Blog #10- EOTO Whistleblowers

Today was our last class of Media Law & Literacy. I am shocked to say I am sad about it. I have very much enjoyed this class because it is hands-on, from taking notes to presenting new topics to the class. We did our last EOTO presentations and I decided to write my blog on Whistleblowers. Kimberlee Summerville did a great job of teaching the class the meaning of this concept.

Whistleblowing is defined under the law as “disclosing information that you reasonably believe is evidence of a violation of any law, rule, or regulation, or gross mismanagement, or gross waste of funds, an abuse of authority, or a substantial danger to public health or safety.” In Kimberlee's presentation, she discussed the pros, cons, positive impact, and famous whistleblowers. For her pros she mentioned "ensure wrongdoers are not rewarded by corruption. I liked this pro because people need to be held accountable for their actions. A con she went over was how whistleblowing can be a threat to a career. That is because
if a person informs your organization of wrongdoing your career can be ended fast. I realized that the pros and cons go hand and hand. Whistleblowing has a positive impact on society and that is because corruption and injustices are called out. It can also help balance levels of authority in a business. A famous whistleblower Kimberlee mentioned that stuck out to me was Linda Tripp. She was the woman who revealed the affair that President Bill Clinton

was having with Monica Lewinsky, a white house intern. It is known that a lot of men use their authority to get what they want from employees with less power.

Personally, I think whistleblowing was one of the most important presentations that occurred in class today. I believe that it can do more good than harm. That is because I think the harm that comes out of whistleblowing is the punishment corrupt people need.

Blog #11- Artificial Intelligence

Artificial intelligence is the theory and development of computer systems able to perform tasks that normally require human intelligence, such as visual perception, speech recognition, decision-making, and translation between languages. In today's world, technology is continuing to advance and take over. When you think about what technologies and devices that were accessible to us as kids vs now, or even think back to when our parents were our age it puts into perspective how much the world has changed. Artificial intelligence is a fairly new advancement that is continuing to grow and will soon be our new normal. The documentary Age of AI explores the concept of artificial intelligence and how it is changing our lives currently, plus our lives in the future. 

When I think of artificial intelligence I think of that scary robot that came out a couple years ago. If I

remember right, her name was also Sophia. She looked like a real human and it was even rumored that she was given citizenship. That terrified me... Imagine a world where we are walking around with robots that look like us, are able to do the same things as us but can possess way more information than us.

After watching part of the Age of AI documentary in class I learned that it doesn't just consist of talking and walking robots. Things like facial recognition, self-driving cars, and amazon's Alexa are all a part of artificial intelligence. To me, that makes the concept less scary. Facial recognition has made my life easier. It's not a need, but when Apple added it to the iPhones I could pay faster, not have to remember/type in all my passwords, and open my phone easily. I personally think that self-driving cars are an amazing invention. My family has a Tesla and while the self-driving part isn't 100% ready yet, it is a cool concept and can probably save many lives. Amazon's Alexa was a cool invention to push forward "smart homes". We have a couple throughout our house that we used to use frequently when they first came out. Our family doesn't really use them anymore because they aren't really needed.

With any new technology, advancements comes the topic of privacy. The three AI devices I am familiar with are also an invasion of privacy. With facial recognition, it is scary to think these creators/ the government has access to all your information through scanning of your face. When talking about privacy and self-driving cars, in my experience the car takes all of your information and stores it to make things easier on you. If you really think about your privacy, it is kind of scary because it stores data of where you've been and where you want to go, including your home address. Lastly, to me, Alexa is the creepiest of all. I recently saw a Dr. Phil episode where hackers got into their home cameras and Alexa. They used it to talk to the family's little children. They knew all of their information and even when the parents leave for work and come back. Privacy is a tricky thing, but if you are open-minded with these inventions you have to understand the negatives. 

Blog #9- Diffusion

Diffusion theory is concerned with the spread of innovation through a population. Researchers in diffusion theory have developed analytical models for explaining and forecasting the dynamics of diffusion of innovation (an idea, practice, or object perceived as new by an individual) in a socio-technical system. The new innovation that I will be looking at through the lens of the Diffusion Theory is TikTok. TikTok is a content-creating app that was started in 2018. The app really "blew up" in 2019. Why did it catch on? I believe COVID-19 had a large effect on the app. Before the pandemic, TikTok was mostly for a younger crowd and was actually looked down upon. There were several memes and jokes about the people who had the app downloaded and used it frequently. When the pandemic hit and everyone was in lockdown people were trying to find things to keep them occupied. That is when millions signed up for the content-creating app. So many people became early adopters of the app for two reasons. One was that it was taking the place of a previous app called Musically. This app consisted of users making short videos of different songs. People who knew of this app or used this app then switched to TikTok when it came out. The majority of TikTok users were late adopters as I explained with the pandemic. TikTok is an entertaining app with constant new uploads to keep you busy. Late adapters, I believe, started to see their friends use the app. which influenced them too. I was also known that creating content on this app could turn into a job. People like Charlie Diamilo,

Addison Rae, Bryce Hall, etc. all curated millions by posting videos of themselves. With any social media app, there are negative consequences. During the middle of the pandemic, it was said that China was hacking users' accounts, taking their information, storing it in a database, and even looking at you through your phone camera as you used the application. Privacy is a huge negative when it comes to any social media app. Another negative would be the use of TikTok. It has been shown that it is an addictive app and can take over your day-to-day activities. With anything positives can outway the negatives, it just depends on your personal mindset. 

Blog #8- EOTO: Spiral of Silence

This week in class we did another Each One Teach One presentation. My group was assigned theories. I was personally assigned the Spiral of Silence. I was familiar with several of the theories such as, gatekeeping, agenda-setting, and confirmation bias, so I decided to choose one that I wasn’t informed on. The spiral of silence theory was proposed by the German political scientist Elisabeth Noelle- Neumann in 1974. I learned that the spiral of silence theory explains the growth and spread of public opinion. It is people’s willingness to express their opinions on controversial public issues. It explains how they are affected by their largely unconscious perception of those opinions as being popular or unpopular. The perception that your opinion is considered unpopular tends to discourage you to express it. While if you have the perception that your opinion will be popular you tend to have the opposite mindset. Because of this, the theory shows that a social group of society might isolate themselves or exclude members due to their personal opinions on a matter. This then stipulates that individuals have a fear of isolation. So, they would rather follow the popular opinion or the “norm” so that they are not left out. People constantly monitor the behavior of others to find a sign of approval or disapproval. This then affects their personal beliefs and opinions. The concept is interpreted from a social-psychological perspective as a state of consciousness in which individuals are aware that their actions are “seen by all” or “heard by all,” requiring that they constantly monitor not only their own actions but also the reactions of others in their environment.

There are many effects of the spiral of silence theory. In today’s day and age, it has gotten easier to apply this theory. With the media today, we are exposed to a wide variety of different media stories. This theory has an effect on public opinions. It triggers a “spiraling” process that reveals the majority opinion of society. When voicing your opinion, you could be faced with social isolation, so this limits people. researchers such as Ho et. al (2013) have found that those with more media exposure are more likely to voice their opinion in public (pp. 123-124). Once again, this is a reasonable assumption, as exposure to different types of information on a given issue will encourage vigorous debate. The media chooses to report on the majority group’s opinions and activities because they are money-driven. What about the people that do not have a lot of media exposure?

The internet (a.k.a. interwebs, series of tubes – thanks, Al) seemingly levels the playing field, where a minority opinion won’t be felt by the individual as a minority opinion and might be voiced in that arena whereas the individual would have not been so vocal in another place of public discourse. There are outlets that disprove this theory. For example, politics. Most right-sided people will follow Fox News because their opinions are the same or similar. Left-sided people will follow CNN because of the same reason. A right-sided person most likely would not voice their beliefs on a page that makes their opinions feel minority to theirs.

In conclusion, the spiral of silence is an important theory to know and understand. It helps us realize why we work the way we do. Why we express certain beliefs and not others, and also why we are so scared so social isolation and what it can do to us.

FINAL: My Relationship with Technology

Technology has such a huge impact on everyone's everyday lives. Constant innovations and updates progress us further into the future. Media has a big role in my life. When I think of media the first thing I think of is social media. My generation grew up with social media. Social media grew as we aged and matured. Instagram came out when I was a teenager and back then it was something that everyone just played around on. It wasn't serious. Our posts consisted of pictures with no filter, no editing. Now apps like Instagram are used to show the best parts of your life. We take time to capture these moments, tweak the photo to make it perfect, and apply a filter to make it aesthetically pleasing. All of this is just to receive validation from your followers. The difference between these media apps 10 years ago vs today and how they have progressed is wild. Their purposes have completely changed. I personally use Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook, and TikTok daily. Like most users, I am not posting every day but looking at others. These apps play a big role in my life. I am able to keep up with friends and family who I do not see all the time. It keeps my relationships strong. I do also use these apps like others. I post the parts of my life I want people to see. My happy side, who I am with, what I am doing, and with all these photos I use filters, effects, things to make my posts look appealing to others. 

The definition of a digital footprint is the trail of ‘electronic breadcrumbs’ you leave behind when you use the internet. It can include the websites you visit, the photos you upload and your interactions with other people on social networks. Personally, I am very exposed on the internet. My footprint is large. I have always trusted the internet and I think that is one of my flaws. I let websites save my usernames,
passwords, credit card information, addresses, etc. I never think twice before pushing the save button. I believe for me, that is because of convenience. I am a very forgetful person. Saving all this information is easier for me. Not only is your footprint what you save on the internet, it is also what you post and interact with. Everything you do is permanent and out in the public. Websites you visit, ads you click, photos you like or comment on. It is all saved in databases and then content is curated just for you. This class has made me more aware of that and has shown me that I have to be more aware of what I do online.

Technology has changed the world we live in. There are so many things we do and do not even realize that
technology is involved. For example, when the Covid outbreak happened our classes moved online. Applications like zoom and webex made it possible for us to continue to attend our courses and finish out the semester. So many jobs are remote now too. Who would've thought it would be possible to work from home Monday-Friday at a corporate job? Technology is limited to a certain age group. In today's age little kids know how to work a phone or iPad better than the older generations. My eight year old cousin uses her mom's shapchat account to keep in touch with my sister and I, while my seventy year old grandma doesn't even know how to turn her phone flashlight on and off. It is insane to see how tech savvy this children are getting at young ages. In our every day lives we use technology to pretty much do everything. From texting and calling to using online maps to get you where you want to go. It is insane to think about how much we rely on these devices daily.

Sadly there is a darkside of technology. Like anything in the world advantages come with disadvantages.
Technology has been hurtful to a lot of people. Specifically social media. Cyberbulling is something that has occurred since technology has advanced. Many lives are lost to this cruel act. People feel that they can hide behind their cell phones and computers. They find the power to say things they would never say to someones face. Another disadvantage has to do with social media. Most accounts only show the picture perfect parts of user's lives. This causes comparison. Reality is what is lost on social media. We emphasize the best versions of ourselves instead of the real versions.Life can be hard, ugly, and downright depressing at times. But those likely aren’t the adjectives most of us would use to describe the photos we post onto our accounts. Social media users are starting younger and research shows that the impact can be harsh. Who is at fault for this? Is it the app creators? Or the parents of these young, easily influenced kids? Personally, when I have children they will not have social media accounts until they are matured and know how to use them in a positive way. In some ways, the negative effects outway the positive. Users do not know what they are getting into until they are already too deep. 

Blog #6- EOTO Technology

In class each student got assigned a different form of technology and had to present their findings to the class. During the EOTO Technology presentations Bluetooth stuck out to me the most. Today, we use Bluetooth all the time. In the car, when using AirPods, connecting to speakers, using cordless keyboards and mouse, etc. I learned that the definition of Bluetooth is a wireless technology that uses radio frequency to share data over a short distance. Before this presentation I never understood how Bluetooth worked. From this definition, I discovered it uses radio frequency. When I first started seeing Bluetooth around me I was about 10

Bluetooth Earpiece

years old. I was old enough to understand that my dad's ear piece was connected to his phone, but without a wire. When I first started to notice Bluetooth it was funny to me. I vaguely remember being at gas stations while my parents filled up their cars and other people would be next to them with their Bluetooth earpiece in. I always thought it looked like they were talking to themselves. From this presentation I learned that Bluetooth has been around much longer than that. It was discovered in 1994 by Ericsson. What I found very interesting was the logo for Bluetooth is two different symbols combined, and those symbols are Ericsson's initials. After the discovery many different inventions came out, like

the wireless mobile headset and even a Bluetooth phone. Bluetooth consists of two devices trusting each other in order to connect. Without this invention the world would be very different today. So many things we do and use incorporate Bluetooth. I am constantly Airdropping photos, videos, files, and more to people around me. My house alarm, garage, and doors all unlock with a click of a button on my phone, and that is because of Bluetooth. Without this discovery, technology wouldn’t be advancing as fast as it is.

Blog #5- The Progressive Era

Today in class we went over the Progressive Era, Marketplace of Ideas, and the Modern First Amendment. We created a timeline from 1914 to 1931. This timeline covered wars, events, acts, and laws. I have personally never been a huge fan of history. That might be because through grade school history was forced on us in a way that wasn't enjoyable. We had to memorize every war, president, event, etc. and the dates they all occurred. So war has never been something that draws my attention. I am very grateful for our troops that risk their lives daily to protect ours. By no means am I trying to downplay that. Many of my family members were in the military and I couldn't appreciate them more. That being said, when I visited ANTIWAR.com and theamericanconservative.com I saw a shocking amount of war related content that I have never seen before. Stuff that I never want to see again. I personally am not anti-war or pro-war. I believe that there is a right and a wrong time for conflict and there is also a right and a wrong way to go about it. In mainstream news you don't really hear about the strong opinions people have against wars. I believe that is because the leaders of our country want to go to war. People like war and there are so many opposing opinions about too many topics today. If the information that is on these websites was posted daily on

mainstream media there would be more anti-war people. Seeing the amount of people killed on the daily would change people perspective. Personally, I have never heard of websites like these. I knew there were people very opposed to war but not this expressive. I am sure websites like this exist because in the media right now anti-war followers do not have a voice. I think to hear strong anti-war voices you have to dig deep and find websites of this sort because of the censorship happening today. The media puts out what is popular and what people want to hear. But the media also puts out what will make them more money.