Right before I was about to start my paper, I turned on the television and discovered that Wall-E was starting in 5 minutes. Not only was this a great way to further procrastinate doing school work, but it was also relevant. The movie further helped me decide on my side of the argument. As silly as it sounds, Wall-E shows what we will become if we don’t starting moving towards putting the green movement into effect and become fully dependent on technology. We are so consumed by technology as it is, and with new things emerging so rapidly, it is hard to not get distracted and take a moment to appreciate the real world around us.
So far, I have picked out a few points in Slade’s work that I would like to cover or mention to help back up my argument that society is not moving towards change and we will continue on a path of destruction. I feel as it many of the points explain the same thing, though, but I did not want to include history in the paper, as Slade covers that a lot in his book. I found a few articles on companies investing in ways to generate more efficient energy, but am having trouble relating it back to my paper, as they help support the opposite side of my argument. I am also finding it difficult to keep my opinion out of this paper as this is such a controversial topic. There are so many directions to go with this paper, I just have to find where to start. This assignment will certainly be a challenge.
Saturday, December 18, 2010
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Final Paper Ideas/Progress I
While both topics given to us for the final paper are very relevant and intriguing, I think I am going to choose the second option, regarding “Made to Break” by Giles Slade and the green movement. “Going green” refers to the sustainable management of resources and is an idea that is progressively growing in society. As many individuals have always been interested in doing what is best for this planet, it seems that this idea is fairly recent and companies and organizations are jumping on the bandwagon.
Not only have I noticed that “going green” movement is greatly expanding, but it is also becoming a trend, in a sense that it is “the new cool thing”. Young “hipsters” are constantly looking for the next idea to put into practice before it becomes too popular. It would be interesting to see how certain individuals balance the challenge of staying green in a world that has succumbed to technology.
Although we see increasing amounts of companies slowly making changes to become part of the green movement, I wonder if it is for increased profits and to hopefully make the consumer feel better about the product they are purchasing, or because it is something they really believe in.
I have had the same phone for around 4 years now, so I believe that I am not a victim of technology’s trap. Personally “green” turns me towards a product, but many others simply do not care, resulting in landfills full of cell phones, computers, televisions, radios, and so on.
I believe that it is important to raise awareness of how we can help save our resources and environment. I find it interesting that Slade’s work discusses how society’s “throw-away” culture is creating the exact opposite effect on what many people are trying to accomplish by going green. I hope to discover if individuals in society are even aware of the disposable culture we are creating through technology, and to research what technological companies are actually making an effort to go green and help decrease the horror Slade’s describes to us.
Not only have I noticed that “going green” movement is greatly expanding, but it is also becoming a trend, in a sense that it is “the new cool thing”. Young “hipsters” are constantly looking for the next idea to put into practice before it becomes too popular. It would be interesting to see how certain individuals balance the challenge of staying green in a world that has succumbed to technology.
Although we see increasing amounts of companies slowly making changes to become part of the green movement, I wonder if it is for increased profits and to hopefully make the consumer feel better about the product they are purchasing, or because it is something they really believe in.
I have had the same phone for around 4 years now, so I believe that I am not a victim of technology’s trap. Personally “green” turns me towards a product, but many others simply do not care, resulting in landfills full of cell phones, computers, televisions, radios, and so on.
I believe that it is important to raise awareness of how we can help save our resources and environment. I find it interesting that Slade’s work discusses how society’s “throw-away” culture is creating the exact opposite effect on what many people are trying to accomplish by going green. I hope to discover if individuals in society are even aware of the disposable culture we are creating through technology, and to research what technological companies are actually making an effort to go green and help decrease the horror Slade’s describes to us.
Sunday, December 5, 2010
The Facebook Effect: The Inside Story of the Company That Is Connecting the World (pt. III)
In the last selection of “The Facebook Effect”, Kirkpatrick still manages to keep readers enticed. As we have seen in previous chapters, Facebook’s new ideas and tools lead it to keep getting better and in return, more successful. The introduction of photos and social events, even in its beginning stages, was an addition to Facebook that further separated it from the other websites. The new features enabled the website to create a “social graph”, a term Zuckerberg coined himself meaning that the core value of Facebook is in the friend connections (217). Whatever you did lately, if you posted it on the website, Facebook told your friends. Everyone was able to know if you went on vacation, broke up with a significant other, had too much to drink last night, etc. Now, Facebook’s features are used document our events, plan our events, and let everyone know how successful it was. There was very little that Facebook couldn’t do (technology/internet-wise).
We are seeing companies and organizations create their own Facebook pages more and more to help promote and advertise their products, improve business, or just spread the word about a cause (263). Although this allows for open and honest discussion, as the company has little control over what users could say, many companies utilized the feedback from this new tool to the fullest. An example of this was recently seen when Gap changed its logo. The Gap clothing company decided to change its logo and revealed the new design on Facebook. Within minutes, the site got multiple responses from users and customers criticizing the logo and explaining how they wanted it changed back. Needless to say, the logo lasted for a few days due to the immediate and chaotic feedback from Facebook users.
Relating to this issue, Zuckerberg believes that Facebook can help create transparency (287). Because it allows for more openness and lets everyone express feeling very quickly, he thinks that this makes organizations and companies more trustworthy. This is something that I slightly disagree with, business-wise. I think it is important to take into consideration that companies are essentially interested in profit and promoting good will for the companies. Therefore they may only put positive things up on the internet about them and censor what others post. On a social level, I think Facebook opens new doors to compliment others and be ourselves “in front of them”. Although we can always do this in person, the electronic neighborhood gives us more access to individuals and opportunities to build upon relationships (288).
But what is the future of Facebook? Facebook is increasingly getting more popular each day. Kirkpatrick mentions Facebook’s ability to collect data from its users many times, and while this has its benefits such as personalized ads and suggestions and even potentially profit for the company through personalize advertisements, it is a very scary thought (267). Facebook has previously experienced problems with some applications stealing information from its users, and it still seems to be a concern now. Recently, popular applications such as Farmville, Mafia Wars, and Café World have been accused of leaking information to other sources. Are we oblivious to the repercussions using a simple website would have? Is our information eventually going to be sold? And although there are currently no plans to deploy Connect, if Zuckerberg ever decides to implement it, it will allow Facebook to gain even more information about users and not just what they put on Facebook (307). Is this a breach of privacy? Are there other things we aren’t considering when using the popular website?
Although I believe that there are concerns regarding Facebook, the website is doing much more good than harm for our society. Facebook is not only creating rapid and more efficient communication in a world in which increasing and overwhelming amounts of information is surrounding society without choice, but it is connecting and uniting the world (330). It helped create intimacy when the internet was taking that away from us so very quickly. It is a tool that helps empowers us, as we control and build our own identity, social web, and memories.
We are seeing companies and organizations create their own Facebook pages more and more to help promote and advertise their products, improve business, or just spread the word about a cause (263). Although this allows for open and honest discussion, as the company has little control over what users could say, many companies utilized the feedback from this new tool to the fullest. An example of this was recently seen when Gap changed its logo. The Gap clothing company decided to change its logo and revealed the new design on Facebook. Within minutes, the site got multiple responses from users and customers criticizing the logo and explaining how they wanted it changed back. Needless to say, the logo lasted for a few days due to the immediate and chaotic feedback from Facebook users.
Relating to this issue, Zuckerberg believes that Facebook can help create transparency (287). Because it allows for more openness and lets everyone express feeling very quickly, he thinks that this makes organizations and companies more trustworthy. This is something that I slightly disagree with, business-wise. I think it is important to take into consideration that companies are essentially interested in profit and promoting good will for the companies. Therefore they may only put positive things up on the internet about them and censor what others post. On a social level, I think Facebook opens new doors to compliment others and be ourselves “in front of them”. Although we can always do this in person, the electronic neighborhood gives us more access to individuals and opportunities to build upon relationships (288).
But what is the future of Facebook? Facebook is increasingly getting more popular each day. Kirkpatrick mentions Facebook’s ability to collect data from its users many times, and while this has its benefits such as personalized ads and suggestions and even potentially profit for the company through personalize advertisements, it is a very scary thought (267). Facebook has previously experienced problems with some applications stealing information from its users, and it still seems to be a concern now. Recently, popular applications such as Farmville, Mafia Wars, and Café World have been accused of leaking information to other sources. Are we oblivious to the repercussions using a simple website would have? Is our information eventually going to be sold? And although there are currently no plans to deploy Connect, if Zuckerberg ever decides to implement it, it will allow Facebook to gain even more information about users and not just what they put on Facebook (307). Is this a breach of privacy? Are there other things we aren’t considering when using the popular website?
Although I believe that there are concerns regarding Facebook, the website is doing much more good than harm for our society. Facebook is not only creating rapid and more efficient communication in a world in which increasing and overwhelming amounts of information is surrounding society without choice, but it is connecting and uniting the world (330). It helped create intimacy when the internet was taking that away from us so very quickly. It is a tool that helps empowers us, as we control and build our own identity, social web, and memories.
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