5.1: Class Circle Talk

  • ChatGPT
    • Benefits
      • Can help you with specific questions
      • Can help you write better essays, emails, code, etc.
      • Helps you learn better
    • Drawbacks
      • Cheating for school
      • For Math and Physics, it can be unrealiable
      • Gets its knowledge from certain databases/sources. It can be biased and incorrect.
      • ChatGPT will become a fiercer competitor of Google over time
      • Less people will use Google as ChatGPT becomes more advanced
  • Drones
    • Benefits of drones:
      • Far distances
      • Ability to record/videotape certain things unable by humans
    • Drawbacks of drones:
      • Malfunctions and breaking can hurt pople
      • Some people can be devious with them
  • Others
    • Social Media
      • People can speak out about their opinion on certain matters
      • People can meet other people online, can be a double-edged sword, though.
      • Can be addcitive to the user
    • Video Games
      • Allows players to make friends online
      • Relieve stress
      • Can be addictive to the user
    • Technology (laptops, cell phones, etc.)
      • Without tech, it can be hard to complete certain tasks that require online tools. Especially due to the pandemic, technology has become a staple in education.

5.1: Computing Effects (The Benefits and Drawbacks)

  1. Many tasks that are already handled by computers can be improved as technology improves without many downsides to human involvement.
  2. Online tools and materials help us understand content better. For example, there are many math tools that can help a person understand something better.

  3. Technology can help prevent violence and bring peace

  4. We rely too much on computers, ultimately lessening the knowledge we have.
  5. Computers are programmed by humans and don’t have emotions/feelings/understanding, ultimately allowing them to be biased in a way. This can have a impact on political and social aspects.
  6. Computers can replace humans in jobs as technology gets more advanced, which can be bad for people financially and socially.

Benficial Effects of my project

  • Provides relaxation/fun for students
  • Presents website components (inspiration)
  • Quick and easy accessibility to those with technology

Harmful Effects of my project

  • Addictive
  • Potential toxcity (games tend to have that effect)
  • Lessens time for school work, hobbies, etc. (kind of goes hand in hand with addiction)

Dopamine

In my opinion, I believe the issue with dopamine is quite severe, especially in us highschoolers and young adults. We all get distracted by different things, whether its youtube, music, etc. For example, many people download social media like Instagram to get a quick sense of joy in their feed. While these 10 seconds of joy are great, it can ultimatly harm us because it shortens our attention span and distracts us. Most of the time, I leave discord on while studying, and this can be a distraction to me. While I do set my status to DND, oftentimes I feel myself clicking on message sent to me by my friends, ultimately distracting me from getting work done on time. This is the start of procrasitnation and is the reason why many high schoolers, myself included, stay up until late at night. Losing concentration is a bad thing because it makes us lose the momentum of something we may have started. Overall, from personal experience, I believe dopamine issues are real and allow people to lose sight of whats truly important.

Internet Blockers / Admin Passwords

Internet blockers help protect students from illegal/dangerous websites during school time, saving their security and time. Some websites can be distracting, which benefits the students if they weren’t present there with an internet blocker. One con is that it could potentially block websites that are necessary for students to use. For example, the AWS site back in tri 1. As far as admin passwords go, I don’t see any benefits for not having it. If hacked, it can put the school at dangerous risk, and having a admin password is an easy way to prevent this.

5.1 Reflection

I learned a lot from the class discussion, which included the benefits and drawbacks of computing as well as dopamine issues. The class circle discussion allowed me to hear from a lot of different people about their perspectives on computing. It made me realizehow much we are dependent on technology, and how without it, most of our lives would be dysfunctional. 5.1 also allowed me to share my personal experiences and help me realize what I can do to improve my habits and become less distracted by things like my phone, discord, music, etc.

5.2: Class Discussion

  • Discussion
    • Not everyone has access to technology like phones and laptops like we do
      • Why? Unable to afford or unable to access due to state of life
      • Country regulations
    • Why someone may not use technology
      • Choose not to willingly; believes technology ruins society
      • Religious reasons

5.2: Questions

1) How does someone empower themselves in a digital world?

In the digital age, one can empower themselves by using their ingenuity and excelling beyond others. An individual with greater creativity will have greater motivation to try and play with a variety of things, and through this exploration, they will probably discover something that interests or excites them. As a result, when someone inspires themselves to be creative, especially in the digital world, they will be able to learn things they didn’t know and will feel more confident to possibly pursue a profession in the digital world. For example, in computer science, one can take on challenges to learn new things, ultimately improving their skills and passion in the future.

2) How does someone that is empowered help someone that is not empowered? Describe something you could do at Del Norte HS.

One who is empowered can help someone that is not empowered by talking to the non-empowered person about how they overcame certain challenges and obstacles in their life and provide them with words of encouragement. This can have motivation for the less empowered, ultimately allowing them to eventually succeed if they put in the hard work. This can be seen in many clubs at Del Norte. In my club, IHL (international humanitarian law), we focus on educating society about the rules to armed conflict, and how we can create a safe environment. Essentially, working together towards a common cause can ultimatly lead to mutual success.

3) Is paper or red tape blocking digital empowerment? Are there such barriers at Del Norte? Elsewhere?

In certain scenarios, paper can slow down the changes in how the tech world is evolving. For example, a lot of people nowadays use email opposed to real mail when talking to someone. However, paper can also be useful at times. Paper is, in my opinion, more reliable and secure, but slow. At DNHS, a lot of activites are meant to be done on paper because it can be more accurate and effective. Like tests for example. Most are done on paper due to the accessibility to cheat on computer exams. That way, teachers are able to ensure safety in the classroom, which puts a lot of weight off their shoudlers.

4) What concerns do you have personally about the digital divide? For yourself or for others.

One concern that I have is that as technology continues to advance, people who are unable to afford technology will be left in the past. This wil create a larger gap in the digital divide, as more people don’t have access to technology. This can be detrimental socially as well. It can potentially create conflicts as some people may think outsiders of technology are “different” or something. Exclusion can occur, which is never a good thing.

5.2 Reflection

This lesson has taught me a lot about why some people don’t use technology. There are a variety of reasons, main ones being that some can’t afford it, some don’t have accessibility, and some willingly don’t use it. The digital divide can potentially be concering due to the growing divide between people who choose to use technology and those who don’t, which can ultimtely lead to a uneven distribution of information. Overall, this lesson was very informing.

5.3: Class Circle Talk

  • Facebook vs. TikTok
    • TikTok is more for young adults/teenagers while Facebook is more for the older generations
    • Facebook is considered a place to get important information about today’s world (politics, sports, etc.) while TikTok is directed to entertain its audiences (shorts videos, memes, etc.)
    • The younger generation may not find Facebook entertainting and vice versa
    • This could be corrected by having both apps include content that could be entertaining/interesting to both age groups and not just one or the other
    • Tik Tok users have a shorter attention span, which is why they may be more inclined to use tik tok
  • Virtual Assistants Having Female Voices
    • Some people may simply believe that the female voice sounds more better to the ear
    • Brings in more money if the voice is soothing to their audience
    • Some people historically connect this to women rights a century ago (women mainly provided assitance); potential controversy
    • For google, siri, etc., default is female voice
    • Female voice may be the most profitable method
  • Algorithms that Influence Our Decisions
    • Some algorithms, such as Google, Apple, etc. will use forms of advertising in order to grab the user’s attention
    • Netflix can show the user with a “You Might Also Like” category, and a % match with what shows they watched in the past and what they liked
    • YouTube generates related videos to what you watched in the past as well
    • Google is able to see past things you searched up and may give you advertisements on certain items, persuading the user to buy something

Are HP Computers Racist?

1) Does the owner of the computer think this was intentional?

After watching the video and observing the owner’s reaction, the owner definitely believes that this was intentional. This is seen by how he explains to the viewers what he has tried to do and how he even asks his white co-worker to try it out herself. He seems in awe that nothing happens when his face is on the screen opposed to his co worker. Although at first glance it may look like that the creators of this product intentionally did this, I personally don’t believe that this was done intentially but that it was just a testing error.

2) How do you think this happened?

I think most of the tests were done with white or lighter skin people opposed to darker people and this ultimtely lead to not testing the darker skinned people. One way this can be fixed is testing people of many different skin tones and that way, the creators can adjust or change things before releasing it so that it works for everyone.

3) Is this harmful? Was it intended to be harmful or exclude? Should it be corrected?

This issue should definitely be corrected by going through a series of more tests in order to ensure this doesn’t happen again. It could potentially come off as harmful and can mislead others to have radical opinions about the company. This can lead to online conflicts and potential societal divison.

4) What would you or should you do to produce a better outcome?

I would get as much test subjects as possible and make sure to test everyone before releasing it to the public. Testing a wide range of skin tones will be important and I can make adjustments and make sure that the overall outcome is the same for everyone. That way, no problems will be detected. Once this is achieved, it can be released to the public without any problems.

Reflection: Being able to see other peoples perspectives on computing bias was intereseting and connecting the dicussion with everyday things we use like Tik Tok. It was also a very engaging lesson and helped me learn to not make testing mistakes on my own projects like the CPT. I will make sure to test all my algorithims before making sure everything is good to go.

5.4

1) We have all experienced Crowdsourcing by using external data through API’s, namely RapidAPI. This data has influenced how we code and shown possibilities in obtaining and analyzing data. Discuss APIs you have used.

There are a few APIS I have used in the past. I have tried a recipe one, and an urban dictionary one. The urban dicitionary fits perfeclty with my CPT project as the wordle game generates infinite words. However, a problem could be the difficulty of words. Therefore, I could potentially create my own API and take inspireation from Mr Morts jokes and covid APIS, and can help us connect our frontend and backend.

2) We have all participated in code Crowdsourcing by using GitHub. Many of you have forked from the Teacher repository, or exchanged code with fellow students. Not only can we analyze GitHub code, but we can obtain profiles and history about the persons coding history. What is the biggest discovery you have found in GitHub?

With Github, I am able to see how many commits people made to any repo. This can help see who is doing work and how much they did it. I also figured out that the dark green shades indicate more commits in a certain day compared to the light green commits which means that less work was done on that day. I want to be able to show my teacher constant commits and have consistent squres; this can be an example of crowd sourcing and how it influences the desiscions we make in order to fufill something.

3) Kaggle datasets for code and science exploration. The avenue of data points us youtube or netflix channels. Analyzing crowd data helps us make decisions. Exam top 10 to 20. Did you see anything interesting?

I found it interesting that many of the data sets in the top 10 - 20 are familiar to me and probably many other people, as we use these data sets very often in our daily lives. Some of the data sets I saw included Netflix, Spotify, and YouTube, which makes sense, considering how we use these apps for entertainment and education. I was not that impressed with these results due to the overuse of them.

4) CompSci has 150 ish principles students. Describe a crowdsource idea and how you might initiate it in our environment?

One way of crowdsourcing in our classroom environment is a survey about a particulur csp lesson idea. It can have different interactive ideas on there, and a survey is a good way to gather this data. I could potentially initiate this by having people fill out a quick survey and have specific intructions about what to write in order to get genuine, reliable results.

5) What about Del Norte crowdsourcing? Could your project be better with crowdsourcing?

Our project could be better with crowdsourcing because we would be able to see what the general population at DNHS likes to play. We could send out a survey on social media, discord server, etc. and gather results from a very diverse crowd of students. This allows for more inclusivity and could help with a potential leaderboard based on our games. Preferences to timed games, point games, etc. can help us understand what our audience likes.

6) What kind of data could you capture at N@tM to make evening interesting? Perhaps use this data to impress Teachers during finals week.

One way of data we can collect is user opinion on what games they want to play. We could let them play a round Wordle, Trivial, etc. and get feedback on how our game was produced. This allows for a more interactive experience between the developers and the users. Before N@tM, our group could even have the teachers do the same thing and ask them the same questions, which will make the teachers more interested in our project and more excited for us to present.

5.4: Reflection I thought the class discussion/lesson was interesting as we got to see everday examples of crowdsourcing and how our APCSP class can utilize crowdsourcing. In addition, we got to see the multiple perspectives on the topic, and it was very interesting to hear from many different people.

5.5

Class Discussion: In class, we talked about how we felt about people using other peoples work. We talked about Youtube, copyright, etc. and it helped me learn more about how we feel about our privacy online.

When you create a GitHub repository it requests a license type. Review the license types in relationship to this Tech Talk and make some notes in your personal blog. Types of Licenses:

  • Open Source Licenses
    • Definition: Allows anyone to use the program without needing to pay
    • Example: MIT License
  • Closed Source Licenses
    • Definition: Require payment to authors based on what user makes from distribution
  • Creative Commons Zero v1.0 Universal
    • Definition: Allows for the public to use the material without any copyright restrictions
  • Open Source MIT License
    • Definition: Allows for code to be used and then made into a closed source version for distribution
    • Requirements: Authors still want credit (comments)

Open Source GPL License

  • Definition: People can do anything with the project except distribute
    • Example: GNU GPLv3

In your blog, summarize the discussions and personal analysis on Software Licenses/Options, Digital Rights, and other Legal and Ethical thoughts from this College Board topic.

Reasons for Choosing Open Source GPL for Group Project

  • To allow others to use and learn from the program
  • To prevent unauthorized distribution for personal gain
  • To promote open access to such programs

Legality and Ethics Considerations

  • Giving credit to sources used
  • Using digital rights to prevent piracy
  • Support for income generation by large companies

Use of Open Source Licenses in Class

  • Encouraging learning and sharing of code
  • Understanding the role of licenses in income generation for companies
  • Balancing open access with profitability considerations

Make a license for your personal (blog) and Team repositories for the CPT project. Be sure to have a license for both Team GitHub repositories (frontend/backend). Document license(s) you picked and why. FYI, frontend, since it is built on GitHub pages may come with a license and restrictions. Document in blog how team made license choice and process of update.

Reasons for Choosing Open Source GPL License

  • To allow others to modify the code for learning purposes
  • To prevent unauthorized distribution for personal gain
  • To promote learning and experimentation with coding

Use of GPL License for Fastpages and Group Flask and Github Pages Website

  • Encouraging exploration and development of code
  • Balancing open access with the need to protect intellectual property
  • Fostering a community of learning and innovation in coding

My License

5.6

Describe PII you have seen on project in CompSci Principles.

  • Password usage in example CPT project
  • Classroom-specific information (class numbers, periods, etc.)
  • Names, emails, birthdays

What are your feelings about PII and your personal exposure?

  1. Violation of Privacy Rights
    • PII includes sensitive information such as full name, address, social security number, etc.
    • Sharing this information without consent can be a violation of privacy rights
  2. Increased Risk of Identity Theft and Fraud
    • PII is often used by criminals to steal identities and commit fraud
    • haring PII can increase the risk of identity theft and fraud
  3. Legal Consequences
    • Many laws and regulations, such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in the European Union, regulate the handling of PII
    • Sharing PII without proper safeguards and consent can result in legal consequences
  4. Damaged Reputation
    • Sharing PII can damage the reputation of both the individual and the organization involved
    • Trust and credibility can be lost, leading to negative consequences for both parties
    • Describe good and bad passwords? What is another step that is used to assist in authentication.

Characteristics of Good Passwords Length

  • Longer passwords are more secure

Complexity

  • A mix of upper and lower case letters, numbers, and symbols makes a password stronger

Uniqueness

  • Avoid using easily guessable information such as birthdate, name, etc.

Regular Updates

  • Regularly changing passwords adds an extra layer of security

Characteristics of Bad Passwords

Short Length

  • Shorter passwords can be easily cracked

Lack of Complexity

  • Using only letters or simple patterns makes passwords easy to guess

Commonness

  • Using commonly used passwords such as “password123” or “123456” is not secure

Infrequency of Updates

  • Not regularly changing passwords leaves the password vulnerable to being cracked

Additional Step for Authentication

  • Two-Factor Authentication (2FA)
    • Adds an extra layer of security by requiring a second form of identification, such as a fingerprint or code sent to a phone
    • Increases the difficulty for unauthorized access to an account

Symmetric Encryption

  • Symmetric encryption uses the same key for both encryption and decryption of data Process
  • The sender and receiver must both have the same key in order to encrypt and decrypt the data

Advantages

  • Faster and more efficient than asymmetric encryption
  • Suitable for large amounts of data

Asymmetric Encryption

  • Asymmetric encryption uses two different keys for encryption and decryption of data Process
  • The sender uses the recipient’s public key to encrypt the data, and the recipient uses their private key to decrypt the data

Advantages

  • More secure than symmetric encryption
  • Suitable for exchanging small amounts of data, such as keys for symmetric encryption

Provide an example of encryption we used in AWS deployment.

  • SSH into AWS Box
    • Secure Shell (SSH) is a protocol used for secure access to remote servers
    • Use in AWS Deployment
    • SSH is used to securely log into an AWS instance and manage it from a remote location Process
    • A user generates an SSH key pair, with a private key kept on their local machine and a public key added to the AWS instance
    • The user can then use the private key to log into the AWS instance and securely access and manage it

Advantages

  • Provides secure access to AWS instances
  • Enhances the security of data by avoiding the need to transmit login credentials over the network
  • Describe a phishing scheme you have learned about the hard way. Describe some other phishing techniques.

Hypothetical Phishing Scheme

  • A phishing scheme is a fraudulent attempt to steal sensitive information, such as login credentials or financial information, by posing as a trustworthy entity

Example

  • A phishing email that appears to be from a well-known bank or financial institution, asking the recipient to click on a link to update their account information
  • The link takes the recipient to a fake website that looks like the real bank’s site, where they are prompted to enter their login credentials and other sensitive information

Result

  • If the recipient enters their information, the phisher can use it to access their accounts and steal their money or sensitive data

Other Phishing Techniques

  • Email Spoofing
    • Creating fake emails that appear to be from a trusted source, such as a bank or a friend
  • Social Engineering
    • Manipulating people into revealing confidential information, such as passwords or credit card numbers
  • SMiShing
    • Phishing attacks via text message
  • Vishing
    • Phishing attacks via phone calls
  • Spear Phishing
  • Targeted phishing attacks that use personal information, such as the recipient’s name, to make the email appear more credible