The Dark Net

     The internet is a vast space in which different people can interact together. It is full of so much content that people often don’t think about what they don’t have direct access to. What they don’t have access to are discrete networks protected by protocol, encryption, or some set of algorithms that can only be accessed by individuals with access to a program or algorithm to make it accessible. This is similar to standard encryption in that only those entrusted with the key can access different sites. However, this is where the similarities stop. When one accesses a dark net server, it is seldom as simple as entering some secret password. Secondly, when accessing the dark net, one’s IP address is obscured so that when a user accesses their intended destination, (another website protected by the Dark Net) their identity is masked and any way to trace them is seemingly impossible. Furthermore, since these websites are masked by the dark net, they too will go undetected, so standard searches won’t pick up on them. This level of obscurity makes it easy to engage in illegal activity such as buying anything from drugs to weapons to even requesting the services of willing criminals. Of course, not all activity through the dark net is illegal. People can acquire regularly obtainable merchandise from sites on a dark net, they are just doing so with the extra privacy a dark net can provide. Ironically, though not all that difficult to believe is the fact that government agencies use these to keep their activity quiet. Additionally, in 2014 Carnegie Mellon and the FBI have discovered a way to unmask certain dark net users, a topic generating a lot of buzz in the recent news over privacy and security issues.    

What makes a Community?

Does Technology Provide?

com·mu·ni·ty

kəˈmyo͞onədē/

     noun

1. a group of people living in the same place or having a particular characteristic in common.

2. a feeling of fellowship with others, as a result of sharing common attitudes, interests, and goals
https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=community+definition

According to Google, these are the two definitions for what make a community. Though one can argue that the technology does not provide enough to allow a community to exist there are many things that technology is getting right. First of all, my main reason in favor of technology providing ways to form a community include giving individuals the ability to share their ideas with others in a way that might not be made possible without technology such as this Blog which is being typed and read. this can be done from any time and anywhere, so long as there is a way to access to this post. This can not be said of more traditional communities where ideas are shared in a localized spot.

On the other hand, my main reason against technology providing a way to form community is its polarizing effect in which people are more inclined to be part of communities that share their ideals but are seldom inclined to opening themselves to contradictory view points and resolving issues. In a traditional community individuals would be more inclined to remain unified as they have more than one interest to hold them together (and hopefully gain skills to resolve these issues), but in an online community, one can just change their affiliation by joining another community since each are only held together by one interest and no longer have to interact with their previous affiliation.

 

To conclude, I do agree that technology does provide new ways to create community amongst its users, but I have some concerns with individuals not gaining certain social skills that one would gain from a traditional community. Instead of having one unified community, technology has created many smaller specialized communities.

 

 

 

Convergence:

The Intersection of ingenuity and versatility

Throughout the course of the class, the idea of different studies of thought and innovations coming together and forming the internet and the world wide web has been key. The world wide web as we know it is an entity constantly evolving with each original thought someone shares and the ideas that spark from them. not only is it growing in terms of content but also from a technological standpoint as new hardware and software are constantly being applied to make it run faster, work harder, and become more intelligent. This of course is not just true in todays standards but has been true since its conception as the internet's evolution has been made possible by not just by one idea (though some ideas have been essential) but by many ideas and technologies coming together. Whether these new technologies are generated for the purpose of  users going online or even bringing the internet into the real world, the internet continues to interact with the individual in seemingly impossible ways. Some of these technologies include what has and is being discovered in computer science such as  Turing's first computing machines and Burners-Lee's fundamental HTTP and TCP/IP to what is being created now at places like Microsoft and Google. Other such technologies include communication such as Bells early forms of telecommunication, leading to the use of cables to allow multiple computing machines to communicate. This of course was improved upon with the use of radio waves and satellites, each needing an understanding in Physics. Today, these and many more disciplines are being implemented and improved upon to make the internet what we need it to be all made possible by Convergence.

Dot Com to Dot Bomb

In the early 1990's, businesses ranging from large corporations, local mom and pop stores, and even a slew of individuals forming startup companies began to realize the potentiality of the internet. At this period in history, the internet was no longer seen a novelty for the technologically inclined but now as a powerful force for advertising and application. This led to a high demand for web development which consequently resulted in creating a lot of jobs for people to develop these sites.These developers, who either started their own development companies or worked directly for these businesses,  were making money hand over fist. From the point of view from corporations and local business this was a worthwhile investment so long as their website was well constructed and their developers were able to be paid. unfortunately, the cost of maintaining such sites and keeping their developers employed increased to such a level that the larger companies had to start laying off their employees (their web developers in particular) and the smaller companies just went bankrupt. furthermore, stocks from these .com businesses were hyper inflated which resulted in an ungodly amount of money being lost during the crash.    

Guest Speaker: Erik Hanberg

Author and Entrepreneur

 

     The internet has granted a rare opportunity to those who are both creative and self-driven. Mr. Hanberg is one such individual whose use of the internet has granted him the ability to start up a few small companies as well as become a self published author by being able to connect with the world at large. In his speech, by elaborating on his successes Mr. Hanberg made clear the fact that the internet has provided more potential than ever before.

     He started his elaboration with his creation of the Horatio by which he has staged several well-reviewed plays, musicals, and cabarets. Eric pointed out that through his ability to network and create interest in the public via the internet, the Horatio has been successful. Eric has also created two other start up businesses Exit133.com and Suite133 which both provide web-space and workspace for freelance web developers. Currently Erik and his wife, Mary, run Side X Side Creative, a boutique marketing firm for businesses and nonprofits. They bring their complementary skills to each project and help clients get the attention they deserve (Erik's ability to network as well as being a consultant and Mary's gift of graphic design). where the Horatio got a fair amount of support due to Erik's use of the internet, the demand in which others need a space to work (on the internet) and get noticed wouldn't be possible if not for the internet; however Erik was able to capitalize on this opportunity.

     In addition to Erik's entrepreneurial success, the Internet has provided Eric a platform to be a self-publishing author. He then discussed the concept of "disintermediation" in which one removes the intermediary form the equation (usually a publishing or marketing group) by being a self promoting machine and because web space is so cheap, this can allow one to save on a lot of the overhead costs. The important thing to remember is that one needs to balance time working and promoting ones product or else it will go unnoticed (what Erik called the Cave and the Stream analogy: time in the Cave = work / time in the Stream = self-promotion). The cons of being self-promoted is that it may be difficult to get the time of day from the public with out having a reputation, but as one becomes successful, the long term benefits can be greater.

 

What three things would one not buy Online? 

 

 

     If you were to ask me this question about 7 years ago, I would have said everything is not worth buying online (I was about 16 and skeptical at the time). Now, I'm still skeptical but my skepticism is a little more lacks as I buy things from a source I know or if it were an item like a book or a movie (small non-perishables or digital media). the only real exception I make to this rule is Amazon in regards to school textbooks (book store prices tend to make one thankful for almost any condition a book could be in). However, the big three items I would not want to purchase online are perishable items such as fruit or uranium-238 (I don't care if its half life is 4.5 billion years or not, it parishes). Another important grouping of items I probably wouldn't buy are clothing. Most  people advertising clothing are like most people advertising McDonalds Cheeseburgers (making it look better than what it is). Furthermore, because one size does not fit all, I would be more inclined to tryout the clothes in person. a last grouping of items I would not purchase over the internet are any items over $50 with out a return policy or warranty. Again the exception I would make would be for text books but the hope with purchasing text books online is that one doesn't need to shell out this kind of cash. 

Online Scavenger Hunt:

9 teams, 19 questions, 1 hour

who will survive?

    Ok so it wasn't as dire as the subheading made it out to be, but with gloating rights and a promise of a $10 Starbuck gift card (to grant the students the ability to add milk and sugar to their overpriced coffee) anything can seem dire at the time. what was truly interesting about this group activity was the array of information one can gleam using common searches. some questions were as easy as can one find 3 different dating search sites to specific questions as being able to find a house on Zillow between a certain dollar amount, with so many rooms and located in a predetermined city. A few of the questions were even as obscure or as difficult as finding an article for a conference written in 2010 by the Professor and finding out his middle sister's married last name (a question that a dedicated person in our group committed themselves to and actually found). There was one group, however, that completed the scavenger hunt in less than half an hour (much to the Professors surprise) and got all the questions right. This just reinforces the idea that privacy is becoming antiquated.