relaxed once reading all the tips provided. So, instead of typing in a question into Google, I typed in more of the subject of my question. This appeals to me because I believe Google is the easiest, fastest way to get the answer you desire. The only thing I do not like about the search is you are almost forced to type in subjects rather than questions. For years it seems search engines have been trying very hard to make it possible for people around the world be able to type a simple question and get an answer. Now, I'm not saying you can't do that because there are simple questions that have simple answers. However, when the question becomes more complex, you are forced to type in subjects rather than the whole question itself.

Member Of a Group

I am a member of the fraternity Pi Kappa Alpha. As a chapter, we are organized by an executive board who makes the "executive decisions" for our fraternity. The executive board consists of a president, two vice presidents (internal and external), a treasurer, a secretary, a risk manager, the sergeant at arms, and the pledge educator. These positions are elected every year. The entire board addresses the chapter every Sunday on new information and new events that will be taking place. They cover the week we just went through, and the future weeks ahead. Now, I don't want to say the executive board tells the fraternity everything. There is a meeting prior to our "chapter meeting" where "exec" discusses major issues that not everyone can hear. The reason why we elect these individuals is because we have trust that they can lead our fraternity to success and there must be disclosure, or separation between exec and the rest of Pi Kappa Alpha in order for that to happen. So, our "manager" would have to be our president, because he appoints every meeting and is the leader of every discussion that takes place in our chapter meetings. Like I said before, not all information is distributed, but that is up to the executive board to make these decisions.

Social Networks

I believe all the social networks mentioned in the question have been great tools in present day society. I call them tools because they have so many different functions. For example, Facebook was originally created for a social network consisting of college kids. I believe that was the main focus. As time went on, the amount of users on Facebook grew exponentially. In my mind, I feel as if Facebook started having the same motives as Google does today. I'm not saying there objectives are the same, I am simply saying the way they generate revenue is identical. However, in no way is it a scam. Facebook has become very user-friendly because it goes above and beyond the "social network." It has been great for non-profit groups to get huge turn-outs at certain events because Facebook has become a major promotion tool in our society. It not only helps promote non-profit groups, but also small bands that people may not know too much about. In a sense, it provides people a chance to speak up and be noticed when these type of people are never heard. I believe these social networks stand for a good cause and a great promotional tool for all who choose to use it. And by promotion, this can go from an individual, a small group, to a major business. This is why the social networks are so effective because anyone can use them.

Loyalty Cards

I had a history teacher for two years in high school who always had a story to tell. One was particularly on his wife who loved to shop. At least once every couple of weeks, she would come home and go on and on about how she "saved" so much money at the store. He would say, "the only reason you bought any of these items is because they were on sale, or because you had a discount card." I could not agree with him more. The whole idea behind loyalty cards, or discount cards, is to buy more of the store's products. Essentially, you are not saving money, you are spending money. If you never had a discount card for certain products, you would never buy them. So, no, I do not believe our purchasing privacy is worth a discount. In my mind, I believe the whole "discount idea" is just a huge scam to reel in customers into making them believe you are saving when you are really spending. I know it is difficult to keep one's privacy in the society we live in today, but, if there were no discount cards it would be one less thing to worry about. I do see the positives that come out of these cards to aid in their marketing tools demographically.  However, there are multiple alternatives in finding your target audience and I just feel discount cards should not be one of them. For example, surveys could be handed in and out of stores. You could also have surveys online, or, simply have employees casually ask quick questions that could benefit the business for research. Again, there are many different ways to go about researching for your business, and discount cards, in my mind, should be banned from the American society.

Google

I believe from a business standpoint, what Google is doing is smart. The Chinese government can be strict when it comes down to censoring. Their citizens do not possess the freedom that Americans have. In China, if Google refuses to censor certain things, the Government could ban the search engine from the entire country, losing a huge portion of their revenue. Every country in this world has different beliefs and there is no way around it. If you want to do business in different countries, you must be flexible in order to make everyone happy. China has been brought up through a very strict past. These type of "orderly" values are engraved into their minds, and most likely will never change. I, without a doubt, have no problem with information being filtered in China. It is simply what works for both parties.

What name would you liked to be called, your major, your career plans, and what you hope to learn from this course.

1.) Andrew
2.) Communication (Organizational)
3.) My career plans do not stretch too far right now. I recently had an internship at a tanker brokerage this summer which fits perfectly with my major so that can always be a fall back plan. However, what I will strive for is a career in marketing, specifically advertising. And by advertising, I mean anything from billboards, newspapers, magazines, to television commercials.
4.) Well, I am an "Educational Media" minor for a reason. I love working with my computer and technology in general. Working with technology and media cannot be more relevant in our lives. So, I would really like to be able to take as much information as possible, and place it through the most effective ways using the available technology and media offered in our present day society. Practice makes perfect, and that's what I hope to learn from the course.