Forbidden Access

   There are no rules. At least not many in American cyberspace. One can Google anything they want. This is not the case in China. The Chinese government that already has the reputation of constraint, bans certain internet searches and sites. Should the U.S. government have the same right. I believe the government should have the same right but only on subjects of security.

Free flow of information is essential and a right to citizens. The internet is the largest source of information. One should be able to find information that is non bias or swayed. China has banned websites on a banned spiritual movement and pro-democracy websites. There have been 136,000 non-registered sites and 1.5 million pieces of information banned. More have probably been added by the day. There are even paid commentators who comment for the government on those who criticize the Chinese government. The Chinese are trying to guide their people toward one way of thinking and only expose them to what they want them to be exposed to. I believe one should have an open mind and not be swayed. 

The only things I believe should be banned by the U.S. government on the web are information such as how to build a bomb or wiretap a phone. These deal with issues of security. Why would one want to know how to build a bomb anyway? The people who should know, perhaps a bomb squad, will found out in training. There is no need to have that information on the internet. 

Wiretapping ones phone is an invasion of privacy. Sure there are big brother cameras now but they are not meant to invade. One should not have the information to wiretap another phone. Unless again, it deals with their job like the police. The government should not abuse their capabilities as well. 

Certain websites and searches in schools should be banned for obvious reasons.  The youth of this country do not need to know how to make a bomb. Elementary school students do not need to be able to search violent images or pornography. 

America is based on freedom. Freedom should extend to the internet. Yet certain things should be banned to protect our freedom and Americans. No one wants a child to have a bomb in their backpack.  

Team Tufte or Team Byrne?

     This is not nearly as serious as the Team Jacob vs. Team Edward debate but it is relevant in the world today. PowerPoints are used to teach students and used in the careers those students obtain after school. Team Tufte said “PowerPoint is Evil” in a Wired magazine article. Team Byrne wrote “Learning to Love PowerPoint” in the same magazine. I am Team Byrne for the fact that I see PowerPoint as a very useful tool. I learn best visually and with note taking.

     Tufte made the argument that PowerPoint “elevates format over content” and needs many slides due to little information on each slide. This can result to boredom as a result of a slow and long PowerPoint presentation. Byrne on the other hand said with PowerPoint one can organize ideas, attach content, bend the program to ones needs, and then it runs by itself.

     PowerPoint can be long but I believe that it can turn boring if the presenter does not present the information in a way that will keep ones attention. Tufte said that with little information on each slide more detail is needed for a better understanding of the content. The presenter of a PowerPoint is not restricted to voicing the bullets that are on a slide. PowerPoint is an outline for elaboration. Elaboration made with words or with content.

     While in my Comm. and New Media class we watched a Scott McCloud lecture on TED.com where he discussed comics with the aid of a PowerPoint presentation. On the PowerPoint there were no bullets but rather visuals and pictures. His lecture was the opposite of boring and his visuals were part of his discussion and all he had to do was press a button to continue his discussion. The PowerPoint gave greater understanding to what he was saying.

     Granted I do believe that PowerPoint can be too animation driven at times and drag on but used and presented cleverly and efficiently PowerPoint is very useful. A long boring PowerPoint presentation can be as boring as a long lecture with no extra content.

Coding 101

As simple and as everyday browsing the web is today; does anyone ever think about how it is put together? People browse the Internet on their phones, on their televisions, and it is used to teach. We know how to use it but don’t usually know how to create it. Taking a computer mediated class this semester I do not really know how to create websites.

Sure there was the craze of MySpace and Xanga before Facebook and Twitter where people created their own site with codes but most people did a copy and paste. I understood the codes for the most part and changed them to my liking but I could not build a whole website from scratch. I hope to learn codes better and learn to make a website in this class. I feel excited to learn code but at the same time codes for a whole website entails plenty of letters, numbers, and symbols in front of me. Yet one must know the basics to thrive.