Living in the Age of AI

    There is no denying the popularly of social media and technology in todays society. The artificial intelligence within these technologies is important to understand for those who use it. The documentary "In the Age of AI", is an informative production worthwhile watching. After watching this documentary, I learned a lot about the personal data that is collected through artificial intelligence. Any and all information is valuable especially within advertising in todays society. Artificial intelligence plays a huge role in marketing, and no matter what website, social media platform, or device you are using, you are always trailing data that is collected by AI. 

Interests, personal thoughts, friends, behavior, and style are some of the many things that AI can determine about you in order customize advertisements, search suggestions, and posts that come up on social media feeds. The collection of data is not necessarily a bad thing but could potentially be dangerous for your personal privacy as well as national security.

 In addition to emails, phone numbers, bank information, addresses, and birthdays, facial recognition on security cameras and phones play a role in the threat of identity theft among users. You would be "horrified if you knew how much Google knew about you" was one statement from the documentary that stuck out to me and proved: you truly never know the extent to the information that AI is able to collect from us. 

Chinese based technology companies have been "blacklisted" to not work with the U.S. due to risks to national U.S. security. Some government agencies believe that companies such as Huawei use AI in their technologies that enable the Chinese government to collect data on customers that use their products. 

The next time you see an ad about something you be have been talking about, or even a post from a store you were just shopping at, think about the information AI has been collecting and what they may know about you. 

 The Diffusion of Innovations Theory

Throughout technological innovations, we see patterns of popularities within each innovation. These patterns are used within the Diffusion of Innovations Theory to determine how an idea, behavior, or product spreads throughout a specific population or social system. 

Five Categories of the Diffusion of Innovations Theory

The Diffusion of Innovations Theory consists of five stages, all of which describe the characteristics of the target population that is attracted product. 

1- Innovators are the consumers who want to be the first to try the innovation and very little needs to be done to attract this group. This group makes up the people who are highly impressed with innovations and are eager to try out products when they are first announced. 

2- Early Adopters are characterized as embracing change opportunities to try the new innovation, they do not need to be convinced however, they do enjoy adopting new ideas. These people are comfortable with new ideas and often embrace the new ideas with other populations. 

3- Early Majority is the population that adapt before the average person but are not the first; they need evidence and some convincing that this innovation is worth it. Examples of ways to convince these people would be success stories, and effectiveness of the innovation to prove that it is convenient. 

4- The Late Majority is the group of people that are skeptical of change and do not have much intention of trying new things; they require a lot of convincing on why this innovation is beneficial. Strategies to appeal this group include others personal experiences with the innovation. 

5- The last group is known as Laggards, these people require a lot of convincing with statistics and reasoning as they are very traditional. 

As we see a growth in the convince of smart phones, people demand accessibility to advancements and applications that make day to day life easier. This diffusions of innovations theory is reflected within these demands because it shows the different groups of people who benefit from these innovations and even those who are more tradition and don't want to rely on a phone for everything.

Social media apps are extremely popular among todays society. There are the people who are the first to try and experiment it with no questions asked. On the other hand, the people who are comfortable with the communication that they're used to that they don't want to try the new innovation. For social media marketing, it is important to have those innovators and early adopters to promote the innovation to the other populations like the late majority and laggards.

TikTok has become a globally recognized social media platform that has most likely been used among all 5 of these population groups. TikTok started as a very limited platform where people, typically teens and young adults, could make videos to song and add cool edits to post for their friends to see. With the growth of TikTok as well as the diversity of creators using the platform, the innovators, early adopters, and early majority have convinced and proven TikTok to be fun and educational to the late majority and even those in the laggard group. 

I would consider myself to be an early adopter for TikTok and my parents to be the late majority. My parents can easily be overwhelmed with technology and not open to trying out new platforms, however just last year both of them are actively using TikTok for entertainment as well as life hacks, recipes, and home projects.  

EOTO Presentation Impacts

    After watching all of the presentations I enjoyed learning about the history of some of the most revolutionizing technologies in communication. All of the presentations were executed very well and were very interesting and important to understand especially in a world full of technology. Like many, I use technology every single day and after watching the presentations I realized how recent the development of technology has revolutionized. The beginning of communication and the most recent inventions show how far we have come. All of the presentations worked well with each other and convey how technology is ever-changing and the possibilities are endless.

 The most fascinating presentation in my opinion was the history of carrier pigeons. I never realized how significant it played a role in communication during that time. The whole concept of carrier pigeons as well as the process of how the pigeons were able to learn the routes was interesting. I loved this presentation because it shows the earliest times in the timeline of communication technology and the extreme development from this technique of communication to SMS messaging and emails. 

I learned the most during the internet/WorldWideWeb presentation and found this technology development to be interesting as well. Since I never used the internet during its early times of operation, I never understood the process and how different it was to how it is today. I use the internet every single day and as we get more dependable on technology, the internet is starting to replace things such as books, dictionary, magazines, tv, etc. 

Anti-War in News

    In todays world, mainstream news consists of a lot of war news but we rarely see the side of anti-war news. Unpopular news websites provide us with important information that is crucial to politics especially during wartimes. Anti-War sources contain news and information on countries not wanting to go to war. These news sources are not commonly known and generates the question: "Why is this information not in the mainstream news?" Mainstream news is the most influential and popular news sources that consist of newspapers, television, and radio. However, the mainstream media seems to ignore information that is extremely vital to know as a citizen and voter of the United States of America. Some news sources are biased, however that should not mean that they don't serve their role in giving the public knowledge on affecting issues that are going on today. 

It is possible that we don't see anti-war news in mainstream because they want us to believe that going to war is the only option. Wars can bring political advantages such as economic growth, technological advancements, and victory. 

Most people believe that mainstream media is reliable news. However, the news is biased and tends to make matters more dramatic. Mass media nowadays fights to be most relevant and constant news source so they can be the best. People also believe everything they see and hear and without facts to back it up, the statements in the news are meaningless. To research and feel confident on your knowledge, websites like Anti-War and The American Conservative, provide sides of the story you don't see on the mainstream news. Social media has also become very influential for news and fake news spreads quickly. Which is important not to trust or believe everything you see. 

 EOTO: The Telegraph

History of the Telegraph

In the 15th century, the printing press played a key role in communication, but it couldn't provide instant communication from person-to-person. Later, in the early 1800s, the telegraph started as an idea to send signals across wires in order to communicate from one place to another. The significance of the telegraph and how it facilitated communication became a globally recognized development that provided an instant communication from major cities across the world.

The Telegraph

In 1832, Samuel Morse began developing a version of the telegraph and 3 years later in 1835, he created a code known as "Morse Code". This code was used as communication and consisted of a set of dots and dashes that was assigned to each letter of the alphabet. These dots and dashes could then be translated into messages. He presented the telegraph to the U.S. Congress in 1838 however, he was not the first person to think of the idea. By this time, over 60 people have claimed to have invented the first telegraph, yet Samuel Morse was the first person to get political backing for his telegraph. Prior to the telegraph, the printing press took days, weeks, and even months to send messages. Now, messages can be transmitted within minutes. The first message sent through the telegraph was on May 24, 1844 and read "What hath God wrought".

Samuel Morse

Western Union was the top telegraphic company in 1864 and it operated on 44,000 miles of wires and was values at $10 million. The growth was substantial and within ten years that comapany's value grew by 11,000 percent. In 1866 it was operating on 100,000 miles of wire with a value at $40 million. 

Impact of the Telegraph

The telegraph revolutionized long-distance communication. "After the telegraph cable was stretched from coast to coast in the 1850s, a message from London to New York could be send in mere minutes, and the world suddenly became much smaller." The telegraph evolved and benefited businesses and politics as well as relationships with other countries. This new possibility of transmitting information quickly over long distances, furthered the growth of railroads, created the foundation of economic expansions, and would even help establish peace between national rivalries. Abraham Lincoln used the telegraph during the Civil War in order to issue commands and direct movements in nearly real time, this ultimately helped the north win. 

The telegraph impacted the growth that was taking place during the Industrial Revolution and allowed information to be sent from business to business. The telegraph was also a fairly inexpensive source to communicate internationally. Development of the telegraph paved the way for the invention of the telephone. Alexander Graham Bell worked in attempts to improve the telegraph which resulted in the success of the telephone innovation. The telegraph was one of the first major influences that is important on the technological timeline of communication development and created a new anticipation of what the future holds.