Discovering,Sharing, and Storing Information and Knowledge

Now, there are many ways that you can store, share and discover information. These vary a lot from previous years as technology has grown and made life easier for many people. Recently I have been researching how you can do these.

Storing information is now so easy. There are now many ways you can do this. You can store it on your phone, for example I put all my prep on my phone so when I forget it I can just look at my phone. Also when I got my exam results I put all of my marks on my phone so I would not forget. You can also store information by just simply saving a document on your computer so you can access it at any time. You can also just keep information on a memory stick so you can access it on any computer and at any time.

One way to share information is to use Google Docs. In my view this is the best way to do class projects as it allows you to look at your friends' work as well as doing your work. Facebook is another way to share information. I can always pass on information there.  

The easiest way to discover information is just searching on Google and finding the best possible website (that is often Wikipedia) for the information that you are trying to find.

E-reader manufacturers

An e-reader is an electronic device which allow you to read e-books. It is designed primarily for reading books and a lot of people think that it will replace normal books in the future. More and more people are starting to purchase e-readers such as the Amazon Kindle and the Sony E-reader. I personally think that e-readers are the future and book sales will do down dramatically. There are advantages and disadvantages for both. For books you get that comfortable feeling when you hold it but for e-readers you do not have to take the walk to the library or book shop and instead you can just buy a book from the actual e-reader store.There is also the matter of space. At home I have lots of books which take a lot of room in the house but with e-readers you can just store them on a portable device. For normal books you can lend a book to your friend and it won't matter if they lose it but for e-readers it is not likely that you are going to give your personal £120 e-reader to a friend and there is a chance that they will lose it and then all the books on it will be lost and also the money that you have spent on it. People can also steal your e-reader but if you have a book no one would want to steal it.

As I said above the role of e-readers is to let you read e-books on a portable device. As time passes they are becoming more popular and now nearly everything has become digital. My only worry is that people will spend fewer hours outside and everyone will become lazy. Books are being used less by young people and this could make books be unpopular. So far e-readers are doing quite well, they are making a lot of money because first you buy the e-reader for about £120 and then you buy the actual e-books which are as expensive as printed books. This business will definitely continue and thrive in the next few years. It is the new way to read books. We have to get used to the fact that e-readers are the future however, I think that printed books will not disappear for a long time.

Fair use of Copyright (from 2 weeks ago)

 Definition of Copyright: Copyright is a set of rights given to the original creator including the right for someone else to copy an original piece of work ( videos, music, info, etc). Copyright owners have the right to put control on over copying and exploitation of their own work for a certain amount of time, after which the work is said to enter the public domain. Uses covered under limitations and exceptions to copyright, such as fair use, do not require permission from the copyright owner. All other uses require permission. Copyright owners can license their exclusive rights to others.

Fair Use

Fair use (a limitation to the exclusive right granted by copyright law to the creator of his own work) is a doctrine in United States Copyright law that allows limited use of material that is copyrighted without acquiring permission from the creator. Examples are criticism, research, news reporting, etc. It provides for the legal incorporation of another person's work. This term originated in the USA.

ICT Prep-Games

We all know about games. Now, there are so many ways you can play them (consoles,mobiles,computers). All of these possible ways of playing games are popular with people from all age groups. I will be explaining what sort of games you can play on each of the things that I listed above, how the gaming industry has changed, what has happened in recent months and why I think this is important and interesting.

On your phones there are a variety of ways you can get games. The most popular is the app store. The most popular game at the moment and it has been for a long time is Angry Birds. Every day people spend 200 million minutes per day and 16 years every hour playing this game. This proves how many people enjoy these games (David Cameron and Justin Bieber have admitted to playing this game.)Most of the games on mobiles are addictive and fun. Many new versions of Angry Birds are coming out and they are being sold rapidly.

Consoles such as the PS3 and XBOX 360 are making tons of people going into gaming because of these. Many people are posting videos of themselves doing cool things in the games and many people have made a lot of money by doing this. As a PS3 game costs £50 it shows how much technology has gone into these games. Recent games that have come out are Crysis 2 and Homefront.

On your laptop you can get games just like the consoles but you can also get older games and play games on gaming websites. The computer is behind the PS3 in terms of graphics and gameplay but the games are cheaper so that is a bonus.

I think that the games industry is besoming very popular as better quality games are being produced. It is very interesting how the games have developed so much within a few years. Games are now taking up a lot of  time fro people's lives but unfortunately some of these games are becoming an addiction and for some people they play the games for nearly all of the day and are not going outside to get fit.

ICT Prep-Copyright

This is a remix done in 2009 by DJ Earworm. It features most of the popular music in 2009. It has been very popular on youtube and I think he has done a 2010 one but I haven't seen it yet.

 I know of many Youtube people who have posted Fifa 11 goals and Call of Duty Final Killcams taken down because the music they used was not allowed to be used. I have also heard of a person who made a video of Bill O'Reilly melting down on Inside Edition and it had a remix on it and then somebody reported him for copyright and as it was the third time that this has happened his account was terminated.

Wikileaks

Wikileaks is led by a man called Julian Assange who is an Australian Internet Activist. Basically Wikileaks is a non-profit website that posts private secrets about famous people from anonymous sources. This has caused outrage amongst lots of people which led to Julian Assange being arrested. It was launched in 2006 by the Sunshine Press and released 1.2 million private documents in its first year. At first the users could edit the documents like Wikipedia but now is not allowed to be edited.

There have been mixed reactions to wikileaks with praise and heavy criticism put towards it. Many people in the American and British  Government have heavily criticised Wikileaks for posting private information abot themselves and their fellow colleagues. They accused Wikileaks of harming national security. Journalists have criticised Wikileaks of not providing a checking their posts for example Wikileaks released 1000 documens without a sufficient analysis of any of them. Other people think that Wikileaks is great as it supports freedom of the press and increases transparency to the government so you can see what they are doing. Wikileaks has attracted many awards like The Economist's New Meadia Award in 2008 and in 2010, the New York City Daily News listed WikiLeaks first among websites "that could totally change the news".

Examples of what Wikileaks has posted are: in June 2010 they posted an Afghan War Diary and brought together many documents of the Afghan War which the public did not know and in November 2010 Wikileaks posted US State department diplomatic tables.

Overall I would say that Wikileaks is good and bad. It is good as it allows us to see the truth about what the government does but I understand the criticism that Wikileaks has because it is called private for a reason and it just takes the privacy out of these people's lives.

Apps Beyond Mobile

As you all probably know there are apps on nearly every mobile phone now. An app gives you a quick way to access games, the latest sports news, ebay etc. But now companies are introducing apps to desktops. For example Apple are introducing the app store to their Macs and Google have made the Chrome Web Store. I personally think that this could be a really good idea because it is probably better than having to go onto miniclip or other gaming websites to play games.

                                                            

I think this can go further as the app store has proven very popular on the iphone, ipad, ipod touch and I think it will be as popular on desktops.

The person to look out for in 2011

The person who I know football fans are looking out for in 2011 is the young Brazilian footballer Neymar.He is only 18 and has is known as the new Pele. He is being targeted by the top clubs such as Chelsea, Real Madrid, Inter Milan and Manchester United. He has made 2 appearances for the Brazilian national team and has scored one goal. He is currently playing for Brazilian club Santos and has played 64 games and scored 27 goals. He also scored 4 goals in a Brazil Under 20 match. I think he is going to shine this year because he will sign for a great club in the Summer which will bring out the best in him.

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