My Relationship with Social Media

The Role Media Plays in My Life

    Growing up, I never had much experience with social media. My mom works in technology control and risk management for a living so she was always very much against me and my sister being on social media. And as mad as I was back then that I wasn't allowed to have any form of social media when everyone else did and I felt so left out, I think really helped me in the long run and has a part to play in how I use social media today. That being said, once I got to high school, my mom trusted me enough to let me make my own instagram account. I remember it being such a big deal back then, she even went as far as making me sign a contract stating a bunch of rules I had to adhere to in order to keep my account. I like to think I am pretty responsible when using social media, as silly as it might be I still follow most of the rules from that contract. As for my digital footprint, I'd say its pretty clean. When you google Alexandra Pallander, you will find records of all of my gymnastics scores, track stats, and volunteer work. 

    We have to be aware that every single thing we put out on social media is now out there forever. Even snapchat, we think we can just send a picture to our friends and once they click out of it it just goes away forever. Well the truth is that it doesn't just disappear from existence, its out there where anyone with the right technology has the ability to access it. The things we post now can come back and haunt us in years to come. There have been so many instances especially as of late that we hear of people being so called "cancelled" because of tweet they posted 10 years ago. Technology is cool and social media can be a great platform but we just all have to be cautious of what we put out there and be aware that our actions now may have consequences later on in life. So don't put anything out there you think you might later regret. 

    The TED talk video about the Cayla doll especially scared me. People online today always joke about how their FBI agent is always listening and watching them through the phone and that video made me think we really shouldn't be joking about it at all. Because the reality is, there are people who are always listening in on us. I makes me think of targeted ads. I've realized for a long time now that if I look something up on my phone or even just talk about it with a friend while my phone is around, the next day I will get a bunch of ads for that exact product. Coincidence, I think not. And big surprise, there's not a whole lot of information out there about it. But even if it is true, I don't know that there's anything we can really do about it. I think it's safe to say just be cautious and mindful about those things. 

EOTO Awareness

 Five Eyes 

    

    Five Eyes is an intelligence alliance between Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The concept of this alliance started during World War II before the United States had even formally entered the war when British and US code breakers would meet in secret to discuss their goals for the post-war world. These secret meetings lead to the Atlantic Charter, which is a joint statement between the United States and the United Kingdom issued on August 14, 1941 that outlined these goals that they had previously talked about. The goals outlined are stated as follows; no expansion of territory, no territorial changes without the consent of the people, restored self-government, reduce trade restrictions, global cooperation, freedom from fear of any aspect of the government, freedom of the seas, abandonment of force, and disarmament of aggressor nations. The Atlantic Charter was signed on the first of January in 1942 and became the basis of today's United Nations. Interestingly enough, I found out that President Joe Biden, along with Prime Minister Boris Johnson, actually signed a document entitled the "New Atlantic Charter" just recently in June of this year. 

    Following the signing of the Atlantic Charter, the UKUSA Agreement took off. Each country part of this alliance are parties to the UKUSA Agreement which is a treaty agreeing to joint cooperation in signals intelligence. The United Kingdom and the United States were the first to sign this treaty in 1946. Canada was actually inspired to join this alliance by Winston Churchill's Iron Curtain speech and signed in 1948. Australia and New Zealand were the last to join this alliance and finally signed the treaty in 1956. The alliance formed with the UKUSA Agreement is now known as Five Eyes for the five countries that are a part of this union. 

    Today we have what is called the Five Eyes Intelligence Oversight and Review Council. This council focuses on all things signal intelligence, national assessment, defense intelligence. Members of this council exchange views and concerns, compare oversight methods; discussing practices that work and what does not, they claim to encourage transparency as a means to gain the trust of the public (take that as you will), and maintain contact with other similar councils, political offices, and other  countries unaffiliated with Five Eyes considered third parties when deemed appropriate. I would like to point out that there is actually not a whole lot of information out there about this topic which I think just goes to show the affect of these communication monitors. So all in all, I don't want to say that Five Eyes is basically just a big spy corporation but I'll let you come to your own conclusion on that.  

EOTO Communication Technology Timeline

 The Invention of the Printing Press

    Movable type was actually first created in China dating all the way back to the ninth century, but it was Johannes Gutenberg who was the one to perfect and popularize the printing press in 1450 which is how it got its nickname the Gutenberg Press. Gutenberg was in political exile from Mainz, Germany when he went to France where he started experimenting with printing in 1440. After many many years, he returned to Mainz with his invention perfected and ready to use within 10 years. 

    Gutenberg saw what was happening with movable type in China and came up with ideas as to how to he could perfect it and make it more accessible. In order to perfect his design, Gutenberg replaced the woodblock type invention used in China with metal and created printing blocks with each letter of the alphabet. He used the concept of replica casting to make the type available in large quantities and to various stages of printing. This concept called for the use of letters made in reverse followed by replicas made from those molds by pouring molten lead. It is believed by researcher that Gutenberg used a sand-casting system that used sand carvings to create the metal molds. The letters were created to fit together to form uniform, level lines and columns on flat matter. Another thing Gutenberg did to make this invention of the press work more seamlessly was make his own ink accustomed to attach to metal rather than wood. He also devised his own method for flattening printing paper by using a devise used to extract juice from crushed grapes in the wine making process. He repurposed this winepress into his design. Gutenberg's innovation lead him to perfect the his printing press in just 10 years, which would eventually lead to a sort of revolution of knowledge throughout Europe. 

    The Gutenberg Press had such a monumental impact on the world and was super influential in the spread of knowledge in Middle Age Europe. This invention allowed for the mass production of uniform printed matter such as text in the form of books, pamphlets, and newspapers, and for little cost. This helped to spread information widely, quickly, and accurately, causing a rapid spread of knowledge, literacy, and education throughout Europe. The printing press also made books widely accessible to anyone which caused an increase of children and adults who learned how to read. For the first time ever things like books were easily accessible to anyone who wanted them giving anybody the ability to learn things they were never able to before now.

8 Values of Free Expression

 The Eight Values of Free Expression 

    Scholars will often discuss the eight values of free expression that the founders of our nation constructed. These eight theories come from the first amendment and each relate to the freedoms we all enjoy today. Below, I have briefly described each of these freedoms in order to give a better understanding as to why they are so important in our society today. 

1. Marketplace of Ideas John Milton came up with the concept for this first freedom of expression. This theory of his basically states that when truth is confronted with deception, truth will always win. 

2. Participation in Self Government Alexander Meiklejohn came up with this concept of participation in self governance. This value suggests that voters are more likely to choose a viable candidate if they know more about them and what they say in order to form a sound opinion. 

3. Stable Change This concept suggests that if people are able to freely speak their minds without worries of consequences, they would be less likely to resort to violence to get their point across. This also allows for the government to better monitor groups that may be potential threats. 

4. Individual Self-Fulfillment When individuals are able to freely express themselves through speech, they are thereby able to create their own identity.

5. Check on Government Power This concept of checks and balances allows citizens and the press alike to participate in the restraint of government power.

6. Promote Tolerance Society as a whole must become more tolerant of hate speech, therefore making us more tolerant to other norms and teaches us and learn from these upsetting discussions.

7. Promote Innovation This theory suggests that in a society where free speech is valued, it causes its citizens to inhabit more creativity allowing for a more innovated and diverse community.

8. Protect dissent This value protects minority views under the First Amendment. We as a society are meant to criticize the government and not allow it to have complete control over us. 

    Of these eight values of free expression, the one that resonates the most with me is individual self-fulfillment. This value in particular really resonates with me personally because I myself have always struggled in creating my own identity. This freedom gives individuals the right to speak up and express themselves freely without fear of consequences for doing so. This can be so helpful in developing ones own identity, something that I myself and so many young people especially have a hard time doing. A reason I believe that young people especially struggle with this idea of self-actualization is because so many adults are not willing to listen. There has always been the stigmatism that children should be seen and not heard and that can be really detrimental to the younger generation of these really smart and extremely talented people who have so much to share with the world if people would only give them a chance, although I do believe that we as a society are getting better in this aspect. This freedom of expression also gives us the ability to find a community in other people who share our values.

Supreme Court 

The Inner Workings of the US Supreme Court

   I have never really known too much about the Supreme Court but am glad to be learning more about it. Established in 1789, the United States Supreme Court is the head of the judicial branch of government. It is the Supreme Court's job to draw boundaries of government power. In order to get the Supreme Court to take a case it must always start with a petition. Petitions are sent to justices once a week. After receiving the petitions, Justices have a trial court and meet weekly to decide which cases they should take. There are nine Justices of the Supreme Court who are each appointed by the President of the United States. A fun fact I learned was that a picture is taken every time a new Justice is appointed. 

 

    I thought a fun fact was that in these meetings the Justices always like to start of by shaking hands with everybody. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg says that shaking hands is just a good way to break the ice, and that you are more likely to listen to the opinions of others if you have shaken their hand and properly met them. Another rule they like to have in these meetings that I found very interesting is that everyone gets the chance to speak once before someone speaks twice. Once they come up with a decision in these meetings, the justices all gather to vote on which case to take and the ultimate decision relies on the majority side. One justice is chosen to write up a written opinion that they will then have to argue in a court of law.  Any Justice can write a separate disagreeing opinion. Compromise is inevitable. The Justices release copies of opinions to the press. My favorite take away from the video is the closing statement that "the power of the court is the trust earned of the American people."

Top 5 News Sources 

My Top 5 News Sources 

01 September 2021

#1 News Source 

    The number one place I go to for my news is instagram. As a young adult in this generation, I am on my phone a lot and spend a lot of my time scrolling through instagram. Every now and then I will come across a repost on someones story about the newest happenings in politics and will often click on the post and read more about it. Instagram even just recently added a feature correcting false information so you know the news you read is true and can find out more about it if you are interested. Not only can I find out more about the political world on instagram, but I also find news stories on the latest in sports, music and media. 

#2 News Source 

    The second place I find a lot of news articles is Twitter. When I'm not scrolling on Instagram, I am probably scrolling through twitter. Im not sure I would say twitter is a great source for all news but it is pretty easy to navigate and find articles on all aspect of news. Depending on the account you go to, it is easy to run into biased opinions on Twitter but its really up to you as to what you choose to believe. 

#3 News Source 

 

    My number three news source would have to be National Public Radio, more popularly known as NPR. NPR is a great news source to go for information on anything surrounding the world of politics. The site comes out with multiple articles a day keeping us up to date as to what is happening not only in politics, but also health and sciences, sports, and world events. 

#4 News Source 

    The fourth place I like to go for news is NBC News. I find NBC News to be a reliable and unbiased source that does not try to alter the beliefs and views of their followers. NBC is a good place to go to for more information on topics such as what's happening in the US today, what's going on in the world of politics, newest news on business and technology, and even news stories around the world. NBC is a great source to go to to find out about current events and is easy to just put on the TV when you want to now what's happening in the world today. 

#5 News Source

    My fifth news source would have to be CBS News. CBS is super easy to access, everyone with an iPhone gets the news app for free where CBS usually has one of the top stories. Its a great source for all things politics, science, health, money, technology, entertainment, and crime. Not only does CBS have a bunch of information about what's going on in the US, but there is even a plethora of information on CBS of different things happening around the world. I find it to be a pretty unbiased source to go to.