Post 8

    In my second EOTO Presentation, I covered the topic of news deserts. A news desert is an area deprived from local news outlets. In the United States, these areas are specifically referenced as being the counties to a state. There has been a surge in news deserts observed from 2004 to 2018. Over this period, around 2,000 local outlets that would write weekly shut down, and over 200 daily outlets shutdown as well. There seem to be a number of causes to the issue. News companies are only selling physical newspapers, a market dominated by mainstream news outlets, and lack of intervention from the government. 

    More alarming though is that this surge has caused over 100 counties nationwide to be deprived of any local news outlets. These counties are both urban and rural. They typically are economically vulnerable and or have a sizable minority population. While those are the commonplace areas, wealthy counties have also lost all of their local news as well. Montgomery county in Maryland, the seventeenth most wealthy county nationwide, is also a victim to being a news desert. Without these news outlets there has been a decrease in civic engagement, a lack of local knowledge, and lowered the amount of democratic practitioners in these counties.

    This situation has also affected the job market as well with over 40,000 journalists leaving the profession entirely. Many of the still struggling local outlets are being bought up by Gannett and Lee Enterprises. This company has one of the largest networks of news outlets in the country. Even as publishers try to go digital, it appears the void from all of the closed outlets is still being felt as well.

    Ghost newspapers have also cropped up during this time as well. Ghost newspapers are a part of news deserts. The key difference is instead of a publisher shutting down, the publisher simply does not have any or enough journalists reporting on local events. These only add fuel to news deserts because it may seem like there are local publishers, but they never publish about local events.

    As this problem continues to grow, the more damage we as a nation will feel. If we are disconnected from our community, how are we ever supposed to feel connected as a nation? People have begun to try to find solutions to these problems. Some are more easily done than others. A change in business model for local outlets is a popular solution. For too long they have solely relied on physical sales of their articles. Getting more publications onto the internet will hope these outlets reach a larger audience. Searching for investors from philanthropic or venture organizations also seems to be a popular idea as well. With the funding of new publications, that "void" mentioned early might be filled faster with the creation of new local outlets. Most people, however, want either the state or federal government to help out. This can be in the form of tax incentives or creating financial relief to some capacity. Hopefully with any of these possible solutions in motion, the loss of local newspaper will at least stop. Until then though, we will most likely see the number of news deserts only grow.

Final Post

    Technology has always been present in my life. It started off relatively small and non influential; mainly in the forms of TV or movies. My mom made sure I didn't spend my childhood in front of a screen. I was maybe allowed an hour or two at most with the TV before I was told to either go outside or play with my toys. This trend started to die out in middle school when I got my Xbox One for Christmas. I installed it in my basement, so that I wouldn't hog the TV in the family room. This would also put me out of my parents eyes, so they wouldn't notice how long I would be playing for. Initially, the time I spent on it grew slowly.   

  About two years after I had received my Xbox One, I found the game Fallout 4. That summer, I probably managed to put ten to twenty days worth of time into that game. My parents, especially my mother, had begun to notice the hours I was putting into the game. My mom would soon pose to me the question, is my relationship with technology healthy? I could probably acknowledge that I spent too much time on the console, but my middle school stubbornness wouldn't let up. My grades were good, I did my chores when told to, and I played basketball at my school every winter season. I thought those reasons were good enough to offset the amount of time I spent on my Xbox. On average, I was spending around four to five hours on a weekday with five to seven over the weekends. 

    Looking back, I can tell that I suffered from some unintended consequences. I definitely became more anxious, my grades were good but never great, and I did cut myself off from my family a bit. I have taken some steps to improve this unhealthy relationship with technology. I've employed time limits on my phone, I've been more communicative with my family and friends, and I just try to take a break from it during the day every now and again. Instead of eight hours on the Xbox it now looks like an hour on the phone, and five hours on the computer. It is an improvement, but there is still work that needs to be done.

    While my time management was egregious, my experience overall was not all bad. I was able to get closer to some of my friends by playing games we shared. To this day, when we are together, we will think back to those times and reminisce about those days. I also had access to games with rich stories that influenced my taste in media to this day. These games would sometimes ask hefty questions about morality, life and death, or self worth. 

    I feel that regardless of your experience with technology, unhealthy amounts of screen time has slowly been accepted in society. Obviously some people are still opposed to it, but how much screen time are people getting while in school or work? According to BMC most children are already spending too much time on screens. I think technology has just incorporated itself into nearly all aspects of life, making it difficult to police how much screen time everyone gets.

Post 5 Other EOTO's

    During the classes EOTO presentations, the communication technology that stood out to me were emoticons, also known as emojis. Their creation was entirely by accident in the 1800's. They started off as a typo appearing in a newspaper. It was the most basic form of emojis being a smiley face with a colon and a parentheses :). I find it to be most intriguing how a simple typo from about 200 years ago still holds relevance into today's online societies. 

    Emoji's can be found in any kind of messaging platform from private communications to most live streaming services that offer a "chat" area. Emojis have also changed from simple groupings of punctuation marks to actual icons and images. This change didn't come until the 1990's when online messaging started to enter the scene. They've also stemmed into more than facial expressions. On iPhones alone, they offer a myriad of emojis for numerous topics; these can range from animals, buildings, or miscellaneous categories.

    Emoji's have added a new layer to communication, especially in online platforms. If someone struggles to express their emotions in posts with just text; emojis can help that person express their feelings in their writing. While emojis have done a lot of good, they have also created a slight language barrier at the same time. Some emojis have taken on second meanings, thanks to modern trends and pop culture. A couple of these examples would be found with the skull emoji, the baseball cap emoji, and a few of the food related ones. The skull emoji is still used for subjects about death, but it has now grown to be used a reaction to things. Specifically, a reaction to when something shocks you in a negative way. The baseball cap now replaces the word "lie" in social media posts and comments. A select few of the food related ones have taken on a sexual connotation. 

    The main reason for the success of the emoji comes from its convenience and adaptability. They can enhance your posts, save space with their expressions, and even take on new meanings as time goes on. All of this while having a friendly art style to them makes it approachable to nearly everyone. 

Blog 7 Lens of Diffusion: Cassette Tapes

    Before the creation of the cassette tape, the main method of recording audio was vinyl or the reel to reel. Vinyl was mainly used to record music albums though, and the hardware to play them could be expensive too. Vinyl also wasn't very portable due to its size and durability. As for the reel to reel, it used audio tape to record its sound on two discs. The discs and machine to record the audio were bulky and complicated to use. This led to them only being used by radio stations, hobbyists, and generally professionals. This left the average consumer to be left without any recording devices of their own. 

    That was until 1963, when Lou Ottens created the cassette tape. He had initially wanted this new technology to be a more convenient way for people to record themselves. He also had the notion that cassette tapes would be used to teach language and speech exclusively. These pioneers did see success during the experimental phase of the cassette tape. 

    The uptake started when other consumers realized how easy it was to record any type of audio. Many of these early pioneers were journalists, clergy, and law enforcement. The cassette tape made it easy to record personal logs, sermons, or interviews. As their popularity grew Phillips, the company that Lou had worked at, made it easy for the the early majority to expand upon the cassette's uses. They provided free licenses to any company that wanted to use the cassette technology. This led to the creation of Sony's Walkman, boom boxes, and the early voicemail recorders. The spread of applicational uses for cassettes cemented the build up for their success (https://legacybox.com/blogs/analog/history-of-the-cassette-tape).

    Late adopters most likely came in with how prevalent cassette's ad affected the music industry. Cassettes were an affordable way to spread music, so while popular artists had put their music on these tapes so did many new and unknown artists. Cassette's also allowed for the first playlists, called mixtapes, to be made. People would often trade their mixtapes with someone else. It was around this time where Cassette's entered the maturation phase too.

    By the mid to late 1980's, cassettes entered the stagnation phase (https://smurdy.medium.com/cassette-tape-technology-and-its-impacts-on-u-s-culture-c2c265d5765a). They had been a global success and most of the laggards seemed to either be audiophiles who saw cassettes as poor imitations of vinyl simply weren't interested in the technology (https://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/the-cassette-tape-revolution). By the late 1980's, cassettes entered the longtail due to the creation of CDs. CDs quickly began to replace them, especially in the western markets. Now cassette tapes have only a small fraction of the market they once dominated. They're still being used, but now they're seen as niche.

Blog Post 3

    One of the most important speech theories that I value is the Checking on Governmental Powers. Only we, the people, are the sole bulwark against any kind of tyrannous state from rising to power. It's a responsibility that was handed to us with the First Amendment and no one else. We have to have the power to elect the right officials and call them out when they do something wrong. Unfortunately, it seems this important role has gone more and more to the wayside of things. Part of this stems from a lack of universally trusted information sources. Many of the major news networks have lost credibility in the eyes of conservatives and independents (https://www.niskanencenter.org/how-mainstream-journalism-squandered-its-authority/). When half the country is skeptical of the nation's major reporting outlets, it can be difficult to enter a dialogue with your fellow Americans and address your concerns. 

    It also does not help that there is a plethora of non-credible news websites that misconstrue statements or tell blatant lies. The gradual decline of media literacy has thrown a huge wrench in the works for us policing the state. This new inability of ours has allowed branches of government to go unchecked for too long. A recent example of this would be how the government has illegally waged war. This can be found all throughout the war on terrorism. The United States Congress, unconstitutionally gave the reigns of war over to the executive branch when it should be in the legislative branch. This illegal transfer of power gives the executive branch the authority to deploy armed forces in countries that fell outside the original targeted countries. The courts also failed to reprimand the other branches for doing such a thing. This has allowed the government to run amuck in those countries and cause undue harm. In 2014, when the presidential administration reaffirmed its authority, finally it was met with outcry. The administration cited documents from 2001 and 2002 as their defense for their actions. These actions were the illegal detaining and treatment of alleged terrorist members. These types of arrests didn’t require warrants to be signed, which completely violates the Fourth Amendment. To add insult to injury, they also would not give a trial to those who were already illegally arrested, which also violates the Sixth Amendment.

    These illegal acts, committed by the federal government, went on for over a decade before there was enough of an uproar to address them. Situations like this arise when the people are disconnected from their duty of monitoring the government. Being unable to work together has allowed for a new era of corruption to infest our government and create new abuses in our system.

    There have also been other unaddressed forms of corruption, mainly insider trading. This has infested Congress to almost a comedic point. There are multiple different websites entirely dedicated to tracking the members of Congress's stock trades (https://www.barchart.com/investing-ideas/politician-insider-trading). One of the most prevalent offenders, Nancy Pelosi, has never faced any kind of real repercussions for her actions. Yet, her activities are near common knowledge in America. How have we, as citizens who can regulate the system, allowed this criminal to get away with this blatant offense.

Blog 7 Digital Privacy

 

• How do these issues affect you? You friends and family?

The lack of privacy in the online world has become more and more apparent over time. Targeted ads, data mining, lack of rules, and shady terms of service are just some of the issues that have arisen for consumers. Both companies and individuals can access your private information. This information can range from pictures posted on your social media page to know where you live and go to. Another group that has access to this information is the government. All of these groups can use this information to send you targeted ads, stalk you, or perpetrate other nefarious activities against you. The government especially can do some shady stuff with your information. Recently police cars have begun to be outfitted with license plate cameras. This is meant to be used to keep an eye out for cars involved with criminal activities. But this same technology has been used to create a watchlist of license plates. The NYPD created one such watchlist for Mosque goers. The thought that the government is watching you for your religious beliefs is heinous. Another heinous thought is that companies can use the data they have on you, and sell it to others or even government bodies. Anything you or your friends post or agree to has hidden consequences that can affect your life in a big way.

• What should the government be doing about these issues?

I think one of the first things the government should do to combat this lack of privacy is to force companies to make a more layman's version of their terms of service. I am not entirely sure how they could achieve it, maybe make it at an eighth grade reading level. The next thing they should do is make it harder for themselves to have access to online data. This especially includes the tracking of phone calls and license plates. One of the last things they should figure out is how to handle cases of/similar to revenge porn. No one government should police the internet, but there has to be a small amount of moderation on it.

• What can we do to protect ourselves from invasions of our privacy?

I think there are three ways you can protect your own privacy. The most difficult of these would probably be reading the TOS (terms of service) for all the apps and media platforms you are a part of. Unfortunately, at the moment, you need to be able to understand all the legal and technical jargon stuffed in the TOS. A more approachable method is to simply limit how much you post on social media platforms, and watch for cookies on the websites you go to. The last piece of advice I can offer is to get a reliable VPN. They can encrypt your data and make it harder for any type of cyber threat to get your data.

Blog 2 Supreme Court Videos

• What did you learn about the Supreme Court that you didn't already know?

Something new I learned about the Supreme Court was how long it takes them to decide which cases they will take. They take weeks to release their "opinions" on the cases they are given. After that, they will hand out copies to the reporters who will write articles in a matter of minutes or hours. The "opinions" they have been given are also incredibly long. They range from around ten pages to as many as eighty. The Justices really take their time and are thorough in their rulings, because they have to be. They represent the highest level of justice available in our country, so they can't do anything haphazardly.

• What is the most important takeaway point about the Supreme Court?

  I think my biggest takeaway, is how meticulous the Supreme Court is as a system. The Court has a thorough chain of communication to it. It has a number of court clerks who help read over the case files, do research for the "opinions", and generally make it possible for the Justices to carry out their duties. Without these clerks, the Justices would be swamped with thousands of case files that they'd have to comb through. Instead, they only have to go through about a hundred a week because the clerks do a preliminary elimination of the cases they receive.

• What was the most surprising thing you learned?

The most surprising thing that I learned about was that Justices aren't allowed to bring forward cases. It made sense when I learned about it, but I thought that was something they could do. The video puts it best by saying that they have to address what the country brought to them. 

• How did the video change the way you thought of the Supreme Court?

This video managed to humanize the Supreme Court affecting how I view them. I have only had a surface level of knowledge about this branch of the government. Being able to hear about the process of this branch and the thought processes of the Justices really grounded my views about them.