What makes a community and what does technology provide

Communities are based on a foundation of guidelines that the entire community follows. These guidelines are both enforced and followed by the community to ensure that everyone is on a level playing field when it comes their standing as individuals in the community. When it comes to online communities this is virtually the same and can be seen on sites like reddit, Facebook, or any website that has the option to create specific online groups or communities. Reddit has guidelines for conduct and so does Facebook and these guidelines determine how the community interacts with one another. Another staple in communities both online and offline are moderators, these individuals serve to uphold the guidelines and enforce the consequences on those who repeatedly disobey them. These can result in bans online and the moderators in the real world are the equivalent of police officers that are meant to uphold the law and enforce it when needed. There is not a whole lot of difference between online and offline communities except for the fact that online communities allows you to converse and share ideas with people around the world as opposed to the offline communities that you are born into.

Convergence

When looking at Convergence there is no better of an example than the current technological landscape. As a whole the combining and converging of technology to create more streamlined process' is a pretty great thing for everyone. It essentially takes two different technologies that would have required 10 steps each, combines them, and that in turn creates a process that completes the two processes in 5 steps. An example of this can be seen when shopping on Amazon because when you order items from their site you used to have to add items to your cart, confirm your order, select the shipping speed, and then your order was placed. Now you can simply just buy items with the new "buy now" option. It will essentially charge you for the item then and there and give you the standard shipping of the amazon prime shipping if you are a prime member. This method would not be possible without the convergence of combing the traditional online shopping method with the "buy now" option. If you just want to purchase one thing you click the button and then you're done. If you're buying multiple items you can now streamline your online shopping with this method as well and it is extremely effective if there are varying shipping times.

Dot.Com to Dot.Bomb

Growing up it is very easy to believe that you just know what al has happened rather than actually taking the time to look it up for yourself. This can probably be attributed to our current technologically savvy generation, but it is still no excuse to not be informed. After hearing the lecture about this huge event that I had absolutely no prior knowledge of I found it very informative to learn about how the internet rose, then fell, then rose again. It was interesting to me that companies Sears had their hat in the ring when it came to the internet, and as the lecture went on it became less surprising that they died out due to the inability to adapt with the ever changing internet landscape. Not to mention I never knew what became of AOL until this lecture so that is always a plus. I think the biggest part of this whole event that intrigued me was the constant hike in pay of anyone that was even remotely involved in the tech process for companies. That just goes to show how quickly people will over value themselves if they think other people will believe it. As a whole I really enjoyed this lecture and thought that Mr. Fry's perspective on the whole matter was both insightful and informative.

3 Things I Would Not Buy On the Internet

When it comes to online shopping I tend not to be too picky, mainly because I tend to buy a variety things from anime to video games, and even sometimes specialty electronics (video games). However there are definitely things I will refrain from buying online just due to either the nature of the product or the reliability of the site itself. The first thing I would never buy would be a car, I already know it is difficult to buy a car used or new and its right in front of you! Now imagine if you were given the option to buy one online without being able to inspect it or touch it with your own two hands? That just does not seem like a viable option. The second thing I refuse to buy on the internet is groceries of any kind. I realize Amazon is starting to roll out this new kind of delivery service, which is aptly named "Amazon Pantry", but the whole idea of having my groceries delivered to me when I can drive 5 minutes to buy them doesn't make sense. I will also never buy anything computer wise such as tablets, laptops, or televisions from the internet because that is another example of an item I want to feel and touch and see before I buy it. However I would make an exception if I have already seen this item and know about it in advance before buying it. These are example of things I would not buy online.

Silk Road

Silk Road is an online black marketplace located on darknet market, and is best known for it's buying, selling, and trading of drugs. It was originally operated as a Tor Hidden Service, which is a software built for the sole purpose of anonymous communication and I'm sure I don't have to go into detail about why anonymous communication and the purchasing of drugs go hand in hand. The site for the marketplace officially launched in 2011 and there was no way to obtain a seller account other than bidding for them in a public auction. Later on they just charged each new seller account with a fixed fee so as not to bar people from using their site. In October 2013 the site was shut down by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Ross Ulbricht was arrested under charges of being the sites operator.

The following month Silk Road 2.0 came online and again was swiftly shut down with another potential operator in custody.