CCT205+Labs

__**Lab #1 - January 13th, 2011**__

Q: What "digital innovation" do you feel best deserves the title of "revolutionary" and why?

I feel that Twitter best deserves the title of revolutionary. Facebook is also a highly revolutionary social media website, but unlike Twitter, Facebook comes with far too many user agreements and conditions for it to be quite as attractive and easy to use as Twitter. Twitter was first popularized because of how often it came to be used by celebrities for the same reason- how simple it is to figure out and use. The fact that there is a limit to the number of characters one can use in a status update shortens the number of words users can use, which in turn increases the value of those words. Statuses can be "re-tweeted", a means of spreading that one tweet across several other profiles without limit.

It is because tweets can be "re-tweeted" by other Twitter users that the 2010 earthquake that spanned from New York City all the way up through Canada to Quebec could be triangulated by Twitter users. Users tweeted as the earthquake reached their geographical location, and based on the timing of each tweet and the location it was from, the center of the earthquake was reported through Twitter even before news channels could report the earthquake itself.

__**Lab #2 - January 20th, 2011**__

Q: What do you think of the App Store?

I think that the App Store is an extremely innovative invention. It allows users to directly download new software without having to visit the store or spend a large amount of time installing it or reading paper manuals. It presents ease, speed, and a sense of being the latest and most "in" of digital technologies, and this is why it's become so highly popular. However the one thing about it that leaves me uneasy is the fact that everything you download is a soft copy. The slightest error or malfunction could leave you without any other option than to buy the app all over again. If not, it would defeat the purpose of ease by forcing you to have to physically visit the local Apple store to figure out what went wrong and whether it can be fixed.

But on the whole, the good far outweighs the bad. The Apple Store encourages innovation amongst its users; 70% of the revenue made from each app sale goes to the user who created the app, and 30% to Apple. The App store is accessible by almost all Apple technologies including the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad.

__**Lab #3 - January 27th, 2011**__

Q: Choose one of the elements (design/story/meaning/play/empathy/symphony) from Dan Pink's book and discuss a real world example.

One example of Pink's element of Design is the Apple logo. The Apple logo underwent many changes before it became the way it is today, and each change was made to reflect the changing times. It began as a picture of the shape of a small apple sitting under a tree with the Apple company name next to it. It was heavily pictorial and detailed, to instill a feeling of tradition and dependability- the way all logos were designed during that time. However it was deemed too hard to decipher, and had very little impact on sales. The second design featured the shape of an apple alone, in striped multicolor. The colors were meant to symbolize a combination of variety, innovation, and the eternal fruit of life to reflect the advances Apple had made in computer technology and the direction in which Apple was heading, and in turn, customer interest in the products increased.

Furthermore, the bite mark was added to the apple, to symbolize seduction. This bite mark alone greatly increased profits, proving the importance of design aesthetics to the sale of a product. The bite mark made Apple products seem like no other, something to yearn for. A rare jewel that everyone desires- so ripe with quality that one simply cannot resist taking a bite. Today, Apple is renowned worldwide for its sleek, irresistible and beautifully designed look, which customers equate to its functionality.


 * __Lab #4 - February 3rd, 2011__**

Q: http://www.fastcompany.com/1716844/alone-together-an-mit-professors-new-book-urges-us-to-unplug

__**Lab #5 - February 10th, 2011**__

Q: Talk about your views/concerns about the future of privacy. Does privacy really matter? Why or why not?

//" The Internet is really about highly specialized information, highly specialized targeting. " -// Eric Schmidt I think Eric's quote here is an excellent example of reading between the lines when it comes to the internet and the various "freedoms" that it offers users. While the internet has always been described as the greatest information access and distribution tool the world has ever seen, I believe that it is just as much a weapon to target users. For companies like Google, the "freedom" of information that users are so grateful for is exactly what Google takes advantage of. The right to privacy comes off as a small, petty whine in a sea of people determined to use their access to the internet to find answers to all their questions, even intimate questions about other users on the net; and Facebook, for example, has been as successful in that sense as Google has in terms of supplying its customers with what they want.

With that said, I think once a user enters the internet, they ought to understand from the very beginning that every letter, every picture, that they type and post can ultimately be found by others, whether the website provides privacy settings or not. It leads me to believe that although the internet is a great tool in terms of making life easier (banking), it's just as dangerous, because this ease lulls users into a sense of false security. Privacy does not matter to Google, and it does not matter to Facebook- in the end they are big money corporations that want to squeeze every dollar out of every one of their customers in every way possible- and they //know// that the best way to do that is through selling information. I believe it won't be long before other corporations join those ranks.

Hence, privacy is most definitely a valid concern, because when it comes down to it, privacy does not exist on the internet.

__**Lab #6 - February 17th, 2011**__

Q: http://vcn.bc.ca/citizens-handbook/rules.html Talk about one that inspires you, and how it might help you in the group project.

**Rule 8**: Keep the pressure on. Use different tactics and actions and use all events of the period for your purpose. “The major premise for tactics is the development of operations that will maintain a constant pressure upon the opposition. It is this that will cause the opposition to react to your advantage.” This rule inspires me greatly because it banks on the use of consistent pressure in order to glean results. In terms of the group assignment and how this rule might be helpful towards it, I think it's a great way to get people talking about the state of University of Toronto Mississauga's ecological footprint, and how much people think it's increased or decreased over the years. Creating surveys for them to respond to would be an excellent way to get direct, serious answers of what students think is the truth, which can then be compared to the actual figures. Another way to get good information regarding UTM's eco footprint is to ask people who're in charge of UTM's energy source and usage. Interviewing them with a camera on puts on the pressure and often results in the revealing of answers otherwise not meant to be released to the public. As cruel as it may sound, pressure obstructs the way the mind works, and this can most definitely be used to the group's advantage. In order to bring about any sort of social change, the pressure needs to be felt.

__**Lab #7 - e culture**__ ...


 * Lab #8 - InDesign poster**

Q: What will / should Web 3.0 be about?
 * Lab #9- March 17th, 2011**

Web 3.0 is probably going to be all about the internet serving people. Rather than old-school tactics such as web crawlers indexing key words for people to type into search engines, search engines will themselves personalize for each user and begin to do the work //for// people. It will make suggestions based on each individual user's interests, and, potentially, this innovation will become integrated into the system. From becoming solely human-readable, the web will become machine-readable, or semantic. The idea attempting to be captured by Web 3.0 will be a more intelligent web or internet; a system that can operate without the need for human direction, but of its own intelligent accord, thus eliminating tedious online search tasks that normally require human direction. The Hollywood movie, iRobot, comes to mind; essentially, the making of a machine whose purpose is to think on its own 'feet' and actually produce its own ideas based on the information it has learned so far about its owner.

Q: How should deep packet inspection be handled? Or, if it shouldn't be done, then what instead?
 * Lab #10 - March 24th, 2011**


 * talk about privacy security
 * intentional slowing down of downloads by service providers to make it difficult to do it illegally
 * deep packet inspection is when all your online activity is monitored, such as the websites you visit.