influential event

I still remember the moment that all the houses were shievering and cracking, and people escaped from their homes. That day was 12th May, 2008.    

Sichuan earthquake although is not the severest in the record, the impact of it was felt through the death, huge economic loss and number of people affected by the aftershock. Thousands and thousands of students and people screamed and run away from their homes, classerooms and shops. The only thing I can still remember now is the feeling that I need to be with my family. The earthquake furthered the way home, destroyed the houses and took away lives, but it closered the distances between people, witnessed the justice and warm up our hearts at the same time.

This is the day that I will never forget and never wish happen again.  

 

Probllem-Solution article draft 1

Problem and Solution for Infringement of Copyright

One design company from Seattle named Modern Dog alleged that an illustration printed in the Disney designed T-shirt was first created and published online by their company. This firm finally filed a lawsuit in 2011 and their hasn’t been any result for this case until now. In order to get support form the publicity and gather the funds for lawsuit, this company have drawn a heated discussion on internet. This essay will discuss the impact of infringement of copyright due to multiple social media in America, evaluate the existing solution and propose the improved one to resolve the current problems.   

Any original works are protected by the copyright law and their creators deserve the corresponding rights and interests. As the definition given by the eHow, ‘when an unauthorized person reproduces, performs, or otherwise uses a copyrighted material without permission, it is considered a copyright violation’, which reflects on normal lives can be shown by downloading and sharing music and movie files without permission of the copyright owners or using certain contents or photographs published in other peoples blogs or articles without authors’ authorization.

Apparently, as the development of internet, especially various kinds of social media applications, online infringement of copyright has become a rigorous problem which affects not only the original creators but also a country’s creative environment and social economy. Not every infringement cases involve financial issues and are associated with some big companies, but it actually happens in people’s daily lives.

A extensive infringement will discourage the creators and diminish their enthusiasm of creativity . In some degree it will affect the sealing market and cut the earning of these authors. However, the impact of infringement will not be solely personal. A widespread violation will also deteriorate a society’s create environment and less and less original works will reach the public market in the future. Moreover, copyright infringement also has a significant impact on world economy. As the data given by the internet, losses due to piracy have exceeded over $51 billion in the past few years. If piracy rates could be reduced by ten percent for the next four years, 500,000 jobs would be created plus $140 billion would be added into the economy.

One of the existing solutions is to promote people getting familiar with the copyright law in America, which is governed by the federal Copyright Act of 1976. The law establish legal consequences of violation in infringement in copyright. It encourages the public to understand what is protected by the copyright law, meanwhile, to use the deterrent of law to reduce the chances of infringement. However, only people with proper education will have lower chance breaking the law and comply with their legal responsibilities. This brings the shortcoming that some of the citizens who live in the rural areas may not even hear of the copyright law. Moreover, this solution focuses on the corrective action that citizens are liable for any criminal offense they committed due to the copyright issue, rather than try to eliminate the crime by enhancing the creativity of the citizens.

The proposed solution, Creativity Enhancement Program(CEP), aims to promote the public’s creativity, especially the teenagers and consequently eliminate their intention of piracy. The program consists of two aspects, one is from school and other is from students’ families. Local schools can conduct a series of culture activities such as original singing or design competitions at regular intervals. Winners are awarded with bonus such as bursaries or provided with chances to further their talent through advanced professional courses from the famous school. Since the contests are fairly held and opportunities are equally presented so that all the students can attend the competitions. The rich prize will motivate the students and inspire their enthusiasm for creativity. The encouragement from students families will also play an important role throughout the grown-up process of children. Parents can use several ways to train their children’s creativity such as spending time to brainstorm or inspiring their thought through asking questions. The thinking habit cultivated by the family environment will deeply root into children’s minds and benefit their whole lives. Funds of the establishment of CEP can be obtained from relevant educational departments or school administration. The subsequent cultural activities can be advertised in social media such as Facebook, twitter, school noticeboard,etc.

In conclusion, infringement of copyright is indulged by the development of social media. The government should raise the awareness of the copyright issue through different aspects such as policy, programme and education. The Creativity Enhancement Programme is believed to promote the awareness of infringement of copyright and increase the creativity of them.  

References:  

1. Wikipedia, Copyright law of the United States  

Retrieved from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_law_of_the_United_States

2. WikiHow, How to avoid the copyright infringement.

Retrieved from: http://www.wikihow.com/Avoid-Copyright-Infringement

3. Ellison K. (2015). 5 famous copyright infringement cases (and what you can learn).99 designs. Retrieved from

http://99designs.com/designer-blog/2013/04/19/5-famous-copyright-infringement-cas

es/

4. Impact of copyright infringement.

Retrieved from: http://faculty.ist.psu.edu/bagby/432Spring12/T15/impact.html

 

Reader Response draft 3

In the article “The Perils of Over-sharing in Social Networks”, Emm (2014) discusses the increasing danger of using the internet.  As more of routine activities have to rely on the Internet today, people begin to feel apprehensive about the authorities and the large companies spying on their personal lives. However, the author believes that the real dangers are hidden behind the numerous seemingly irrelevant information that users those who are plugged in choose to put online, which can be used by some concealed audiences to attack not only individuals but also companies. He indicates that these threats are easily to be ignored due to the false sense of security of users. The author also lists some useful security advice to readers.

 

 

The concern for the dangers of over-sharing expressed by the author in the article is reasonable. In fact, the dangers are more severe than most people imagine.

One of the reasons why people have a tendency to overshare on social media, as elaborated by the author, is because the smartphone is not a usual victim of cyber-attack. The other is due to the neglect from the public as people believe that the dangers of over-sharing have been exaggerated and no one will pay attention to normal users’ social media and digital records out of some special reasons. While in reality, the opposite is the case.

As early as 2010, a new company named Identified had started to collect users data , merely by pulling public information from their social media accounts, and allotted a score to each of them to represent their attraction for potential employers. Someone might have a profile in Identified even if they haven’t signed up for the service. These data obviously have large attractions for some big companies and PepsiCo(PEP) had already signed with Identified. Those kinds of collection may never be observed by these latent ‘users’ , but job hopping will be difficult for them if they have low scores.

They other concealed observers who may regularly pay attention to social media are lawyers and investigators. Nowadays, Facebook has become an efficient tool for lawyers to find evidence. Different from the traditional investigation ways which rely on following and subpoenaing, the personal details posted on Facebook can help lawyers establish a person’s habits and character and photos shared on Facebook will  be more directly used as evidences to show when and where what happened.

Over-sharing on social media will also hurt people’s careers. Threats such as being caught by the boss when someone is loafing on their job are just part of it. More often, the employers will have more in-depth observations of their employees through social media. Doing Google searches and looking through applicants social media pages have become the normal examinations for some companies before they provide interviews. “ Never say anything negative about a current or former employer on your social media pages. Employers will reasonably assume that if you trash-talk your current or former employers, they will be the next ones to be trashed.” human resources consultant Brenda Vander Meulen(2014) suggests.   

The dangers of over-sharing are hidden in various views of people’s lives and taking responsibility for what we have posted is essential for netizens. To prevent some irreparable consequences of over-sharing, following some safety tips to protect personal information should be started now.  

 

 

 

 

Reference:

David Emm(2014). The Perils of Over-sharing in Social Networks. Web blog post

Retrieved from:

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/david-emm/the-perils-of-over-sharing-in-social-networks_b_5005276.html

 

John.Egan(2014). Over-sharing on social media can cost you. Bankrate.com

Retrieved from:

http://www.bankrate.com/finance/personal-finance/3-financial-dangers-of-social-media-1.aspx

 

Daniel Roberts(2011). 社交网络过度分享风潮中蕴藏的商机. 财富.com

Retrieved from:

http://www.fortunechina.com/technology/c/2011-12/01/content_80849.htm

 

 

 

 

 

Reader Response draft 2

In the article “The Perils of Over-sharing in Social Networks”, Emm (2014) talks about the increasing danger of using the internet.  As more of our routine activities have to rely on the Internet today, people begin to feel apprehensive for the authorities and the large companies to spy on their personal lives. However, the author believes that the really dangers are hidden behind the numerous seemingly irrelevant information that we choose to put online, which can  be used by some concealed audiences to attack not only ourselves but also our companies. He indicates that these threats are easily to be ignored due to the false sense of security of users. The author also lists some useful security advice to readers.

The concern for the dangers of over-sharing expressed by the author in the article is reasonable and I entirely agree with that. In fact, the dangers are more severe than we thought.

One of the reasons why people have a tendency to overshare on social media, as elaborated by the author, is because the smartphone is not a usual victim of cyber-attack. The other is due to the neglect from the public as they believe that the dangers of over-sharing has been exaggerated and no one will check their social media and digital records out of some special reasons. While in reality, the opposite is the case.

As early as 2010, a new company named Identified has started to collect users data , merely by pulling public information from their social media accounts, and allotted a score to each of them to represent their attraction for potential employers. Someone might have a profile in Identified even if they haven’t signed up for the service. These data obviously have large attractions for some big companies and PEP has already signed with Identified. Those kind of collection may never be observed by these latent ‘users’ , but job hopping will be difficult for them if they have low scores.

They other concealed observers who may regularly pay attention to social media are lawyers and investigators. Nowadays, Facebook has become an efficient tool for lawyers to find evidence. Different from the traditional investigation ways which rely on following and subpoenaing, the personal details posted on Facebook can help lawyers establish a person’s habits and character and photos shared on Facebook will more directly to be used as evidences to show when and where what happened.

Over-sharing on social media will also hurt people’s careers. Threats such as being caught by the boss when someone is loafing on their job are just part of it. More often, the employers will have more in-depth observations of their employees through social media. Doing Google searches and looking through applicants social media pages have become the normal examinations for some companies before they provide interviews. “ Never say anything negative about a current or former employer on your social media pages. Employers will reasonably assume that if you trash-talk your current or former employers, they will be the next ones to be trashed.” human resources consultant Brenda Vander Meulen suggests.   

The dangers of over-sharing are hidden in various views of our lives and taking responsibility for what we have posted is essential for us. To prevent some irreparable consequences of over-sharing, following some safety tip to protect ourselves should be started now.  

Reader response Draft 1

The Perils of Over-sharing in Social Networks

 

In the article “The Perils of Over-sharing in Social Networks”, Emm (2014) talks about the

ever increasing danger of using the internet.  As ever-bigger routine activities have to rely

on the Internet today, people begin to feel apprehensive for the authorities and the large

companies to spy on their personal lives. However, the author believes that the really dangers

are hidden behind the numerous seemingly irrelevant information that we choose to put

online, which can can be used by some concealed audiences to attack not only ourselves but

also our companies. He indicates that this threats are easily to be ignored due to the fake

sense of safety of users. The author also lists some useful security advices to readers.

When I first read this article, I started to wonder what is over-sharing? With this question, I read some articles online and found out that most people would like to consider over-sharing as broadcasting too much personal information on social media. In this blurry definition, there are two main terms that could reflect peoples feeling. One is the quantity of information while they other is the extend of intimacy.

As a research mentioned in katie’s article (2014), US youth are frustrated with 'over-sharing' on social media, and they are more tend to consider the tremendous information that their friends put online as over-sharing. These messages may not contain any important nor private information, but they will just pup out at any time and in different social apps. The other factor is the ‘boundary’ of these sharing things. Ann (2014) indicates in her article ‘is sharing a generational thing?’ that everyone has their own comfort level. Definitely certain parents sharing their daughter’s first menstruation online is too much for some people.

While compared with these, the examples that the author illustrated in the article such as posting a selfie on Facebook or telling friends on twitter that you are going to have a two weeks holiday cannot be defined as over-sharing. These are just normal social media interactions. As Internet becoming an inalienable part of our life, more and more daily lives are relied on it, including our social activities. Sharing on the internet has become a new habit and necessary behavior for modern people. People may be soon drifted apart from their friends if they don’t share something or pay attention to others. By sharing some embarrassing moments or problems with your friends, the same experiences or puzzles will provide a crosscut to intimacy.

Nevertheless, the dangerous as mentioned by the author behind these sharing are truly exist. Those people who are not qualified to receive this information may use this news to attack the sharer. Facebook divorce could be an example. As the definition given by the webpage called Findlaw, ‘Facebook divorce refers to the increasing number of marital breakdowns that have occurred as a result of information found or discovered on social networking sites’. Some lawyer also use Facebook to discover some information which can be use in court. However, can we blame these consequences to over-sharing? The evidences that the lawyer has found from your Facebook could just be a scenery photo. Sharing is necessary in our lives and we cannot define the normal sharing behaviors as over-sharing because of the potential information which can be found by those concealed people who has ulterior motives.

 

 

 

 

Summary

The Perils of Over-sharing in Social Networks

In the article “The Perils of Over-sharing in Social Networks”, Emm (2014) talks about the

ever increasing danger of using the internet.  As ever-bigger routine activities have to rely

on the Internet today, people begin to feel apprehensive for the authorities and the large

companies to spy on their personal lives. However, the author believes that the really dangers

are hidden behind the numerous seemingly irrelevant information that we choose to put

online, which can can be used by some concealed audiences to attack not only ourselves but

also our companies. He indicates that this threats are easily to be ignored due to the fake

sense of safety of users. The author also lists some useful security advices to readers.

Emm, D. (2014, March 21). The Perils of Over-sharing in Social Networks [Web log post]. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/david-emm/the-perils-of-over-sharing-in-social-networks_b_5005276.

Reflection of English Learning Journey

English，as my second language, has occupied so much time and energy in the past fifteen years. When I was 7 years old, I transferred to a new school. At that time, I hardly knew anything about the English and I was so afraid that I would fail my test. Since that, I felt reluctant to study English and as result, my test scores were always not well expected. 

The moment I deeply realized how crucial English could be was when I first came to Singapore two years ago. At that time, I found it was so difficult for me to treat English as my day-to-day communication tool that I couldn’t even speak up my opinions loudly and confidently in classes. Vocabulary and writing skills were major problems encountered when I studied A level English Language subject. It had been tough but fortunately, there were friends there always supported me. We shared our own study methods and the thoughts as well as gave each other suggestions. I discovered that sometimes others saw your weaknesses more easily and their advice was more effective.

English writing becomes more important since I came to university. It is not only the most common communication tool but also a necessary skill that you must conquer in order to achieve better results. Here I am sitting in the middle of the class and I know there will be so much more to be explored and understood. I will continue applying my old method but focus more on essay organizations, citations, argumentation, which will be more related to academic writing. I will read more journals once I have free time. I believe attending ES1102 will be a precious opportunity to acquire necessary skills in such a short time.