I attended an event held by Santa Clara University today where Lori Andrews discussed the idea of a Social Network Constitution in which Lori asks the question to every social network user out there, ‘how can you protect the privacy of your digital self?’ Lori Andrews  is a distinguished professor of law at IIT Chicago-Kent; director of IIT’s Institute for Science, Law and Technology; an associate vice president of IIT. and  a well-known author of 10 non-fiction books, and an author of more than 150 articles.  Of those novels, is  I Know Who You Are and I Saw What You Did:  Social Networks and the Death of Privacy. Within this book shows how people can fight back when what they post on social networks is used against them.  She also ignites a battle for further protections, from a right to connect to a right to privacy, and proposes a Social Network Constitution to protect us all. Below are the ten rights Lori places on the Social Network:

1.   The Right to Connect.

2.   The Right to Free Speech and Freedom of Expression.

3.   The Right to Privacy of Place and Information.

4.   The Right to Privacy of Thoughts, Emotions and Sentiments.

5.   The Right to Control One’s Image.

6.   The Right to Fair Trial.

7.   The Right to an Untainted Jury.

8.   The Right to Due Process of Law and the Right to Notice.

9.   Freedom from Discrimination.

10.   Freedom of Association.

Within Lori’s contribution to the problems that arise on facebook, she brought up some pretty interesting facts. Facebook is the third largest nation in the world in terms of sheer size. Google knows what you look like, what your personal appointments are, who you are, etc. There are even claims that facebook is analyzing your phone texts. What is now being questioned is the amount of information sites like facebook is using for “research,” Privacy is this fundamental value in society and the social networking sites as well as most of the internet sites (search engines, food services, etc.) where you provide some information to find out more information end up ultimately keep “track” of your activity and from there can utilize that information of yours to their advantage.

I think that now we need to be even more careful on social networking sites because there is this eery feeling that whatever you do place up there, you can never take it back. It’s a permanent, living source in which, if it’s the right person, anyone can access. Lori has a point that the internet (meaning all of the source providers, engines, etc.) should work towards certain principles to protecting people’s information.

What is a Hypertext, a root/remote folder, a local folder, a file server, etc… As a novice web designer, I struggled in my English 138: Internet Culture class trying to comprehend how to organize my materials so that when uploaded on a server, was legible, the images were in tact, and the links functioned. Coming from a Graphic Design background, I understood the basics of a webpage layout, but never before was I involved in coding a website. In hopes to advance as a graphic designer and creative guru, my next step naturally became to take advantage of designing and creating websites. Because this class focused on problem and project-based learning, it was hard to fall behind. I fell behind right off the bat with my personal hypertext and have had a hard time getting caught up ever since. The first hypertext was a project to celebrate my “networked self” and while I enjoyed writing about a passion of mine (searching for the most innovative and creative ideas) my hypertext became too broad and my vision for my hypertext disappeared in the confusing generalized site. Then came issues with using Filezilla. It was challenging for me to try and understand that the within the local folder there needed to be specific files and within a remote/root folder (usually on the desktop of the creator of the site) files needed to by organized in a very specific, systematic way.

Once I got some of my bearings, I moved forward with the podcast hypertext. I actually found this project to be more enjoyable. While it was still a struggle, it was more interesting having to actually find an issue, visit a site and create a podcast. I will say however, that writing the podcast transcript was actually painful and it was incredibly hard to take out the um’s, ah’s and awkward pauses. I did enjoy placing in the maps as well as the quicktime player to add more interactive elements to my site.

Finally, we are working on the Analytical hypertext and I think so far with my group it has been successful. We are efficient and so far have had no complaints towards one another or issues on the project. I look forward to blogging about my Analytical hypertext down the road.

Overall, I feel like my designs can definitely be improved. I feel as though these hypertexts are almost my first, second or third versions, and when I get more comfortable, and can afford a more advanced website builder my user interface will be better. In terms of my writing, the fact that it is open for the public to read, well, it allows me to continue to practice my writing. I definitely think I take more time to plan out what I write, but what is great about the exposure on the internet is that I will receive feedback and critiques by more than my professor, but my peers and other followers.  I would like to think that I provide somewhat of an interesting read, but there’s always room for improvement.

Before this class I had never created a podcast. I visited some how-to-create a podcast sites, and realized how much time a podcast actually takes. The preparation of finding and contacting individuals to speak about a topic, making sure the podcast is realistic so finding the perfect setting and location, developing a script and questions to ask the interviewee, there are a lot of parts that go into a podcast. Audacity was a huge help, but if you are able to afford better software, I would advise you do so. Sometimes I would have to close out of the application entirely and open it up to make new changes. As opposed to a standard writing assignment, the podcast has three parts: the audio, writing an essay to introduce the topic of discussion and finally writing out a script of the actual podcast, counting for every um’s and ah’s. Then, to add music and to take down certain levels of noise in certain parts of the dialogue.

Personally, being the interviewer, narrator and main speaker of the podcast was terrifying. I loathe hearing the sound of my own voice and then when I listen to it I never feel like it sounds like me. Adding in my own personal ums and ahs were distracting and uneventful as well. I think that personally the amount of time I spent talking would be better off with more music or other people speaking ha. Anyways this was an enriching experience. Something I would definitely venture into later. Here is my link below to my podcast.

Quick Intro:

My podcast project focuses on the social issue of individuals with HIV or AIDS as well as other terminal diseases receiving the time and care they need from others. Several weeks ago I volunteered for Project Open Hand, an organization directed towards providing food and meals to HIV/AIDS, homebound and breast cancer patients in the San Francisco bay area.

If you want to learn more about how I got involved, the website for Project Open Hand: http://www.openhand.org under the Join Us tab, has the volunteer information. Volunteering is an incredible experience, and if you live in the bay area, the organization is easily accessible by car or Caltrain. If you are a student reading this post, contact a Santa Clara Community Action Program (SCCAP) and see when they will be making the next trip up to San Francisco.

Here is my link: Enjoy!

http://webpages.scu.edu/ftp/HScott/podcast.html

*Note: Unfortunately I was unable to upload my podcast to this post because the file size exceeds the maximum limit, but under the podcast tab on the navigation bar, you will find the podcast.