Final Coarse Reflection

May 13th 2019

To reflect back on this class, one thing that is persistent is that technology is practically involved with everything and involved everywhere. With this being said, the history of the technology and communication that has been talked about in this class always has a cause and effect. The stuff that we use today such as the internet of things, a laptop, a mobile device and many more did not just come up out of the blue. One thing was created, it was talked about and marketed out. Soon after competition arose, and with this competition came better products along with laws in order to govern these companies from taking advantage over the consumer. It’s pretty remarkable to see where technology is today, with that said there will be two things talked about in this blog: The history of technology and communication and technology.

In this class one of my first blogs was to discuss the history of a particular technological item, such as the phone or the computer. I did mine of the computer, mainly because it is remarkable to me on how it is made and how it has evolved. The first computer was made in 1937 and this thing was huge (peep down at my second blog if you want to see a brief history of the computer). The point that I am making is how were they able to go from a giant computer to a macbook air, tablet or iphone which can do so much more. Where was this giant leap in technology? Computers were a things for a while, but the public never started to get into them until about the late 90’s, and after this came the rise of technology because of the internet. The internet is everywhere in our lives at the moment, as explained earlier the internet of things is huge at the moment. Internet of things allows for a connection with the consumer and the items that they happen to be using. Examples of these are Alexa, digital signage, or the modern car. These devices allow for a communication to help the consumer in their everyday lives. But how do we go from just a regular computer in the 90’s to the vase amount of technologies that use the internet today?

Communication is key in the history of technology. We would not have the things that we have today, if communication was not there. One example of this is the tweets that we do every Tuesday and Thursday in our class. Social Media is possible because of the advances in technology, but what social media is able to do is open up a brand new communicative passage for the world. In my opinion one of the main reasons why technologies are advancing so quickly over the past couple of years is in part because of social medias marketing ability. But in technology, where communication can be vitally important is in politics. An example of this is net neutrality and what we discussed in class the other day. This basically protects an individuals right to go one to specific web browser or site and not be charged unfairly, because favoritism to one site makes it harder to use the other site. Ajit Pai is a person who is against net neutrality which in hand can make it detrimental in the equality of internet users. With communication and social media still being on the subject, fake news should be discussed as well. Fake news is exactly as it sounds and it can easily corrupt the way people think and vote during political issues. This was a huge problem with Facebook over the past presidential elections, making some people swing to vote a certain direction when something that may seem true, is not, and is posted all over many different social networking accounts.

Overall technology is a huge thing to have, in most ways it is great, technological advances across the world happen constantly. But when it is taken advantage of by monopolizing or spreading fake news then it can get out of hand very easily. The history of technology is a wonderful thing to look in to, but the communication between people during the evolvements is what can really be looked upon to ensure that the best products will be made.

Blog #6 : The Future of the Music Industry

Friday May 10th, 2019

In my honest opinion, the future of music should always look bright. Music is such vital part of our lives that we in fact need it. I can not tell you that last time I went a day without listening to music. It’s absolutely amazing, not only does it sound good (depending on what kind of music you like), but it binds people together, expresses words and stimulates feelings. It moves people to go after what they want, or it allows them to calm down and relax. Music is everything. Yet where is music in the future?

The future is looking great. IFPI explains that in 2018, Global revenue for music went up 9.7%. This is strictly, because of the advances in technology. Streaming is at a 46.8% of the Global revenue total. Meanwhile, physical revenues and download revenues have gone down catastrophically at numbers such as -10.1% for physical and -21.2% for downloads. This is mainly because we have found an easier and more affordable way to acquire music. There is no need to have to download music anymore, or if you want to get an album of something, you shouldn’t have to go to the store for that. Instead we have things such as Pandora, Apple Music and Spotify. These all make it very easy to acquire music fast and cheap.

But where is the future of music and what is it going to be? That is honestly a difficult question, and there is no sure way of knowing how. They’ll probably come out with something that can beat out streaming music soon enough and I am pretty eager to find out what it is going to be. One thing that is for sure, is that music is not dying down and It wont be for quit some time. What will change is the kind of music that is being listened to however. Such as the electronic age is quickly taking over with creating new beats and EDM type of music. What this means is that instrument such as the guitar, base, violin, drums, etc.. are going to be a thing of the past and weaved out in the future. That is going to be missed, because of the dedication and hard work it takes to learn and perfect these instruments.

Blog #3

29 April 2019

The communication technology that I am interested in is the computer itself, I currently just switched over to be a Graphic Design student recently and I have finally actually become more attached to my computer. I have been using different programs such as InDesign, Photoshop, Illustrator, and Dreamweaver. Personally each one of these programs have been awesome so far. I have always been an artist but never used the computer aspect of it.

What really interest me is the application Dreamweaver. Every time I would look upon a website I never really took advantage to see what make a website, I just thought it was really hard which I was wrong about. The cool thing about this application is that it gives me the opportunity to do something that I really began to think was impossible and that I would never have the time to even get into it. This right here really got me thinking, working with HTML, javascript, and all that is really interesting. But the history of the computer is something to look into as well. How is it that over a spanned of around a half century that we were able to conduct such a giant computer that was not able to preform even the most basic performances then that of what we use today. Which is really just an advanced computer that we can hold in the palm of our hands.

The history of the computer really allows someone to look upon what is next in store. The smart phones and smart watches are taking the technological world by storm at the moment. But they say that history moves in cycles, so what is the next cycle? When are we going to ditch the smart phones and smart watches because they are out dated? It is a fascinating question, yet a scary one at the same time.

Photo Manipulation

April 19th, 2019

Photo manipulation can be deceiving when it comes to commercial use. I believe that commercially when something is advertised most people would like to see the truth. However with that said, if a model agency were to photoshop an image of a model to make the photo look better, that should their choice, but only if they have the consent from that model to do so. Instead of making it illegal to do so, I think that people should have the choice to advertise their images how they want. Today people constantly edit their images when it comes to social media to make themselves look better. They’ll add different filters, fix the brightness, even photoshop things out of the photo or add to the photo, this is perfectly fine to me. But if this happens commercially it should be done in the right way. After the photo is taken and after the editing, the final step should be to show the model what the finished photo would looks like. At that point they’ll have the choice of whether or not they want to be put out in the public like that.

FOMO

Friday April 19th, 2019

I believe that the fear of missing out can happen to anyone under any circumstance, especially with how big social media is today. It seems like everyone is having the time of their lives, it doesn’t matter if it is on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and more. People will always post the best times of their day. But where does that leave the people that are not with them, but instead at home really not doing much. This can cause multiple problems for that person, due to the fact that it is in our human nature to interact and be with others. But not being present and seeing all of the “fun” that they are having can really tease the mind.

This has happened to me multiple times and I am pretty sure it has happened to most people. I have been experiencing FOMO lately, because while I can see that all my friends are going out having a great time. I am typically stuck in my apartment, because for one I don’t have that much money to spend. And two I need to make sure that I can keep my grades up so I don’t get disqualified from Chico State and ruining my academic career. The FOMO really strikes hard because I want to go out most of the time but the tease is really getting to me since I can see what everyone else is doing through social media. Really nothing I can do about it, it is just too hard to not be around the media.

Inclusive Video Games

March 29th, 2019

Growing up video games always seemed to revolve around the same type of lead character, and that is a confident strong white male. This is controversial, due to the fact that the games are leaving out a large group of the people that play their products. As consoles and games keep getting bigger and more available to the public, game developers need to realize that there are more people that should be thought out for. Reaching out for more diversity in the gaming industry would not only be more beneficial for our society as a whole, but it can be more lucrative and rewarding for the businesses that create these games, because now they are hitting a larger audience. With gaming there are so many different games to be made and played, people can literally make whatever game they want. But these should be regulated, the way that some games incorporate different characters is very questionable. For example, the ways in which many games incorporate their women characters is very degrading. These characters are only wearing bikinis and are meant to look like a model for a game that requires shooting. Now why would this character be wearing something like this, in a situation like that? Why not instead have her dress the same way as the man in the game, like someone who is ready to go to war. This is done to be more appealing for the mail audience. But what about the female audience that wants to play the game too, why do they have to be shut out from playing the game because of how characters are portrayed. Personally I don’t think its fair. I don’t think most men would want to play a shooting game, where the main guy is only wearing a speedo. Games are so advanced now that people should be able to customize and pick the character that they want to use, rather than just being stuck with one person. Hopefully we can start moving in the right direction and cut out this degrading nonsense of how character are perceived and move to a new time in the industry where everyone can feel comfortable to play a certain game.

The Digital Divide

March 15th 2019,

Technology as everyone knows is taking a huge leap in our lives very fast, and its upgrading more and more before the average person is able to be accustomed with how to use it. But what about the 1/5 people that do not have access to such technologies as a computer, smartphone, or tablet? What are they supposed to do when everything requires a source of technology? There really is not much, schools now require assignments to be finished and submitted online, work has moved from being at work to be taken home and finished on a computer. It is tough for people to get stuff done in our day in age when they are apart of the 1/5 that cannot afford the use of such different technologies. So what do we do to try and fix this? I believe that more public access should be required to help ensure that people can have a little easier access to check their emails or finish something that needs to be done. Also there should be more programs that helps ensure that people in lower income areas are able to buy these such tech devise for a cheaper price. Especially when it comes to children. In the near future, everything is going to be dependent on technology. So giving these kids a chance to learn how to use them at an early age will help ensure that they don’t get behind in their early adulthood.