Ryan Freel

So as my last post, I want to write about something I find particularly exciting. The O's traded Ramon Hernandez (plus $2million) to the Reds for Ryan Freel and two infield prospects (I cannot remember their names). The O's are also actively trying to sign free agent Mark Teixeira. I am particularly excited for Teixeira because hes from Maryland (I believe he attended Severna Park HS). This tells me that the O's may actually be trying to make the team better (I do not think they have finished with a winning record since '97), so it is about time.
To tie this in with the class as best as possible- the only reason I can know any of this is because I have the Internet at work, and media spreads so quickly on the Internet. The Winter Classic that is Major League Baseball's offseason is covered in depth by many sports analysts, so as soon as they know of something new happening it gets an article and is posted online so people like myself can read and be up-to-date about the good and bad news. In closing, hooray for the Internet and hopefully the Orioles make something of the offseason.

Final Exams

I appreciate not having a final exam in this class. As a mechanical engineer I do not often get a chance to write a paper, so it is a nice change from the constant practice problems and exams that I have to take in all of my other courses. I must say, I have thuroughly enjoyed this class this semester. I've gained some pretty random, but useful, knowledge about what other people think the future of the Internet holds for society. Some have dismal opinions (Marc Andrejevic and Andrew Keen), but Winograd and Hais have higher opinions. I personally take towards the negative side, as I feel that the Internet removes human interaction which is necessary to be human. It bothers me to no end when I see people who take enjoyment in sitting in front of a computer or other game system that can just play video games for hours on end. I can play a game for maybe a half an hour before I get bored and would rather do something else. Maybe it's just me, but I feel like without human interactions we are all just going to turn into organic robots.

On New Topics (required 10)

In general, there is not much more we could have covered in this class- I feel like we touched on a lot of interesting things, but if I had to pick I would say facebook could have used a little more discussion. For instance, with The Wisdom of Crowds we could have looked into facebook groups and how they affect peoples decision making, or how new facebook applications catch and become common items on everyones facebook over time. With the Cult of the Amateur, we could have discussed how facebook is ruining everyones lives in that most people can no longer go a day without using it, and some people would prefer to communicate over facebook instead of in person. With iSpy we could have looked into how all the creators of individual applications could probably watch who uses their application, how surveillance is possible on facebook besides the obvious "facebook stalking". We could have also had a debate on whether or not having our private conversations with other people being posted online for anyone and everyone to see is beneficial to us or not.

On Reading Four Books (required 9)

I found reading The Wisdom of Crowds to be the most enjoyable this semester. The material was interesting and could easily be applied to real life situations- I found myself noticing the books points about group interactions happen in real life. The book had a plethora of facts to keep it from drawing to much towards an opinionated novel, but each of the facts and cases were very different from eachother, so every page did not feel like it was the same. However, this is not the case with Millenial Makeover. This book was particularly boring, it felt as though the author went on for ages explaining a point he had already gotten across in the first chapter. He had plenty of facts to back up his arguement, but most of them revolved around the same few examples, which made the book feel like it had a print error where a few pages had been reused later on in the text. I also am not a huge fan of political debates, and this text pretty much felt like an enshrinement to the democrats of our country, which is about as political a text can be as possible. Also I do not feel as though Millenial Makeover will be as relavent in future semesters because there is no impending election in the near horizon- its points will not be as interesting to read because they will have already happened.

Online Shopping- To Thee I Owe Thanks

This Christmas season I have purchased all the gifts I intend to give online, and I would like to thank technological advances for making this possible. I have used websites from ticketmaster to amazon to ebay to buy presents. Without the internet I do not think I would have time to call a concert hall and wait to purchase tickets, or go shopping for very specific things that may be at only one particular store. The fact that sites like amazon take your search and try to match it with as many possible things that you "might want" and shows you the results within a fraction of a second is amazing. Amazon has stuff from their own online store, as well as users who are trying to sell used goods, to other various retail stores and their merchandise. All of these come up in search results, and make shopping on "Cyber Monday" much easier. Cyber Monday is a term I heard on the radio about a week ago, apparently now the Monday after Black Friday is called Cyber Monday because that is when the most online sales occur and when most online buyers begin their shopping season. The idea that internet shopping now has its own day just as Black Friday is astounding, it means to me that technology really has come a long way from just standing in lines all day for that one gift. Thank you internet, for saving me from the hectic crowds, and making my online shopping painless.

On Big Brother and Surveillance (Required 8)

I use technologies every day that enable my actions to be surveyed; everything from my work computer to my online bank accounts. My work computer is on a public hub that is monitored by the IT guy, and nothing can be added to the computer with permission from the IT guy (he owns the administrator account to every computer on site). I am sure that my cell phone and own personal computer are subject to surveillance if someone deemed it necessary- yes, I believe that someone is watching internet traffic and can red flag a user who hits on a site that has been put on a CIA watch list. Because I am confident that my actions are within the realm of reason, I do not anticipate any kind of change in my life by being subject to surveillance.The above statement held true for the two day trial in which I went about my regular routine at work and at home, and no one tried to confront me about my actions. I have found it is too difficult to try to track where your own personal data flows while surfing the web, but it is within reason to monitor what I put out on the internet. Remembering to log off of sites and my computer at days end, limits the ability of others to access my computer after hours. All in all, surveillance does not affect what I do from day to day, but it does make me paranoid that surveillance can only become more intense and that one day Big Brother really will be watching our every movement.....

On Googling Myself (Required 7)

It took google approximately .23 seconds to compile 936,000 hits of the name "Phillip Harman", with options to try modifications with Philip or Harmon. There are lots of links to weblogs, and proffessional sites like linkedin or spoke.com. None of these sites are mine, though I do have a linkedin account. It is extremely probable that I am related to some of these people- an example: Phillip Harman from Indiana located on source.com (I have extended family I have never met out in that part of the country). There was also one site that blogged the history of the Harman/ Harmon name from 1776 when it came from Germany- I am not sure these people are related because they settled in Pa and I do not know of any relatives from Pa. All things considered, this would indicate that my name is full of googlegangers.
The opinion of me on the internet would be pretty proffesional because most of the sites are for job searching or set up by my googlegangers to help people with some sort of job or to track their own job successes. It is beneficial to have a name with a good reputation online so that if potential employers try to look you up on google, they may not find you're personal sites online, but will see that everyone else who has your name is making a good impression. If 18million Phill Harman's have a good reputation, who is to say this one will be different?

Online Death

I read an article the other day about a boy who had been talking about committing suicide on his web cam to random online viewers. He posted links to his web cam on a few other sites, and had "672,000 unique visitors in October". They do not know how many viewers watched him die on his web cam, but when the police found him 12 hours later lying dead of a medication overdose, people were found writing to the web cam such things as "OMFG and LOL".
I have serious issues with what happened. It is scary that the technology we have has now created a new way for people to publicly kill themselves (“equivalent to jumping off a bridge”). It is even more upsetting that people are so apathetic that no one cared enough to do anything about his suicide threats. It’s not difficult for the police to track the IP address of a web cam. If someone had phoned in repeated threats from the site his death would not have had to happen as it did. Comments like the LOL's when the cops arrived are even more upsetting. Not only did people sit there and watch him die, it never occured to anyone to phone in the issue when he stopped moving for 12 hours straight. To top it off they had the audacity to laugh through the computer about what was happening. To tie this into the reading material- the idea that the group never did anything about the events could be because of the diffusion of responsibility felt by its viewers, or maybe that the technology we have now is not quite being used for as its purpose was intended.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27841948/

Big Brother

I was listening to the radio this morning (98 rock morning show) and they brought up a conversation about this new technology they have that hacks computers. Apparently some man bought this program and its able to remotely track the strokes on someone elses keyboard. It also lets you know where they are going while they are on the computer. Tying these both together, you are now able to hack someone elses computer relatively easily. This man used it to start spreading gossip about a female coworker, who eventually got fired. He finally was caught, and is now on house arrest.
I find the idea that this is even possible extremely scary. If consumers, every day joe's can find stuff like this to ruin peoples lives, imagining it in the hands of the wrong person is not something I would ever like to do. Also if it is consumer available somewhere, it means that the government already uses it to track motions of people they are watching. It really seems that the world is turning into 1984, just 26 years later. Just remember- Big Brother is watching.

Election Day

This day has been counted down by many for what has now been years. I that the new media and the publicity for these candidates is rolling in at at all hours, and is bias for one candidate over another. I'm not going to sit here and defend one candidate or the other, but the numbers do not lie. In a report put out by "The Project for Excellence in Journalism", it was found that the types of media coverage for Obama and McCain were drastically different. Of the coverage Obama received, 35.8% was positive, 29.2% was negative, and 35% indifferent. On the other hand the coverage McCain received was slightly more askew, 14.2% positive, 57.3% negative, and 28.5% indifferent. This bothers me because people are swayed by the media. If there is an unfair share of who gets better coverage in the media, will this sway the votes of the American people? With the media clearly voicing its opinion for one candidate, is it possible that people who would originally vote for McCain be swayed to vote for Obama because they are afraid of voting incorrectly? Groupthink would say it is possible. If the media is going to constantly voice their biased opinion, eager reader's are going to look to the media and assume that its opinion is correct, or be afraid to say otherwise and therefore Obama will be the reader’s vote.
The only ways to prevent a bias is to have equal coverage or have people research draw their own conclusions. Unfortunately it is too late this election, after today we will have elected a new president.

On Lessig vs Keen (required 6)

After reading all of Lessig's points against Keen, I really feel as though Keen is a sore spot for Lessig, as though he has some personal vendetta against Keen. Some of his counterpoints against Keen's arguements are good; for instance the google counterpoint. I agree with Lessig that as efficiency is increased that creates increased value, thus validating google as an enterprise in aggregating websites just as phonebooks aggregate addresses and phone numbers. I say that it seems as though Lessig has a personal vendetta against Keen because of his comments about keen being sloppy. Through out his wiki site and his book critique Lessig calls Keen sloppy and pretty much an exaggerator of the truth; the problem I have with this statement against Keen is that Lessig fails to provide any data that shows Keen is actually incorrect. Taken from the wiki site: "Over the last 10 years, the listening hours of eighteen to twenty-four year olds have dropped 21 percent. (p123) Sloppy: what percentage of the 21% is because of "piracy"? The people who wrote the site are questioning the accuracy of the quote, but it's clear that they were never interested in actually proving Keen wrong, otherwise they would have found the hard evidence instead of just trying to call him out on using hyperbole for dramatic effect. I do not exactly agree with Keen that the amateur is a cult that needs ending, but at least his points are backed by data and are not just angry remarks from an upset writer.

Amateurs

What is the difference between being an amateur and a professional? Sure we discussed it in class, but its still a good question to ponder. I mean what draws the line between amateur and professional- there are amateur and professional sports leagues, pretty much anything concievable has both an amateur and a professional side. If sports has amateurs and professionals, then money is not the determining factor between them because amateur sports players still get paid though the amount of money may be slightly different. There can be an amateur plumber and a professional plumber; fixing your sink in a do-it-yourself fashion vs hiring a licensed plumber to fix the sink. I would say that the most obvious distinction between professional and amateur is the whole wake up and do the task deal. The job or career that you wake up everyday to work on would be your professional career, and anything you do on the side could be considered amateur. Amateur sports players typically have an alternative source of income, a regular 9-5 job they would consider their profession, and when they are available for games, or have to play their season they go on hiatus from the profession to be an amateur sports player. Money is a factor, but it does not entirely distinguish between amateur and professional.

On Passion and Living (required 5)

I am extremely passionate about baseball. There would be nothing more satisfying than if I could spend everyday on a baseball field playing or watching (playing is slightly more preferred), America's pasttime. There is no chance I could ever make this passion into a career, the odds of someone making a living playing any sport are slim to none, and I am in no way near qualified to have even those odds. Generally speaking, there are only a few things I consider myself passionate towards, one being romance (which we are not talking about here) and the other being baseball. So unfortunately, the percentage of time I spend is slightly skewed towards the work I do to prepare for my career; by slightly skewed I mean more like 100% of my time is put towards something I am not passionate about. I think that this holds true for most Americans, that the country values the work done for a career more than the work done out of passion (unless those overlap). The idea that people only really ever get credit for the work they do in their job, not for what they do when they are at home dabbling with what they love only proves my point. As for me, I am one of those that wil be stuck doing something they are not passionate about because, at least in my case, the passion will never pay and with no money you are not much use to the American society.

On YouTube and the Election (required 4)

I watched two youtube videos on the election http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xk8jgdYW3Qs and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pv_dV_PTX8w&feature=related. Both are pretty organic (if by organic we mean eccentric). The first video is a rap about how the user is not going to vote for John McCain. The rap has a nice flow and rhymes, which is always nice, but it does not do much convincing as to why he would not vote for McCain even if he "threatened me with a rock".
The second youtube video is about an army wife and how she is supporting McCain due to his background. Also very authentic, it feels more from the heart and tells why she is going to vote for McCain instead of why she is not going to vote for someone else.
The most convincing videos are the videos from the heart, such as the video from the army wife. It takes a lot of strength to be in the position she is in, so her opinion of something like the war in Iraq and how each candidate plans to address is slightly more convincing than someones rap about why people should not vote for someone.

On the Millenial Generation (required 3)

From what I understand, the book is claiming that the millenial generation (my generation), is more giving and aware of what needs to be done for the country. I would agree with this portrayal, every person I talk to has their own idea on how to better the country. Even though I may not agree with all the ideas, the point is that it is obvious we care about our country and want to see it become a safer and better place to live.
My generation would probably be best suited with a name like Explosivo instead of "Millenial". Yes we were born into the new Millenium, but aside from that we really are not new anymore; most of us are able to vote. Explosivo works better because we are always so eager to get things done; nothing can be done swiftly enough to satisfy my generation. Yes we want a better country, but we want it better quick. Maybe that is just because we are too young to realize a quick fix is not possible, but the term Explosivo fits.
I would say that the drama's in todays tv business are the best for understanding my generation's concerns. The drama's are full of the concerns and how we would like to approach them. The drama I recall as probably the best display of what the Millenials are about is "The Secret Life of the American Teenager" on ABC family. It has stereotypical millenial’s in it, and covers topics that are held dear to most millenials: teenage pregnancy, abortion, and sex.

ALCS

So the ALCS, for those who do not know is the American League Championship Series, and pits the surprise Tampa Bay Rays against the perennial powerhouse Boston Red Sox. The series starts this Friday, and the Rays have homefield advantage (four games will be played at Tropicana Field, and three games at Fenway). The homefield advantage plays a significant role in this series because of the home crowd. Simply stated, the Rays win at home when they play in front of big crowd (30,000 or more). The Rays went 21-2 this season at home with both losses being in front of less than 30,000 cheering fans.
To think that the crowd has no effect on the Rays would be naive. They are perfect when playing under the big stage. The power of the cheering crowd may give the Rays a moral boost in close games, or just keep them pumped through the whole game hearing 30,000 people cheer their names. Whatever the effect is that the crowd has on this surprise team, it is clear that the winning calculation for the Rays demands a crowd.
This loosely ties in with the wisdom of crowds in that the Rays are drawing from the crowd to play more competively. Come Friday, I will be sitting in front of my TV rooting for the Rays hoping that the power of the crowd rises to the occasion and lifts them into the World Series instead of the Red Sox.
-Statistics from www.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20081007&content_id=3601052&vkey=ps2008news&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb

Coordination?? Or Lack There Of.....

Sitting at work today on a payday would be much better if I actually received my paycheck. Since I began working at my job, in May, the electronic system that records time sheets has not worked for me. This causes a great deal of pain for the Tech Guy because I have to email him my time sheet at the end of a pay term so that I can get paid. Unfortunately, there was a mix up this past pay term, the Tech Guy misfiled my timesheet in his email and my hours never got put in, hence no paycheck.
Now to explain the coordination part; in order to hand me my money as fast as possible the Tech Guy has called in an emergency pay check, which means that he puts in the hours and requests a check get cut as soon as possible. The turn around for this, considering he does not cut the check and the check is not cut here, is remarkably quick. The check should be in my hands by Tuesday. The group of people all involved in making sure I get my check really has nothing to do with eachother aside from handing disgruntled employees their money, but they manage to coordinate and work so efficiently that I will have the check pretty conveniently.

On Advice givin by the anonymous (required 2)

In the case for sidetaker, it is nice how both opinions of the event are posted and then people can comment on both sides, and give their takes on how both sides should act. While I found some of the advice for some of the situations to be completely useless, some of the advice was really good. I feel as though looking through all the advice and then grasping the concept of what should be done, is better advice than any one advice columnist could give.
Not to entirely discredit the validity of the advice columnist- I feel the advice columnist could be somewhat equivalent to a third-partied friend discussing with you what you should do about a problem you are having with someone else. Their advice will usually be good and relatively unbiased. So, if you want a simple and relatively unbiased opinion for help then the advice columnist is suitable. However, if you are looking for all sides of the story, and not only trying to understand what you should do in a situation, but also how the other person may be interpreting the situation, then consulting a group of third-partied people like sidetaker is better for you.
I can not say which I would prefer. Given the situation, one person may just not be enough advice, or the advice that person gave may not be the most desireable. All in all, the crowds ideas after all perspectives have been considered and summed up, tends to result in the most desireable decision for both parties involved in the original issue.

On threadless and sharing ideas (required 1)

I have never personally used a site that shares individuals ideas for retail purposes. Although this is the case, I am in no way saying that it is a bad idea. I looked around threadless.com and believe that the concept the site uses of individuals posting their shirt concepts and getting the credit for the shirt is a great idea; it allows people to get their ideas out there and express themselves.
Also, the concept that the viewers and potential buyers get to rate potential shirts that threadless will produce is a great idea. This idea makes sites like threadless essentially "by the people for the people", in that if the potential buyers find something desireable, the likelyhood of it being available for purchase is greatly increased.
Not only is crowdsourcing a great way to involve potential customers in the selection process, it also is a great money making scheme. The crowd decides what items are best, and therefore is most pleased with the selection and is most likely to purchase from that site.
I think if big market companies used crowdsourcing as a way to gauge how well items are selling in their store, the store would have a much higher margin of profit because they would be able to adjust to what the customers think instead of just arbitrarily deciding when to sell certain items.

Freewrite blog #1

The title of the book we are currently reading is "The Wisdom of Crowds". It is a pretty decent book, and so far I have come to realize it pretty much emphasizes that working together in groups, however loosely defined, is better than working by oneself. A great example I have found of a tight-knit group working together is the UMBC men's club rugby team. I have been on the team for three years, and this fall by far has shown the most promise. Last spring, the team never really acted as a cohesive unit, one player always going for the score instead of passing the ball off to someone in a better position- needless to say we did not win many games in the spring. This fall is a different story. There is already a feeling of togetherness, and unselfish play has become a regular part of practice. Last weekend, we traveled to Penn St. to play their 2nd squad- we played this same squad at the end of last spring and were routed. Last weekend's result was slightly different, yes we still lost, but the final score was a one score game. I can honestly say that our team, seeing as it is mostly inexperienced freshman, is not as talented as the team was at the end of last spring. The only reason I can attribute to such a turn around in how we played is the fact that we worked as a unit. There was no flare from any individual player, everyone came out to play hard and work together.