RFID

RFID is a Radio Frequency Identification Device.

Two real or potential benefits of RFID are the use of passive RFID's in pets and active RFID's in transit systems. Personally, I have had the former implanted in my cat(s) and felt better knowing that in the event that Negrita went out and lost her way back (impossible..) that she might be returned safely. The latter is a matter of convenience-anything that speeds up already congested Bay Bridge traffic, and the like, is fine by me.

Two privacy concerns related to RFID's are data leakage - aggregated data-knowledge of personal (as a consumer and otherwise) behavior and the possibility of stalking/tracking are both extremely undesirable.

e-waste

If our current designated "options" of recycling electronics are as chaotic and ultimately careless as they seem, what valid alternatives does that leave me with? How does the individual decide on where to put, or what do with discontinued or broken electronic materials? The situation is obviously a bit more drastic than I could have imagined, but the concept of creating a make-shift environment-friendly disposal unit, or constructing some sort of storage facility is obviously out of the quesiton, since this dilemma is a bit more complicated than a simple two-bit, instinctive last minute decision. Before reviewing these articles and video examples, I hadn't the slightest impression of the magnitude of the issue; that certain villages were having to live with the polution up-front, and deal with it on their own terms, without any sort of administrative concern for the health or well being of the actual human beings, who are literally sleeping next to the problem.

First off, the local government(s) play a massive hand in the disposal of these materials, maybe even moreso than the companies that produced and disposed of the electronics. An international court might have to step in, after years of lobbying and media-grabbing, to both punish those responsible, and grant financial retribution to those who suffered the most.

Personally, if only I had the power, I would initiate and conduct a massive international fundraising campaign, focused on the concept of returning the biohazardous material back to the plants and factories that originally sent them out to third world areas. Of course this breaks several laws, but this is a personal preference, and a bit dreamlike, admittedly. The materials would be sent to the homes of the company owners, and those who decided so moronically to dispose of these materials in such a fashion. This, understandably, is unrealistic. Another option, and one a bit more reasonable and fathomable, would be to uproot the villagers of these areas, providing better homes, locales and expenses for their troubles. The company owners, and certain responsible local government officials might have to provide these people with a quality lifestyle, as repayment, instead of being officially tried in an international court for crimes against humanity, and should I say, nature.

Internet Archive SF

The creators of the Internet Archive are doing this for the purpose of providing access of what they call 'historical collections' existing in digital format to historians, scholars, and researchers. The importance of such is that it serves as cultural artifact, of which we can refer to later, and to create an identity for the significance of film (especially significant in my opinion), music, and the internet through 'concrete' memory.

The Internet Archive includes text, audio, moving images, software, as well as archived web pages.

I noted that while browsing the site, the CBS News coverage of Sept. 11th was a recently multiply viewed item. It is important for reflection, of our change or stagnancy, to have such documentation readily available to us for personal contemplation or prompts for debate. I mean this specifically to be just one example of the use of this Internet Archive source.
I myself appreciate the digital archival of films.
Under the mystifying heading of software of which I am so inherently ignorant of what this entails is an interesting piece of ..'ware', entailed something to do with painters Joan Miro's evolving works. This site must appeal to everyone.

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When I began high school in 1999 the internet had little influence on my life. My day to day routine never incorporated checking email, posting a new blog, or conversing through instant messaging as it did three years later. There was considerable difference of amount of time I spent online between the beginning of high school and end. Now my uses for the internet have changed in the sense that its mainly research-based time spent but this is a broad term that encompasses all my investigating of different interest of mine, including writing. If I hear of a Vincent Price-in-the-autumn-of-his-life picture involving child murder and incestuous relations in a small Tennessee town I look it up on imdb.com or if I love a song in a film I've seen I'll download it and learn of early 80's New York no wave Tuxedo Moon.

All considering, the internet has affected my life positively in that information is more accessible and I feel like I've been made more aware of what I already inherently appreciate. I still communicate with family and friends through the phone and both parents are not internet savvy so this leaves us with little other alternative. However, I believe the internet has negatively affected interpersonal relationships in that its reduced communication to very little personally. I have myself not experienced this but the social repercussions of such are that people lose the ability to connect with another and do not gain real insight into the other's motivations and perspective. In late high school I experienced instant messaging where it became invasive and I lost sight of personal boundaries at times. Thankfully it played itself out like a phase and nothing negative came of it except feeling foolish and I have to laugh at myself.

Introduction

My name is Daniella Fernandez Murphy and I am a 4th year Art History/Arts Management Major. I really enjoy the cafeterias yogurt parfaits, my coffee in the morning, and cooking for my boyfriend in our apt. downtown. Most recently I made a putanesca sauce over penne and a cucumber yogurt dill salad. I paint small things on paper, create mixed media assemblages, and sometimes use video and edit found imagery with Imovie. I am currently reading Nadja by Andre Breton and a New Yorker article about colony collapse disorder/the disappearance of bees.(!) I found out so many things about bees that was both arresting and seductive. Bees convey to one another the location of food by dancing.