E-Portfolio 2

Artifact #4: "Uncanny Droid" and "Old School? or What?"
http://gibbsm.blogspot.com/2011/02/artifact-4-uncanny-droid-and-old-school.html

Artifact #5 "Thank Sex for Making the Internet Hot-Podcast"

http://gibbsm.blogspot.com/2011/03/artifact-5-thank-sex-for-making.html

Artifact #6: I Am Anonymous

http://gibbsm.blogspot.com/2011/03/artifact-6-i-am-anonymous.html

Artifact #7 "Professors Use Technology to Fight Student Cheating"

http://gibbsm.blogspot.com/2011/03/artifact-7-professors-use-technology-to.html

Artifact #7 "Professors Use Technology to Fight Student Cheating"

The article "Professors Use Technology to Fight Student Cheating" was kind of alarming in the extent some students will go just to cheat.  The article discussed how some students would scan a coke bottle wrapper into the computer and replace the nutrition facts and other words with things that are going to be on their test.  Someone else said that they would put a high tech calculater into the body of an allowed one, so the teacher wouldn't be able to see the one they were using was actually high tech and able to store information.  To prevent cheating, some teachers will download software that has a collection of papers and assignments that have already been turned in or published, so that they can just enter the paper they have recieved and the database will see if any of it matches up to any previous documents.  Other teachers have tried collecting all electronics and don't allow food or drinks in while taking a test, to ensure there is no way for a student to cheat.  However, some students have tried using a bluetooth device and chewed gum so that the teacher wouldn't notice they were actually whispering into it to get answers from someone not present.

This is alarming to think about because it shows how much effort some students will put into cheating.  I don't understand why they can't use that same effort and just study to get the grade they want.  I think there is value in studying for a test or writing a paper yourself, and getting the desired result.  If it doesn't work and you get a bad grade on the test or a paper, you devise a new plan and come up with different strategies that will help you succeed.  I think a lot of people of today are always looking for what they think is the easy way out.  Many students have said that they don't know why they should learn things that they are never going to use again, but I think most importantly what school is teaching us is to work hard and to think outside of the box to get to the desired product.  That is deffinately something that can be taken and used in the real world, for the rest of your life.

Artifact #6: I Am Anonymous

The "I Am Anonymous" video started off with a great attention getting device of two men talking and at the end one of them screamed "4chan."  which made the viewer curious as to what this video was going to be about and made them want to keep watching.  The video was about a young man who started a website called TED, based off of a japanese website forum called 4chan.  This website is completely anonymous which allows users to post anything they like, such as pictures, videos, or blogs.  The fact that it is 100% anonymous, in my opinion, is a good thing as long as people are willing to take the repercussions of whatever they post.  For example, there was a video of a man abusing his cat that he posted on the website himself.  Other users were very upset about this video, so they began investigating to find out who the man was.  Within 24 hours they were able to figure out his name and after 2 days, he was arrested.  This just goes to show that no action will be left without some kind of response, so even though it is an anonymous website, they should be careful about what they post.  Whatever the user posts will remain on the website for a certain amount of time and then will be taken down.  This is a beneficial thing because it means that the conversations on the TED website is constantly changing and will always be interesting and up to date.  This website is really set apart from other websites today because so many now, are based on putting yourself out there.  There aren't many sites that are completely annonymous that can allow for people to just say whatever they want, which I think is cool.

Artifact #5 Thank Sex for Making the Internet Hot-Podcast

This artifact is probably the most interesting artifact we've had so far in this class.  As I was listening to the "Thank Sex for Making the Internet Hot" podcast, I was amazed with how many changes the porn industry has offered the internet as a whole.  First off, I had no idea that online shopping started because of the porn industry.  This is interesting because so many people online shop almost daily, but I bet they have no idea they have the porn industry to thank for creating it.  Secondly, the porn industry helped pioneer better video and picture quality that even news programs like CNN looks up to to help them to help them with their video and picture quality.  Its funny to think that while porn isn't really talked about a lot, it has provided the internet with two very beneficial things.