How Secure are My Online Activities?

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Based on our readings for the week as well as what was covered in class, I have come to the conclusion that my online activities are far from secure.

I do most of my browsing on traditional browsers like google, and seldom use more protected and anonymous browsers like Tor Browser. Also of note was something that struck me particularly hard after reading Dan Goodin’s article on the current state of password security. In the article, Goodin explains that the average internet user of today has in the neighborhood of 25 online accounts, but only 6.5 passwords on average. I myself have probably many more than 25 accounts, with many duplicate passwords among them. This is particularly alarming when the article goes on to describe events such as Gawker’s 2010 security breech which exposed the passwords of 1.3 million users.

As far as the NSA’s supposed collection of my metadata goes, I’m really not sure what could be garnered from my browsing habits. Being that metadata is said to only provide information based on tags, common words, and online activities as opposed to specific content someone is viewing, I would imagine my monotonous use of school sites and forums like Reddit offers little useful information.

As far as recent progress I’ve made in the way of finding info for my final project goes, I have yet to have made any major advancements. I want to find a way to tie a historical chart from www.handsomeatlas.com to my topic of urban renewal in mid 20th century Washington DC, but since these sources only come from the late 1800’s it’s somewhat difficult. Obviously I could find more recent sources on some alternate site, but I want to try to add as much historical background to my topic as possible. I’ve been trying to think more outside of the box due to this minor impasse, so what I’ve started doing is looking at sources like this to try to pick out more racially-rooted trends in Washington DC prior to the 1950’s. I think if I look hard enough I should be able to get a good amount of statistical information on the niche topic of racial trends in Washington DC prior to the 1950’s.

Voyant & Google Ngram

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The experiments I did with Voyant and Google Ngram both offered me a substantial amount of insight into the writing trends of authors. I personally found Google Ngram to be more helpful than Voyant, although they both have a lot to offer. Voyant displays the most common words in a body of text you submit, which mainly helped me to understand a given author’s focus and objective in writing a document. For instance, when I put in an article about Hitler’s Nuremberg rallies, one of the most common words was “Facist,” which indicates to me that one of the author’s main goals in writing the article was to explain what a large impact Hitler’s Facist ideologies played in his frenzied speeches given during this period. Beyond this however, there wasn’t a huge amount more to be gained from Voyant.

On the other hand, Google Ngram allowed me to investigate the commonality of certain terms in google’s corpus of books and other documents. When I compared the key-terms Gone With the Wind, The Godfather, and Terminator 2, focusing on the year 2000, I was able to discern the following: In the year 2000, The Godfather was mentioned the most, followed closely by Gone with the Wind, and in a distant 3rd place was Terminator 2. This indicates to me how these three films stand in terms of their prominence in modern writing, and ultimately how valuable they are considered in terms of pop-culture.

Gone with the Wind, The Godfather, and Terminator 2 compared on Google Ngram

Gone with the Wind, The Godfather, and Terminator 2 compared on Google Ngram

While both of these tools are very helpful, I believe Google Ngram has more info to offer someone from a research standpoint.

Calvin and Hobbes Copyright Infringement

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After doing some quick background research on the Calvin and Hobbes comic strip in question, I was able to find out some important details that helped me determine whether or not it is protected under US copyright law. Namely, that this strip was created and published in mid 1992 by author Bill Watterson, who is still alive to this day. Using the Copyright Genie website, I was able to enter the information I found in order to help me determine if the Calvin and Hobbes strip on the website is in violation of copyright laws.

Being that this was created after 1977, and published between march 1st 1989 and 2003,  it is protected under US copyright law for the author’s life plus 70 years. In light of this, it will not become public domain until Bill Watterson passes away, and 70 years pass following his death. This means that as it has been posted on the Digital Past website, the Calvin and Hobbes comic strip is violating US copyright law.

Three Possible Research Topics on Washington DC

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The first research topic that I investigated in regards to the history of Washington DC is the 1968 string of race riots that exploded after the assassination of Martin Luther King Junior. This 4 day blip in the history of the Nation’s capital is so important because of how much it indicates about the racial inequality that plagued the United States for over a century after the Civil War. It brings about questions about the oppression of blacks in the US that are by no means limited to the degree of racism that many whites felt towards blacks during the 1960’s.

What was the nation’s reaction to this outburst of violence? Were these riots viewed as having a positive or negative long-term impact on the Civil Rights Movement in the United States? What sort of oppression or long-term injustice led to an atmosphere where an assassination states away could lead to such violence? All of these questions which could be researched in regards to the race riots in DC which is why I view it as such a rich and interesting topic.

The aftermath of a fire that burned during the riots in Washington DC, c. 1968

The aftermath of a fire that burned during the riots in Washington DC, c. 1968

The second topic I investigated is actually tied in some ways to the aforementioned race riots that occurred in Washington DC during the 1960’s. The topic is urban renewal, a process that began in the early-mid 20th century in Washington DC, as well as in many other cities all across the USA. Urban renewal was an attempted revitalization that the US government imposed on low-income areas in American cities. Although it did lead to the creation of many new and improved urban environments, it came at the cost of relocating thousands of Americans in Washington DC especially. These people were largely minorities and were paid low amounts for their properties, and often were forced to leave their neighborhoods, never to return.

I would research this topic first by examining the purpose of the urban renewal process during this period in general, not just in DC but across the whole United States. Once I had a grasp of why the project was undertaken, I would start to look at maps, plans, and layouts for what regions were “renewed.” I would then ask myself whether this process seemed like a good or bad overall idea, based on if I feel it was aimed at moving lower-income residents, minorities, etc.

The third and final topic I look into as something I might want to research is the inauguration of President Barack Obama. I feel as if this event would be an interesting research topic just because of how demonstrative it is of how far Washington DC has come since the mid 20th century in terms of racial equality. I would preface my research on this topic with a look at DC’s history in regards to African Americans, especially events like the race riots and the urban renewal movement. These add context to the topic, and once that is added, I would look into what the inauguration meant to the nation in terms of its history of racism.

History of Washington DC Primary Sources

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The first primary source I used in search of the history of Washington DC was a newspaper page from Cheboygan, Michigan dated December 25th, 1884. The page can be found here.

The page offers, among several advertisements typical of the time, an invitation from the congressional commission of Washington DC inviting certain parties to the dedication ceremony of the Washington Monument. The monument had just been completed the year this advertisement was published, and this invitation provides a lot of insight into how big a deal the dedication of the monument was to the United States. The ad asks any “civil, military, and naval” organization that might like to attend the ceremony to contact the person in charge of the ceremony’s procession with the amount of people in their organization.

This source offers a lot of insight into the scale of the event that was the dedication of the Washington Monument, which is undoubtedly one of the most prominent events in DC’s history. However, this document is simply a window into a singular event in Washington’s history, and beyond that it offers little more than perspective on the event and some idea of the nation’s attitude towards the dedication of the monument.

The top portion of the newspaper ad page

The top portion of the newspaper ad page

The second primary source I examined was a map of Washington DC in 1909, which I found on the Library of Congress website. The map can be found here. This source offers a map of Washington in it’s entirety, with detailed depiction of streets, and a list of presidential inaugurations that had taken place there by 1909. The map is from Washington’s inaugural committee, so it also lists all members of the committee. This source is more than just a map in that it offers a list of many important figures during the time as well as which presidents had been inaugurated by 1909. It is a reliable depiction of Washington DC in 1909 and more so as far as a source on DC’s history goes it is quite a rich resource.

I prefer this second source to the first one due to the fact that it offers a much wider scope of information in a simple image than the first source does, despite the fact that the first source is a long text passage.

Website Reviews

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The first website I explored was www.asailorslifeforme.org. This website is a topical website geared towards young students, perhaps elementary school aged and earlier. It is an extensive interactive website aimed at educating students on the USS Constitution, one of America’s most famous and significant warships, which was launched in 1797 and to this day is used as a museum ship to educate people on the significance of the US Navy in both the past and the present. It includes games, interactive walkthroughs of the ship and its crew, and much more. Navigation of this site is easy and admittedly entertaining, which based on the demographic it is aimed at is certainly a positive aspect.

www.asailorslifeforme.org's homepage

www.asailorslifeforme.org’s homepage

The website is a product of the USS Constitution Museum, which speaks to the accuracy of its information. Although there is no evidence of recent updates to this site, it was launched in 2010 and there has obviously been little change in the history of the USS Constitution since then. Because of this, I would peg this site as a reliable source of information, although an adult seeking information on the USS Constitution may be better served reading about it in a database rather than playing games and looking at drawn images of the ship’s functions.

The second website I looked at was http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/afcphhtml/afcphhome.html. This was a very intriguing website that included an archive of transcripts of recordings made in late 1941 and early 1942 following the Pearl Harbor attack. Journalists from across the nation made recordings of reactions from everyday Americans that they interviewed on the street, and the interviews can be read and even listened to on this website.

A page demonstrating the format and presentation of this website

A page demonstrating the format and presentation of this website

This website represents a very informative and unique way of representing post-Pearl Harbor America in 1941 and 1942, not through major news sources or political figures from the time, but through everyday Americans. It is a government run website and the interface is adequate, although I found that getting to the actual recordings took a lot of clicking, and once you got to the audio file not all of them worked. It doesn’t appear to have been updated recently, and though this has no effect on the educational nature of the transcripts and recordings, aesthetically and interface-wise the site feels quite outdated. This coupled with the fact that the recordings are iffy makes me feel like it has a lot of potential as a site but that this potential is not being recognized.

My Digital Autobiography

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My name is Cole Forrer, I am a freshman and commute from my home in McLean to George Mason, though I did live on campus first semester. I have an older brother at Penn State and a younger brother who is still in high school. My interests in high school were primarily grounded in video games and socializing with my friends, as well as obtaining my Eagle Scout badge as I had been involved in scouting since an early age and wanted to see it all the way through. These days I mostly just socialize with my friends in my free time because I focus the other parts on school and work.

Like most people I use the internet to stay in contact with friends and family, as well as educate myself on current events through news sources and the like. I don’t think I would have made it through high school if I hadn’t had a computer since so many aspects of education these days are based on computers and technology, so I use technology for academic purposes as well. Finally, I use technology for my own personal entertainment and often read fiction and nonfiction writing that I find interesting, as well as find TV, movies, and music that is either free or that I don’t want to pay for.

I look forward to this semester in HIST 390 and hope to learn about how to better utilize technology and also learn how it has shaped the world.