The blog that I have selected to write about is called “Hillary and war – I told you guys”. The Blogs URL is http://estrip.org/elmwood/journals/index.php?u=joshua&id=41551&s=politics. The blog was written by Joshua who offers no personal information at all on his Blog Profile. The one thing that we do know about Josh is that he is from the Elmwood area, and he has been contributing a blog a month to this site since February 2005. This blogger goes under the pseudonym Senator Joshua. Josh is just a citizen with an opinion, he is not a politician. This blog was created on 10/8/2007. It was created at 11:35 am.
The tone of this blog is aggressive towards politicians. Josh is saying that there are no qualified leaders left, and he is basically wishing we had one. Throughout the Blog he brings up old leaders that have made a difference for our country, in order to compare them to current leaders that are attempting to lead the country. Statements like the following express his attitude in how leaders have changed and become incapable of leading successfully. “FDR is a man who did some extraordinarily controversial things to protect our nation - some of which would have gotten him impeached had he been President today - but without leaders like Churchill and FDR, would we have been better off in the fight to stamp out the Nazis? Without talismans like these two men, I think we would have lost. At this point in time, we desperately need a talisman again! The question is, who will that be? I see no viable candidates.” All in all the tone of this blog is just a call for a real, smart, dedicated leader.
In my opinion Blogs are having and increasing affect on politics. Local and National political representatives should be using Blogs to gauge there audiences, and learn more about what the audiences needs and wants are. Often times the parties can use blogs as a method of feedback also. For example if citizens are unhappy with a new law or regulation that the city has passed, you are most assuredly going to find somebody blogging to complain. In this example representatives can simple take what the complaint is and dissect it to see if good points are presented that will apply to other citizens. Bloggers can effectively use blogs by making suggestions or criticisms publicly with hopes that the local representatives are smart enough to use this method of researching the audience. According to blogherald .com blogging is a process for energizing political tensions. This site argues that some local level representatives are still ignoring this form of public opinion, but will not continue to successfully operate in the future if they do not stop. As Blogs progress they will become more of an influence is the basis of this sites argument.
Another online resource agrees that political blogs are on a rise and gaining momentum and attention. According to personaldemocracy.com locally-focused political blogs are steadily coming into their own, and their unique blend of passionate engagement, wry observation, on- and off-line community and freewheeling conversation are started to affect the dynamics of local political campaigns and issues. This site also argues that local government might not be extremely affected by blogs now, but it will in the future.
I agree with the opinions of both of these websites. I think while blogging is relatively new that it will not be too much of a dominating factor in politics. As time goes on Blogs influence will increase though both on the local and national level. Blogs should be a great resource for both local and national politicians because they represent the public opinion, and as blogs continue to become more popular, so will blogging about politics. My prediction is blogs will affect both local and national politics in the future, because people don’t only express their opinion about local politics, but about national ones too. Since the internet is not only nationwide, but world wide, politics will have know choice but to acknowledge blogs in the future.
References:
Blogging and local level politics. Blogherald. Retreived 10/26/2007 from
http://www.blogherald.com/2007/02/27/blogging-can-affect-politics-on-local-level/
Blogs and Local Politics. Personal democracy. Retreived 10/26.2007 from http://www.personaldemocracy.com/blogs/local/
Blog reference: http://estrip.org/elmwood/journals/index.php?u=joshua&id=41551&s=politics
Friday, October 26, 2007
Friday, October 12, 2007
Week 8 - Tires
The site that I have chosen to review is Tire Rack dot com, which can be found at http://www.tirerack.com/. I chose this site because it has been very useful for me in the past. For those of you who are unfamiliar, the site offers tires and many other products at what are supposed to be warehouse prices. The website offers tires, wheels, suspension parts, brake parts, and an assortment of performance parts.
Looks: The way the site works is quite simple. You go to the home page of the site and it gives you a very busy opening screen with all sorts of car pictures, and product pictures. The site being very cluttered on the home page nothing really grabs me attention, but there are a lot of interesting items to look at on the homepage. After the homepage I think the layout and design of the site is great. Everything is easy to access, and when you put in your search criterion the results come up in an organized and manageable fashion. The best thing in my opinion about the design of the website is that every page in big number on the top has the companies eight hundred number. This way if you are in the process of shopping, and do not want to wait for someone to return your email you can call the number and have your questions answered immediately. Also to me that shows a high level of customer service, which is always a big factor when making expensive decisions. Another plus to this website is that checkout for your item is quick and painless.
Functionality: Overall the functionality is great, here’s a little bit on how it works. Located in the middle of the home page is a section were you fill out vehicle information for the vehicle that you are looking for parts for. After you fill in the vehicle information you chose from a list of products that you are looking for. For example if you are looking for the tire section you would click tires (not too difficult to understand). Assuming we chose tire it will then take you to the next screen where you will be given the option of what size you want. The site offers you the original manufacturer recommended size as well as a guide that can advise you on the biggest or smallest tires you can fit on your vehicle. After you advance from this section the site takes you too a page to chose your style and brand of tire. (By style I mean do you want low profile tires, mud tires, snow tires, etc.) After all of these selections are made it will give you a list of available tires, prices, and reviews on the tires. Tirerack.com takes you through the same basic steps with all of its products, which is very beneficial especially to the uneducated consumer.
This site does not have much in the way of socialization with the exception of being able to contact the business with questions.
I like and use the site for all of the reasons listed above. I also recommend this site to many people because I think it is a good resource, and even if you do not find the product you are looking for you can read reviews on comparable ones as well as being able to compare prices. I worked in the automotive field for a number of years and I know how garages like to rip people off. That is why I recommend tire rack because it is honest, and usually you can find your product at a fraction of the cost that you would have paid the local garage.
Reference:
Tirerack.com. Retrieved on 12 October, 2007 from http://www.tirerack.com/
Looks: The way the site works is quite simple. You go to the home page of the site and it gives you a very busy opening screen with all sorts of car pictures, and product pictures. The site being very cluttered on the home page nothing really grabs me attention, but there are a lot of interesting items to look at on the homepage. After the homepage I think the layout and design of the site is great. Everything is easy to access, and when you put in your search criterion the results come up in an organized and manageable fashion. The best thing in my opinion about the design of the website is that every page in big number on the top has the companies eight hundred number. This way if you are in the process of shopping, and do not want to wait for someone to return your email you can call the number and have your questions answered immediately. Also to me that shows a high level of customer service, which is always a big factor when making expensive decisions. Another plus to this website is that checkout for your item is quick and painless.
Functionality: Overall the functionality is great, here’s a little bit on how it works. Located in the middle of the home page is a section were you fill out vehicle information for the vehicle that you are looking for parts for. After you fill in the vehicle information you chose from a list of products that you are looking for. For example if you are looking for the tire section you would click tires (not too difficult to understand). Assuming we chose tire it will then take you to the next screen where you will be given the option of what size you want. The site offers you the original manufacturer recommended size as well as a guide that can advise you on the biggest or smallest tires you can fit on your vehicle. After you advance from this section the site takes you too a page to chose your style and brand of tire. (By style I mean do you want low profile tires, mud tires, snow tires, etc.) After all of these selections are made it will give you a list of available tires, prices, and reviews on the tires. Tirerack.com takes you through the same basic steps with all of its products, which is very beneficial especially to the uneducated consumer.
This site does not have much in the way of socialization with the exception of being able to contact the business with questions.
I like and use the site for all of the reasons listed above. I also recommend this site to many people because I think it is a good resource, and even if you do not find the product you are looking for you can read reviews on comparable ones as well as being able to compare prices. I worked in the automotive field for a number of years and I know how garages like to rip people off. That is why I recommend tire rack because it is honest, and usually you can find your product at a fraction of the cost that you would have paid the local garage.
Reference:
Tirerack.com. Retrieved on 12 October, 2007 from http://www.tirerack.com/
week 7 mediation
There are many groups that the internet can mediate. One group that I am a member of that the internet partially mediates is my group of friends. I have moved many times, and have friend in a number of different places. The internet allows me to stay in touch with these individuals easier than any other way. The technology that I use most on the internet is AIM. AIM is one of many programs on the web that facilitate internet or computer mediated communication. According to wikipedia computer mediated communication, commonly known as CMC, is communication that occurs via computer-mediated formats (i.e., instant messages, e-mails, chat rooms) between two or more individuals. AIM allows you to instant message multiple people basically at the same time. This is beneficial because you can sit down in front of your computer and catch up with 3, 4, or many more depending on who is online at that time.
For me I would say that this internet mediated social group has already been developed before our communication though the net. However, AIM does help strengthen ties between many of my friends and myself by providing a way for me to stay in contact with them even over long distances. Another cool way that AIM helps to strengthen tie between friends is that people are more open to discuss things that are going o with them when the communication is not face to face. This allows you to learn things about your friends that often times they would be hesitant to share face to face. This technology could also damage or weaken relationship ties because of this same factor.
Often times when people are behind there computer they will share things that they would never share in person. As I said before this can be a benefit, but it can also be a disadvantage to a relationship. Often times, especially in high school, AIM and other computer mediated communication would be abused in order to say things that you would not otherwise say in person. For example I remember a situation with an old girlfriend when I was in 9th or 10th grade every time she had a problem with something she would never say anything to me when we were together. As soon as she got behind her computer she would either talk to me via email or AIM, but if she had a problem with something she would sure express it through these channels. I assume that partially had to do with immaturity and not knowing how to handle certain situations, but the other part is when people are behind there computer they feel protected and free to say whatever they want. In this example Internet mediated communication weakened this relationship.
There are many situations that Internet mediated communication can strengthen relationships also. Like is said before I have moved a lot so I have a lot of long distance friends that I try to keep in touch with. Through mainly internet communication I have been able to remain friends with a girl named Rosary that I went to elementary school with. We have both moved and are living on separate coast, but still I am able to keep up with what’s going on in her life, as is she in mine. This is a prime example of how internet mediated communication can strengthen relationships, because each time one of us has a major life event being able to talk about it with each other makes us closer.
Computer mediated communication is also used outside of friendship groups. It can be used to meet people, make new friend, conduct business, or for a number of other things.
According to an Indian University journal CMC is used when blogging, used with economics, science discussions, war discussions, and much more. CMC is a very real part of society, and will continue to be a growing influence on people’s daily lives I think.
References:
Computer Mediated Communication. (10 October, 2007). In Wikipedia, the Free Wikipedia. Retrieved on 12 October, 2007 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer-mediated_communication
Computer Mediated Communication (10 October, 2007). The Journal of Computer Mediated Communication. Retrieved on 12 October, 2007 from http://jcmc.indiana.edu/issues.html
For me I would say that this internet mediated social group has already been developed before our communication though the net. However, AIM does help strengthen ties between many of my friends and myself by providing a way for me to stay in contact with them even over long distances. Another cool way that AIM helps to strengthen tie between friends is that people are more open to discuss things that are going o with them when the communication is not face to face. This allows you to learn things about your friends that often times they would be hesitant to share face to face. This technology could also damage or weaken relationship ties because of this same factor.
Often times when people are behind there computer they will share things that they would never share in person. As I said before this can be a benefit, but it can also be a disadvantage to a relationship. Often times, especially in high school, AIM and other computer mediated communication would be abused in order to say things that you would not otherwise say in person. For example I remember a situation with an old girlfriend when I was in 9th or 10th grade every time she had a problem with something she would never say anything to me when we were together. As soon as she got behind her computer she would either talk to me via email or AIM, but if she had a problem with something she would sure express it through these channels. I assume that partially had to do with immaturity and not knowing how to handle certain situations, but the other part is when people are behind there computer they feel protected and free to say whatever they want. In this example Internet mediated communication weakened this relationship.
There are many situations that Internet mediated communication can strengthen relationships also. Like is said before I have moved a lot so I have a lot of long distance friends that I try to keep in touch with. Through mainly internet communication I have been able to remain friends with a girl named Rosary that I went to elementary school with. We have both moved and are living on separate coast, but still I am able to keep up with what’s going on in her life, as is she in mine. This is a prime example of how internet mediated communication can strengthen relationships, because each time one of us has a major life event being able to talk about it with each other makes us closer.
Computer mediated communication is also used outside of friendship groups. It can be used to meet people, make new friend, conduct business, or for a number of other things.
According to an Indian University journal CMC is used when blogging, used with economics, science discussions, war discussions, and much more. CMC is a very real part of society, and will continue to be a growing influence on people’s daily lives I think.
References:
Computer Mediated Communication. (10 October, 2007). In Wikipedia, the Free Wikipedia. Retrieved on 12 October, 2007 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer-mediated_communication
Computer Mediated Communication (10 October, 2007). The Journal of Computer Mediated Communication. Retrieved on 12 October, 2007 from http://jcmc.indiana.edu/issues.html
Thursday, October 4, 2007
Identity Damn Thieves
There are many different online identities. One person can be many people in cyberspace, just by creating a different screen name, log in, identity number or one of many other possible ways to develop identities on the net. An example of how one person can be many different identities on the net would be as simple as AOL. One person can have multiple screen names, giving them multiple identities. Whether they want to make each these identities alike or different is up to the person behind the computer.
The types of identity I want to talk about are EBay identities. In the EBay community identities are created by making a profile, which includes your person information that only EBay is suppose to be able to see, and items that you are trying to sell or buy. Creating an Identity is very simple, and a person can have more than one in this type of system. Someone could literally set up a new ID for every type of product they sell. This makes establishing an ID very simple. One such ID that I am familiar with on EBay is Hacent, I will explain why later.
The way that you can build your ID’s reputation in the EBay community is through transactions. After you either buy or sell something on EBay users rate each other on how they transact business. The more items that you have transacted business on with feedback the more legitimate your reputation rather it be good or bad. If you see someone with 100 transactions and a 70% positive feedback rating, then you know that the user is not a good person to do business with. On the other hand if you see a user that has a 99.7% positive feedback rating on 1000 transactions then you can feel confident in transacting business with this user. On the same token if someone has a 99% positive feedback rating, but has only transacted 10 items, then you would want to be weary because of how few transactions they have. In the case of EBay it is easy to establish a good reputation throughout the community as long as you are honest, and actually send what you sell. There are many ways people can take over your online identity.
In the case of AOL instant messenger and other services like that taking over a person’s identity is as easy as registering in a different messaging service (yahoo messenger, etc.) and making the same name. As far as EBay is concerned taking over someone’s identity is a little more difficult. I do not know how to take over an EBay identity (mainly cause I’m not a hacker), but I do know that it can be done because it has happened to me. The screen name that I mentioned above (Hacent) is the person that I was referring to in my last blog that attempted to steal money and my credit card number from me. Hacent had a 97.6% rating with an excessive amount of transactions, so when I decided to do business with this person I did not expect to have any problem. Like the last blog said I got ripped off on some motorcycle lights, and the thief attempted to use my credit card to make some other purchases. I reported this incident to a number of people, which by the way were all worthless, but one of the people I reported it to was EBay. After explaining the situation to them, they said there was nothing they could do for me because an unauthorized user had been accessing the account during the time period when I had my problem. I further questioned EBay’s customer relations department to see if I could find out more details, but came up empty handed. They claimed that they did not know who had accessed the account and that there was nothing they could do for me. This was my first and only experience so far with identity theft on the net, but it proved to me that it can happen and there’s really know way to know about it until after you’re a victim. Luckily I’m not in the guy’s shoes that had his EBay reputation ruined and has to rebuild it.
The types of identity I want to talk about are EBay identities. In the EBay community identities are created by making a profile, which includes your person information that only EBay is suppose to be able to see, and items that you are trying to sell or buy. Creating an Identity is very simple, and a person can have more than one in this type of system. Someone could literally set up a new ID for every type of product they sell. This makes establishing an ID very simple. One such ID that I am familiar with on EBay is Hacent, I will explain why later.
The way that you can build your ID’s reputation in the EBay community is through transactions. After you either buy or sell something on EBay users rate each other on how they transact business. The more items that you have transacted business on with feedback the more legitimate your reputation rather it be good or bad. If you see someone with 100 transactions and a 70% positive feedback rating, then you know that the user is not a good person to do business with. On the other hand if you see a user that has a 99.7% positive feedback rating on 1000 transactions then you can feel confident in transacting business with this user. On the same token if someone has a 99% positive feedback rating, but has only transacted 10 items, then you would want to be weary because of how few transactions they have. In the case of EBay it is easy to establish a good reputation throughout the community as long as you are honest, and actually send what you sell. There are many ways people can take over your online identity.
In the case of AOL instant messenger and other services like that taking over a person’s identity is as easy as registering in a different messaging service (yahoo messenger, etc.) and making the same name. As far as EBay is concerned taking over someone’s identity is a little more difficult. I do not know how to take over an EBay identity (mainly cause I’m not a hacker), but I do know that it can be done because it has happened to me. The screen name that I mentioned above (Hacent) is the person that I was referring to in my last blog that attempted to steal money and my credit card number from me. Hacent had a 97.6% rating with an excessive amount of transactions, so when I decided to do business with this person I did not expect to have any problem. Like the last blog said I got ripped off on some motorcycle lights, and the thief attempted to use my credit card to make some other purchases. I reported this incident to a number of people, which by the way were all worthless, but one of the people I reported it to was EBay. After explaining the situation to them, they said there was nothing they could do for me because an unauthorized user had been accessing the account during the time period when I had my problem. I further questioned EBay’s customer relations department to see if I could find out more details, but came up empty handed. They claimed that they did not know who had accessed the account and that there was nothing they could do for me. This was my first and only experience so far with identity theft on the net, but it proved to me that it can happen and there’s really know way to know about it until after you’re a victim. Luckily I’m not in the guy’s shoes that had his EBay reputation ruined and has to rebuild it.
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