Zerofsky - Blog Post #8

1.) Forester shows a vision of the future when technology rules man kind.  He shows how "the machine" runs everything and is basically imprisoning the people.  It gets rid of all differences and places.  People use "the machine" for everything and therefore feel dependent upon "the machine".  The conflict raised by Forester is the idea of when computers and technology help us to do most everything in life, will they take over us?  Like in the movie I, Robot, robots are used for everyday tasks and are a part of the society. But then a robot goes rogue and acquires a virus causing more to follow.  This creates a sort of revolution for the robot community. Basically in both Foresters story and the movie I, Robot, the idea the our technology rules us is the main conflict and idea.

2.)  In Foresters story the machine takes over human life and controls everyone.  It gets rid of the outside Earth and places people into cells where everything they need is provided by the machine.  It is not until Kuno left the confines of the machine and saw the outside world that he sort of created a revolution. In the movie I, Robot, a similar idea takes place.  For starters the society in that movie uses robots for just about everything.  With one super computer at the center.  It is not until one of the robot breaks the law of robots by harming a human. This robot starts to create a revolution in other robots. In both of these, the technology in which the human population was relying on either takes over or tries to take over.  Both of these stories display the idea of the possibility of technology taking over our lives and ruling us, if we are not careful. 

3.)  The idea for both of these stories raises an interesting point.  With the increasing dependence on technology and the development of robots and autonomous vehicles, I believe that the future for human kind may not look all that different than in I, Robot.  I don't think it will be the same, but I think that we will start to see more robots being implemented in to regular life.  Such as in cars.  Many people die in car crashes every year, but if we had a computer driving our car just as a computer runs a stop light, we may be able to decrease the amount of injuries.  Also in the military there is starting to be a larger focus on robots to be used instead of people to make it safer for our soldiers.  In all, I do not believe the future of humans and technology will have a greater influence upon one another.  But there is always that question of IF?  If technology ever has the ability to make its own decisions, such as artificial intelligence, that is where things start to get dicey, and who knows what could happen.

Zerofsky- Creative Proposal

The topic that my group is presenting on is technology in science.  So far I think that technology is a growing market, and the two technology and science go hand in hand.  I believe that the two will grow off one another.  With increased technology there will be further advances in every aspect of science. As well as better technology due to the better understanding of science.  I think that the future of technology in science lies in nano-technology and just making things faster along with smaller, lighter, and all around better. For my creative project right now I am thinking about a video approach. And within the video possibly doing an interview with someone in the science field.  Basically, I want to show how technologies used for science are getting better and enabling us to learn more in the field of science.  

In Class Writing #9 - Zerofsky

Ø  The audience of this article are the users on facebook who don’t read the privacy policies or are concerned with the privacy policies.

Ø  The author is writing this article to deal with the issue of third party organizations buying information from facebook.  The author does not support facebook and the third party organizations.

Ø  The author of this article used a source from a website called alhumoftheday.com.  This source claims that the CIA secretly funded facebook in order to get information from people.  The author seems to agree with the statements made by this website but does not full on support them.  The author just recognizes the fact that they are thought provoking.  The only other source that the author most likely used, but does not explicitly say is facebook itself.

Ø  The article uses ethos to evoke an ethical sense into the reader, because the authors main point in the article is utility vs. policy.  The author argues the fact at whether the revolutionary interactions available to people now versus whether there are no more morals and people are solely driven by money. 

In Class Writing #88- Zerofsky

My top 5:

            Rocket Power

            Toy story

            Smash mouth

            Star wars saga

            Call of duty

 

Group Top 5

Call of Duty Modern Warfare. Infinity Ward. 2007. Video Game.

-Star Wars. Dir. George Lucas. Perf. Ewan McGregor, , Natalie Portman. Lucas Arts, 2005. Film.

-Rocket Power. Nickolodeon: 1999. Television.

-"Puss Gets ths Boot." Tom and Jerry. 1940. Television.

-Toy Story. Dir. John Lasseter. Perf. Tom Hanks. Tim Allen. Disney Pixar, 1995. Film.

In Class Writing #7 - Zerofsky

Summary:

Glen Beck blames pop culture for the social problems in America. Specifically video games have increasingly made this worse.  Anybody can experience what was meant for the military for only sixty dollars.  This can be seen in Grand Theft Auto IV.

Paraphrase: 

The military invented the video game to make it easier for soldiers to kill.  In society today kids can participate in the same acts of violence through video games.  Most of the problems in society today are caused by the influence of pop culture. 

Analysis:

In the video of Glen Beck warning parents about video games,  he makes some interesting points about them and their effect on society.  For instance he claims that the amount of homicides has increased since the release of video games.  Although this may play some role in the increase, I don’t believe that it is the main reason. Just because someone is playing a video game where the main theme of the game is killing doesn’t mean they are going to change into the “Rambo” like killing machine.  Most people have the moral values and the common sense to realize that real life and video games are two complete different entities. 

Zerofsky - Blog Post #8

http://www.myfakewall.com/w/Mr.+Potato+Head

The celebrity I picked to make a fake wall for is Mr. Potato Head.  I was attempting to be funny, but I don't know if I accomplished that at all.  

In Class Writing #5 - Zerofsky

1)  From looking at Corey's Facebook page, I can tell that he is in the core of cadets here at Virginia Tech.  Along with his passion for rock music with bands such as "The Beatles" "Dave Mathews Band" and "OAR".  Also, I now know that Corey is in a relationship from the many pictures of him and his girlfriend. Also after browsing many of Corey's pictures, I can tell he lives a very active lifestyle.  
2)From what I have found Corey has done a good job at displaying who he is, because other people that have posted on his wall and commented on his pictures have been related to his interests and him in general.  For instance on his wall, there are multiple posts from his girlfriend along with pictures of him as a cadet.  So at just a quick glance, I can start to understand what he values as a person.
3)The ads that were displayed on his Facebook profile were fore snowboarding and driving.  In one of Corey's pictures he is on a ski lift, and in other pictures he is participating in many other extreme sports. The ad about driving uses pathos by describing a beautiful mountain top that you could drive to while promoting a driving tour.  The other ad about skiing was promoting the products at a ski shop. The ad used logos by asking the question "skiing this winter?"  For someone who is an avid skier this would be a no brainer of a question with a logical answer of yes!
4)The ad for skiing seems more relevant than the ad for driving. This is because in many of Corey's pictures he is participating in hiking, skiing, hang gliding and numerous other adventurous activities.  Therefore ads would be tailored toward the adventurous side and for Corey this meant skiing. The driving was not as obvious to see the relevance the only way I could think to connect the driving ad to Corey is that maybe since he seems like an outdoors person he might want to take a drive to a mountain top.  Also the maintain top was in Pennsylvania and Corey is from New Jersey, so generally speaking it could be close to him.

Zerofsky - Blog Post #4

1.       1.  Gymkhana Two Project the infomercial.

2.       2.  This video is an ad promoting DC Shoes clothing and shoes. Throughout the course of the video Ken Block the main character performs drifting stunts with his car.  Before and after the car stunts which is the main portion of the video DC Shoes displays images of their products. 

3.       3.  The ad gains the attention of the viewer through the stunts performed in the main section of the commercial. When Ken Block is drifting his car around the course, it gives the viewer a bit of an adrenalin rush, because these are hard stunts being performed with ease. 

4.       4.  The rhetorical appeal in this viral ad is pathos.  I say this because when watching the advertisement I was struck by the intensity of the ad and the crazy stunts.  It made me think how awesome it was and how awesome it would be to be able to do those stunts. Since the stunts depicted in the ad were so awesome it immediately makes the viewer think how awesome the products that DC Shoes sells are.  

5.            5.  The audience in this ad is adrenaline seekers.  Since DC Shoes started out as a skateboard company and has grown the products they sell appeal to skateboarders and many other extreme sports.  Also the ad is directed mostly to the male population, because the majority of people who participate in extreme sports are male. Also the ad depicts car drifting and again mostly the male populations are interested in fast cars.

6.       6.  The creators assume that you know who Ken Block is and what he does. Also it assumes that you have previous knowledge of the company DC Shoes.

7.       7.  The stunts performed in the ad could be seen as reckless and living on edge.  When Ken Block drifts under the tractor trailer and it blows up definitely embodies recklessness and on edge.  This connects to the product because the products they sell are geared towards people who participate in extreme sports and they too are reckless and on edge. 

8.       8.  This ad is a video on YouTube.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQ7R_buZPSo  This is by far the best choice because there really is no other way to display recklessness and living on edge other than through a video. Also since this is such an awesome video by using YouTube it is able to become viral and obtain maximum viewing potential.  This way it can been seen by the most people possible.  By the way it has 28,964,873 views. 

In Class Writing #4 - Zerofsky

Analysis of the Virginia Tech Homepage

          The images on the homepage are all about academics.  They display the hardworking students of Virginia Tech and how much everyone cares about their school.  The colors are basic, maroon and orange since they are the school colors, and then blue and green are also used.  I think the blue and green used is effective because it provides contrast to the page.  The navigation of the homepage is an easy task with links on the left side of the page to take you to more specific categories of information.  In the upper left hand corner the school’s name is displayed with a motto of “invent the future”.  This is simple yet effective because it represents what the goal of Virginia Tech.  The people that would access this page are prospective students along with anyone already affiliated with the university such as students, faculty and alumni.  Overall the homepage displays the academic side of Virginia Tech and conveys information about the programs and opportunities at the school. 

Zerofsky - Blog Post #3

On Google, I searched the phrase “fly fishing”.  The first three websites that popped up were a Wikipedia article on fly fishing, flyfisherman.com, and flyshop.com.  Surprisingly, upon inspection of each of the sites they all offered different information about fly fishing.  The first site, Wikipedia, gave a basic overview of the history of fly fishing along with general information on casting and tying you own flies.  The second website, flyfisherman.com, was a magazine.  This magazine was, you guessed it, about fly fishing.  Some of the articles included destinations for fly fishing along with advice on gear selection and technique.  The final link, flyshop.com, was shopping website.  They had an online catalog with equipment you could buy along with a section were you could sign up for fly fishing trips and seminars.  

On Google, my neighbor in the dorm next to me, Nat, searched the same phrase “fly fishing”.  From his search on Google he got two of the same three search results.  Instead of getting flyfisherman.com, he got an article on about.com about how to fly fish.  Other than that he had the same results in the top three on Google.  

                I am surprised by the results, because “fly fishing” is a very broad topic yet also can be very specific to certain groups of people at the same time.  And to be honest, I wasn’t quite convinced that Google personalized search based upon previous searches.  I have watched videos about fly fishing on YouTube before and shopped for equipment online.  Whereas my next door neighbor has probably never encountered anything close to fly fishing or even fishing on the Internet.  To me it is a good thing that Google personalizes searches.  This is because my neighbor when searching fly fishing would have received results that were too advanced for him per say.  Whereas I being a fly fishermen already know the basics and therefore articles on how to fly fish are not pertinent to me.  Although this is good for some instances, many opponents to personalized Internet searching would say that Google is shielding them from information such ideas of people that are not the same as them.  But I think that people unknowingly agree with personalized Internet search because for instance when you are searching for a store location, the tackle shop in California doesn’t help me if I’m in Blacksburg, VA.  But then there are topics such as politics that are very opinionated where the computer doesn’t know what you want.  Your view point, or insight on the opposite viewpoint based on your previous searches.  Therefore I believe that personalized search is a good thing that is being implemented into the Internet, and the responsibility is on the user of the internet to make sure they see what they want to. 

In Class Writing #3 - Zerofsky

Image/text:   The image in this ad is of two people a man and a women eating lunch together.  The words are simple and easy to read.  It is casual.

Purpose:  The purpose of this ad is to recognize women’s roles in World War II.  It was not just the men who helped win, but it was the women as well.  They were able to do a “mans” job thoroughly. 

Audience: People in America and especially the men of America. This is because the ad is showing how women stepped up to the task and were able to pull through with what looks like working in factories during World War II.

Creator: The creator of this ad was most likely done by a women’s rights organization of some sort.  This is because the goal of this ad is to show how women are equal to men because they can do the same jobs as them.

Rhetorical Appeals: Ethos – women can do the same work as men.  Therefore they are equal. Logos- if women can do the same work as men, and help support the winning of the war efforts. It is only logical for them to be equal.

Cultural context/Assumptions:  From the picture the viewer can conclude that the time period for the ad was during World War II.  Also the V in the background signifies victory.  And the man in the picture is talking to the women.  This also looks like they have been working in a factory. 

Zerofsky-Blog Post #2

     In my opinion schools need to change their curriculum to accommodate the digital native more fully.  This is because as a digital native we are honed in one using specific technologies in our everyday lives.  So we go from using digital technologies to express ourselves and communicate with others, but then when we go to school everything changes and we are forced to learn in a more traditional way.  If we are going to school to better ourselves and learn why should we have to take a step back every time we enter a classroom in order to learn?   The learning we do today should reflect the times of today.  And in today’s world technology is how things get done.  So learning should be the same way.  Teachers have started to implement technologies into the classroom, but not to their full advantage.  For instance, the use of word processing has been very influential to learning, but it could be taken a step further.  Instead of only using word processing to write papers and the like, use word processing for note taking and collaborating between students and the teacher.  Force the student to use their machine to its full potential.  Use the internet to turn in assignments, share class notes through email, and ask professors questions on homework through messaging services.  In my opinion the use of paper is outdated, that is why I like my tablet computer.  It enables me to take notes in classes where normally the only way to record the information such as math equations was on paper with pen.  But my tablet enables be to do all this and keep the file stored on my computer so I have it wherever I go without the bulk of a normal notebook.  In Nicholas Carr’s article “Is Google Making Us Stupid?,” he mentions the fact that attention spans are shortening.  As this may be true, you need to take what seems to be a negative and turn it into a positive.  For instance, if everyone has a short attention span, than we need to work in small increments.  So if teachers at school had assignments on the computer we could skip between subjects of homework being more efficient in our efforts.  This would cause us to waste less time setting up for the next task, because everything would be on your computer. Technology needs to be more widely used and taught in the classroom, because it is essential to our success later in life.  Technology is how things get done in the real world.  How come that can’t be the same for learning?