Week 8 reading reflection

Since 2005, I have tried to switch all of my phone calls to Skype. Now that　I use Skype, it has drastically reduced my phone bill, from hundreds of　dollars a month  to under one hundred.
Also, most of my phone calls are made on my cellular phone. My phone calls　ratio of the 　landline to Skype to my cellular phone, is briefly 1 to 3 to 6. In other words, my usage ratio of voice to data is 1 to 9. I think this ratio almost reflect the future of telecommunication. As Christensen
mentioned, established wired services are expected to face a hard time when competing with data services. I basically agree with Christensen’s conclusion that the telecommunication industry will be shrinking. I think those telecommunication giants such as AT&T and SBC will survive and dominate the industry.

The infrastructure telecommunication possesses is a huge resource such as the existing infrastructure that mobile technology largely relies on.  As long as this extensive infrastructure stretches across the whole country and is under the possession of telecommunication companies, mobile companies must stay dependent on telecommunications companies..

1,Why hasn’t VoIP been very successful yet?

2,What do telecom companies need to do in order to compete with entrants in
the Voip technologies?

Group discussion 11/13

[Group discussion note]

Question: What Internet -related “rights” and “freedoms” should be guaranteed by government action? Since the internet is an international
medium (infrastructure), who is ultimately responsible for online justice?

In the discussion, we concluded that the freedom of the internet should be preserved. We do not think that there should be established a specific cyberspace authority to regulate it..The internet’s use is a global issue and there are so many variables. Each country has different ethics and social norms, so it is not only unfair, but also impossible to establish a global standard. However, the human rights issues, such as privacy and security, should be protected. The best government role to accomplish this is to provide basic information about the human rights issue and make it accessible as much as possible.  Everyone should have free access to information on cyberspace.Everyone has a right to be educated and to know about human rights issues without controlling measures.

All the people taking part in cyberspace should be aware of the basic ethics and share the responsibility for the virtual society. Government should guarantee people the right to access all the information. It is the people’s role to enlighten themselves and others in order to keep cyberspace a fair and productive space.   

Week 6 reading reflection

“. . .each pursuing his own best interest in a society . . .  believes in the freedom of the commons. Freedom in a commons brings ruin to all.” Should we simply apply Harding’s rather pessimistic claim about the idea that we are all selfish beings, to the internet world?  The internet exists as a free virtual world so far in that there is no unified authority to control and enforce people’s behavior. In my point of view, freedom is the driving force that has propelled the internet to its present state. I think freedom is the core philosophy of the internet and that each person using the internet should be able to pursue his own best interest in society. We should preserve the freedom and self-government of the internet world.Looking into today’s cyberspace, it seems to be more and more chaotic than in its initial days. Fraud, using false identities, and providing false information are some of  the negative result of having the least amount of control in cyberspace. However, if a governing body existed and controlled cyberspace, the internet would not have developed at this amazing pace. Cyberspace was built and developed by creative , inventive, forward looking people.One good example of a great idea on the web is Wikipedia. It established an ideal self-organized structure. People bring their knowledge to the site, differing points of view exist so arguments occur, people dispute the issues, and a standard definition is determined. The governing body offers the basic frame work for the flow of information, but they never complete the argument. I think this is one of the ideal solutions for organization in cyberspace.

Of course, most of the situations never proceed like this. In many BBS or Social networking sites, people lie, argue, and slander.  Freedom is a double-edged sword. It always attracts certain evil. However, I assume that the beneficial voices will also disappear if we try to control the cyberspace to expel fictitious or negative ones. Freedom is a precious right for cyberspace where people can work to improve the community voluntarily.

Questions

1, Cyberspace is virtually infinite. Can we consider Harding’s opinion as a
concern in the Internet?

2, Should we try to govern the cyberspace more strictly to improve it? Or
should we leave it as is?

A tool for democracy, a reading reflection of Communities in Cyberspace

I was so impressed by the story about the city of Wilmington, North Carolina.The residents of the area were supposed to work with the housing authority to develop a plan for the downtown redevelopment.  However, they were not satisfied with the information the housing authority provided, so they asked for relief on the Internet. Many experts such as architects and lawyers in cyberspace provided them with the knowledge of how to deal with the authority and led them to successful negotiations. This story suggests the ideal state and uses of cyberspace.As the authors mentioned in the article, cyberspace offers a kind of parallel society to the real world. In that, people in different races, social status, and occupations anonymously interplay and create cyber communities. Everyone who has access to the internet can ask help with solutions from any region of the world. In the last six years since this article was written, we have witnessed many cases where people in cyber space have united, and by sharing critical information, have successfully
stopped the excessive behavior of some large corporations.such as the Nike, sweat shop incident. Many examples are found in Gilmore’s article, “The Gates Come Down”, that we read last week.Kollock and Smith wrote, “The Internet is used as a tool for change in a disadvantaged community, demonstrating a way to route around unhelpful government agencies to find people with information and expertise that they are willing to share.” The Wilmington case, or Senator Strom Thurmond case
that was introduced in the article shows that the cyberspace we live in as well as our real life, is heading in a more democratic, healthy direction.  It is about time for us to spread the access to the cyber community to the third world where people suffer from poverty, disease, and inhumane acts. We should establish a direct hot line to the world for those who can not rely on their governments, by expanding cyberspace access to those countries.Questions

1, What are the downsides and upsides for anonymity of cyber community?

 2, Would an attempt to control on cyber community to expel fake information not discourage people from stating their opinions or sharing their information?