Jersycity's Weblog

Google and Privacy

jersycity — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 23:50:18 +0000

Throughout this semester we have been learning and experimenting with different search engines. The search engines that we have explored so far are Google Scholar, Google News, Lexis Nexis, and Academic Search Premier. It is good to have such a variety of options to conduct searches and find what you are looking for. Many times what we cannot find in one search engine, we can probably find in another. Also each search engine presents their information differently, some might present it in chronological order, and some might have features that let you choose the format of what you are looking for, such as, a newspaper article or magazine.

For this assignment our job is to select a search engine that we have explored and search for “Google and Privacy”. For this assignment I decided to use one of Google’s own search engines which is Google News. To tell you the truth I had no idea this search engine even existed up until this semester, I basically conducted all my searches on Google.com. After I experimented with Google News I immediately fell in love with it. It is definitely one of the better search engines out there and I really like the way they present the information and all the features that it includes. For this reason I decided to choose Google News to conduct my search on “Google and Privacy”.

So when I visited the website news.google.com I typed “Google and privacy” in the search box. I received in return approximately one thousand eight hundred hits. After looking through the first few pages I did not find any articles that interest me so decided to change the keywords. This time in the search box I typed the keywords “Google and privacy concerns”. This time I found an interesting article titled “Is Google Watching You?” It is a short article but very informative. The article informed me about a Google project called “Street Views”. Street Views is basically a website that lets you view neighborhoods and even specific houses. This project is taking place in New Zealand and the way that they do it seems kind of creepy. A car rolls around the neighborhood with cameras attached to it and just takes pictures of everything. Next Google downloads those images to their website for the whole world to look at. Julie Owen had her home photographed with her son standing in front of it and expressed her concerns about it. She says “People have a right to be able to do what they want in their front yard without expecting to end up on Google, the internet and being able to be seen by the whole world”. I agree with her because I consider that to be an invasion of privacy and I definitely do not want my home to be visible by everyone on the Internet.

This article was published on December 1, 2008 by 3news.co.nz which is a news site in New Zealand. I think that the point of view of the article is that it considers “Street Views” to be a bad idea. It is invading people’s privacy and raising many concerns for the residents. I think that there should be a limit to this and Google should only be able to photograph the houses of residents that want to participate in the project.

The Future Web

jersycity — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 02:34:59 +0000

So the big question is what will online searching be like in the future? As we all know technology is advancing and getting better every minute of every day. There is always some genius out there who invents new ways in which we can do things faster and easier; sometimes too easy. Ten years from now there will be such a big improvement in the way we search online. I really had to sit down and think outside the realm of the technologies that we currently had. After all this is how those geniuses invent new things, they just sit down and think about ways to make things better. Ten years from now online searching will be done for us automatically. All we have to do is sit down in front of our computer got to the search engine that we will like to search, and strap on a couple of sensors to our temples. These sensors will then read our minds and search exactly what we were thinking about. Now that is something that I cannot wait for. Somebody out there needs to hurry up and make this happen not just for me but for every other person out there. Who wouldn’t love such a device that can read your mind and basically do all the work for you? When reading the article written by Cade Metz I came across many technologies that are being worked on to help improve online searches. I was actually quite surprised to read about wonderful technologies being invented by different companies. Metz writes “You won’t search for media with keywords in the future- you’ll search for media with media. To find an image, you’ll supply another image. To find a song, you’ll supply another song” (5). This is something that I am definitely looking forward to. Many times I try searching for images but I cannot get exactly what I am looking for, and sometimes I get presented with things that have nothing to o with my keywords. For me to supply an image, like a photo, and get hits for images that resemble that photo is something that will be very useful to me and especially for those who are into graphic designing. Metz also mentioned the “Pervasive Web “, which is everywhere. He writes “At the MIT Media Lab, Mac is toying with the idea of Web-connected bathroom mirrors. As you brush your teeth in the morning, there’s the latest news” (3). When I read this statement I was just blown away. I even tried to imagine myself brushing my teeth and the mirror delivering the news to me or even game highlights; it was actually quite hilarious. If technologies such as this are being invented now I can wait to see what the future holds for online searching.

Getting Info.

jersycity — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 01:25:42 +0000

There are many different ways in which we can get information on the web. The web has become probably the most important thing in our lives. We can use the web to get information on everything that we need, from news about the economy to scores for your favorite teams. There happens to be a number of ways in which we can get the information we want. This week we explored three different ways in which we can obtain information on the web. The three formats that we explored are RSS feeds, blogs, and delicious, which is a website that helps bookmark one’s favorite websites. Prior to this assignment I had only had a brief experience with blogging, but other than that I had no idea about RSS feeds and delicious. I can recall myself visiting my favorite websites and somewhere around the homepage I always noticed a small orange colored icon but I had no idea what was its use until now. It turns out that the small orange colored icon is the icon to subscribe to an RSS feed. An RSS feed is an incredible feature that alerts you when topics that interest you are posted on your favorite website. Since I am a big sports fan I subscribed to an RSS feed at ESPN.com so that I can be alerted whenever new information has been posted about my favorite sport or even my favorite teams. This is definitely something that I will use again in the future. Every time that I visit a website that I enjoy I am going to be on the lookout for that RSS icon. It just makes things more convenient for me. This is something that can be very useful to me if I use it for my news websites. I can be alerted when the latest news about the economy arrive, or when something significant occurs somewhere around the world. Out of the three formats we explored this was definitely the easiest way for me to get information. The website delicious is nice because you can see websites that other people consider to be their favorite. The best thing about it is that it is all categorized by a topic, so all you have to do is search for a topic and it will present you with websites that people like that might also interest you. The format that I think I might not use again is blogging. Out of the three formats I found that it is the least useful to me. What can I say, I am just not a blogging type of person.

Copyright Is In Need of Change!

jersycity — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 21:17:13 +0000

Copyright law is supposed to protect the creator of an original work but many times this does not always happen. Everyone knows that the copyright law has many loopholes which lead to manipulation by whoever has money to fight the law to favor their side. I think that the copyright law definitely needs to be changed. It needs to be strengthened so that the manipulation can stop. It does not make sense that a law that is supposed to protect does so to a certain extent. The copyright law should be as strong and as powerful as every other law in the constitution. Every time laws have been manipulated and loopholes have been found the government has tried to strengthen those laws so that it does not lead to problems in the future. Unfortunately the same cannot be said for the copyright law. The government knows that the copyright law is weak and needs change but for some reason they continue to let problems arise. Many lawsuits of infringement and many headaches can be prevented if the time is taken out to find ways in which the copyright law can change for the better. One of the best examples of how weak the copyright law is, is that of online music sharing. For years now music has been distributed over the Internet illegally, the worst part is that it is being distributed for free. Musicians and recording artists have been seeing a decline in album sales and lawsuits have been coming from left to right. Copyright law has been manipulated in so many ways that every time there is a change to the law it does not seem to work. It is sad to say that after so many years of problems the proper steps to correct those problems have not been taken.

Google Book Search and Cuny+

jersycity — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 20:49:27 +0000

The two popular passages that I read were “I died for beauty…” which was found on page 20, and “Because I could not stop for death…” The reading experience was not too good for me. I just hate reading from a screen. Personally I much rather read from a paper than read from a computer screen. I just feel more comfortable having it in my hand than reading a digitized copy of it on a screen. After a couple of minutes of reading something on screen my eyes start to hurt and soon after that I get a headache. I usually try to blink a lot but that does not help, there’s no cure for it I guess. The main reason why I would rather read something on paper is for the simple fact that I am able to take notes which is something very important. I love to make notes and highlight important things in the reading; it is something that I got used to after my English102 course. You cannot take notes or highlight anything on a screen which is going to be a problem if the reading is long and you want to come back to something for quick reference. As far as Google Book Search and CUNY+, I feel that Google Book Search is more effective because it has a wide collection of books as opposed to CUNY+ which only has brief records and it only searches through the CUNY system. I really like the fact that Google Book Search allows you to preview books before purchasing them. It helps you decide if the book is going to be useful to you.

My News Habits

jersycity — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 18:15:16 +0000

There are many different methods people can use to get the news. Some people prefer to get the news from watching television, others prefer to pick up a newspaper, and some people prefer to get the news on the Internet. I am one of those people that like’s to keep up with the news by getting it from different medias. When it comes to the general news I like to watch the Fox 5 News channel. I really enjoy watching the way they deliver the news with such accuracy. The news correspondents do a really good job getting information and presenting it to the public. If I want to know what is going on with our economy then CNN and CNBC are my top news channels. When it comes to sports I prefer to use the Internet because I can get scores and highlights for all of my favorite teams. The website that I always visit and consider to be the best is www.espn.go.com. The only time that I pick up a newspaper is when I want to get the local news. The newspaper that I usually read is the New York Post. It is such a great thing to be able to get the news from different media’s. One media is not enough to get everything that you are looking for.

McCain Article

jersycity — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 13:07:25 +0000

Last night I read an article about presidential candidate John McCain titled “John McCain Launches Attacks on Barack Obama”. The site that this article came from is www.usnews.com. The publisher of the article is U.S. News and World Report. After reading the article it is clear that the intended audience is voters that are still undecided about whom they want to be the next President of the United States of America. The article bashes Obama’s character quite a bit by stating Obama has “poor judgment, lack of leadership, and few accomplishments”. This article was published on October 6, 2008 which makes it relevant. The idea that this article is trying to sell me is that McCain will make the better President out of the two. The article is fiercely attacking Obama which makes it biased and some of the truth will most likely be distorted. I found this article by conducting a search on Google with the keywords “John McCain News”. I then clicked on the first link, “John McCain Launches Attacks on Barack Obama”. The link took me to www.usnews.com.

Obama Article

jersycity — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 12:51:57 +0000

I recently read an article about Presidential candidate Barack Obama titled “Economy and Ground Game Alike Give Obama an Advantage in Ohio”. The site that the article came from is www.abcnews.go.com. The publisher of the article is ABC News Politics. After reading this article I think that the intended audience is voters interested in the polls. This article has a few percentages about the lead that Obama has over McCain in the presidential race. It also mentions that Obama’s campaign keeps in contact with thirty seven percent of the voters in Ohio. This article was written on October 6, 2008 which only makes it a day old. The idea that this article is trying to sell me is that Obama is more involved with the people thus inferring that he actually cares about what the people want. I found this article by conducting a search on Google using the keywords “Barack Obama News”. I then clicked on the link titled www.1stheadlines.com, and then I clicked on the first link titled “Economy Gives Obama Advantage in Ohio”.

Future Reading

jersycity — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 14:21:25 +0000

For quite a long time searching for literature meant that you had to get up and go to the library. Nowadays, you can find what you need by simply turning on your computer and conducting a search on Google or one of the many search engines out there. It seems that you can get pretty much anything you need online. I recently read an article titled “Future Reading” by Anthony Grafton in which he speaks of the future of digitizing and making available on the web all the literature ever written. Grafton’s main idea is to open the reader’s eyes and think about what the future of texts are; whether the web will completely take over and books as well as libraries will vanish or whether they will still be able to co-exist.

In this article Grafton writes of the new projects by Google. Google is currently working on a couple of projects which are Google Book Search and the Google Library Project. Google Book Search is an aim to try and make available on the web all of the texts that are not covered by copyright. The Google Library Project is trying to scan all the books that are in libraries which are participating with them in this project. Their ultimate goal is to digitize all of the pieces of literature and make them available on the web to make life just a little easier for the rest of us. But I wonder if it is going to be that easy?

Personally I think that it is going to be difficult to digitize all of the literary works. Grafton brings up a good point when he writes “A record of all history appears even more distant. If you were going to make such a record available, as the most utopian champions of digitization imagine, you would have to include both literary works and archival documents never meant for publication”(4). Grafton is implying that Google has an extremely tough job on their hands and turning their project into reality seems nearly impossible. One cannot imagine of containing all literary works let alone digitize them.

Digitizing all of the literary works is going to be a tough task in itself but if Google is able to make it happen then it will be a great accomplishment. Even if Google is able to pull it off with their projects I have a hard time believing that it is going to be the end for texts and libraries. Grafton writes “But these streams of data, rich as they are, will illuminate, rather than eliminate, books and prints and manuscripts that only the library can put in front of you”(5). I could not agree more with this comment. All of the information on the web is just opening the doors for us to know where to find what we need. People prefer to go to a library and have a hard copy in their hands instead of having to read a digitized copy on the web. The web is just the starting point to begin the search and the library is the destination which puts what we need in our hands.

The future for the Google projects seems uncertain and not everyone will agree on what will be the outcome. One thing is certain and that is that the web makes available literary works that people might have never come across if it were not digitized. Everyone begins their search on search engines like Google, so I can see why Google is working on these wonderful projects. If Google is able to accomplish their goal, then great, but if not I think they have done a good job so far and no one has the right to complain.

Get to know me!

jersycity — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 17:23:06 +0000

My name is Jersy Rodriguez and I am currently in my third semester here at LaGuardia. I am majoring in Computer Network Administration and Security. I love everything about LaGuardia. The people here are very nice and friendly. The teachers that I have taken courses with have been very helpful to me and I thank them for caring about my education. So far things have been going great for me academically. One reason why I chose to take the LRC103 online course is because I only need one liberal arts credit and it does not make sense for me to sit down in three credit course and make things harder on myself. Another reason why I chose to take this online course is because I want to learn as much as I can about Internet research. In college internet research is very important because many professors require you to do a research paper. Many times it can be very difficult and stressful finding useful information on the Internet. This is where this course comes in handy. I hope that at the end of this course I will be able to properly search for useful information and analyze and evaluate my findings. As far as other courses, I am currently taking Principles of Accounting, Computer Repair and Maintenance, and Windows Network OS.