Question 2:

"The Persuaders" starts off by evaluating just how much advertising americans are subject too throughout they're everyday lives. It is in fact an increasingly enormous amount of advertising when compared to that of even 30 years ago, though I personally do not believe it effects us as negatively as we believe it may. It almost seems that as more advertisements become available, more and more become naturally blocked out by the brain, considering them to be just hapless pieces of our environment. In my opinion, advertising today is neither to encroaching, nor too subtle, but instead at a perfect balance that allows people to still make decisions for themselves.

Because of how advertising can become ignored by our brains, businesses are developing new, more personal ways to connect to people via advertising. While it hasn't, in my opinion, reached a critical level, I feel it may soon in the future, What is to say that our brains wont then block out the majority of that content? Advertising seems to be a medium which needs to constantly adjust to our world in order to remain effective. I do not, however, feel that people are pressured any more today than people were 30 years ago, despite the fact that advertising has become much more widespread.

Digital Nations; Analysis 2

One of the most amazing things I found in finishing Digital Nations was how the encouragement of technology throughout the academic day improved the students capability to attend and thrive in class. Normally we are told by the media itself that such technology doesn't belong in the school system. However, the schools of Digital Nations portray such a drastic turn around because of technological advantages. It is important to note that not all technology can be considered harmful in an educational environment. That isn't to say that their aren't downsides to allowing middle school aged students to use laptops in the middle of class, but the pros definitely seem to outweigh the cons.
On another note, but not unlike how technology seems to be benefitting schools, is how how the people who play such games as World of warcraft and Everquest create social worlds in which they can befriend each other without ever seeing one another's face. While many people who play these games can be considered outcasts from normal day to day social groups, it seems that among their own social friends that they enjoy themselves just as much as those "in the real world". It's also interesting to note how these worlds offer distinct, new experiences, that can practically substitute their equivalents from the real world. For example, how companies now can work at virtual meeting rooms on multi-million dollar projects, and never even have seen their partner's faces. One amazing aspect of such a virtual replacement is of the air force using unmanned aircraft to strike enemy targets. Such forms of warfare seem amazingly beyond what has ever been deployed before and is only made more reliable with the fact that US troops lives aren't sacrificed. Such use of technology will only grow with time and will surely only become more amazing with time as well.

Response to Digital Nations

It is true that most children and teenagers in this day and age grow up online. Todays generation of youngsters are connected to the web 24/7 with the technologies brought along in new cell phones. Everyone, to some extent, can access nearly anyone or any pice of information from anywhere. Because of the constant communication between parties today, multitasking has become a large part of the online person's life, allowing them to check their emails, blogs, Facebooks, IM's, and websites while continuing to participate in the real world. I understand how such "living in the virtual world" led to studies of the brain, but as far as the video Digital Nations went, it seemed almost beneficial to participate in this online community.

I also have to agree with the video about how research and studies done on technology can never be 100% accurate. Technologies themselves update faster than studies can be produced, leaving most of what a particular study aims at as obsolete information that only pertains to a prehistoric form of technology.

Asian PC gaming seems to be an interesting problem that not many people in America seem to be aware of. Its difficult to acknowledge nations of people far worse off than our own in regards to virtual living, but seeing how some Japanese PC cafes were run, you can feel a sort of empathy for the kids hooked to the a virtual life. The addiction camps seem a step in the right direction. The emphasis on recovering a lost childhood seems like a good method to reconnect these people to the real world.

Computer Supported Collaboration- Using applications or websites to connect and share ideas with others using the same program.

Web Apps- Applications which are embedded into a users web browser, accessed through websites.

Long Tail- The profitable approach of selling less popular items in smaller quantities.

Network as Platform- Content created via the internet (Website, web app, or other)

Blogs- Web page which is maintained by (generally) one person and is updated with news or information.

Syndication- Process of accessing information from one website through other websites.

Mass Collaboration- Information or media created and/or accessed by a mass group of people.

Mashups- The blending of two or more songs to create a hybrid song.

User Generated Content- Media that is created by anyone, not limited to professionals.

Hosted Services- Business's or companies which deals with online services, such as data storage.

Social Software- Software that connect different users and enables data sharing.

Video Sharing Sites- Businesses, companies, or websites of which anyone can upload videos. Example: Youtube

Wikis- Web pages in which anyone can edit and share information on.

Folksonomy- Organizing online data into groups and subgroups by tagging.