You are currently browsing the monthly Archive for September, 2012.

I found both of  Mat Honans’ articles “How Apple and Amazon Security Flaws Led to My Epic Hacking” and “How I Got Digital Life Back” to be incredibly interesting. My boyfriend’s Apple ID was hacked two years ago. The person downloaded over 500 songs (mostly flute music, oddly enough), and it was charged to his credit card.  We had been planning a trip to Georgia when he checked his bank account and saw that nearly $600 had disappeared overnight. He opened his iTunes and there they were…516 songs ready to be downloaded. Fortunately, his bank was understanding and the money was back in his account by the end of the week. Initially, however, all my boyfriend could say was “why do this to me?” It was a gross violation of his finances, and once the music finished downloading, his ears. I think he was as unsettled by the flute music as much as how easy it was to break into his Apple account. We never figured out how or why the person did it, but after reading this article I’ve realized that it was most likely very easy for the hacker. All you need is a little information and the inclination to wreak havoc.

I’ve been completely paranoid about my online information since the Flute Music Debacle. My Amazon and Apple email addresses are different. I have four email addresses that I use regularly, each with different passwords. I change my Facebook password once every six months. I use PayPal often, and all my social networking pages are on private. As careful as I am, I am often struck by the fact that there is very little about my life that doesn’t involve the internet. I write and publish my work articles online. I talk to my boyfriend (who’s in grad school in Colorado) and family (in South Dakota) over Gmail and Skype.  I pay all my bills online. My photographs and important documents are all in Dropbox for the most part, but for a long time, I trusted that my information was safe on my computer.  I guess the message here is that you really can’t be too careful. It doesn’t take a genius to completely destroy your online life.

What I found most interesting in this week’s reading was the balancing act described in Cohen and Rosenzweig between respecting copyright laws and increasing the knowledge/data stored on the internet.

I feel that the quote “we encourage all historians, however, to explore how their actions, both online and off, might increase the common storehouse of documents and knowledge out of which much of our individual and collective work arises,” best summarizes the necessity of digitizing history. While I definitely think that historians (and all individuals)  should respect copyright laws, I feel that as we are all in the digital era, adding to our “collective knowledge” is a must. I also appreciated the collaborative aspect of digitizing history described in the chapter. The internet has made history so much accessible, and I have enjoyed countless hours of viewing 1800s photographs and pictures of historical documents.

What I found most interesting in this week’s reading was the assertion in the article “Photography as a Weapon” that people remember misinformation more than they remember the dubiousness of the claim. The case in point was the July 10th photograph of four missiles shooting skyward from Iran. While many realized that the photography wasn’t real, many more will remember the photograph because it fits into the notion of a violent Iran. Misinformation can spread like wildfire, especially when it feeds a deep fear on the part of the audience. Iranian nuclear missiles fits into the stereotype of the violent “exotic other.” The power of a fake photograph increasing  the fear of the majority cannot be discounted, especially when the fake photograph will be remembered far more than the truth.

While researching the Algonquian language group of Virginia, I discovered an etching of a Powhatan village by Captain John Smith. His rendering of the Powhatan community he encountered is important to my research in that John Smith was one of the very few to record Algonquian words and phrases. After the language became extinct, his work was one of two primary sources from which to piece together the remnants of the Powhatan language.

Another source I found was a relatively recent newspaper article discussing the work of Dr. Blair A. Rudes, a linguist from the University of North Carolina. Rudes worked to piece together the Powhatan language for “The New World.” The director, Terrence Malick, wanted the movie to be as authentic as possible — which included actors speaking the now-extinct Powhatan. According to the article, Rudes built the movie’s dialogue from the work of Captain Smith and Jamestown colony secretary William Strachey. Between Smith and Strachey, only 650 Powhatan words and phrases were recorded.

Finally, I clicked through the Virginia Native American artifact collection on the National Museum of the American Indian’s website. While the various artifacts don’t directly relate to my research, it was interesting to see what remains of the Native Americans of this state.

 

 

The topic I’m interested in researching further is the extinction of the Algonquian language in Virginia — specifically when the Algonquin language began to die out. I have found sources stating that in the late seventeenth century, the language fell into disuse. By the late 1700s, there were only a handful of Algonquian speakers. I would like to look into the causes of the language’s demise and the current revitalization process.

 

My name is Cheryl Cedar Face and I’m a junior majoring in History. I’m a member of the Oglala Lakota Sioux Tribe and grew up on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. My Lakota name is Itacawin. I grew up speaking Lakota and am only the third generation since “tipi days.”

I moved to Virginia in 2009 and have completely fallen in love with this state — particularly the Blue Ridge Mountains. I currently write for the American Indian Report and other tribal news blogs. My main interests are Native American history, cultural preservation, and language revitalization.  I’m particularly interested in Native American history in Virginia.

What I found most interesting in this week’s reading was the assertion in Cohen and Rosenzweig’s article that web pages require as much human input (if not more) as books. If someone had told me two years ago that a web page required as much effort as a textbook, I wouldn’t have believed them. Since I began writing professionally for an online magazine, however, my respect for web developers and those involved in the IT department of my office has increased tremendously. While I put a great deal of thought into the articles I write, the man sitting in the cubicle next to mine spent a month perfecting the company’s website — from the layout to the logo. He wrote code faster than I can write an article, and he seemed to speak a different language when talking about his project. I definitely believe that web pages require as much human input as a book.

Three things that I am interested in researching for my final project are:

  1. The Algonquin language in Virginia.
  2. The Monacans of Virginia.
  3. The Black Hills of South Dakota.