Blog Post #10 The Diffusion of Innovation

 The Diffusion process of the Telephone

The diffusion of innovation is a concept that explains how new ideas, products, or technologies spread through society over time. Alexander Graham Bell's telephone is a classic example of how this theory can be applied and how his invention had an impact on society as a whole for all future generations to come.

A recap of blog post #7: In the late 1800's, the telegraph was the dominant form of long- distance communication. The telegraph used Morse code to transmit messages over a network of wires, but it was a limited device since you could only transmit short messages. Bell however, saw an opportunity to improve upon this technology by creating a device that would allow people to communicate with each other over long distances. Bell began working on this idea of the telephone in the early 1870s and received a patent for the invention in 1876. 

At first, the telephone was not widely adopted. It was first advertised to mainly kings and queens who could afford it. Bell and his associates had to work hard to convince people of the usefulness of the telephone. They conducted demonstrations and even sent telegrams using the telephone to show its potential. The first telephone exchange was established in 1878 in New Haven, Connecticut, and it took several years for the technology to spread beyond a few cities. 

The diffusion of the telephone was influenced by several factors. The telephone was a complex device that required a lot of wires and other infrastructure to work properly. This made it difficult and expensive to install, and took a long time to be put in place as well. At the time, many people were also hesitant to adopt new technology, especially one that was unfamiliar. 

Beginning in the early 20th century, the telephone had better evolved and started to become more popular to the public. By the 1920's the telephone became a desktop rotary dial phone. This enabled people to conduct business over long distances and grew the infrastructure world. The touch tone pad phone and wall phone were then introduced in the 1960's and 1970's and became accessible to the typical household. Telephone books, 9-1-1, and cordless landlines evolved soon after. 

Then the rise of the internet came into play in the late 20th century which led to a further era of new communication technology. It was made originally for researchers and scientists, but it quickly became a tool for the general public to access information and communicate with each other. In the 1990s, the first mobile phones with internet capabilities were introduced, and the era of the smartphone had begun.

Today, smartphones have changed the way we access information. They are mini- computers that allow us to access the internet, send messages, make phone calls whenever we want, and a wide range of other functions. They have become an essential part of modern life, and they are used by people of all ages and backgrounds. 

overtime the benefits of the telephone had become a global technology in the United States. In 1914, at the start of World War 1, there were 10 people for every working telephone in the U.S. By the end of World War II, 1945, there were five people for every working phone. In 1998, there was one phone for every man, woman, and child. Now, even the homeless typically have phones. This entire process, transformed the way people communicate with each other forever, and the diffusion of innovation process from the telephone continues to grow and will most likely never end. 

Blog Post #9 EOTO Terms and Concepts

  THE SPIRAL OF SILENCE THEORY

The Spiral of Silence Theory is a communication theory proposed by German political scientist Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann in 1974. The theory explains how public opinion is formed and how it affects individuals' willingness to speak up or remain silent on certain issues. It is based on the idea that people have a natural tendency to seek acceptance and approval from others, and that this desire can lead to the suppression of unpopular opinions. 

Noelle-Neumann argues that individuals are constantly monitoring their social environment to determine which viewpoints are popular and what opinions are not. People are more prone to keep quiet when they believe their opinion is in the minority because they are afraid of being rejected or socially isolated. On the other hand, people are more willing to speak up when they believe their viewpoint is shared by the majority because they feel more confident and secure in their position.  

You can visualize the spiral effect in the image to the left. The spiral effect unfolds as a result of people's impressions on the dominant public opinion which then influences their next actions and in turn influences other people's perceptions too. As more people remain silent on a particular issue, the perception that the majority supports the dominant opinion becomes even stronger. This sets up a vicious loop that can result in the restriction of free expression and the exclusion of minority viewpoints. 

This Spiral of Silence Theory is often used to explain why certain issues may not receive the attention they deserve or why some people may not speak up on important matters. For example, a person who holds a controversial opinion may choose to remain silent for fear of being ostracized by their social group. Alternatively, a person may publicly express a popular opinion that they do not actually hold, for fear of social isolation or backlash. The theory has also been used to explain why some people may choose not to vote, as they feel that their vote will not make a difference in the in the face of a dominant public opinion. 

Pew Research Center also did a study using 1,801 adults testing the Spiral of Silence Theory
and how it is relevant with social media. The study concluded that "in both personal and online settings, people were more willing to share their views if they thought their audience agreed with them." We see this a lot with social media, not only with certain opinions, but also with people only posting pictures not of their own liking, but for what they think other people will accept and consider to be 'okay' in society and what content will receive the most likes based on their following audience. This is all surrounded by a significant source of fear and anxiety that people have because of our natural need for social validation and acceptance from others. Certain news channels and reporters will also only share information that they feel their audience will like to listen to even if it is not necessarily true or the more right opinion. 

One practical implication of the Spiral of Silence Theory is that it emphasizes the importance of creating safe spaces for individuals to express their opinions. We need to start encouraging open dialogue, and creating a culture of respect and inclusivity. By creating an environment where all voices are valued, individuals may feel more comfortable expressing their opinions, even if they are in the minority. The Spiral of Silence Theory remains a valuable framework for understanding how public opinion is shaped and how individuals can be empowered to express their opinions. By creating a culture of respect and inclusivity, we can help ensure that all voices are heard and that minority opinions are not marginalized. 

Blog Post #8 What I learned from EOTO #1

During our Each One Teach One presentations, I learned many things about the media technologies. So many of my classmates had great presentations that taught me a lot about the history of the media that we use very day. One presentation that specifically caught my eye was the one about the history of emoji's. 

I was surprised when Ben presented his title because his topic was so different than the rest of us. I didn't see the relevance to emojis and the impact they have had on the way we communicate until after his presentation.  Ben started off by telling us that emojis have actually been used since the 1800's. The first emoji was actually used be Abraham Lincoln as he used ";)" in one of his speeches. Shocking right? since then emojis have grown tremendously and have become apart of everybody's everyday use with communicating. Emojis express how we are feeling when it is hard to interpret with using just text and words, or they simply just replace the words itself. My mother for example, really only communicates using emojis.  If I ask her how were day was she simply sends a 'thumbs up' which to me reads, 'it was a good day for her.' 

Additionally, another presentation I found profoundly interesting was the invention of the radio. I did not realize before how the radio completely changed the speed of communication. The first wireless communication led to the development of many other inventions that used radio waves, like the television, mobile phones, and satellite communication. Without the radio, news would take extra days and weeks to reach to reach the general public, and when that happened, most news was irrelevant by then. Music and entertainment also became revolutionized during this period. Before people had to use records and live music for their joy, now you could listen to music whenever you wanted, even during traveling. 

I was also fascinated by the creation of paper. It is definitely another overlooked type of media similar to the emoji, but this is actually something that would be very difficult to live without. Before paper, it was very difficult to store and share information. Or even, create information. Everything had to be done basically be word of mouth. When paper was created and mass-produced. We then saw the pencil, pen, type writer, ect., then come to life. Making our lives much easier.  

Overall, learning about these three technologies was very beneficial to me considering I did not know any facts or information about them before. They are all things we use everyday without thinking, but without them, I am not sure what life would even look like for me. I definitely appreciate these things much more now after learning the history of them and how they have impacted the world. 

Blog Post #7 The Age of AI

In the film, In the Age of AI, we see the complex issue of the new realm of artificial intelligence arise.  It is a documentary that explores the impact of artificial intelligence on society and the economy. The film features interviews with AI experts, entrepreneurs, and researches who discuss the potential benefits and risks of AI, as well as the ethical and social implications of its widespread adoption. The documentary explores various applications of AI, including autonomous vehicles, healthcare, and finance. It also examines the ways in which AI is changing the nature of work and the job market, and the potential impact of these changes on individuals and society as a whole. 

There are many positive attributes regarding artificial intelligence. In the documentary, it shows how you can get a loan in only eight seconds using AI, where as before, it was an entire long process. It also has the capability to replace human drivers to reduce human error on the highways. A company called Embark, has already created self driving trucks to deliver long distance items and commercial goods from California to Arizona. The path is created by a human and then delivered by an AI computerized truck. The truck is said to be 10 times safer than a human driver. So, to reduce traffic fatalities which is the number one fatality in the United States, the solution is to make artificial intelligence take over the highway to do the long distance rides and deliveries. 

Additionally, the impact of AI on health care has been extremely beneficial so far. AI has improved doctors errors and has helped create care plans and cures for cancer patients like never before. It is also able to predict which patients need surgery and which would be better without the surgery. After doctors went through the number of patients who have had surgery regarding breast cancer, AI discovered that only 10% of those people actually needed the surgery and the other people would have been better without it. It can also predict which patient's cancer is more likely to come back and when exactly that may happen. 

Even the best of us do not have enough computer power in our heads, AI makes it very helpful for us since it is much more efficient and intelligent. AI can solve 10 advanced mathematical problems and principals in just under one minute, when it may take a human 5 minutes to do one problem. AI can process information a billion times faster than us. AI is able to think, imagine, and see things in ways that we never have before, which helps us in turn, be more creative. We now have new approaches to climate change and cancer cures, two very pressing and current issues in our world, thanks to artificial intelligence. One interviewer from the documentary said "You would have to be a huge pessimist to not find the good news in AI."

However, with all of these amazing things about AI, there are also some scary cons to it. This is only the early decade of a multiword adjustment. That being said, we don't know much about it yet, its powers, what it is truly capable of. We all have an underlying fear that technology is going to take over the world one day, and I believe with AI, this is actually going to happen. The most scary thing about it too, is that there is no turning back now, because it is already here. There are many ethical issues with the use of AI such as people cheating. People are cutting their work short with the help of AI which is a good thing, but also a negative thing for obvious reasons. AI is also said to threaten 50% of jobs in the next 15 years. Not just blue collar jobs, but mainly white collar jobs due to there analytical process that can easily be replaced by a machine. 

Something that has recently just happened on to all users on Snapchat, 332 million people, is we now have our own personal AI Chatbox. It wasn't something we had to accept, it just appeared on our Snapchat screens this past Friday at the same time for everyone. You can not remove this new feature. It stays at the very top of your screen labeled "My AI" before all of your recent chatted people on the app. You can't even move it to be at the bottom of your friends list, it will only stay at the top. You can ask it anything like how you would ask ChatGPT for example. But now, it is at your finger tips, available for everyone to use that owns a Snapchat account. I provided an example of some questions you can ask it too image on the left. The response time was nearly a few milliseconds. This is insanity to me. 

Since the start of our world there has been five beginnings, these beginnings mark periods of significant change to human existence. According to Robert Kelly, the order of these beginning's are technology, culture, agriculture, the state, and finally the fifth beginning we are in right now, cooperation. With this, I would be surprised if artificial intelligence doesn't become the new sixth beginning. Overall, artificial intelligence presents a thought-provoking look at the opportunities and challenges presented by this rapidly evolving technology, and offers a glimpse into the future of AI and its potential impact on our lives. 

Blog Post #6 The Progressive Era

 Why Do We Never Hear About Anti-War Voices on the Mainstream News Channels?

As I was reading through some of the articles on Anti-War.com and the The American Conservative, I realized just how toxic the media is. I wish I knew more about these types of voices because I have learned new opinions and theories that I have never heard before. 

We believe in the news that we see everyday like FOX and CNN News, which is why we typically do not go out of our way to anti-war sites, or go out of our way to research what the media doesn't cover because most of these sites tend to seem not credible and suspicious. 

However, after going through these websites I have realized that the people writing these articles are not just regular people, but professional politicians who are highly educated on these topics. Whether we don't hear of anti-war voices because the government censors this type of media still, or because the media chooses to not cover this information due to biases and the revenue they are more likely to receive; the media is just flat out lying to us.  What and who are we supposed to trust?

The idea of protecting dissent right now is crucial because the popular idea is currently going to war. Therefore, the mainstream news channels choose to spend their air time covering the idea of going to war because that is the majority view and they want to aid those people in more knowledge who hold the majority view. They push for this voice to be heard rather than the opposing side because of the majority of viewers who want to hear what they want to hear. 

Those who speak out against war are often the first to be suppressed, particularly because it is a subject that is viewed as contrary to the government's interests. Despite living in a democratic society, those who oppose war are perceived as opposing the government, which is generally not accepted, despite our right to freedom of expression. 

It is clear to me that there are dishonest individuals working for manipulative organizations who try to persuade everyone to agree with them. There needs to be more peace among disagreeing voices so everyone has their right to express themselves equally without being censored or having to be afraid to voice your opinion and disagree with the majority.