Difference between revisions of "325--2011--Week 13 Questions/Comments"
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I too found the Global Graveyard slideshow really interesting. I never would have guessed how valuable these computers were in countries, in the way these people use them. "At the dump, the machines are dismantled and often burned to
extract metals for resale. The equipment in this digital
cemetery come mainly from Europe and the United States, sometimes as secondhand donations
meant to reduce the "digital divide"-the disparity in computer access between poor
nations and rich." (photo 5) I find this interesting that these people would use computers this way and not advance as much technologically. They would rather use the computer for parts to make money off the zinc and copper. In the Ross reading, I found it really interesting his comparison between the AIDS virus and computer viruses, both coming out seemingly at the same time. "Conscious attempts to link the AIDS crisis with the information security crisis have pointed out that both kinds of virus, biological and electronic, take over the host cell/program and clone their carrier genetic codes by instructing the hosts to make replicas of the viruses." (p. 327) The virus epidemics seemed to be taking America over by storm. But why were Americans really reacting the way they were about the computer viruses? Was it ONLY an issue of security? --Claire Brooks | I too found the Global Graveyard slideshow really interesting. I never would have guessed how valuable these computers were in countries, in the way these people use them. "At the dump, the machines are dismantled and often burned to
extract metals for resale. The equipment in this digital
cemetery come mainly from Europe and the United States, sometimes as secondhand donations
meant to reduce the "digital divide"-the disparity in computer access between poor
nations and rich." (photo 5) I find this interesting that these people would use computers this way and not advance as much technologically. They would rather use the computer for parts to make money off the zinc and copper. In the Ross reading, I found it really interesting his comparison between the AIDS virus and computer viruses, both coming out seemingly at the same time. "Conscious attempts to link the AIDS crisis with the information security crisis have pointed out that both kinds of virus, biological and electronic, take over the host cell/program and clone their carrier genetic codes by instructing the hosts to make replicas of the viruses." (p. 327) The virus epidemics seemed to be taking America over by storm. But why were Americans really reacting the way they were about the computer viruses? Was it ONLY an issue of security? --Claire Brooks | ||
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| + | The fifth picture in “A Global Graveyard for Dead Computers in Ghana” says, “The equipment in this digital cemetery come mainly from Europe and the United States, sometimes as secondhand donations meant to reduce the "digital divide'' — the disparity in computer access between poor nations and rich.” By sending dead computers to this dump, wealthy countries are not decreasing the “digital divide.” There is nothing digital about the people of Ghana gathering old computer parts and using them as chairs or burning them for metals. In order to survive, these people have to search through dumps to find materials to sell. These photos were quite shocking to me. It really makes you stop and think that the computer you typed your wiki posts on could one day be lying in that dump in Ghana. | ||
| + | —Samantha W. | ||
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| + | I found Andrew Ross’s point about “technoliteracy” and the use of scary “illness” words to describe a virus very interesting. Whenever people hear the word “virus” in relation to a computer, there is always that instant of panic when you think, what if my computer gets a virus? How will I do all my papers? What about all of my files and pictures and music? As someone who has had a virus, I can say that it was somewhat scary that my computer had been taken over by some unknown virus/program. When it happened I called Norton Security and they were able to track it down and said that my entire system had to be deleted then reinstalled (forgive my ignorance of the proper computer terms). So I paid Norton $100 to “cure” my computer. I went from fear of this virus to anger at whatever hacker or program took over my computer. I could not help but think, why do people create viruses? Do they really have nothing better to do with their time? But back to Ross…. He claims, “While I am not comfortable with the ‘paranoid’ labeling, I would argue that such narratives do little to discourage paranoia” (343). Would people really be as afraid of viruses had society not incorporated panic into the image of a virus?—Samantha W. | ||
