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In 2011, Anonymous, a hacktivist group, took down video game service Playstation Network via DDOS in response to a lawsuit that involved Sony and a third party, claiming that it was an attack on free speech, and that they abused customer's rights. Anonymous claims to do things, for the people, and that is what they did here, even if it prevented millions of users from using the online components of PSN and some Sony websites. 

The image above was posted when one tried to connect to a Playstation website. It claims that it wasn't the user's fault, but the Internet's, as if the whole 'Internet' was to blame.

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The author chooses to discuss hackers online and the fact that not all are bad. Hacktivists wish to bring awareness to issues that are censored by the government. They wish to spread the word and allow the public to make their own decisions based on the info given to them. If the hacktivists don't leak the information, who will? People would be left in the dark as to whatever topic is being censored and kept from the public. The image above shows a small group of many can organize themselves in order to take on the larger being. In the case of online hacktivism, it is the people vs the government. A bunch of tiny fish against the larger one. If given the opportunity, the small can win. Without Web 2.0, these hacktivists would not have a platform on which to leak information, or gain a following. Sites like Twitter allow like-minded hacktivists to congregate and formulate plans amongst themselves.

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Part two of this documentary focused on the networking. There were 9 internet companies working with the NSA without the knowledge of the public. PRISM as it was called, was more about content than metadata. It collected the voice, files and emails of users, even grabbing things off of cloud servers you'd only think you'd have access to. 

You can also see the power of Web 2.0 in action with Snowden using a video posted online to tell world about what he has found. Without Web 2.0, he wouldn't have a platform to do so.

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In part one of the documentary, we watched as the NSA began keeping track of US citizens and people around the world in hopes of catching terrorists before an attack occurs. The problem with this is the sheer lack of privacy and legality issues surrounding it.

'Information' was one of the concepts that we covered, and that is the forefront of the issue. All of the spying and collecting of data revolves around information. Be that phone records or emails, information is power. An anonymous email sent to news editors claiming to have 'information' led them to Hong Kong in search of more information. The NSA claims to use this information gathered from people to protect the people. 

That being said, specific 'algorithms' would have to be used in order to sift through all of this information. I would not be humanly possible for a human being to go through all of the terabytes of data. Thinthread was ready to go before 9/11 in order to eavesdrop on the world. Complex algorithms would have to be in place for that to work.

Phone companies supplied the government with phone records that were said to be private. The 'archive' of this information is what the NSA desired and ultimately got. 

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The author proposes a method in which to find how social media, primarily Facebook affects foreign exchange students. In short, there are many problems with the whole article, ranging from sentences that could use rewording to obtaining a larger sample size. This isn't to say the article doesn't come with it's good points. It does in fact conclude that the use of social media does help integrate a foreigner into the community they are trying to become a part of. 

The picture I've chosen above comes directly from the article. If you can decipher it without reading the article, more power to you. I could not decipher it even after having read it. All the twists and turns really lead to nowhere. 

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This article was not one that we are used to reading in the traditional sense. Instead of having an argument and defending or disputing it, the author chooses to dump a bunch of information in a small amount of pages. This article is slightly outdated. The author wishes us to open Google Earth, something nearly none of us use today. The point of this however, is to show the difference in resolution between the past and now. The maps are clearer than ever, and can even display a 3D environment, a far cry from what used to be possible (i.e paper maps).

The artifact that I've chosen is relevant to this article because of it's complexity of what was previously available to us. If we wanted to travel from Tokyo to Texas, we wouldn't be able to just type it in to Google Maps and be given step by step directions. We would have to manually figure out each step so we wouldn't get lost. 

Interactivity is something that has changed. It could be argued that maps are now more interactive than ever because we can zoom, pan and pinpoint specific places with the click of a mouse or a simple swipe. It can also be argued that it is less interactive, because we no longer have that intimate relationship with a paper map. We just set and forget with our smart phones.

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Software patents are a means of protecting an idea for an invention for a set period of time. In the software world, people are attempting to patent things with a very broad description, in hopes of covering a wide range of items. Others buy up these patents and sit on them until things are settled in court and they profit from it. Patent trolls are their given name.

The above image pokes fun at Apple products, specifically their iPod Touch, iPhone, and iPad products. Apple filed for a slide to unlock patent in an attempt to further their dominance in the mobile device world. Apple has updated their patent 3 times since it was first filed.

Patents have a crossover with copyright. Companies wish to protect their rights to future products or inventions and therefore patent their idea or copyright it.

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File sharing online can both legal and illegal, based on how you use it. When file sharing was first introduced, it was a means of distributing music or movies quicker than burning to a CD. You could download the file from the comfort of your own home, legally, barring copyright laws Nowadays file sharing is mainly used illegally. 

The photo I have chosen depicts the founder of Megaupload, Kim Schmitz, now known as Kim Dotcom being sentenced to 50 years in prison for illegally sharing copyrighted media online through his website. I contrast to this, a man is shown being sentenced to 20 years for murdering a woman. This just shows the severity of the consequences for illegally distributing and sharing copyrighted material.

This concept goes hand in hand with copyrighting laws. If something is copyrighted, you do not have permission to share it unless permission is obtained. With how easy it is to share things online, it's a wonder how much money industries are losing from file sharing/torrenting sites.

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- Intimate Media in terms of the media and Internet can be a variety of things. From photos to videos, these things can potentially live forever online. They are used for remembrance, nostalgia and making of memories. Families who take pictures of trips want to capture that moment and cherish it till the end of time. Maybe starting an email account for your newborn child and writing an email every month so when they are old enough, they have a way of remembering how things were throughout their life, even if they don't remember it themselves. These are things that Intimate Media can contain. 

- The photo I chose is poking fun at the major celebrity leak of 2014, endearingly referred to as 'The Fappening'. Celebrity nude pictures and videos were leaked online via iCloud, for all to see. This type of Intimate Media was not meant to be viewed by the public, but for whoever the photos were meant to be sent to. While Intimate Media can be beneficial in capturing memories in a family sense, it can also be captured in a more risqué sense as well.

- Families can use Intimate Media to 'remember the good times.' No longer do we have to send polaroids to people. The Internet streamlines that process for us. I keep referring to Web 2.0, but it is so important to much of the new media. Without it, we wouldn't be making photo albums and sharing them online for everyone to see. 

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- Mommy Bloggers. I'll refer to them as 'MB' from now on (please don't be offended by that MB around the world....) What are they? Technically speaking, MB are defined as "Women who have at least one child in their household and have read or contributed to a blog in the past 30 days." This 'labeling' of MB has angered some. They don't wish to be classified as such. They want to be on equal footing with male bloggers around the world, and not thought of as only blogging about their family. This article sets the stage for future research on Mommy Blogging, as it is more of a description than an argument. The author brings to light that this community of MB has the potential to build an online identity for themselves and "challenge dominant representations within our society." - The infographic above depicts the sheer amount of MB on the Internet today. It shows that there is a growing number of MB in the USA and is potentially growing. You can also see the average age of MB and they are fairly young. This supports the articles argument that MB do have the potential to challenge the male blogger world and take the Internet by storm. - MB, in terms of family and the media, can be beneficial for both producers and consumers. People who wish to gain advice from those who have experience with a family for instance, could look up a MB blog and take what they will from it. On the flip side, MB have an outlet in which they can voice their feelings somewhere that seems safe or where people that care would read it. 

- I think the article is a good stepping stone in terms of shedding more light on a topic that isn't well known. It gives the publicity to MB and allows them to get their side of the story across and opens the door for future research on MB as a community.

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- Crowdsourcing is the act of obtaining ideas or contributions of all sorts from a large group of people, and is generally done online. It can sometimes be difficult to maintain order with an online community, as you do not have direct control over what they submit to you. Things like Wikipedia are crowdsourced and can be edited by anyone, but there are selected 'moderators' to make sure things don't get too out of hand. 

- I've chosen to use a picture of Kickstarter, a crowdfunding website that stems off of the crowdsourcing concept. Kickstarter allows you to 'back' companies or people as they startup their business or promote a product they have an idea for. Instead of having to go door to door to solicit investments, one can rely on crowdsourcing/funding to fulfill their needs. I myself have backed many projects on Kickstarter and consider myself apart of the crowdsourcing community.

- Without Web 2.0, there would be no crowdsourcing. There wouldn't be a place for people to contribute anything. Again, you'd have to go door by door to gain investments. It just seems primitive in this day and age.

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- The author seeks to understand some of the viewpoints of those who abstain from Facebook. The author went out and interviewed these people and collected their responses. She used quotes from the interviews as well as included her own perspective. The beginning of the article almost praises those who abstain from Facebook, but near the end of the article, the author criticizes their decisions.

- The artifact I have chosen is one that I have obtained from my own life.  I have been attempting to abstain from Facebook as much as I can from around Thanksgiving. I still pop in once or twice a week, but for the most part, I am trying to cut down on it. It used to be habit to open a new tab, open Facebook, and go about my business for the day. It was distracting to say the least. I wouldn't say that I am trying to quit Facebook altogether, for political reasons or to set an example, like the author of the article suggests. I am merely attempting to moderate my usage. 

- I think this article fits with a lot of what we have previously talked about. With Web 2.0 in full effect, Facebook is a perfect place to contribute to the social media. That being said, it's not pertinent that all information be posted up for everyone to see. The Confessional Society as some would refer to it as may very well be the future.  - I believe the author is coming from a fairly reasonable standpoint. She is reiterating information that is commonly known, but not widely talked about. A lot of what was said in the article was repetition, but what better way to get the point across. I believe that this argument is still relevant today, and will be as long as Facebook is as popular as it is now. 

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Confessional Society at it's most basic level, is essentially confessing things in an attempt to be relevant within a social community. Some believe this to be true, others disagree completely. I believe there is some truth to both sides. Some people do things for the attention, or '4TA' as I like to put it, and others may say things with a less selfish intention. 

In terms of the photo above, Lizard Squad claims to have a less selfish intention, but ultimately, it is completely the opposite. LS is a hacking group that have been credited with taking down major servers online such as PSN or XBL. They have also allegedly rerouted a plane carrying a Sony Exec, via a bomb threat. They 'confess' these things on their Twitter page, and the community that they have upset gives them publicity they are craving. They have so much power, that they make people do foolish things like write 'Lizard Squad' on their forehead in exchange for halting the attacks on servers. 

Without social media, we wouldn't know who was doing this. We wouldn't know who Lizard Squad is. It would just be another random attack by a no name group. 

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The concept of simulation in 'New Media' seeks to blur the lines between real life and a virtual world. These include, but isn't limited to, RPGs, virtual reality headsets, to airplane flight simulators. Some problems that are foreseen are the humanistic traits that define us. By embodying ourselves within these virtual worlds, do we become less human? We may not be classified as purely 'organic' any longer. In terms of the video above that showcases simulation, the popular card game 'Cards Against Humanity' is generally played in person at a table which a bunch of friends. With the technological advancements being made, we are now able to take this physical game, and manifest it within a virtual or simulated environment. We can be anywhere in the world and still enjoy the company of friends as if they were actually next to us.