Course Blogs

Jan 14th :Techno-landscapes

http://shegeeks.net/have-you-lost-your-job-because-of-technology/

I found this blog that started a conversation about whether technology has taken away jobs. I know that technology has taken jobs away from people but I believe it has created jobs as well. First, technology is created by people and people are hired to repair and maintain whatever technological product is being used. Second the development of new innovation to make life easier requires the research and ingenuity of many people. Third, the development of new technology can create marketing & sales jobs, so, one job loss can create another job. Human beings do need social contact so I cannot see machines taking over everything but there certainly is a change these days, for example, you don’t have to see a teller at a bank,& you don’t have to see the cashier at a grocery store. With new advances in technology, people require more education too. Advances being new challenges and so I really see that jobs are just changing, but require more education which many people cannot afford. Technological advances bring new challenges to out economy and society as a whole.

Jan 21: Social media

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpIOClX1jPE

this was cool, social media in Plain English. It provides a good analogy for understanding the positive effects of social media.

January 28th : Obama & Social media

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/us_elections/article5542182.ece

this article was written in January when Obama was interviewed by CNN saying he felt he was going to win the battle to keep his Blackberry. Mr Obama told CNN that the BlackBerry was "just one tool among a number of tools that I'm trying to use, to break out of the bubble. To make sure that people can still reach me. But if I'm doing something stupid, somebody in Chicago can send me an e-mail and say, 'What are you doing?'" Obama is now known as the first "wired" President of the United States, and he is very interested in using technology to communicate directly with the American people.

Feb 10th: Blogs Gone Bad

The thing I want to comment on is that blogs can get nasty. I think that since people feel they are anonymous they can say whatever they want. I don’t think that many people who blog would say what they do in a blog to people’s face. Now, perhaps that is just being socially correct and blogs give us freedom to say what we want to but I do believe, if you cant say something to someone directly then don’t talk behind their back. Blogs give people a forum to say what they want but dometime people go too far, some have lost their jobs because of it as discussed in the article here.
http://www.thenewatlantis.com/publications/blogs-gone-bad

February 27th : Social networking for jobs

http://self-employed-marketing.suite101.com/article.cfm/social_networking_to_get_work

Social networking sites are out there for professionals to get work, make new business contacts, or can be used for self promoting. The professionals in question fill out a business-toned profile, highlighting their skills, education, job experience, job related attributes, etc. and from there they meet like-minded professionals who may wish to contact them about work. This is how professional social networking sites work but according to this site it doesn’t necessarily work that way. This site discusses whether it is possible to get work with professional social networking site. They suggest that it is possible to make new contacts and meet new professionals, but not to count on getting a whole lot of jobs or opportunities through social networking.

http://www.hrtools.com/staffing/social_networking_survey_results_released_by_one_of_nations_largest_employment_law_firms.aspx

this site looks at a study that surveyed more than 100 employers in New York's metropolitan commuter areas to determine how on-line social networking sites have affected the employer-employee relationship. The survey, released in September [2008], found that many employers are monitoring employees' use of the Internet during work time and will terminate employees who violate workplace control and screening policies. Employers are also actively using social networking sites to screen new employees before hiring. Social networking has many implications for work. 1. it is a distraction at work, more and more people are checking their social networks for personal reasons while at work. 2. Social networks can be used as a screening tool for employers. If you can gain access to a potential employee’s Face book or My Space site, you might discover things that are not in keeping with company philosophy. 3. Social networking can be an effective tool to keep up on what is being said about your company by current and former employees. Employees might blog or say things about the company, both positive and negative on social network sites. Potential employees can access these blogs to find out if the company would be a good place to work This article did indicate that using personal sites for information on potential employees should be used with caution because it could be a violation of privacy, which I thought was important to say because we keep hearing we need to be careful what we post on our Face book for example because a potential employer might see things they don’t like. “Employers should note that such searches raise privacy concerns and may reveal information about protected characteristics such as race, religion, ethnicity and medical conditions. (Also worth considering: systematic use of such sites may muddy the waters of who is deemed a job applicant for affirmative action purposes.) Until this issue plays out in the courts, Rosen's advice is this: Only search the Internet and social networking sites with prior written consent and after a conditional job offer has been made.”

March 18th tid bits: Privacy Issues

http://redtape.msnbc.com/2009/01/post-1.html

Facebook scam: Identity theft.

People should read this article about Identity theft through Facebook, pretty scary. This man’s, facebook was high jacked & friends were asked for money, believing the request was coming from him. He caught it but not without a lot of hassle and stress.

Final Comments

This class has definitely been a very interesting one. With the way technology is building and seeking bigger and better things by the minute, it is very important for us to pay attention to these things and the ways of the future. Since I am hoping to pursue a job in the businesses field, I believe that this is very beneficial for my future career opportunities. Social networking is the future, and more and more companies are using these cites to communicate with others, as well as using them as sources for marketing and advertising. Just look at President Obama, technology in the Whitehouse is exploding as the first “wired” President takes over. We will see many changes in how Government operates as a result of this President and it will definitely happen in Canada too, we cannot avoid it.
I feel I am leaving this class with much more knowledge in this area (as well a more questions). Before this class I wasn’t very conscious about these things that are a big part of my every day life. One thing this class got me thinking more about is the privacy issues. Privacy on the Internet is not something that I really ever paid much attention too. With everything that we have learned about privacy issues on the Internet, it has made me much more aware of the information that I provide about myself online. I was originally posting things on my Face book, not even thinking or realizing the fact that many people who I am not really close to, and some who I don’t even really know, had accesses to some of my personal information and also pictures.
The information society is always expanding. Social networking is a great way to keep in contact with friends and family, as well as a quick and easy way to communicate with others as well as share information. Technology allows us to learn things and to learn from others. With these technologies, we can share information and seek information from different mediums, such as blogs, and also on twitter. And with cites such as delicious you have the ability to look at websites that others have found, and allows for you to organize your own bookmarks.

Myspace Suicide

My Space suicide and Cyber bullying

The MySpace Suicide: A Case Study in Over criminalization. By Andrew Grossman http://www.heritage.org/research/legalissues/lm32.cfm .

When the Bullies turned faceless. By Christopher Maag http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/16/fashion/16meangirls.html?_r=1&n=Top/Ref erence/Times%20Topics/People/M/Meier,%20Megan

Studies on cyber bullying are somewhat limited, since it is a fairly new field of study but, it is clear that it is an issue requiring attention, just like bullying in general does. I read these articles I posted here about the case of Megan Meier and how it caused people to take notice of the dangers of virtual communities for youth. Megan Meier’s suicide made headlines because she was the victim of a hoax. Lori Drew, a mother in the neighborhood, said in a police report that she had created a My Space profile of a boy, an invention named “Josh Evans,” and that she and her daughter had manipulated Megan into thinking that this fabricated person liked her. Then, after a few weeks, girls, posing as Josh, wrote My Space messages telling Megan that he hated her, ending with a final message suggesting the world would be better off without her. Within an hour of that message being received, Megan killed herself. Although we could guess that most mothers would not pull vicious pranks and few harassed adolescents become depressed and commit suicide as a result of on-line bullying, there definitely is cause for concern. “Unlike traditional bullying, which usually is an intimate, if highly unpleasant, experience; high-tech bullying can happen anywhere, anytime, among lots of different children who may never actually meet in person. It is inescapable and often anonymous, said sociologists and educators who have studied cyber bullying.” http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/16/fashion/16meangirls.html?_r=1&n=Top/Ref erence/Times%20Topics/People/M/Meier,%20Megan

I found this story so sad and scary at the same time because it seems almost impossible to control or stop.

The MySpace Suicide: A Case Study in Over criminalization. By Andrew Grossman http://www.heritage.org/research/legalissues/lm32.cfm .

I remember reading last year that this mother was found guilty; I found the following information in Andrew Grossman’s article: Lori Drew was indicted under a federal anti- computer hacking statute for impersonating a young man on My Space to gain the trust of Megan Meier, who killed herself after the cruel joke went out of control. On November 26, 2008 she was found guilty of three minor offences, not the felony charges, but the charges and subsequent verdict sent a message that this sort of action will not be tolerated. There was a lot of controversy about the charges and many legal minds, although they were disgusted by Lori Drew’s actions, did not see the charges as being appropriate. They were concerned about extremely broad liability that could make millions of honest citizen’s possible criminals. Although most legal people agree that Lori Drew's conduct was irresponsible, and disgusting, they also suggest it was not criminal. “It may deserve social sanction, already dispensed in great quantity, and perhaps civil liabil¬ity to Megan Meier's parents. But if Drew is con¬victed under criminal law, virtually every Internet user will face the consequences.” Andrew Grossman said. It does seem scary that cyber space is so new and that laws have not been clearly developed yet to deal with all that can happen on-line and in cyber communities. I believe there should be laws in place to protect children from this kind of abuse.

Ellen Talks Twitter./ Year of The Twitter

Even Ellen is now Twittering. I am a big fan of the Ellen show and recently Ellen started her own twitter. What a perfect fit for the class! It is also interesting to know that a lot of celebrities, including Barack Obama are involved with this social network. Twitter is constantly getting bigger.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmxuwHZ0LXY

Year of the Twitter

"Ever since Barack Obama, Shaq, P. Diddy joinged twittering, it was sure sign the social-networking site had breached the zeitgeist".

By Nick Lewis, Calgary Herald April 6, 2009

"If, as Canadian media theorist Marshall McLuhan once enthused, the medium is the message, then the message of the growing "twittering" phenomenon could be we don't have much to say to one another, but would like to say it often. Twitter.com, the online social networking site that has nearly seven million people microblogging about their lives, allows users to send each other quirky text messages, or "tweets," under 140 characters — about the length of a Facebook status update".
http://www.canada.com/Entertainment/YEAR+TWITTER/1469891/story.html