Recent Changes

LAB10
deep packet inspection. how should it be handled? or, it shouldn't be done, then what instead?
Deep packet inspection is a very sensitive topic, and one that will nearly always garner controversy and debate. With the status quo, most service providers and governments are able to tap into personal accounts and monitor exactly what websites an individual has visited, what they have downloaded and the speed of their internet. While that clearly breaches privacy ethics in many ways, it is still beings practiced for "security" measures by the big guns.
One of the main points that many leftists and those that oppose DPI have been fighting for is net neutrality. The World Wide Web's inventor, Tim Burners Lee, has often spoke his concerns regarding this sensitive issue, and has been fighting to strongly impose net neutrality and have the web free of any sort of higher control. The main goal is to enhance sharing and user freedom on the web, which is also one of the main reasons why he uploaded the WWW for free. He truly believes that no price should be placed on sharing, and that users should be free to access and download what they care for. Any hindrance to these activities is similar to abdicating users from their human rights. Although he offers a very generous and supportive voice, where do we draw the line? obviously not all content shared on the web is of good content and substance. Subjects such as weapons, drugs and perverse pornography should all be restricted to some extent.
This is where I believe some sort of interference should be implemented. Some measures need to be drawn in order to prevent possible horrific scenarios, such as intercepting sensitive emails or messages sent online. I support relative inspection when the cases are sensitive and need to be stopped immediately. Heeding into web lines to control and manipulate traffic, however, is not something I would advocate. I do not believe such access and privileges should be controlled by bigger corporations, simply because it was given to us for free. Had the WWW been sold for a price, it would be understandable to charge access to it, but it was not. I suppose a fair law be passed regarding privacy acts, where monitoring would be ongoing but not in depth, just to ensure no in depth inspection is made. Certain key words can be set to receive "hits", which would then alert security to inspect the nature of the threat. Only then should action be taken.

In my personal opinion, I believe that Web 3.0 would actually entail a lot more "Personalization" than Web 2.0. This means that web experience will become more centered around the user's wants and preferences. Such features are already enabled through features such as RSS feeds, customized web pages such as "iGoogle", and enhancing media convergence by having it all funneled into on interface. Rockmelt is a perfect example of what a primitive Web 3.0 page could possibly look like. It basically connects all different types of social media a user is registered to, and displays any updates or tweets on the user's page as soon as it happens. This eliminates the need to open each website individually to check the website. I also agree with the fact that Web 3.0 would actually have a more semantic approach, but I do not believe it will be fully achieved soon. Although we discussed in class the potential that certain technologies have to break that barrier (ex. the Watson), artificial intelligence is yet to be fully achieved and implemented. This does not mean that we cannot develop more sophisticated means of metadata and metatags, which in this time of our lives, would still be very effective and efficient in delivering more specific and detailed answers.
To conclude, I would say that Web 3.0 is already a work in progress, with many websites and technologies showing promising results in moving towards that direction. Although there is no concrete definition for the term, many already speculate what it could hold in hand, and the potential it carries in driving our search optimization forward.
LAB10
deep packet inspection. how should it be handled? or, it shouldn't be done, then what instead?

The example I find most suiting to this concept is my experience with the Apple store. They have a very simple lay out, and offer their products to the general population to explore and use, and they encourage other individuals to ask questions and try out their many different services. I always found these features to be very inviting, and generally create a positive ambiance within the store, where the customer generally feels comfortable to tamper with the Apple products, and always has assistance available when needed.
I feel that the service tools mentioned previously apply greatly to the techniques that the Apple store has been implementing ever since it launched. They took a while to have an actual physical store, but they studied what the customers generally seek from an electronics shop like that, and what they generally expect in terms of assistance and services. They also offer amazing customer service, and are very prompt in responding to their users and in fixing any pending problems. The most interesting event I witnessed occur within the Apple store was the tutorial sessions they hold every few hours. They gather around individuals who are not very familiar with a certain Apple product, and have an expert demonstrate the product thoroughly, along with answering any questions. Many of these features work hand in hand with the tools mentioned in delivering the proper "service design", which could explain just why Apple is so successful.
LAB 10
Ergonomics is the study of designing means of enhancing human interaction with daily objects, and trying to facilitate that interaction and make it more adaptable and easy to use. It has been taken up as a subject of study in order to avoid certain injuries and traumas that can be attained from repetitive maneuvers. It's ultimate goal is to cater to the overall human well-being, and trying to create a comfortable environment for them to work in.
In order to clearly understand how the logistics of this study work, ergonomists visualize an individual's interaction with their surroundings. This helps determine the possible pain points, and what different demands the individual could ask for. The video shown in class of the good and bad work desk designs is an example of how a thoroughly studied work space would redesigned to enhance the worker's well-being. Everything ranging from seats adjustments, lighting, arm positioning and the computer's screens have been studied and tested. The results prove how very little changes in the worker's environment can be make the biggest difference in their general productivity and comfort.
Generally, the main aim of ergonomics is to develop better designs that make our interactions with objects seamless; it is very much like designing an intuitive object. If a door has to say "Push" or "Pull", then that means the design of the door is bad. The same theory applies to ergonomics, where the individual's comfort and satisfaction with an object should be a given, and is not something that needs further improvement. Ergonomics should also cater all different types of measurements, such as tall, short, obese and disabled individuals.
Gilbreth's system of motion analysis:
Gilbreth constantly watched workers having to pick up pieces of brick off the floor, and placing them up on the newly built walls. She believed that this constant movement was inefficient and would cause serious back pains and injuries on the long haul. She then decided to time the workers and they picked up the bricks, and how many times they had to bend down to do so. The final results showed that on average, a worker would have to crouch down 250 times in an hour, and such movement has its obvious negative implications. This led her to come up with an idea to have the bricks placed higher up next to the workers, so they wouldn't have to bend down continuously. Efficiency increased by 200%, and the workers were left in a better state of comfort.
Henry Ford influenced by Taylor:
At first, Ford was producing around 200 cars per day, but it still was not enough to keep up with the customer's demands. Ford needed to find different ways to increase production efficiency, and this is where he turned his head to Taylor's efficiency theory. Taylor had done earlier research by timing workers, and trying to see how much time it takes them to perform a certain task. He then inferred that by dividing up the work further more, the different parts of a procedure can be done in a more efficient manner. This made the work much more technical, and the employees didn't require any prior skills to perform the task.
Ford believed this theory would fit perfectly for his firm, and decided to bring the parts of the car to the workers, rather than have the workers go to parts. In order to make that happen, he introduced the assembly line (to delegate the tasks between the workers) and the conveyor belt (to get the parts to workers from all around the workstation). This increased the company's over all production rate immensely, and created many job opportunities since workers had left earlier due to job's initial physically exhausting conditions. Ford also took the opportunity to increase wages, since the firm was yielding greater profits. This also meant that workers at the firm were easily replaceable, since the jobs were very tedious and easy to learn. Those who complained were easily replaced, which could be viewed as an unethical way of dealing with the situation.
Macdonaldization:
1. Efficiency
2. Predictability
3. Calculability
4. Non-human technology

LAB 8
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LAB 9
The concept of Web 3.0 is yet to yield a solid definition. Many experts and websites have been trying to pin down and grasp what the future of the Internet holds in hand. Many different opinions have been voiced, and a lot of what has been mentioned seems to include many talks of the "Semantic Web" and "Personalization". It seems that the common ground that most people seem to agree upon is that the main goal of developing Web 3.0 is to garner an Internet that can understand the content, rather than just analyze metadata. The ultimate goal is to yield a search engine or website that can simply give a direct answer regarding any question.
In my personal opinion, I believe that Web 3.0 would actually entail a lot more "Personalization" than Web 2.0. This means that web experience will become more centered around the user's wants and preferences. Such features are already enabled through features such as RSS feeds, customized web pages such as "iGoogle", and enhancing media convergence by having it all funneled into on interface. Rockmelt is a perfect example of what a primitive Web 3.0 page could possibly look like. It basically connects all different types of social media a user is registered to, and displays any updates or tweets on the user's page as soon as it happens. This eliminates the need to open each website individually to check the website. I also agree with the fact that Web 3.0 would actually have a more semantic approach, but I do not believe it will be fully achieved soon. Although we discussed in class the potential that certain technologies have to break that barrier (ex. the Watson), artificial intelligence is yet to be fully achieved and implemented. This does not mean that we cannot develop more sophisticated means of metadata and metatags, which in this time of our lives, would still be very effective and efficient in delivering more specific and detailed answers.
To conclude, I would say that Web 3.0 is already a work in progress, with many websites and technologies showing promising results in moving towards that direction. Although there is no concrete definition for the term, many already speculate what it could hold in hand, and the potential it carries in driving our search optimization forward.

A big part of service design lies heavily within the traits that exist within the customer experience. In a sense, we can say that it greatly depends on cultural studies and understanding what these certain cultures need and how they tend to operate. This allows the producers to understand how to go about this project, and just how they can make this a "useful, usable and desirable" service. In order to achieve such feature, the producer must place themselves in the user's shoes, and try to understand what they expect and what they need. This will allow them to critically asses their product and try to modify it accordingly.
The main tools for service design mentioned entail many different areas that need to be tapped into in order to deliver the best possible results. Ethnography, user studies and personas tools study the user carefully, and try to map out what they could possibly want and need, and how that service can be delivered to them. The customer journey map essentially "maps" the user's usage of a certain product or service, and their general experience and feelings about this product. Service blueprinting is the "quantitative description of critical service elements" such as time, logical sequences and processes. Everything that occurs during the "time and place of the interaction" with the service and beyond the user's visibility is recorded in this "tool". in ideation, context mapping and participatory design, the user's conscious needs, abilities and expectations are explored during specific supervised tutorials. The last tool, service prototyping, is an activity where real life scenarios are acted out using different means such as storyboards, movies and story telling.
EXAMPLE:
The example I find most suiting to this concept is my experience with the Apple store. They have a very simple lay out, and offer their products to the general population to explore and use, and they encourage other individuals to ask questions and try out their many different services. I always found these features to be very inviting, and generally create a positive ambiance within the store, where the customer generally feels comfortable to tamper with the Apple products, and always has assistance available when needed.
I feel that the service tools mentioned previously apply greatly to the techniques that the Apple store has been implementing ever since it launched. They took a while to have an actual physical store, but they studied what the customers generally seek from an electronics shop like that, and what they generally expect in terms of assistance and services. They also offer amazing customer service, and are very prompt in responding to their users and in fixing any pending problems. The most interesting event I witnessed occur within the Apple store was the tutorial sessions they hold every few hours. They gather around individuals who are not very familiar with a certain Apple product, and have an expert demonstrate the product thoroughly, along with answering any questions. Many of these features work hand in hand with the tools mentioned in delivering the proper "service design", which could explain just why Apple is so successful.

AMERICAN FLAG:
Interestingly, a big number of American flags are produced in China. The first step of the process is crafted by an automated machine which places the 50 stars on the blue area of the flag. Most parts from this point onwards require specific human labor. Such activities entail attaching the rest of the flag together, sewing/tailoring, adding grommets and finally, packing the whole flag.
LAB 9
Just like how experts and users work on trying to enhance product design; service design requires just as much attention. In the modern era we live in, it has become normal of us to expect our products to deliver a certain service along with it. The ratio of efficiency between the products and services always differ depending on actual product, but we nonetheless expect it to perform certain tasks or services. According to the UX honeycomb design, user design articulates making what we do "useful, usable and desirable" for the users, while making it more "efficient, effective and valuable" for us.
A big part of service design lies heavily within the traits that exist within the customer experience. In a sense, we can say that it greatly depends on cultural studies and understanding what these certain cultures need and how they tend to operate. This allows the producers to understand how to go about this project, and just how they can make this a "useful, usable and desirable" service. In order to achieve such feature, the producer must place themselves in the user's shoes, and try to understand what they expect and what they need. This will allow them to critically asses their product and try to modify it accordingly.
The main tools for service design mentioned entail many different areas that need to be tapped into in order to deliver the best possible results. Ethnography, user studies and personas tools study the user carefully, and try to map out what they could possibly want and need, and how that service can be delivered to them. The customer journey map essentially "maps" the user's usage of a certain product or service, and their general experience and feelings about this product. Service blueprinting is the "quantitative description of critical service elements" such as time, logical sequences and processes. Everything that occurs during the "time and place of the interaction" with the service and beyond the user's visibility is recorded in this "tool". in ideation, context mapping and participatory design, the user's conscious needs, abilities and expectations are explored during specific supervised tutorials. The last tool, service prototyping, is an activity where real life scenarios are acted out using different means such as storyboards, movies and story telling.

When we went over the Second Life video in class, it proved to be one of newest methods of executing e-learning. Although attending Elon University did not seem to be too enticing to me personally, since the control required to simply sit down, raise your hand, take notes and ask questions seemed to be way too complicated and unnecessary. I personally do not favor e-learning, because I truly believe in the traditional classroom where one teacher lectures a whole class. I find that it is a better way to learn, especially if you were actually eager to understand the material being taught. The reason behind that is because everything is happening in real-time, and you cannot afford to slack off and attend to other matters when you are learning. If one were to solely depend on a podcast, then they would not have that much of an incentive to actually view the lecture and listen to it fully. For those who tend to leave it late, would find themselves facing over 20 hours of lectures in the form of a podcast. I also find that it hinders the study group's working dynamics and harmony, due to the lack of physical confrontation. It is easier to get your point across, explain and debate when you are meeting physically, than it is to do so through IM or emails.
With all that said, I would like to also state that I am not against additional aids that could enhance learning. A podcast can be very helpful if you missed a class or were not able to make it in time. I truly believer that they have incremental values that we as students can benefit from, but I do not believe that they should be categorized as a new mean of education. To me, the traditional classroom method gets the point across in a clearer fashion, and adding any extra technologies for the sake of enhancing the learning experience would be highly beneficial, but these extra technologies should not be depended on heavily or solely.
LAB 8
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Link: http://wave.google.com/about.html
LAB 8
healing people. She firmly believes that people can be cured and healed by changing their surroundings and environment. She states that our environment has a huge effect on how we operate and on our general well being. Her solution to helping people feel better is not through prescribed medications and doctor visits, but it's more about creating a healthier environment since that is where we catch any viruses or diseases.
Some of the examples she mentioned about enhancing a healthy life style was by simply increasing interactivity with birds. She suggested setting up sensors on certain parts of a building that when touched by a bird, would ring a bell and notify people about the presence of a bird. This would drive the people to visit these birds, feed them and pamper them. Overall, this helps sooth an individuals general well being, and encourages humans to interact with the animal life and take care of them. The example of having marshes placed next to fire hydrants is also a good one. Natalie believes that since not all hydrants are utilized fully due to their existence in abundance, using them to set up marshes would help clean air and enhance the environment's overall quality.
GUITAR:
First off, several high quality woods are imported from around the world and rough cut. These rough cut pieces are then laser cut using pre-programmed templates precise to around 0.001 inches. In most cases, all the cutting and drilling is done by automated programmed machines. The reason behind that generally lies in the fact that hand made guitars are very time consuming and require special hand work. The front pieces for the guitars are then strengthened with computer modeled braces. The curved sides of the guitar body are made by curing the wood in curved frames, a process that takes several days in order to maintain the curved shape. Necks that used to be carved from one piece of wood are now made by joining two pieces at an angle, in order to reduce the amount of wasted wood. Necks are held in place by suction power because clamps damage the wood. Finally, strings are added to complete the guitar.
AMERICAN FLAG:
Interestingly, a big number of American flags are produced in China. The first step of the process is crafted by an automated machine which places the 50 stars on the blue area of the flag. Most parts from this point onwards require specific human labor. Such activities entail attaching the rest of the flag together, sewing/tailoring, adding grommets and finally, packing the whole flag.

The other example entailed a more personal experience. Individuals who donated blood to the Red Cross were encouraged to write about why they were donating blood on cards. By including all these cards from many different donors, it allowed them to connect and compare different reasons for why they were donating. This was also launched in order to try and encourage more individuals to donate blood.
Example of a product: Google Wave
by Google. itit is a social networking. CommunicationsCommunications on the
One of the most prominent features of this software was sadly a major flaw; complex and incomprehensible usability. The user interface was extremely hard to navigate and understand, due to the many features and perks at hand. Although that may be conceived as being a bonus, it ironically turned out to be quite the opposite. The reason behind that is because this was the first generation of this software, and no one had any previous experience with such a program. Regardless of its complexity, the wave was praised by critics for incorporating and converging many different forms of communication into one common software, and for its potential future uses.
In terms of user input, any participant of a wave can reply anywhere within the message, edit any part of the wave, and add participants at any point in the process. Recipients are notified of changes/replies in all waves in which they are active and, upon opening a wave, may review those changes in chronological order. In addition, waves are live. All replies/edits are visible in real-time, letter-by-letter, as they are typed by the other collaborators. Multiple participants may edit a single wave simultaneously in Google Wave. Thus, waves can function not only as e-mails and threaded conversations but also as an instant messaging service when many participants are online at the same time.
Link: http://wave.google.com/about.html
LAB 8
What I found most interesting is Natalie Jeremijenko's peculiar, yet intriguing means of helping and healing people.