Oh Edison, how I love thee…
So, I must be quite honest. I did not read anything yet this week. I know I really should have done everything this weekend, but what can I say? I am a procrastinator. Anyhow, I was planning to do my reading today during my lunch, but I spent over 45 minutes on the phone with Edison (long story…but let’s just say that I could buy a boat with the amounts of money I have had to pay them recently).
So, I just wanted to say thank you, Edison, for interrupting my education for a fun-filled 45 minutes of automated phone system and people who can’t help me.
Oh! But I did read the article about teachers and myspace that was sent via email and I was very concerned about it. Not because there is anything “bad” on my own personal web space, but because school districts actually think that they can tell teachers what they can and cannot have on the internet that they deem “professional” and can choose to hire or fire them based on it. What is next? Are they going to start screening our calls? Checking our bank statements? How far can this/should this go? Scary…
…to read or not to read…
It is 1 PM and I have officially finished half of the readings (in VRDW). I wanted to post something relevant (other than the earlier random information that I find when I should be reading) just in case I do not get a chance to do so before class tonight, but I promise I will finish the rest before class tonight :>2
Most interesting issue in Rogoff’s article- the information he presented about which “privileged” class should be allowed to access certain information or not. I never thought about visual media being able o be withheld from certain people, but I guess that if someone wants to withhold information from someone badly enough, then they will be able to do so.
In some strange way this makes me think of the issues of how literacy was used as a way to suppress certain people of certain classes throughout history. In the same way, certain classes (those who cannot afford he internet, for instance) will, by default, be left out of visual media representations, unless they are receiving them elsewhere (like at school).
I think that is what Rogoff is talking about…
Internet Freedom and Network Neutrality
Check out this interesting article on msnbc news (it is short):
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24255579/
For those who don’t want to read anything other than what is assigned- here are the main questions that it brought to mind:
Should there be legistaltion to ensure freedom for writers on the internet? Is this just a ploy for certain groups to profit? Who will this benefit?
Just something to think about…
The Scary, Scary Internet
I was just thinking about the internet, and I am a little worried about the apparent shift that seems to be occuring. Is it just me, or does it seem like information found on the internet is a little shady? I find myself always on edge when I locate information on the internet (with the exception of csusb’s online databases). I think I have to work three times as hard when I research online because I have to thoroughly check my sources so many times that I am looking at 7 articles when I could be looking at only 2 or 3.
What does this mean for English classrooms as the internet is used more and more? I myself am guilty of not visiting the library as often as I feel I should when researching information for papers. I know I am technically “going” to the library when I access it online, but it is just not the same.
I didn’t get my first real working computer (as in one that didn’t have the green screen and the printer with the edges that you rip off on both sides) until I was 12, so I have relied primarily on books and the like for most of my younger schooling. I think that Microsoft Word is a godsend, but I am just worried about the internet…
Cyborgs and the analog/digital difference
First of all, I felt very left out listening to the lectures without being able to see all the pictures. I couldn’t pay attention while looking things up at the same time, and by the time the lecture was over I could scarcely remember all of the things I had wanted to look at to begin with.
I am still confused about the analog/digital thing. I thought I understood it, but as he explained it more and more I got lost. I came away thinking that analog is the action that sets something into motion (like the physical manipulation of the bell) and the digital response is the ringing that signals something to others. That just sounds wrong. I am thinking of it more along the terms of the analog/digital thing and our televisions. All TV’s will have to be digital here soon, so I assume that to mean everyone will have to have the satellite connection that us DirectTV members have. Analog, then, would be the older connection that connects people through the cables (I can’t ever get regular TV where I live, so maybe that is all wrong). When thinking of it this way, was the professor was saying doesn’t make any sense.
And the good ol’ idea of cyborgs, which still freaks me out. I just still feel like cyborgs are something straight from science fiction and don’t really exist. I know that this is naive on my part, but I don’t consider myself a cyborg (although others may say so because I have fillings in my teeth). Weird.
So, I used to think that I understood things about technology. Apparently not so much.
Thoughts on Week 1 Readings…
I found Stroupe’s article to be extremely interesting. The question that kept bothering me Is whether or not the entire field of English is eventually going to change from print to digital. I guess I have never really imagined an English classroom (or a world for that matter) without the blank and white printed pages that accompany every single college class that I have taken. Although it would sometimes be nice to access something online for free (it would save that 3 hour wait time in the bookstore), I can only imagine the nervous breakdowns that would plague my life if the internet was down or the sites I needed were not compatible with safari. I think the written/web published debate is captured best on page 19 when Stroupe discusses the the fact that the web allows “everyone to publish” and that it is less like public speaking than traditional writing. It seems more impersonal to publish a website than to write a novel. There is just a different feeling associated with the author of a novel and the author of a web page, at least for me. I imagine print authors to have labored over their creation, completing countless revisions and taking years and years to complete their work. I imagine web authors (like myself with this blog) to be less concerned about constant revision and more concerned with getting the information out there to be digested.
Virtual Reality- now that’s an interesting concept. I once saw a documentary on the internet about people who really were living inside of the video games that they played. Not being the computer game type (although I enjoy Nintendo and Xbox occasionally) I was in shock to see people who were so into some of these role playing games that they continued to act like the characters even in everyday life. Interestingly enough, it would be a disservice not to teach our students about technology and how to properly use it. In the same ways that I teach my students to avoid sites such as wikipedia for research, teachers are responsible for at least preparing their students with both the print and technology in their given field.
