#cis 115

[cs-student-things]

CIS 115 Blog 4 - The Filter Bubble

            After watching the Ted talk i can really see that filter bubbles are a growing concern for many, if not all, users of the internet. This filter bubble in essence, strips away the pure rush of exploration an innocence of internet viewing as described on page 105-106 of “Tubes” by Andrew Blum when he talks about his eight-year-old niece and how “She’s an instant messaging, youtube watching, video chatting, iPad swiping member of her generation.”. This shows that she has never known a world without the internet and can view it in a much more physical and exploitative point of view. This point of view is what is being slowly destroyed with the use of such filtering algorithms the gatekeepers of all that we see on the internet. 

            I went on to test out how different this filter bubble is for each person, and as it turns out each person’s filter bubble is distinctly different from anyone else’s filter bubble. As I looked through my friend Amanda’s Amazon page and purchase history I noticed a few distinct things that were fundamentally different that mine. Her Amazon page had more thinks to look through than mine did. Her Amazon page also was geared towards more clothing items, like dresses and scarfs, and food items, like packs of assorted candies, twelve packs of instant cup of craft mac and cheese. Her Youtube page was geared more towards music than mine was. The ads on some of her videos were all clothing ads, aside from the generic ones everyone gets. This is because how she explained that she primarily uses her computer for school and shopping.

            My pages however were vastly different from hers outside of incognito mode in google chrome. When I tested out my Amazon page i found the exact opposite of what my friend Amanda had on her page. My Amazon page consisted of primarily searches for lego star wars the clone wars minifigures, as well as assorted technology gadgets like projection keyboards, mouse touch pads, and foldable screens. My Youtube page was also completely different from my friend Amanda’s page. Since i spend the vast majority of my Youtube time watching funny videos along side tech videos such as one that showed one of the first true holographic volumetric displays. My ads on Youtube were also geared towards upcoming video games like Shadow of War and Total War War Hammer Two. This is Because I primarily use my computer for video games and searching the endless pages of the internet as described in “Tubes” chapter 4 like being a beautiful monument and something to awe at and aspire to understand.

            I also went on to test out these site in google chrome’s incognito mode as well. The results were quite intriguing in comparison to both Amanda’s and mine computers. While viewing Amazon in incognito mode, all that was presented was just the generic items or the top selling items like game boys and other things like that. The ads on that site were also much different ion comparison to Amanda’s and mine, seeing as how they were all just generic ones and not tailored to any one person. Observing YouTube I found a similar outcome. All of the presented videos were just the top viewed ones or the most viewed ones of the past few days. And the ads were all just generic ads directed to the public as a whole and not to my specific tastes nearly as much as when i was logged into a non incognito mode page.

            This whole phenomenon is described perfectly in the Wired article  “Your Filter Bubble is Destroying Democracy” in which it goes on about how the “filter bubble” is stripping us of our free will to explore the internet as we see fit. Instead we should be able to explore the internet as we see fit. This bubble is simply not ethical and shouldn’t be allowed to exist for much longer.

[metalxrose]

Blog One

Hi everyone, I’m Jessica and I’m here to tell you just a little bit about myself. To start off, I’m an air force brat who got lucky when it came to moving around. When people think of the military, they tend to think of constant moving – this wasn’t the case for my family and I. Being born in Florida, my dad was given orders to relocate to somewhere in the lower 48 and then relocate once again in a few years, or he could move his family to Alaska where he could opt out of relocation. Assuming that it would be easier on his family to not have to move around every couple of years he opted for the latter (well, that and who wouldn’t jump at the chance to live in Alaska? It’s a breathtaking place with so much to do…as long as you don’t mind the cold during winter.) We would stay in Alaska until I was going into 8th grade, so about 9 years. We ended up in Kansas when he finally retired from the Air Force and was offered a job on Fort Riley.

When I started school, I was sure that I was going to go into a medical profession, however, that quickly changed. I started taking classes at two community colleges shortly after graduating high school (I graduated a semester early) and about halfway through I realized that the medical field wasn’t where I was going to be my happiest. I’ve been using computers for as long as I can remember and I’ve taught myself a lot about them. It was actually an interest in HTML coding that sparked my interest in going into the computer science field. My goal? I’m aiming to work as a software engineer for NASA (you could say that I look up to Margaret Hamilton).

I chose to transfer to K-State because it was close to home. When my sister was 16 she became pregnant and gave birth to my niece when she was 17. I stepped up to help her out and in doing so I formed a very special bond with my niece. I couldn’t see myself being able to go to school somewhere that would take me away from her and lead to me missing out on important events on her life. This decision was further cemented when my sister became pregnant last year with my nephew – he is almost four months old now.

My family is very important to me and we are all very close, it’s nice because we are all able to help each other out. I am able to help my sister go to school herself by being around to assist in watching her children. I couldn’t imagine it any other way and, thankfully, K-State has been able to allow me to do that.

I am very excited for this class and I am already loving it. I feel like it is providing me with a good, solid foundation for my future classes. Typically, when I am looking for news on computers and technology I will venture onto the basic news sites such as cnn.com and USAtoday. I also enjoy watching youtube videos on technological news and, while the textbooks likely aren’t going to be a place that I go to for news, I do believe that they will help me a lot in this class. From simply skimming through the books I am excited to read all of them, however, a few chapters definitely caught my attention, most notable chapters 6 and 7 – Memory: Information and Secret Codes and Speed: Parallel Computers from The Pattern on the Stone. These two chapters caught my eye because of how science fiction like the titles are.

[randomman97]

The Bubble Filter

I was tasked with taking a look at the things that appear on a friend’s laptop. We are taking a look at their personal filter bubble. Websites make assumptions based on the information related to the user, such as former click behavior, browsing history, search history and location. For that reason, the websites are more likely to present only information that will abide by the user's past activity. This is the filter bubble. I chose my roommate Ethan Copple. Ethan is a photographer. He is majoring in Anthropology and Industrial Engineering.

The first thing I took a look at was his browser history. Everything was pretty normal college things. There were searches for homework and news articles. But one that was out of the ordinary was a website for these weird German inflatables. Some were shaped like military vehicles, some were shaped like animals, and some were even words. They were hilarious to see and amazing to find out what my roommate finds interesting.

I looked at his Amazon history next. Suggested for him were pens, pads, ink bottles, and a bunch of calligraphy books. There were also a few cameras suggested. The pens and such appear because he has been learning to write more beautifully to send letters to his girlfriend. I figure the cameras are due to his photography. The ads to the right of the page showed shoes and amazon music. Now the shoes ad is obviously because of his growing nice collection. The music ad could very well be an ad just for another Amazon product, given that it is on Amazon’s website. It could however be due to his love for music.

My Amazon history is more focused on video game items. Not necessarily games themselves but amiibo for my WiiU and game guides/art books. Since I plan on owning every single amiibo and recently purchased three more about a week ago. They also show a bunch of books from a series I used to read as a kid because I have recently thought about reading them again. As well as books based on some of my favorite games.

I then looked at his YouTube account. He had a lot of education videos. Some documentary style videos, some fun fact style. He had some gaming mod reviews because he enjoys some game playthroughs and mods, and a few fitness videos from Picture Fit.  This is due to his willingness to learn and his constant state of health and fitness. He works out almost every day so it makes sense to watch videos about staying healthy and working your body.  He is subscribed to a bunch of channels. Some include, Bro science (a fitness/comedy channel), Smosh (a comedy channel), news channels, and travel vlog channels. The videos recommended to him line up well with the channels he is subscribed to and the videos he watches.

I have videos recommended for me that include nothing but Gameplays, top ten videos, and comedy videos. I am subscribed to people like Smosh, IGN (a gaming news channel), Gaming channels (where they post about their favorite games and even play some of them), and a whole lot of Nintendo centered accounts. My recommended videos reflect my recently viewed. A gameplay video of Pikmin, a game theory, a “Top 10 game show scandals”, and a video about Satoru Iwata from “Did you know gaming”. The ads that play before the videos seem to be about the same although I did seem to get a couple more mobile game ads. It could be a coincidence or could be due to my greater interest in games.

Finally I looked at Netflix. We both enjoy the same stuff. We both enjoy animated comedies like “Family Guy”, live action comedies like “The Office”, as well as action-adventure movies. I, however, watch more Superhero shows then he does. Now thanks to what he has watched, Comedy shows like Futurama, Friends, and Ferris Bueller. Also recommended for him were shows I had already seen like Lost, The imitation Game, and Forrest Gump. He did tell me that he has seen Forest Gump outside of Netflix and loves it, which could possibly be reflected in his Anthropology major. Now it is hard to compare my recommended to his because I share an account with my girlfriend  so while some of the recommended is the same there are a lot of romantic comedies and shows directed towards women that I doubt he would ever want to watch.

One last thing we found was that while Facebook ads followed our likes more closely, we were more interested in the top trending portion of the homepage. We found, by comparing with other people on our floor, that the top trends are different for every person. While some people may share some trending topics, there are many topics that are unique to that person. Like Red Dead Redemption did not show up on people that didn’t like video games, but it did on Ethan and I’s. This is fascinating to us because what if I wanted to know why something was trending but it didn’t show up so I had no idea it was going on. For instance, keeping with the RDR theme, what if I played the first game and loved it but since I don’t play many other games it didn’t show up so I had no clue a second one could be coming out. That would suck, and thankfully I play so many games it is dumb.

Thanks to cookies and data collection, us as computer users can have an experience where we have no trouble finding things that interest us because we constantly see new things suggested for us. And ads are always pesky, but because they can be somewhat attached to our likes, we are not so annoyed when we see them.

[dopecreationsweets-blog]

CIS 115

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[bendoescomputers-blog]

The end.

This is it. The end. El Fin. The (probably) final original post on this blog. My computer science class has come to an end and my final blog prompt is "where do I go from here?" A fantastic question really, one whose answer has changed so much since this class started. When I came to this school to pursue a degree in software engineering my long term focus in computer science was cyber security. Now, eighteen weeks, thirteen blog assignments, two free textbooks, and a switch from software engineering to computer science and math later I can say with the utmost certainty that the following is the unequivical answer: I have no clue.

My focus is still probably going to be on cyber security, but there are a number of other things that hold an appeal to me now. Network administration, software design, AI development, cybernetics, and even robotics (a field I never would have considered after a partcularly bad highschool experience) are all things I would now consider studying.

Looking forward scholastically (since school is a large part of my forseeable future, yay for grad school), the classes I'm probably looking forward to most are the cyber security classes. The two lectures we had in that class demonstrated that I know next to nothing about cyber security beyond footprinting. At the very least I do know plenty about footprinting. Outside of school I'm hoping to get a government cybr security job or any job abroad. I'm not too sure how those would work together though.

My plans for the future are ultimately flexible. As I've said before, I'll be happy in any job with computers, and there are probably a good number of non computer jobs with which I would be happy. In the end what I learned from this class is that the field of computer science is a lot broader than I had imagined. It is also one that is more widely spread than I had believed. It turns out that computer skills can land you a job with nearly any company. It's a field that may seem volatile, as the ex-techie at my dad's company said "technology always changes, so I figured I may as well get a degree in sociology." There's a reason he's the ex-techie. The most important thing I learned is that, while Computer Science has changed a lot since Babbage's counting machine, it really isn't all that different.

[bendoescomputers-blog]

As much as I hate to admit it, and despite my most valiant efforts, I fell asleep during our industry speakers panel. Sadly, I missed about twenty minutes off information in addition to however much time I spent focusing on not falling asleep. This wasn't because I wasn't interested in the speakers themselves or what they had to say. I had been looking forward to that panel since it was announced. Sadly, my class schedule for the day has me getting up at six am and going to class until five fifteen with no time for naps in between. I'm slowly beginning to realise this is not a good thing.

During the parts I was in my right mind for, I did get some interesting information. For example, a lot of them mentioned it would be a good idea to work before going back for a master's degree. This wasn't my original plan, and isn't my exact plan at the moment, but it did remind me I should probably make sure I like the field I plan to study before I begin Graduate School. They also talked about different benefits their companies provide and, while not every benefits package is made equal, they all sounded pretty neat. As my readers (if any are out there) remember, I didn't have too much info on tech companies when I had to write about those. Now I know about four more companies that are located nearby.

After hearing about these companies I would certainly consider working for them, (especially if they give their employees oppurtunities to travel). At this point in my life I'd like most to work in cyber security (a nearly universal field), but I feel like as long as I'm working in computers I'll be as happy as I'd be in Cyber Security.

I'm very greatful for having the industry speakers despite what impressions my state of consciousness may have given to them. The information I got from them was helpful and will continue to aid me as I go forward in computer science and possibly cyber security.

[bendoescomputers-blog]

In a shocking choice I decided, when asked to write about a prominent technology company, to talk about Google. Of course, Google the company isn't exactly the same company as it used to be now that they've restructurred themselves. A number of their projects are now being managed by their holding company Alphabet. Nevertheless, Google is still a company I have a lot of interest in. The numerous services Google provides, including maps, music, drive, and hangouts have all become important tools for me since switching from an iPhone to an Android. Granted, most of their Apple equivalents were important to me when I have an iPhone, but I've found a number of Google's services to be improvements. Using Google Maps has made navigation a lot simpler since it's a lot more precise. I recall an instance where my Iphone got me to a crossroad with two buildings that could've been my destination on either side, but my iPhone told me to take a left when my destination was right. Returning to the same place once in the next year my Android told me the correct directions (although at that point I remembered to go right anyway). Granted it had been a year or two, and Google maps had been around for awhile longer than apple maps (which has improved a lot since its initial launch). Small differences like that are the reason I decided to continue using android phones after my first one.

Alongside using their products, I wouldn't mind working for them either. Every story I've heard about working at Google (or any other tech company in their area) makes me wonder why anyone would choose another field. Of course, their hiring system probably isn't nearly as entertaining as it was presented in The Internship, but I'm not so sure that's a bad thing.

Google has come a long way since they started out as a search engine for the internet. Since then they have expanded into doing maps, distributing music, supplying phone software, having a mostly decent translation system, supplying cloud storage for documents and slideshows. They even bought out the best known video sharing website. Frankly, I'd be happy at any tech company but Google is the one I know anything about, however limited that knowledge may be.

[bendoescomputers-blog]

Tubes by Andrew Blum

This book did not hold my interest. The topic could have been interesting if I had no backround information on the subject. In addition, the subject of what the internet is and it's history are, like many other things that involve history, entirely uninteresting to me. The author talks relatively early about the development of the internet as a military pursuit. This is something I already knew about it from lectures in various classes, including the one for which I am writing this blog, and science museums. Then there's the subject of how the internet works today, as a series of data centres located in various buildings around the world. This seems to me to be a bunch of trivia that would only be useful to Jeopardy afficionados such as Ken Jennings, Watson, and Sean Connery. Don't get me wrong, There could be some useful instances where knowing that the internet is more than just some abstract thing connecting people to each other, but a collection of tubes connecting everyone, but I feel like a number of those situations involve challenges to one's true status as a computer scientist from a computer scientist looking to justify his knowledge of how the internet works. Or maybe when you're trying to get a job maintaining the internet. Beyond a general uninterest in the topic of the internet I'm still a little annoyed about a poorly made documentary about the internet that was only hosted on a website that decided every few seconds it needed to load the next few seconds, and only the next few seconds of video.

I wouldn't necessarily say I don't recommend this book to anyone, it's not exactly a bad book. The problem is that reading a book about the internet when you already know everything you want to know about the internet is just as interesting as reading a book immediately after listening to the radio show adapted straight from the book with almost no changes (which may or may not be something i've done in the past). All in all, the Tubes is a well written personal account of a man's journey to find out more about the internet. It's an especially interesting take, starting from an outlet on his wall and journeying further and further into the depths of the internet. It's a more interesting perspective than simply presenting the information he found with no embelishment whatsoever.