Week 12: Clear

I feel like everything was quite clear as we've covered a little bit of everything that was discussed this week in  previous weeks (or with security, will be discussing it in the future in depth). I was kind of confused as to the purpose of this weeks lesson due to that. The discussion was interesting, but that feels like it could easily replace this blogging assignment for the week.

This lesson really just tied all of the things we've been learning nicely together  (networking, waves of computing, DNS, protocols, Etc.) and added some Internet history and specifics; which was very interesting. I did go online and delve deeper. I found out that Norway was the first to disconnect from  and implement TCP/IP over SATNET. Apparently this was before but around the same time the ARPANET implemented TCP/IP.

The history I found is a very detailed timeline and can be found here.

I guess what this timeline made clear to me is that before and after the creation of the Internet through implementing TCP/IP, there were are a lot of hardwired network infrastructures that were set up. It showed me the scale of the Internet "hubs". These I suppose these are the vertebrae or centralized locations seen on the infographic in this weeks lesson.

Week 6: Clear

Photo by: phradaka
Open Source software is, typically, freely distributed software and source code. The first time I ever came across a piece of open-source software was when I was introduced to the Linux OS. At the time I had known some computing "revolutionaries" (this was in the late 90s) who espoused the use of this OS as it challenged monopolies held by Microsoft.

The went on to explain that more and more open-source software would continue to show-up (and they were spot on in that prediction as even Google went on to create a slew of open source software mimicking many programs offered commercially; they're open-source program office now homes 250,000 open source programs being created as we speak). They likened the concept to the ability to use manual transmission in a car: it gives you slightly more control over how the engine works. Likewise, the use of command prompts, among other things, allowed them to use their computers in whatever manner they would like.

Linux was created by Linus Torvalds, and was based off of Unix and the GNU project. However, as no free kernel (which connects application software to the hardware in a computer, as seen in Prof. Olsen's layer cake analogy) was available at the time, he set off on creating his own. The code in Linux is allowed to be manipulated and redistributed (hence, open-source), and has led to the many different forms of Linux available to us today.

Week 5: Clear

Multimedia use is now simply becoming a standard tool in many industries. I understand this well as a student studying journalism. The new rule of the day: when posting content online, use multimedia tools. Those who don't, are losing an audience.

This being the case, I am not surprised to find out that the same concepts are being used for presentations. Furthermore, no one in higher education should be surprised: since my first day of classes in 2007, any presentation has required links, video, audio, or images along with or in place of text. After all, what is the point of PowerPoint? If we didn't require these tools, we would still be using projectors and pieces of paper, right?

One thing that I did notice was missing, however, was interactive content. Things like polls, FAQs, animated maps, 3D tours, etc. to further their understanding. I do agree, it doesn't have as much place in a presentation, but under the right circumstances it could be an amazing addition. After all, it is the future of multimedia!

Here is a link to the journalism 2.0 blog, in case you are curious as too how multimedia affects journalism. Also, a full, free .pdf can be found here for the book of the same name.

( photo from http://www.kcnn.org/resources/journalism_20/) 

Week 4: Clear

Distribution channels are very clear to me. I can understand it in terms of my work history in retail, by understanding how many of our goods came from multiple sources in a direct distribution channel. Furthermore, I can understand it through my observations of my step-father's business Amedank Holdings, which in its current state is a auditing and weatherization (in conjunction with The Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP) enables low-income families to permanently reduce their energy bills by making their homes more energy efficient services provider; however, originally it was a distribution company that collected goods from multiple "green" companies and sold them through a web site. Finally, the products were shipped from their home.

In both cases we are dealing with the final firms of a distribution channel; however, the products supplied came from multiple sources  --and especially in the case of my step-father's company-- and often products came through a chain of multiple firms.

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