Decided to make a blog tonight after a long day, school then work, and now school work after work. I did in fact read the O’Reilly article Scott quizzed us on this morning. It was a good read for me because I never even thought about Web 2.0 or what it really means or the characteristic requirements a website or web based application needs to fall into the 2.0 category.
Well, I was actually just now on Amazon Japan looking to buy a cheap dry erase white board so that i can practice my Kanji on my own without wasting paper. (No I’m not a tree hugger. No offense to anyone who loves mother earth) I just found it easier to write and rewrite kanji using the white board. I have one at home but it wasn’t intended to fulfill that purpose, and it remains on my refrigerator as a note keeper. Anyways, as I was about to search for the white board, I noticed some of the things that the O’Reilly article mentioned about Amazon. I noticed that it had pre-selected items already viewable for me to purchase based off my previous purchases which have been mostly books for some of my classes. Amazon was really organized and I thought that it was awesome, because had I not read the O’Reilly article I never would have even thought about how awesome that feature is. So for those of you who have not read the article I hope you do, and I think you will learn somethings that you might not have known about. Maybe you knew about it but you probably did not pay it no mind. Go ahead and read it! fun stuff
February 7, 2012
mraplus
mraplus 
2 responses to “Amazon: Not a Jungle after all”
lockmantuj
February 7th, 2012 at 11:44
Thanks for taking time to do a blog post after your massive busy day. It’s interesting that you mention how sites such as Amazon are able to offer up suggestions tailored to your perceived interests. I can appreciate how this can be considered a convenient and useful feature.
Others, and I guess I consider myself among them, see this technological development as another intrusion on privacy. It’s not something that alarms me too much. It’s just that I’ve long ago realized that “they” know what I’m doing online.
i left a comment on an earlier blog post by Paul in which I linked to an interview with a former head of the National Security Agency in USA: Bobby Ray Inman. In that interview, the admiral said he didn’t understand why citizens were so worried about Patriot Act surveillance when the government was only seeking to access the same data as the corporate world.
I don’t want to turn this comment in to a rant as I assume there is really no privacy as soon as one ventures in to the online space.
But I think there are many, as you indicated you were before making the connection from the O’Reilly article, as to just how much is known about our online behavior. I hope your classmates are able to make the same connection that you wrote about so clearly here.
Thanks for bringing this up. It looks like your Nickname might turn out to be prophetic so long as your instructor stops Locking you out from the websites and shared documents.
mraplus
February 8th, 2012 at 09:45
Thanks Scott,I really enjoyed the O’reilly article, I am pretty much a cave man when it comes to the internet. I didnt realize that “They Know” what we are doing online. It’s something I will take into consideration, especially when it comes to my identity and personal info. I wont go as far as deleting my Facebook page but I will be much more careful.