5000 Days of the Web

I think that Kevin Kelly really makes an interesting point about how much has occurred on the web in only 5000 days. There is so much going on and so much information readily available that it would have been impossible for someone to even imagine 10 years ago. Its gotten to the point where the capacity of technology can match that of that of a human brain. The more interesting point is what will happen in the future. With technology having advanced to the point that it is at, imagine what advances the web could make. The fact that we are hearing things about creating a second internet is an example of how radical the changes have been. It really is hard to believe how many things have changed and how things that will continue to change. While I do think that there are some negatives to depending too completely on the internet, if it is more reliable for us, there really isn't anything wrong with us sticking with the most reliable way to do things.

Web 3.0

I think that the movement from Web 2.0 to 3.0 means a few different things. On change is that I think that more and more, the web will become a vehicle for face-to-face video chat rather than the text communication that we use today. Also, I think that the ability to learn things on the web will increase and more people will use the web as an educational tool. More importantly, I think the web is moving towards a more segmented, more personal environment, where, instead of uploading content to one site that holds all that content, I think people will rely more on their own websites. They will upload information to their own site rather than to some other site, such as youtube.

Midterm Illustrator Component

1. The one image that I most would like to include in my illustration is the Wikipedia logo. I also want to include images and trace them in illustrator. The reason for this is I think it is important to get the message across about what I am making better in my midterm project.

2. For the project I will be using live tracing, cut and pasting, as well as masking for the images in the collage. This will help paint the picture of how people continue to try and improve wikipedia.

3. I envision my finished product being some sort of image, centered on the wikipedia logo with images surrounding it or with techniques applied to the image that will cause a viewer to infer that the project is about making Wikipedia better. This could involve cleaning or polishing the logo or having it appear shiny or new and improved. I also want it to involve people on their computers and convey the message that all people can try and help improve wikipedia, for better or worse.

Midterm Wikipedia Project

For my midterm project, I decided to select three Wikipedia articles that I felt needed editing. I would change them, cite the source from which I got my information and track the page to see if any changes were made. The first page that I decided to edit is in regards to Human Growth Hormone treatment for athletic enhancement. In this article there is only a small section regarding the use of HGH in relation to quicker recovery from injury. This seemed to contradict my belief of the effects of HGH and I checked this in a document called the Mitchell Report, a report released in 2007 regarding steroid use in Major League Baseball. Sure enough, the report stated that players believed HGH helped them recover from injuries. Its interesting to wonder why this was not in the Wikipedia article. The Mitchell Report was very high profile report when it was issued and I would think someone would note this in the article. The obvious conclusion could be that MLB, trying to put this incident behind them, was trying to make sure there was as little mention of it on the site as possible. Whether this is on their own or together with Wikipedia is anyone's guess.
Before: The biggest benefit an athlete gets from using HGH is its anabolic effects on the connective tissue within muscles.[4] These effects “may promote resistance to injury or faster repair [but] would make the muscle no more capable of force generation”.[4] HGH can make an athlete better equipped to avoid or recover from a sports injury.
After
The second article I examined was on Title IX, the law passed to try and ensure equality in athletics for men and women. The article lacked any real statistics regarding the increase in participation in women's sports. Through some research, I was able to find a study that noted increases in participation in women's sports. I added these statistics and cited the source that I found. It is interesting to wonder if any Anti-Title IX groups were putting pressure on Wikipedia to keep this out of the article because the statistics I found seemed significant, yet they were not in the article.
Before It is difficult to characterize the impact of Title IX on athletics in an unbiased way.
Advocates cite increases in female athletic participation.[24][25][26] Critics note that such increases might have occurred in the absence of legislation.A 2008 study of intercollegiate athletics showed that women's collegiate sports has grown to 9,101 teams, or 8.65 per school. The five most frequently offered college sports for women are, in order: (1) Basketball, 98.8% of schools have a team, (2) Volleyball, 95.7%, (3) Soccer, 92.0%, (4) Cross Country, 90.8%, and (5) Softball, 89.2%.[28]
After
The third article that I viewed was on the Olympics and I examined the section regarding the effects of television on the Olympics. The section talked about how television revenue from the Olympics increased. It did not mention how these increases in revenue had begun and I was able to find some sourced information about how the revenues had started their increase. In this situation, I think that the lack of information is simply due to a lack of research.
Before: Viewership increased exponentially from the 1960s until the end of the century. Worldwide audience estimates for the 1968 Mexico City Games was 600 million, whereas at the Los Angeles Games of 1984, the audience numbers had increased to 900 million; that number swelled to 3.5 billion by the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona.[76]
After

Midterm Project

For my midterm project, I decided to that I am going to help edit Wikipeida. I think that this would be a very interesting opportunity, as well as a somewhat rewarding one. With so many people using Wikipedia these days to find out information and expand their knowledge of subjects, I think it would be interesting to help people in this pursuit by correcting or adding to some of the articles on the website.