Getting locked out can happen not just from your car or your home. Getting locked out can happen online when you’re not able to view certain films or media. Geoblocking, or regional lockout, is a way that media distribution companies protect their films. While we may think that the internet and other technologies have created a global village, media distribution practices and other uses of technology have prevented that global interconnection.
Technology has played a large role in the growth of terrorism through recruitment of terrorists worldwide or through cyberattacks on critical infrastructure. Jordan Clark (’11) trains people to recognize warning signs of possible terrorist or criminal acts on social media and in other settings through the Community Awareness Program at the CELL in Denver, Colo.
One of the most spectacular facts of the last two centuries of economic history is the exponential growth in GDP per capita in most of the world. This economic progress, unprecedented in human history, would be impossible without major breakthroughs in technology. Many believe we are on the verge of a new technological revolution that will see Artificial Intelligence (AI) automating a majority of tasks that are currently performed by humans. Should we see AI as liberating or as a destructive force?
What is the difference between ‘real life’ and ‘virtual life’? How do we construct identity? How do we create social norms? For many years, experts have studied how social norms are created, and with the advent of the internet and online gaming, researchers are now exploring the way people interact with, use, and respond to technology as they perform and craft those identities.
Geographers use a variety of technologies to investigate human-environment interactions: remote sensing data, satellite imagery, aerial photographs, lidar, GIS, and fieldwork. But they also engage collaboratively with communities to understand the impact of land-use and land-cover changes, all of which can assist with land policy and management decisions.
Bitcoin, the most popular cryptocurrency, has been touted as an amazing solution for those without easy access to a traditional bank. While it certainly opens up opportunities for people in developing nations who otherwise have to rely on third parties to help them receive and transfer money, it is not a cure-all. Plus, there are environmental implications to running all of the servers needed to mine Bitcoin. So, are cryptocurrencies worth it?
Fort Collins is often called the “Choice City,” but for whom? In Dr. Josh Sbicca’s Social Movements course, students are asked to look at the social inequalities in Fort Collins and create protest art as a result. By using drones to capture images, sounds, and voices and editing software to create meaning, tell a story, and call for social change, students are using technology to take a new look at the Choice City.
Eric Roche (B.A. ’11) has a C-level job at a city that many people have never heard of: Chief Data Officer. Roche’s job is to uncover data that is valuable in decision making, and empower the city’s staff and leadership to make quick, data-informed decisions resulting in employees that are more efficient at their jobs and residents get better services delivered.
Robert Ower (’18) uses the research skills from history classes to build maps and create ‘mappable data’ for high tech industries. Ower’s path from work to college to a meaningful career reflects the maps that he makes with ArcGIS. Layers of skills, research, patience, effort and luck are the mappable data. His emerging career is a world of his own creation.
Tim Amidon is both a firefighter and a rhetorician, examining the ways in which communication, literacy, and technology are used in high-risk, high-stress situations. Amidon’s research investigates how communication and the various technologies we use help us to create and participate in the world around us.