Researching Demetrius Poulos

To begin the search for my “Digital Puppet”, I began with the reverse phone at whitepages.com. When I typed in my cell phone number, I received the city I am from, the zip code, and my phone carrier. This website accurately found where I am from and where my phone is registered to. When I typed in my home phone number, I got three results: my mother, my father, and my older sister, however, nothing for me.

Next I entered my zip code into the American FactFinder. This search resulted in the 2010 census, which shows the total population being 59,690. The median age is 39.6 years old and the percentage of people with a high school diploma or higher is 87.2%. The median household income is also $57,325. Entering my address into the Dane County website was of no use because I am not from Dane, so nothing came up.

My social networking analysis on myself only consisted of Facebook because it is the only social network I really use. As an outsider looking in at my account, all I was able to see was my name and my profile picture. This is because I keep most of the information on my profile private to people who are not my friends.

After I searched these websites, I began my search for myself on Google. Google had no pictures of me when I searched my name, and one of the first results that came up was my Facebook page. A few results that also came up were some projects I recently made in my Computer Science class this semester in a program called “Scratch”. Also, a profile for me that was made during high school cross country came up, but there was no information on the profile. One result that I found very interesting was when I typed in my name with my middle initial, Demetrius M. Poulos, a result for my grandfather, Gust Poulos, came up on white pages. Other than these few results though, Google did not have much about me.

So when a search for Demetrius Poulos is done over the Internet, not much will be found, and the results that are found are harmless. Part of the lack of results is due to the fact that I am not very active with social networks outside of Facebook. Even if my Facebook is found, nothing about me could be seen because I keep most of what I have on the Internet private. Because of these reasons, an employer wouldn’t be able to tell much about me from a thorough Internet search. Overall, I feel like I do a pretty good job keeping my information over the Internet private.

Finding My Digital Puppet

-When plugging my cell number into the White Pages link, it said that it was a Verizon Wireless number (correct) from Waukesha, WI (close enough)

-Typing in my zip code (53022), the Census site told me my town's population, 18, 920 based on 2010 statistics. It also let me know the median age of my town (41.4), poverty level (4.5%), and education level (94.6%).

-When viewing my Facebook page as an outsider, you can only see my profile picture, cover photo, and hometown. When viewing my twitter page, you can see everything because it is unlocked. You see my motto ("I tweet once a day, sometimes less, sometimes more.") as well as my city (Madison, WI)

-Just by googling "Sam Marchewka", you find only information about myself on the first page. In order, it goes..
My Twitter
My Facebook
Google images (including my twitter picture and pictures of me running, both flattering, I know)

My YouTube
Running Statistics about me
My Google+ page

-When googling my email address, I got nothing. Same with my phone number.

-By googling my last name, all I got was pictures of carrots.

If a geodemographic firm was looking me up, they could determine that I was from a suburban Wisconsin area based on my phone number area code and my zip code. Also, with my zip code, they could see how ethnic my city is, its education level, and its median age. They could see on my Facebook that I liked running, and they could even see my running times if they googled my name. Just by judging me from this information, I guess you could say its accurate. I keep my privacy pretty tight, so not many pictures get out of me, thank God. And from now, I think I'll keep my Twitter open. I hope I'm funny on there. 

Cat Edquist: Digital Puppet

It alarmed me how much you can find about about a person without really knowing them at all. When I typed in my cell phone number in white pages, I was able to find my city, state, zip code, and current location. If anyone came in contact with me via cell phone, they could potentially come find me in person simply because they have my phone number. They would know that I live in the Milwaukee area in southeastern Wisconsin. When I learned that for a fee one could learn my name, address, and history, I could not help but feel exposed. The worst part is, there's noting I can do about it. (Unless, of course, I got rid of my cell phone..)

Next, I checked to see how much I could find out about Catherine Edquist on Google. One of the most relevant resources I found was my high school's field hockey roster from my junior year. It listed my jersey number, my grade, my specific team (varsity reserve), and my height. However, one could easily look up more information about my school, as its full name, Divine Savior Holy Angels, is not a very common name. Back to the Google search, I didn't find anything that could be of use except my grandfather's obituary. All of my aunts and uncles on his side are listed here along with their current home locations, including that of my family: Cedarburg, Wisconsin.

Afterwards I tried searching under Cat Edquist, the name I go by much more frequently, including within all of my online spaces. Immediately, I found links to my Pinterest, Twitter, Facebook, and Gmail accounts/profiles. Thanks to privacy settings, almost all of my accounts denied public access so I couldn't see much about myself besides pictures. However, I did a search on Facebook using the "view as" function with which I can see my profile as someone who is not my Facebook friend.

All in all, I would say that my digital puppet is fairly accurate but, thanks to privacy settings, is not entirely complete and therefore does not really reflect my personality. That being said, I do know a startling amount of objective information. As an outsider, I know that Cat Edquist is a female, as she attended an all-girls high school. I know she lives in Milwaukee, Wisconsin- most likely in Cedarburg, the town that I found which is closest to this city- and I know that there is a woman on LinkedIn from the Waco, Texas area who may or may not be related to Cat Edquist. Judging from what I can see on her Facebook page, I can see her music interests and the groups she is in. In doing so, I know that she goes to UW-Madison and lives in Witte Hall. Throughout this entire process, it occurred to me that no amount of privacy settings can block you off completely from the Internet. The only way to stay 100% anonymous is to remove yourself from any and all forms of social media.

My Digital Puppet

Based on very non-personal information about me, one cannot really tell anything about me online. Looking up my phone number returns the information that I am an AT&T customer from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, which is completely true but doesn't really say much about me given how many people also fit that description. Based on the American FactFinder from the US Census Bureau, people from my area code have a median age of 30.5, 95% of them have a high school education or greater, and the median income is around $44,000. This says that the people in my area are middle class and mostly working age. Given my proximity to downtown Milwaukee, this makes sense, as I'm sure most people who live there work in offices downtown. I, however, don't fit that description, as I'm not yet of working age, and simply live where I do because my parents live there. That said, assuming someone looking me up has some basic idea of who I am, they would learn that I am middle class, which already starts to shape my "digital puppet."

Looking into my social media use, one would find very little of interest from my Facebook and MySpace pages. My Facebook would allow the user to look at my profile picture, which I'll admit isn't flattering, as it's just me looking away from the camera and throwing up two peace signs. This gives the impression that I'm not too serious of a person, which maybe isn't quite what I'd want a prospective employer to think, but it is true. My cover photo is of the rapper Lil B with large text that says "Gracias Dios Basado," which is a reference to something that most people probably wouldn't know about, so I think that would simply confuse someone rather than give them an impression of me. If one really wanted to look into my Facebook, they could look into my "likes," but I come off as a fairly average teenager on that regard. I like funny pictures, sports, music, and other assorted things according to a quick overview of my "likes," which doesn't say much at all. No one can see my personal posts, so that's about as deep as someone can go on Facebook. My MySpace still exists, but the link from Google actually doesn't work, so I'm not sure if anyone could find that.

Things get a bit iffy when someone looks at my Twitter, though, especially if the researcher is an adult looking to pass judgement on me, which I recently found out is a category that my Dad fits into. It's not hard to find, either; It's the second result when google searching my name. I'm not quite a model teenager on Twitter. I swear a lot, and rarely come off as happy or appreciative. In fact, I mostly tweet very explicit song lyrics, which, if interpreted as things I would actually say, would come off as very bad. I've cleaned up a few things, such as directly talking about people I know in real life, or making references to "extracurricular activities" my parents wouldn't approve of. But I still come off mostly as a foul-mouthed kid who's completely obsessed with music, which is again true, but probably not the image I want portrayed to the world. This is the only place where people can freely see my social media postings, and yet it is also the worst place for someone to see.

Googling my name returns a few more interesting results besides just my social networks. First and foremost, you can find my SoundCloud account, which I just removed my real name from after realizing how easy it is to find it (I have a very unique name, clearly.) My friends and I like to make rap music for fun, but it definitely is not wholesome rap besides a few songs. So now, thanks to this, one could know that I'm semi-talented and interested in music production, but I'm still a foul-mouthed kid who has no real passions or valuable interests. Terrific. One can also find some stats of mine from my stint as a Varsity Baseball player in high school, but my stats are so terrible that one would probably be able to tell that I'm not a very good athlete in any way, which is also true. So far, this really couldn't get much worse for my image.

If one looked at all those above things, or knew my email address, one would probably learn at some point also that I like to use the username "dpower94," or at least I did when I was younger. This brings up most of the same results, but also my account on giantbomb.com and gamefaqs.com, showing I have a profound interest in video games and nerd culture in general. There's also an account on bodybuilding.com, but that certainly does not belong to me, which one can tell pretty easily from looking at that person's profile picture. Still, if one still didn't make the connection that that can't be me, I guess I'm okay with people thinking I exercise, since the real Devlin doesn't exercise at all.

Overall, I have a pretty negative "digital puppet," thanks to the only purely public things on the internet about me being my Twitter and my SoundCloud. However, these things do represent who I am and who I'm going to continue to be, though I might not show these things to someone looking me up for a business or educational purpose. For other people my age, I like my digital puppet, but realistically those aren't the people doing this kind of research on me. That said, I'm probably not going to change it. I had my tweets locked for a long time, but I enjoy that they can be retweeted and seen by people I don't follow, and at the moment that totally arbitrary reward means more to me than somebody seeing all the weird stuff I post. So, I guess I'm just going to live with this.

Te'Asia's Digital Puppet

If a geographical research team searched me on the internet and ask the question, "Okay, so who's Te'Asia?". The results would be something along the lines of  this:
-Search her number on yellow pages:

• She is a Sprint mobile phone user in DC.

-Search her zip code in fact finder: 

• She's 1 out of 35,653

• She makes about $30,000 in her household

• She is most likely 30 years old

• She most likely graduated from High School

• She is most likely not forien born

• She may not live below the poverty level

• Most likely not a veteran

-Search Facebook:

• Name is Te'Asia Capies or Tea

• She lives and is from DC

• Favorite books = Twilight Saga and Flipped

• Favorite movies = My Soul To Take, Easy A, and Bridge to Terribithia

• Favorite TV show = Bad Girls Club

• She likes alot of random things

• There are other people that exist with the same last name as her

-Search her name on Google

• Pictures of how she looks: African American, Female, Young

• High School = Thurgood Marshall Academy

• Posse Scholar 

• 4th person to win Posse at her school

• worked at ArtLab+ at the Hirshorn meuseam during a summer

• Was in the Warrior Review at the school

• Was in Green Club at her school

• Might be in line to own a wedding candy shop

-Search her email on Google:

• She has something to do with the R&B group TLC

In all I think although you can find out alot about me, there is so much more to know. Even if some of the information you can find about me is a little silly, I wish there was more information out there about me that is actually true. Because I am not apart of the group TLC, I am not 30, and I don't have a favorite of anything really. There is actually no bad information or inappropriate information that is out their representing me which is good. However, I would love for someone to just be able to search my name and find out more about the person I am. On the other hand I am also glad that there is not too much info about me out there because I have less of a chance for someone to still my identity, go to my address, or do something crazy like threaten my family or my life. So for me, my digital puppet is both a loss and a gain to have.

Internet Research on Joey Lorenz

Research started out pretty straightforward. Whitepages.com did properly identify my home phone number, as well as the address associated with it, but the only names listed were my parents. There was no trace of myself in the listing. I also tried my cell phone number, and all it was able to tell me is that the phone is from my hometown. No name or address were listed with that information.

The FactFinder also did little. It correctly found my hometown and the information it listed was accurate, but not incredibly specific. It couldn't find information on business or a current population estimate. Other than that, yes, the city is a small, suburban, and predominantly white little place with a higher than average median age. Nothing specific, nothing special.

Facebook showed next to nothing. My profile shows nothing but my profile picture (Which is over a year old) and my name. No information of any kind.

Twitter was a different story. It had everything; name, location (listed as just "Wisconsin"), and all my tweets. Of course, I was fully aware it would have all these details, but still, it's a little odd to see. (Don't go to my Twitter account, I say stupid things)

Google continued to show little. It linked to my Twitter account (as well as a long-abandoned Google+ account that never had anything on it in the first place) and nothing else. I wasn't really surprised, but based on how much time I spend on the Internet, I kind of thought there would be more.

If someone were to properly research me on the Internet, they'd know I'm from Sheboygan Falls, that I go to University of Wisconsin-Madison, my phone is from AT&T, and my address. Now, out of all those, the address one is the only one that concerns me.* On the other hand, that information would have been public without the Internet, as phonebooks had the same information. Overall, it seems fine to me. I'm out there, but not too public. A good balance.

*Well, depending on who is looking, I'd be more worried about the Twitter account. Namely, an employer.**

**Employers, please don't not hire me because of my Twitter account.

Researching Myself

      In completing this activity, I followed the order posted by Professor Downey on the class blog. Therefore, I began by searching my phone number on the White Pages website, resulting in an inaccurate result. The results told me that my phone number belonged to somebody in Gaithersburg, MD, zip code 20883, whereas my home in Maryland is in Chevy Chase, quite a drive away from Gaithersburg. The only correct information that came up was the service carrier - Verizon Wireless.
     Next, I researched some information on my home zip code, 20815. According to the American FactFinder, which pulls up information from the 2010 Census, the 20815 population is 29,082. It states that 6,759 of these individuals are foreign born, an interesting fact since I know that one of these 6,759 is in my own home - my mother.
     I then began the social networking analysis. On Facebook, a search for 'Elisa Wiseman' pulled up five people of the same name from a variety of locations - Washington, DC (Me), Arizona, Texas, Wyoming. Twitter didn't pull my profile up at all, due to the fact that my full name is not on twitter, rather only my first. Other social media, such as Instagram, also didn't find my profile through a search of "Elisa Wiseman" since my name on Instagram is my first and middle name only - Elisa Gabriela.
     When I googled my name, I came across only my Facebook profile. A search for "E. Wiseman" brought up various family members, but nothing on myself.
Overall, I was very happy with the results of my online search for myself. While I did come up in some instances, I'm glad to see that for the most part, my personal information is kept private.

Researching Katie

When I began my research, I was only able to find basic pieces of information about myself that were remotely true. From a whitepages.com search I was able to find my home phone and cell phone's service provider, but the location given were not exactly correct. Both locations came up with towns near my hometown, but were both about 15 minutes away from where I actually live. 

Then while looking up my zip code on the fact finder I found some basic information on my town, like the total population of 11,946 people and the median age of 42 in 2010. After looking through the information on this website it was easy to come up with a demographic for my hometown; a small, middle class, mostly white suburban town.

Afterwards I began searching myself on Google and came up with very little. With just my name only one picture of myself and a few links to my social networking sites came up. Then once I added my address a few articles from my high school that included my name also came up. This included an article saying where I was attending college and one listing me in the Senior Musical cast list. I decided to search my real name, Caitlin, instead of Katie and surprisingly wasn't able to find any information.

I really don’t have many accounts online so I didn’t expect much else to be found. When I tried searching myself on Facebook from a different account I was only able to see my profile picture and our mutual friends, which I expected due to the privacy settings I had set myself.

I also decided to check ansetry.com because a few years ago I had created a family tree and had found out information tracing back to my parents great, great grandparents from the website. I was surprised that when I searched myself nothing came up. When I was creating my own tree, I was  even contacted by my mom’s  Great Uncle about sharing our information and was able to correlate our information that dated back fairly far. I am curious if in the future information on myself will be available from this site jut like I was able to find out my family’s history.

After searching myself I am generally happy with the way I am represented on the web. Due to the privacy settings and few accounts I have online, little is to be found. From the information collected I was able to tell that I am a student at the University of Wisconsin, from Chappaqua, NY, a small town,  who had taken part in the Senior Musical and uses Verizon Wireless as her cellphone provider. I think that overall, the less information available about myself will not only help me be safe online but also protect the way I am viewed by potential employers, friends or family.

Research on Myself (Mendy)

As I begin my research on myself on the internet, I am wondering what interesting things I will be able to find about myself. Starting with Whitepages, when entering in my phone number, the information of my city, address, area coda, and location came up. I zoomed in to see if it would exactly locate my home and indeed it did. One could say that I was a little bit surprised how easy it was to locate someone just by using their phone number. From this website, it allows anyone access to easily see where I am located and to see if I put false identification on any papers.

With the next website given and the zip code, it provided information on the population of the city as well as income averages, education in the area, and relationships in community. After that, the third website with putting in the address allowed a person to look into one’s taxing and mailing as well as other personal records. This was all out there too easily.

I remember doing an assignment a few years back about looking up about myself and wondering how my pictures and social networking sites came to be on google but now I understand how. When typing in my name in all different ways (with and without my middle name etc…), I have websites that came up on google talking about things that I have volunteered in my hometown or in the past. Other things that come up are my pictures in google images with the social networking website that they are taken out of such as Facebook. Even though I haven’t been on Myspace for about four years now, I found that my Myspace information was still available for anyone to see. With all the social networking websites, a person is allowed to see more pictures, daily status, locate where I am such as being in a restaurant, email addresses, phone number, friends and people who I know, family, and more.

I think that with all this information available with technology, anyone looking up information would probably get the most accurate and recent information from Facebook. With all the other social networking sites, they would see younger immature things and pictures of how I used to look like. They can search up my records and things that I have been doing daily. Things that would be in my history would be available to them. The websites such as Myspace is only a website in my history and it also preserves my history as well. So, a majority of it was all in the past.

I think that this representation of me from the websites and technology represent me very well but I do not see a need why someone would look me up and need my information. Overall, I think that if someone were to look me up, they would be wasting their time unless it’s an employer or someone who needs my information. They would see that I pretty much am a busy body constantly moving and working hard while trying to be out there as much as I can while enjoying life at the same time. 

The Real Taylor Shiff

When I typed my phone number into the reverse phonebook it told me that it was a Sprint mobile user from Minneapolis, Minnesota. Also, typing my phone number into Google just shows that it is a mobile phone from Minneapolis. My e-mail did not generate any search results in Google.

According to the American FactFinder, in my hometown zip code the population was approximately 18,695 from the 2010 census. The average age is 37.5, and 97.2% of the population had attained at high school diploma or higher.

Googling my name shows some of the social media sites that I am on, as well as a link to a commencement speech I wrote my senior year of high school. For example, it shows my Pinterest, because it is public. It also has links to content I posted from iPod apps a few years ago. You can view some of the gifs I created, and it shows my WeHeartIt account--which I no longer even use. My Twitter account does not appear, which I found a little strange, because it is connected to my real name. Instead, there was a link to another Taylor Shiff on Twitter ( I have not seen it spelled the same way before. I have seen variations like Taylor Schiff or Taylor Schifflet, but this was the first other Taylor Shiff I have seen anywhere.) Also, it showed one of my senior pictures, which was connected to several of the social media sites that I use, and there a couple of pictures of my little sister and couple of friends that I have posted on some of the apps. The weirdest part was seeing a picture of my roommate a ways down in the image search. I have never once posted that picture, and I have no idea why one of her pictures from Twitter would pop up when you search my name. It's kind of creepy, actually.

I also use "TayShiff" for some usernames and profiles, so I searched that. Most of the links were not actually me, but it did show my Pinterest again. This time it came up with a link to my blog, because I don't have my full name on there. However, searching "Shiff, Taylor"wasn't that different than searching Taylor Shiff. The most significant difference was that it didn't show as many of the same pictures in the images search.

When searching my name on Facebook, I did not come up with anything, because I have certain settings so that I do not come up in search engines on Facebook. Instead, it comes up with a bunch of different Taylors that are similar to Taylor Shiff, such as Taylor Schiff and Taylor Shiffman and Taylor Shiffler.

The representation of me online is harmless. My number one search result is connected to my Pinterest, which demonstrates the interests of an average teenage girl. The most information provided comes from my blog, but most people looking for me on Google would probably search my full name over Tay Shiff.

Researching Rachael

I started by typing my cell phone number into White Pages.  With the search, I was able to get my home county.  I took note that number isn’t associated with any spam activity as I clicked on the “View Owner’s Name” hyperlink.  Upon further investigation, it gave a faulty neighborhood, city, and zip code.  They did, however, get my carrier right: T-Mobile.    In order to get my name I would have to sign up for a trail offer, which I wasn’t going to do.

I then looked at my hometown on American FactFinder.  There, I found that my hometown has a population of 3,243 with the median age being 43.6 years old.  Also, 99.2% are a high school graduate or higher.  Only 4.8% are below the poverty level.

Next, I tried to find myself on Yellow Pages, since before college I did not live in Dane County.  I was unable to find myself.

Time for the great Google search!  From just typing in my first and last name, I was unable to find myself on the first page.  In fact, I wasn’t on any of the first ten pages.  I didn’t bother going any further with just given and surname, so I added my middle.  Still, no results that were me.  I tried my home state, my elementary school’s city, and finally my elementary school.  That is when I got my first hit… with my name spelt wrong.  It was for an art contest and a local paper mentioned the winners and honorable mentions.  I also had hits for the Honor Roll.  That was it.

I then googled searched for my Facebooks and couldn’t find myself.   You can’t search for yourself on Facebook without having an account, so I would be forced to find myself no matter what.  I typed in my usual username “NoNamedSuperhero” with tumblr in google and got my YouTube channel, Tumblr, DeviantArt, a site I entered a terrible/ quickly done design in and pages that I liked on Tumblr and DeviantArt.  I was so excited to finally find myself that I didn’t care that my security should be better than it is.

So who is Rachael Norman?  Well, if you do really find me, I’m basically an honors girl who draws things and "likes" drawings… while always promising to make YouTube vlogs for her friend.  So my online puppet is pretty harmless.  But I guess I do need a little better security...

"The Cosa Nostra of the Data Processing Industry" by Nathan Esmenger

In "The Cosa Nostra of the Data Processing Industry" by Nathan Esmenger, the increasingly tumultuous relationship between computer programmers and their managers in the dawn of the presence of digital technology is examined in depth. The article, written in 2010, although summarizing events of the mid-twentieth century, definitely points out ethical concerns and bigger issues that are timeless in the digital world.

To begin, it is essential to know the meaning of "cosa nostra," which is the mafia. This is fitting for the manner in which Esmenger portrays the early computer programmers hired by "software" companies looking to enter the digital world to further market competition; software was a loose term in the beginnings of the computer age used to denote any "computer based applications," and those who programmed it were part of an elite, mysterious group that could be compared to the nature of the mafia.  Esmenger often describes other people seeing programmers of this new "software" as having a "a patronizing edge" and "lacking professional standards and loyalties." With all of this in mind, it is only fair to bring up the fact that "the same qualities that had previously been seen as essential indicators of programming ability...now began to be perceived as merely unprofessional." The "brain business" established in the 1960s opened the doors to a new corporate world of those programming software and those managing them who did not possess the same skills (or personality traits for that matter).

The rising cost of developing computer programs was the culprit for tension between those programming said applications and their corporate managers, according to Esmenger. Many managers, under a different work ethic than the programmers, saw their employees as not fit for a professional setting, appearing unkempt and keeping odd work hours. It was also a matter of personality differences. Programmers were callous and introverted yet brilliant in their craft, while their managers were driven by more traditional views of workplace success, and a fear that their jobs were threatened by the very technology being produced by their employees, the programmers. It is here that the debate opens up for discussion.

While Esmenger says studies can claim that interpersonal skills are directly correlated with computer programming ability, I find this point to be moot. The thing is, we will always need people to produce technology for tomorrow, and because many of us don't have the competance to create these requisites for new digital products, there shouldn't be a need for concern. I don't know how to change the oil on my car, but I'm not afraid the mechanic is going to somehow hold dominion over society because he possesses a skill I do not.

I think the major concern of the relationship between programmers and their managers forty to fifty years ago stems from the fact that little was known about the future of digital technologies at the time, and managers may not have been able to comprehend the boundaries of technology that are inherently in place. The human mind is more complex and all-seeing than any piece of technology will ever be, based on the mere fact that the human race is the only species with the power to reason. Had the managers of the time been able to see this, I think their paranoia would have subsided and led to far more peaceful interaction between their employed programmers.

Telephone Courtesy

The short film Telephone Courtesy instructs viewers on proper telephone etiquette. This film was sponsored by the American Telephone and Telephone Co Bell System. The film is set in business, and appears to be targeted towards other businesses and their telephone habits. It first shows the issues that many business may run across while using the phone, such as rudeness, letting the phone ring repeatedly, and not fully paying attention to the costumer on the other line. The business man, then goes into detail on how to correct these bad habits and behaviors. Overall, the film depict the proper etiquette and instructs users of the telephone to best utilize the machine and how to use it effectively for business.

This film is useful to students of our modern information and communication infrastructure because this film not only depicts important technology that has helped society advance, but many of the phone etiquettes have been lost in our modern society. Many of the technologies depicted in this film, such as rotary phones and switchboards, where vital to communication, especially in the area of business. One could even argue that the operator herself was like a technology because of her significant role in conducting and transferring telephone conversations. In today’s society, there is a growing trend of poor manners while talking on the phone. This may partially be to blame because many young adults often send text messages rather than calling another person. One piece of advice for proper etiquette while talking on the phone is to speak clearly and in a conversational tone. Another tip for proper etiquette includes giving a person’s full attention to whoever is on the phone. It can be rather rude talking to someone and having to constantly repeat parts of a conversation because they are distracted by something, like watching TV. The other bit of advice is to give a polite goodbye instead of just hanging up the phone, while the other person may still be talking. This vintage film depicting proper etiquette of the telephone may seem dated, due to the technology, the concepts and reasons behind the film are still relevant to many people in today’s society.

Journalism (1940)

The short film Journalism takes viewers into a newsroom of the 1940s. It explains the jobs that had to be done in order to produce the newspaper. Reporters are sent out to hotspots in town looking for stories. There are a few places they visit everyday, for example the police station or city hall. They return back to the newsroom, where the articles are printed in the newspaper. Within the newsroom, they are different departments that report different news. Overall, the production of a newspaper is seen to be a structured system and process in order to receive the news that is important to readers.

This film demonstrates many important points about our information society that are timeless. The newspaper presents a perfect example of an information society because it streamlines many informations that are important to society. Examples of things that the newspaper reports on are politics, crime reports, financial updates, and more. This presents why modern students can learn from this film. All of these subjects are still important to our society today and people still rely on information from these topics everyday. No matter the time period, society still searches for ways to present information to others. It has not always been easy and it continues to develop. While in 1941 many people relied on the paper, today most can access the same information through smartphone notification or Facebook status update. This leaves us to question what resources will come available as the information society continues to produce more means of communication. In just a short century, our society has gone from relying on only one or two sources for information to having over a dozen ways to access information. This can only leave one to critically analyze and wonder what more there will be in the years to come.

Television Commercials: Telephone (1970)

This film reel, titled "Television Commercials: Telephone" presents a collection of telephone advertisements from 1970. The film reel consisted of three commercials; one meant for a St. Louis audience, a very similar one for a Mount Washington audience, and one advertising the telephone by explaining the history of its creation. The various commercials use similar tactics, such as highlighting the coast-to-coast connections made possible the phone, or by giving it a "fantasy" type of description by explaining that "they said it couldn't be done... but it was". 

One of the tactics used by the commercials to promote the use of the telephone is the comparison to the building and development of the cog railway in Mount Washington. The cog railway is depicted as a revolutionary way to literally climb mountains - making more connections within the world, allowing ease in exploring and building experience and character. By comparing the telephone to it, the commercial's producers are implying that the telephone has these same abilities. 

This holds weight in the modern teachings of communication infrastructure because it shows that the telephone truly does hold a place in the "social networking" community - it could even be considered another form of a social network since it also builds relationships and creates connections. Furthermore, the final commercial in the film reel, explaining the drop in the prices for long distance phone calls as time progresses, demonstrates the accessibility of the telephone for universal use. This may be helpful in a modern understanding of past telecommunications because it can be compared to the various ways in which long distance phone connections occur today - through calling cards, special telephone company plans, etc. 

Radio and Television (1940)

The short film Radio and Television from 1940 is an informational video for high school students of the time who wished to go into the field of radio work. It describes different jobs available in the field as well as the training required for each position. In addition to this, it also gives an idea of exactly how complex the radio system of 1940 was. It also goes on to show how the technology used in radios was used to develop the first television receiver sets. This shows that the radio technology that everyone at the time made frequent use of and likely took for granted to a certain degree was much more complex than it seems.

This video is highly relevant to a 21st century class on The Information Society because of the perspective it can provide. It shows that common communications technology appears simple on the outside, but that's only because complex systems in the background make it seem that way. For example, people today have a tendency to log onto the Internet and think nothing of it, not realizing the incredibly complicated and complex systems that can connect one computer to another over great distances in order to share information. In short, this video provides a perspective of what goes into the development and maintenance required to advance communication technologies.

This video is also relevant to a 21st century class on The Information Society is because it shows how one communication technology can lead to another and how many communication technologies are, in fact, connected. While the video spends mot of the time talking about radio and opportunities for jobs in that field, it shifts focus at the end of the video to the development of the field of television. It mentions how the technology used in radio was used to development the television. This shows a modern class that communication technologies are not separate entities, but rather a long line where one technology leads to the next in continual advancement and development.

Television Commercials: Telephone (1970)

      This short film, Television Commercials: Telephone, shows and proves the importance of a telephone and a place's area code. It starts off with someone dialing the area code 314 which is the area code of St. Louis, Missouri. It shows that just by one small dial of an area code, you can reach all the way and communicate with someone from another city across the world. It proves the importance of modern technology and how far we've come in society and in this technological era. That by three small dials on the phone, you can almost reach paradise and anything you've ever wanted. In St. Louis, you can visit the gateway arch and take a nice stroll in the city. This video is introducing the idea that a telephone can solve all your wonders.
      This film is useful to students of our modern information and communication infrastructure by just scratching the surface to what a telephone is capable of doing. The video shows that wherever you go, no matter how far, or what you have to do, you can always keep in touch with your family and friends back home, by phone. It is essential to learn who first developed the technology for telephone and the first switchboards. In 1876, Alexander Graham Bell, developed the first telephone, the first operators, and switchboards in Boston, MA. This is where it all began. Soon telephone lines to New York, Chicago, and westward began sprouting. And from San Francisco eastward. A call from New York to San Francisco in 1915 was $20.70. By 1920, it was $8.25. The reason for this is because telephone expansion became essential across the world.
      All in all, it is important for students to be learning about not only the technology developed but the history behind the telephone. The telephone is an integral part in someone's everyday life. This video is almost like a timeline about how the telephone has progressed throughout American history. The video ends with a quote, "They said it couldn't be done... but it was."

Hear and Now (ca. 1958)

The short film Hear and Now (ca. 1958) shows the integration of radios and radio services in America. From its opening shot (a zoom out from a radio in the morning) to its closing shot (a zoom in to a radio at night), the video preaches the importance of radio broadcast stations. Since its creation, up to publication date of the video, radio had become a "heartbeat of the community" and a necessity to everyday life. People awoke to it in the morning, listened to it on the way to work, and listened to it a night. It gave them up to date news (both locally and worldwide), weather, time, the "best buys around town",and updates on community events.  Americans often didn't realize how often they relied on radio for information, even if it was only for simple traffic reports. The film illustrates this by showing Americans performing everyday tasks such as cooking, reading, and working while the radio is on in the background.

Radio was known for providing news as soon as it happened such as the Hindenburg explosion or the attack on Pearl Harbor. In case of an air attack, an extreme possibilty in Cold War era America, the radio could be used as a warning device. The radio was also used as a warning in case of a natural disaster such as a tornado or flash flood. If an extreme case of weather did occur, radio stations would often help organize relief efforts. Local radio stations, such as one in Washington D.C. which petitioned to clean a river, even led service projects in benefit the community in a different way. Calls were even made over the air for specific blood donations if a person needed it.

This film can also clearly connect to a society with a modern information and communication structure. When the president of the National Association of Broadcasters is speaking of the integration of the radio into everyday life, the word internet could replace radio and make sense in terms of modern society.

For example: "We awaken to it in the morning, we set our clocks by it, we dress according to the weather reports. We listen to the radio  look online for news, for entertainment. It keeps us informed every minute of every day."

As an information society, its funny how information is always spread by a new medium. First it was spoken, then written, then broadcast by radio and television, and now its online.

Your Name Here (1960)

The short film Your Name Here begins by deindividuating the film and forcing the watcher to fill in spaces of the video with their own personal invention. The narrator talks about how humanity accomplished so much from the birth of the Homo Sapien to the current times, but there was still something missing. Then, all of a sudden, all of the problems that humanity faces are solved by the invention of one unnamed product. A couple at the beginning of the video that was previously distraught is suddenly happy due to the invention of the unnamed product. The unnamed product is supposed to be your own creation, something made by the viewer which has the potential to become a success and change the world.

The film suggests that nothing we do is really unique. It is saying in so many words that we are unfulfilled and that we will always be unfulfilled until “that thing” is made to appease our wants. However, there will never be one creation that will completely pacify our desires as a nation and as a world. For students of our current information and communication infrastructure, it shows that we as individuals may need to stop chasing this dream of absolute completion. We continue to buy the latest technology in an effort to be the most updated in the world of technical science. In reality, there is no conceivable way to be completely updated. We waste money, time, and thought on these contraptions but they grow old even as we wait for their release.

What we can take away from this film is that for one point, no one object, idea, creation, or what have you will really end world problems. There is no one solution, but many tiny, segmented solutions which work consecutively to solve a larger problem. For another point, we will never be caught up to innovation and technology, so we should put less weight on trying to be the best-updated and simply exist in the moment and cease trying to do our best to exist in the future. We can all take time to learn that there is no one solution and technology is not the end all be all of life.  

Centry 21 Calling (1964)

Century 21 Calling starts off with a young couple looking eagerly at the world. They look at the technological innovations around them and they are amazed at everything. They quickly interact with people of different races from different regions and enter a science facility to view the experiments of the sciences.  What they focus on the most however is the communications innovations society now has in the 21st century. They view a future world filled with communications and a new understanding.

The couple goes on a tour in the communications facility to learn about the new technologies that are emerging such as: The dial phone, which you can now dial numbers to call people instead of switching them in. The bell boy, which allows people to keep in touch with other people quickly through a quick contact. One just has to simply call the bell boy, and the device will ring with a number on it. Then the person with the bell boy just has to go to the nearest phone to contact the number they missed. The automatic dialer witch is able to dial numbers automatically. Direct distant dialing which allows people to get direct information from distant places. A bell solar battery that is a battery that charges using solar energy. Then lastly is the "electronic brain" which is a phone that remembers every number you put in so you can access the number quicker and it has other convenient services.

The class can greatly benefit from this video because it shows us what citizens of the 1960's projected to be the technologies of the future. Although they were off by a landslide they did in fact hit on some key innovations of our time. For example the bell boy could be compared to the beeper/pager, most commonly used in the 70's-90's , and the automatic dialar and the electronic brain could relate to what our cell phones now have the capability to do today. In all this was a pretty good video that can help the class connect past with the present through comparing how citizens of the past predictions about technology are similar to the technologies that were actually made in the present day.

Voice of Victory (Part 1)

The short film Voice of Victory, explains the development and use of the radio during war time, specifically World War II. It beings by explaining how significant radio communication was at times of war because there had to be a way to connect a whole force whether they were on land, air or water. Communication in general was important to know how to win a war, and radio was the best thing available. The video then goes on to explain how radios evolved from being simple stationary devices that a station could have in their station to something that could be transported and used in harsh conditions, and explains the process it took to make a radio such as this.

This video and its material is extremely important to take into thought especially for an LIS 201 class because it really is one of the most basic and important ways of communication for everyone. The video talks about whole forces being able to communicate with different troops around the world and using that to help create better strategies to win wars. It also explains how the radio was modified from its original stationary and large form to one that could be carried on jeeps and planes and submarines. This is another important thing when we think about especially in our military. Many of the technologies we have are altered for the use of the military to make them more efficient and powerful. And this then, in return enables normal civilians access to more able technologies such as these and then helps the world in general become more connected and accessible to each other to be able to do more things.

Communication (1928)

          According to the film Communication (1928), there are many different assets to the phone back in the 1920's. It starts by introducing the telegraph and how it was used to communicate over seas and onto ships using the morse code as well as the importance of it. Moving on, it showed the way electricity is designed to flow through the phone. With the electricity waves, they also carry sound waves. Electricity is only allowed to flow when the phone is taken off the hook because when sound waves travel through the phone, waves hit carbon granules causing the waves to fluctuate which then activates the electricity to travel. Sound waves travel in multiple directions but is only affected when its direction meets an object that alters it making it travel in a new direction. 
       
      The perfect example to exemplify this idea is the human ear. The sound travels through the Pinna or the outer ear that catches the sound waves and in this case, it was the metal cone designed for the phone representing it. Next, it travels down the middle section of the ear canal (representing the middle section of the phone) and into the tympanic membrane (tympanic membrane representing vibration on the metal plate in phone) where it vibrates sending the sound towards the brain. This is the exact same way that the phone was designed to do when receiving or sending out calls. This is how the telephone has advanced over time.

            This film can be useful to students of modern information and communication because it informs the history on the telephone and their usages. Not only that, but it also talks about the history of it. If someone wanted to know more about the way the telephone processed back then, this would also be the perfect source to provide the information needed. As an audience, we can learn how important it was for the phone to continue communication throughout society and we can also come to understand why the telephone had a large impact on the society. Knowing the importance of the telephone can also be beneficial to our learning experience. Because this was also the stage where technology began to advance, we can also see where and how people developed their ideas into reality. 

Far Speaking (1935)

The film Far Speaking tells of the history of telephone development from 1877 to 1935. The film also tells the story of a married couple and their experience will the telephone throughout their lifetimes. When the couple first gets a telephone in 1877, the woman believed that the telephone was not very interesting and that it wouldn't catch on in the future. She thought that thinking about being able to call other people in other cities across the world was only for dreamers.

The film begins in the year of 1877 with one of the first telephones in an Eastern city. This telephone showed some flaws, as it was just becoming popular. In 1885, long distance calls began and this allowed people to connect all over the country. At this time the telephone also began to use better equipment to improve call distance, which included loaded coils and vacuum tubes. Once 1915 rolled around, telephone calls spanned across the world and allowed people to connect with others in different continents. This is shown at the end of the film when the couple from the beginning, who now are in their elderly years, receive a phone call from their granddaughter, who is in Japan. This allows the woman to believe that telephones could be able to reach across the world, even though she still does not fully believe it is true.

This film is useful to students of modern information and to our topics in LIS 201 because of how it expresses how the telephone changed the ways that information is transferred to different people throughout society. The telephone was a revolutionary technology that allowed individuals to be able to connect to each other from across the world, which allows information to be spread easily, and the film does a well job demonstrating this. This film shows of the history of the telephone, which was a different way to spread information at the time. Even today the telephone is one of the most popular ways to spread information throughout society. The history of the telephone allows modern students to learn about how this revolutionary way to spread information became popular and how it began many years ago.