An Invitation to Destiny

It's been a surprisingly busy semester. Although I still feel a little like a failure (I haven't posted near as many blogposts as I have written in my head, the eBook we dreamed was not published, and I still feel this looming sense of disapproval from Dr. Burton)-- I think it was an overall success for my education. And since I finally have time to sit down and collect my thoughts, I might as well write up my reflexive post before the next whirlwind of crazy semesters.

 The Beginning
 I was excited by the idea of the class, but pretty confused by the application. I already had a Google+ and created a blog almost the first day, but then had difficulty getting the two connected and so by the time grades came out, I already had my first 0. I attempted to write blog posts, but nothing I wrote ever seemed as good as what the professors would write and most of my posts were smothered by fear of failure. I came to class, but the only participation points we received were from our digital presence. I didn't have a laptop that I could really bring to class and almost all of the actual "activity" would occur online, so by the time I would go home and post, no one was around to look at it. We were required in our groups to put on presentations and so instead of just having a humdrum powerpoint, I worked with both of my groups to make something that would be both entertaining and useful. And yet all of my hard work, coordination efforts, and innovation seemed to no avail because the next set of grade releases was just as low as the first few.

 To say the situation was discouraging would be a vast understatement. I had a desire to achieve and in most situations I can learn to adapt and excel, but after giving so much and seeing so little in your efforts, it's hard to motivate yourself.

 Project-iles
During this era of lacking motivation and disappointment, I had a lot of discussion with one of my co-workers, Bryan, about the class. He seemed to enjoy it a lot more than I did and had an idea for a project. I'd been trying to work towards getting project ideas out on the table and so having his initial idea of an eBook was just as good as any other that I could back. So we came up with chapter titles one day and submitted it to the professor for feedback. Bryan happened to have a meeting set up with Dr. Burton so I tagged along, gave a couple of opinions and then the next day it was announced that not only were we going to be making an eBook, but Bryan and I would be in charge of the actual creation.

I was taking 18.5 credits, working 24 hours a week, and getting married at the end of the semester (actually, it's still on, two weeks and counting to April 27th), and I had a school trip to Washington D.C. planned for one of the first weeks of production. Nevertheless, I found ways to make time for it, and I wrote an introduction, drew out designs for a webpage, worked with Dr. Zappala to set up the necessary tools for Booktype and began editing chapter submissions. When Booktype unexpectedly began having troubles, we opted for Sigil and the work began all over and the time I spent on the project increased.

Although there were definitely long hours spent at Bryan's place editing, brainstorming, and having mental breakdowns, it was an amazing experience to get to know my fellow classmates better and see all of their great ideas. I tried to spend time going around to each group, getting to know the members and their thoughts and ideas. From editing the chapters I began to learn about topics I probably wouldn't have even thought about before (like patents and copyrights or using research 2.0). I was able to talk to the professors almost 24/7 on google+ and the time that I spent working on the eBook always seemed  to go by faster than I anticipated. It was a project where I could use knowledge and skills that I already had, but it also required a LOT of research and learning (figuring out how to use CSS, feedback about various failed attempts to organize groups or ideas, etc).

In the end, our final product was not quite marketable, but it still represents hours of time and effort that I will cherish.

 The Event
Until a week before the event took place, I still hadn't given much thought to the presentation or what exactly I would say or do. Instead I was pouring over book editing, trying to learn HTML and CSS coding, and overcoming technical difficulties. And then one night -- the idea came. What would we talk about? We would talk about this, the process, the setbacks, and the successes. For as we all know, one does not simply make an eBook, oh no, there is a very detailed process to making an eBook, there are hurdles to overcome and organization that needs to take place. Bryan and I spent an entire evening creating a prezi and even my fiance, Daniel, came over to help us come up with caption ideas. Originally I don't know much about Lord of the Rings, but as the night drew on and I began to watch more and more YouTube clips, I felt almost like a LOTR expert.

 And of course, after all of our effort we realized that we were missing large, pertinent pieces of information, like: what was our real motive? Why does it matter if we made an eBook? What is an eBook? So it was back to the drawing board.

During this process, as I began to become more and more excited by the event, I reached out to those around me and began inviting them to the event. The night that the Facebook event was created I went online and scanned my friends, inviting 15 that I thought would be interested (I'm not big on mass spamming). Then, while at work, I spent some time personally asking 6 of my co-workers to come, letting them know it would be an event with Tedx type talks and engaging topics.

In the end, only my sister, Anna and her boyfriend, Aaron were able to make it.  Anna is an Economics major and had a lot to say, especially about the Creative Commons presentation (she had heard a lot about patent trolls from various classes). So although I didn't get as many in attendance as I had anticipated, I threw myself into it, it was semi-engaging, and it gave me ideas for the future. And that I would consider a success.

Revised Introduction

Inspiration was given to me, in large part, from the mouth of a fat squirrel who walked up to me begging for food on the streets of DC. I happened to be walking back from a performance in the historic national theater stewing over what to write for an introduction to this eBook when it happened. I'm about as lost in writing as I was in DC, and trying to patchwork together the desires of classmates, teachers, and myself into one coherent thesis for a book, with only a dabbling English experience, was proving mind boggling. I knew the topics for the book, I knew the general lay out, but really, what was it all about? What was the purpose for writing an eBook and what do we want people to know?

In the midst of this inescapable mind fog, I left for DC to attend a health conference. Beforehand I spent a few hours online and researched various free activities and places to see in my downtime. When we arrived in the airport and made our way over to the metro I realized that, unlike the majority of the group who was blindly following the crowd, I could figure out the system based on my experience with Asian subways.

Because I knew what I wanted to do and had spent a little time figuring out how to get around, I had no fear of getting lost. Even when later that night I was separated from the group, I could read the maps and I knew that I could ask people around me and find my way back.

The next morning I decided to leave early and head over to a performance that I had heard of online. Maybe it was the rain, maybe it was the early hour, but for one magical half hour, I had DC to myself. I walked down the cobble stone streets, past historic monuments and buildings, and realized that I would never have had this opportunity unless I had done a little bit of personal preparation.

So when I was returning from the theater, the rain had stopped, the sun was peaking around the building tops, and I stopped in front of a statue of Colonel Stewart to watch some squirrels play. This is when the inspiration happened. One fat little squirrel looked up, eyed me, and then meandered over as if to say: "good morning".  And I felt a true sense of belonging. I had gone from tourist to local and I was connectedness to this city.

And it's that feeling that we want to convey to you, the readers. In a world of ever developing digital society it can be hard to decipher all the information and concepts that are thrown our way. How do we embrace emerging technologies that have so much potential to help while protecting ourselves from piracy, time leaches, and trolls?

We’ve walked down the streets of this digital world, taken notes, visited museums, and compiled a collection of field notes into this Digital field guide. I don't want to make the comparison too close to a field guide though, because our main purpose is not to blurt out facts, but to give a solid base of knowledge concerning topics that are evolving in our digital society, supported with historical connections, and propose actions to be taken in order to improve our society.
In this eBook we work to make digital concepts bite sized and digestible, as well as entertaining and relevant. Using historical examples to guide our suggestions for the future, and tapping into the power of social proof, we confirm and validate our ideas. We have worked tirelessly, frantically, and all too often somewhat blindly as we have attempted to find new insights, opinions, and social proofs for our ideas. 

This book is divided into six content areas: Openness, The Arts, Business, Education, Government, Inquiry, Intellectual Property & Creative Commons, and Science. These are areas that we have identified as being the mostly highly discussed and debated in relation to technology and it’s concepts of openness, control, participation and information. In this book we provide the reader with content to help them become more informed concerning many of the emerging digital concepts and concerns. 

Each section is created to allow users of all interest levels to be able to access useful information. Sections are introduced with a brief descriptive video detailing the concepts of the chapter and introducing a “tweethis” for the chapter. These chapters are then enriched with relevant images, infographs, and of course bibliographies to support our research and provide a launching pad for interested parties to learn more. In efforts to keep up with the dynamic nature of technology today, all the embedded videos, along with supporting videos, can be found on an accompanying Youtube channel.

Possible Introductions

Inspiration was given to me, in large part, from the mouth of a fat squirrel who walked up to me begging for food like a lost puppy dog on the streets of DC. I happened to be walking back from a performance in the historic national theater stewing over what to write for an introduction to this eBook when it happened. I'm about as lost in writing as I was in DC, and trying to patchwork together the desires of classmates, teachers, and myself into one coherent thesis for a book, with only a dabbling English experience, was proving mind boggling. I knew the topics for the book, I knew the general lay out, but really, what was it all about? What was the purpose for writing an eBook and what do we want people to know?

In the midst of this inescapable mind fog, I left for DC to attend a health conference. Beforehand I spent a few hours looking at our prospective schedule and I realized there was a lot of time where we were left to ourselves and we could plan whatever activities we wanted to do. With that in mind I quickly jumped online and researched various free activities and places to see. When we arrived in the airport and made our way over to the metro I realized that most of the group was just blindly following the crowd and one or two who had been there before. Although I have never navigated the DC metro before, I knew from my experience in Asia how the subway systems work and I took a quick picture of the map and plotted out our journey to the hotel.

Because I knew what I wanted to do and had spent a little time figuring out how to get around, I had no fear of getting lost. Even if I was separated from the group, I could find my way back and even if, heaven forbid, I couldn't figure out the map, I knew that I could ask people around me and find my way back. This served immensely because later that night our group was separated when the subway train doors closed and myself and another girl were stranded on the platform.

The next morning I decided to leave early and head over to a performance that I had heard of online. Although everyone else had ambitions of getting breakfast, I knew what I wanted so I packed my own meal, borrowed an umbrella from the doorman and got directions to the theater. Maybe it was the rain, maybe it was the early hour, but for one magical half hour, I had DC to myself. I walked down the cobble stone streets, past historic monuments and buildings, and realized that I would never have had this opportunity unless I had done a little bit of personal preparation, and used my accrued understanding of the history that surrounded my location as a knowledge base in order to get around.

So when I was returning from the theater, the rain had stopped, the sun was peaking around the building tops, and I stopped in front of a statue of Colonel Stewart to watch some squirrels play. This is when the inspiration happened. One fat little squirrel looked up, eyed me, and then meandered over as if to say: "good morning". It was a neat experience to feel so much awe and yet so much connectedness to this city.

And it's that feeling that I want to convey to you, the readers. The digital world can be a large place, full of unfamiliar and burgeoning technologies and ideas. How do we embrace emerging technologies that have so much potential to help while protecting ourselves from piracy, time leaches, and trolls? Well, we've walked down the streets of this digital world, taken notes, visited museums, and compiled a collection of field notes into this Digital tour guide. I don't want to make the comparison too close to a tour guide though, because our main purpose is not to blurt out facts, but to give a solid base of knowledge about an issue, supported with historical connections, and propose actions for applying these concepts in our digital age.

What makes up the world we live in and how does our changing digital environment effect us? How does our past influence our future? Or does it? In a world of ever developing digital society it can be hard to decipher all the information and concepts that are thrown our way. In this eBook we work to make digital concepts bite sized and digestible, as well as entertaining and relevant. Using historical examples to guide our suggestions for the future, and tapping into the power of social proof, we confirm and validate our ideas. We have worked tirelessly, frantically, and all too often somewhat blindly as we have attempted to find new insights, opinions, and social proofs for our ideas.

This book is divided into six content areas: Openness, Inquiry, Government, Science, Education, Intellectual Property & Creative Commons, Art & Music, and Business. These are areas that we have identified as being the mostly highly discussed and debated in relation to technology and it’s concepts of openness, control, participation and information. In this book we provide the reader with content to help them become more informed concerning many of the emerging digital concepts and concerns.

Each section is created to allow users of all interest levels to be able to access useful information. Sections are introduced with a brief descriptive video detailing the concepts of the chapter and introducing a “tweethis” for the chapter. These chapters are then enriched with relevant images, infographs, and of course bibliographies to support our research. In efforts to keep up with the dynamic nature of technology today, all the embedded videos, along with supporting videos, can be found on an accompanying Youtube channel.

Fighting Slavery in a Modern Age

Thanks to leap year, I have one more day to celebrate Black History Month. It's a great opportunity to look back and see where our nation and our world has come in eliminating slavery and what we've done for human rights and equality for all. But what if it's not over?

Slavery seems to have been prevalent throughout history, some of the earliest records even in the Code of Hammurabi (1760 BC). Even in the colonization of the Americas it appears to have been present and come over in the 1600s shortly after the first colonizers. From the 16th to the 19th centuries, an estimated 12 million Africans were shipped as slaves to the Americas.




At this point slavery also began to be more commonly practiced in Europe, especially Britain. Slaves were used both domestically in household labor as well as in naval expeditions. As Stephen Farrell points out in his article "Driving Change Through Parliament":

"The simple fact was that, for most of the commercial and landed elite, the British slave trade was an accepted and unquestioned part of the nation's growing imperial and naval supremacy.
If its barbaric nature was sometimes recognised, its continuance was nevertheless considered essential to the success of the prevailing economic system. "

 Such were the general sentiments until William Willberforce came along. As you may remember from the popular movie Amazing Grace, William fought for abolition and although he was met with a lot of push back from the general members of parliament he was eventually able to pass the The Slave Trade Abolition Act of 1807 which prohibited trading Africans into slavery and led to eventual destruction of slavery in England.

Years later Americans also began to feel similarly and the American Civil war broke out (of course it is much more complicated, but this is the nutshell version). As the abolitionist Northern states were able to win this war the eventual result was the abolition of slaves.

Yay! No more slaves! We can all live in equality and freedom. Or do we?

I love this video which addresses one of the issues of human trafficking and early marriage. Although not every case of  early marriage is human trafficking and not every case modern slavery has to do with early marriage, it is something to think about.

 In our modern society a whole new form of slavery has begun to emerge, most commonly known as Human Trafficking.  Defined by the U.S. Department of State as:

"The United States government considers trafficking in persons to include all of the criminal conduct involved in forced labor and sex trafficking, essentially the conduct involved in reducing or holding someone in compelled service. ..Individuals may be trafficking victims regardless of whether they once consented, participated in a crime as a direct result of being trafficked, were transported into the exploitative situation, or were simply born into a state of servitude. Despite a term that seems to connote movement, at the heart of the phenomenon of trafficking in persons are the many forms of enslavement, not the activities involved in international transportation."


It is estimated by the United Nations that 700,000 to 4 million women and children are tracked around the world annually resulting in a $7 billion dollar annual business. Because slavery is illegal in every country it is difficult to track the exact numbers of those trafficked, but it is clear that it is a problem. Unlike slavery in the 17th and 18th centuries, slaves today are amazingly cheap. The average price for a human slave: $70-150 USD. With the potential to create $70,000- $125,000 profit for the owner, this is a much more profitable business than it was in days gone by.

In the United States alone it's estimated that 17,500 individuals are brought into the United States and held against their will every year. "But that's for dirty cities, like New York or Los Angeles," you may be thinking, "not in Utah." According to the National Human Trafficking Resource Center Utah State Report, in 2011 there were 68 reports of trafficking. 68 reported cases. In 2010 one of the largest cases in U.S. history regarding Thais human trafficked for labor happened in Utah.

Technology plays a great part in all of this, both for propagating trafficking and for eliminating it. Since I'm focusing on hope and what we can do, I'd like to share a few examples of technology being used to help eliminate trafficking.

•  Craigslist shut down it's "erotic services" section because it was found that it was being used to sell women for sex. 
• The super bowl,often a hub for sex trafficking, (in my opinion this is largely due to its conglomeration of horny, angry, and happy men who are from out of town providing anonymity. This is found at many major sporting events). In 2012, however, trafficking was put on the agenda and was greatly reduced.
• even if you don't see slaves working for you, you may be surprised to find out that many of the products you use in your every day life were the product of slavery production.  Slaveryfootprint.org is a great website to help you analyze your consumption methods and determine your slavery footprint (mine is 26)
  

Moral of the story: Human Trafficking is a serious issue around the world. It's a serious issue in America. It's a serious issue in Utah. It wasn't right then. It's not right now. Nothing will change unless we change it. Make a stance, take a chance, change your world.