Blog Post #4

The Digital Divide is when people are divided into two categories; the ones that are connected via computers and the ones that are not, thus leaving a gap. This gap is not as big as it used to be. The gap is getting smaller by way of activists and helpful organizations.

http://laptop.org/en/
One of the most involved organizations is One Laptop Per Child (OLPC). Nicholas Negroponte started this organization along with many media lab veterans. This organization provides laptops to children in developing countries. “We need people who believe in what we’re doing and want to help make education for the world’s children a priority, not a privilege,” Negroponte said.

The XO is designed specifically for rugged conditions and remote areas. It does not matter what language the child speaks, the XO will connect them. It teaches a child to share, explore and collaborate. The XO connects them to a brighter future.

The XO laptop is going for $200 per computer right now however, its goal price is $100. The XO includes five key principals which include: the child gets to keep the laptop, focus on early education, no one gets left out, connection to the internet, and the children are free to grow and adapt.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/17/technology/17laptop.html?scp=1&sq=digital+divide&st=nyt
Above is a link to an article that shares a couple examples of the advertising methods used. One of the methods is of a 7-year-old South African girl. It shows her face lighting up when the laptop lights up.

OLPCs main goal is to end the digital divide between rich and poor nations by using advertisements. OPLC cannot do this alone and this is why they are a non profit organization asking for help. You can either donate $399 to give an XO laptop and also receive one for yourself, or you can just donate $199 to give an XO to a child. Also all advertisements are donated by various media companies including News Corporation, CBS, and Time Warner.

The digital divide is decreasing and soon their will no longer be a gap between the rich and poor nations involving technology. Technology is rapidly increasing and it is what brings the world together. You can easily connect with someone who is halfway across the world via the internet. If a child from a third world country has access to this just image the possibilities.

Blog Post #3

http://info.cern.ch/
Above is the link to a website from the first web server ever created. Tim Berners-Lee, a researcher at CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research), is the one to praise for the development of the World Wide Web.

The text explains along with the above link that Berners-Lee invented the basic web in 1990. He started out developing it for internal use only however, that changed when he found out what he had created.

http://public.web.cern.ch/public/en/About/WebStory-en.html
In December of 1991, the United States adopted the web. There were only two web browsers at this time. One of them would only run on neXT computers and the other one was the line-mode browser which left users limited.

CERN decided that their small team could not expand the system any further. Berners-Lee sent out a notice to all other developers to join the ever expanding web development. It was in 1993 when the first version of the Mosaic browser was invented by Marc Andreessen and Eric Bina. Mosaic made it available to not only use hypertext but also place pictures on the web.

Berners-Lee never patented his invention therefore he has not made the millions that were potentially available. This link (http://www.itnews.com.au/News/88617,the-top-10-greatest-geeks-of-all-time.aspx) is an article written by Iain Thomson and Shaun Nichols. This article states that Berners-Lee would have made a fortune off the internet. This fortune could have equaled the value of a small country. “Instead he gave it away, recognizing that profiting from something like this would inhibit the growth of a technology that had the potential to revolutionize human affairs,” says Thomson.

Nichlos states that no one would have ever heard about CERN if it wasn’t for LHC. (https://lhc2008.web.cern.ch/LHC2008/) LHC (Large Hadron Collider) is the highest energy particle accelerator in the whole world. This year makes it 20 years that people have been working on it.

The first time I ever heard of CERN was when I was reading the book Angels and Demons. CERN is where the book takes place. They first mention it in the beginning of the book when they talk about antimatter which is something that CERN is researching.

Blog Post #2

What if there was a website that allows you to enter in any word(s) where hundreds, thousands and even millions of results will appear. This website already exists and it is called Google.

According to the text, Living in the Information Age, written by Erik Bucy, Google has over 10,000 serves. If you type in the word birds, 16,200,000 search results appear. If you type in the word diseases, 106,000,000 search results appear. If desired, you can narrow down this search. If you type in birds with diseases 12,500,000 results appear. You can continue to narrow this search down. Google even provides this search in 36 different languages.

Students do not even have to search through pages and pages of physical books in the library anymore. Their library is now on the computer and they can do research papers from home. Some people have even saved a life with the help of Google. They may have been experiencing systems of a heart attack and they typed it into Google and found out that was what it was.

Google sounds pretty great, right? Well it also has its drawbacks. Google can come up with millions of search results for millions of topics. They have a library that dates way back, but that is what the problem is. With Google your life is never private and it is especially unforgettable.

For example, the text refers to a man named Michael. He currently holds a professional job at Boston Medical school. He is a clean-cut man in his 30’s. So far he sounds great however, he has a past.

Michael spent time in jail for burglary. He is also a former drug addict. Michael has made some mistakes in his past but it sounds like he is doing very well now. However, this is public information and all someone has to do is type his name into Google and they can find this information out. This could effect is reputation at work. This could also make it hard to get a professional job, even though he already has one, if he wanted to get a different one it could be looked down upon.

Unfortunately, Google will not let you forget your past. Try typing your name into Google and see what comes up. There is also this website called anybirthday.com. This website allows you to type in a persons name and it will provide you their birthday for free, it will also give you the option of background checks. Yellowpages.com allows you to search for a persons address and phone number. It will provide you this without any questions asked.

There are ways to help control how much information about yourself is on the internet, but it can be troublesome. The text offers a few tips to protect yourself from online information. Some of these tips are to use a “No Trespassing” code, to Google yourself regularly, read privacy policies on the webpage, and train yourself to say no to revealing your zip code, area code, or social security number.