Blog #8: Exploratory writing for Wikipedia post

My inital interest with Wikipedia posting was gaming. Not just regular gaming, I wanted to talk about Halo2 specially in regards to Ethernet connection. How Ethernet makes the game better, what the connection does, how to use the connection/set up, and what the original Halo game was like without Ethernet connection. However and unfortunately, when I looked at the Halo2 page there was a slew of information already on my topic! I was surprised but not discouraged until I started to read the text. Wow. They have everything covered. I mean, there was stuff I didn't even know about on there. Here I come along thinking I could make a significant contribution but apparently not. Thus, I have decided to switch my topic. Sadly. In any event, I think I am going to focus on phone novels if the professor says it's ok. I don't think she will object, so I'm starting to refrence it. I found the reading which we were assigned to be really interesting so I think this will be the perfect topic for me. In addition, I looked up the page on Wikipedia and they need more citations and refrences!!! yay!!! I am excited. I totally want to be a Wikipedia editor. I haven't got a specific focus just yet because I really want to read and refrence phone novels before I pick. I will add to this post later or tomorrow and identify what I will be doing in more detail. If anyone has any ideas either on Halo2 or the phone novels I am open for suggestions as always.
I began to read the manual for posting/editing on Wikipedia and mannnn is that thing LONG! I actually fell asleep at my computer reading it. I made the mistake of trying to print it out and now my printer is out of ink. I suggest reading parts of it though because it really is helpful. The manual link is on the course homepage. It definately clears things up. It even shows examples of how to do the editing. The sandbox is really cool. I think the name "sandbox" is adorable!! Good luck everybody. (I know I'll need it) : )

blog 7- flashmobs

Flashmobs are really interesting. A large group of people come together at the same time to achieve a common goal. Flashmobs have different purposes. For example, one flashmob occured in New York, in the middle of Times Square where hundred of people demonstrated a pillow fight just for fun. Another flashmob taped their mouths shut and stood there as a political statement. Hundreds to thousands of people unify to become nsync. It is amazing to bare witness to such an event, furthermore to be a part. Exactly how do these people come together at the same time and place? Mostly cellphones. Text messaging is the main communication of flashmobs. Chain texts are sent to people, who in turn forwad the message to eveyone in their contact list, and so on and so forth. A typical flashmob message may read "Times Square, 3:30pm 2/20/09-PILLOW FIGHT". Some people are signed up for a flashmob list, whom recieve the message first. Other communication methods include emails and word of mouth. These older communications are not as effective or as easy as text messaging by a cellphone. Emails may not regularlly be checked and information can be distorted or forgotten by word of mouth. Texting is immediate, fast, and not to mention most cells have picture messaging. Picture messaging can be helpful in regards to images that people can see, like exactly where to be, etc. Letters through the mail are much to slow, time consuming, and cost money. For all these reasons, text messaging is the main way of flashmobs communicating. If plans are changed, people will recieve the news immediately. As a result of such a fast communication method, more flashmobs are occuring. They are more organized and effecitve. Not to mention probably larger in size.
In the future, I'm not sure what other communications flashmobs may utilize. Texting seems to be working out great. A voice memo and videos are already available but I think texting is the best way to communicate. The information is in black and white, with almost no chance of misunderstanding as their could be with a voice memo (if someone had an accent per se). I think it is obvious why text messages underpin the flashmobs communication.

Technology Narrative

Technology was always part of my life as I look back; the radio, TV, even electricity. It wasn't until I was introduced to the computer that technology changed my life, particularly in literacy. Around 12 years of age I stopped reading books and started surfing; surfing the Internet that is. Everything I wrote was on the computer there after. A new chapter of my life began with the introduction of this new technology, the computer. Computer usage helped me develop as an individual. I valued writing more and followed through with my interests. Using the computer everyday scaffolded and reinforced who I am today.
As a child, I loved to read books. All types of books; The Babysitters Club, Goosebumps, Nancy Drew, autobiographies, fiction, science fiction, mystery, I thought they were all great. I even won a summer reading contest when I was eight years old, reading 300 books in one summer alone! I was in the newspaper and everything-my parents were so proud of their little book worm. My brother thought I was nuts of course. My brother Jimmy and my father loved the computer. They were always hovering over the desk starring at the monitor. I specifically remember them playing computer games and thinking how disinteresting it seemed and that they were on for so long. I didn’t understand. I thought it looked extremely difficult to use a computer. Little did I know how drastic my life would change in a few years because of it. Soon, my mother wouldn’t have to yell at me to go to sleep when she heard my footsteps scurry across the living room floor to swap the book I just finished for a new one. Instead, however, she would have to find peaceful compromise between Jimmy and me when we fought over the computer. Who would’ve thought?
Around 12 years old my father showed me a computer program called America On-Line and immediately I was hooked. I created a user-name and password, customized my homepage and personalized the page to accommodate my personality. Even when my friends came over, we would go on the computer. America On-Line, as well as other communicative programs like g-mail, continue to be a huge part of my life today. IMing (or texting) seems to replace phone calls and e-mails replace letters. Furthermore, I pay all my bills on-line. I spend hours on the computer without even realizing it. Whether I am IMing, e-mailing, researching, shopping, or adding to my webpage, time seems to disappear; computing is timeless to me! I became familiar with the computer from using the AOL search bar. I would type in different words or things that interested me. I learned about other websites from friends, teachers, family, and advertisements thus began my exploration.
My father and brother Jimmy introduced me to a few computer games. A very popular computer game in the 1990s was The SIMS, a virtual reality family simulator where you create a family in a neighborhood. You control their movements, find jobs, mates, pets, even furniture for the house! I spent hours playing. Another computer game I was dedicated to is called Alien vs. Predator. This game was different than The SIMS because there is a headset in which you can talk to your teammates and opponents. For those who do not have a headset there is a chat (like IMing). In order to talk to the other team the “ALT” and “ENTER” key must be hit together at the end of the message. I became really good at these games. Eventually, I was an expert at the computer, connecting a 25 foot Ethernet cable extension to my room. I even bought a really expensive lab top. Any video game I play now is “live”, in other words connected to the Internet. I really enjoy the communication between teams; it just makes the game so much more fun. Halo 2 is my absolute favorite. The different strategies and tips people communicate made possible by the Internet are wonderful. I like the game more because I improve my skills with the help of my team mates. Sometimes I am even the one who helps another player. It makes me feel good to do that. We play together to achieve the same goal and make compromises along the way. Other gaming systems I have do not offer this ability. My Sega Genesis and Nintendo are sitting in my basement collecting dust. The computer literally left all other games “in the dust”.
Computer technology positively changed my life. I have always kept journals. I wrote in cute little notebooks with hearts or butterflies on them. To this day, I have stacks of journals. Sometimes I wrote so much my hand would hurt. One day when I was about 15 or 16 years old, my father suggested I type my entries in Microsoft Word. He showed me the basics to the program and I began to type my best writings, editing them along the way. Data is stored on the hard drive so editing couldn't have been easier. Then I printed out a titled cover page and put it all together in a blue, three-ringed binder. My writing went from scraps of scribble on a cute notepad to a potentially publishable work of art! Computers have a security and professionalism that pen and paper can never possess. I was really proud of myself when I was done. I can take these writings with me anywhere and everywhere since they are saved on a flash drive. It’s really small and cute, saving me lots of space in my purse. I utilize various programs other than Microsoft Word such as, Works, Power Point, and Word Processors. These programs aid me in professional writing and school related presentations. The tools in these programs such as spell check, wizards, and thesaurus help my documents be the best that they can be, not to mention they're much more attractive in comparison to my penmanship. I made my resume on the computer through a tool called resume wizard. When I walk into a job interview I hand over my resume and feel good about who I am. My self-worth is strengthened with use of these programs. I feel good about what I have wrote because of all of the editing, tools, and “add on’s” (clip art, etc.) available. These programs confidently changed my writing and how I felt about writing forever. My teachers use to give us the option of typing our assignments and researching on the computer if we would like. Today, it is mandatory and I regularly use the programs mentioned. Even though I no longer write in my journals or read many books I feel like I gained so much more.
I am always using the Internet to find out information or simply to just have fun. My likes and interests are strengthened with the computer in a professional way, thus strengthening and reinforcing who I am. I have an unlimited number of options and sources to look through. The computer is a better, much more organized, match for who I am. The fact that everything is just a click away definitely influences me to do a better job on my homework and become involved in things, topics, and ideas I normally would just brush off. I value my work, interests, and ideas more now. The computer and Internet without a doubt has and will continue to positively reinforce my character. Computers are a wonderful thing and I am proud to be a native citizen who invented such a useful technology. Computers have changed my life and I couldn't be happier with having one.

Blog 5-my hypertext idea

For my hypertext project I would like to do maybe something with video games and the internet. There's so many Internet-based games, like I talked about in my narrative. Including, Halo2 and 3, the SIMS, Alien vs. Predator, Flight Simulators, etc. I love playing video games and the communication between players who are playing the video game makes the game so much more fun. Not to mention, the stratgey in which the game is played. With the Internet, I can communicate with all the members of my team to come up with a plan to beat the opposing team. Not to mention distract the other team by mocking them. It's all in good fun though. Sometimes however, things can get brutal but not usually. Flight simulators are even used by the military to teach young piloets to fly planes. Everything is realistic, it's like a game. Without the Internet, ethernet cables, and joysticks the computer would be less interesting to me.
Another hypertext project idea is to talk about how communication between myspace, face book, IMing and email has changed people's other mean of communication. For example, instead of mailing a letter, we would email the person. Instead of telling your friend a funny joke, we would leave him or her a post on the myspace/facebook page. We pay bills online now too.
I don't really have any other ideas. Maybe a webquest or something.

Blog 3: Lankshear and Knobel

I thought their concepts and thoughts were insightful and interesting. I think that they sounded so smart with everything and had points to back them up. I can see where theyre coming from when they characterize digital mindsets and text. I don't really agree with a text being anything you can see though, unless it is on the Internet/computer. I can see the point and I think it's just too "computery". It sounds like everything is programmed or something. I just don't think that it's realistic.
Some countries such as Japan, don't have acess to the Internet like we do. They're limited to exploring and learning things. The Internet in which case, is not exactly a free market for everyone.
I see the Internet getting more technological advanced in the future, who knows what will come out next.
I didn't like this reading assignment too much. I think they read way too into it and over analyzed.

Blog 2: Cyberbullying

This article interestde me. I have heard of cyber bullying on the news and other places I can't really remember, but I know it's an issue. I feel that there are going to be bullies almost anywhere, especially in highschool. I can't say I'm surprised there's cyberbullying but I definately think it's ridiculous. I also feel that the person being bullied should have an easier time defending themselves because the Internet is blind. What I mean by that is, you're not face to face with the person. It's not like someone is going to get beat up on the Internet. Also, there's time to think about what you say. Therefore, time for a good comeback for a bully. Alot of times kids who are bullied are scared of the physical aspect of the bully not so much the verbal context of what the bully says. The Internet elimates the physical threat. On the contrary, I saw on the news this story about some girl who posted a blog and then got beat up for it later. Honestly, I don't know a solution to the cyberbullying. This particular subject interests me though, and I wouldn't mind doing some research. I'm sure a lot of parents have done theirs with all the chaos in the cyber world today. I guess I'm so interested in this topic because I plan on becoming a teacher andplan to incorporate technology such as computers in my class and cyberbullying may be an issue when infact I do. I want to be prepared. Personally, I have no experience with being cyberbullied myself but my friend has showed me a few comments some girls left her and we decided it was best to ignore them. If you don't fuel the fire, it will eventually go out.

Remediation Reading

This article "Introduction: The Double Logic of Remediation" is short but sweet. I really like virtual simulations and virtual reality stuff. I think they're just so cool. All the digital/graphc affects in movies and shows are really what makes them great. Without them, they would be boring. Flight simulators are pretty cool too. My dad and brother are totally into them. If you get a chance I definately reccommend checking it out because it's like you're really flying a plane. All of the controls in the cock pit are there and even the sound is realistic. I agree with one of the main concepts in this reading that "immediacy depends on hypermediacy"; today our society is all about technology and what's the best, fastest, most high-tech, etc.

My Technological Narrative (rough draft)

Technology was always part of my life as I look back; the radio, t.v., even electricity. It wasn't until I was introduced to the computer that technology changed my life. Around 12 years of age I stopped reading books and started surfing; surfing the Internet that is. A new chapter of my life began with the introduction of this new technology, the computer.

As a child, I loved to read books. All types of books; The Babysitters Club, Goosebumps, Nancy Drew, autobiographes, fiction, science fiction, mystery, I thought they were all great. I even won a summer reading contest when I was eight years old, reading 300 books in one summer alone! I was in the newspaper and everything-my parents were so proud of their little book worm. My brother thought I was nuts. My brother Jimmy and my father loved the computer. They were always hovering over the desk starring at the monitor. I thought it looked so hard to use a computer. Little did I know how drastic my life would be in a few years because of it.

I kept journals all my life, I bought cute little notebooks with hearts or butterflys on them and wrote in them religiously. To this day, I have stacks of journals. Sometimes I wrote so much my hand would hurt. In school, I remember my teachers reminding the class to use our best handwriting for papers, essays, and homework that were assigned. Somtimes the teacher would require script, which we hated. Today, my professors remind the class too except the reminder isn't to write neatly it's to use 12 point, Times New Roman font, and double spaced with 2.5 inch margins.

Computer technology definatley changed my life. Around 12 years old my father showed me a comuter program called America On-Line and I was hooked. I no longer read as many books. My mother didn't have to yell at me to go to sleep when she would hear my footsteps scurry across the living room floor to swap the book I just finished for a new one. Instead, she would have to find compromise between Jimmy and I when we fought over computer time. America On-Line was a huge part of my life when I was about 13 years old. When my friends would come over, we would go on the computer. IMing seemed to replace phone calls and e-mails replaced letters. I could spend hours on the computer without even realizing it. To this day, that is still the case; it's timeless!

As time went on, my teachers started to give us the option of typing our assignments. Today, it is mandatory. I no longer write in my journals or read many books. I browse the internet instead, I even have the internet on my phone! Various programs are utilized in today's society such as Microsoft Word, Excel, Works, Powerpoint, and Word Processors (etc.). These programs aid in professional writing and presentation. The tools such as spell check, wizards, and thesaurus help our documents be the best that they can be, not to mention they're much more attractive. I picked out my best writings from the journals I kept, typed them in a Word document, and editted it. Then I printed out a titled coverpage and put it all together in a blue, three-ringed binder. My writing went from scraps of scribble on a notepad to a potentially publishable work of art!

Although computer technology replaced my reading of books, it has helped me in so many other ways. I mean I still read, there's plenty to read on the Internet. There's billions of readily accessible information just a click away! I made a resume on the computer through resume wizard and my hand no longer hurts from writing with a pen or pencil. Data is stored on the hard drive so editing couldn't be easier. My mother would tell me stories when she was typist that if she or one of the other girls made ONE mistake, just one, she would have to start all over. Now, we can just backspace. It's a wonderful thing. Computers are a wonderful thing and I am proud to be a native citizen who invented such a useful technology. My household contains three computers one of which is mine that I am on at least 3 times a day when once upon a time I was oblivious to this technology.

Internet in the US

I found "Is the Internet a US invention?-an economic and technological history of computer networking" by David C. Mwery and Timothy Simcoe to be most interesting. I gather from what I've read that the United States was the first to produce the Internet! Fundings from research and government made all this possible. It was interesting to read about how the Internet came to be what it is today. At first it was private, utilized by scientists for research and governmental peoples. Now, we use it daily. An interesting fact I came across on page 1379 is that the U.S. uses the Internet 50% more than Iceland, who is the NEXT most intensive user of secure servers on a per capita basis. That's a lot. It just goes to show how abundant Internet usage is in our country. I was surprised to learn that there's a Telecommunications Act of 1996 where competition in markets fir broadband data communications are reinforced in turn for cheaper prices and broader access. The Internet development boomed the United States economy especially after wars such as the Cold War. I must say that I am proud of my country for such a technological advancement that affected citizens in such a positive manner in which the Internet did. On the contrary, there are downsides to the freedom of Internet. for example, cyberbullying. The cyberbullying article we read is not the first I've heard of the matter. It's been on the news more than once. It's a growing problem in our society and scary to think about as a future Elementary Education teacher. I would like to incorporate technology in my lessons but fear for the saftey of the students. I think the US came so far with the Interent with all the improvements and programs that it's a shame to deprive students because of such threats as cyberbullying. Monitoring is defintaley one way to prevent such happenings. Parental controls is perhaps another. If the Internet came this far since the 1980s, I can only wonder what it will come to be 20 more years from now. My curiosity perplexes me.

google docs & me

I am relatively new to google docs. However, I did use google docs in a group project last semester in the class The Young Child and Technology. I think it's a good tool to have when working with others. I was surprised when it was first introduced to me because I never thought something like that existed. Too bad I didn't invent it myself! Anyway, google docs lets you know when others are signed-on and editing. You may share some documents but not others. You can allow for others you share with to have the option to share the doc with others whom they choose or not; except in order to have this control you must be the "doc owner". You can chose who is the "doc owner". So just because I created a doc doesn't mean I will always be the "owner" of the doc, I can give it to someone.
Personally, I like the whole set up google docs has, like with the stars and cute little pencils. I think google in general is just so wonderful. There's so many attributes, I can see why Kean has students invloved.
I think the professor or someone mentioned what could be negative. Well, as I mentioned before, I did a group project with google docs and in fact experienced this unfortunate negativity. When sharing a document anyone who is in the group can change the document. I wrote this whole essay on the topic which we were assigned. I really spent a lot of time on it and thought it was great. The other girl in my group didn't think so. She actually deleted my whole essay. I was crushed! I thought it was so rude and hated google docs for it. Everyone is different with different opinions so what may seem brilliant to me may seem irrelevant to someone else. See, sharring a doc like that may cause controversy in content in terms of what should be said and how. I do think it's a great concept for multiple people to add onto the same document while being at different locations. I think that people should write in different color so everyone knows who added what exactly. Overall, I think google docs is cool.