I- If only... if only...

If only the world was perfect. If it was, then Mexico would be the recipient of the technologies we've spend this entire semester dreaming of. From Twitter to Facebook to simple SMS texting. Last night a 6.7 earthquake hit Mexico and killed one.

http://www.digtriad.com/news/national/article/203291/175/Mexico-Earthquake-Kills-At-Least-1-Person

Like the Haitian earthquake, phones were still able to be used during and after the quake hit. So while the rest of us in State College were either hammered, sleeping, or "singing" Don't Stop Believing at the top the lungs, Mexico's earthquake was able to be reported to family and friends as well as how the person, who initiated it, is doing.  Likewise, Japan and Hawaii both had earthquakes as well, and no damages were reported there either.

Suffice it to say that I would just end this blog post there... there's not much else you can say besides an earthquake hit and people had their phones. So, naturally people are going to do what they naturally do: when anything relatively exciting or new happens, they take to their phones. Go figure.

I- From a $20 Tickle me Elmo to a $55 Tickle me Elmo

Is it just me or does anyone else remember using Xanga? In our lifetime, mind you I'm just barely in my twenties, we've seen our technologies for communication grow and expand rapidly. From calling only phones, to texting capabilities, to xanga, AIM, to myspace, to Facebook, to Twitter, Tumblr, and Flickr. Even eHarmony, Chemistry.com, ChristianDating.com help people date by meeting over the internet! The best way I could describe this, is actually through the link below and the table that it shows:

http://novaspivack.typepad.com/nova_spivacks_weblog/2004/02/deja_vu_all_ove.html

But take a minute to think about this; if we have seen such rapid development in the last decade or so, what is the technology going to be like when our children are that age? My parents grew up with black and white tv, and it was a miracle when they got color and more than ten channels. I grew up with over sixty channels easily, VHS, DVD, Nintendo 64, cell phones, and such. Whenever I decide to procreate and expand my family, what will those creatons be playing with? Holographic "imaginary" friends?

Where on earth is technology going? Will the world of iRobot actually be our future? Or perhaps it will be the Jetsons.

Either way, if we do become the Jetsons in a hundred years, I won't be around... I just hope it's less complicated than today's world. Maybe by then the U.S. Government will learn that they should balance their checkbook like average citizens do... you can't spend more than you earn. 

I- Should CraigsList be retitled MurderList? Or SexList?

            When CraigsList was founded, I doubt that it’s founder meant it to be used as a tool for murder.  Since 2007, even up until today, people have been murdered, and violently attacked by replying to, or placing advertisements on CraigsList.  In 2007, Katherine Olson was found murdered, stuffed in the trunk of her car after responding to an ad.  In 2008, a Michigan woman put a contract out for murder via CraigsList. While in 2009, George Weber was found bound and stabbed over 50 times after meeting a woman on CraigsList, Julissa Brisman was murdered by Philip Markoff after he responded to her massage services ad, and Heather Snively and her unborn child of eight months were brutally murdered after meeting Korena Roberts to discuss her ad about selling baby clothes.

            More recently, in April 2010, Jimmy Sanders was murdered and his family terrorized by four individuals including, one, Kiyoshi Higashi.  Along with Joshua Reese, Amanda Knight, and Clabon Berniard responded to Mr. Sanders’ CraigsList ad regarding a diamond ring for sale.  Higashi was the first of the group to go to trial, and the first CraigsList killer to be found guilty of first-degree murder, as of March 9, 2011.  His presence during the murder of Mr. Sanders was enough to get a conviction on the counts of first-degree murder, first-degree burglary, and two counts of both second-degree assault and first-degree robbery.  

            Even more recently, yesterday, December 1, 2011, another “CraigsList Killer” was arrested. He is sixteen years old. Brogan Rafferty of Stow, Ohio, along with his fifty-two year old mentor Richard Beasley. (Beasley has not been charged in this case yet, due to other charges against him involving prostitution and drugs.)  The duo met when Mr. Beasley was a chaplain mentoring the young adult.  According to the New York Times article Craigslist Used in Deadly Ploy to Lure Victims in Ohio, by Erica Goode, “The perpetrators appeared to be looking for loners who would not be missed,” and I rather agree. Their CraigsList ad offered a job where the person selected would be responsible for feeding some cows and watching the 688 acre expanse of land, and came with a few perks including a free trailer to stay in and unlimited fishing. Before agreeing to give the fake job to the people who applied for it, they were interviewed by Mr. Beasley. One such man was Ron Sanson; he was denied from the job in the ad on CraigsList. Perhaps it was because he was in the Navy after attending college, and he would be missed. Three men were murdered after ‘receiving’ the fake job, and another was injured and luckily escaped, unraveling this CraigsList serial killing. 

            This most recent CraigsList killing spree got me thinking… is the technology that we love, that we share so much of ourselves on, that we seem to not be able to live without our undoing? Why are we so willing to trust over the internet, yet so unwilling to trust in person? I believe it is because those of us in the world who have a good-hearted nature believe, or wish to believe, that others wouldn’t do such a thing as lure innocent people to their brutal deaths. This naive belief leads many people down a road from which they will never return. Unfortunately many people are murdered each year, but the number of people murdered after initial contact is made through the internet is steadily on the rise.

            Events like the first CraigsList killing, are sadly becoming more and more common. It is easier than ever to find information about people whom you are talking with over the internet than ever before. Between our naïve views, and the amount of readily accessible information, and the amount of information we willingly give out about ourselves it is no wonder why such events are on the rise. I am very much a supporter of the idea, the more privacy an individual has the better, and I think more people should adopt this view. I’m not saying that I don’t have any personal information out and about on the internet, you could probably find some if you wanted to search hard enough, but I think that everyone should be more wary of who they trust on the internet. A new ‘friend’ may not be so friendly when you meet. The most recent CraigsList killings show just that. 

I-Friends? Okay… I’ll Facebook-stalk you first.

When I was younger, I remember having to memorize my friend’s phone numbers in order to call them to see if they could hang out for the day. Now, all I have to do is take out my cell phone, shoot out a text or post a status on my Facebook page saying, “I’m bored at—Saloon—come drink with me!” And then I think to myself… great, well let’s see how many creepers come out to play tonight. “Facebook stalking” has become a socially acceptable phenomenon, more like a socially acceptable blunder. As stated by NCgirl59 on urbandictionary.com,

            The act of monitoring another person's activity (status updates, photo uploads, photo tags, photo comments, wall posts, friend additions, group memberships, attended events, mutual friends, e.t.c.) on the popular social network of Facebook.

                        Person A: I was Facebook stalking Jennifer for two hours last night.                                                             

                        Person B: Oh really?

                        Person A: Yeah, Amber added photos from her birthday party and Jennifer was tagged in one of them. However two weeks ago Jennifer RSVPed 'attending' on the guest list for Jack's                                                             birthday party which was the same night as Amber's. Then she updated her status to: "Jennifer is going on a date tonight" but according to her relationship status, she's not single!

            So this leaves me at the Saloon, waiting for friends, and I end up getting people who I’m pity-friends with who happen to have been Facebook stalking me at the time I put up that status. What a shame. (I would never actually use FourSquare or Places, to “check into” places for my own personal safety reasons, but never the less the point still stands; I’m still stuck at the Saloon with unwanted people.) Due to the social norm of Facebook stalking, I would solidly like to say “F you” to whoever invented the FourSquare and Places apps. Not only have those apps added to the social networking stalking that is occurring, it also opens up various windows to illicit and illegal activities. As stated by Anna Brundage in her September article in The Quinnipac Chronicle, “I do not want everyone to know where I am. If I feel it is important enough for someone to know where I am, I will tell them” and I rather tend to agree.

            Anna Brundage then goes on in the same article to state her, rather similar to my, opinion of the options to subscribe to Facebook friends and groups. It is a tad bit too much. Having someone receive a SMS message every time I post a status not only creeps me out, I think it is a completely unnecessary and rather dangerous integrated part of Facebook. With statuses being posted by myself and my friends on Facebook who use and have enabled the location setting for posts on their Facebooks, the last thing I want is for someone who I don’t really want to know that much about me to be seeing if they can develop a pattern of my behavior via Facebook posts by myself or my friends. The last thing I would ever want is for people to be able to do that to myself or any of my friends, between past experiences of my own, I really do not want anyone at all to see where I am several times per week and see my behavioral patterns.

            More over, if Facebook stalking is “bad” and can enable those who are doing the Facebook stalking to see behavioral patterns of the people who are the targets of such activities, imagine this…a breakup notification application. Guess what? It already exists. It is the brain child of Beverly Hills-based software programmer Dan Loewenherz, originally developed as a joke. This is a prime example of a joke turned potentially harmful and dangerous app available to all on Facebook. Upon its introduction to the world wide web via Facebook, it found seekers of such an application as far as India, and over 100,000 seekers within the first twenty four hours of its release. So, realistically that’s 100,000 people looking, and keeping tabs on at least 100,000 other individuals, and up to 700,000 just within the first twenty four hours that the application was released to the public. Initially a joke, now a world wide stalking tool. What a shame.

            So I leave you with a final pondered thought of mine; is Facebook a social networking site, or a social stalking site? You can keep in touch with far away relatives, and friends. You can keep up with friends near by. You can see what your room mates are up to. You can see who’s dating whom. You can keep tabs on the people you’re trying to hang out with. You can perpetually watch the Facebook pages of people who you’d like to. You can see where they go. You can see what they do. You can see everything they let you see. So I, again, leave you with a final pondered thought of mine…is Facebook a social networking site, or a social stalking site?  

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=facebook%20stalking

http://www.quchronicle.com/2011/09/new-facebook-is-stalker-friendly/

http://articles.nydailynews.com/2011-02-21/entertainment/28639636_1_free-app-new-app-facebook-relationship-status

http://www.zdnet.com/blog/igeneration/facebook-timeline-a-stalkers-paradise-mass-exodus-on-the-way/12931

I- Is technology making us more rude?

If you think about it, if you wanted to insult someone fifty years ago you had to say it to their face. Now, however, you can Tweet it, Facebook it, Tumblr it, MySpace it, and loads others... you could text it if you are that bold. If you think it about it some more, this lack of face to face interaction lets people say things via their fingers and text on a screen that they would never say in person to another's face. For example, tonight I was tweeting with two girls that I was out to dinner with and then it hit me... I would probably never say this stuff to the individual that we were talking about. I then had another thought pop into my head: "Well if I wouldn't actually say this to their face, I guess this is rude since it's kind of like smack talking behind their back, but its over Twitter." While the people I was with completely agreed with what us three were saying, it got me thinking none the less. Is Twitter and Facebook influencing my actions this much? To the point where I would feel really mean and like a dog feels when its tail it tucked under its rear when its done something wrong and it knows it, in the event that they found our texts? Sadly, yes. I would feel like an extremely big a-hole since I would never have the cajones (however you spell that correctly) to say it in person, yet I have the audacity to send it out on Twitter like it's national news worthy. All because people I know have a disgusting habit of chewing with their mouths open... #gross. Too much? But now you see my point. Many people now say things over text, email, Twitter, Facebook, and other social media sites that they would never say before.

Fifty years ago, if you wanted to end a relationship you had to meet with that person, or if you wanted to be a really big a-hole you could simply call and say "It's over."

Today, if you wanted to end a relationship you can Facebook it, text it, or email it, or if you wanted to be a really big a-hole you could simply Tweet it and say "I'm freakin #single! Done with @JohnDoe!"

Marriage ending... all recorded on Twitter by a bystander.

So do you think that technology is increasing the rudeness of our society today? And if so, do you think that we'll ever be cordial again, and do as the old phrase goes: "Treat others the way we would want to be treated" ?

A- Oh what a time...

ASSIGNED BLOG POST 12:

Reflecting on the readings and speakers of the entire semester, in what ways do you see IST, SRA and Penn State students as perfectly well-suited to address issues arising with the integration of technologies into crisis response?

This class has been a great experience, it has not only taught me more about disaster response, but how technology that I, as well as my classmates, already use on a daily basis for fun can be implemented in crisis situations. The IST and SRA, as well as other Penn State students in this class are well suited to address issues arising with the issues arising with the integration of technologies into crisis response. SRA and IST allows its students to help integrate technology into areas that don't readily incorporate technology that would help benefit that industry. This class has helped us visualize ways to integrate technology into humanitarian relief efforts through the use of twitter, facebook, open-source mapping, etc. 

Our interest and near immediate integration of technology into our own lives definitely allows for IST and SRA majors for the seamless crossbreeding in between technology and physical, information, and other types of security. This allows us to implement the uses of various technologies to achieve the goals of a particular concern, especially when linking human and technology elements. Innovation is also a key part of both of the IST and SRA majors; innovation of technology, innovation of new ways to do old things, and innovation of new processes. All of these things together have been taught in our Crisis Informatics class and other SRA and IST classes, which is why students from both majors can address issues arising with the issues arising with the integration of technologies into crisis response well. 

A- Geo-whatever and Project Malcontent

At the start of our class we decided that, since all of our first two entries for our final project were horrendous, we ditched the presentations and worked on our projects. Originally the group that I am in wanted to do something regarding health care, which turned into doing a mapping system for 911 dispatchers to help them prioritize their calls, which we then found out already exists. So our project at the current moment is null. It also didn't help that we sought help from our professor that was not responded to in a timely manner to say the least. 

Never the less, after we discussed our projects, what a requirements analysis actually was, and what a high level design was, we had a presenter about GIS. He works for Penn State as a professor and researcher in the Department of Geography for GeoVISTA. His presentation was okay, I have to say that Geographic Information Systems do not spike my interest in the least therefore I didn't really pay too close of attention to his presentation. One thing I did pick up on though was how he was using social media to geographically see what was occurring in geographic areas; and that Penn State wanted to use that technology on Penn State students during the rioting and protesting during the last few tumultuous weeks. Luckily, he saw a conflict of interest so that technology was not made available.

All in all, he knew his stuff, and my group is still struggling with our project.