Post #6: EOTO Communication Technology (Personal Computer)

I did my “Each One Teach One” assignment on the personal computer, or the PC. Everybody knows what as personal computer is, but the official definition of a PC is a digital computer designed for use by only one person at a time.

In the early 1970s, computers were large and really expensive. They would take up entire walls of big rooms, and the cost of making one was crazy high. They were owned by basically exclusively large corporations, universities, and government agencies. 

The personal computer industry truly began in 1977, with the introduction of three preassembled mass-produced personal computers: Apple Computer, Inc.’s (now Apple Inc.) Apple II, the Tandy Radio Shack TRS-80, and the Commodore Business Machines Personal Electronic Transactor (PET for short).  All 3 of these machines used eight-bit microprocessors.

IBM Corporation, the world’s dominant computer maker, entered the market in 1981 when it introduced the IBM Personal Computer, or IBM PC. The IBM PC was significantly faster than rival machines, had about 10 times their memory capacity, and was backed by IBM’s large sales organization. The IBM PC became the world’s most popular personal computer very quickly.

By 1990, some personal computers had become small enough to be completely portable. They included laptop computers, also known as notebook computers, which were about the size of a notebook.

By 2000, more than 50 percent of all households in the United States owned a personal computer, and this penetration increased dramatically over the next few years as people in the United States (and around the world) purchased PCs to access the world of information available through the Internet.

There are many pros and cons of the personal computer. The biggest benefit is the communication: a personal computer provides you with the ability to stay in touch with hundreds of people. You can send emails and instant messages to a specific person for personal or professional reasons. You can also send a message to many people at one time, you can write a blog or article or leave a post in a forum. 

There’s also a lot of information constantly at your fingertips. In just a few seconds, you can type a website URL into the search bar of your browser and visit a website full of information. There are online encyclopedias, books and user-submitted communities designed to provide specific types of information, such as video game walkthroughs.

PC’s also provide a lot of fun. Computers provide a wealth of opportunities for fun and relaxation. You can play computer games, watch digital TV shows or movies, draw using a tablet and digital artwork software, create your own video or write a digital diary. 

For personal computer cons, there are physical side effects that can have a negative impact on a person’s life. Frequent computer use leads to a variety of physical problems such as wrist soreness, back aches, tension headaches and tight hamstrings. Laptop users are especially prone to problems because they must hunch in order to appropriately view the screen. People who spend all day on the computer are susceptible to tight muscles, strained eyes and carpal tunnel syndrome. 

Another issue is internet addiction. Internet and computer addiction plague a small percentage of computer users and mildly affect many other users. Severe Internet addiction may include addiction to cyber-relationships, online gaming, online gambling or adult content found on the Internet. Though mild Internet use is healthy and normal, people who are addicted to the Internet feel as if they must constantly be on the Internet. This often leads to decreased work or school performance or losing touch with friends and family members.

Whenever a person uses their PC, they spend less time in the physical world. Personal computers often keep people from more traditional methods of having fun such as playing games with friends, reading books, watching TV or exercising. People with computers typically spend less time with their family and friends and may instead elect to communicate digitally, which does not provide the tone and body language required for effective conversation.

 Source: https://www.britannica.com/technology/personal-computer/Faster-smaller-and-more-powerful-PCs

Post #5: Eight Values of Free Expression

  There are a lot of important movements happening right now in the world, and among those is the Black Lives Matter movement. Black Lives Matter is a decentralized political and social movement that advocates for non-violent civil disobedience against incidents of police brutality and racially motivated violence against black people.

The movement has been happening for a long time, but exploded in “popularity” (for lack of a better term) on May 25, 2020, when George Floyd was killed after a store clerk alleged he had passed a counterfeit $20 bill in Minneapolis. A white police officer, Derek Chauvin, knelt on Floyd's neck for 8 minutes and 46 seconds.

The event blew up because of social media such as Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, Youtube, and Facebook. The hashtag #BlackLivesMatter, as well as #JusticeForFloyd was quickly the top trending hashtag on nearly all platforms. This event sparked a lot of awareness, and therefore growth, in the movement. The general public felt that Chauvin should be let go because of his actions, and were only more infuriated when Chauvin received no punishment. Many people were angry about the corrupt and systemic racism of the police systems. Many cities and towns over the US, as well as around the world, protested over the injustice of Floyd’s death. This spark even spread across the world to Japan.

I even went to a few Black Lives Matter protests this summer in Raleigh, North Carolina. There, they chanted slogans such as, “No justice; no peace. Abolish the police.”

View this post on Instagram

black lives matter today, tomorrow, and always 🖤 #blm

A post shared by kathy 🌱 (@leunarie) on Jun 13, 2020 at 5:58pm PDT

 The Black Lives Matter movement relates to the sixth part of the Eight Values of Free Expression: promote tolerance. I think that this entire Floyd situation could have been prevented if police, among other people in general, were more tolerance. As a society, everyone should work on promoting tolerance, especially against systemic racism.

This can also be related to work industries. I can use the video game and game design industry as an example, as I hope to work in this industry one day. Game developers have the choice and freedom as an American citizen to create the games they want, with the art, narrative, and underlying message that they want. A developer can create a game that is anti-BLM, anti-LGBTQ, etc if they so wish. However, this does not come with consequences, which is expressed in subsequent punishment: anybody can say whatever they want in America, but there can be consequences for particular speech.

Electronic Arts Inc (EA), a large and well-known video game company, showed a very good example of promoting tolerance in its industry. Their games include homosexual content, and when recieving hate letters and backlash, released a public statement confirming that they had no plans to censor any of its games.

"EA has not been pressured by any groups to include LGBT characters in our games. However, we have met with LBGT groups and sponsored industry forums to discuss content and harassment of players in online forums. In short, we do put options for same-sex relationships in our games; we don't tolerate hate speech on our forums," Jeff Brown, VP of EA’s corporate communications stated.

Post #4: The Progressive Era

Link to article: https://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/nearly-half-of-germans-want-u-s-troops-out/

I found this article on The American Conservative. The article details the response to President Donald Trump’s announcement of a planned withdrawal of nearly 12,000 U.S. troops from Germany. Although most American Democrats and senior military officials disapproved of President Trump’s decision, many Germans were very happy about the decision to withdraw the US troops. On top of that, many experts and political figures in America believe withdrawing troops helps Russia as well.

This article provided me a unique perspective on war and American foreign affairs that aren’t seen very often on the news today. In general, from what I’ve seen on the news, war is talked about very often and very rarely is it in a negative light. In history classes, I learned that there is a constant trope where a country is having “problems” (where these problems could be legitimate or just blown out of proportion), and America swoops in and attempts to be the hero, when it is not their place.

I’ve never heard of this website, and I feel like the reason behind this also has to do with the fact that people have to seek out obscure websites in order to hear strong antiwar voices. America seems to be pretty pro-war, and this is because the country and its leaders like to play Hero, even though in reality, the US tends to make things a lot worse.

 

Post #3: Civil War & Reconstruction

Link to article: https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/09/24/whataburger-black-lives-matter-masks/

This article details events surrounding Whataburger employee Ma’Kiya Congious wearing a BLM mask to work. Most people did not mind the face covering, and some even complimented her on it. However, a White customer one day threatened to call Whataburger’s corporate office over the mask. This led to a chain of events where Congious lost her job, and the managers even went as far to call the police on their own employee. 

This event goes against the First Amendment’s freedom of speech. In America, every person is allowed to freely voice their opinions, especially on social issues and movements such as the Black Lives Matter movement. Wearing the BLM mask did not negatively impact or hurt anybody, yet Congious was fired because of it, despite the managers being okay with the mask before the incident.

This incident creates a horrible double standard, as companies will turn a blind eye to apparel that supports other causes, like sports teams and LGBTQ rights.  Not to mention that other workers have worn face coverings that displayed the Gucci logo and the Mexican flag.

Whilst, yes, the Black Lives Matter issue is a very delicate and important issue in the world today, and it is true that many other companies are speaking out and making official statements that they support the BLM movement, it still does not change the fact that Whataburger is a private company. It is not owned by the government, and therefore the State Action Doctrine applies to this situation. Without government involvement, no constitutional claim can be made, because only the government can violate your constitutional rights; therefore, the first amendment doesn’t reach private actors, This basically states that Whataburger cannot get in trouble for this incident that would violate one’s freedom of speech.