Blog Post #4: EOTO Emails

 The birth of the EMAIL started with Ray Tomlinson who came up with the idea while working for ARPANET, a government-funded research project that eventually became the foundation of the internet, in the early 1970s. It turns out there is some controversy though on who really is the true inventor of the EMAIL. The other name linked to the EMAIL is Shiva Ayyadurai who says he was the one who invented email as a teen tech prodigy in the late 1970s. Tomlinson set out to solve the problem of how people would communicate using computers. At the time people were sending messages to numerous mailboxes just to be printed out on paper and delivered to physical inboxes. Tomlinson thought of a way to use ARPANET’s network to send messages to linked computers. It is thought today that Tomlinson’s most acknowledged contribution to the EMAIL was the “@” symbol. “The realization that this had become a big thing didn’t really come until somebody asked the question, just before the 25th anniversary of the ARPANET, ‘Where did the email come from?’ Several people remembered that I had written this program way back when and called me; I said, yeah, I did that …” said Ray Tomlinson. 

The EMAIL definitely has a great impact on the world. Using EMAIL is highly more efficient due to the fact that we no longer have to use as much paper to send messages. EMAIL has also improved the way we communicate with one another in many ways which then reduced the use of traditional mail. A study from 2013 concluded that email has replaced 92% of written letters as a way of personal communication. For example, bills and any other type of payments would be delivered through traditional mail services, but now they are majority digital. Email, in addition, increases access to new people and provides access to information that would otherwise be unattainable.

Along with the previously said benefits, there are even more positives that come with EMAIL these would include that emails can be delivered very fast and at any time of the day, while traditional mail can take several days and even weeks to get to the recipient and you can only send it during certain hours. Emails are also free and you can send them to one person or multiple people at once. Emailing is also really simple, you can easily reference previous emails by searching them in your database.  

Although the EMAIL has many positives it does come with some negatives; those include the need for the internet to send and receive emails. Viruses are also very easily spread through emails and/or email attachments, spam also goes along with this, you can’t help but somehow get both viruses and spam emails. Emails also tend to take up a lot of time and storage if you don’t maintain them accordingly. 

Personally, using EMAIL is the most efficient way to communicate with people, especially in a business and/or professional setting. The benefits will probably always outway the negatives, and compared to traditional mail it is much more organized. 

Blog Post #3: Eight Values of Free Expression

 One of the Eight Values of Free Expression that resonates with me, the most is Individual Self Fulfillment (or Self Actualization). To quote Stephen R. Covey, “there are certain things that are fundamental to human fulfillment. The essence of these needs is captured in the phrase ‘to live, to love, to learn, to leave a legacy. The need to leave a legacy is our spiritual need to have a sense of meaning, purpose, personal congruence, and contribution.” Within this quote, we can see just how important finding our own identities is, according to this quote to satisfy human fulfillment we must find who we are ourselves and then discover who we are with others and learn from that then leave a legacy behind of what came from those experiences. 

Personally, I feel like Individual Self Fulfillment resonates with me because I would like to feel comfortable enough that I can express myself and leave the legacy I was meant to leave on the world. The freedom of Self Fulfillment is defined as the ability to enable individuals to express themselves and thereby create their own identity, we as people and/ or humans must accept who we are and who we are meant to be in order to truly fulfill our lives to their greatest potential. If we don’t accept who we are we might never unlock that potential that is inside each and every one of us and then we will never be able to obtain the legacy and/ or footprint we are to leave on this planet.

 

In today’s society, no two people are the same; everyone differs from each other in one way or another. Joy Fitzgerald once said “Stop apologizing! It’s ok if your ideas are different, your goals are big - don’t be afraid of what others would say. You are skilled, capable, talented - you deserve to be a leader, and you are enough. Leaning in can be uncomfortable, so don’t be afraid to own your seat, lean back, and kick your feet up.” The thought of others judging you seems to be one of the main reasons people don’t go out and achieve their goals. We can’t let others dictate our lives and at the end of the day, going back to self fulfillment, we have to be able to accept ourselves before anyone else can accept us, which also happens to be a lesson you learn in one of my favorite Broadway musicals Kinky Boots (you should watch it if you haven’t already).

 

When looking back at the definition of Individual Self Fulfillment, free speech allows us as individuals to express ourselves and come upon our true identity, we then learn from those experiences and apply them to relationships to find our so called “kindred spirits.” We then backtrack to the phrase used earlier ‘to live, to love, to learn, to leave a legacy,’ we should first live our lives and try to figure out who we are as individuals; we should then find our ‘kindred spirits’ and then learn from those experiences to finally leave someone that will outlive you. These facts then become a part of everyday human life and we can see just how important free speech is. 

Blog Post #2

 

While reading SCOUTS History and watching the video learned that the Supreme Court/ SCOUTS ruled that prayer initiated by and within public schools violates the First Amendment. This does make sense since not everyone shares the same views when it come to religion and due to the First Amendment, everyone has to honor that.

What I took away from the video and article is that the Supreme Court has influenced quite a number of things in America’s history. Without it and the decisions, they made at certain times in history the country would be a completely different place from what it is today. 

Something I found surprising was that “before Warren’s pro-civil rights decision, the court denied citizenship to African American slaves in 1857 (Dred Scott v. Sandford), upheld state segregation laws in 1896 (Plessy v. Ferguson), and upheld World War ll internment camps for Japanese Americans in 1944 (Korematsu v. United States).” I never realized just what type of decisions the Supreme Court makes and how big their impact can be on certain groups of people. 

While watching the video I realized just how much the Supreme Court does and how much power they actually have. Now I realized that they are not completely controlled by the President but they try to separate themselves and make their own decisions/ have their own point of view/ opinions. The Supreme Court had to fight for their respect and to be treated as the higher power that they are. 

Blog Post #1: Top 5 Sources of News and Information

Twitter: Not only is Twitter my favorite social media platform, but it is also one of my top news sources. On Twitter, I can get my pop culture news and also my world events news. Twitter may not be the most reliable source but it is a great way to see different viewpoints in one place.  

CNN: Though I'm not very invested in politics, CNN is a great way to see what's happening in the world around me. Although backed by a democratic perspective it is still possible to filter out the important information. With shorter program styles, such as CNN 10, getting your daily fix of current events doesn’t have to take a large portion of your day.

 

Fox News: Like CNN, Fox News focuses on politics as well, but instead they tend to provide more of a republican or conservative perspective. I added both CNN and Fox News to my list of sources because I like to view multiple viewpoints/and hear both sides before coming to a consensus of my own.

Pop Crave: Being a Pop Culture major I tend to peruse a lot of sources relating to celebrity and media information. Pop Crave, to my knowledge, is the most reliable for this type of news in their category of media. In addition, Pop Crave is known to be one of the fastest pop culture news outlets.

The New York Times: The New York Times is a great way for mass audiences to see the same piece of information quickly. I personally use New York Times more for research purposes rather than for daily news intake. Their articles are generally longer and contain more information which is helpful in the research process.