Artifact 6

Christopher Poole website sound really interesting in what it does. I think anonymity is what makes the Internet unique in many ways and when that is taken away what would that mean for the Internet? I don’t think everywhere on the Internet people should be able to say whatever they want, but I think websites like Poole’s are good. When people have a place to go where they can express themselves in whatever way they want no matter how vulgar they are it will keep them out of other arenas where it would be inappropriate. I also think when people have a place to go where they are not judged as well it gives them in release through words and not through actions. It kind of scary to think of the Internet governs itself but in many ways it does. Poole gave the example of the cat abuser caught. Now how many other videos go up on the web that show crime and nothing happens I don’t know, but it shows that the Internet really has become a community that will stand together and act.

                Would some people stop using it or would more people use it? The Internet is expanding in what it can do in so many ways I think it is hard to say either way. I the Internet should remain private because that’s what I’m use to and I know and the way I use the computer I am safe. If the Internet would be non-private that opens a whole can of worms that scares me a little and I’m not sure why. Maybe it just because it’s change and I and most people don’t like change. How will that change the way I use the Internet?  It’s a weird though for me, but then again the only social networking site I’m on is Facebook and maybe login 2 times a month. I don’t make friends on the Internet as a rule that I follow and not part random groups.  I guess in my mind a nonprivate vs. private Internet are the same  to me because there are people that know how to manipulate the computer and write programs for everything. Those who are open are going to be open and those who want to hide their identity are going to find a way to hide. Which is the same right now, those who are open are going to share opening and those who want to hide, don’t share. I think that if the Internet would go non-private it would give people a false allusion of safety because like I said before of new computer programming.

Article #7

I can't believe 50% of students admitted to cheating in 2002. That just seems like a lot of students are cheating and kind of makes me upset because here I am working really hard to make sure I cite everything and study hard, but to think that possibly 50% of my classmates are not doing the same. That just does not add up to me. What does this mean for this generation that cheats?

I'm going to go on a rant know. I just don't understand what are these students thinking when they cheat? In the short run they get good grades but what about the long run? What kind of professionals are they going to become? What is the point of going to school if all they are going to do is cheat? They are cheating themselves and their future employers and clients. Studying is supposed to be hard. School is supposed to be hard. I’m getting so tired of the up in coming generation that is all about instant gratification. It’s all about getting the newest and greatest technology as fast as they can. About getting the best grades the easiest way possible. Where is the hard work ethic? I got a laptop last year; I did not have the money to get one before then. I got my first cell phone when I was 21yr, my family nor I had the money to get me one before then. I had to work for my phone and laptop before I could get it. Now days I perceive I could be wrong, but laptops are becoming more common for teenagers to have and I know phones are. I think the up in coming technologies could be responsible for the increase in cheating, mainly because it made it easier to cheat and therefore more tempting to cheat. Don’t have any data to back that up but it’s just what I think.

Another thing that really erks me is that students are redefining what "cheating" really is. So now students are cheating but they really don't believe it's cheating when they take other peoples work and say that it’s theirs or download notes into their calculator. I feel like I have to be really careful because how much of this line of thought have I absorbed into my way of thinking. Have I or now I'm sure that in some way plagiarized without evening thinking twice about it. What is really sad is that teachers don't really care if a student uses other people’s work they just have to cite it. I admit citing is a pain in the but. For all my dietetic classes I have to cite in APA and for my one writing class I have to cite in MLA, but if that is what the teachers want, it’s their class and they can set the criteria any way they want. It adds a little more time but in order to get the grade that I want I have to follow the teachers rules. 

I say job well done for all the teachers and Universities that are fighting back.  I think Christe is ingenious for setting up fake web pages and signs-up for her own class under an assumed name. Once she has caught the person she uses the situation as a teaching opportunity to actually help the student become better.  

Artifact 5

Shujie you make a good point about how the porn industry has many good contributions to technology and that is very surprising to hear.  But because of my own bias against porn, I just wish the industry would die. I think that porn is addicting, can really mess people up, and destroy their life.  To say that anything good could come out of the industry is hard, but I guess some good can come out of the bad; they have made the Internet safer. I wish I could have one without the other.  I believe their whole reasoning for making these breakthroughs is because their clientele. Porn is one of those things that is very private. It is not one of those things that people start up a conversation about. People do not like admitting that they look at porn because in our society it holds a negative association of just being discussing(in my view as a Christian) but I believe even in non-Christian circles its one of those things that may be accepted more but not talked about. It’s a topic that is private and that is why I believe that privacy it the driving force of porn industry coming up with their new technology. They are in the business where their ability of keeping peoples identities will make or break them.  If anyone and everyone could look up and see who visits porn sites than they would not have much of business online.