User:MPsharky

Currently a student at De Anza Community College. Seeking an A.A. degree in music. Enrolled in a CIS online class. Enjoy music, video games, people, working, etc.

Grand Challenge: Engineering the Tools of Scientific Discovery
LUX Improvements

The LUX (Large Underground Xenon) is a large tool in South Dakota that is designed to find dark matter in outer space to help us understand gravity better. And thanks to new collaboration techniques by LUX scientists, the sensitivity of it detecting dark matter has also improved. By constantly finding new ways to improve the LUX tool, we become closer to answering the question of "what makes up our universe?" It is also mentioned that the LUX will be decommissioned in 2016 in place for a better LUX machine called LZ (LUX-ZEPLIN) that will be 100 times better than LUX in detecting dark matter.

Ian Buckhart

At 19 years old, Ian Buckhart was involved in a swimming accident and was left permanently paralyzed from the neck down. 5 years later, a group of scientists managed to restore some functionality to Ian's hands and arms by implementing a chip into his brain that leads to a sleeve of signal receptors. This allowed Ian to perform simply tasks such as swiping a credit card, holding a glass of water, and even being able to play guitar hero. This advancement opened up a new doors of possibility of being able to give paraplegic people another chance to use their body parts that they couldn't use before. The long term goal is to implement these techniques to more people and having it be more practical in homes and outside in communities.

Google's DeepMind

It was thought as impossible for a computer to beat any human in the eastern game "Go". A simple game to play but the amount of possible steps rendered it almost impossible for any computer to learn. But it wasn't until recent that Google's DeepMind A.I. managed to beat Fan Hui, a low ranking professional and 2013 European champion. It even managed to beat other Go players with a 99.8% win rate. What this advancement did was to show that artificial intelligence is capable of understanding far complex situation that a human couldn't process or see. The game Go has a possible of 10^100 arrangement of the stones but yet DeepMind managed to stay ahead of it's opponent and win every match. Having A.I. understand and solve very complex tasks that a human may not do, is something we look forward too for advancement in technology, medicine, and anything in human civilization.

Summary:
Continuing to engineer new tools or improving ones we already have will help us as a human civilization to advance foward in any field. Be it medical, science, or technology. The advancement that we've as a society have so far is because of the fact that were able to engineer the tools to mke it happen. Otherwise we would still be stuck in a certain era with the same thinking and same methods we've used.

1. Introductions
Resources:

1. http://www.lifehack.org/283462/10-lists-keep-you-want-successful (Learning Literacies - find it)

The 10 lists was the one thing I found to be the most useful from the learning literacies because it was simple and motivational which was useful for the first week of the course.

2. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/06/19/social-media-makes-you-socially-awkward_n_5512749.html (Computers and Society Websites)

The huffington post article on how social media can make a person socially awkward was an eye opener since the majority of the students that took this course have at least one or more social media accounts. Some of the points that the article made was some of the reasons why I personally don't have a social media account.

3. http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20160313-the-unstoppable-rise-of-the-facebook-dead (Computers and Society Websites)

Many people use facebook to connect with friends and family members but this article discussed the idea of there being dead facebook users. We keep up with people when we see how they are doing in life by them posting statuses or pictures of themselves on facebook. And when they die, everything they put freezes in time and you can see everything they've done without having to think about them personally.

Best: http://www.lifehack.org/283462/10-lists-keep-you-want-successful

Explanation: For the first week of the course, I feel like it's important to stay motivated to stay on the online course. From the first day to now, a lot of people have left the class and I feel like this class wasn't as hard as I anticpated when I first signed up for it. Looking back on these 10 lists, I did find most of it helpful throughout this course. People drop out of courses for multiple reasons but I hope they look back on this list and become more motivated to take the course again to pass it.

2. Privacy and Freedom of Speech
Resources:

1. http://www.pcworld.com/article/2031908/the-5-biggest-online-privacy-threats-of-2013.html (Privacy and Personal Information)

Privacy is something that a lot of people cherish since it hides some of their personal secrets from the eye of the public. But with technology involved, it becomes increasingly hard to keep your life private especially when people want to see what you've been up too. What this article discussed was the threats of online privacy that are more common that what people think.

2. http://gizmodo.com/ (Blogs of Interest)

When it came to blogs, the gizmodo was the most informing and entertaining blog from the other blogs that people recommended. It gave up to date articles that occurred while also telling any tech news and pop culture. The interface was clean and nothing was cluttered.

3. http://www.cracked.com/article_19683_6-terrifying-user-agreements-youve-probably-accepted.html (Learning Literacies- Protect it)

User agreements are something that all of us have agreed to at least one point while browsing the internet. Which is why we should be informed of the hidden texts that lie within them since most of us don't bother to even read it but just click the agree box. But by no doing this, we miss out on a lot of legal reasons that can comeback to haunt us.

Best: http://www.cracked.com/article_19683_6-terrifying-user-agreements-youve-probably-accepted.html

Explanation: When it comes to privacy on the internet, a lot of people don't think about the information they put out there to be used later on by someone else. And for most websites, when we sign up for an account we have to agree on the terms & conditions but a lot of us don't ever read through it. That's why I chose this website to be the best one, it shows the consequences that can occur when we all agree to the user agreements without throughly reading through it all.We should be more aware of the hidden texts that agreements hold when we agree to them or else we may agree to giving up our personal information to be used for any reason.

3. Intellectual Property
1. http://www.fastcodesign.com/3020194/how-a-company-gets-away-with-stealing-independent-designers-work (Arts and Computers)

Selling art online can be difficult especially for an artist and when you have a company take your work for profit without giving you credit, you feel inferior and belittled. This article showed an example of that and how the company was able to do it without having to do any drastic changes to the original artist's work. Potential artists can find this useful and learn how to keep their work copyrighted to prevent other people from copying them.

2. https://globaldigitalcitizen.org/6-great-videos-teaching-media-fluency (Learning Literacies - Find it)

Learning about media and how it's incorporated on the internet can teach us how they target and audience and what measures they will go to to appeal to them. The 6 videos describe media in different forms from social media to advertisement. You learn from more than one type of media.

3. http://www.bloomberg.com/gadfly/articles/2016-03-23/google-and-media-titans-clash-in-a-war-on-internet-piracy (Intellectual Property Keywords)

Piracy is very common on the internet with millions of people illegally downloading TV shows, movies, and music. Seeing how tech giants such as Google attack these pirate websites is interesting. When one dies, the crowd leaves and finds another pirate website to use. It becomes difficult to contain pirate websites since there are so many of them and people continue to make them.

Best: https://globaldigitalcitizen.org/6-great-videos-teaching-media-fluency

Explanation: Media plays a big role on the internet and this website teaches the common person what media fluency is and how it's everywhere. The 6 videos shown are useful and covers different areas of the media such as social media and advertisement. Being informed about this type of stuff is crucial since we are constantly becoming bigger consumers of media on the daily especially through the internet. A lot of people are influenced by media without thinking about what goes into it first or how it's created/done in a certain way.

4. Crime
1. http://www.complex.com/pop-culture/2012/11/the-10-most-common-internet-crimes/drug-trafficking (Computers and Crime)

The internet is vast and along with it, is the possiblity of crimes that can occur on it. What this website did was give you and idea of what types of crimes are common or present on the internet. No one stays anonymous for long and they can face a long time in prison when they are found out.

2. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3638874/The-AI-decides-inflict-pain-Machine-chooses-make-bleed-sparks-fears-robot-uprising.html (Risks Forums)

Some people are ware of the three laws of robotics and one of the laws are that robots aren't allowed to hurt humans. What this website did was put that to the test with a robot that did enough pain to an individual that they bled. It made people think whether or not robotics are even forced to obey the three laws or if it's choice.

3. https://identitytheft.gov/Steps (Hacked Now What?)

Many people get hacked on the daily and when they are hacked, personal banking information can be stolen along with SSN and others. This is a useful website that guides you how to solve your issue and get everything back in track. The guides may be tediously long but it is to ensure that your information is 100% gone and un-usable.

Best: http://www.complex.com/pop-culture/2012/11/the-10-most-common-internet-crimes/drug-trafficking

Explanation: Learning about the types of crimes that can occur on the internet makes us more informed on what we can and cannot do while also being aware of what these crimes look like. The complex website I chose showed the 10 most common crimes that occur on the internet and gives a brief description of what it is along with the time in prison that can happen if someone were to do it. A lot for people think that they commit these crimes and still stay anonymous, but in reality they can always be found out and can face big time in prison for doing the crime. And if we come across any of these crimes, we can report it to the authority without having to second guess if it's considered a crime since it's on the internet.

5. Employment, Education, and Entertainment
1. http://www.educatorstechnology.com/2016/06/5-excellent-ted-ed-lessons-to-spark.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+educatorstechnology/pDkK+(Educational+Technology+and+Mobile+Learning)&m=1 (Learning Literacies - make it)

Creativity can be an easy thing to come by or a hard thing to come by. The videos provided on this website can spark someone's creativity which can be useful for someone who's working on a project for work, school, or personal gain. Or even to just learn something new that not many people know about.

2. http://www.edtechmagazine.com/k12/article/2013/03/how-technology-helping-special-needs-students-excel (Assistive Technology)

Most people can view technology as a way that's making a generation of lazy people or un active people. Well this article saw technology in a different manner and saw it as helping those who are disabled to help them through schooling and through life. It makes the common person view tech differently and see that it has more uses than we thought it would.

3. https://www.knewton.com/infographics/flipped-classroom/ (Employment, Education, and Entertainment Keywords)

The flipped classroom idea is something that is inevitable in the future of education. It discusses how technology will play a role in classrooms and that students will do activities in class and continue to learn from the teacher through videos and courses at home. Class is no longer to learn but to apply what you've learned from the night before. This is have a butterfly effect of improving education for the masses and decrease the rate of dropouts.

Best: https://www.knewton.com/infographics/flipped-classroom/

Explanation: I like this website the best because it showcased what a flipped classroom looks like today while giving it in a simple pictured way without putting too much details. The future of education will be more relied on MOOCs and understanding why that's the case is important and this website best explains that. Not only education but employment and entertainment has changed drastically since the introduction of the internet. Most jobs today rely on applications through the internet rather than handing it in person. And entertainment has expanded through other people being able to make their own content through platforms such as YouTube and can make a success through it.

6. Mid Term Project - Grand Challenges
1. http://www.hitachi.com/environment/showcase/solution/industrial/aquatic_environment.html (5. Provide access to clean water)

The hitachi program brings ideas to the table that showcases that achieving clean water for people is a reality and continue to conduct research to see if these methods will work. If any technology in the future that allows us to have clean water, it will likely be the hitachi program that proposed the idea first and passed it along innovators.

2. http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2015/05/11/3657220/solaroad-producing-energy/ (1. Make solar energy economical)

Solar energy has been proven time and time again to be a useful energy source that a lot of cities, houses, and businesses can use to save on electricity. The idea of having roads become solar can be useful in the future when it can empower an entire city and be able to power minor things such as a persons phone or an electric car such as a Tesla.

3. https://news.brown.edu/articles/2015/12/lux (14. Engineer the tools of scientific discovery)

the LUX is one of the tools today that is looking to solve the question of what makes up the universe. If it is successful, the tool can allow us to open a whole new doors of theories and possible ways to use dark matter. Proving that dark matter exists and what it consists of will help scientists understand a lot more things than before.

Best: http://www.hitachi.com/environment/showcase/solution/industrial/aquatic_environment.html

Explanation: Though all the challenges in this topic were all important. I too have to agree with the most of the people that providing clean water is crucial since it's predicted that the future will have too many people without clean water and this can cause wars. It's something that we should be doing right now along with finding alternative ways to clean water such as the rivers in Rio that are said to be heavily infested waters. If the world population grows and we don't have enough water to provide for them, then we can face unnecessary wars that are caused just to gain those resources. And this website provides multiple ways of achieving clean waters and the actions they are doing to make it a reality.

7. Evaluating and Controlling Technology
1. http://connectedprincipals.com/archives/12583 (Learning Literacies - Share it)

Digital footprints is something that a lot of people tend to leave behind when they browse the internet. This is very common for young adults, which is why they should be informed of the consequces that can occur if they leave traces behind without knowing what can become of it.

2. http://www.wired.com/2013/05/internet-of-things-2/ (Internet of Things)

The idea of having everything be connected to one another is the utopia of technology and is cyberpunk like. It makes cyber threats be more real than what it currently is but also provides a whole new style of living by staying connected to every little thing.

3. http://www.infectioncontroltoday.com/articles/2010/11/guidelines-for-evaluating-new-technologies-for-infection-control.aspx (Evaluating and Controlling Technology)

When innovators have a new idea for a new tech, most of them don't stop to think about evaluating it and ignore it for the potential use it can have. Evaluating technology is crucial since not every new tech can be in the hands of the consumer since we don't know what the consumer audience is capable of doing with the product.

Best: http://connectedprincipals.com/archives/12583

Explanation: Most people today have grasped the majority of new technology such as computers, tablets, and smartphones but most of us aren't aware of the 'digital citizenship' that comes with it. That's why I chose the website that best described someone who browses the internet; whether they are positive, negative, or neutral. The future of technology is to have everything connected to one another so that things become even more easier for us to do such as working and shopping. Having this generation and the generations ahead keep up with the technology innovations will help better our society be connected with the enviroment around them. Technology with always change and improve and we as a society have to keep up with it and adapt to it.

8. Risk, Failures, and Responsibilities
1. http://www.buzzle.com/articles/importance-of-computers-in-medicine.html (Medicine and Computers)

Medicine and computers go hand in hand and one will un-succeed without the help of the other. Medicine today has advanced drastically thanks to the involvement of computers that were able to find new ways of finding cures to diseases and sicknesses.

2. http://growingleaders.com/blog/the-unintended-consequences-of-technology/ (Risks, Failures, and Responsiblilites Keywords)

Technology can have unintential consequences on society and the mass of people that use it. This website talked exactly that and how people have changed socially when technology has become a havy asset in their life, they may act different in public.

3 . https://www.trainingjournal.com/articles/feature/failures-communicate (Risks, Failures, and Responsiblilites Keywords)

Communication is key when it comes to working in any department. What this website taught was how communication can lead into things such as leadership and the percentage of just how many people actually do communicate in a workplace. Communication is key to life and is crucial is any job that you may work in.

Best: http://growingleaders.com/blog/the-unintended-consequences-of-technology/

Explanation: People constantly take risks through technology whether it be to depend on it to save a patient or have your own money invest into a start up to become successful and make your money back. But not every tech is 100% successful and failures do happen from it a lot more than we think it does. But I think that a big effect of technology is the effects that to had on society and how it changed a lot of people to be have social anxiety or become more depressed than usual. That's why I picked the growingleaders website that described this consequence and how it was unintended, not something that anyone saw would happen.

9. Anytime, Anywhere
1. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/04/education/edlife/massive-open-online-courses-are-multiplying-at-a-rapid-pace.html?_r=0 ( Massively Open Online Courses (MOOCs))

Online courses are becoming bigger and bigger each year and will soon become the new way to learn rather than attending a class anymore. MOOCs have no class limit and can allow those who can't attend a class to be able to learnt the same level of education that someone in a class can get.

2. http://techscience.org/a/2015081101/ (Anytime, Anywhere keywords)

Geolocation is something that a lot of companies use when you browse their website and is very true when it comes to Facebook when they are able to locate you to be able to tell others where you are. Smartphones today have this feature incorporated into the phone and can be used as a GPS to help someone find a location. But the potential threat of having someone alway know your location can bring insecurity especially if someone is good at hacking digital devices.

3. https://hbr.org/2016/07/3-ways-to-use-moocs-to-advance-your-career ( Massively Open Online Courses (MOOCs))

Most of use think we know our career to it's fullest, but we are constantly learning new ways to improve our careers and learn anything new that came into it. The article discussed how beneficial MOOCs can be to learn new things in your career field rather than seeing it as redoing college education.

Best: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/04/education/edlife/massive-open-online-courses-are-multiplying-at-a-rapid-pace.html?_r=0

Explanation: Technology has and is continuing to become more and more reliable and accessible year by year. A lot of people have a smartphone with them and with just that alone they can browse the internet along with staying in touch with people and find locations that they weren't aware of before. the NYtimes website showed me that MOOCs will be the future of education and that it is being successful than what people have intended it to be. I personally thought that MOOCs couldn't provide the same experience that an in person classroom can provide until I started to take one first hand and found that the information I learned from it was as equal as I can get through a class and a textbook. MOOCs in the future will have improvements to it that one day we can have a virtual classroom and can simulate the real thing without having to be there.

10. Technology Advances, Social Trends
1. http://www.imeche.org/news/news-article/human-augmentation-the-next-phase-in-robotics?utm_medium=facebook&utm_source=&utm_campaign= (Future of Computers)

Robotics will likely be the future of technology from this point on. The website described the potential of having robots and humans working side to side rather than giving an entire task to the robot. Finding ways to have humans be incorporated with a robot will have engineers be on the rise.

2. http://www.newstatesman.com/science-tech/technology/2016/01/best-new-technologies-probably-arriving-2016 (What's New and Important)

The idea of new technology that's possible within the next decade always brings hope for tech savy people who can't wait to see it in person. The types of technology in this website is more realistic to achieve than the tech that was predicted a few decades ago.

3. http://www.websitemagazine.com/content/blogs/posts/archive/2014/05/18/23-cool-tech-facts.aspx (Interesting Quantitive facts)

Facts are useful to learn since it expands our knowledge on a certain field. In this case, 23 facts for technology have things that most people would never figure out before such as the 91% of adults that have a cellphone within arms reach at all times. The numbers and stats here a much greater than what we can comprehend.

Best: http://www.imeche.org/news/news-article/human-augmentation-the-next-phase-in-robotics?utm_medium=facebook&utm_source=&utm_campaign=

Explanation: Technology is becoming very advanced within just a decade alone. Right now, we are seeing VR, A.I., robots, and 3D printing that are constantly being improved by various companies and students at universities. It will be no surprise if we can manage to get any of these tech to constantly change and have improvements made on it that it won't look like what it was originally meant to do. This is common since we saw it happen to computers and cellphones. What was once bulky, simple, and heavy objects have now become slimmer, faster, and can do a lot more than it's predecessor did 5-10 years ago. What the imeche website showed was how the next phase of robotics will not only have robots work alongside humans bu also see virtual reality be more involved in society and the potential future jobs being more dependent on engineers that know how to work the new tech.