We are Caribbean - a unique mixture of Amerindian, European, African, and Asian heritage. Ours is a culture defined by toil, struggle, and diversity. Our music and dance are expressions of our appreciation of our past and the way it is helping to shape our collective future.
We are a happy people and proud of who we are. With warm smiles and open arms, we welcome all nations to see, taste, and experience the Caribbean - an archipelago of unspoiled, beautiful islands.
Cancel all other plans for Oct. 2 and travel to Sunwatcher Plaza for 5 p.m. The Caribbean Students Organization will take the Wichita Falls community on a two-hour tour of Caribbean cultural and national identities.
Caribfest is the biggest CSO charity event. We donate the funds we raise to First Step, WFISD Scholarship, and the Hospice of Wichita Falls.
We need your support. Purchase a Caribfest 2009 t-shirt for only $12 and a Caribbean dinner for only $5...and we'll see you on Friday!
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Net Neutrality
Net neutrality rules are the Federal Communications Commission proposal of new rules to prevent Internet service providers from deliberately blocking or slowing certain Web traffic. The proposal will include an additional guideline for carriers that they make public the way they manage traffic on their network to ensure that they are not singling out technologies that might compete with their own services.
I think the FCC is doing small businesses a favor by coming to their rescue in this way. There is no way of knowing whether ISPs are not blocking and slowing web traffic in order to eliminate their competition. Companies that can afford to pay for this kind of service will be the ones gaining huge advantages if the FCC does not do something. Everyone deserves an equal chance in the advertising market. Everyone deserves to be seen.
I think the FCC is doing small businesses a favor by coming to their rescue in this way. There is no way of knowing whether ISPs are not blocking and slowing web traffic in order to eliminate their competition. Companies that can afford to pay for this kind of service will be the ones gaining huge advantages if the FCC does not do something. Everyone deserves an equal chance in the advertising market. Everyone deserves to be seen.
Monday, September 21, 2009
Internet = society
Internet and Society class is about the personal, academic, media and business uses of the Internet. It teaches how society, as both individuals and groups, uses the internet to interact.
I am taking this class to learn about how people use the Internet to learn, communicate, trade ideas and information and, in the process, learn about themselves and the rest of the world. So far, I have learned some ways that the Internet and society have simultaneous changed each other. When compared to all other means of interaction, we can not deny the great impact that the Internet has made on our lives.
Although some uses of the Internet are new to some people, they have been explored by others who have adopted them as second nature. As individuals, society, education, communication and business evolve, so does the Internet. I have learned that through regulations, proper netiquette, and sharing, society makes the Internet what it is.
These are valuable lessons because in the future (and with the rate at which the Internet is evolving), maybe a few short years from now, we will look back and remember what the Internet was and will appreciate it for what it is.
I agree with all the "net generation norms" but especially this one: "They love to customize, personalize." Net Geners tailor everything to their size. They are very careful in ensuring that every aspect of their lives fits their personality. They recognize that they have the freedom to be who they want and to change their minds if it doesn't suit them anymore. Net Geners are not fitting to into society's moulds but are reshaping the moulds and even creating new ones.
I am taking this class to learn about how people use the Internet to learn, communicate, trade ideas and information and, in the process, learn about themselves and the rest of the world. So far, I have learned some ways that the Internet and society have simultaneous changed each other. When compared to all other means of interaction, we can not deny the great impact that the Internet has made on our lives.
Although some uses of the Internet are new to some people, they have been explored by others who have adopted them as second nature. As individuals, society, education, communication and business evolve, so does the Internet. I have learned that through regulations, proper netiquette, and sharing, society makes the Internet what it is.
These are valuable lessons because in the future (and with the rate at which the Internet is evolving), maybe a few short years from now, we will look back and remember what the Internet was and will appreciate it for what it is.
I agree with all the "net generation norms" but especially this one: "They love to customize, personalize." Net Geners tailor everything to their size. They are very careful in ensuring that every aspect of their lives fits their personality. They recognize that they have the freedom to be who they want and to change their minds if it doesn't suit them anymore. Net Geners are not fitting to into society's moulds but are reshaping the moulds and even creating new ones.
Monday, September 14, 2009
Web 2.0 affects you 2.0
According to Alan Evans, Kendall Martin and Mary Anne Poatsy in Technology in Action 5th ed., Web 2.0 provides for interactive information sharing among Internet users. Through Web 2.0, viewers are not only able to view but also interact with what they see, read and hear via the Internet. Web 2.0 allows users to research and then respond by either dispersing additional information pertaining to what they read, or share opinions on topics of common interest. Web 2.0 basically changes the way that software developers and Internet users use the Internet.
Blogs, twitter and social gaming are some aspects of Web 2.0 with which I am familiar. They allow Internet users to get lots of different opinions on social issues, and even experience other cultures. People can explore more first-hand experiences. Web 2.0 also connects people and helps them to stay connected. Family members can stay abreast of what is going on in the lives of their relatives. Web 2.0 has the unique ability to connect people with common interests not only locally and regionally but also internationally. Reading blogs and tweets have helped me to reshape my view of many subjects. Web 2.0 is helping the global community to become more open and objective.
Blogs, twitter and social gaming are some aspects of Web 2.0 with which I am familiar. They allow Internet users to get lots of different opinions on social issues, and even experience other cultures. People can explore more first-hand experiences. Web 2.0 also connects people and helps them to stay connected. Family members can stay abreast of what is going on in the lives of their relatives. Web 2.0 has the unique ability to connect people with common interests not only locally and regionally but also internationally. Reading blogs and tweets have helped me to reshape my view of many subjects. Web 2.0 is helping the global community to become more open and objective.
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Technology and the Genius in you
I do not think that Licklider, Tomlinson, or Tim Berners-Lee knew how their work would have been used and adopted by others. If they had known, they could have made a lot more money in the initial stages of development by marketing the Internet to everybody -- from professionals to housewives to children to social networkers to doctors to newspaper readers to bookworms to bookstores to magazine editors to politicians to health enthusiasts to governments to researchers to students -- I mean everybody. Individuals and groups/organizations have learned how to use the Internet to their advantage.
Today's reality is very far from the developers' original vision. I am certain that they never envisioned that the Internet would be used by people in order to buy items that they could not readily access in their own state or country. They never imagined that the Internet would be used as a means of meeting new people in far-away places and even to convene meetings as if all the delegates were in one room. The developers of the Internet did not know that people would use it in order to take classes because they could not afford to attend university full time. I don't believe that they thought that employers would use the Internet as a source of background information about their prospective employees. Who knew that numerous missing and adopted children would be reunited with their biological parents because somebody, somewhere recognized a picture that he saw on the Internet? Who knew that Americans would be able to eat home-cooked Caribbean meals because one housewife shared her recipes on the internet? Who would have thought that someone would use the Internet to watch a television program that he had missed?
There is a host of other tools that we use in ways that are different from the developers' ideas. Winter is approaching and soon we will all be seen bundled up in our winter gear. I remember reading that winter bubble jackets are a variation of the space gear that astronauts use when they travel to outer space. In addition, oxygen tanks that astronauts use in order to breathe in outer space have been modified and used as a part of a life-support system for critically injured patients.Who knew? Cell phones were made to help us stay in touch when we are away from landlines. Who would have thought that we would be using them to surf the Internet and to do other innovative things? Radars that were originally developed to help meteorologists track weather systems are now being used by the police to track the cell phones of suspected and convicted criminals. Compact discs that we once thought were a great way to record and store music can now be used to store not only computer software but also movies. A fairly new and sophisticated version of the x-ray, the ultrasound, is used so that expecting mothers can get a picture of their unborn babies and monitor their development. The list goes on.
Technology has put knowledge and skills at the fingertips of the ordinary person. The result is that we have new and innovative medical, social as well as other advancements. Manufacturers have bigger markets for their products. Inventors and manufacturers have to be thinking constantly about new and different ways that their products can be used. The major implication, however, is that technology brings out the genius in all of us. We always manage to turn what we have into exactly what we want.
Today's reality is very far from the developers' original vision. I am certain that they never envisioned that the Internet would be used by people in order to buy items that they could not readily access in their own state or country. They never imagined that the Internet would be used as a means of meeting new people in far-away places and even to convene meetings as if all the delegates were in one room. The developers of the Internet did not know that people would use it in order to take classes because they could not afford to attend university full time. I don't believe that they thought that employers would use the Internet as a source of background information about their prospective employees. Who knew that numerous missing and adopted children would be reunited with their biological parents because somebody, somewhere recognized a picture that he saw on the Internet? Who knew that Americans would be able to eat home-cooked Caribbean meals because one housewife shared her recipes on the internet? Who would have thought that someone would use the Internet to watch a television program that he had missed?
There is a host of other tools that we use in ways that are different from the developers' ideas. Winter is approaching and soon we will all be seen bundled up in our winter gear. I remember reading that winter bubble jackets are a variation of the space gear that astronauts use when they travel to outer space. In addition, oxygen tanks that astronauts use in order to breathe in outer space have been modified and used as a part of a life-support system for critically injured patients.Who knew? Cell phones were made to help us stay in touch when we are away from landlines. Who would have thought that we would be using them to surf the Internet and to do other innovative things? Radars that were originally developed to help meteorologists track weather systems are now being used by the police to track the cell phones of suspected and convicted criminals. Compact discs that we once thought were a great way to record and store music can now be used to store not only computer software but also movies. A fairly new and sophisticated version of the x-ray, the ultrasound, is used so that expecting mothers can get a picture of their unborn babies and monitor their development. The list goes on.
Technology has put knowledge and skills at the fingertips of the ordinary person. The result is that we have new and innovative medical, social as well as other advancements. Manufacturers have bigger markets for their products. Inventors and manufacturers have to be thinking constantly about new and different ways that their products can be used. The major implication, however, is that technology brings out the genius in all of us. We always manage to turn what we have into exactly what we want.
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