Anna's "The Digital Past" Blog

What If The Internet Had Police?

annabanana1492 — Tue, 25 Sep 2012 02:12:02 +0000

I just received a speeding ticket in the mail today. Normally, someone gets pulled over by an actual cop for speeding. However, a sneaky little camera in downtown DC happened to spy my white mustang driving by (just a little bit too fast) and capture my error. Now, this little anecdote might seem irrelevant, but I swear there is kind of a point. Police officers (and apparently cameras) help monitor what we do right on the road. This is how we get caught doing something bad, right?

Could you imagine if the internet had police to catch us using other people’s work or pictures or music?

The very pictures at the top of my webpage are subject to copy right infringement. I would already have a ticket! But now think about all of the other people who were driving by me in downtown DC. I’m sure the camera failed to capture every person speeding by. (I mean, I don’t really know if it can take pictures of more than one car at one time…) It always comes down to luck. I was unlucky enough to be the one who got caught speeding. Could you imagine all of the people and WebPages out there that could possibly be in guilty of copy right infringement? It must be in the thousands.. if not millions. It would be a cop’s worst nightmare.

It’s so crazy to think that even the smallest saying or beat in a song can be a copy right infringement. I remember once an article on MSN was talking about how the song by Avril Levine was said to have the same beat as a song from many, many years ago. And I’m sure this happens all the time! After all, how many “original” beats and songs and pictures can people come up with? I honestly feel like it’s so hard to have a unique opinion or idea when people out there may have had it before you.

But anyway, the internet just makes it so much harder to monitor copy right infringement. Maybe if we had police officers patrolling the web, the problem may be more under control. Or maybe they’ll just invent some type of online camera search thing to do it for them.

Don’t Judge A Webpage By It’s…Title?

annabanana1492 — Wed, 19 Sep 2012 01:15:52 +0000

My topic of the Marine Corps parade in Washington DC did not come up in the search box when I entered it onto Wikipedia. I did, however, learn that there is a town called Marine Parade in Singapore… I’m not exactly sure if that wiki was a credible source, though.

So, I decided to enter Marine Barracks in Washington DC instead. Precisely “Marine Barracks, Washington DC was exactly what I searched for. By searching this, I came up with a lot more valuable information related to my topic. (I guess entering the right search criteria really does make a difference!)

The information given on the page really does seem credible. Since I have a previous knowledge of the area and background, everything did add up well and correctly. After checking the history of the page, I found one change very interesting. There was a dialog taken out in July that was “said” between a commandant and an official in the British forces. I suppose it was taken out because no one would know exactly what was said during a conversation that happened over 200 years ago. It was a good call to be taken out.. but it does add some interest to the article.

Sadly, there was nothing in the “talk” section for my article. I suppose it might just not be something people really want to talk or comment on.

Finally, I looked at the notes, references, and external links at the bottoms of the page. All of the external links were to government official websites such as the Marine Corps official website. Those are definitely credible. The references, again, were similar to those. The notes also added information to clarify specific sections of the article. Another aspect that I found interesting was that in the “see also” section, a link came up for “reportedly haunted locations in Washington DC.” I never knew that the marine barracks is reportedly haunted!! Now I am kind of scared to ever go back…

All in all, I do believe that this webpage is very credible. The people who edited the information really did do it justice.

A Picture is Worth A Thousand Words

annabanana1492 — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 04:27:35 +0000

“The Vietnam War, the war abroad and the war at home, has been reduced to a few iconic images — the Napalm girl, the girl at Kent State. What seems to emerge from major events and eras are one or two images that effectively embody the emotion and rage, the happiness and anger. The whole thing somehow is enfolded in there. The brain is just very good at processing visual imageries and bringing in memories associated with images.”

–HANY FARID (expert on digital photography)

What an amazing quote! Reading this makes me imagine all of the pictures that really stand out that are associated with major events. I can easily imagine a picture in my head related to an event rather than an article I read about the event. Isn’t that funny? It’s so much easier to remember and recall a picture from memory than a text. As Harid states, roughly 30 to 50 percent of our brain does visual processing.. that’s why so many people are visual learners, I guess!

But in all seriousness, a picture so beautifully and almost poetically captures a moment. As Farid says, a picture really does capture the emotion in most situations–esspecially situations of war and hardtimes.

In a journalism class I took my freshman year, I remember researching winners of the Pulitzer Prize. The image of a starving child with a vulture lurking behind it, waiting for the child’s death to be fed, truely captures the emotions behind the Sudan famine. After doing research on the picture, it was put into question whether or not the photograph was staged. I suppose the question of authenticity always comes into play. However, if the photojournalist simply waited until the right moment occured to take the picture, it does not mean it was staged. I’m sure if the picture was taken with the vulture too far away from the child, it could have a much different meaning. In addition, it was questioned whether or not the photojournalist should have “shooed” the vulture away from the child instead of taking pictures. But…then isn’t that almost tampering with a picture as well? I feel like there are different ways of editing pictures. Sure, it can be done on a computer using photoshop and other methods, but tampering with set of the picture while it’s being taken may be as bad as well. The photojournalist, for the record, did “shoo” away the bird after the picture was taken.

If people really do believe a picture much easier, it always will be important to have the image be reliable!

The Marines Go Marching One by One…Hoorah

annabanana1492 — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 03:30:35 +0000

The topic of the marine parade is very personal to me due to the fact that I am friends with a lot of people who actually participate it in. One of the best resources that I have is a pamphlet containing information on the background of the parade and the history of the marine barracks in Washington DC. This information is obviously reliable because it is given out to everyone who attends the parade. It is one of the best resources that I will be able to obtain. Hopefully this can count as some sort of newspaper article/advertisement.

In addition, although it is neither an archival collection or exactly an image, the marine’s have a specific website regarding information about the marine parade. The website is:

http://www.marines.mil/unit/barracks/Pages/eveningparade.aspx

In this webpage, you can see tons of pictures that were captured at the parade. I also have pictures that I have taken myself from the parade that show how amazing it is.

As for the archival collection, it took me awhile to think of exactly how I should research the topic. In class on Thursday, I was continually searching the words “marine parade” or “marine barracks Washington DC” and came up with absolutely nothing. (with the exception of one random collection of articles from a retired marine in New Jersey who never actually participated in the parades…) But then I realized, after I further investigate my topic, it would be wise to look up the names of the Commandants of the marine corps. The Commandant’s house is located at the marine barracks, and his very backyard is where the marine parade takes place. The Commandant often hosts the parades (along with other marine officials) and maybe their archival collection will be able to given me history on the topic. I think that specifically the Commandant in charge when the marine parades first began will be very helpful!

I can’t wait to continue researching my topic!

The Question You’ve All Been Waiting For…

annabanana1492 — Wed, 12 Sep 2012 21:47:48 +0000

This past summer, I was invited to attended the marine parade that goes on in downtown Washington DC. As a military brat and the daughter of a man who works on Fort Belvoir, I was astonished to find out that these parades even exist. After attending, I was told that the marine fort located here in Washington DC is the only fort that does this intricate parade that includes performances by the President’s band and the Silent Drill Platoon. Eger to learn more, I figure this is the perfect opportunity!

What is the tradition behind the marine corps parade in Washington DC?

The Underpinnings of the Web

annabanana1492 — Mon, 03 Sep 2012 03:49:46 +0000

In Chapter 2 of Cohen and Rosenzweig’s Digital History, “Getting Started: The Basic Technologies Behind the Web,” I found this specific quote very interesting:

“Individuals who are used to the world of books and journals often find themselves overwhelmed by the web’s technological otherness, and its myriad terms and concepts—HTML, servers, design and graphics software, and a host of other acronyms like FTP and ISP.”

This quote hit home with me and really captures exactly how I feel about all of the new technologies that exist today. Last semester, I took a basic introduction to computing course to try to fill my general education computer requirement. However, throughout the whole semester I was so overwhelmed with how to use different computing software and many other computer terms that I ended up failing. It is so easy to just use a computer. For whatever reason, the internet works and that’s that. When different concepts are introduced and an endless supply of acronyms, the internet becomes so much more multifaceted.

It truly does fascinate me that there is so much more going on underneath the surface that I don’t know…but understanding a book is so much simpler. You read a page, and simply turn to the next one. No concepts or acronyms are needed. This plays into the conversation that we had in class last Thursday. Most of us come from a background in which physical books were given to us to learn. As children today grow up to be more and more technologically advanced, they will easily understand all of the concepts and programs in a computer. They won’t have a problem understanding the concepts in which I, myself, do not.

Three potential historical topics that I may be interested in researching this semester are:

The history of the Honor Guard Marine Parade in Washington DC
The history of Fort Belvoir
The history behind the Smithsonian