Darius' EPortfolio

Lohr, Steve, “The Age of Big Data” NY Times 2012

I will use this source to acquire general background information about big data as a whole. Through that general background information it can help support some of my basic claims throughout my paper.

Lee, Ho Choong, Yoon, Hyung-Jin, “Medical big data: promises and challenges” The Korean Society of Nephrology, March 2017, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5331970/

I’ll use this extensive scientific research to provide extreme details to big data in the medical field. Through this source I expect to gain significant background info on medical big data. I also expect to pick up areas where a possible naysayer could dispute my argument.

Naylor, Brian, “Congress Overturns Internet Privacy Regulation” National Public Radio, March 2017

I plan to use this source to touch on the privacy factor of big data. I’ll use it to compare the privacy expectations of big data in the medical field to the privacy expectations of big data in other fields.

My Plan:

I plan to begin by looking for a naysayer within my argument, and work on incorporating that into my paper. Afterward I will begin my drafting process, and discover whether or not I need to search for more sources. After all of that is in place I can begin writing my paper using the different methods of paragraph writing I learned within class.

The use of big data in the medical field provides the profound ability to save lives through data collection, but that ability comes at the cost of privacy.

I generate most of my data through social media. This can be seen through what I like or dislike within the multitude of networks that I use such as Instagram or Facebook. Another huge data generator for me would be my texts and pictures. I use both of these multiple times everyday. So if someone were to access both of these data generators then they could easily find a lot of info about me. The final huge data generator for me would have to be my email, although it is mainly kept formal. A lot of websites and other applications demand an email of some sort. I would not be surprised if someone could end up using my email to track my movements on all these different websites and other applications. I do use apps in my daily life, so the idea of generating a bit of data through those would not surprise me.

I spent the last 50 minutes carefully analyzing the comments made by both my peers and my teacher. I allowed for significant changes in the structure of my paper. I added more claims and properly asserted my stance on the topic. I went back to my sources to search for references that better supported my claims and ideas. I allowed for major updates to my paper. Although there are still some edits I need to make. I believe that the current edits I have made on structure and source integration have progressed my paper significantly.

Darius Ahmad

 

Barclay Paragraph: The True Self

Through the immensity of the online world, one can feel as if their real selves are insignificant and have an urge to change themselves to better suit the online world. But through that change in oneself, the real self and online self clash in a desperate need to discover the true self. The ideas of teenagers and social media go hand in hand. With their young minds they yearn for the ability to grow and discover the world. An ability that the internet is ready to grant them. Boyd researched the actions of teenagers in an online world, and through that research came up with an interesting point. “What teens appear to do and say on social media seems peculiar if not outright problematic.” (Boyd, 30). This point has a multitude of evidence from countless teens making questionable posts and comments on social media. Their actions on social media seem to defy the unspoken laws of interaction. They say what they want to whenever they want to say it. The problematic piece that Boyd brings up refers to the change in oneself that the internet brings upon the teenagers. They use the internet not as a source of developing who they already are, but instead to change who they are to better suit the world around them. Although, within social media that world can change completely in the simple push of the off button. When the teenagers are inevitably thrown into the real world they find themselves at a crossroad. They can either change their real self to fit their online self, deny their online selves entirely, or admit to their fake online self but sustain their real selves. In effect to the third option Greenfield accurately states that “Your online self and your “true self” are not necessarily the same.” (Greenfield 113). Depending on the use of social media the gap between the two selves differs, but teenagers constantly use social media as a platform to grow. So teenagers have widened the gap between online self and real self significantly. This struggle of choosing between an online self and a real self causes many teenagers to find themselves insignificant, and through that insignificance they search far and wide for their true selves. That true self can only be found through comparisons between what they do in social media, and what they do in their real lives.

I agree with Boyd’s notion of a fear of context collapse within people. It compels people to undergo drastic actions in order to avoid this context collapse.  Boyd builds on this by introducing the example of the gang boy wanting to apply for an ivy league college. In discovery of the boy’s past Boyd poses the question “Why would a student lie to an admissions committee when the committee could easily find the truth online?” (Boyd 29). This question reinforces the idea of having no privacy in the online world. This young boy experienced a context collapse when he was discovered as a gang member, and because of that he was rejected. So in the end, I agree with Boyd that when a person creates multiple identities online they put themselves at risk for a context collapse.

I constantly like posts by my friends and close family members within the hour. I restrict myself pretty heavily on interacting with others simply because the people I have friended are people I normally see on a daily basis, and therefore have no need to speak to them virtually. I don’t really create different selves, but I do open up more on social media simply because the option is there.

Too young to understand. Goodbye 10 year old Darius who never liked anything on Facebook or responded to anything even if addressed directly to him, especially on his birthday.

It has become common today to dismiss the presence of other people around us as we delve deep into our phones. In this TED talk “Connected, but alone” by Sherry Turkle, she digs into the details of how antisocial our society has become. Many people assume that the chatting on devices could easily be associated with the chatting with a person in real time. Turkle argues against this. She states that the small “sips” of information we get from texting can send messages to both parties, but is nothing compared the amount of information gathered through a real time conversation. She brought up the idea of the “Goldilocks effect” where a person would only want other people to know just enough about them. That ability is prominent in social media because of the ability to delete and edit any kind of post you make. Turkle builds on this by stating that social media not only changes how we act, but also who we are as a person. Turkle describes how people are expecting more from technology and less from each other. She backs up this claim by stating that technology targets our weakest points our social lives. The idea of never having to be alone attracts us to technology. Turkle describes that need for technology as an addictive disease that keeps us resorting to technology over and over again. To solve this she poses the idea of abandoning technology, and building real life connections with people. This would allow us to learn about loneliness and solidarity.

The Timeline (above) helped me substantially because it forced me to look back and reflect on my past. It also helped me pick out major points in my literacy career that served as major turning points for me.

Meanwhile the Webbing (below) did not help me organize my thoughts at all. I found myself just thinking of a bunch of things that linked to the person. Instead of figuring out how they connected to each other.