Robert Dewald

From WLCS

3/16/11

  • This scenario deals with the Peoples and Machines, Policies and Standards, and Privacy and Anonymity sects of Social & Ethical Issues. In this instance, people were interacting with, and using, computers (machines)in order to use Formspring and post whatever was said. Also, what was said on the Formspring went against the rules set by the company that runs Formspring (such as no bulling and others). People were also able to post whatever they wanted and do it anonymously.
  • This scenario deals with the Politics and Government, as well as, the Arts, Entertainment, & Leisure sects of the Areas of Impact. The company that runs Formspring had set rules and regulations that should have been followed when using the site, in this instance though these set rules were not followed and some very hurtful things were posted about some people. This applies to the Arts, Entertainment, & Leisure sect because people use Facebook/Formspring in their free (leisure) time and some people were actually entertained by what was posted on the site.
  • I personally feel that the idea of senior "what-ifs" is not such a bad one, if people come up with respectful things to say. The point of it was not to have hurtful things revealed or said about others, but more so to provide a place where people could either say nice things about others or in the worst case poke a little fun at their friends. It just so happened that people took it to a whole different level when they started commenting on people's personal lives and said things that are better kept to themselves.
  • In response to this scenario, it is hard to find a solution. The right thing to do would be find out who was saying what (which is difficult to do) and punish them accordingly. This would be tough to do because all comments were posted anonymously so figuring out who said what would be a challenge.
  • I feel like the Community Rules listed on the Formspring site are sensible and promote good behavior. People should be responsible for what they say and also should be respectful with what they post as well. Unfortunately, in this instance, people were not respectful with what they said and its had to hold people responsible when everything was done anonymously.

2/17/11

  • Artificial Intelligence -- the intelligence of machines and the branch of computer science that aims to create it.
  • The major stakeholders that are invested in the success of the IBM Watson are the creators of the machine itself, IBM the company as a whole, Watson, and all those who interact with it, such as other Jeopardy contestants.
  • IBM Watson will change the lives of people around it as well as others. It contains the ability to retrieve knowledge from a vast pool. This amazing ability could have many uses in the real world other than competing in Jeopardy games. The machine lacks human ingenuity and instinct but has almost endless factual knowledge in a multitude of areas. Its creators will only continue to improve its abilities and it will become more and more like a living human being.

2/9/11

  • [Patent, Copyright, Trademark Definitions and Examples]
  • Patent -- the exclusive right granted by a government to an inventor to manufacture, use, or sell an invention for a certain number of years. Example: When Thomas Edison invented the light bulb, he patented his invention so that no one else could still his idea without getting in serious legal trouble.
  • Copyright -- the exclusive right to make copies, license, and otherwise exploit a literary, musical, or artistic work, whether printed, audio, video, etc. Example: A band releases a song on their new album, their work can be copied and sold but only for their monetary benefit. A random person who buys their album may not resell for a profit.
  • Trademark -- any name, symbol, figure, letter, word, or mark adopted and used by a manufacturer or merchant in order to designate his or her goods and to distinguish them from those manufactured or sold by others. Example: The "Nike check" allows producers and customers to differentiate between the two companies of Nike and Adidas.

1/4/11

  • Large Majority of Scientists Believe that Man-Made Climate Change is Real
  • After 1,372 scientists were posed with questions regarding the climate change on Earth, 97% answered that the cause of this change is man-made. The 3% that did not agree with that were found to have lower levels of expertise, seemingly strengthening the argument that Earth's climate change IS man-made.
  • The stakeholder's in this issue are the scientists who were questioned, the people who analyzed the results found in this study, and the people around the world who are affected by the increasingly warmer climates on planet Earth.
  • This article deals with the reliability and intellectual property sects of Social & Ethical Issues. Reliability comes into play because some people could even be skeptical of those experts who believe that the change in climate is man-made and if the information they presented is not reliable people could be misled. Intellectual property deals with the intellect of the people who were involved in this study, the people asking and analyzing the questions and results as well as the scientific experts.
  • This article deals with the science and environment as well as the health sects of the Areas of Impact. This issue deals with the environment because it is negatively being affected by the unnaturally warm temperatures that are part of this climate change. This issue deals with health because the increasing amount of greenhouse gases that are causing the climate change reduces the quality of the air which can then become harmful for people on Earth to breathe.
  • To me, this is a very important issue because if nothing is done to try and slow or even completely stop the climate change, the entire human race could be wiped off the face of the Earth. Knowing how many lives are at risk and how much is at stake this is a very important issue in my opinion.

11/1/10

  • Facebook Developers Sold User IDs to Data Brokers
  • Facebook developers were selling UIDs (User IDs) to data brokers. This was putting people's personal identification information out to the public over the internet.
  • People who have Facebook, the data brokers, Facebook developers
  • This article deals with the control and security sects of Social & Ethical Issues. The people who control the UIDs are selling them wrongly and the UIDs are not secure and safe under the control of those developers who sold them away.
  • This article deals with the Arts, Entertainment, & Leisure and Business & Employment sects of the Areas of Impact because some people use Facebook as entertainment and they use it in their for leisurely pleasure. People who were employed by Facebook broke their policies that were set for them to follow and the data was sold to other businesses.
  • I think that developers who sold away the UIDs were wrong in what they did. I don't feel safe knowing that my personal ID could be sold away to someone I don't know and who could use that information against me and to harm me in some way. I feel what they are doing is plain wrong.

10/28/10

  • School Weblockers
  • School Weblockers -- students are able to upload their assignments and store them in the internet for the viewing of their teachers. This makes life easier for the teachers because they do not have to collect physical copies of the assignment. It also makes the assignment easier to grade for the teachers and submit their grades back to the students electronically.

10/28/10

  • In the US, the hourly salary of the BMW autoworkers is $15. For the same work in Germany, BMW automakers get paid 24 euros or $33 an hour.
  • Yes I'm surprised. I figure that due to the cost of living in the US compared to other countries around the world, the pay here would be equal if not higher than in Germany. Jobs in the US are offshored to other countries due to this fact alone so the difference in pay is surprising to me.
  • Other companies and/or countries that may be interested in offshoring jobs to the US could be other car companies or countries that have an incredibly high cost of living. Although the cost of living is very high in the major cities and surrounding counties in the US, the cost of living is much lower in the more rural areas of the country. So any country that would look at the US in the way that we look at China or Thailand, cheap and efficient labor, could offshore over here.

10/12/10

  • Technology in the Classrooom
  • 1-->One professor found students who use laptops excessively did 11% worse than the other students in her class. 2-->64% of teenage students use emoticons in their school work. 3-->Two-thirds of U.S. teenagers use internet writing shortcuts, such as informal abbreviations in their school work.
  • A major is that the GPA's of students who regularly use Facebook is a whole point lower than those who do not. This issue could possibly be solved if Facebook would come out with a certain way to regulate the amount of time teenagers can spend on Facebook. This would give the students more time to focus on their school work.
  • A downside to technology is the affect it is having on American teenagers. We have become to adept to using certain, informal language on the internet like "lol" or "omg" that some people now think that this type of language is appropriate to use in their school work. This seems to be showing a downgrade in some teenagers intelligence and grammar. Teachers should crack down on the use of this language by marking down significantly on the student's who use this language. The problem has already manifested iteslf and it would have been much easier to stop it before it got started but in the state that it is is now, it could be a very complex and difficult problem to solve.


10/5/10

  • Social Networks Bring Us to Isolation
  • Social networks are setting people into a state of isolation. People are communicating with others who they do not personally know and believe that they are actually friends with these people. This is causing a lack of real and true friends for others.
  • The stakeholder's in this article are the users of social networks around the world.
  • This article relates to the Privacy & Anonymity section of the Social & Ethical Issues because people do not actually know who they are interacting with over the Internet.
  • This article falls under the Arts, Entertainment, & Leisure section of the Areas of Impact because people use these social networks in their spare and leisure time.
  • Personally, this is quite alaraming to see. People all over the Internet and all around the world are "connected" with people who they do not know a single thing about. They are becoming network friends with random people who in reality could be the opposite of who they would really want to be around in real life.

9/29/10

  • Twitter Surpasses Myspace
  • Twitter has now surpassed Myspace to become the third-busiest social networking site in the world. Twitter's 96 million users, up 76% from last year; while Myspace is down to 95 million users, a 17% decline.
  • The stakeholder's in this article are the users of social networks around the world as well as the people who run these social networks.
  • This article relates to the People & Machines and Globilization & Cultural Diversity because it effects the people that use and run the social networks and the social networks connect people from all over the globe and from all different cultures.
  • This article falls under the Arts, Entertainment & Leisure area of impact because many people use these social networks as some form of entertainment and people also use them in their free time.
  • I personally am happy to hear that Twitter is growing so rapidly. I have my own Twitter account and I think it is a cool and easy way for friends to share what they are doing or experiencing with each other. I hope that Twitter continues to rise on the social network spectrum in the near future.

9/21/10

  • Girl Sues School for Invasion of Privacy
  • A 17 year old high school student in Pennsylvania just received $33,000 after suing her school. This was following the confiscation of the girl's phone during class and the later finding of nude images of the girl on the phone.
  • The stakeholder's in this case are high school students as well as teachers and administration of high schools.
  • This specific case relates to privacy as a part of Social & Ethical Issues.
  • This article relates to me because I have my own personal cell phone.
  • To solve the issues at hand, a rule should be implemented that if a student's cell phone is confiscated by a teacher or administrator, the person who confiscates it does not have permission to look through the files on the phone i.e., pictures, videos, etc

9/17/10

  • Social Networks Predict Epidemics
  • People could possibly be able to predict future epidemics by studying and investigating the information posted on the different social networks available to citizens.
  • This article relates to the "people & machines" aspect of the listed Social & Ethical Issues.