DAI 227 Week 3

1)     In Paulina Boorsooks Book "Cyberselfish" she contrasts the development of technologies that were group efforts and thus stand in stark contrast to the myth of the lone 'hero' entrepreneur. Name two such more group-based technologies. (Under the heading "Closer to the Machine")

a) The World Wide Web. Thousands of programmers from all over the world contributed in the Open Sourcfe computer movement.

b) The software of computers such as the operating system

2) In the section labelled "Human, Too Human" Boosook describes one type of technolibertarian - the "Extropians". What do extropians want or yearn for?
Extropians yearn for maximizing human potential by becoming transhuman. They believe we should enhance ourselves through as many surgical procedures as possible, through cryonics, through uploading brain-contents in computers, and reaching for the stars.

3) In her film BIT PLANE, Natalie Jeremijenko describes Doug Englebart as being a pioneer - of what? (view film via VIMEO link in separate post)

Natalie Jeremijenko describes Doug Englebart as being a pioneer of personal computing
4) In "Silicon Valley Mystery House" writer Langdon Winner compares the Silicon Valley to the Winchester Mystery House. In what way does he consider them similar?

The Winchester Mystery House and Silicon Valley are similar in the way that they both keep expanding at an astounding rate. The drive for expansion is fear, as both are “scared of death.” Mrs. Winchester kept expanding night and day in order to escape vengeful ghosts, and Silicon Valley keeps expanding to avoid declining profits. Rather than confusing rooms, Silicon Valley builds more offices, production plants, satellite hookups, etc.

5) In Langdon Winner's essay "Silicon Valley Mystery House" he describes East Palo Alto as a very different kind of place from areas such as upscale Stanford and downtown Palo Alto. What type of area is East Palo alto, "just  across highway 101"?

As described in the reading, East Palo Alto is a “forgotten land” that is considered ghetto and seemingly beyond remedy for poverty and unemployment. It is barely acknowledged by its “neighboring community of technical scholars”.

6) In her Processed World article "The Disappeared of Silicon Valley" Paulina Boorsook's "Deep Throat" (inside information source) describes some unpleasant realities of most Silicon Valley startups and how they end up. List two.

Most startups are not high-tech and are not venture-funded. People can lose their savings, salary, and even their sanity as the inside informative puts it. Even the hardworking people can get screwed when the company folds, gets acquired at a discount, or goes public then tanks.

7) What is the Long Now foundation and why was it formed?
The Long Now foundation was formed to develop the Clock and Library projects and counter the “faster/cheaper” thinking today with a “slower/better” mindset.

8) In the documentary DOCUMENTARY - SILICON VALLEY - A HUNDRED YEAR RENAISSANCE (1997) Steve Jobs describes the joy of successfully making "blue boxes" which let he and his friends make free phone calls. What aspect of this experience does he say was so important to the creation of Apple computer?
The experience of making “blue boxes” made Steve Jobs and his friend realize how powerful an idea can be. With the “blue box” they could control billions of dollars’ worth of infrastructure with a couple hundred dollars’ worth of tools. It gave them confidence and made them believe that they could influence the world.

9) List three aspects of the work of the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) - (see the "Our Work" section of their website)

EFF battles for digital freedom in the courts. They cover free speech, innovation, intellectual property, international issues, and privacy. More specifically, the EFF fights for issues such as bloggers’ rights, anonymity, privacy, copyright trolls, file sharing, etc.

10) According to Richard Stallman's website, what is his status in relation to the social media site Facebook?

Richard Stallman is not a fan of Facebook at all. He believes that people should create their own sites rather than relying on a social network. Since most people rely on this site, Facebook has a lot of power. The site stores our data and can take it away from us or use it in a way they shouldn’t. It threatens privacy in many ways, so people should not post their personal information on it at all. In fact, we should not use it period.