Blogging allows our students to read and write in an online connected world. These students are living in a world where;
Well over 1,000,000 books are published every year and a Google book search scanner can digitize 1,000 pages very hour......Did You Know 4.0, September, 2009
Afghan and US rangers fought off around 30 insurgents from two bases, in among the 30 that were attacking 17 of them were soon-to-be suicide bombers. All of the insurgents kept attacking the two bases with light weapons and rocket propelled grenades. But all of the died from their worthless siege to the base. The insurgents leader must of have been quite brave to face a heavy defense from the Afghan and US army at the bases. Soon later they caught the leader at Sunday in Logar province.
Questions
1. Why did the leader send his poor equipped men to their deaths?
2. What’s their reason to attack the two well guarded bases?
Afghanistan location
Vocab
1. Insurgents: a person who rises in forcible opposition to lawful authority,esp. a person who engages in armed resistance to agovernment or to the execution of its laws; rebel.
2. NATO: an organization formed in Washington, D.C. (1949), comprising the12 nations of the Atlantic Pact together with Greece, Turkey, andthe Federal Republic of Germany, for the purpose of collective defense against aggression. North. Atlantic. Treaty. Organization.
CNN. “Coalition: Attacks in Afghanistan Leave More than 30 Insurgents Dead – CNN.com.”CNN.com International – Breaking, World, Business, Sports, Entertainment and Video News. Cable News Network, 29 Aug. 2010. Web. 30 Aug. 2010. .
Original Article http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/meast/08/29/afghanistan.insurgents/index.html?hpt=T2#fbid=n1L8TX0Xi_K&wom
Floodwaters threaten city of half-million in Pakistan
Summary
A second floodwater has hit Shahdadkot, a small village inside Pakistan(see Figure 1). It is the worse three weeks in Pakistan’s history of natural disaster. 1,500 people died and 20 million lives are disturbed by the waves of the monsoon. Shahdadkot doesn’t have a good landscape which looks like a lake and the water can easily overflowed the houses. The people are asked to evacuate from their village as soon as possible. However, the vehicles aren’t enough to support the massive and urgent evacuation. Due to the flood, 200 health facilities are damaged or destroyed, which left the overcrowding, lack of hygiene mob the threats of contagious diseases.
Figure 1 (CNN- Floodwaters Threaten City of Half-million in Pakistan)
Reflection
Pakistan isn’t a much modernized country and yet, there are many factors that are slowing the rate of its development; war, and natural disasters. The country should really do something about their political problems and improve the lives of their citizens. In Pakistan, there are many villages and they are lack off protection from the disasters that could come and destroy them in any time. The government should do something to improve their conditions, landscapes, or even better houses, transportation in cases of urgent evacuation. This is the second time in the row that disaster happens to Pakistan. Will there be another one that is coming soon to destroy more of it? In that case, the government should have planned to improve the situation for the good of their citizens or they will eventually lose more money to rebuild what are destroyed.
Vocabulary
Ravaged – devastating or destructive action (Merriam-Webster Dictionary)
Map
Figure 2 (Pakistan Maps and Travel Guides)
Country – Pakistan
Capital – Islamabad
Bibliography
Website
CNN Wire Staff. “Floodwaters Threaten City of Half-million in Pakistan.” CNN.com International – Breaking, World, Business, Sports, Entertainment and Video News. 24 Aug. 2010. Web. 24 Aug. 2010. <http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/08/21/pakistan.floods/index.html#fbid=qIrGMXqpwn-&wom=false>.
Photographs
Photograph. Pakistan Maps and Travel Guides. Web. 24 Aug. 2010. <http://www.wordtravels.com/Travelguide/Countries/Pakistan/Map>.
Photograph. Floodwaters Threaten City of Half-million in Pakistan – CNN.com. CNN, 24 Aug. 2010. Web. 24 Aug. 2010. <http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/08/21/pakistan.floods/index.html#fbid=qIrGMXqpwn-&wom=false>.
Book
Ravage – Definition and More from the Free Merriam Webster Dictionary. Merriam Webster. Web. 27 Aug. 2010. <http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ravage?show=1&t=1282901881>.
Wildfires often happens when there are three conditions that present – fuel, oxygen and heat source. At this time, Russia has converged all of the needs to make a whole bunch of wildfires going across the country[1]. Figure 1 shows 368 hot spots across generated by wildfires in Russia with Moscow is the mostly affected region. It records that more than 50 people were killed and many were hospitalized which also left more than 3,500 people homeless. Due to the wildfires, smoke clouds were created which became a serious health hazard[2]. Not only worsen the health of the people, the wildfires had swept away a third of grain harvest compared to last year. Russia began to ban on grains export since this year’s crop didn’t meet the domestic demand and there might be a shortfall for Russian consumer[3]. However, United States is on its way to aid Russia’s losses.
Reflection
Wildfires had been going around the world with or without purposes. Sometimes it’s by human force, sometimes, the weather is the reason and there is nothing we can do to prevent it from happening. There might be a solution to this matter but no one has spoken up. However, United States had came and help out Russia’s difficulty. Did United States just come for the help or there is something else to it? Russia, in other hand, was lucky to find a powerful helper in one of the worse situation.
Figure 1 – Images Show Scope of Russian Wildfires
Vocabulary
Wildfire – a sweeping and destructive conflagration especially in a wilderness or a rural area
Bibliography
Photograph
2010. Photograph. Satellite Images Show Scope of Russian Wildfires – CNN.com. 2010 Cable News Network. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., 15 Aug. 2010. Web. 15 Aug. 2010. <http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/europe/08/14/russia.wildfires.nasa/index.html#fbid=qIrGMXqpwn-&wom=false>.
Newspaper
CNN Wire Staff. “Satellite Images Show Scope of Russian Wildfires.” CNN. 2010 Cable News Network. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., 15 Aug. 2010. Web. 15 Aug. 2010. <http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/europe/08/14/russia.wildfires.nasa/index.html#fbid=qIrGMXqpwn-&wom=false>.
Website
“Russia Ban on Grain Export Begins.” BBC – Homepage. 15 Aug. 2010. Web. 15 Aug. 2010. <http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-10977955>.
What is Social media?
According to Brian Eisenberg, a professional speaker, best-selling author and online marketing pioneer, Social media is actually NOT a media. It is more of a platform for social interaction and networking.
Social media is basically a combination of technology and social interaction, a platform where people share and discuss information.
Now let’s look at some examples.
We have the famous Twitter, Facebook, Plurk, Bebo, Youtube. And of course, many more. If you go on Youtube often, you would probably be familiar with Natalie, Michelle, Christine, Ryan and Kevin. All of them were united on Youtube by an interest and passion for acting and well, making others happy.
What is Care2?
Care2 is the largest online community for healthy and green living, human rights and animal welfare.
So how does Care2 work?
First of all, people joined Care2 to support their favorite cause.
After joining, each member will have his/her own page. You can change your theme, profile picture, add friends, add videos, and tell people a little bit about yourself. You even have your own comment board. This is pretty much like a MySpace layout.
People mostly join Care2 to read about global issues causes and news. For example, you can find articles about the Cochabamba’s Climate Talk and how it was more successful than the Copenhagen one.
People also find tips about healthy and green living. For example, you might want to read about 15 reasons why you should buy organic food.
The fun part here is that you can take action while sitting comfortably in front of your computer.
There are 3 ways you can help: participate in Today’s Action, click to donate and sign a petition.
Once you choose your favorite cause, just click on this orange button. Every time somebody clicks, the sponsors will donate a small amount of money to an organization supporting that cause. So shout out to your friends today. Mass participation is always powerful.
For Today’s Action, after reading what it’s about, click on the orange button to show your participation. Care2 changes its Today’s Action everyday so you have a lot of choices there.
You can also sign a petition. For example, a petition that asks Obama to reinstall solar panels on the White House cause apparently some former officers took them off. If you can’t find one that you like, just start your own petition.
Here are some of the causes Care2 supports; for example global warming, breast cancer… You can see the number of times I clicked, my impact and the total impact of the Care2 community. Click to donate is quite a unique feature of Care2 and I find it very interesting.
Last but not least, you can also be part of a healthy, green, and fun community.
Moreover, you can join groups based on your interests.
You can also gain access to this awesome sharing directory where you can create your own blog or share your favorite recipe.
So imagine yourself being part of this community where millions of people turn their passion into action!
To maximize people’s potential to make a difference, Care2 introduced to its members something called Butterfly Credits. Every time you take action, one of the three actions I explained before, you will gain Butterfly Credits accordingly.
Once you think you have too many credits, you can redeem them by giving away this “virtual money” to donate to a cause of your choice, but in real life the sponsors will do that of course.
After donating you will see this window. See how Care2 is a great example of social media? Not only it has over 13 million users, it also allows you to connect with more people in different networks.
So what makes Care2 that interesting?
Again, not only it has over 13 millions users, it is also one of the few – maybe even the only – social network site(s) that advocates green lifestyle. It also unifies activists around the world.
Just like how DevianArt was created for growing artists, Care2 was created for emerging activists and true citizens of the Earth.
In contrary to Facebook or Twitter, Care2 does not revolve much around you. Nobody cares about who you’re dating or what you’re up to. Care2 revolves around more serious things that you will learn to care for…like the Earth.
People join Care2 not just to make friends, but also to be part of an activist community where their involvement really…matters. Want to become one of them? Join Care2 today.
Facebook today is one of the most poular social media. I’m sure, you, reader of this post is already a user on Facebook. Facebook is so popular and addicted today, that everyobody, young or old amongst us have a Facebook account and go on it everyday. We are so attached to this media tool, that not all of us are aware yet of our own privacy display wildly on the internet. Today, other media sources such as Mashable , NY Times …are reminding us to pay more attention to keep our privacy on facebook. As a facebook user, i’m concerned about my privacy on Facebook and i’m sure you all do. Lately, i have read a blog post by Danah Boyd, explaining the poor condition of privacy on Facebook that i wish to share to the readers of my blog.
As users on Facebook, we are required to fill up our profile with our own personal information such as email adress, phone number, IP address( our location), these information may be useful to our close friends who wish to connect with us. Also our daily activities with friends that we post on our walls or pictures that we wish to share to our friends, can be accidentally spread throughout the internet without notice. Teenagers who are sometimes more careful, they often use fake IDs or try to hide their personal information for safety. Although, not everyone is aware of who their personal information is being displayed to. Facebook, who tried to argue for their privacy system, said that user can change their privacy settings. I believe this can be a struggle since according to Daniel Boyd, the privacy setting is only written in english.
We all connect to Facebook, it’s not only a social media anymore but part of our life and society. It’s true that we all have a choice whether to follow Facebook to connect with our close friends or abandon it to protect our privacy. People have the choice whether to share or hide information about their life. Although, people feel like they are trapped, they are constantly being deceived into thinking that they have a choice in their privacy settings when in reality, they don’t have much of a choice since their life and society is connected to Facebbok. Facebook is become addicted to most of us, for some social reasons, work or connect with people.
Now, what can we do rather than quit facebook or boycotting the use of Facebook? I, personally would encourage people to check their privacy settings. It’s still possible to control Facebook privacy, you can go through 50 different settings with more than 170 options.Facebook wants offer to us the controls in details of pur privacy on the internet. Not everyone understand how Facebook privacy setting function, well this is for you a quick demonstration for you to check and control your privacy information on facebook. ReclaimPrivacy.org has a bookmarklet to help you be as private as you’d like. The bookmarklet is just a snippet of Javascript. It will scann at your personal information,contact information, friends, tags and connections, to make sure if your information can be share unneccessary by your friends or viewed by strangers.If you wish to your web browser bookmarks bar: Scan Privacy, please follow these follwing directions:
_Drag this link to your web browser bookmarks bar: Scan for Privacy
_Log in to Facebook.com and then click that bookmarklet
_You will see a series of privacy scans that inspect your privacy settings and warn you about settings that might be unexpectedly public.
As a Facebook user, i encourage you to be aware of the information you display on facebook and to check your security setting. We all have a choice whether to protect our personal information, and its your choice whether to embrace it.
Articles about Facebook privacy are swarming the front page of many magazines and websites.
In case you haven’t known, Facebook is generating millions of bucks by selling personal information you, users, provided. Not scared yet? Then here’s another piece of fact for you: Facebook has full access to your IP addresses (they can easily track where you are and which computer you are using), your email addresses and your chat logs. This means that Facebook is reading every single message you type and every single secret you share — or maybe not every single one but you get the picture.
Danah Boyd, a researcher about teenagers and social networks, depicted the alarming issue on her blog which, I believe, gave Facebook a big slap in the face. She pointed out the truth that Facebook has become crucial to people’s lives — just like water and food. More and more people use Facebook to stay in contact with friends and family, and it even seems to me that cellphones are going to be outdated in a few years. With that in mind, Facebook confidently chose to play safe, that is to flick off people’s comments and complaints because Facebook believes that nothing can harm its popularity — or may I say, utility.
Recently, through New York Times, Elliot Schrage (vice president for public policy at Facebook) has attempted to tackle the issue in a more democratic way. However, as Danah Boyd said, “he failed” miserably because what he is doing now is soothing out people’s rage instead of taking concrete action. Maybe people live by words, but I live by actions.
Nobody knows why Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook, hasn’t spoken yet regarding this privacy issue but many people find this silence very odd.
The problem with privacy is that not a lot of people are informed about the [negative] consequences of sharing information to a potentially large public. Some of the users believe that this is an inevitable situation since the world is living on sharing information and technology. Others believe that this is completely unfair. No matter what side their stance is on, people must know that they are directly affected.
By exposing their information on Facebook — say, pictures — people are putting themselves at risk. They can possibly lose a job or at our age, be rejected for admissions to a school. As unpleasant as that sounds, Facebook is avoiding its responsibility to protect its users’ privacy, though it constantly claimed the opposite.
Facebook is not doing a great job informing and educating people about privacy and the privacy settings on Facebook — the choices users can make. When we first join Facebook, our privacy standards are set to “open” and Facebook lets us modify the settings if we wish. I believe that this is not right, that it should be the other way around. Users should start off “well-protected” and will be given a choice whether or not they want to loosen the privacy settings.
A lot of people decided to quit Facebook in masses. However, as Danah Boyd pointed out, it won’t lead to any positive change because the people that actually NEED Facebook — either to work or to stay in contact with friends and family — the people who do not really “care” (or rather, do not really “know”) about privacy settings outnumber us. Therefore, it is wiser to spread the message to everybody so that we can all be united and equally informed about what Facebook has in store for us.
All in all, Facebook should confront the problem face-to-face with its users and it is about time for Zuckerberg to show himself in public. I just went on Facebook and saw some changes regarding the privacy settings in my homepage. Good. I hope that Facebook is moving in the right direction.
Bibiography:
Facebook. Digital image. Tap Chi Web 2.0. Web. 2 June 2010. <http://pcspacevn.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/facebook2.jpg>.
We have seen cyber bullying, cyber stalking and many other issues caused by the internet. The latest issue we ar facing is facebook privacy. For people who are not aware of the issue- people who sign up for facebook, sign up for free and unauthorized usage of their personal information. Maybe I’m just exaggerating a little, but even then, it is bad enough for it to become a raging issue.
After reading her articles I completely agree with Danah Boyd that Facebook is causing more trouble than being helpful. She says that Facebook, currently has 400 million active users, and all of them are consciously or unconsciously being exposed, whether they like it, or not.
What scares me the most is that people can actually put together through your IP Address, your location and other private contact information. This would definitely lead to critical situations. I do agree with the quotes by MarkZuckerburg that Facebook has in a way helped us to keep our integrity and stuff. Those are interesting and honest points to remember. But people should also realize that if something creates more harm than good then something is definitely wrong with it.
In one of her articles, Danah Boyd talks about Facebook’s default privacy settings. Anyone who is an active user will know that the majority of the default privacy settings is set to Friends of friends, or everyone. Facebook (or maybe Zucerberg) automatically assumes that every single person signing up for an account prefers this kind exposure. In fact, Facebook is so sure that everyone is going to be fine with these settings that it gives barely any hint that users can change these settings. Zuckerburg, of course, sees this as a good thing, as it allows publicity. But who wants so much publicity? And is anyone even aware of what kind of publicity they are getting? The truth is that, in that way, Facebook only helps those people who are looking for publicity and exposure. Not everyone is like that, and that is why they should be aware that they have a choice to control their privacy
In another one of her articles Boyd talks about Facebook and “radical transparency”. In this she says that Zuckerberg (creator of Facebook) orginally created Facebook for our own benefits. According to him, Facebook allows us to show people our true selves, allows us to be transparent, which we usually dont do face-to-face. Zuckerberg maybe thought that the public is going to consider this, look at Facebook under a positive light, and forget that Facebook is exposing them. However, the public hardly ever works the way you want it to. Inevitably, people like me, will figure out eventually that this whole transparency thing is just a big excuse; because we all know that safety comes before transparency, popularity, recognition, and every other “helpful” aspect of Facebook.
A third article, by Boyd says that no matter how much we deny it, we are dependant on Facebook, we need Facebook. Obviously I am not the only one who recognizes that Facebook can be dangerous. There are a lot of people out there who agree with Danah Boyd, but almost all of them are still remain active users on Facebook. Boyd thinks that its too late to ask people to deactivate their accounts on Facebook because no matter how many reasons we are given we are too dependent on Facebook to let it go, permanently. However, Boyd is not asking us to do this. She believes that instead of trying in vain to abandon Facebook, we must make them do better. She says that only if we make some noise will things change. And that’s how it always works. People need to voice out there concerns about Facebook, they need to show that it can be harmful and dangerous, people need to make a fuss. Only then will Facebook do better. Hopefully, Mark Zuckerburg will realize that no one is buying his excuse anymore and change Facebook soon enough.
Recently, there is an issue of Face Book privacy setting and the users emphasize on protecting the privacy of oneself. Privacy is the fundamental right of human beings and it is a must to be protected. However, Face Book’s privacy system is not stable and it seems risky for all users .
Patrick, a user of Face Book claimed that it is becoming more public and less private. Without any control, all the information and pictures on profiles will be distributed to society easily. This is truly a violation of privacy. For example, if a friend takes a photo of you drinking heavily in the bar and post it on the Face Book, your personal image is most likely to be ruined. It would be a relief if the friend has set secure privacy settings but if that is not the case, then the inappropriate picture of you will be shared by the users, even the strangers; ‘friends of friend’. The author also mentions a problem of Face book which is no indications indicating how public each piece of information you share on the site will be. Also Darah, the author of the first article in Mr. Bertoia’s web-slides is upset by the way Face book administers sit back and do not take a serious action on the issue. I strongly agree with the critics because Face book must take care of users since they are responsible for it (as the founders) so they cannot just back off and keep telling they will do something about it. Well, when will something be done? According to Wikipedia, there are more than 400 million active users, 50% of active users log on to Face book in any given day, Average users has 130 friends, and people spend over 500 billion minutes per month on Face book. This clearly shows Face book is now a broad social media and it truly needs regulations in order to protect the privacy rights of individuals.
There is something worse that Face Book has been done; sharing personal information with advertisers. The problem here is that Face Book did not receive appropriate permission for their actions. The wall street journal mentioned that Yahoo Right Media and Google’s Double Click have been shared the personal contents with Face Book. I strongly believe this is seriously unacceptable. This is such a behavior that betrays all the users that trust Face Book and such a manner that violate our privacy rights. I can’t understand it as there is a possibility that my information exposed as well. Therefore, I request forming more stable privacy systems for all users and the public must increase their awareness of privacy.
Reference: “Facebook Privacy Issues – The Irony « Socialnomics – Social Media Blog.” Socialnomics – Social Media Blog. Web. 02 June 2010. <http://socialnomics.net/2010/05/20/facebook-privacy-issues-the-irony/>.
Chris Saad: “Facebook’s Claims About Data Portability Are False”" ReadWriteWeb – Web Apps, Web Technology Trends, Social Networking and Social Media. Web. 01 June 2010. <http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/chris_saad_facebooks_claims_about_data_portability_are_false.php>.
Facebook is one of the popular soc ial networking internet site. It, originally, was a counter public which allowed people to share their information with their friends; but also, to pr otect the information with other people, through Facebook Privacy. However, Facebook Privacy has become one of the most important issue of the year.
The security problems mean that more content s have been exposed, included :email addresses, IP addresses (which is your location), and full chat logs. Facebook has been struggling to explain about the privacy setting decisions while dealing with the privacy issue. This problem has created panic a mong the people who use Facebook. In 2009, Zuckerberg has stated “You have one identity… The days of you having a different image for your work friends or co-workers and for the other people you know are probably coming to an end pretty quickly… Having two identities for yourself is an example of a lack of integrity”, he has turned the battle to be the battle of over choice and informed consent, not the battle of privacy and publicity. Facebook gives users the illusion of choice and hides the details away “ for their own good”. Forcing people to expose their information and turning people into mini-celebrities isn’t good for both society nor individuals. Zuckerberg and others may think that they know what is the best for the society; in fact, they only know about what is best for their privilege classes; I personally disagree. The concept that Kirkpatrick suggest is core to Facebook is “radical transparency”. He argues the belief of Zuckerberg that people will be better off if they make themselves transparent; and also, he probably believes that people will be “ better off” if they exposed themselves to the society. “The problem is that not everyone wants to be along with their ride.”Facebook, originally, is a counter public where people want to engage in public, not the public that includes everyone that they have accessed to. The lack of transparency of Facebook means the transparency in interface design. Some people think that, if they have completely locked down their Facebook, other people will not find any information about that locked facebook. However, they were wrong; they don’t get that their friend lists, interests, information, pictures and other contents are public accessible. Mark Zuckerberg, has always wanted to make Facebook become more social utility and he has succeed. But, the problem is that Facebook is getting gradually regulated. Facebook is becoming an international utility; you have realized that Facebook is quite popular in over the world. This might start out being the privacy, but if you are not careful, the regulation can be worsened. SHOULD WE “QUIT” FACEBOOK?
I, personally, am a big user of Facebook. I accessed to Facebook almost 2/3 of my day. By knowing the fact about the issue of privacy setting of facebook, doesn’t mean that I should quit Facebook because of that. I believe that quitting Facebook is pointless, because if we quit, it doesn’t change the fact of the privacy issue which is going on. So, we should encourage and suggest our idea to make Facebook becomes a better page. “ Quitting Facebook is pointless; challenging them to do better is not.”We should challenge Facebook to do the better work.
