Reflections for Group 5 Presentation AND Summary!

I thought my presentation went very well. The two groups I got to present my article on the Quantum Computer to seemed very interested and intrigued. They asked a lot of questions and I was glad I was able to answer them. We also had an interesting conversation about how our lives would be different if the quantum computer replaces our traditional digital computers. I wish I would have had the opportunity to go around the room and see what the rest of my group did for their emerging technology. I guess I will have to just look it up on their blogs! If I could give advice about this project to another student I would advise them to know their article very well, because people in the class really do want to learn about it and it helps a lot if you are educated enough to be able to answer all of their questions. Overall the presentation went extremely well!

Summary

My Powerpoint was based on the Quantum Computer. It is brand new technology and was first displayed just this month. It has the ability to create simulations instead of just calculated responses. This is the point of difference from computers we use today. It has the ability to solve problems which are multi-demensional and have many elements. They see this new technology having a huge impact on the sciences and medical fields. Currently they are planning on leasing out ‘time’ on the machine, since there is only one. A corporation will send the company their information and then they will compute it and send it back! This connects to communication because it encourages people to communicate in order to gather all necessary data in order to create the best solution. Scientists and doctors will collaborate world wide and work together to solve many of our problems, like diseases. We would all benefit by their communication.

Add a comment February 28, 2007

Week 9 Reading Response- VoIP

            I agree with Valdes when he says that VoIP will replace the telephones we use today. The glitches the VoIP system is experiencing right now are only temporary, and as the internet increases in quality and reliability the VoIP system will become more attractive. None of the flaws are going to prove to be detrimental to this new technology. The issue of having no internet service when the power goes out will be remedied by how electric companies are constantly upgrading so these events can be avoided. I think the cable companies are going to try and quickly increase the quality of their services in order to attract customers. In the near future I think the speed and quality are going to be deciding factors for buys because they will be basing their decision on which company can provide them with the best connection to enable them to ‘talk’ over the internet.

            I am actually planning on using some sort of VoIP service while I am studying abroad next quarter, so I actually gained a lot of valuable information about how the whole process works by reading this. A lot of my friends who have gone abroad have used this service and they have all liked it. It is way better than having to pay $5 a minutes to call long distance back at home. This brings me to my next point, I foresee this technology having a huge impact on how often people communicate. Presently I think there is a huge price barrier that keeps people from communicating with friends and family who they would like to speak with. It is simply unrealistic to pay so much to talk to someone long distance. I personally will be calling home/talking through my computer way more often once I get this service than I would have without it. I think this is a positive effect. People naturally want to communicate and doing so will have positive effects on our societies well being. Once VoIP is heavily adopted we will see many positive shifts in the way people communicate.

Questions:

1. Why do you think that VoIP has not been more heavily adopted by users? What factors may be contributing to this?
2. How could they possibly fix the flaw of not being able to trace an address to the VoIP caller in an emergency?
3. Do you think as more people adopt this new technology we will see an increase in people “listening in” on conversations? How might VoIP make this practice either more or less common?

5 comments February 22, 2007

Emerging Technology Powerpoint for Class

Here is the link to my powerpoint presentation on the Quantum Computer !

And here is the link for the original article on the computer!

Add a comment February 22, 2007

News Search Experience

I had a frustrating experience with searching the newspapers. I ran into the same problems that a lot of the other students were confronted with. Only one of my newspapers I found to be very well organized, which was the Charlotte Observer. It had an easy navigation bar on the side of the site and labeled the section where I could find “Blogs”/”Forums” and it even had a internet only area where they had “RSS” labled. It was very easy to get into each of the areas and find what I was looking for. The other three papers were not so organized. I had to spend at least 15 minutes just trying to determine if they had Blogs at all. With the Fort Worth paper I was just about to give up and then I stumbled across one, which made me search even longer because I thought I had possibly missed another one. Overall it was discouraging. I feel like the only reason the Charlotte was so organized was because it had SO many Blogs/Forums/RSS info. The rest of the papers had just a few or none. If they had just a few I am sure they were not as concerned with organizing them. There must be some “rule” out there that determines that if you have have under ‘x’ amount of Blogs you don’t need to organize them, but if you have over ‘x’ amount you need to. I think in the future we are going to see a trend where news sites are going to get more and more organized to meet the demand of the comsumers.

1 comment February 15, 2007

Week 8 Reading Response- Universal Access

            I really enjoyed reading this article, aside from the fact that it was very “techy” and at times hard to follow. What I did like was the positive information it yielded in reference to 3^rd World/ developing countries’ potential of having the ability to get online. This article made me realize that our world is in fact much closer to having everyone be able to use the internet than I had previously imagined. Michael Best talked a lot about 802.16 standard and corDECT as possibilities to provide wireless access. The key features of these are that they happen to be very cost effective. I think cost is a huge factor when discussing poorer countries getting the internet; they simply could not do it if it was above a certain price. I was also excited to learn about how technology manufactures are trying to get around the problem of PC’s being expensive by introducing ‘stripped down PC’s’ and hand held devices which are easier to use and require less electrical power. These solutions are much more realistic than providing all of the countries with expensive software and hardware like we have here in the US and
Europe.

            It is clear from the article that there are many positive effects from spreading the accessibility of the internet. But I think the positive effects with go far beyond what can be forecasted. Having the ability to get online could help people in a multitude of ways. Think of it in terms of women’s rights. Women in countries where it is acceptable for their husbands to abuse them would be able to get online, share their experiences and possibly get help. They could also see that this is NOT an acceptable practice and it could lead to informed movements. Also it could give small communities to ability to voice their distress and a way to reach out for help. If a community is suffering from any ailment they could get online and bring attention to their problem. It would be a great way for poor people’s quality of life to be elevated. Once again I really enjoyed this article and was pleasantly surprised by how close we are to allowing universal access.

Questions:

1. By when, if ever, would you predict all countries will have wide-spread access to the internet and ‘universal access’ will be accomplished?
2. Do you think having the internet is really as ‘essential’ to developing countries as this article leads you to believe? Why or why not?
3. What could be some negative repercussions of having ‘the whole world’ online? Are there any?

Add a comment February 13, 2007

PodCast Update

I am still planning on focusing on the effects of illegal downloading. I am thinking that I, during some point of my presentation, will give a timeline over the past few years and talk about the number of sueing insidents and problems people have run into. I will also look at how sites/programs are trying to keep people from downloading illegally and how the media has given attention to the possible consequences of downloading has effected the number of people who are actually doing it. Has more attention/awareness caused people to reduce their downloading or has itbrought more attention to the practice and therefore people are begining to explore it? Hopefully I will be able to confront this question!

2 comments February 13, 2007

Week 7 Reading- Internet and Politics

            These two articles show that technology is definitely having an impact on politics. The “Organizational Man” article by Noem Schieber, really demonstrates how these changes have occurred. The way I see it, the internet has resulted in totally new approaches to reaching voters. It is a much better alternative to having to physically go out and meet with random voters and is much less expensive than running huge campaigns. And I think people will/do respond more favorable to things like candidate websites because the voters are not being forced into leaving the comforts of their home or encouraged to have awkward phone conversations with supporters. We can merely get online and do all the research/exploring we desire on our own time schedule. How the candidates should reach out to at home internet users is so emphasize the existence of their website through the more ‘traditional’ methods of campaigning. Instead of having a billboard with all of Kerry’s goals on it, they should have some catchy phrase and then direct people to their website for the real information. They could also do this on TV during commercials and mention it at the end of debates.

            The “Race”  article by Kathy Gill I found to be very interesting. I never really consider how the micro-organization of a website effects my surfing ability/success, but once she started pointing out flaws with the web design I realized that these things do bother me. Before now I used to just get this underlying feeling of frustration when trying to search through poorly- executed sites, but now it makes sense why I felt this way. I am surprised that each of the sites had so many ‘errors’ on them, I would have thought that all of these mistakes would have been worked out by a professional since the candidates appear to have so much money and resources to do so. I think Professor Gill has the potential to make a lot of money if she wanted to assist in the web design of future campaigns!

Questions:

1. How do you think web design will be altered for the 2008 election?
2. What other features could the candidate’s websites include to further involve voters in their campaign?
3. Do you think things such as blogging and You Tube (where ads can be re-run and speeches re-played) are helping or hurting politicians?  Do you think the negative effects out weigh the positive possibilities?

Add a comment February 7, 2007