Journal Entry #7: Digital Access

What I found most surprising in this unit is the fact that we are progressing so quickly with our technology. I never truly realized just how fast we're evolving in the digital world. No information was too difficult to find in this unit for me. I think it depends on the type of average lifestyle a person in that specific community lives. If they are all tech-interested people, then yes, they should have fast internet speed if they'd like - they can be more connected that way too, which is good. But if they're more of the outdoors-type-of-living people, or dislike technology and internet and those types of things, then it does not matter how quickly they're internet speeds are - since they won't be using it much.
When it comes to sharing material online, I am concerned for my own privacy - I think everyone should be. To prevent your material, personal or not, from being invaded, I think you should find yourself a good company (carrier) or system that can help with the protection of those things. Either that, or make sure you are extremely careful with what you post, share, or save.
I do worry that what I posted/did/said online as a kid (and even right now in this moment in time) might come back & "bite" me. In the future, and possibly now, there will be many many people out there who will look at my past & present digital-footprints. Though that scares me, I can do nothing about it. It's hard to say if it will get me in trouble in the future.
In my opinion, the biggest issue when it comes to younger people being online and sharing/posting, is the fact that they have no idea just exactly how much trouble it could quite possibly get them into in the near or far future. They should be educated on this a lot more - especially considering each day more and more kids are adapting and evolving with all of this technology.

How Computers Work

Hardware parts & what they do:

Central Processing Unit (CPU) or Processor - Located inside the computer case in computer's motherboard, the CPU is the brain of the computer. It is the part that sends out commands and messages throughout the computer. For instance, as I type this, I am sending commands/instructions to the CPU (processor.)

Motherboard or Mainboard - The main circuit board. This holds the CPU along with many other important parts, such as the memory, the connectors, expansion cards, and the video and audio parts. It can be described as a thin plate, that almost looks like it is a scenery from a plane's point of view of little cities & buildings.

Power Supply Unit - This is what makes the computer work, because in order to make it function, it needs power. From the wall outlet to the computer itself, power is sent throughout the machine and its components.

Random Access Memory (RAM) - The RAM is where the data is stored until it is needed. It has a short-term memory; so when your computer is shut off, it all goes away. In order not to lose that data, you have to save the project or material you want to keep there. The more RAM you have, the more things your computer is able to do.

Hard Drive - Long-term storage-unit. This is where certain software is installed, and other documents. This means your data can be saved even after you turn the computer off/close a file after saving it. The faster that your hard drive is, the better & quicker your computer can function.

Video Card - Without this, you wouldn't be able to see anything on the screen. It is responsible for portraying this screen you are looking at right now. Most computers have a GPU just built-in to the motherboard, rather than having it separate. For example, if you like to play video games on your computer, the better your video card, the better the video game can preform & work. The graphics will look a lot better too.

Sound Card - Responsible for what you hear through the speakers or sound system on your computer. Usually the motherboard will have this already, but if you're looking for a better sound card you can get one separate to put in it.

Network Card - Without this, your computer would not have internet. Whether it's through cable, or with wireless; the network card is needed in order to have internet. Motherboards normally have this built-in, but also this can be added into the expansion slot.

How To Use Instagram

Assignment #1: One Mississippi.

After seeing the distance in meter sticks that you're going while not looking at the road when you're driving it really made me think. I have never looked at it that way before. I think we don't realize that our actions - as simple or as grand - have major consequences... The commercial video that was shown of a movie theater was really good - I'd hope, from that, people would pay much more attention to things that matter when it comes to driving, and not to their phones. I have been in cars w/ people who text/call while trying to drive and it made me angry so I told them, and I will continue to keep telling people it's not exactly "the thing to do" too. They need to be more careful. I speak up a lot of the time about a lot of things, this is one of those things because someone could die.

Journal Entry #8: Digital Law

What I found surprising about this unit is that today there are so many helpful ways to deal w/ whatever you are going through when it comes to bullying and/or something personal. It's nice to see that so many people are willing to help each other out.
I didn't find anything confusing about this unit at all. I think the Copyright Matters manual is helpful, and could be put to very good use by other students too.
NeedHelpNow.com is really helpful for teens or even kids of other ages and adults. It has lots of good info.
The biggest issue in copyrighted subjects is that we so often forget to credit others.
The biggest issue when it comes to cyberbullying is that we do not have the respect for others or their personal material, we really need to start being respectful & cautious.

Assignment #2: CyberBullying (and Privacy)

1. One action is: Defamatory Libel: publicly making statements about another person that are likely to hurt their reputation or cause others to treat them badly or ridicule them (e.g. posting online that another person is a racist).

Another is: Uttering Threats: threatening to hurt someone, damage their property or hurt their pet.

2. There are many other sections in unlawful acts, the main four are:

-having a sexual video/picture being posted of you or someone else

-cyberbullying

-having a "youth crisis."

-seeking help for a friend of yours who is or may be in trouble

3. You can report a potential crime by contacting the police, visiting CyberTip.ca, speaking to a safe adult, and/or phoning Kids Help Phone (1-800-668-6868)

4. Helping a Friend: "Recognizing when a friend is not doing well or in emotional distress can be difficult. Knowing the warning signs and the steps you can take to help support and assist a friend in need may make a huge difference for your friend. It is very important that you pay attention to any dramatic shifts in how a friend is behaving whether in-person or through social networks (posts, tweets, messages, photos, links, etc.). What your friend says and doesn’t say, how emotional they are in their communication, along with message frequency can also be important in determining if you have a friend in need of help and whether you should be concerned about the risk of self-harm or suicide."

Warning signs: 

Messages that indicate a feeling of hopelessness and being all alone.
Frequent use of negative emoticons or concerning hashtags.
Dramatic shift in the type of messages being posted.
Pulling away from activities normally enjoyed.
Frequently talking/messaging about not feeling physically well (headaches, stomach aches).
Frequent reference to sleep issues.
Removal from online and offline socializing as a way of withdrawing and becoming more isolated.

Responding to Youth in Crisis:  "If you are concerned that a teen may be engaging in self-harming behaviour and/or having suicidal thoughts, it is critical that you act on those concerns immediately. Regardless of whether you are a parent, another safe adult, or close friend, reinforce that you are there to listen, support and help. People who receive support from caring family members and friends and who have access to professional support are less likely to act upon suicidal thoughts than those who are more socially isolated."

Signs of suicidal thoughts:

Changes in sleep
Loss of interest and withdrawal
Reckless behaviour
Personality change
Neglect of personal appearance
Substance abuse
Physical pain
Giving away belongings
Drastic change in online messaging

5. The 3 short videos shared a lot of really good advice. I was surprised to see how quick these things happened. I was not surprised at the fact that people are ignorant online and can be very rude. You should never let other people's words affect you negatively whether that be online or face-to-face. Some people may never see eye-to-eye on things and we have to accept it.

6. One way you could help promote #ChangeTheStory campaign is by telling some friends, maybe you and them could tweet the hashtag with a picture or something like that. Share your personal story on Instagram - adding in the hashtag #ChangeTheStory.

Journal Entry #5 (Digital Wellness)

What I found most surprising is that not many people are aware of what is right from wrong when it comes to online wellness or just the internet in general. Nothing about this unit was difficult in my opinion. The biggest issue, I think, is that so many young people are inappropriately using their internet privilages. 

Assignment #1: Copyright and Copy-wrong

1. The Copyright Act provides the fact that Fair Dealing will protect another person's work, considering protecting another's work is very important. Safety is fair.

2. "Teachers, instructors, professors, and staff members in non-profit educational institutions may communicate and reproduce, in paper or electronic form, short excerpts from a copyright-protected work for the purposes of research, private study, criticism, review, news reporting, education, satire, and parody." You can share a short excerpt: 10% can be shared.

3. "Copying or communicating multiple short excerpts from the same copyright-protected work with the intention of copying or communicating substantially the entire work is prohibited."
4. Yes, a fee can be charged when another's protected copyrighted material is used.
5. It depends on how the teacher is to use that certain copyrighted material... But, yes, they can for educational purposes - if it is used appropriately.
6. "Teachers and students can copy and communicate the text of federal, provincial, and territorial statutes, regulations, and judicial decisions for educational purposes from every province and territory except Manitoba, Quebec, and Nunavut."
7. "Yes, you can play sound recordings and turn on televisions and radios in the classroom, subject to all of the following conditions: • it must take place on the premises of an educational institution; • it must be for educational or training purposes; • it must not be for profit; • it must take place before an audience consisting primarily of students of the educational institution, persons acting under its authority, or any person who is directly responsible for setting a curriculum for the educational institution; and • it must not involve a “motive of gain.“"
8. Yes, students may perform plays/other performances with the use of copyrighted material. For drama classes, etc.
9. "No. Copying an entire musical score that is not in a copyrightprotected work containing other musical scores is not permitted."
10. Up to 10% of music may be copied under fair dealing. "The Copyright Act permits the public performance of music in schools when it is “in furtherance of an educational object.”"
11. "A person acting under the authority of a non-profit educational institution can: • perform a musical work live if the performance is primarily by students of the educational institution; • play sound recordings containing a musical work; and • play radio and television programs containing a musical work while the program is being transmitted (over-the-air broadcast, cable, satellite, or over the Internet). The following conditions apply. The performance must: • take place on the premises of an educational institution; • be for educational or training purposes; • not be for profit; and • take place before an audience consisting primarily of students of the educational institution, persons acting under its authority, or any person who is directly responsible for setting a curriculum for the educational institution."
12. "The following uses of live and recorded music are not permitted by the Copyright Act and therefore require permission and payment: • at school dances; • at school sporting events; • while people are on hold when they telephone the school; • at an event where the admission fee is intended to make a profit; and • on school premises for no other reason than as background music (e.g., in the classroom, cafeteria, halls, over the PA system, at school events such as fairs, carnivals, sociocultural events)."
13. Yes, they can make a single copy of these items to use.
14. An owner of a legit copy of a computer program copy can, yes.
15. There are many rules when it comes to copying off the internet that apply to both teachers and students. But over-all, yes, they may copy/download items off of the internet.
16. Any original work created by a student in school is copyright-protected. I feel that this is really important. 

Assignment #2: Privacy Please

The three situations I chose to both argue for & against are:

1. Our medical records should be all digitally stored online for all medical professionals to access within the hospital when needed.

4. Schools in 2020 should be closed and teachers and students should begin learning in virtual classrooms using digital technology at home.

5. Digital textbooks should replace entirely paper textbooks by 2020 in New Brunswick.

ARGUING AGAINST

     Argument Number 1: This could be a major issue, considering pretty much everybody is always online now. You never truly know who could have access to your personal medical records. What would happen if someone was to gain access to those and use them incorrectly, obtaining all your personal info of your allergies/disabilities, etc., that maybe you didn't want anyone to know? They could do anything they wanted to do with it, which is terrifying.

     Argument Number 2: I think this may be going too far, and here's why. First of all, students are going to go crazy - how are we supposed to socialize? Talk with friends? Parter up and learn how to work as team? Learn about teamwork and how to settle on/come to one idea among a team? I think if this does happen, we'll look like the people on Wall-E.
   
     Argument Number 3: What if somebody hacks the online textbook, changing the words? If everybody went by this form on education, I don't really know how I'd feel about it. What about the older textbooks that have been around for years and years? It's somebody's hard work, thrown away, replaced by technology. Let's talk about all the ancient documents from thousands of years ago for a second - imagine those artefacts just thrown out and transferred to some digital thing instead. I don't know about you, but I'd rather have a physical in-hand copy of something - to know it's legit.

ARGUING FOR

     Argument Number 1: This may possibly be very innovative. Doctors/nurses/surgeons/scientists/dentists etc., could put this to extremely good use. There are many positive possibilities for this. They'd be able to transfer or send certain documents to one another, on a certain patient. It would be easy to share things with each other on patients for sure. But, I would look out for a couple of things... For instance, they should make sure they have absolute permission from the patient that they will be sending these medical documents to another person. Another thing, they should assure their patients & make sure that these documents won't "get out" into the open. It all should be a private thing, and be protected, unless the patient says otherwise.

    

    Argument Number 2: Since the old times, we've worked in-class. I think maybe change would be good this time, today's society is growing and learning and building off of digital things now. I think this would be very good - in most ways.

    

    Argument Number 3:This may not be that bad. I think this also might be positive, in some way, on our society. The world is a whole lot different now. It is also always changing, becoming more "connected" too. Besides, the worse excuse any body could ever use is: "We've always done it this way." That doesn't mean a thing. Things are different now, and this possibly could be an amazing breakthrough, if it does become the reality. Maybe it could even assure the safety of important things and ancient files... who knows.