Media Law and Literacy

 We have been using forms of A.I. (Artificial Intelligence) for several years, but it has not become a major issue quite yet. In the film by Frontline, "In the Age of AI" focuses on both the pros and cons of the future of artificial intelligence across the globe. China is a nation that is very advanced in the world of AI; they have a "super-app" on their smartphones that is the equivalent of America's PayPal, Facebook, and text messages all in one app. Since China's userbase is three to four times the size of America's, they have access to more and higher quality information. Another work in progress not only in China, but also in the United States, is facial recognition on smartphones. In the video, they use a smartphone to determine the name and age of their head director, and it accurately got the full name and the age was only off by a few months. "We are the ones to really take facial recognition to commercial quality." How AI could affect...

 Today's society is heavily relied on by social media to do several everyday activities, such as check the local weather, learn about daily news, read and respond to text messages, or watch your favorite videos on YouTube. However, you must be careful when using any form of social media because all of them could have either misinformation or disinformation. Some people might not understand the difference between these two terms, so let me clear that out of the way. Misinformation is information that is inaccurate but was not intended to be inaccurate; it was an accident. Examples of misinformation could include incorrect weather predictions or source citation that could lead to a different source. Misinformation is done by accident, but, if you are not careful, might not recognize this misinformation in everyday activities and believe it to be true right away. Disinformation is information released to the public that is intended to be inaccurate. However, this is less common, but n...

 Our world today thrives on the reliability of modern technology. For example, we use our phones to get directions to a location, we talk to Siri to send a text message while we are driving on the road, and we use online websites to access all of our assignments and grades for college. However, we are not the only ones that know what we use our technology for; the government and company administrators also do. Since most of us have iPhones, I believe it is safe to say that our phones were designed first for surveillance. This surveillance comes from either our government or another nation's, company administrators, and, quite frankly, the rest of the world. One of the ways the United States government knows what we do on our phones is because of cell phone towers. Whenever we are not connected to the internet, we use cellular service. But where does that service come from? Cell phone towers supply cellular internet to connecting devices, which could be upwards of one hundred thousa...

 No one wants war to break out. Wars do nothing to help our society except result in: several lives lost, increasing tensions between nations, and they're extremely expensive. Some authors and writers represent the antiwar supporters and reveal valuable information to the public that no one seems to hear about on the mainstream news. This news includes true information about recent conflicts in Ukraine and Russia, current status on Americans held hostage in foreign nations, and possible future events related to conflict between nations. These websites that no one hears about are a direct reflection of the First Amendment, which allows anyone and everyone to state their opinions about our government and foreign conflict. In today's world, media sources, such as news channels on television, social media, and newspapers and magazines seem to only focus on what will attract new and lasting viewers to their channel, rather than news that help people. These websites, antiwar.com and ...

 One of the greatest innovations of the century is the introduction of the smartphone to the public; more specifically, the Apple iPhone. Several major technology companies have created some version of the smartphone, but how has Apple been able to become, by far, the largest? It started on June 29, 2007 when the first iPhone was available for customer purchase. Similar to the iPod Touch of the last blog, no one really knew what was so special about the newly released iPhone. One of the main reasons why the iPhone blew up faster than its competitors was because it was released before any other company released theirs. No one had ever heard of a device that can fit in your pocket and was able to text, watch movies, play games, check social media, and browse the internet. However, the small group of people, called "innovators," are the reason why everyone has an iPhone today. These innovators served as the test subjects for the rest of the world, and once they appreciate the ne...

 Technology is always improving upon itself, exponentially. What seems like several years ago now, the first Apple iPod Touch was released to the public. I had no idea what this "iPod" was or why it was getting so much hype, so I had to ask Santa and his elves for one. I learned about this technology from my brother, who also got the new iPod Touch. The only difference between the iPod Touch and the iPhone was that the iPhone had cellular service. One could do everything else that the iPhone could do, but for about half the price of a base model iPhone. If you don't need internet connection away from the comfort of your couch, then the iPod Touch was a must-have for you. Now, Apple is on their seventh generation of iPod Touch and has the same purpose that it has always had; an iPhone without service and for less than half the price of a well-equipped new iPhone. When I got my first generation iPod Touch I could have been labeled the happiest person on planet earth. This i...

We all use computers, right? Nowadays, humans rely on online technology to communicate with each other, watch and edit media, and post online blogs. But how long have humans actually had computers for and what did it start out as? That is where this blog post comes in handy. In the year 1828, a man by the name of William Austin Burt from Detroit, Michigan was given a patent to create a device that could create "perfect" English characters on a piece of paper without worry of human error that comes with a pen and ink. This device was called a "typographer" and was destroyed in the Patent Office fire of 1836. A few years later in 1867, a man named Christopher Latham Sholes from Milwaukee, Wisconsin was responsible for the invention of the first practical typewriter. This device was mounted on a sewing machine stand and was very large to carry around. However, this device was not issued a patent until a year after in 1868, and was also not manufactured until 1873. Usin...

 The eight values of free expression illustrate,  in a simpler form, why the first amendment is so important to us, as Americans. One of the ways that the United States is considered "The Land of the Free" is because of this first amendment, which allows its citizens to speak, believe, and exercise practices freely and without issue. This practice is not present in most other nations across the globe, which is mainly because of overpowering governments that do not want to make themselves look weak to their people, so they disallow their people to speak negatively about them. Personally, I think that the first amendment is the most important amendment because we utilize the freedoms given to us everyday by this amendment, but may not even realize it. In regards to the eight values of free expression, personally, I believe that the second value, illustrated by Alexander Meiklejohn, is the most important value. In summary, this value implies that the nation needs an electorate i...

 In the early stages of the United States Federal Government, the majority of power was held in the hands of the state governments rather than the federal government. This has been attempted to be changed over the years, with the most significant case being Marbury v. Madison. In this case, John Marshall created what is known as "judicial review." As a result, this gave the Supreme Court a kind of "watchdog" role over the rest of the government. This term "judicial review" was a term that I was not familiar with before this class, but I can see how it played a role in the formation of our current government. The most important take-away point about the Supreme Court, in my opinion, is judicial review, which is the ability to declare an act from any other branch of government either constitutional or unconstitutional. What was really interesting to me is how the Supreme Court serves as the formation for the rest of the government, but the Supreme Court also...

 In the modern day, there are hundreds, even thousands of sources to inherit news and information from. Personally, I prefer to stick with the simplest and easiest to access sources, but I do not always find this information to be 100% accurate. My main source of news and information is Snapchat, mainly the "Discover" section of the app. This section is intended for quick, relevant, and recent information about the world, which could include NBA Finals ticket prices or a newly discovered at-home science project. I would recommend this source of information for people that want to learn something new or catch up in the sports industry. (https://learn.g2.com/snapchat-discover) Another source of information is the New York Times. This source, in my opinion, is one of the most trusted and influential sources in the entire nation. Its articles tend to lean towards the left side, meaning that not everyone will have sharing opinions about the New York Times as I do. The New York Tim...