I would have to say I was very skeptical about this class but I thought it would be kind of fun as well. I was skeptical about writing blogs every week because I had never written a blog in my life and I didn’t know where to go start one at. I was nervous about that at first but once we started I thought that it would be really fun and interesting what other people in our class would write and if we would have the same opinion or same experiences, or would we clash if we didn’t agree with some bodies blog or discussion board postings. I thought the class as a whole was really fun and unique, I feel like I learned a lot from the readings and my classmates. Plus I learned a lot about technology and how much we are so depended on it and what would happen if we didn’t have advanced technology. I also learned how it technology will continue to grow and advance with time.
What experiences that I liked were just writing the blogs and seeing who had the same type of experiences you had and who had different experiences that we could learn from. Especially when it came to a few of those stalker stories. I feel like I learned something from everybody in this class and it helped because on one hand it will help you in the real world to protect yourself from just the different types of experiences that we each had and how to protect yourself on the internet. By doing these blogs it helped to learn a little more about your other classmates and to connect with different people. What I would also have to say that I don’t have anything that I didn’t really like about the class, I think that everybody should take this class because you learn a lot of different things that you wouldn’t just pick up from a normal class.
I would keep everything for this class because you have a variety of different things that you could do with the assignments. The variety was good for the class, I don’t think that it just focused on just computers, if focused on all different types of technology and made you really think. The only thing that I could think of that I would change would go longer then just 24 hours away from your computer, I would go 48 hours or I would even go without your phone or even your iPod for 24 hours. Something interesting that people seriously can’t live without. This would stir up some serious drama. Overall I thought this class was really good and I would recommend that everybody take it because you learn a lot about yourself, others and how much technology has advanced and is still advancing. You also learn how much we use technology and how we as society can’t go without and. As a whole my experience was really good and fun.
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Media Misuses!!
I was able to find a story in the New York Times about major companies that turn down interns because of the information they find on them on the internet. The companies look at your resumes and grades but then they search the internet on Facebook and MySpace to do more of a background check and see what type of person they think you really are. There are a lot of major companies that do this such type of check and they don’t tell you that they check the internet to find some more information about you. You may end up not getting the job and you don’t know why and this might end up being the reason because of your history on MySpace and Facebook.
I disagree with the story because I feel like it is wrong to go snoop on your interns in that way. I feel like you should just judge them based on their credentials and if their resume looks good and they had great grades coming out of college. What they do outside of their job I feel like is none of your business and they could be totally different from what they may show you but if they get the job done then it shouldn’t be a problem. I understand that jobs should do a background check but I don’t feel like checking Facebook and MySpace is the right way to do it because I think that’s more like being sneaky then just checking. I don’t understand what would make companies check Facebook or MySpace anyway? That seems very random to me.
How we may be able to prevent this from happening is that when companies do check for more information on you then what you give them, set your profiles to private and if they ask to be your friend just deny them because you don’t really know them and that’s the best way to go about protecting yourself. I don’t feel like you can totally prevent these companies from checking you and trying to find information but I think that by limiting your profile it will help a ton because they will just have to go on your resume and grades more then the information that they could not find fully. I think another way of prevention is by asking the company when you go for the interview if they do more specific checks then just your resume and grades. Then you can tell them information that they should know or you can ask why is the information relevant to this job so that you can get some answers from them.
Also should their be some type of law that should prevent employers from getting on Facebook or MySpace to get some more information on the applicant that they are trying to hire? On the other side of that should applicants really be showing their profiles publicly when they have these types of pictures or background information on their pages?
I disagree with the story because I feel like it is wrong to go snoop on your interns in that way. I feel like you should just judge them based on their credentials and if their resume looks good and they had great grades coming out of college. What they do outside of their job I feel like is none of your business and they could be totally different from what they may show you but if they get the job done then it shouldn’t be a problem. I understand that jobs should do a background check but I don’t feel like checking Facebook and MySpace is the right way to do it because I think that’s more like being sneaky then just checking. I don’t understand what would make companies check Facebook or MySpace anyway? That seems very random to me.
How we may be able to prevent this from happening is that when companies do check for more information on you then what you give them, set your profiles to private and if they ask to be your friend just deny them because you don’t really know them and that’s the best way to go about protecting yourself. I don’t feel like you can totally prevent these companies from checking you and trying to find information but I think that by limiting your profile it will help a ton because they will just have to go on your resume and grades more then the information that they could not find fully. I think another way of prevention is by asking the company when you go for the interview if they do more specific checks then just your resume and grades. Then you can tell them information that they should know or you can ask why is the information relevant to this job so that you can get some answers from them.
Also should their be some type of law that should prevent employers from getting on Facebook or MySpace to get some more information on the applicant that they are trying to hire? On the other side of that should applicants really be showing their profiles publicly when they have these types of pictures or background information on their pages?
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
WILDCARD!!
I have had many experiences when it comes to communicating through the internet, one of my worst experiences was with a teacher I had at my last school. I took his math class, and I would have weekly progress reports because I was an athlete so it was require. All semester I was fine, me and my academic advisor would check my grades every Friday and see how I’m doing. After my midterm I know I did bad but I new that it didn’t hurt my grade as much because I had turned in all of my assignments. Me and my academic advisor checked my grade and I had an F in the class ands the email said that I have not turned in any homework at all. I new that this was a lie because me and my tutor would work on it and I would show my advisor that I had done the homework and I turn it in.
The situation eased the conversation via email because me and my advisor could get out our frustration by email instead of face-to-face. We explained that I turned in every homework assignment and that this must be some kind of mistake and that I would come talk to him in class today. Why this worked by email first was because that’s how I would get my weekly reports was by email and this was the reason why I hadn’t talk to him yet because my grade was fine in the class before. I ended up going to class that day and I talk to him about my grade and he said the only way I would pass the class is if I was to do all the homework assignments again. I had explain to him that you see me everyday with these homework assignments and now you don’t have them really pissed me off and he just said well I don’t have them so you will have to do them over. I did all the homework assignments over and me and my advisor photocopied every last homework assignment for that class and other classes too, but at the end of the term he said it was to late and I ended up not even passing that class. The other main factor in my grade is that he didn’t even like athletes and he hated that we missed classes. Their were other athletes in this class to and he didn’t pass them either. This was a known fact that he didn’t like athletes either but his class was a required class and you had to take it and he was the only teacher teaching that class that semester.
It was easier to deal with the situation on line because it help get all my frustration out online rather then face-to-face because if the encounter were to happen face-to-face before I found out about the email it would have been ugly and I would have just blown up and it wouldn’t have been a pretty site. After talking it over with my advisor we just had a plan to photocopy everything so that if it were to happen again we would have all the evidence we needed against the teacher. The internet was a buffer to help my first reaction be put into a email rather then seeing him face-to-face and cursing him out.
The situation eased the conversation via email because me and my advisor could get out our frustration by email instead of face-to-face. We explained that I turned in every homework assignment and that this must be some kind of mistake and that I would come talk to him in class today. Why this worked by email first was because that’s how I would get my weekly reports was by email and this was the reason why I hadn’t talk to him yet because my grade was fine in the class before. I ended up going to class that day and I talk to him about my grade and he said the only way I would pass the class is if I was to do all the homework assignments again. I had explain to him that you see me everyday with these homework assignments and now you don’t have them really pissed me off and he just said well I don’t have them so you will have to do them over. I did all the homework assignments over and me and my advisor photocopied every last homework assignment for that class and other classes too, but at the end of the term he said it was to late and I ended up not even passing that class. The other main factor in my grade is that he didn’t even like athletes and he hated that we missed classes. Their were other athletes in this class to and he didn’t pass them either. This was a known fact that he didn’t like athletes either but his class was a required class and you had to take it and he was the only teacher teaching that class that semester.
It was easier to deal with the situation on line because it help get all my frustration out online rather then face-to-face because if the encounter were to happen face-to-face before I found out about the email it would have been ugly and I would have just blown up and it wouldn’t have been a pretty site. After talking it over with my advisor we just had a plan to photocopy everything so that if it were to happen again we would have all the evidence we needed against the teacher. The internet was a buffer to help my first reaction be put into a email rather then seeing him face-to-face and cursing him out.
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Interview
My first interview I did was on my teammate who is 21. Her primary use for the internet is mainly for school, access to blackboard, online classes, and her email. But she also gets on the internet sometimes just to check her MySpace and Facebook or to buy stuff on eBay since we don’t have a lot of time off because of basketball to go shopping. My teammate has used internet all her life so she’s very comfortable using the internet, technology has been the same since she was little and nothing has really change at all but she feels that it’s changed her life for the better and has advanced so much that you don’t always have to go somewhere to get what you want you can do it online and it’s not such a hassle all the time.
My second interview was on my mother she is 45. She doesn’t spend a lot of time on the internet as much as my dad, but her main use for internet is mainly for work and when she’s on the internet is at work not really at home. When I go home just for the weekend or when we have a break I can count on one hand how many times she has used the internet at home. She feels like she really has no major use for it, it’s a convenience for her, she doesn’t take it for granted at all. My mother said that it has been an improvement in her life because she can find information she needs faster and quicker by internet, she doesn’t also have to find information through the newspaper or television because the internet will have it in minutes or online all day compared to newspapers and television. She is comfortable with being online and roaming on the internet but she told me she’s not advanced as me and my brother and dad but she can find her way to different sites. In general she thought the internet is great to have around but it’s not something she uses all the time or thing she needs to use all the time.
My third and final blog was on my grandfather who is 72. He doesn’t use the internet at all and doesn’t know ho to use the internet. If he needs to do something on the computer he will call my mom or any of his kids to help him do something on the computer or he will just have them do it for him. He says he’s too old to try to figure out the internet, it’s just too much work for him. He said technology is to advanced for him and the only reason he got a cell phone was because of his kids so they can no where he is and check on him when he is traveling. The internet has not really changed his life at all because he never really gets on it; his kids help him with things that he has to do on the internet.
Overall looking at the three different types of ages groups, their was big differences in how they use the internet and what they use it for. It is funny to me, that sometimes the old you get the less you may use the internet. With the interviews that I did I felt like either it was really complicated for them or it was very easy and not a lot of stress to use the internet.
My second interview was on my mother she is 45. She doesn’t spend a lot of time on the internet as much as my dad, but her main use for internet is mainly for work and when she’s on the internet is at work not really at home. When I go home just for the weekend or when we have a break I can count on one hand how many times she has used the internet at home. She feels like she really has no major use for it, it’s a convenience for her, she doesn’t take it for granted at all. My mother said that it has been an improvement in her life because she can find information she needs faster and quicker by internet, she doesn’t also have to find information through the newspaper or television because the internet will have it in minutes or online all day compared to newspapers and television. She is comfortable with being online and roaming on the internet but she told me she’s not advanced as me and my brother and dad but she can find her way to different sites. In general she thought the internet is great to have around but it’s not something she uses all the time or thing she needs to use all the time.
My third and final blog was on my grandfather who is 72. He doesn’t use the internet at all and doesn’t know ho to use the internet. If he needs to do something on the computer he will call my mom or any of his kids to help him do something on the computer or he will just have them do it for him. He says he’s too old to try to figure out the internet, it’s just too much work for him. He said technology is to advanced for him and the only reason he got a cell phone was because of his kids so they can no where he is and check on him when he is traveling. The internet has not really changed his life at all because he never really gets on it; his kids help him with things that he has to do on the internet.
Overall looking at the three different types of ages groups, their was big differences in how they use the internet and what they use it for. It is funny to me, that sometimes the old you get the less you may use the internet. With the interviews that I did I felt like either it was really complicated for them or it was very easy and not a lot of stress to use the internet.
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Internet Community
The group that I decided to join was called I Love Basketball. I wanted to join a group that I play and our very familiar with and thought it would be cool to see what other people thought about the sport I love to play. This group that I joined you could tell that not everybody had played basketball or had all the knowledge about it but you also had people that if they didn't play the sport but they new a lot about it, because they were a basketball fanatic and they just loved the sport or loved playing ball so they thought that it was cool to have a group that was dedicated to basketball. I was surprised at how much people really didn’t disagree on a lot of topics, a lot of it was just asking questions about trade rumors and what people thought about the trade. Then people provided information for the people who asked about the information, but I thought that it was funny when I did ask a question about the Jason Kidd trade and why Jerry Stackhouse had ran his mouth like he did people kind of got mad at me and had a few words to say. I thought it was hilarious how people stuck by their team and thought that I was trying to be negative towards their teams but I wasn’t trying to be negative towards their team I just wanted to start something going about the player running his mouth and to also see how I fit into the group. When I first started the group I wanted to observe and see what people were saying and asking about basketball and was it just a group that talked about NBA, college or even high school basketball or was it just one specific group that they talked about.
They had a lot of conversation about more then one topic; it was very diverse as far as talking about college basketball, women’s basketball and NBA. I felt like I really fit into this group because it’s a sport that I play everyday and am very familiar with and I thought that it would be a great idea to enhance my knowledge by learning from other people and what they thought about basketball and other peoples perspective about the sport at hand and if they really thought about basketball. Their was a lot of people that were very negative and just respond negative to every post because they didn’t agree. A lot of people got real upset about this one guy who kept responding to post and not giving good post so that had a lot of confrontation I thought that was interesting because their wasn’t a lot of drama on this group.
They had a lot of conversation about more then one topic; it was very diverse as far as talking about college basketball, women’s basketball and NBA. I felt like I really fit into this group because it’s a sport that I play everyday and am very familiar with and I thought that it would be a great idea to enhance my knowledge by learning from other people and what they thought about basketball and other peoples perspective about the sport at hand and if they really thought about basketball. Their was a lot of people that were very negative and just respond negative to every post because they didn’t agree. A lot of people got real upset about this one guy who kept responding to post and not giving good post so that had a lot of confrontation I thought that was interesting because their wasn’t a lot of drama on this group.
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
I decided to do my topic on rhetorical criticism because I was already doing a paper on Barack Obama's speech for rhetorical criticism and analyzing the differences of the information I could find using internet sources and library sources. This speech was the perfect topic for this assignment because I had to find internet and library sources to do this assignment and we had to do the same for this class as well. When you go to the library to find information you are finding information on historical facts about presidents and political information and that information dates back a long time. The library is giving you credible and reliable information that can be valuable compared to the internet that gives you more current information that is not always reliable or credible because you have so many websites out there like Wikipedia that anybody can put information on that isn’t always true.
I thought that it would be interesting to compare the information you find at the library to the information that you find on the internet and see if you would find the same information or would their be information that would be different, and in some cases doing this assignment I did find information that wasn’t always true. What I found interesting is that politicians are often accused on “flip flopping” their political views and the library’s information is less flexible to change than the internet.
Going to the library was a difficult thing not because I had to get up from my seat but because of the fact you had to go search all those books for your book and sometimes I had trouble because the book that I wanted wasn’t even in the right spot. But when I was able to find the books that I wanted to read they had a lot of good information about politics and Obama had a really good book as well, but I found a lot of information on rhetorical criticism as well. The Pros and Cons of the information that was found on the internet was that it wasn’t always true and it took a long time trying to find credible sources. The good thing about the library is that it had credible information but some of the information wasn’t up to date but I did find up to date information as well. I would prefer being on the internet and finding sources rather then going to the library unless I already looked up my information so that I can go straight to the section I need to, in order to find the books I need.
The one thing I can say is that your life changes by really having to go to the library and put in the effort to get books and read them. It was a struggle to me because this felt like a research paper and I had to find like 15 sources just to answer a couple of questions but it does make you realize that there is just more then internet sources out their and that you can find information a bunch of different ways then just what is convenient like the internet.
References
Book Sources
Foss, Sonja K. Rhetorical criticism: exploration and practice. Waveland press. 1989.
Dymally, Mervyn M. The black politican; his struggle for power. Belmont, Calif., Duxbury Press. 1971
Obama, barack. The audacity of hope: thoughts on reclaiming the American Dream/Barack Obama. New York: Crown Publishers. 2006
Website Sources:
http://www.nwprogressive.org/ (Northwest progressive institute official blog)
http://electionrhetorica.net/ (Rhetorica)
http://csuchico.edu/phil/gtopea_mat/s05/.../rhetoric1_s05.ppt (hyperbole)
I thought that it would be interesting to compare the information you find at the library to the information that you find on the internet and see if you would find the same information or would their be information that would be different, and in some cases doing this assignment I did find information that wasn’t always true. What I found interesting is that politicians are often accused on “flip flopping” their political views and the library’s information is less flexible to change than the internet.
Going to the library was a difficult thing not because I had to get up from my seat but because of the fact you had to go search all those books for your book and sometimes I had trouble because the book that I wanted wasn’t even in the right spot. But when I was able to find the books that I wanted to read they had a lot of good information about politics and Obama had a really good book as well, but I found a lot of information on rhetorical criticism as well. The Pros and Cons of the information that was found on the internet was that it wasn’t always true and it took a long time trying to find credible sources. The good thing about the library is that it had credible information but some of the information wasn’t up to date but I did find up to date information as well. I would prefer being on the internet and finding sources rather then going to the library unless I already looked up my information so that I can go straight to the section I need to, in order to find the books I need.
The one thing I can say is that your life changes by really having to go to the library and put in the effort to get books and read them. It was a struggle to me because this felt like a research paper and I had to find like 15 sources just to answer a couple of questions but it does make you realize that there is just more then internet sources out their and that you can find information a bunch of different ways then just what is convenient like the internet.
References
Book Sources
Foss, Sonja K. Rhetorical criticism: exploration and practice. Waveland press. 1989.
Dymally, Mervyn M. The black politican; his struggle for power. Belmont, Calif., Duxbury Press. 1971
Obama, barack. The audacity of hope: thoughts on reclaiming the American Dream/Barack Obama. New York: Crown Publishers. 2006
Website Sources:
http://www.nwprogressive.org/ (Northwest progressive institute official blog)
http://electionrhetorica.net/ (Rhetorica)
http://csuchico.edu/phil/gtopea_mat/s05/.../rhetoric1_s05.ppt (hyperbole)
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
Letter
The letters that we had to do for this week I thought were very thoughtful. I felt like this assignment was a lot then what we had been doing the previous weeks and I felt like they would be very meaningful to the people that we were giving them too.
I wrote a hand written letter to my grandfather and I wrote an email to my high school coach. The letter to my grandfather was very long because he has had a very great impact on my life and will always have a great impact on my life until he is know longer here. I wrote a letter to him and sent it to him because he doesn’t get on the computer at all unless he really has to and then his children get on the computer for him and help him out. He’s not very good with technology because it’s just to advanced for him. That is what made me send it by mail because he will go to the mail box everyday and check to see if he has anything from the mailman. He was more likely to get the mail then get on the computer, plus he doesn’t even have email at all. The language in the letter was very different from the letter with my coach. The language and tone was very personal and more about how he’s been an influence in my life because of the time he spent with me as a kid and just being a great role model and how to live my life. Plus he taught me how to play ball, he was very rough and physical with me and he taught me how to stick up for myself and not let anybody push me around.
The letter I wrote by email to my coach was also a personal letter because even though he was my coach he also taught me a lot about basketball and about life. I felt like we had a very close relationship and that’s why we were able to accomplish a lot of goals on the basketball floor. What I mean by that is we won league titles, we went to the state tournament, these were goals that we had in common that we wanted to accomplish, and we were two very competitive people. I wanted to write the letter because I wanted to thank him for making me a better player, we would go to the gym and shoot extra shots, we would sit down and watch game film of what I needed to improve on and what I need to keep doing that was working . Also just the conversations that helped me get over my frustrations with basketball and just the conversations about life and teaching me something new everyday. The tone and language was about the same as the letter that I sent to my grandfather. Very personal and meaningful.
The letters that I sent had a lot of similarities because they were both personal and long letters; I had a lot to tell them about how they influenced my life and how they both meant a lot to me. The other similarity that I had with both letters was about sports. My grandfather taught me the game of basketball and my coach helped make me better on the basketball court. They both taught me something about the game and for that I am forever grateful. The differences in the letters was that the personal information was different, what I said to them and the influence that they had were on two different levels and weren’t the same type of information. The responses that I got was overwhelming because my grandfather called me and just cried, but they were tears of joy because he was so proud of how I have grown up and he was just so impressed that I wrote a letter to him because he wasn’t expecting it at all. My coach was also thankful to have coached me and jut happy that I have accomplished what I have on and off the court. He knew that I had gone through a lot of adversity in college with my college coaches and being sick with mono and just the transition. He has been happy how I’ve handled myself and glad that he can watch me play again.
What I got from sending a hand written letter instead of using technology was that it was kind of weird because we are so use to sending things by email and using all this technology that it was great to do it the old fashion was and just even hear their responses by phone because they wanted to tell me and hear my voice. The human connection was a great feeling and it was better then receiving the email response.
I wrote a hand written letter to my grandfather and I wrote an email to my high school coach. The letter to my grandfather was very long because he has had a very great impact on my life and will always have a great impact on my life until he is know longer here. I wrote a letter to him and sent it to him because he doesn’t get on the computer at all unless he really has to and then his children get on the computer for him and help him out. He’s not very good with technology because it’s just to advanced for him. That is what made me send it by mail because he will go to the mail box everyday and check to see if he has anything from the mailman. He was more likely to get the mail then get on the computer, plus he doesn’t even have email at all. The language in the letter was very different from the letter with my coach. The language and tone was very personal and more about how he’s been an influence in my life because of the time he spent with me as a kid and just being a great role model and how to live my life. Plus he taught me how to play ball, he was very rough and physical with me and he taught me how to stick up for myself and not let anybody push me around.
The letter I wrote by email to my coach was also a personal letter because even though he was my coach he also taught me a lot about basketball and about life. I felt like we had a very close relationship and that’s why we were able to accomplish a lot of goals on the basketball floor. What I mean by that is we won league titles, we went to the state tournament, these were goals that we had in common that we wanted to accomplish, and we were two very competitive people. I wanted to write the letter because I wanted to thank him for making me a better player, we would go to the gym and shoot extra shots, we would sit down and watch game film of what I needed to improve on and what I need to keep doing that was working . Also just the conversations that helped me get over my frustrations with basketball and just the conversations about life and teaching me something new everyday. The tone and language was about the same as the letter that I sent to my grandfather. Very personal and meaningful.
The letters that I sent had a lot of similarities because they were both personal and long letters; I had a lot to tell them about how they influenced my life and how they both meant a lot to me. The other similarity that I had with both letters was about sports. My grandfather taught me the game of basketball and my coach helped make me better on the basketball court. They both taught me something about the game and for that I am forever grateful. The differences in the letters was that the personal information was different, what I said to them and the influence that they had were on two different levels and weren’t the same type of information. The responses that I got was overwhelming because my grandfather called me and just cried, but they were tears of joy because he was so proud of how I have grown up and he was just so impressed that I wrote a letter to him because he wasn’t expecting it at all. My coach was also thankful to have coached me and jut happy that I have accomplished what I have on and off the court. He knew that I had gone through a lot of adversity in college with my college coaches and being sick with mono and just the transition. He has been happy how I’ve handled myself and glad that he can watch me play again.
What I got from sending a hand written letter instead of using technology was that it was kind of weird because we are so use to sending things by email and using all this technology that it was great to do it the old fashion was and just even hear their responses by phone because they wanted to tell me and hear my voice. The human connection was a great feeling and it was better then receiving the email response.
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