Web search presentation

In the lecture, Chris presented how Google navigates the web, raised the problem of "filter bubble" and offered us tips on efficient search.

Google navigates the web by over two hundred factors, but most importantly, the result ranking depends on the quality of a webpage. Google decides the quality depending on the frequency that a particular page is linked to other sites.

Google, Facebook and other most popular websites conduct the personalized editing based on our browse history and many other astonishing details, such as where we sit and the computer we use. Such personalized editing is termed as "Filter bubble", which causes us to see only the things we want to see instead of what we should see objectively.

At last, he offered the tip on selecting the key words. For example, we could filter the result by adding "site: .edu" or "-site:.com", or using the word that sounds more academic-related.

Chris shared abundant information and all of them are very interesting. I was greatly benefited. Thank you Chris.

Reasons to hate PowerPoint

I had one bad experience with PowerPoint presentation in China. A distinguished astronaut visited our school and gave the lecture on the basic knowledge of astronomy. Astronomy is a topic that is very easy to evoke the interest with some fabulous pictures and interesting facts. But he designed his PowerPoint to be filled with words. The auditorium was giant and I sat at the last row, so I could see none of the words. He read through the PowerPoint with his thick Northern accent. 

The top sin of PPT is the design that is filled with words and charts. The audiences cannot decide their attention focus on the speaker or the large amount of information in PowerPoint. 

Secondly, the standard of PPT's quality depends on its use. In the case of the class presentation, the oversimplified PPT could not offer enough information that help students review. 

Thirdly, some speakers change the slides too fast and the audiences often cannot finish the reading in the slide before it is switched. 

 

Social, Legal and Ethical Issues on the Internet

While the ethics debate of image manipulation mainly centers on the technology, in this article, Suzanne fuels the debate by reminding us that the image itself is photographer's subjective depiction and manipulation of the fact. When the ethical issues reach this far, in my opinion, it seems that the motivation is the most workable measurement ethics. The following is one example in the article. "you see a vast field of beautiful red tulips, but one of the plants is dying. If you focus your camera only on the sick plant and exclude the healthy ones, you have not digitally altered the image, but you have warped the audience's perception of the scene. The resulting unretouched image is an intentionally misleading representation of the field of tulips." Even though the depiction is contrary to the fact, its ethical judgment depends on its motivation. If this photograph is taken for the artistic purpose, such rendering is deemed as okay. But if this photograph, for example, is used to put the farm in disrepute, it is certainly regarded as unethical.  Of course, the examination of motivation can be quite ambiguous in some cases. Anyway, like any other ethical issue, the ethical judgment of photo manipulation is often ambiguous, especially when we include the very act of photographing into the concern. But in any case, I think motivation is the most direct and relatively accurate way of examining the ethics.  

CLT visit

I often study in CLT, but I did not know so many resources are available:

3-D printer is mind-boggling. I would spread the word among my engineer and artist friends.

I often need to do the presentation in my club and I would like to check out the wireless microphone for my next presentation.

 the fancy presentation room are available for our use. It's a great place for group study and club meetup.

I could use scanner to digitize my notes in case of losing.

and so many more.

Photo Manipulatioin

I picked a funny photo that made me laugh: Giant whopper hopper in the back of the truck.

The original photo is probably the man being proud of his new truck, but the photographer Frank D amplified the whopper hopper and pasted it in the back of the truck.  The manipulation is for the design of the postcard.

It is not harmful. The obviously exaggerated design is the common method employed by photographer and artist to make a point, or just to make people laugh. It does not infringe anyone's right.

This video depicts the whole process of the manipulating a photo into an artful picture.  This speed art is inspired by the Cartoon film, "Up". This piece is based on the movement of the car from his home town to the another place.  The photo manipulation technology makes visible the fantastical image in mind and thus facilitates the idea sharing.
 

Excel Blog Entry

I learned IF function, absolute and relative cell, chart, how to design the calculation of balance and GPA, and numerous other skills. I am a psychology student and need to take statistic classes in coming semesters. I could imagine many functions in Excel would come into handy.  I find "sort&filter" one of the most helpful function. I no longer have to manually sort the names from A to Z. Besides, after the exercise of GPA calculation, I knew how GPA actually works.  One thing I do not like about program is that the users need to strictly follow the formula, and the emission of a comma or the addition of a space can result in the failure. For example, the failure of the long IF formula we exercised in class is probably due to such minor mistake. Maybe Excel can provide the failure shooter.

Legal and ethical issue of assisted suicde

Situation A
A first-year medical student in California whose personal blog is hosted by a large weblog content provider posts explicit directions on facilitating an assisted suicide in the interest of “serving the rights of competent, terminally ill adults.”  Is this legal? Is it ethical? A teenager in another state who is being treated for depression reads the post and succumbs to a fatal, self-administered overdose of drugs, crediting the blogger for “helping her do it right” in her last note to her family.  Who is responsible for the tragedy?  The teenager herself? The medical student? The weblog content provider for allowing the blog content to be posted? The parents for not monitoring their emotionally fragile child’s Internet access closely enough? What, if any, crime has been committed and who can and should be prosecuted?

Comments:

The assisted suicide is not legalized in California, so if the medical student is judged as "assisting", it's not impossible that he would be found guilty.  But was he really assisting? In the case of "assisted suicide", the "assist" is defined as the consensual help that one offers in response to the suicidal person's request. If the teenager asks medical student for the drug prescription and he consented, then he is assisting. We can imagine another scene; the teenager was searching the keyword "suicide drug prescription", and the blog of the medical student is the first result he saw and tried. In this sense, we can joke that the legal responsibility of the medical student depends more on his karma. This scene is of course just one of many possibilities, but the point is clear:  it is not the information-provider's fault if someone takes the information and uses it for a different purpose. It's the similar reasoning as the maker of a sword cannot be found guilty because the sword is used by someone else as a murder weapon. The medical student is protected under Free Speech Law.

The web provider cannot be blamed either, because the web provider does not hold the responsibility for the individual's act. As it is virtually impossible for parents to monitor everything of his children, parents are not to blame, either.  

It's almost impossible to tell whether medical student's act is ethical. The ethical issue of assist suicide has been hugely debated, and each side has sound reasons, so I would not elaborate on this topic. But I would suggest this medical student and people alike to take account of the potential risk and be careful with the information they provide.