Group 4 FCC- Enhanced 9-11

Death by Convergence Podcast

Christine Spencer
Adrian O'Hanlon
Michael LaBelle
Kelly Rathbun

The Death of Old Media Through Convergence

The Great Firewall of China Video Podcast

Emily Ferriss
Abigail Elkins
Caroline Glithero
Vince Pennick
Sarah Curylo

Government Censorship vs. Self Regulation:
The Great Firewall of China

We Love Podcasts: New vs. Old Media

Joey Edwards, Samantha Renteria, Jen Albee, Jeremy Payne, Mike Carreon

Video Podcast: Narrowcasting

Lane Jurden, Heather Seidenschmidt, Callie Boenigk, Lauren Dauer, and Rachel Siekmann

Abigail Elkins- Post presentation reflection

At the conclusion of my presentation I posed the question, " In your opinion, do the social benefits of geolocation apps outweigh the privacy risks?" Overall, the class seemed to agree that because these apps are not popular enough within social networking many users do not feel the need to take part in geolocation services by posting their locations online. Several people commented that the apps are generally creepy and others said that they don't see the point behind them. The consensus was that it's too risky to post your location online in real time with all the possible privacy threats when the only thing to gain is a discount or two.

The question of the week was, "What social and economic forces shape communication infrastructure?" Researching for this presentation has allowed me to see the way geolocation is changing the face of social networking. These services are incorporating physical and online social experiences by allowing users to interact with others in the real and digital worlds simultaneously. Services like google maps have already overlaid virtual maps on the places we live and work. However, I believe that geolocation apps will further cement this change in the way we visualize the world around us by linking it to our social experience.

Siri and its Future

Today I will be talking about Siri, a voice controlled personal assistant for Apple's iOS. The application uses natural processing to answer questions, make recommendations, and perform actions by delegating requests to an expanding set of web services. With this product, I will be addressing the question of the week which is, "What social and economic forces shape communication infrastructure?" My answer to this question is accessibility and speed. The products that win out in the technological realm are the ones that have many features that prove its accessibility to information and how fast it can accomplish said tasks. The smart phone is a revolution of that type of access, with its 3G network and touch screen capabilities. Siri brings a whole new level of convenience to the "third screen" experience, with its voice processing capabilities. This level of hands-free accessibility could revolutionize the way we use technology. Google will seek to combat this competition by releasing versions of its own Google voice application, but Siri seems to be the most impressive one on the market to date. Google feels threatened by the amount of inquiries that will now be funneled through the Siri machine rather than their own. Ultimately, this ad-free, hands-free, companion-like personal assistant that Apple has released in its current iPhone 4S will shape the social infrastructure of communication.