Desiree's

I’m sure many of you would be interested in these links:

28 Ways to Make Money with Your Website

How To Get Your Website Known On Google

This is an interesting article in the New York Times. It discusses society’s views of subscription purchases vs. other retail spending.

Introduction

You’re cooking some apples and reach for the cinnamon. You mean to shake out a pinch, but a tablespoon or two falls into the pot. “Undo undo!!!” you think to yourself. Sadly, in the three-dimensional world, there is no “Control Z” option. Your apples are ruined and you can’t help but chastising yourself for momentarily attempting to use a computer command on your cooking.

Save to Disk

In an interview with Wired Magazine, author Nicholas Carr discusses what he considers to be a frightening vision of the future:

The scariest thing about Stanley Kubrick’s vision wasn’t that computers started to act like people but that people had started to act like computers. We’re beginning to process information as if we’re nodes; it’s all about the speed of locating and reading data. We’re transferring our intelligence into the machine, and the machine is transferring its way of thinking into us.

Lifelogging is a way in which computers are storing all events in a person’s life, acting like a brain and relieving the human of the need to remember events from his own life. Microsoft researcher Gordon Bell took up the experiment of lifelogging and wears a camera around his neck at all times. This camera documents all events of each day.

Humans are not meant to remember every experience of their lives. No one knows the psychological impact of having such a log of life events. Technology writer Clive Thompson describes the concept as a kind of nightmare. It’s hard enough to forget painful or embarrassing memories without them being permanently documented.
I can imagine losing a loved one, going back and seeing a conversation I had with that person where I made him angry or sad and feeling incredibly guilty about having caused pain to this person. Our own memories supply us with enough saddness, regret, and humiliation. We do not need to supplement these memories with documentary evidence of our mistakes.

Smart Mobs

In his book, Smart Mobs, Howard Rheingold describes the youth culture’s dependence on technology and how they form cliques in which they communicate with their mobile devices. He quotes a graduate student named Kamide, who discussed the fact that kids don’t mind when their friends are late for a social gathering, “Today’s taboo is to forget your keitai or let your battery die.” The fact that he refers to the phone’s battery as “your battery,” implies that the phone is a vital part of the person. If it were to die, the person would in a sense die as well, as he would be incommunicado from the rest of the group, and therefore, cease to exist.

The world’s youth are becoming less autonomous and more automaton as their dependence on PDA’s grows. They are “smart” in the sense that they have the cumulative knowledge of the Internet at their fingertips wherever they go. Without their battery charged, however, they are ignorant, helpless, and alone.

The Fabulous Laboratory

In the past, there was a lot of time between conceptualizing a product and the final product. This is not the case with the “fab lab.” Creator Neil Gershenfeld describes his invention:

‘Fab lab’ can mean a lab for fabrication, or simply a fabulous laboratory. Just as a minicomputer combined components–the processor, the tape drive, the keypunch, and so forth–that were originally housed in separate cabinets, a fab lab is a collection of commercially available machines and parts linked by software and processes we developed for making things.

Just like CafePress gives its users the tools to publish anything from a T-shirt to a novel, the “fab labs” give their users the opportunity to physically create products that are totally personalized to the creator’s wants and needs. If you decide that you need to scream into a bag silently and then release your recorded scream into the air, you can do as Gershenfeld’s student did and create such a device. Or if you want to allow your parrot to communicate over the internet, you can use the fab lab to create a device that enables her to do so. Most people would find these inventions to be useless, but to their inventor’s they are the stuff that dreams are made of.

The popularity of the “fab labs” has caused them to spring up all over the world. If this laboratory were to become as pervasive as a library or post office, practically every single person would become an inventor. The “fab lab” would actually make people less like computers and more human because it would allow people to create in the way that only humans are capable.

Conclusion

Technology is changing the way that humans think about their lives, their friends, and their possibilities. In some ways, people are giving over functions of the human brain to computers. They allow computers to store their long-term memories; they rely on the collective knowledge of the Internet to provide them with necessary information that would otherwise need to be memorized; they replace a friendly smile with the chime of a PDA to open conversations.

In other ways, technology is helping to stimulate the human brain. Creative outlets such as the “fab labs” and CafePress encourage humans to explore the god-like function of creation. Individuals can use these outlets to create items that are so personalized that they may not appeal to anyone else in the world. The ability to create an item that reflects solely on the personality of a single individual is vastly appealing and will clearly become a major part of the future of human expression.

Maaa maaa maaa maa Max Headroom

Looking at past predictions of the future, they seem more like a commentary on the times when they were written than any serious prognostication. The future of Back to the Future Part II is ten times more 80’sish than the 80’s ever were. [Max Headroom was about 1,000 times more 80'sish.] Other, more serious attempts at predicting the future have been correct on some major points. 1984 did correctly predict that surveillance would increase as the 20th Century progressed.

In my predictions of the future, I can only do what all other prognosticators do, look at the trends of the 00’s and imagine them continuing unabated into the 10’s and beyond.

I imagine that people will have those cool computer contact lenses that University of Washington researchers are developing. We’d all be cyborgs with computers sitting on our corneas and we wouldn’t need to remember a thing because all of the information would be right in front of our eyes. The mind will lose some of its perspicacity and we will be forced to constantly think like a computer in order to function properly.

A combination of paranoia about school shootings and convenience would have all students taking internet courses from home. Children would grow up and spend their entire lives communicating with friends from across the globe whom they never actually “meet.” Courtship will be conducted primarily online and couple would only meet in person at the altar.

Okay, those are my bold predictions for the future. I’m sure things will totally happen like that.

Annunciation, National Gallery of Art.

The intent of my Jan van Eyke website is to inform and entertain as many visitors as possible. This in and of itself is not a legal or ethical dilemma, but I must ensure that I have thought through all possible such issues before proceeding with the project.

The issue of copyright was recently raised in conjunction with my project. Most countries’ copyright laws state that a work belongs to its creator and his named heirs for 50-70 years after he is dead. No country extends the copyright to the date of Jan van Eyke’s death–more than 500 years ago. Therefore, his paintings are in the public domain. I still intend to list all of the galleries who own the paintings. If not for any moral reason, at least to inform the public where they can see these works in person. Of course, I can’t scan the paintings on my computer’s scanner. I have to use photographs of the paintings. Images on Wikipedia are provided free of copyright (the individuals posting them must attest to that), therefore, I can use these images on my website.

There are ethical concerns with altering the images that van Eyke has so painstakingly rendered. For example, the section I have envisioned where the user is able to put his face and his beloved’s face on van Eyke’s Arnolfini Marriage Portrait. Maybe this isn’t in the best possible taste, but I don’t feel that this is unethical because van Eyke’s feelings cannot be hurt by this whimsicality. I also don’t believe that this feature would damage his reputation in any way. Marcel Duchamp did not see any problem in drawing a mustache on a postcard of the Mona Lisa and this act of vandalism did not lesson Leonardo’s reputation one bit. There are laws that prohibit the alteration of a work of art by a living artist, but clearly that does not apply here.

According to Sara Baase in her book Gift of Fire: Social, Legal, and Ethical Issues in Computing, it is ethical to “Include users…in the design and testing stages to provide safe and useful systems.” Therefore, I plan to ask for input in every stage of design and have several potential users test the usefulness of my website before its official “launch.” I don’t anticipate anything unsafe about my website.

“An unjust law is itself a species of violence. Arrest for its breach is more so.”
-Mahatma Gandhi

Technology in the Twenty-First Century is advancing at an extremely rapid rate. The Law of Accelerating Returns predicts that history will increase exponentially. According to futurist Ray Kurzweil, “we won’t experience 100 years of progress in the 21st century–it will be more like 20,000 years of progress (at today’s rate).” In direct contrast to this rapid change is the law, which stagnates, festers and alters only after decades of protests or copious bribes. Currently, there is a crisis in the laws regarding new technology.

Information amassing companies take advantage of antiquated laws that allow them to gather huge stores of delicate information about average citizens and do little to protect it from thieves. Corporations are plotting to change the laws to their advantage: exploiting the free-expression available to the vast majority through the Internet; attempting to make the web a one-way medium like television and radio. Meanwhile, copyright laws that have been around for hundreds of years are widely ignored by the younger generations of Americans. It has come to the point where so many people are breaking the laws that there doesn’t seem to be a point to having laws at all.

Net Neutrality

Internet providers imagine untapped resources in profitability. They see the public’s free and open exchange of information as too much freedom and far too gratis. Companies like AT&T, Comcast, and Verizon hope to one day control who may upload and download content on the web. Net neutrality is the opposition to this kind of control on use of the Internet. This dictum proclaims that users should be free to connect to the Internet at the speed that they have purchased with no impediments imposed against them.

Recent support of net neutrality by the FCC paints an optimistic picture of the future of Internet communications. Immediate Republican backlash to the announced proposal of pro-net neutrality rules was quickly retracted. Even if Internet providers had their way and were allowed to implement their diabolical plan, competitors would spring up to offer Internet services as they currently exist. In his speech at Ted, Larry Lessig discusses the rivalry between music licensing companies BMI and ASCAP in the 1930’s and 40’s. BMI was willing to provide public domain recordings and ASCAP was not. ASCAP’s business was harmed by this practice and they were forced to do the same as their competitor. In this way, Internet service providers would eventually be forced to provide net neutral service if they attempted to do otherwise.

That’s How the Tracking Cookie Crumbles

More and more companies are taking advantage of web traffic to gather information about their customers. As this New York Times article discusses, the information gathered allows for ad placement. These ads are geared so closely to the consumers wants that sales are almost insured. Companies insure their customers that sensitive information will not be shared, but at the same time, this information is under constant threat from thieves. It only takes a stolen laptop to compromise information about hundreds of thousands of people.

A story from CNBC’s Big Brother, Big Business that was particularly shocking was that a team of thieves paid consumer data company Acxiom for private consumer data by posing as a legitimate business. This and thousands of other cases of massive consumer data theft have left the public panicked.

Laws are needed either to regulate the gathering of privileged information or to prohibit it. Instead of the government passing laws that will protect the public, private companies are now make money out of the fear of “identity theft” (otherwise known as theft). They offer protection plans to the panic-stricken public. These plans cost hundreds of dollars a year and provide coverage that is otherwise available for free. Anyone with a platinum credit card is not required to pay fraudulent charges. Those with regular cards are obliged to pay $50 at most.

Arrrr Piracy!

There is no way of knowing how much revenue is lost to the entertainment industry by illegal downloading of music, movies, video games, television shows, and even books. This figure cannot be estimated because no one knows if those who illegally download these products would otherwise have purchased them. When I was a teenager, I would spend all of my pocket money on CD’s. Today, kids download music illegally. In the film, Steal This Film II, one English child states proudly, “I have never paid for music in my life.”

This film tells the history of mass communication from the printing press up to Internet piracy. Much of the point of the film is actually the process by which it is distributed. Viewers must download the film using file-sharing software. The film is copyrighted and those who wish to watch it must, in effect, steal it.

Internet piracy is so prevalent that 95% of all music downloads are illegal. Individuals are prosecuted for copyright infringement, but this does not act as a deterrent to the millions of people who regularly upload and download copyrighted materials. Many of those convicted of felony copyright infringement did not make any money on their crime, nor did they have any intent to do so. It isn’t fair or right to persecute people for illegal downloading when it is so ingrained is society. As discussed in Steal this Film II, film sharing is simply a continuation of the free and open exchange of materials endemic to cyberspace.

Conclusion

Current laws do not address the reality of our society. It is impossible to enforce laws that are in opposition to social morés. Laws need to be created that protect society from predatory information thieves. The government must explicitly extend the First Amendment to include freely exchanging information over the Internet: free from restrictions in bandwidth, and free from prosecution for innocently downloading something uploaded by someone else. Only those who profit from piracy should be criminally charge. Lawmakers need to understand the issues surrounding the Internet and address the problems that are faced before they multiply.

Dogfish60 attempts to explain now the technology challenged “got that way.” It seems that she has oversimplified issues at hand. To assume that anyone born into a nurturing family environment, presumably in the middle class, will be computer literate seems like a stretch.

Botox maker Allergan seeks to lift U.S. ban on marketing unapproved uses — latimes.com.

Portrait of a Man in a Turban possibly a self-portrait (1433)

Currently, those interested in Jan van Eyke have bland encyclopedic websites to teach them about the great artist’s works and life. Not surprisingly, the first site to come up in a search of van Eyke is Wikipedia.

I believe that my target audience’s needs are not met. There is no interactive site where those young and old can learn about van Eyke and have fun at the same time.

The interactive elements on my page will accomplish just that. Users will be able to view flash animations, peruse an interactive time-line, learn about techniques, perhaps even put their own face on a van Eyke painting.

I will provide plenty of historical information on the imagery presented in the paintings and on what makes van Eyke one of history’s greatest artists. I believe that this site will serve as a valuable introduction to art and art history for the uninitiated. Presenting this in a fun and colorful manner will allow this information to be absorbed easily by those who may not have a strong art background.