Artifact 7: Professors Use Technology to Fight Student Cheating

In this article, the author discusses about a million and one ways to catch cheaters on college campuses.  Although they thought of some really cunning and effective methods of catching cheaters, I don't think it will matter much because people who want to cheat, will. 

I have two issues with this article:
1. Although I agree that cheating is completely, 100% wrong, there is never going to be a fool proof way to put an end to it.  Let's face it, college kids are younger, and therefore more adept in computer technology.  This means that no matter what a college professor does to deter cheating, it is going to happen.
2. Although you only see one side of the argument from this article, it seems to me that the teachers that the author interviewed were more concerned about cheating than anything else that occurred in their classrooms.  While I do believe that the prevention of cheating should be high on the priority list, it shouldn't be the number one concern in the classroom.  Because, believe it or not, there many students who don't cheat and deserve just as much attention in the classroom.  If a teacher spends all of their time trying to reprimand cheaters, where does that leave the non-cheaters?  They are there to actually learn, and the constant war with cheaters will take away from their learning experience. 

So paying too much attention to cheaters is no good because it brings down the integrity of the learning process.  And paying no attention to cheaters is also a negative option.  So while I agree with that these professors are doing, I think that they should be sure to do it moderately, and balance these ploys with the actual classroom activities that should be taking place.

Artifact 6: I am Anonymous

Anonymity has been totally abolished since the development of the internet.  This is scary because it seems like people can no longer do the things that they want to do or say the things that they want to say.  This website that he talks about in the video gives people a place where they can be free to talk about whateever they want and express themselves in whatever way they choose.  The wonderful thing about the site is that it is totally anonymous.  Therefore, the people of the site cannot get themselves into trouble online for anything that they say because they cannot be tracked.

I think that the internet should be entirely anonymous because we live in a country where freedom of speech is a right.  However, with internet tracking, people can become targets because of their speech or beliefs.  I like the idea of this site, and it seems to be very popular.  It also shows that when people feel like they are free do express themselves, some revolutions and movements can be started online, such as the one he talked about with the cat abuser who was caught and put in jail for his crimes.  I think that people can use the internet for some real good, and this website shows it.

Artifact 5: Thank Sex for Making the Internet Hot

I had no idea that sex paved the way for the way we use internet today.  That was a huge surprise.  Learning about the guy who dropped out of school to create a porn site was interesting.  He knew that sex was where the money was and he was right! 
Until recently, sex sites were the most visited areas of the internet and they contributed to how we use the internet today.  For instance, e-commerce was pioneered by pornographers so that they could take their customers' credit cards over the internet.  Porn is a huge money making empire, and this is a well known fact even though it isn't spoken of much.  Porn is a very popular business, but the statistics of internet porn are shocking since people never talk about it, and it has some negative conotations attached to it.
I was not so much shocked at the statistics of internet porn, as I was shocked that it was such a driving force behind how the internet developed, and how it is used today.