Sparky (LIB100D)

Hi everyone,

We really enjoyed having you in our class this semester. The conversations were really interesting, and we had fun seeing your videos. We hope that you got something out of the semester as well. This morning we all met and finished up the grading. If you have any questions, please send us an email. We’d be happy to correct any mistakes or explain our thinking if you have a question about a grade.

Good luck with the rest of your semester, and please don’t hesitate to contact us if you need anything!
Lauren

After talking about the future of the internet in class, I came across this article on the BBC News website. With the constant and rapid progression of information and technology, I found it interesting what the experts and the general population thought the internet would be like 12 years from now. The opinions of the internet’s future was very much mixed, with ‘half of those believing its progression will be positive and 46% having some concern.’ Everyone agrees however that the internet will become more mobile and easily accessible.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/5370688.stm

How do you envision the internet in 2020? What are some of the concerns about the internet’s future?

So, we’re almost at the end of our class. This is where you can give us some feedback for next time. What were things that were particularly useful, what was less useful? Are there things you think we should focus more on in the next class? Things we should spend less time covering?

You’ll get to do the standard anonymous class evaluations on the last day of class, but we wanted to go ahead and give you the chance to give feedback on the class in general. Thanks!

No need to comment on this, but just thought you might find something useful in this list of computer tips!

Over the last ten years it has become easier and easier to do research online. Not only do search engines such as google provide thousands of search results, it is also possible to search through actual libraries and read books on a computer. Will libraries taking up physical space soon become mere bytes of data on a server? This article argues otherwise http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2008-07-28-library-evolution_N.htm

This video starts with interesting facts about the world and population, but the most important part is the 2nd half of the video. It provides some very interesting facts about the way in which we use the internet, the way it’s changing, and most importantly — how information progresses. With how often we rely on the internet and information today. The scary thing is that this is a dated video, and by today technology has already advanced nearly tenfold… makes you think how fast technology really progresses.

Did You Know?… Information Age

A recent article featured in The Wall Street Journal reports on targeted marketing, a business in which market research companies such as Revenue Science and Acxiom collect and distribute information about online consumer behavior at a profit.

“From start-ups to established Internet and telecom giants, companies are pouring resources into new ad-targeting technologies, and behavioral targeting is among the fastest-growing types of online marketing.”

According to this article, how successful do you think the marketers are at determining which ads to present to which consumers? Were you aware that this close observation of web traffic was taking place? Do you think it will help companies draw the right types of consumers, or do you think this entire procedure is a waste of time and energy on the parts of the companies themselves?

“Mistaken Identity” by Emily Steel

It was just recently discussed in class about how much personal information in available through the internet. Even though you may think you are hiding much of your information on sites such as facebook and myspace, etc. some of your personal information is still readily available to anybody that may want to take the time to find it. Read through this article and it gives you some more information about privacy and the internet as well as some interesting facts that you may not have known beforehand.

http://www.walthowe.com/navnet/privacy.html

I’m sure almost everyone can say that they have shopped/ordered something from the internet. This seems to make life easier to be able to shop and pay for something without ever leaving your home, but does being able to do all your shopping at home keep too many people confined to their home? And if not so much now but in the future? Will there still be a need for shopping centers? Another down side to internet shopping is that not only do you have to pay for tax but shipping as well and without physically seeing what your buying you could be disappointed with your final product. Overall does online shoppings pros outweighs the cons?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thsugBVpvzU

Nick Galvin makes a few interesting points in this article. He discusses the viewpoints others pose towards private web accounts on sites such as facebook, and then he later discusses the ramifications of your online persona in regards to possible job offers.

Do you believe that people with private accounts have something to hide? How do you feel about the possibility of being dismissed as a candidate for a job because of your online past?

http://smallbusiness.smh.com.au/managing/technology/when-private-and-public-collide-910723634.html?page=3