Letter with love

Dear haters,
Thought I'd start in some corny way like this since I haven't blogged in the past year or probably a little more. As for today's topic, I'd like to talk about the religion Islam. In today's world Islam has many definitions related to terrorism, "jihad", Al-Qaeda, Osama-bin Laden and many negative aspects. It's a harsh perspective bestowed upon all Muslims globally, especially Pakistani's after the claim that "Bin Laden had been found on Pakistani grounds", which has not been proven through pictures or any other evidence other then the word of President Obama. Lets try the real, simple definition for which Islam originally defines. And that my friends, is not war, or hatred, or suicide bombers, but a definition of peace, morality, and a clean way of life. Islam is not a new religion, but the same truth that God revealed through all His prophets to every people. For a fifth of the world's population, Islam is both a religion and a complete way of life. Muslims follow a religion of peace, mercy, and forgiveness, and the majority have nothing to do with the extremely grave events which have come to be associated with their faith. So why is it that the rest of racist human race holds Muslims responsible for all the negative events that have taken place, such as the 9/11. Why is it that the people killed during the 9/11 are somehow more important then that thousands of people killed in Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran and many more Muslim nations by the hands of Americans. What ever happened to the religion of humanity? Where all human lives are equal? Why is that the U.S isn't being condemned as a terrorist nation but any other Muslim country is? I guess a hegemonic supremacy comes with a name of its own, with the power to direct the labeling of the world into categories and somehow its supposed to be considered right? We could all play the "Blame-game" and blame one another for a series of misfortunes that have taken place. How is that going to ever better our world? Reality Check: Ladies and gentlemen, to blame Islam and all Muslims for the actions of some, and to disregard the United States unwanted intervention in many Muslim nations is not going to fix anything. But to take responsibility of being a civil human being, for what humanity really stands for just might help make a real difference that this world has desperately been waiting for. Or we could all take the easy way out and perceive media as the reality and live life in ignorance. (No, ignorance is not a bliss , when its blinding your eyes from the bitter truth we're all scared to see, And the media also says "Size 0 is the way to go" <-- See the truth? - Not so much.) All, I'm really arguing here is that our reality of discriminating amongst one another because of one's ethnicity is not the way to globalization, infact I see it as a step back for the human race as a whole. This is a message for those blaming Islam and Muslims for global problems and terrorism, please stop - it's not helping you be a better person, nor is it the truth. The truth is non-judgmental , stands for what is and not for what could've been. Being a Muslim is not a synonym for terrorist. The faster people understand this, the better they will feel, the nicer this world will be, and less uglier will you feel. For all those people with the incapacity to see the better in all human beings, GWS. (Get Well Soon) =)
-Best Wishes.
Love,
The human race<3

Mashup

How could mashups serve international governance? Would mashups serve to make government more effective?
The term mashup implies easy, fast integration, frequently using open APIs and data sources to produce results that were not the original reason for producing the raw source data. In easier terms, mashup consists of a whole bunch of information provided on one page or even on a map. For instance the mashup can provide weather conditions, the status of the country and if disease related it can even provide the information of the number of people dead and infected with a certain disease.

Applications such as mashup’s are definitely effective for governments. But this relies heavily on the set up of e-governance. E-Governance is such as a webpage, where citizens can interact with the government via through emails or conduct transactions (Lecture 9 11-16-09). Efficiency is the main goal for E-governance, and if it allows citizens to do a number of things on one webpage, it will definitely improve the efficiency of a site. A great example of this is provided in the Holliday and Kwok article on E-government. It clearly describes the role of e-government and its interactions between the government and various businesses. In this situation mashups would be very effective since they would make it easier for foreign investors to invest in a country based on its different aspects of information provided through one webpage. This would be very effective in terms of business and government since it would receive more foreign investments in an effective way. Mashups provide a number of possibilities in terms of improving the governments and making it more effective.All-in-all, mashups are are effective and the main goal of e-government is to be efficient, therefore, they match perfectly together.

Here’s a link to a mashup: http://www.idemc.org/index.php?area=

Global civil society

Global civil society is a manifestation of social energies released by an awakening of human consciousness to possibilities for creating societies that nurture and rejoice in a love of all being. It is a set of beliefs/ideas/concerns that brings different types of people together as one according to their interests in a specific arena. There’s many example that can exemplify this term such as NGO’s, religious groups, or even the petition by all UofT students to drop fees. All, come together as one and share a certain belief in regards to a certain topic.

The Global civil society is a means of communication amongst these people to further accentuate their interest and ideas and make it known amongst non-members. The whole idea is to strengthen these ties and have a reason to fight for or to believe in. In a way, it’s almost like the internet. It allows various people from different cultures/areas to come together and connect as one. The internet also promotes these institutions globally to integrate more members who share the same view. The video we saw in our previous lecture called “Linking Lebanon”, where activist experiment with the social media is an example of the Internet serving as a source to connect people.

All-in-all, I believe that global society is a good way of bringing people together as one, and that the Internet plays a vital role in promoting global civil societies. It’s a good way of feeling the importance of belonging to something for those who don’t have strong immediate ties. Free the children, by Craig Keilgurge is a unique NGO that demonstrates strong features of global society. I know this because, it has definitely impacted my life, and I’ve been able to help others get a sense of “belonging to” or “connecting with” others in need of help across the globe.

Below is a map locating my birth place and my university city !
http://www.mapbuilder.net/users/mehwish_malik

My podcast - Internet and consumers?

Hello istb01 students, please listen to my podcast and let me know what you all think of my view of the question : Does the internet democratize the consumers?

http://www.utsc.utoronto.ca/~08malikm/mypodcast.mp3


- Mehwish.Malik

What version of historical change do you believe in and why?

What version of historical change do you believe in and why?

“Internet” is one of the greatest inventions by mankind. I fully support this point being that us human beings are highly dependent on the internet. I know for fact sake, I classify as one of those internet addicts in everyday life. Our ways of communication have changed and progressed to a new level.

Cosmopolitan view, a set of beliefs that eliminates borders and supports the freedom of right strongly believes in the advancing reforms created day-by-day by technology. This provokes questions, theories and ideas. None-the-less, it historically supports “technological advancement”

First, it was the amazing invention of “telephone”, but now I turn to “skype”. Skype is one of the latest and hottest “inn-thing”. It allows us to connect with people all around the globe in terms of chatting, video/voice chatting and even calling and texting phones through our own computers at home. It is the form and the means of communication, which proves the escalation of internet and its functions in our lives. This defines and accentuates our definition of “techonology”. We’ve become so innovative, that we can conquer any means of communication anywhere in the globe within minutes. It’s amazing, what changes technology has brought in our lives.

Other amazing features of the internet not only allow us to connect with people all around the globe but some other features also allow us to research, shop, play games, gamble,chat, podcast links, watch video’s and listen to music and even to create blogs posting out thoughts.

Paying certain attention to podcast links, they allow us to discover and keep up to date with the newest developments in the world. There’s so many features to it, its fascinating. This is a link which’ll allow you to see various features of the podcast and videos and links provided by it: http://video.podcast.com/show/32351/A-Dan-Amongst-Dans/

What determines the structure of a folksonomy and why? The code, the content or the social process?

What determines the structure of a folksonomy and why? The code, the content or the social process?

Firstly, to being with, with a basic Wikipedia explanation of what folksonomy is that it is basically a system of classification derived from the practice and method of collaboratively creating and managing tags to annotate and categorize content; this practice is also known as collaborative tagging, social classification, social indexing, and social tagging. All in all, folksonomy is an easier way of accessing information, even through a mere keyword. A folksonomy brings life to a network, without network folksonomy wouldn’t exists and vice versa. It is the mere acknowledgement of social processes through popularization. Folksonomy represents information/ knowledge provided by the tagger e.g. in terms of a picture, the content provided is the form of folksonomy. Thus, content and social processing are the basic structure determinant of folksonomy serving its purpose and not the code .

I believe, social processing is a factor that occurs because of folksonomy. Facebook, Twitter, IGoogle and perhaps in some cases even yahoo chats are networks where social processing takes place. Facebook for example is a very popular network that displays pictures, information, interests and many more user approved information. Pictures for example, when tagged if provided by the user display who, what, when, where, why and even how in some cases. This display of information through tags (folksonomy) when viewed by other users is the means of popularizing that specific content. Thus, this increases social processes because of folksonomy and folksonomy because of social processes. Overall, justifying that social process and content are the actual determinants of folksonomy.

A useful way of understanding folksonomy : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8Q7_ifGpFg&feature=related

Do post a comment and leave your thoughts ! =)

Wikis and effective means of communication?

Are wikis an effective means of communication? Why or why not? Include a link to your entry.

Wikipedia is an online encyclopaedia and, as a means to that end, an online community of people interested in building a high-quality encyclopaedia in a spirit of mutual respect .Wikipedia and Wiki answers are useful for finding information that can in turn lead you to more reliable sources of information. The good thing about Wikipedia is that it can provide you with all sorts of information within seconds. Depending on the word you chose to explore, you may view different types of information such as definition, history, symptoms, theories or even cause and effects of the term. The truth about Wikipedia is that it does not publish original research or original thought. This includes unpublished facts, arguments, speculation, and ideas; and any unpublished analysis or synthesis of published material that serves to advance a position. No reputable educational establishment will accept only wiki as a reliable source of information. This is so because; Wikipedia and Wiki answers are not the best to rely on because anyone can edit the information. For example if you look at a page on Wikipedia you will see where it says discussion then you will see edit this page someone could easily go there and type in wrong info. Even Wikipedia’s founder, Jimmy Wales, says he wants to get the message out to college students that they shouldn’t use it for class projects or serious research. It is most definitely not an effective means of communication since the information can be easily altered by anyone !! post a comment, and tell me what you think!? =)

Wikipedia Article Link:http://istb-tuesday.wikidot.com/internet-governance-and-polices