Reading in Cyberspace ?!?

Reading in Cyberspace ?!?

This controversial issue involving Google Books is not an easy one to judge as there are aspects that have to be looked upon. First of all, the relationship between the publishers and Google is just going to go down the drain because of this conflict. In this selfish and materialistic society, the publishers are not going to show any signs of satisfaction until they are given a fraction of the profit earned by Google. Put aside this opposition, one can see Google Books as a truly revolutionizing method in accessing information about books. Now, finding relevant book, specifically books that couldn’t be found in another way such as those that are out of print; can be done with the click of a finger.

With this invention, all of Google’s competitors especially Yahoo! will certainly find a way to counteract. Yahoo! which has almost always been seen as Google’s biggest competition, will certainly not back down and come up with their own version relating to books or a completely new concept in order to transform the way we gather information. Librarians shouldn’t necessarily be threatened by this new development, since the library offers something that Google Books doesn’t which is full access to all the books. Since Google Books doesn’t offer full view to all the books in copyright and in production, it gives the library an edge over Google.

Overall I feel that this an amazing new tool that will certainly modernize the ways of gathering information, but might have to go through a couple of problems in the form of conflicts and lawsuits.

Are the Wii the Children of the Revolution?

The Nintendo could possibly be both a technological revolution and just hype, but I personally feel that it’s more of a revolution that will modernize the future of all games consoles. Groundbreaking technology? What’s so special about the Wii?, you may ask. It’s revolution lies it its remote and its nunchuk. Both are motion sensing devices that translate whatever motion you make into the game you are playing. With this type of equipment the possibilities are endless and only limited to the game’s designer. It could serve as racket you swing in a tennis game, a weapon in a shooting game, and also a wheel in a driving game. As it can be seen the possibilities of these 2 devices are endless.

Many people might wonder what’s so good about it, or might say it’s not good enough. Rather than considering it a revolution, we can imagine the emotion of a person when using the Wii. Just thinking about being able to sway and move your hands and in turn play a game just gives a person an exciting feeling. Because of this, not only children will be seen playing the Wii but also their parents. We can say that Nintendo has indirectly tapped into the human emotion in order to popularize their product. I can even use myself as an example, I stopped playing console game about a year ago because I felt as though I had crossed that age, but now after seeing the Wii, I feel like playing it because it just seems so fun. To be honest I was never a Nintendo fan, I was always a play station fan until I gave up games, but now I really want to use the Wii. As it can be clearly seen the Nintendo Wii is certainly not hype but a technological revolution that will definitely transform and uplift the future of gaming.

The Genographic Project

There are many scientific and technological advances necessary to accomplish the Genographic Project and they all require state of the art electronic equipments and devices. The most vital equipment of them all, DAR (DNA Analysis Repository), a substantial information technology capable of securing, storing the largest amount of data. DAR also makes the data available for analysis in as many ways as possible. It already warehouses enormous amounts of information with over a terabyte of available storage, and will grow as the project expands, with the ability to integrate the latest toolsets and data mining capabilities as they come online. Researchers certainly could not have been able to accomplish this project 25 years ago let alone 50 or 100 years ago. I say this because the technology present today was not available during those years. Only 25 years ago did the basic computers enter the market and be available to consumers. 50 years ago, the only computers present were those large ones that would fit in the whole room and was used for military purposes and other computers like ENIAC just did calculations. If we didn’t even have proper computers 50 years ago one can imagine how behind we were technologically 100 years ago.

The timing is important in a way since these discoveries might help us greatly in many aspects of our lives from history, geography, science and health. Nowadays we hear a lot of issues about cloning and various other issued pertaining to the health and medical field. One of those major issues especially in India which deals with the stem cells present in the umbilical cord at birth and in the bone marrow. It’s said that these stem cells can be used to create and regenerate cells. So knowing a lot about our past and our DNA history can truly help us cross a milestone in medical history.

Overall it’s truly an important project that can effect society in a whole in various different ways as its timing is pretty much perfect due to the enormous growth in technology.

WHEN WAR MEETS VIDEO GAMES

War games are getting popular nowadays as it’s becoming a trend, there are so many games that are being released from this genre to a degree where one might see it as though these games are taking over the market and gamers are being forced into playing these games.

It’s not necessarily true that "If it's not realistic, it's not worth playing," since different people want and expect different things from games. Some specifically look at the graphics and the visuals of the game while many others just look at the game play and storyline of the games. Several people are very serious about their games and truly obsessive about it while other don’t care and are really at it for the fun. Yes, in certain aspects war games certainly desensitizing people of the true horror of war since the gamers don’t understand the seriousness of war, its impact on society, economy its aftereffects and the most horrific, the casualties and the deaths. Foremost of all, the true fact is that all the people don’t play war games to experience the truths of what really took place in history but are instead only played for fun and time pass.

Personally I feel that war games don’t really capture the essence of the wars that have plagued our society but instead make it look fun. I have never really played war games so I have no personal opinion about a certain game. And I doubt I’ll find out since I just lost interest in playing video games, I feel that I have grown out of that stage and age in life. Overall war games might depict some facts from different wars, but usually they don’t have an impact on the gamers that it’s not just a game but was a complete tragedy when it occurred.

An iPod classroom ?

Even though I feel that I’ am a mix of all the types of learners, visual, auditory and kinesthetic, I probably would learn well using an iPod. Keeping the lectures and seminars in the iPod will be very useful to view when I’m on the go. For instance when I’m taking the bus, instead of listening to music I can watch or listen to the seminars. It would be a great tool as a future reference, as many students tend to forget a few things or key facts that are mentioned in the seminar. For instance I attended a seminar for my grade 10 design course pertaining about recycling around half way through the school year. This December when I was trying to complete a unit for my grade 11 design course I had decided to write about recycling and when I was trying to include a certain key fact I wasn’t able to recollect the exact fact which was a percentage mentioned by my teacher almost a year ago. If I was able to download that seminar into my iPod I could easily figure out that fact which I had forgotten. All the down loadable seminars and lectures would be very useful and helpful during exam time, as they can be seen countless times to review if forgotten.

Of course Mary Ward with its self directed learning should embrace this technology for education. By doing this it will not only truly assist many students but also ruin the education of others. For the students who do very well in Mary Ward and like the self directed system will do great with this new technology. But the students who are always behind and slack off, this technology will devastate and spoil their education, since they’ll use this as another excuse to do the work later. Many students will decide not to go to seminars by saying that they can watch it on the iPod, and then they’ll postpone watching it on the iPod by telling they’ll do it later. By keeping on postponing, they’ll never get their work done. If this technology is used appropriately it will be great tool which we can add to our school.

When the GOOD meet the BAD

There are many things in this world that are both good and bad in its own ways, but technology is the one that we come across the most and has the greatest pros and cons. One should pay close attention to the pros and cons of technology as they can help us or destroy us, while they can assist us through hundred different ways they can also be addictive and harmful to ones health. The effects of technology is very important as they are not only revolutionizing the world they also play an enormous part in our society.

There are many forms of technology that we all come across every day, and some of them include transportation, TV, cell phones, and the one we use the most, computers and the internet. All these pieces of technology mentioned above are very valuable since many of use take them for granted. Through cars, trains and airplanes, we can travel far distances, TV keeps us informed of world issues through the news, and let us watch programs taken place on the other side of the world. We are allowed to communicate with others all around the world through the use of cell phones and telephones. Finally, the technology the rapidly improving and being used the most, internet and computers. With the help of computers we can word process, draw and design various things through the aid of programs like Auto CAD, Photoshop, and Illustrator. The internet helps us access millions of websites with an enormous collection of information. Now we can buy various items online, and even pay our bills. Technology truly helps us in numerous ways and will continue to as they continue to drastically change our society.

On the other hand the different types of technology mentioned above also have another side to them. Transportation and all its vehicles drastically damage the environment through their pollutants. By polluting the air with deadly toxins there is an increase in global warming as the temperature of the atmosphere is being raised. TV broadcasts many programs that intended for a mature audience but if there is no supervision even little children can watch it. Cell phone can ruin ones ears if overused through its transmission of radiation. Over usage of computers can cause many health problems including Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI) and Cumulative Trauma Disorder (CTD). The internet can be used in many ways including a lot of negative ones. Some of the growing issues include hacking and pornography. Many sites are being hacked and people steal many personal information of other. With no parental lock on the internet many children are viewing pornography and this is becoming a big concern. There are also online predators that take part in online chat rooms and try to meet the people they meet online and when they do meet the results are usually kidnapping and sexual assaults. Overall technology has many cons and should be used wisely.

As it can be clearly seen, technology can be used for both good and bad, it can do wonders if used for good, but create destruction if its used for the wrong purposes and uses.

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