blog post 6 EOTO #2

 

For my second EOTO I chose to talk about the overton window, before i dive more into about the overton window I wanted a brief overview of what it is. the Overton Window is a political theory that describes the range of ideas the public finds socially acceptable to discuss or support at any given time. throughout the EOTO presentation I talked about what the overton window is and dove more deep into the positives and the negatives of the overton window. First off I wanted to discuss the positives of the overton window.  For the first positive I wanted to talk about the overton window explains that radical or unpopular opinions or ideas can become normalized some examples of this can be civil rights, same sex marriage, etc. The next important positive is that the overton window empowers social movements, activists can use the concept strategically to shift a public opinion and expand what is politically possible. now for the negatives, the overton window can actually have a few negative downsides to it. to start, the overton window can be shifted by extremism, the window does not have to move toward progress it can be pulled toward regression too (normalization of hate speech or authoritarian policies). another negative I wanted to talk about is that it creates performative politics where politicians might only support what’s “safe,” avoiding leadership on ideas that could be unpopular in the short term. Finally Understanding the Overton Window can help us make sense of how public debate evolves and how social movements can create real change. If an idea feels too “out there” today, that doesn’t mean it always will be. The more people talk about it, the more it moves from unthinkable to possible to policy So the next time you hear someone call an idea “too extreme,” ask yourself: is it outside the Overton Window or is the window just about to move?

Blog Post #7 EOTO 2

 For my EOTO reaction post #2 I chose to talk about Ryan Seide's topic which was the illusory truth theory. I found this really interesting and something that I decided to learn more about after the presentations. to start out, the Illusory truth theory is a cognitive bias that occurs when repeated exposure to a statement makes people more likely to believe it is true, even if it is actually false. Essentially, the more often people hear or encounter a piece of information, the more they tend to accept it as true, regardless of its accuracy. One thing that stood out during the presentation is the video about all of the news anchors that were reading the same script no matter the political beliefs that one may have. Next up I will be talking about the science behind the illusory truth effect. The illusory truth effect was first studied by psychologist Lynn Hasher and her colleagues in the 1970s. In their experiments, participants were shown a series of true and false statements. They found that after hearing each statement multiple times, participants were more likely to believe the false statements were true, simply because they had been repeated. This effect is linked to the brain’s tendency to favor familiarity. When we hear something more than once, it becomes easier for our brains to process, leading to the false assumption that it must be true. This effect is also stronger when we don't have the motivation or resources to critically evaluate the information presented. In the age of social media, the illusory truth effect is more relevant than ever. Misinformation, rumors, and fake news spread like wildfire online, often because people are exposed to these falsehoods repeatedly. The sheer frequency with which a statement is repeated, whether it’s through news outlets, social media posts, or conversations, can make even the most dubious claim seem credible. For instance, political campaigns and advertising often use repetition as a strategy to reinforce a particular message. The more a candidate or company repeats a slogan or claim, the more likely it is that people will start to believe it, even if it’s misleading or untrue just like we saw in the video that was shown for the presentation. The illusory truth effect is a powerful psychological bias that influences the way we process and believe information. In a world where misinformation spreads easily, it’s essential to recognize the impact of repetition on our beliefs. By becoming more mindful of how familiarity shapes our perceptions and taking steps to critically evaluate the information we encounter, we can better navigate the complex landscape of news, media, and social platforms and to avoid being swayed by the repetition of false stories.

Blog post #5 EOTO reaction post

 Throughout our EOTO presentations one really stood out to me and that is the presentation that was on cookies and your online safety. This stood out to me because not alot of people actually know what cookies does most people know what cookies is but most likely could not explain it more then it is something you accept where you get ads that are related to what your viewing. To go more in depth I will be talking about what exactly cookies are and what the differences are, Cookies are small files stored on your device by websites to remember your preferences, login details, and browsing history. While they enhance user experience by personalizing content and streamlining logins, they also raise privacy concerns.

There are two main types of cookies: first-party cookies, which are created by the website you visit and generally improve usability, and third-party cookies, which track your activity across multiple sites for targeted advertising. Third-party cookies are the reason you see ads for products you recently searched for. 

To protect your online privacy it is essential to manage your cookies, clearing your cookies regularly is crucial to protect your online privacy. Another thing to add onto is that you should adjust your browser to be able to block all third party cookies while using a private browsing mode when it is necessary. Third party cookies are placed by other websites like advertisers which can track your browsing activity across multiple platforms. 

Some benefits of cookies is that it helps out by remembering your passwords for specific websites, and keep personalised website settings. websites also learn what our behavior is on websites and provide relative content on what you are looking at.

Blog post #4

The phonograph was invented by Thomas Edison with help from his other inventions, the telegraph and the telephone, Edison had a mechanic, John Kruesi who helped Edison build the phonograph. Edison created the phonograph in 1877 with also the help of a Phonautograph that was invented by the french inventor Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville.   

Edison, had a lot of goals in mind, he first visioned the creation to be used as a tool for business applications to be used as a source of recording messages, letters, and even telegraphs. After working on the phonograph for awhile he realised that it could be used as a broader source for communication and entertainment for the whole world to use. Edison's goal with the phonograph was to be able to record and playback sounds; he achieved this by using a stylus to record sound waves on a rotating cylinder. 

The phonograph was invented because Edison was inspired by the human ear and the ideology that sounds can be mechanically recorded and produced. At first when the phonograph was invented Edison lost interest in the development with the device once the public lost interest in the initial invention. This helped Edison with stepping away for awhile and make improvements to the sound of the phonograph for a few years before coming out with a revised version of the creation.

He was attempting to find a way to record and reproduce telephone messages. The invention of the phonograph changed the world in many ways just how Thomas Edison visioned it, some reasons how the invention changed the world is that it allowed people to record and playback sound which revolutionized how people can experience music and audio technology. This use of technology also allowed people to conduct research in fields such as musicology, ethnology, and anthropology. This was not Edison's goal of the invention but this is another reason why the invention changed and revolutionized the world and helped with the creations of future inventions.

The phonograph solved the problem of not being able to permanently capture and replaying sound. This allowed people to listen to recorded music essentially whenever they want to. Not only did this allow people to listen when they want, the creation helped with communication and documentation for businesses. It had the potential to be used a tool to help improving communication, Edison's original thought was that it can be used as tool to keep historical speeches. Afterall, the creation of the phonograph revolutionized how we listen to music, after the creation of the phonograph, within a few years entrepreneurs started putting phonograph recordings into coin slot machines on city streets where passerby’s can listen to songs, monologues and much more. They were an instant hit and brought in nearly hundred dollars weekly. though it was started as a relatively simple mechanical device just how Edison visioned the phonograph, it lead to becoming a cornerstone of the music industry that influenced the development of recorded sound and entertainment for decades to come.

Blog post #3

 Throughout looking at the eight values of free expression there were two that really stood out to me. For starters I think that individual self fulfillment is the most important or one that resonates with me.  Individual self fulfillment contributes to our overall well being as humans, a sense of happiness, and a sense of purpose. this allows people to live their lives and be able to make choices that can be meaningful to them. Achieving self fulfillment can guide people to becoming more happy, having a greater self esteem of oneself, and a overall satisfaction about their life. I chose this as first priority because this is something that is meaningful to me,being able to live a life that I can and feel comfortable about my life and life choices that I have made along the way.  

I have done some more research on my own about individual self fulfillment some stuff that stood out to me about this is that it is crucial to have it enhances one's personal well being, gives motivation, & encourages meaningful contributions to society to the world around them. 

For my second values of expression that resonates with me I chose stable change, This stood out to me because I believe that there should be a balance between free expression and other societal values like privacy, national security, etc. 

two things about stable change that make them important are:

1.protection of fundamental rights: 

With stable change there has to be rights that are protected such as free expression, this is crucial because expression is a basis of democratic societies. this ensures that all individuals have the ability to say their opinions, challenge authority, and be able to talk about public discourse with one another. Stable change also allows our society to be able have core principles like free speech, while also adjusting to challenges they may face. Another way that stable change works is how it allows legal frameworks or laws that adapt in a way to ensure that one right isn't put down in a harmful way or a unfair way. I think this is also very crucial to the protection of fundamental rights because it ensures that every fundamental right is protected in a way that reflects based off our current values and norms in our society 

2. Balancing competing interests: 

Balancing other interests are a very important key detail on why stable change is important. there are often competing values, or concerns that need to be in consideration to ensure that free expression doesn't undermine essential rights and societal goals. 

Afterall I believe that individual self fulfillment and stable change resonate with me the most out of the eight values of free expression. I think this is the most important out of the eight values, I also think that more people should consider this being the two most important values. I also believe that balancing competing interests is important because the goal is not to limit others and what is said but it is used to ensure that it does not harm essential values.  

Blog Post #2

 

• What did you learn about the Supreme Court that you didn't already know?-
• To start off, I do not know alot about the supreme court I did learn a little bit of new information from the video. Some interesting information that I learned throughout the video is that congress never had the power to ban slavery out of all states, this decision weakened the court's authority for years. 

• What is the most important take-away point about the Supreme Court?
• In my opinion I think that the most important take-away from the video is that they have the highest power while also being able to help others who are looking for justice. The Supreme Court also serves as a role in upholding or declining laws that can directly influence how laws are put into effect, it makes it central to the democracy and justice in the United States. 
• What was the most surprising thing you learned?
• The most surprising piece of information throughout the video that I learned is that Taft was the only president that also served as a supreme court justice. I thought this was pretty surprising since he already has a background and prior work that is related to the supreme court is interesting. another surprising piece of information that I learned throughout the video and through some research was why they have eight justices in the video. throughout research and the video I learned that the congress sets up the number of how many justices there can be which is only nine with one chief justice. The number of justices has changed over time from even having five justices to a high of ten justices. This surprised me since they have changed the number of justices simply because of politics and political beliefs of what is right.  

• How did the video change the way you thought of the Supreme Court?
• Throughout the video a lot of the information that was said I had prior knowledge about, one thing throughout the video that did change the way I thought of the supreme court is that if a supreme court justice denys a case that has alot of public eyes on it. This might change their opinion on what they think is wrong or right, I think if something like that did happen it would definitely change my opinion on the way that I think about the supreme court and their justice's.

Blog post #1

My top five sources of information

1. NewsBreak 

https://www.newsbreak.com/ 

My number one source of news is a app for your phone and computer called "NewsBreak." they primarily focus on local news in your area. You can select which cities or towns you want to get news from which I enjoy. The news that I get from this is news from Chapel Hill where i live, High Point, and national news. I enjoy this form of news because I like to stay in touch with what goes on in Chapel hill while I am in High Point. I would recommend this app to alot of people I think why more people should use it is because you can get notifications from stories that are in your area and you can also check other stories that are going around for that week in your area but also any other area that you are interested in looking up news for. 

https://www.instagram.com/ 

2. For my second piece of news or information I use Instagram a lot for news, I follow pages of political beliefs that I believe in and other pages that focus on local news and stories from different areas in North Carolina. Instagram is a good place to get your news because it is very visual and a easily accessible source to get news from. 

https://www.youtube.com/ 

3. For my third source of news, I chose Youtube, I like youtube if I want to look at live news or news that is in the form of short videos. I like it because I can stay in formed while also watching a video that goes more in depth about the topic I am looking at. 

https://www.reddit.com/

4.For my fourth source of news I chose Reddit. Reddit mainly focuses on pages or forums that you can join where you can talk to other people about a certain topic or discussion. Reddit also focuses on showing trending daily news, this is where I will get my daily news. I can use it to discuss about a certain topic that I am interested in. I would recommend Reddit to people who like to chat with others about a mutually shared topic. 

https://www.dailytarheel.com/ 

5.  For my last form of news I chose the "Daily TarHeel." The Daily TarHeel is a student ran news paper company for University of Chapel Hill. I enjoy this form of media because the authors talk about news that is going on at UNC such as sports, other news that is happening on campus and it also talks about orange county and news that is going on in North Carolina. I enjoy this form of media because it discusses local news which I enjoy even though I am not enrolled as a student at UNC it still has a deep place in my heart.