Where is Everybody

Clay Shirky, in his book Here Comes Everybody, discusses the rise of the internet and new communication tools. He details how these advances in technology didn't directly cause people to do anything, but weakened or eliminated barriers. Some of these barriers were finding a group with similar interests, the cost to publish something, and even the difficulty in assembling a group of people. As these barriers came down, people took advantage of the new ease and started working together to make incredibly large and complex things (i.e. Wikipedia or Linux).

I have seen some of these changes growing up. When in elementary school I had to call someone or go to their house to try to do anything with them. In high school the use of e-mail was more prevalent, instant messaging was commonplace and people could now text each other to set up events, but their groups largely consisted of the people they interacted with from day to day (especially since MySpace was frowned upon by parents). As i started college I found more people using Facebook and liking pages where they now could meet people online with similar interests.

However I don't personally know anyone that met some "friends" on Facebook and then later got together for a party or an evening of fun. These cyber friends are largely non-existent. People still hang out with the people they interact with on a day to day basis, while they never meet the friend that likes all the same things they do, but lives across the country. The cost of travel still inhibits these people from meeting. While the people with similar interests in the same area generally meet from another individual or an organization sporting a club. The dropping of cost barriers in communication allow me to "meet" new people online, but its real help is in facilitating planning with my group of close friends, and things are likely to remain that way until the travel barriers also drop.

Copyrights: Who do they Protect?

Over the past 20 years a new term has come up in relation to music and movies: pirating. It is espoused that when people "pirate" a song or a movie by copying it and distributing it, they are stealing money from the author of the work. However, Orson Scott Card, in MP3s Are Not the Devil, states that most of the money goes to the distributor, much more than they need to make a profit, instead of the author. The author hardly makes anything form the sale of a CD. They couldn't care less if you actually bought the CD, in fact some encourage people to share their music with their friends. Its the big corporations that make money with sales and lose it when something is pirated. Copyrights and anti-pirating acts benefit the record company and not the author. This is wrong, if I were to invent something using a sheet of paper I borrow from my roommate the profit should not go to him. I should pay him for the paper and maybe a little more because of the added benefit I got from it, but not most of what i would make. In essence, that's what these record companies are doing. They rent our the use of their facilities and people, foot the bill to burn a CD and then demand most of the profit, amounts well above production costs, just because they can manipulate the copyright laws to their own advantage.

Lack of Women in Computing

As a Computer Science major I can often go semesters with out seeing a girl in my classes. In fact, I can think of only 3 girls ever being in any of my classes, and only 3 others in lower level classes seeking a degree in CS. The problem is how Computer Science courses are taught. My first interaction with Computer Science and programing was my freshman year, I took CS 142 and loved it. Programming made sense and came easily. My sister, who I must begrudgingly admit may be smarter than I am, was pursuing a degree in math or math teaching. One of her required classes was CS 142. I thought it would be an easy class for her, yet she had to withdraw from it. It didn't make sense to her, even with hours of help form the TA's. Men and Women learn things differently, our minds just work that way, as can be seen by the fact that no man knows what a woman is thinking. Computer Science was developed by men an taught in a way that we understand, but this isn't the way women think and understand and to most of them it is utter nonsense. This leads women to dislike the courses they are taking in programming and to pursue other degrees. Until these fundamental courses are taught in a way that women understand, and possibly until a programming language is developed by women, women will avoid these courses and degrees.

The Promise of the Lord

A craze has recently swept through the world: a desire to do family history. For some it is a hobby, for others it is a duty. Not much distinguishes these groups of people, as both stem from the same source. God has promised, in several books of scripture, to send the spirit of Elijah and turn the hearts of the children to their fathers (3 Nephi 25:5-6, Malachi 4:5-6, Doctrine and Covenants 2). The differences between the modern revelation (D&C 2) and the ancient ones reveal the reason for the sense of duty felt. D&C 2:3 says, "If it were not so, the whole earth would be utterly wasted at his coming." God's purpose in creating the earth is for us, to give us the chance to learn and progress and become like him (Moses 1:39). If we fail to do family history, billions of people will never have the opportunity to accept the Gospel of Jesus Christ; they will never have the chance to become like God. As this chance was the purpose of the earth, without family history the earth would have been a waste. It wouldn't fulfill its purpose, like a car that never gets driven. But the Lord is faithful and has sent us the desire to do the work; the earth will not be wasted.

The ever buisy leaders

The way the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has instructed its members has gradually changed and expanded though time. At first the prophet directly taught everyone. As the church grew the prophet could only visit the members from time to time, which grew less frequent as the number of people steadily increased. Technology evolved and the church could send images of the prophet and apostles all over the world through television and the internet. For some, these broadcasts are the only chance to see the leaders of the church. L Tom Perry's article "Thou Shalt Give Heed unto All His Words", and Lubeck's "The Church and Computers: Using Tools the Lord has Provided" really show how pervasive technology has become in disseminating the word of the Lord to his followers. And only through the continued wise use of technology will members be able to interact with their leaders.

Finding the Middle Ground

Revolution OS discusses the development of open source software, more particularly Linux, from the perspective of the open source community. They depict Microsoft as the big bad guy, when this wasn’t the case. Microsoft tried to protect their investments, their programs, and did so by locking down their code and copywriting it. The open sources thought all code should be shared so it can be improved. However they also lock down their code: they made a licensing agreement that could be used to charge people for what they use. This is the same that Microsoft was doing. The only difference was the availability of the source code. So rather than what Microsoft was doing being inherently evil, it went too far. They brought up the analogy in the movie of bringing snacks to school, yet use it in a distorted way. When kids go to school and take a snack the teacher would say I hope you brought enough for everyone and require the kid to share it. Now the kid isn’t giving out the recipe for the snack, nor is he taking more from the store without buying them; he is sharing the one version he had bought. This would be like bringing Windows in on a machine and letting everyone play on that machine and use Windows. Not giving out copies of Windows. So where do you draw the line.  By letting people have the source code they may take it, copy it and redistribute it without paying, but they can then find errors and improve upon the program they have to fill the needs they have.

Helping Too Late

The inability of state and federal agencies to act is highlighted in "the Cuckoo's Egg" by Cliff Stoll. They agreed that the guy's position was just, but they couldn't help him, either it was out of their jurisdiction or not worth their time. At least they believe this. Sometimes part of the solution would fall under one agency but they don't believe they have the power to act. The early members of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints faced a similar issue when trying to gain redress for religious persecution. "When approached by Joseph Smith in 1839 seeking financial redress for the injustices suffered by the Saints in Missouri, President Martin Van Buren replied, "Gentlemen, your cause is just, but I can do nothing for you." Documentary History of the Church, 4:80" (obtained from lds.org).  Yet years later the president makes a decision to free the slaves, something not backed by the constitution, though equally right and unpopular. We are so focused on not being the one to set a precedent for extending power to the government, that we will sometimes let injustices go on for years.