Technology Fields

Below is a slideshow of four of the many technology fields that there are:

Programming, Myanmar, and Video Game Scoring

Computer Programming 

Sarah Allen is in a minority being a woman computer programmer.  Only 20% of the  field is made up of woman. Sarah led a group of computer programmers in making the very popular site Youtube.  Computer programming is a rapidly growing career field that more and more people are looking at. Allen talks about the sexism not just in computer programming but in all jobs.  Sarah wants this to be changed because women are just as good at the jobs they do as men are.  A link to the story can be found here.

Technology in Myanmar

Nay Aung is an internet entrepreneur who is using technology to make a travel website.  Internet is not used very much in Myanmar. One of the problems he faced was trying to get people to actually use the internet and many times the internet is not stable.  Only 20% of the population actually have access but his website is still doing pretty well. Nay may be slightly ahead of times but that may work out in his favor. Follow this link to hear the whole story. A map of Myanmar formerly known as Burma.

Video Game Scoring

The musical score in video games is becoming just as important as the story and the graphics.  Jim Dooley helped with the scoring of Disney's Epic Mickey game and tells us more about that process. A game does not have a fixed timeline like a movie does, which makes it more difficult to use the music to match the feelings of the player. The music changes as well as the instruments matching what is going on in the game.  It is very difficult for all the sounds to fit together and be different.  Recently more composers want to do the music for video games, these composing jobs require the composer to work more more closely with the people in charge of the games than if it was a movie. Scoring has gotten more and more important as video games have evolved. The music makes the player feel more involved. Here is a link to this fascinating story.

On Google

We watched a video on Google. This is what I found to be interesting:

The people working at Google get to have a lot of fun, this allows them to keep people interested in and focused on their job.
Google started out as a research project and became amazingly successful with very high profits.
They rank their pages in order of how they come up by how many links are going to the site, a different approach than most search engines.
2/3 of internet searches are done on Google, they still have lots of competition (Bing and Yahoo).
Yahoo turned down buying Google.
Google keeps every search ever made, analyze it to make Google better. People worry about their privacy because of this.  The history of your searches can be given to the government, but Google tries to keep he privacy of its users and does not misuse their data.
Google visual search allows you to take a picture and then search with it on Google if you want to know more about what you took a picture of.  Google is trying to catch up to the Iphone with the Android.
Google Adwords is very helpful for  small businesses by helping them advertise their company. Google makes a lot of its money with Adwords. This is what the sponsored links at the top of the  page are.

This video was very interesting and showed a lot about what Google is doing and how they work. I think that Google Adwords was the most interesting because I have never heard of it before.  I learned a lot about Google from this video and was very glad I watched it.

Pixar

We watched The Pixar Story in class. Here are my observations:

Technology Influences Art
Technology changed the way that art was viewed.  It allowed for new art forms. They saw potential for new art when looking at new technology (Tron).  Eventually it ws possible to draw right into the computer.  Geometric shapes were used a lot because it was easier to do on computers.  Basically technology allowed for stories to be told with art that can't be told any other way.

Art Influences Technology
The artists would ask if new technology could be created to do what they wanted.  Specifically George Lucas want to do things after Star Wars so new software had to be created to make it possible.  The artists wanted to animate reality and they needed to find a way to do this with technology.  They needed technology for specific things and more powerful computers so they were made.  Basically the artists wanted to do something and a way to do it was found with new technology.

The Creation of Toy Story
Pixar's idea was a story from a toy's point of view, Disney funded this idea to be made into a movie.  Pixar wanted to make something different from what Disney did.  They got Tom Hanks for Woody and completed the storyboard. They showed Disney the storyboard and Disney said to shut production down.  Pixar, instead of shuting down, rewrote the script and made the movie the way they wanted to. Production was started back up  and Tim Allen was brought on as Buzz.  No one knew what the final product was going to  look like but it ended up great.  Toy Story paved a path for an animation industry.

Copyright- Virtual Tour

A virtual of images from public domain and creative commons.

Copyright Reflection

The copyright questions answered for class an be found here.

I learned a lot about copyright from reading this article.  A few of the things I learned from it were more on what a copyright exactly is, how to claim copyright, and what things can be protected just to name a few. A copyright is a form of protection for original works, this allows the owner of the copyright to do a few things, like perform their work, give copies of their work, and reproduce their work to name just a couple. You have to fill out an application, and give a copy of your work.  Then you get a certificate of registration and your copyright is either accepted or denied.  Things that can be protected include literary, musical, and dramatic works among others. Some things cannot be protected, things that weren't recorded or are everyday ideas cannot be.  I think reading about this will effect me as a student by making me more careful about what using other people material and notice when I can and cannot use things. Outside of school I will now how to get my work protected if I need to so other people cannot take it.  Overall I have gained a lot of  knowledge of copyright by reading this article

Internet Safety

Going Social Reflection

Social networking sites are websites that allow people to have networks between their friends and friends of friends. MySpace and Facebook are the biggest social networking sites but there are a lot of other ones too. Most teens have at least one account on one of these sites. These sights want users to be at least 13 when they get account, but many people lie. I think people should not lie about their age on Facebook but nothing is going to stop kids from getting a Facebook. On social networking sites you can friend people and add them to your friends list and then you are able to communicate with them and see what they are doing. You can "poke" people to get their attention. Having a lot of friends is a risk to your privacy, especially if you do not know all of your "friends" You should always know all your friends in real life, don't friend people you do not know. You can change your privacy settings to make only your friends be able to read your information, but not all your friends neccesarily do that. Do not put too much information on the web because people you don't want to find it, will. Most social networking sites have policies against harmful content. Offensive or abusive things can be reported and taken down. There are many groups on sites that allow people to meet with people who ahve similar interests. Some groups have bad things on them that go against the policies of the sites they are on. These things can not really be stopped because they are made all the time. Reporting groups like these is a good idea so they get taken down for there bad content. Third-Party Apps are applications are programs that work within a social networking site for additional functionality. These third-party apps can be a danger to your privacy they can access the information you have put on the site. Your information is shared with the application, although they do have to respect your settings. Although if your not careful when agreeing they can use your information. Scams and phishing are very common on these sites and the people trying to get to your information find loopholes after the sites change their policies. The people running the sites can't find everything so you have to be careful what you agree to. Common phishing attempts on social networking sites are links. These links take you to a site that looks like a login screen. If you type in your password your friends get this link and sometimes your computer gets hit with adware. We sometimes are too trusting of people and click these links because they say things like "I have this picture of you from a hidden camera." These things lure us in and we fall into a trap. Don't click on links that look suspicious, be aware that people are trying to get your information. Employers may look at things you post on the internet, so be careful! You could lose a job if you post something an employer does not like. If you post too much personal information it could really get you in trouble. Whene ver you post something make sure to control the things you share, by changing privacy settings. When it comes to posting pictures use your best judgment. Don't post photos you will regret in the future. Photos can keep you from getting hired and can allow stalkers to identify you. Inapropriate photos could also get a person in trouble at school. Be careful what you post remember what you post is public for everyone to see not just your friends, because people will share photos with other people. The same goes for webcams, don't give people inappropriate videos or videos you will regret. Videos you may think are funny on Youtube can cause emotional distress to those who are in them. Also don't try to dangerous things on Youtube to get views it's not worth it. It's very uneccesary to break up with people over Facebook. Don't change your relationship status to avoid talking about it. That is a very rude thing to do to someone, especially if they find out through a friend. Twitter is a social netowrking site that allows you to basically do mini blogs. You type something a post it for the world to see. It was designed for people who use their phones to go on social networking sites. Twitter has been a huge target of phising and malware attacks. Just like othr social networking sites. Always remember that scammers are targeting social networking sites, don't lie about your age, don't reveal too much personal informations. use your privacy settings, don't be friends with people you do not know, and don't post things you will regret. This chapter in Own your Space was really insightful and definately warns you about all the things that happen to you online. It is a good reminder about being safe on the internet and about not putting anything online that you will regret. This chapter had some great tips about online safety, I will definately remember all it said keep it in mind when on the internet. My tip would be to make sure you really think things through before posting, you do not want to have to regret something you posted.

Passwords

Identity Theft Reflection

Before the activities we completed in class I did not know much about identity theft and would not have known what to do if my identity ever did get stolen. One thing I learned was that you cannot completely protect yourself from ID theft but you can make it very hard for a thief to get your information. I found out that if you know someone has stolen your identity you should place a credit freeze so the thief cannot get new loans or credit cards in your name even if they have all your information. There are a few ways to tell if someone has stolen your identity one is if you get a call about something being approved that you have not applied for. It is very important to stay safe online so you do not give away information to and unwanted person. A really good tip for protecting your identity while online shopping is to look for the letter s at the end of the http if there is one that means the site is secure. Another good tip is to never buy from spammers, they could be looking to steal your identity. One more tip is to keep an eye on your bank account so you notice any unexplained withdrawals from your account. Always remember to be safe with your information on the internet.

Ethics

This is my assignment on ethics.  My favorite quote is by Albert Einstein.

Helpful Shortcuts

What are the 3 most helpful shortcuts we have discussed?

1. Copy and Paste. Shortcut: command + c  to copy,  Command + p to paste.  This is helpful because their is not a right click on Apple computers.

2. Switching between Applications. Shortcut: command + tab.  A helpful shortcut because you can switch between applications easily if you need to switch a lot.

3. Exiting out of windows. Shortcut: command + W.  This is helpful because you can exit out of the tab your in but you don't have to exit out of the browser completely.