DTC 206 FA20

 Area 1.) In observation of the irony of this article, I must first say that I can see where this is a problem of practical application on the part of the major and minor ISP's in surrounding vicinity in making broadband available to the residents of Point Arena. While there may remain a large degree of geographic difficulty involved with providing internet access to the small town, it sounds as if the people are cut off from these services primarily due to the financial prospect of no return on investment for the ISP's. This issue provides little motivation for a provider as large as AT&T (and even less for smaller companies) to build the type of infrastructure necessary to provide the locals with broadband access considered relevant by market standards. Area 2.) In looking at this problem, I can say that my personal opinion is that this town will not be provided with ISP services by any company that owns the undersea cable in the area. Despite the massive amounts of profi...

Area 1.) I had no clue that content moderators actually did these things "manually", as it were. According to my initial thoughts, I'm not sure if I ever assumed that content moderators needed to be living people that really watched horrific things in order to block or report them. Considering the capabilities of modern software and all of the associated peripherals, it just seems a bit archaic that there would need to be rooms full of poor souls watching the worst of the worst when I'm able to dictate a text or an email to the AI on my phone and have it sent. I guess that my last statement points it out perfectly, however. The software only delivers, it doesn't know why. It wouldn't know the difference between a rape video or an old snippet of the Tonight Show. Someone must make that decision, actually review and tag content since an algorithm will fail. Despite any advances made to any system or programming, it has no appreciation for the human experience an...

  Area   1; The contributors of this panel all have a very similar take on what needs to happen in the current media environment; BIPOC need to hold entities accountable,   and be willing to make meaningful and decisive action against transgressions equal to the intentional hijacking, co-opting, or smearing of community voices by others.    In bold statements, it is made plain that the new definition of any ally is not someone who will take up a cause as theirs, but rather someone who will   get out of the way and allow the true unadulterated voices to be heard. There is an interesting take on what the rise of citizen journalism has done to the   overall climate to do with race relations, social justice, and the ways that people will interpret events. In an age where people of color have found it necessary to record notable moments and post them to social media, the speed with which saturation of a message...

 Area 1; Fear of a monopoly. This is not a new idea when it comes to conglomerates that are dominating areas of technology. However, it seems that this is the way of things; companies are absorbed, mergers happen, takeovers abound. Just recently, Sprint merged with T-Mobile, adding to the collective holdings of both and lining the pockets of the brass. As these large Internet companies and platforms are, there is reason for concern. It has been shown that narratives can be highly influenced by creating bottlenecks driven by the documented interests of the user, thereby narrowing the overall view of the media coming their way. What to do? Regulations? Is it time to invoke antitrust laws? It is quite an interesting time, as there has been no other time where some of the parties of interest, namely social media companies, were almost unwitting in their involvement. It was never the initial intent of them to be a place where so many people would be so receptive to media outlets that in...

  My name is Dan Salinas. I am a DTC major with a background in Graphic Design, Fine Arts, Art Education, and Human Resources. After a few years working with directly with the Developmentally Disabled, and also in administrative roles, I decided it was time to seek out more creative career options. I like to paint and sculpt, and also enjoy working on building custom furniture projects and learning new tech. Having grown up in the 80's, I find it difficult to sit still and concentrate when I'd much rather be outside making a huge mess of things. I seem to be the only one in my family who enjoys firing up a chainsaw or digging in the mud, but it is quite comforting to know that they are willing to tolerate my less admirable qualities. I have a 2 daughters (20 and 10), and a 15 year old son whom I affectionately call the baby sasquatch. I look forward to sharing my adventures in school with them, whether they like it or not. My wife is awesome, and she likes me sometimes. My dog ...