Wireless technology’s development and evolution in the past decade or even the past two decades has been tremendous. If you think back, you might remember having to always be tethered to something in order to communicate with someone or having to lug around a giant machine just to do something simple. Take the mobile telephone for example: years ago, it served only one purpose – to call someone. But now, after so many years and advancements in technology, the mobile phone has evolved into the smartphone, bolstering hundreds of features. In just a 5.6 inch screen – or what have you, you can call others, send emails, watch movies, listen to music, conduct mathematical equations and even more recently, wirelessly charge the device. It’s like author had Victor Epand said in his “Social Impacts The Telephone And The Cell Phone Has Had On Society” article, “Without doubt, mobile telephony offers enormous advantages and added convenience, greater personal security, and the ability to take advantage of ‘dead’ time to do business on the move.”

But the advancement of wireless technology doesn’t come with no cost. There’s the obvious cost of having to pay for wireless technology. But disregarding its financial impact, think about its environmental impact. Wireless technology works via antennas, routers and satellites that communicate from across the world, into countries, cities and various neighborhoods. In a once pleasant skyline of buildings and lights at night, “Many cities around the world are becoming blighted by a gaggle of ugly mobile antennae”. The beautiful roads of a city with people, flowery detail and trees lining the path are now subject to wireless technology and its infrastructure of electrical poles, telephone lines and the likes, detracting the beauty of the scene.

Wireless technology may be great for that convenience factor, but it also affects the environment. Not only that, it can affect our perception of personal space. Say you lived in a neighborhood of hundreds in the country side or by the mountains and everyday you wake to a beautiful sunrise. The sun’s rays beam over the mountain tops and casts its orange-yellow hue across your neighborhood whilst the birds chirped from the nearby birdhouse. You would think that you have a beautiful and serene private space to tend to yourself. And yet, you’re wrong. The companies of wireless technology have decided there is potential in expanding the wireless range across to your region to offer its technology. In order to do so, they pummel through your land to install antennas atop houses and electrical poles replace the daisies and roses that lines the dirt road. Congratulations, your neighborhood is now equip with wireless technology. You’re private space is now connected to the rest of the world.

Before wireless technology, private spaces were just a place of solitude and all you had to do was avoid people. But with technology, not only do you have to avoid people in person, you also have to avoid them online. You can’t enjoy a nice private sunbathing session with your friends and family calling you on the phone every other minute.

Wireless technology has changed the way we think of public and private spaces in different way. What I mean by that is that wireless technology has become a great game changer. It has helped plenty of people connect to their loved ones or get some sort of information about themselves. At the same time according to “Smartphone revolutionize our lives – but at what cost? It said, “Researchers have begun documenting the impact of smartphones on our ability to focus”. I believe that point is true there are many instances where people try to “social cleanse” and failed to come through for the reason to having separation anxiety from their phones. This having always the phone on us causes one to lack other skills such as reading and writing. Besides this another thing is if one connects to “free Wi-Fi” is it actually free or is it costing our personal information or other things. According to “Social Impacts The Telephone and The Cell Phone Has Had on Society” it said, “In order to avoid problems with environmental groups and local communities — which can be potentially costly in terms of both legal fees and delays in network roll-out — many equipment manufacturers and operators are now working on ways to reduce the environmental impact of cellular antennas.” For having “free Wi-fi” it is now costing the environment as well.

Wireless technology has evolved tremendously the past two decades especially within the past few years as well. “Like most young technologies, mobile telephony is experiencing its share of teething troubles, including concerns about environmental impact, health and safety, and, of course, the social changes being wrought by a technology which, by making us permanently contactable, is having a profound effect on our interpersonal interaction.” This quote was taken from the first article “Social Impacts The Telephone And The Cell Phone Has Had On Society”, in which it discusses that the rise in wireless technology has grown over the years but that there are negative outcomes because of it. Some of the problems arising with this growth is with the “environmental impact, health and safety, and, of course, the social changes being wrought by a technology which, by making us permanently contactable, is having a profound effect on our interpersonal interaction.” 

In the other articles there seems to be more negative issues in connection to the use of the Internet and technology. With technology, there can be the misuse of information and false tenses can be given to an individual, if they aren’t careful. There will always be a good and bad side with the access of technology and the way it is being utilized. 

Over the last decade with the rising popularity and dependency of wireless technology, name your pick, there is no such thing as private spaces or privacy anymore. Personal time is no longer personal; whereas once one was able to appreciate any slow and quiet time, now that same person is more inclined to fill that void with social media, texting, or even a leisurely phone call. The privacy one can sometimes long for has ceased to exist thanks to the virtual noise of wireless technology. That much-needed expresso or latte is now posted online because of it’s cute yet impressive foam art or it’s the universally symbolic status of an exhaustion fighter, the wireless world keeps conversation constant even during that blissful moment of privacy. This also includes vacations- before the advent of modern smartphones, we would often take pictures from a disposable camera or use a personal camcorder to capture certain highlights of the trip, now every five seconds, a picture is taken or a live video is streamed; no longer signifying the privacy of our personal time. Privacy has become public- there’s no doubt about that. 

I usually have a rule when it comes to enjoying private time with friends, family, or on a date; put the phone down, put it away, or turn it off unless an important call is expected. However, when I notice that the phone becomes more of a priority than myself then the social event comes to an end. As Yudhjit Bhattacharjee writes “…When people had access to their phones, they were also more bored, which is not what we were expecting,” Dwyer says. Having your phone on the table while dining, he adds, is “probably not going to ruin your meal, but it could chip away at your enjoyment.” The toll exacted by this phenomenon on close family relationships is easy to extrapolate…” Constant checking of social media, texts, emails- symbolizes boredom in a not so subtle way making it very clear that either you’re wasting someone’s time and vice versa. The urge to smash someone’s phone will be there until the function has ended. 

Now, in order to use our phones or other wireless devices, there must be antennas. Lots of antennas which is not an issue for big cities around the world, in fact, we tend to overlook these antennas seeing how they fit in with modern buildings but it becomes an eyesore for once beautiful areas filled with lupins, lush forests, valleys, and gorgeous rolling hills. These quiet and often gorgeous areas fall victim to monstrous antennas which take away from nature’s beauty. As cell phone usage rises, this means more antennas, which requires more electricity, which in turn requires more scenic areas to be spoiled. Victor Epand writes “…In suburban and semi-rural areas, on the other hand, the large, steel-grey structures needed to support larger cells are harder to hide — yet some operators have nonetheless come up with innovative solutions. In South Africa, for example, at least one operator has taken to camouflaging GSM towers in tropical palm trees, with surprisingly successful results. Elsewhere, the tall spires of churches and cathedrals are being used to hide antennas, representing a positive solution for both the general public and the religious organizations which suddenly find themselves with a profitable antenna-site rental on their hands.”  It’s gotten to the point where antennas need to be camouflaged as to not disturb the scenic environment. 

Private spaces are now a thing of the past. We can no longer get away from the busy world around us without being reminded of our dependency on wireless devices; whether it be our phones physically or the antennas used to maintain reception. 

Wireless technology changed how we think of public vs. private spaces and in the reading, you get to see how technology has merged with society. In the first article ”Social Impacts The Telephone And The Cell Phone Has Had On Society”, Victor Epand, you get to read how the internet has changed over time and literally became a way for companies to make a profit out of it, also it’s interesting how they got churches to allow antennas on to there cathedrals, by implementing antennas into building it’s like the internet is merging itself into society. The second article “Wifi Hog” talks about a device that allows you to block other people from accessing a public wifi outlet which I find to be very interesting cause this was my first time hearing about something like this. Just imagine going to a public spot and doing that now and how many people will freak out cause they don’t have wifi. In the last article, “Starbucks Clashes With WiFi Hobbyists Over Airwaves” it talks about how Starbucks was trying to take over public are which gave free wifi but now they took it down and want to charge the people a monthly fee of 30 dollars which is utterly ridiculous and dumb, I would never pay a company that I spend nearly  10 dollars for a cup a coffee and then proceed to pay them 30 dollars for wifi, that is the most absurd thing I have ever heard, I would rather use the data on my phone for that, And the people who had comments posted how unfair and how unjustly this was to them and how it’s crazy that they want to charge for it.  In the last article “Corruption, Treachery and Deceit at Wikipedia,” it states that “No matter what you search for both of these search engines give preferential treatment to Wikipedia. The only reason why Wikipedia remains popular is because it’s a hegemonic relationship with Google and Yahoo. Without any disclaimer or warning, Wikipedia has thrust down the throats of unsuspecting people just looking for some factual information on the web.” and its funny cause when ever I search something up Wikipedia is the first thing that pops up.

How is crowdsourcing changing the way that companies approach creating content?

To begin what is crowdsourcing? Crowdsourcing is the method obtaining information or statistics from an enormous group of people typically through social media and other internet outlets. Both big and small companies are being drawn to crowdsourcing more and more for the ability to create content and market it in a way that is relatable to people and their target audience. By staying on top of the trends and what’s in and what’s not you can create a product that will sell and have a high demand for with your target audience if you can pin point their interest. Jeff Howe explains how crowdsourcing is so beneficial especially with increasing demand for a product which will increase overall sales for a company and also help provide consumers with exactly what they want from a product. For companies crowdsourcing can be cost effective because instead of hiring an expensive professional to do market research and obtain data and information companies can do it themselves with todays social media platforms to help them understand what their consumers want and need and probably be able to execute things in a faster manner since people today are always posting information it’s a lot easier to get the type of data one may need for creating products or content.

Crowdsourcing has made such a huge impact for companies. Companies no longer have to shell out all this money to have content for their audience. Instead of paying experts a price they deserve (whether it’s because of their schooling or their equipment), they are now paying amateurs a price that is unbeatable. Because amateurs do not have the same experience as an expert, they charge way less and they are content with it because they know they are getting paid for something they have no serious skill in. The first time I ever saw a company use crowdsourcing was when I watched ‘Best Week Ever’ on VH1. They were taking content that had gone viral on the internet and bringing it to TV and it was a hilarious show. The only work they did was have comedians make jokes and have a dialogue about the content. Since then, I feel like that is all you see. Companies are banking on viral videos b ut the sources of the videos are not getting paid, so really the companies are winning in the situation. The video source only wins if their video somehow in turn gets them some type of deal or recognition bigger than just being shared on tv or a social media platform.

Crowdsourcing involves obtaining work, information, or opinions from a large group of people who submit their data via the Internet, social media, and smartphone apps. Crowdsourcing changes the game of the internet this allows companies to advertise to a large number of people and allows them to collect data which then lets the,m figure out what people want or need, one company that very good at this is Amazon whenever you go on there app or website and look up a certain item they make sure you see another item that may go with it or they even may recommend an item that you might want by them doing this it’s like there forcing the item to you. Crowdsourcing happens on youtube every day with commercials before every video you watch and even YouTubers or social media influencers would be Guerrilla marketing a certain app or item so people would go check it out. An example is In the article The Future of Crowdsourcing said  “It’s been used to come up with new business ideas, solutions to social problems, funding new products, mapping environmental disasters, identifying potholes that need to be repaired, and even getting someone to wait in line for your new iPhone.It seems like every day there are new products and services being launched that are leveraging the power of the crowd to do something.” and this is very interesting cause this is what every major corporation does.

How is crowdsourcing changing the way that companies approach creating content?

Crowdsourcing is obtaining information and data from a large crowd, usually from social media or the internet. Companies can crowdsource to see the latest trends and create products to fit those trends and sell.  This is becoming easy and efficient to do, and helps companies get information faster. If people are going to post on platforms like Youtube and Instagram, then companies want to take advantage of that open material to gain an insight on what their audience thinks and wants. This can increase as more people create more content in today’s digital age. More content is more data for these companies, and people are giving them this for free by simply posting. You can learn almost anything online through readings or visual tutorials, and as helpful to the viewer this is also helpful for companies and politicians even. Anyone can access this information and use it for whatever intent they may have. This can both be beneficial and harmful if not used correctly.