Final Blog #20

Well, another semester comes to a close. I finished my paper yesterday and had it proofread by a friend. I worked on the final paper for a week, usually working on it one hour every day. Out of all the books assigned this semester Made to Break was my favorite. So, I can say I enjoyed writing this paper. Giles Slade made his argument very convincing and thorough, but most of all his style of writing made it enjoyable to read. The subject of “planned obsolescence” is a concept I have thought little of, but I have to say this assignment and this class has opened my eyes. As I went through Slade’s book again, I began to think about the point he is making about Americans becoming more concerned about the e-waste that is starting to pile up. I covered this in my paper and used Slade’s ideas throughout. His last chapter, which I based most of my paper on, Slade comes to the point of his book, that All American must become more aware of the problem of e-waste and to find a solution.

 I agreed with Slade’s point of view. I thought about the “going green” movement in America and how it only became popular when the media started to report on it. I went looking on the internet for articles on the green movement. What I found seemed one sided and leaned too heavy on optimistic view. It is not easy to suddenly change our ways and teenager especially, due to the stigma of not “fitting in”. I wrote about the cell phone in my paper and its toxic chemicals when it is discarded.  

Technology assists in making our lives easier to live and it cuts our stress factor in half. With this gift, we should be more responsible about how we dispose of these tools/toys. Slade’s argument is sound and I hope my paper is convincing, as convincing as the argument I covered.

Final Assignment: Blog No. 1

This week we received the two topics for our final assignment. It did not take me long to choose Giles Slade’s book, Made to Break. Out of the five books I read for this class, I enjoyed Slade’s book the most. That is due to the topic and his way of writing. Also, I feel his topic is quite relevant to our times. There is a large amount of information on going green and planned obsolescence in articles, books and the Internet. I realize this assignment is not about my opinion and it will be difficult to keep it out of this paper, but I will try. Slade does a good job in his argument and due to the cost to go green; I will see where my argument goes. As far as the social aspect of this topic is concerned, Slade feels people like the newest toy more than keeping the Earth healthy, but I plan on finding articles about going green and see what they have to say about new toys that are more environmental friendly. I plan on starting my paper very soon, so that I am not bogged down the night before it is due. I like the idea about blogging during the process. It helps to focus on the topic and the direction the paper will go. This way when I start I can narrow in on the topic at hand. I have already found three articles off the Internet about going green, two that have a positive spin and the third with a negative spin. After a start my paper, I will blog again with my progress. This is all I have for now. I’ll be doing more reading and research and will back with more information later.

Facebook Blog: Part 3

In this third and final blog of Kirkpatrick's book, The Facebook Effect, he continues to discuss the rising value of Facebook.  Also, he writes about Zuckerberg’s announcement to development platforms for programmers to create social applications within Facebook. Within a matter of weeks, many applications had been built and some already had millions of users. Zuckerberg explained, “We want to make Facebook into something of an operating system, so you can run full applications.” (pg. 217) I think Zuckerberg wanted to have Facebook be like Microsoft, where it is very much like a monopoly on the social network. Microsoft wiped out all the other competition and Zuckerberg wants Facebook to dominate the social network.

What I found interesting was Kirkpatrick’s comment about Facebook taking the burden off itself to built better applications. In becoming a platform, Facebook did not have to keep building better applications; it can now rely on others to do it for them. Yet, with this simple plan Facebook can reap the benefit and share these applications with the whole world.  (pg. 218)

When it came time for Facebook to make money, Zuckerberg’s personality showed itself.  To him, everything was about the “long-term” plan. Zuckerberg believed, “Long-term financial success depended on continued growth, he believed, and even his grand declaration at the Facebook Ads launch just meant the company would start seeking new approaches.” (pg. 259)  Zuckerberg could not see anything but, “...growth and continued improvement in the customer experience...” (pg. 258) it is fascinating to read about a young man not dazzled by all those billions!

In chapter fifteen, Kirkpatrick writes about Zuckerberg’s concept of “gift economy”. He believes that, “The whole culture works on this framework of mutual giving. The thing that binds those communities together and makes the potlatch work is the fact that the community is small enough that people can see each other’s contributions.” (pg. 287) When Zuckerberg talks about a community is small enough, he means since Facebook has made the world smaller and closer. Zuckerberg goes on to say, “When there’s more openness, with everyone being able to express their opinion very quickly...” (pg. 287) He felt companies would become “more good, and trustworthy”. Maybe I am more jaded, but I found this ideology idealistic, but it can also be his youth. That said, Facebook has come a long way in a short time and it has shown it resilience. Facebook keeps on improving itself, maybe it can improve the way the world works.

facebook: Part 2

In the second part of David Kirkpatrick's book, The Facebook Effect: The Inside Story of the Company That Is Connecting the World, he continues his story about the rise of a ground breaking Web site and the young men responsible. Kirkpatrick writes about the amazing job Sean Parker did to recruit several investor for Facebook. Say what you will about the man’s personal behavior, he was a good talker. Zuckerberg's personality was another matter all together. Kirkpatrick’s descriptions of Zuckerberg’s characteristics bring the reader face to face with the young man. Although I could understand why his employees worried about all the meets he took with all those companies who wanted to buy Facebook. As CEO of the company, open communication with his employee would have stop their fear of Zuckerberg selling Facebook.

I found the second part of the book exciting following Kirkpatrick’s written map of Facebook’s rise to a "real" company. The picture of all the employees pushing their office chairs, full of their equipment, to their new office was really funny. What really interested me was all this money offered for Facebook, billions of dollars, and yet they were going through the money they had borrowed from Accel.

Through all the wheeling and dealing, Zuckerberg and his fellow workers stayed firm. Aaron Sittig, the graphic designer said it best, “We wanted to get the site out of the way and not have a particular attitude. We didn’t want people to have a relationship with Facebook so much as to find and interact with each other.” (pg. 145) Zuckerberg only liked working with young people, because they were smarter, but I think, like his ambition for Facebook, he wanted to interact with people he enjoyed being around. So, I’m sure it was sad when he had to ask Sean Parker to step down. He had contributed a large part of Facebook’s success.

When Zuckerberg added the photo feature to Facebook, the Web site took off! This step in Facebook’s journey most definitely assisted in people interacting with each other making the world a little smaller and closer to Zuckerberg’s dream of socializing the world. The success of the “photo-hosting application” on Facebook “...was magic of overlaying an ordinary online activity with a set of social relationship.” (pg. 156) By adding photos to the Web site, Facebook gave their customer “a sense of companionship” never felt from the Internet before. (pg. 157) With this success, Zuckerberg now wanted to open Facebook to adults and from there the world. Zuckerberg’s dream was very close to becoming a reality. While I continue to read this book, I could not help think of the book, Made to Break, and planned obsolescence. Zuckerberg has successfully made the world vastness obsolete, it is now just a button away and you can now have a relationship with a large number of friends.

Internet Privacy: What are they doing About it?

Internet privacy is a major concern for anyone who signs on to a computer. Privacy on the Internet is a status where an individual can work on his or her information without fear of said information being used without the user permission. With each passing day, more and more people are signing on to a computer, unaware their private information is being collected and used without their knowledge.

Businesses should be aware that consumers are looking for privacy protection and a privacy statement can help to ease consumer's concerns. If businesses do not provide privacy protection, people will start to abstain from buying products off the Internet. It is not only businesses that need to implement privacy protection. To protect consumer’s privacy, legislation, self-regulation, and technical solutions are some of a few solutions ways that can be implemented.

Another tool that can be used for the protection of Internet privacy is the use of anonymity by the user. This is a good tool for some users and dangerous for others.  For example, any stalker can use this particular tool against another user with any repercussions. While for some using a fake name can protect some users and their personal information.

 Recently, well known journalist, Esther Dyson stated the problem, “The biggest challenge right now is ignorance: People aren’t worried enough, and are careless. Other people are worried too much, and are paranoid. No one knows what is known and what isn’t. It’s the one-way mirror effect that makes people so uneasy” (1)

A large number of services have been provided by online businesses that are posted on the home page; this is to reassure customers of their privacy. These services usually require a web site to pay a fee and also to enter in a contract, even go through an audit just to display a “seal of approval” to cover the consumers privacy. When using the Internet, the user should search diligently for these seals.

1 http://lorrie.cranor.org/pubs/networker-privacy.html