Visualizing Data

Wikimapia

Wikimapia is a really interesting and engaging tool that allows the broad public to identify and write short descriptions about various places. For this assignment, I identified my selective living group Mirecourt and wrote a short description about it. It took a few minutes to find, but the program is user-friendly and easy to use.

Google Earth

Google Earth is another tool similar to Wikimapia in that it allows the user to engage with an interactive map that can be manipulated to suit the purposes of the user. I thought it was neat that it offers so many options in terms of identifying places in either a geographic, political, or hybrid format. It also facilitates the use of maps and does it in an engaging way that sparks a curiosity within the user. Overall, I thought this program was super cool.

In terms of academic collaboration, a tool like Google Earth can simulate as closely as possible for students what a distant place actually looks like; when this tool is combined with other cultural resources and perhaps communication with a person from that distant place, it can all come together to engage a student in a personal way about a different culture. While there is no sufficient substitute for physically going to a different place and experiencing something new, it is impractical for everyone to travel, and Google Earth in combination with other tools can provide a stimulating simulation.

Also, Google Earth can be used to for anthropological or cultural academic research, as it provides a wide variety of tools and can be extraordinarily helpful through the bird’s eye view it provides. Beyond this, Google Earth can be a great way to explore your own surroundings and become more familiar with a place, especially if you are new to it.

Excel Graphing Function

I’ve used the Excel graphing function extensively before, and I’ve always been amazed at how user-friendly and accurate it is. Once you figure out how to specify the x and y variables (which, I admit did take a while at the beginning), the program basically runs itself. For my senior thesis, I did experiments and the write-up required several graphs; excel made the whole process easy and enjoyable.

Reflections Upon My Online Identity

Our online identity is a complicated thing determined by several external factors, and when it is viewed and shaped through an online medium estranged from who we really are, it can become dangerously malleable and easily accessible. When I initially completed this assignment by Google searching my own name, reviewing my account on Amazon, and checking my credit score, I did not find anything that surprised me, but I was amazed by the ease with which others can find information about me and use it to characterize me in such a way it creates an artificial online identity for me.

For example, by simply Google searching my name, I found several websites which referenced me and also several websites which referenced other people with the same name as me. Assuming that some was searching for information about me, it would be difficult for that person to differentiate websites about me with those about others, which could create confusion and dilute my personal identity with that of another. Amazon serves as another example of identity formation based on incomplete information. The last book I searched on Amazon was an education book for one of my classes, and because of this previous search the website recommended several other education books, all of which I am not interested in. In this way, Amazon has created my identity as an education-aficionado when in actuality I am not; I only purchased the other book as part of my class. The final example was searching my credit score. One’s credit score, more than any other comparable index, represents a person’s trustworthiness and can affect a person’s life outcomes in terms of access to capital. Then, I found it appalling at how easy it was to access my information. If someone was to tamper with my credit score, I would be seriously disadvantaged and suffer serious costs.

Clearly, one’s online identity is important and can be shaped by a variety of factors. This was something I had never seriously thought of before, but I am glad that I did this assignment and am now more aware of it. From now on, I will definitely pay much closer attention to my online identity.

E-books v. Regular Books

There are several losses and gains associated with digitizing books, and I will enumerate each that I see in turn. The first loss is could be the loss of ownership by the author. By this, I mean that the book may be circulated illegally, as we have discussed in previous classes, causing the author losses in terms of royalties he would have otherwise received. E-books are easily reproducible, and this concern about the author is a serious one. Second, I find e-books harder to read in their digital format, and reading an entire book through a computer screen sounds like a tough task. For this reason, it is likely that people reading the entire book would probably print it out, negating some of the paper that would have otherwise been conserved. Also, it may be easier to change things in an e-book, thereby manipulating the original text and losing the intended meaning. Third and finally, I believe that there is an aesthetic loss by not having physical books. There is a beauty in the act of opening a book and turning its pages, and the reading an e-book digitally would simply lose it. It is significantly less romantic to think of curling up with a laptop next to a fire on a cold day than a physical book.

On the other hand, there are significant benefits to an e-book. First, if it is done legally, electronic books could allow for quick access by several people. This will minimize the transaction costs of going to the bookstore, finding the book, and paying for it; all of this will be digital and done in seconds. Second, there are pertinent features that will facilitate research and reading such as the search feature (Cntrl +F, or check out Amazon’s search feature) or autosummary, for example. These things can save valuable time and resources and are unavailable on standard books. Even the index cannot compare to an electronic search bearing instant results.

In summary, I do not believe that we should adopt one form to the exclusion of the other; on the contrary, both forms have their benefits and disadvantages, and I think that both should be used simultaneously. This allows people to have the best of both worlds and benefit from both regular and electronic books.

Link to Amazon’s search feature: http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/1565122798/ref=sib_dp_pt/104-8103822-5187121#reader-link

Google Scholar e-book:

http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=ues7VM41NsIC&oi=fnd&pg=RA1-PA3&dq=the+nature+of+prejudice&ots=-Oh-T2ZRds&sig=4FYXPCypsPtLuExrS9Medlmg5Mk

Copyright and Data Ethics

In this age of new media creations, certain organizations are popping up which are designed ot facilitate new media creation, and I briefly outline four such organizations here. Electronic Frontier Foundation fights to maintain our civil liberties in digital mediums. Their homepage highlights important current court cases, news updates, and links to more information, all regarding civil rights in a digital medium. Creative Commons is a nonprofit organization that works to provide the tools necessary to facilitate creative ventures and explorations; it meets its goal by freely providing the digital tools necessary to be creative. The Digital Millennium Copyright Act penalizes the illegal production and dissemination of copyrighted technology. Archive.org allows people to archive old media and share it with others. It serves as a digital library and provides its services freely.

The common thread running through these entities is that they work to increase access to digital media and safeguard digital creations vis-à-vis copyright. These groups are necessary because in this age of easy access to information, they provide the tools and ability for new digital creations. More specifically, CC and Archive all provide access media and programs which facilitate media generation. EFF and DMCA work to provide the copyright and intellectual safeguards which prevent created media from being plagiarized or stolen; more simply, these safeguards protect authors and ensure that they receive due credit for their creations.

I believe that these organizations can and will succeed. Their work is necessary to facilitate and to promote the creation of new media, and without such organizations, those involved in media creation would suffer as they would lose access to valuable resources and protection of their ideas. After looking over the website, it seems that they have become increasingly popular and in demand over the last several years, and this is most likely springs from the necessity of the services they offer. Most of these organizations are nonprofits serving the greater digital good, and it seems to me that their nonprofit status lends them extra credibility, as it shows that they are working for a cause that goes beyond themselves and not for personal gain or profit.