Well informed 2.0 Privacy

What is Privacy?

Does privacy even exist in the world today? I find it hard to agree with someone who claims we have lots of privacy even when we are on the internet. I mean sure you can have your privacy out in nature when you hike into the mountains 50 miles away from the nearest town. But does that privacy exist online or in social media? i suggest that it does not exist but I will take a look at a few new ideas and try to figure out where i really stand on the subject of privacy.

I want to start out with this URL and i want you to click into it and look through the different scenarios that it brings up. Then i will choose a few scenarios and disect them with what i agree with and also disagree with.

http://www.pewinternet.org/interactives/privacy-scenarios/


Office surveillance cameras

The first one that appears on the list is this example of surveillance cameras in the office.

54 percent say this is acceptable while 24 percent of people say it is unacceptable and 21 percent say it depends. Now me personally I hate the category "IT DEPENDS" no shit it depends! If you aren't asking yourself what if about every question in life you are simply floating along. Quit being a floater and take control. So what i am going to do is every it depends vote will go half to acceptable and the other half to non acceptable. Office cams now sit at 65 say yes and 35 say no to the idea. What ideas do i agree with and disagree with from both sides. Well first of all on the yes to cameras being placed in the office i am going to side with this comment, (“[It is OK with me] as long it involves all departments and employees, not just a particular group.”) This one to me is a no brainer, and it is super simple to share. If you want to film one part of the business you should want to film everyone involved. No reason someone should have to go to work worrying about being filmed every second of the day and have others who aren't being filmed in the same building. EQUALITY
As for some arguments against the case, “Because some employers are very abusive of their power to check on you.” This could cause more drama then good when someone in power wants to pick on someone who is disliked they could---->“Because the company could save a lot of different feeds and then use them all at once to make a person look bad so they could just terminate them.” use all of the video compiled over a month to make a person look lazy and irresponsible and get them fired. We have to be very careful when it comes to who has the power and just how far we are going with the power.



Smart Thermostats



Smart thermostat The next topic that really drew my attention was that of the smart thermostat. When you ask someone where they feel the most security/privacy i think we could all agree that at home we feel the most secure and private. But this new thermostat is in a way taking that privacy from you and making your home a little less private. Imagine with me if you will waking up each morning and walking down into the kitchen but before entering the kitchen going over to the thermostat and bumping it up a few degrees. Now it doesn't take long to walk over and turn the heat on but now imagine your thermostat gaining information over the first weeks of installing it in your house. Now wake up walk down stairs and as you walk into the kitchen you notice that it is already at the desired temperature for your morning coffee or cereal. convienent or creepy? For me i find this to be more along the lines of creepy. What happens if this information gets into the wrong hands. They begin to notice all of your habits and they no longer have to worry about you mixing it up because you and your house have now told them exactly when you wake up, what rooms you go to and even how warm you want all of these rooms. It will even turn off all the heat and air conditioning while you are away at work. Wont that be so convienent and save you so much money?? Oh yeah but that info could also get into the wrong hands and that is basically a readers digest version of "hey we are gone from 8:30-4:30 everyday so come and take what ever you want. Are you still stoked about your house recording all of this info? I didn't think so. Here is what some of the commenters had to say on the subject,

“It would depend more precisely on the details of the company’s privacy statement. What can they use the collected information for? And do they share it with third parties? If they can use the information for anything but controlling my house’s HVAC [heating, ventilation and air conditioning], I would be very hesitant to participate.” Can you blame them? I agree 100 percent, no I do not want my house to be monitored clear down to every room and everything i do inside of my house. That is one place i hope to keep private. Why would anyone want their information shared with third parties? Hey everyone here is my house and all the information you need to break in and do it while we aren't home. In fact if you break in quick enough after we leave you will probably be in the warmth because my smart thermostat hasn't shut off just yet....Please people wake up!
Multiple people agreed to use the Thermostat only if they were being paid monthly for having it in their house holds. I think the main argument comes down to who are the third parties that will receive this data and what data will be passed along. “All of this stuff is way too invasive of my personal space! It’s like they all want to be in control of everyone at all times. Know what we are doing etc. No thank you.” This was one of my favorite quotes from the section just because it is finally someone standing up for themselves. Don't let someone else control what you do, just do you in the most private way possible... What ever that may be.

If you think you have privacy just go to google and enter your name into the search bar and hit go. Then you will be awakened to just how private your information actually isn't.

Learning 2.0
    My main thoughts today come on the teaching side of the learning spectrum. Does America under pay their teachers? According to my mother yes they do, that is all i have heard for the last 22 years of my life. Growing up in a household where your mom is a teacher, your uncle is a teacher and your grandpa was a teacher and principal you hear a lot about faculty meetings, grading, parents yelling at teachers ect.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jack-jennings/teacher-pay-us-ranks-22nd_b_940814.html
    in this article it explains that the US ranks 22 out of 27 countries when it comes to paying their teachers. One thing i really enjoyed about this web page was the quote from U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan which said, "Money is never the reason why people enter teaching, but it is the reason some people do not enter teaching, or leave as they start to think about beginning a family or buying a home. Today, too often the heart-breaking reality is that a good teacher witha decade of classroom experience is hard-pressed to raise a family on a teacher's salary." 

This is from 2012 but i don't imagine we have climbe to much on the scale mainly because i feel that education is so greatly over looked in our country because the people who are making the most money are the ones playing sports or recording albums. So everyone is aspiring to be either an athlete or the next rap artist.

This is the problem with the learning system now days. Kids have been given everything and they don't have to work for anything anymore. If we want the learning system to start to climb back up and get to the level of other countries we need to change a few things. The first thing we need to change is the way we pay teachers. I am not saying all teachers deserve more money but i am saying all teachers deserve a chance to earn more money by letting them prove their teaching abilities with state or even nation wide tests in each subject they teach. At the end of the year make the kids take these tests and actually make it count towards their grades so they are expected to try hard on these tests and lets see how the teachers begin to teach and put forth more effort. The second thing is explained in the picture above. Parents need to understand the problem is coming from inside their own homes not anywhere else. Parents encourage your children to excel don't blame the teachers for your child's behavior if you don't teach them at home they probably don't pay attention or give respect in the classroom any ways.
I close this rant on teachers not being paid enough and students being to highly praised and babied now days. Grow up and take responsibility for your actions. Mom and dad wont be going in to work and yelling at your boss when he fires you for being lazy. Don't start bad habits in school because they wont go away.
    Some of the top reasons families choose to home school is simply because they have the control. I have compiled a list that is copied from the website
http://www.nheri.org/research/research-facts-on-homeschooling.html

·         customize or individualize the curriculum and learning environment for each child,

·         accomplish more academically than in schools,

·         use pedagogical approaches other than those typical in institutional schools,

·         enhance family relationships between children and parents and among siblings,

·         provide guided and reasoned social interactions with youthful peers and adults,

·         provide a safer environment for children and youth, because of physical violence, drugs and alcohol, psychological abuse, racism, and improper and unhealthy sexuality associated with institutional schools, and

·         teach and impart a particular set of values, beliefs, and worldview to children and youth.

 When looking at the test results, homeschool students on average do much better than kids in public schools. They score in the 15-30 percentile higher than those kids in the public schools. The website also says that the home-educated students score higher on ACT and the SAT on average.

Stats don't lie! Public schools stick to the system to much and homeschool and private schools are more committed to sending kids towards success rather than getting them out of school and on to the next kids.

This to me is why public school systems don't work! They don't focus on each individual and they don't adjust their teachings. For example, I graduated from High School in 2008, yes a public high school, now 6 years later my sister is taking the same class as a Junior in high school from the same teacher and nothing has changed in the class right down to the same exact syllabus. Times have changed and teachers have to except and adapt their teachings.

ON the MEDIA

On the media

            Detecting Terrorism Online Raises Legal Questions.

What if tech companies were able to create something that could crawl along the public lines of the Internet with key words and try to figure out what is the company allowed to collect? What warrants these intents and how can it be used against the person who was caught with these codes.

            One opinion in this segment was very optimistic and jumped to the users side and said it is kind of an innocent until proven guilty type of thing. And the other side claims that the government is already doing this type of thing and we aren’t waiting for someone to create this program but that it already exists. They will do everything they can to try and protect their country and I don’t feel like it is a bad thing. The technologies and companies were very open to this idea and were willing to work with the government if they so chose to do so.

            How do we make things radical, and worth enough to raise attention for someone to take action? The Many Facets of Radicalization says that there is nothing wrong with thinking radically or acting radical. Many people may support the idea of ISIS but that is where they stop, they don’t act upon it or anything about it but they are not considered terrorists according to the speaker on the subject. He also claims that many people find themselves involved in the terrorist’s movements solely because of their surroundings, friends, or family. He claims we explore more than we research… When asked about the terrorism detector. He says it would be extraordinarily valuable especially because of the deep online use of the jihads. Assumptions are not bought that people are highly influenced by what they watch or play.

            I am kind of torn by this discussion that took place on the media this week mainly because I am probably over thinking it. Here is a brief explanation of my thoughts on why or why not it would be successful, and I would love to hear what you think. Successful reasoning first: the web is so broad these days that you can learn how to do anything you want just by typing it into a search engine and pressing enter. One reason I believe it would be successful is because with this program you can see exactly what someone is looking up on the daily basis. If people start searching how to build bombs, or how to hot wire certain cars and how much of this explosive is needed to knock down a building it becomes very radical that maybe this person is planning some sort of terrorist attack. I think it would be wise to take them in for questioning absolutely. The down falls however of this program would be all the wild goose hunts you go on searching and trying to find the people who supposedly are searching these things. More often than not I believe you would come up empty. But even if you only saved one life or one building, would it not be worth it?

            I believe that it would be very helpful even if it only stopped one or two people who had terroristic mannerisms. Interesting points of view from both sides of the story.

RACISM!! TAKE A LOOK AT THIS VIDEO
https://www.facebook.com/PrinceEa/videos/10154108925139769/
Something i came across on Facebook that i thought was worth the watch on Racism. I would love to hear what you think about it.

Facebook Personas:

Mary 41, Mary is a mother of 4 kids from ages 13-7 who works full time and doesn't have the time on her own to coach and help her children develop in the sport of basketball like she would like them to. Her kids love basketball but she is always so busy it is hard to find a gym that will take her kids and allow her to leave and run errands while the kids play and improve on their skills without her having to be present providing adult supervision.

Jameson 17, plays high school basketball for his local high school but has recently found that if he wishes to continue playing the sport he loves he needs to dedicate more time and make it a passion. He struggles to push himself to get better and thinks he would do better in a group environment where other kids would be pushing themselves to get better at the same time they improve individual skills.

George 47, Has been coaching his son and sons friends for the past 3 years but doesn't have the time to keep running practices for them during the week. He wants to still have the ability to coach his son and his sons friends but is only able to find time once a week to coach them, he is looking for someone or somewhere to take his kids and help them develop while he continues doing what he needs to durning the week.

What do parents want their kids to do if they sign them up? (improve, learn, progress)
What does our gym offer that others might not? (Passionate coaches? Do they want to be there or are they doing it for the money?)

Who is the audience? The audience is extremely broad, anyone with children from 1st grade to 11th grade who want their kids improving basketball skills.

Our strategy is simple at the House of Hoops. We are looking to create winners, not only on the court but also off of it. We focus on each kid individually and also look at them in groups to help each player and team succeed. Our coaches want to win as badly as anyone but at the same time we realize that at this point in kids careers it is just as important if not more important that the kids learn to love the game of basketball and not get caught up in winning and losing.

This is the facebook page i have chosen to take over and i will be continuing to run it for the remainder of the semester and maybe even into the summer.       https://www.facebook.com/uthouseofhoops/

My main focus is going to be to encourage players and parents to tell their friends about the gym and eventually have room and time for more classes to help these younger basketball players develop their game.  I will also be posting a player of the week award each week, teams schedules ( to help take phone calls away from our head coach every single week when the games for our 25 teams change two nights before the games are to be played), and a section that will be called coaches corner. It is basically going to be advice from our coaches in the gym and the community that will let kids know what kind of things coaches look for in young developing athletes if they are going to recruit them or not. This may also be bounced around with the drill of the week which will be a video clip submitted of a few short drills kids can do at their houses to improve ball handling and control.

Racism 2.0

To start my discussion I want to be clear that racism isn’t only against African Americans. However in the world we live in today it would appear that way. From the riots in Fergusson to all of the stories we hear of white cops shooting black people. The reason it exists is because we continue to talk and make a big deal out of the skin color rather than the human being as a person. But don’t get me wrong, we have come along ways since the days of slavery and real racism where we had bathrooms for white people and colored people. I am glad to have had the experiences in life I have had with people from other races. I myself have been racially profiled as well. Think about the last time you were in a basketball gym watching a pickup basketball game. Captains are picking their sides for the first games of the evening, and I can’t blame them for overlooking me, I am an out of shape white boy who barely stands at 6’ tall. Of course I am going to take the more in shape African American standing next to me before I would ever choose myself. Studies and life show that African Americans are dominating the Professional sport of basketball, so why would you take a chance on someone who doesn’t have the appearance of a basketball player if you have never seen them play. Point and case is that you wouldn’t.(racial profiling, not exactly racist) (( I KNOW)) Racism exists and it exists everywhere. After 9/11 every time you found your self in an airport and you saw someone who had the appearance of an Arab, you caught yourself thinking and wondering. If you didn’t then good for you but it is a thought that everyone feared for quite awhile.  I don’t believe racism is ever going to go away, because people don’t stop talking about it. Things don’t disappear until people stop talking about them. And the world we live in now, just doesn’t allow for people to set aside race and look at each other as equals.

MY POSITION

I am a very open person, some of my very best friends are not white. In college my roommate was African American, I still consider him to be one of my very best friends. I am completely against any kind of racism whether it be hiring the help of Mexicans and paying them dirt cheap or being just ignorant and refusing to serve an African American at a restaurant. Sadly enough I have seen both of these situations in my life time. I am a landscaper in the summers and we have a Mexican who works with us named Navo and his other employer pays him dirt for the tremendous work he does. I still remember the first day he worked with me when I paid him at the end of the day he looked at me with the biggest eyes I have ever seen and said “I think you give me too much” and is said no I gave you what I give everyone who I hire. He looked at me and stared in disbelief. He had never been paid a fare amount in all of the jobs he had ever worked in the US. Made me sad but also grateful for the ability to look at ones soul and person rather than just looking at their color.