evaulation

I have learned so much in this course. It brought to my attention many things that I knew were occurring, but didn’t know that theses things happening everyday to different people.

I learned a lot form the reading, but even more than that, I learned a lot from my classmates. This is perfect example for this class. I learned a lot from my classmates even though I have not met more than half of them. Reading their journal entries and having the discussion boards really enlightened me about how others views things such as the internet and blog sites.

It was also interesting for me to have a blog site. Many of my friends have them; a one of my best friends often creates hilarious video blogs about random things that happen to him during the week. Yet, I never thought that I would create one. I think that a blog site is a great way for me to get things off of my chest and to find out how others feel about the same topics.

The books were interesting to read. I always knew there was a culture and norms behind the internet and its uses, yet to see books written about it was interesting and a bit entertaining I must admit. I wonder how these authors know so much about this somewhat new topic and if all of their findings are accurate

news media

Find one story in the news media about the potential misuses of the internet (i.e. child stalkers, plagiarism, wikis, etc) and discuss whether you agree, disagree, how we might prevent it or how we might change the topic. Due March 10.

After searching the web I found many cases about child stalkers online and they all seemed to have a few common trends. I couldn’t narrow them down to write about just one so I decided to summarize them. Many of the cases were of child stalkers finding their victims on sites such as MySpace and facebook. The victims seem to be early teens and were both female and male. Most of the relationships between these predators and victims were because the children were allowing too much information to people that they didn’t know. In a few cases the child actually lied about ages and perused the relationship more so than the predator.

In a lot of these cases the predator actually met with the child and either had sexual relations or began to show up around the child unexpectedly; and many received jail time and or probation. Probation would include meeting with a therapist, a parole officer and registering their name in a neighborhood.
However, sadly, there were a few cases were the predator was let off the hook because of something the child did. I don’t know if I agree with that. If a 13 year old pursues a relationship with a 35 year old man and the man accepts the relationship and an imamate relationship is formed, I do believe that he should simply get off with probation. There was a case in Washington similar to this, and because the child had a criminal background the man was given a lessen punishment. Of course the court states that that didn’t happen and he received the punishment he deserved, however thousands of people on this site disagreed, including high officials in the city where the case was taking place.

I do believe that it is wrong for anyone to use the internet for things other than learning and anything that has a positive nature. I believe that using the internet for things such as porn, gossip sites, plagiarism, child stalking etc. is completely wrong. I wish that there was a way to control the internet to limit these misuses, without invading the privacy of the innocent or limiting the positive impact. With every new piece of technology that is made, another potential way to misuse the technology is created. I guess there always has to be some bad with every good thing.

Postman concludes the chapter with this thought, “…with its emphasis on progress without limits, rights without responsibilities, and technology without cost…” I believe that technology has indeed given us many rights without the responsibility of being morally correct. The responsibility should be there, and can be there if people choose to accept it. For example, anyone with internet access should follow a type of codebook and misuse the internet. Unfortunately that is never going to happen.

wild card

I have only had one experience when there was a huge miscommunication over the internet. I usually try to make myself clear and use icon faces when I write so that there aren’t any miscommunications or readers taking what I say the wrong way. I also try to follow up with professors when I do have to email them to make sure what I am trying to say makes sense. The one major miscommunication error I remember having with a professor was my freshman year. It was during pre season basketball season and I was on the road traveling. We had left that Wednesday and there was an assignment due on that same Friday. Well I actually had the homework done by Thursday, unfortunately after the game we changed hotels and the new hotel were we were staying (in the middle of nowhere in Utah) didn’t have internet access. I remember being so upset and not understanding how a high class hotel in 2004 did not have some kind of wireless or even a business center available. I wasn’t able to the internet until tat Sunday and I emailed the teacher saying what had happened and asking if she would still accept my work.
She must have read my email late and night and didn’t realize what she had responded back to me. She simply replied “yes”, so I emailed her the assignment and thought everything was ok. Grades came out and I had a huge zero for that assignment. A 60 point assignment! So once again I emailed asking about the grade, and she claimed that she didn’t accept late work and even though received my work, I wasn’t going to get credit. I explained once again what happened and she went back to look at her emails and to both of our surprise she said she remembered responding to my situation, yet yes was not the only thing she had wrote. Someway she had sent the message without it being completely finished. The rest of her message was supposed to say to come see her and discuss the matter, which I never did because I never received that part of the email.
However, in the end she understood the miscommunication and ended up giving me credit for my assignment. I now make sure that I do my online work before we travel!

interviews

For this assignment I chose to interview my teammate Kassandra, my mother and my grandparents. Kassandra is 20 and she uses the computer often. She claims that her primary use for the internet is access; access to school pages such as blackboard and our women’s basketball site. She uses the internet for everything, she estimates being online for about 10 hours daily. This includes using her computer as well as her iphone, to search the web, checking her email, Facebook, MySpace accounts, sports scores and shopping.
She says that, “(The internet) has helped my life a great deal because everything I could possibly need is at the click of a button.” However she continued to admit that the internet being such a major point of her life is bittersweet. She loves the fact that she can do anything at the click of a button however, knows is anything was to happen with the internet or if she no longer had access, her life would almost come to a complete stop and she doesn’t know how she world function.

So many people in Kassandra’s age group feel this way about the internet because of their total dependence on the technology.

I interviewed my mother for next person, at age 50 she fits into the 36-60 age groups. My mother uses the internet for few things. She is still learning the ropes. Her main uses for the internet are emailing our family members and shopping. My mother recently moved to Corvallis with me to help with my daughter and with limited stores in the area she recently had to learn about online shopping. She is not dependent on the internet however; she would honestly drive for a couple of hours rather to simply order online. My mother was in the room as I interviewed Kassandra and she found it hilarious and also saddening that Kassandra is that dependent on the internet. My mother believes that the internet is crippling the youth. She believes that it is a good tool to have but stresses that it IS NOT OUR ONLY TOOL to find information.

I couldn’t find anyone that I knew over the age of 61 that used the internet. I called around and was surprised at my findings. I really thought everyone used the internet at every age. I thought that even if it wasn’t around when they were younger, I thought that they would have learned by now since all the other age groups depend so heavily on this technology. However, I did ask my grandmother and my grandfather to discuss their feelings on the internet and explain why they didn’t bother to learn how to use it. Both are over 80, yet are in good health and have years ahead. Both replied that they made it this long without it; they can go however long god permits them to go without it. I just smiled in response because they did have a point.

Overall each age group had a different view of the internet with the youngest generation almost to the extent of being completely dependent on the internet while the eldest generation saw no need for it. Honestly I feel as though I am a mixture of these three generations. I can see and can also relate to each point that was brought up by each person that I interviewed.

internet group

Join an internet community for at least two weeks (you should join the community early in the term). This can be a discussion group, listserv, or other virtual community. However, social networking sites such as MySpace or Facebook don’t count. This group should be outside the university setting and should be a group new to you. You can find such a group by typing in a subject you’re interested in followed by discussion board. For example, “Pittsburgh Penguin discussion board.” Discuss how you assimilate into the group. How are you accepted and how do you know you are accepted? How are agreements and disagreements expressed and resolved?

I had always heard about this community called Norcal preps. It is a community put together to discuss high school and AAU basketball in northern California. Growing up I always used heard about it but never looked because I wasn’t fond of the thought behind it. I heard many times that my name was on it, good things as well as bad, and knew about my mom reading and getting upset. However, she never shared what was said about me. Many of my friends names where mentioned on that site as well, and some of my friends signed on to read and was excited to hear the good things, but were very upset to see the rumors that were being spread about them, especially because they were being spread by adults! I always heard that it was parents who discussed other children and treated the girl like they were professional athletes. When I say that I mean that they said whatever the want about whoever they want not thinking about how it could hurt a teenage girl. They never seem to speak about their own child.
Well for this assignment I made an account for myself. And 5 years later this site is still talking about children in the same way, the names have just changed to the children now.
I was accepted into the group because I always had something to say nice about the children, I don’t believe in bashing children. I was required to enter my real name and information however, I was able to choose a fake name for others to see. So my indenity was safe from these people. I feel that if they knew who I was they would begin to reminisce from when I was in high school!

Agreements are always good, but no matter what is posted, a disagreement is from someone is coming, and the disagreement is never resolved. They tend to go back and forth until the parent of the child comes online and puts an end to it by saying to keep their child’s name off this site, yet the disagreement is never resolved, more as just kept of the site but both sides still feeling the same. Most disagreement occurred when a player leaves a team or if they missed a game. Instead of just respecting privacy or asking, most people on the site come up with random scenarios and let the other readers decide which story they want to go with.
For example of the rumors, one of my friends had gotten a really big tumor on her stomach in 8th grade and had to have it surgically removed. She missed a few games and then was fine thankfully. However, people on this norcal site posted that she was pregnant in 8th grade and how a horrible mother he mom was for allowing her 8th grader to get pregnant. Needless to say neither my friend nor her mother, were happy about this situation.
I mean there are good things to this site. Coaches go on and announce that they are looking for players or that they are having tournaments. They announce what tournaments the college coaches will be and things such as that. However, I truly don’t think that this site is necessary. It just spreads rumors back and forth like a tabloid magazine.

Our book, Wood and smith, talks about internet communities being different from our real world communities. I feel that everything that was going on in this site also happens in real life communities. The gossip and the talking about children also happen in real life. I think the only difference is in relations with the disagreements, I believe if these things were being said about children to their parent’s faces, the disagreements and arguing and maybe even some fights would happen a lot more often. However, I do believe that if this community was face to face a lot of these things being said wouldn’t have been said face to face.

Letters*

Choose two people that have had an influence on you. Write a letter to each thanking them for their contributions to your life (this should be done either early in the week or late in the previous week to see if you get a response). Write one in long-hand (you know, pen, paper, stamp, that kind of thing) and one via email. You should complete the letters prior to the week this is due so your recipients have a chance to respond. Think and write about how you chose which one to send the message via snail mail and which via email. Also, write about the differences in the language, length, tone, etc. Are there any differences? What kind of responses to you get?

For this assignment I decided to write a letter to my grandmother and to email my mother.
I decided to write my grandmother in long hand because she doesn’t have a computer, yet I wanted her to know that she has influenced my life. She already knows because I tell her all the time, but her seeing that I took the time to write her and not just call made her smile. Of course she still gave me that “Oh honey you didn’t have to” routine.
The letter I wrote to her was about two pages and I wrote in print. My grandmother did mention in her reply letter about my handwriting. She claims the youth these days don’t have proper handwriting. I guess it was because I didn’t have the catholic nuns looking over my shoulder every other second making sure I put proper space in-between each letter and word. My grandmother also mentioned in her reply letter how technology has ruined the kings English! But I assured her that the king is resting in peace and wasn’t worrying about my grammar to much.

My grandmother didn’t waste anytime writing me back. She is 80 years old so she doesn’t work or anything so she had plenty of free time to respond. She also expressed the letter back to me. I’m not sure if she did this because she was eager for me to get her reply, or because I mentioned the assignment in the letter. I like to think it was the first option. Her reply letter was about the same length and her handwriting was beautiful! Perfect cursive writing, I don’t think I seen cursive writing like that in years.

I sent my mother the email because she likes to think that she is computer literate and is always saying “I have to check my email”, which I think its jus so funny. It mostly funny to me because every time she checks it I get a phone call asking how to send a reply message or how to forward something and etc.
My mother responded right away as well. Her email was short and sweet however. She responded saying how that email made her smile and that she would call me later, which she did. When she called she asks me what prompted the email, so I told her about the class and the assignment.
I think that the responses were different because the letters were to people of two different generations. My grandmother’s generation appreciates the time taken to write and the thought. While my mother still appreciated the thought, kind of wondered why I just didn’t tell her over the phone or face to face because I do see and speak to her so often.

myspace and facebook

Everyone is judged that is just the way like is. Either by looks, name, gender, race, just about any feature possible. Even online, if there isn’t a picture, you try to guess and imagine what that person may look like by their name and their interests.
I think that if someone read my MySpace or facebook and I didn’t have a picture posted, I would think that people would perceive my personality accurately. Yet at the same time I don’t think people could accurately picture how I would look in person.
I am curious about what my online classmates think about how I look and act in person. I don’t think I can really know for sure how someone else perceives me unless they tell me

online

I think that this video is extremely funny. The characters were hilarious and really stereotypical. The pizza delivery man was classic. He would be what some would call a “loser” and tried to live the “good” life online. He made himself up to be something that he thought was what he wanted to be, saying that he was tall, dark and handsome. AS funny as the video is, I find it sad that some people actually do that. Not because they aren’t the most attractive, or the richest or tallest, but because their self esteem is so low that they feel the need to lie and try to find another life online. The guy in the video wanted so much more to his life yet, lacked the confidence to go after it.

I think that people look down on finding love online, and think that people must t be desperate to do such things. However, I know 6 married couples that met somehow online, either it be blackplanet, facebook or MySpace. I think that finding love online the equivalent on going on a blind date. In some cases I believe that it’s the same as meeting someone in public, exchanging numbers, and then setting up a date. Even though in public you were able to see the person once, but you still know nothing about that person.
I believe that talking to a person online may even be more productive that dating in person. If you only talk to a person online verses face to face, and the two people happen to fall in love. It sort of rules out the factor of only being physically attractive, but knowing that there could be a deeper connection.

Just like any type of network, you must be careful online about exposing too much information about yourself, because there are people that use this technology without the best intentions. As the music video showed, not everyone can be trusted.

Cyberspace Abstinence:

When I first read this assignment I didn’t think that it was going to be that difficult. I don’t see myself as a person who uses the internet excessively. I do have a MySpace account as well as a facebook account. However, I check these causally once a day, maybe more if I’m bored. It seems that when I have a lot of idol time (which I never seem to have) I tend to check these sites more often. I hardly ever just surf the web without actually having something in mind for what I am looking for. It’s funny, I can’t even remember what I did on the web as a child prior to MySpace and Facebook!

However, before I get into too much detail about my experience with my intended internet abstinence; I would like to say that I didn’t make it through the whole day without using the internet. I had to sign on to log onto blackboard. I have other online classes that had assignments due and mandatory study hall every night.

Nevertheless, I did not check MySpace or Facebook. I did take a little effort to not log on to these sites. Not that I am compulsive about checking, but it seems to be a habit just to log on and check my mail in our locker room before practice. My days an extremely structured and I go online everyday When I did log back into those sites I had many new messages as well as comments. I use these sites to keep in touch with old teammates, classmates, as well as family members that I don’t have the time to talk on the phone with. I guess not signing on did effect my communication, because I didn’t talk to some people that reside outside of Corvallis because, I did not get their messages. But as usual the messages didn’t include any important information or questions that couldn’t have been easily discussed another day.

Not using the internet didn’t really effect my communication too bad because like I said, the messages I get online are not urgent. Everyone that knows me that if you need to contact me, text is always the best bet because I always have my phone on me, unless I am at basketball practice or lifting weights. It was weird not to have the aim on my sidekick signed on, but after a few hours I complexly forgot about it.

I did notice that since I limited my time online I spent more time talking with people within my household and focused on things at home. I don’t have much free time so when I log into these sites I’m usually on for five to ten minutes max. It was really hard to think about what I spent my idol time doing.

I think going a day without the internet would have been a lot easier if it was not during the school year. During school I tend to check blackboard and my email frequently for emails for professors and my coaches. I have classes that requires me to check my email frequently. The best way to contact many people such as professors and our athletic advisors is by email. I believe that I would have made it the 24 hours period without any problems if it was for instance, summer or any other time when school or a job did not require me to check my email for any reason.

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