Mission Accomplished!

Wow,

I can’t believe that this is our last Blog experience for this class. It seems as thought the term had flown bye once again. This was my first Blog experience for a class or for any reason at that. It was kind of cool checking out other student pages and so forth. Ths being my first time creating a Blog I thought it could have been better if I would have put up a picture of myself for others to see. If I had time I might have even tried to personalize my site as well. But, with that being said I did not have enough time to really put allot of energy into my Blog. As of know in my life I feel as though I do not have enough time to maintain this or another Blog. With school and work taking on most of my time, I can’t imagine sitting in front of a computer and typing out a weekly or daily Blog.

I thought it was a clever way to incorporate the class and class work into a Blog experience. Like I had said before I really have not done something like this for a class. I liked the fact that this was something different than the same old thing for homework.

I was a bit confused having the work to completed on Tuesdays at noon, and having that next week for the other assignment to be completed. There were times that I would get confused because all of my other homework would be due on Sunday and this would be due on Tuesday. But once I got used to it, it was no big deal and it became part of my routine.

I thought the Postman book was interesting and did not enjoy the Wood and Smith book to much. I like where Postman took his thought and ideas about Technology and its place in our society. I do feel that technology can ruin us and that we need to be careful about how much we let technology control our lives. In our culture in America and other parts of the world Technology rules and we become complaisant to it and rely on it and act like we can’t survive without it.

Overall, I enjoyed the class and thought it shined a light on some things that I never really had thought about. I have no real complaints about the course because complaining gets you no where.

Thanks to all for reading my Blog.

Jared

I Love Cyberslacking

For this weeks Blog assignment about the internet and all of the various ways to misuse it I decided to look into “cyberslacking”. Cyberslacking is basically the use of the internet at work for personal use and benefit. We all know it happens all over the place and some of us have probably done it at one time or another.

I am no stranger to the world of cyberslacking. I use some of my time on the computer for personal use such as e-mail, and or searching for information non work related. I have a job where I work at the front desk of a health club and am able to use the internet for school purposes when I am not to busy. But sometimes I and others use it for our own personal use. I also have friends that seem to be way into using the internet for their personal use at work. Sometimes they send me tens of e-mails about random crap and I often wonder how they have so much time to screw off on the internet while at work.

On the article that I had read it is estimated that using the internet for personal reasons is setting U.S. companies back $178 billion annually. That high number equals out to be about 5,000 per employee. That is a lot of wasted time and money that employers are dishing out with zero productivity coming out. The article explained that surveyed managers on average estimated that each employee is using the Internet for personal use for 5.9 hours a week, the survey said. So after multiplying these numbers by the average American hourly salary, researchers came up with the figure of $178 billion.
I agree that something needs to be done to stop all the time wasted for personal use on the computer. On the other hand I have always thought it to be no big deal if one is to use the internet to check something or get some information briefly for personal use. It all depends on the amount of time spent during the personal use. I also think that if the employees are on break checking the internet should be no big deal. I think that if employers invested in some kind of software or monitored the internet use that the misuse would stop or at least slow down.
I think that in our culture we all expect instant gratification. We do not want to wait until we get home or off work to check up on personal things on the internet. I also think that our culture works too much and to hard thus wanting to have a break at work for personal internet use. The internet is kind of like an escape for us as we had further discussed earlier in the term. I can’t find any real way to relate this weeks reading with the Blog, but I can from previous readings such as the internet for an escape from our daily grind of work. It all makes sense as the earlier readings from Postman and Wood and Smith explained.

Yay

Internet Generations!

For this weeks blog I decided to interview a fellow co worker who falls in the younger age group, my mom for the middle group, and my grandparents for the older generation. It is crazy to think about how much we all use the internet for various purposes no matter how old we are. After talking with each person I understood how much we all rely on the internet for work, entertainment, information, and communication.

All age groups use the world wide web to check the their email accounts on a daily basis. They find that the internet and email is a major source of communication for them with friends and family and sometimes work. My co-worker is a personal trainer and uses his e-mail to communicate with clients and to get leads for his training business. My mom uses the internet for ideas as of late for her house that my parents are working on. The internet is full of so much information that she can get ideas and order supplies for the home they are building. My grandparents have been using the internet to pass time and to keep communications up with the family. I feel that all three groups of generations use the internet in the same way.

They all feel that the internet is a great source of communication with family and friends. My co-worker has a facebook that he uses for communication along with e-mail. My mom communicates with my sister and myself along with other family members on a weekly basis. My grandparents use e-mail to keep in touch with our large family on a weekly basis as well.

They all agree that technology has changed the way in which we live our lives. My grandparents insist that we have become lazy because of technology. My co-worker would not no what to do without technology. My mother has gotten used to the conveniences of technology. It is clear to see the generational gap with technology and how they view it.

In general they all think that the internet is a great thing. The vast amount of information and easy of communication makes the internet a big part of each of their lives, and I have to agree with them on that. They all agreed that the most important thing was the ease of communication that they had with loved ones.

These days I think that the internet is a huge part of everyone’s daily life. Our society relies on the internet to run businesses, schools, communication, and for entertainment purposes. I do not personally no anybody who does not have the internet or goes online on a regular basis. I society would not no what to do with out the ease of the internet at their finger tips. To tie in the reading, you had asked a question about employers monitoring our internet usage. I SAY NO, we all have the freedom to do what we please on the internet in our own home. If it is at work on company time than yes they should be able to track things that come up illegal or not appropriate for work, But not at home.

The internet is to big of a force not to use.  Thanks Inventor Al Gore!

B-Lazers Online Fun!

For this weeks blog experience I decided to join an online forum that discussed our beloved Portland Trailblazers. At first I had no idea what kind of group I would join or look into to complete this assignment. After watching a Blazer game a few weeks ago I decided that I would attempt to put my two cents in about what I thought about the team and how things were going. So, I signed up and proceed to get into the mix and talk about the Blazer team.

 

I logged into the group and commented about the game that I had watched the previous night. I soon read a few responses from others members of the group who agreed with me and disagreed with me. I wrote back and as soon as I knew it this discussion board experience was underway. I assimilated into the group bye talking about the games and the team in general. I am a bit of a Blazer fan and know about sports so it was not hard for me to join in the forum. With my knowledge of the Blazers and sports I found that others respected what I had to say. I also figured out that there was a special person in charge of the forum that was a kind of mediator or leader of the group. This person made sure that all participants were respected and that no fowl language was thrown around and no threats were made toward each other. The whole experience reminded me of the Blackboard class discussions and how that forum is ran.

Blazers Group 

 

 

I felt accepted from the get go once I joined the online group. I felt as if I would be respected for what I had to say as long as I respected all of the other members of the group, give respect and thou will be respected. I also think that I was accepted because I knew what I was talking about and was not just spouting out crap about the Trailblazers.

No issues really ever came up while I was apart of the discussion group. I suspect that the leader of the discussion board handles any issues that may come up or that would cause a rift with fellow Blazer fans. I think that most people in the group are all respectful enough not to cause any real issues among each other.

 

Overall the experience was ok for my first discussion group of this sorts. I will probably not join any other types of groups or keep up with this one because of lack of time on my behalf. I also just do not care enough about the Blazers to feel like I have to chat with other fans about the team.

 

Jared

Up in the Source

This week I decided to look into cell phones and their effect on our society. I felt this was a topic that fell under this class subject and what our teach was expecting from us. I decided to look further into this because lets face it cell phones are everywhere. I just got my first cell phone 2 years ago and just started texting last year. Even though I do have a cell phone I leave it at home most of the time, and usually don’t take it with me in public. For some reason I do not like the thought of being able to be reached all the time because it is not that important to me and find it rude to be on cell phones in public. But, I know they are here to stay and that people will be on them no matter where you are.

So I went online in search for information that I could use to get a better understanding of the prevalence of cell phones and how they affect our society. I typed in the information and their was what I was looking for. I found a few articles and web sites that talked about cell phones and society. I looked over a handful of these website’s and read through them and found out some information that I agreed with and disagreed with. It is hard for one to evaluate each site as good information or not because when it comes to the internet vast amounts of information is at our fingertips. I check credibility by if any Doctors or professionals give quotes, or if any college studies have been done that supports the information. I also check the bottom of the sites and articles to see if any source where named to give credit to the information. But, then you still really never know how true the sources and information truly are.

I think you can’t always 100% believe everything that you read. It depends on the information you are reading and where you are getting that information from. I would not believe the crap that you see in the check out lane at the grocery store but would believe the Harvard Journal, or Wall Street Journal. You have to use your own intellect to weed out the crap from the non crap.

As for the professors I am not sure how they would evaluate a students research skills. I guess they would see what kind of information was gathered and from what source. I could see it being kind of difficult to judge one students info from another but I think that the Prof is wise enough to distinguish the bad and good sources of information.

In our world of the internet as Postman stated has to much information, which most is crap and not needed. There are to many non experts commenting and spreading information that they have no full knowledge of thus polluting the rest of us that read that information. Postman says, “ The role of the expert is to concentrate on the field of knowledge, sift through all that is available, eliminate that which has no bearing on a problem and use what is left to assist in solving a problem.” In our culture everyone wants to have their two cents, everyone wants to have a say, and everyone thinks they are right. So, the internet is a great place to spread useless unfactual information for all to read and believe.

Jared

http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Keith_Kingston

http://www.pewinternet.org/PPF/r/179/report_display.asp

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/03/28/earlyshow/living/main683377.shtml

E-Mail for life!

Hello all,

For this weeks Blog assignment I was a little thrown off because I can’t remember the last time I sent a an actual letter to someone via a stamp. I am not even sure of the last time I actually received a letter from someone that I know, maybe a few years ago from my mom or Grandparents. As of lately I have even noticed more cards and invitations have been sent my way via the internet and not in the old school mail. I received to Birthday e-vite messages this week via my email account. It’s kind of funny to see how our society changes in small ways with online communication and technology.

So for this task I decided to write a letter to my mom and an email to my father. My parents are two people who obviously had a big influence and effect on my life. I think that my parents are pretty cool and I have always had a pretty close relationship with both of them. I also am fortunate that they are still married and that I was raised in a very positive household environment because I know that not everyone gets that luxury.

I chose to write the letter in longhand to my mother because I figured that she would be more likely to write a letter back . I chose to write an email to my dad because I figured that he would be responsive to an email that a letter. I also can’t imagine my father sitting down and writing a letter to his own son but for some reason I can see my mom doing that. So with the letter I tried to make sure that my writing was legible and that I did a good job. The tone was just the same as an email and everything was fine. The only real issue that I ran into was that if I made a mistake I had to erase what I wrote which looked like crap. It is harder to write a letter because you need to plan out what you will say more than an email. With the email to my father I noticed it was less formal than the letter and easier to do. I could sit write out a few lines and then easily erase them if I did not like how they sounded. The email also took much less time than the letter to my mom. After both messages were sent out I received to emails, one from my father, and then one from my mom. They both decided to respond in email form which says something about us these days. Even though I wrote my mom a letter she thought it was easier to respond back with an email than writing a letter back.

I think in our culture and society these days emails and phone calls or communication via technology is the way to go for most. The convenience and ease of sending messages these ways have taken over the old school way of letters. After looking at the chapter 4 in the book this week I thought that many of the issues talked about in book would not really relate to me and my parents because we already have a close relationship. I don’t see any mis interpretation of words or dialog causing a problem or misunderstanding in our communication. I am sure that this has happened all the time before with me as the chapter has suggested.

Jared

Facebook! & Myspace! Yay or Nay.

First of all,

 

I think that Facebook and Myspace can be a good way for friends and family to connect or even reconnect with each other. It is like having your own little personal world online for all to see. It is a way to broadcast yourself to your friends and others in a good or bad way.

 

I am a bit older than many of the users who currently have a Myspace and or Facebook account. My ex girlfriend created my Myspace account with no input from myself what so ever. Many of the answers and personal bio she put up I was unaware of and I actually really don’t even care. I made my Facebook account in order to view pictures of some of my friends who where on vacation or traveling fro their jobs. I only seem to check out my pages when I see that someone had sent me a message via my e-mail account. As of lately I have not updated or checked either spaces in a few months.

 

The times when I do log on and check the pages out I end up spending the time peering into the lives of my friends and checking out their pictures and so on. I also spend that time looking up old friends and acquaintances and just totally tripping out about how we all have moved on and grown up leading our own lives and worlds.

 

Most of the information listed on the pages in true and nothing is to distorted. Like I said before I really had no hand in creating these accounts so the information listed is not from my brain but from my ex-girlfriends ideas of me and so on. I do think that some people may distort their information in order to appear according to Brad Paisley, “cooler online.” The problem is that you never really get an honest depiction of the people with the accounts because they were created by themselves. The only way to get a good reading about someone is to actually meet them face to face and have a chat because what you read online might not be so true, or they may hide things about themselves.

 

I am glad that I am not addicted to these sites like so many people are. I know some people who check their pages non stop all day. They have to write messages to friends and check their inbox all the time. I don’t really understand it nor will I ever get the point of checking either of these pages daily or hourly.

 

But then again I just got a cell phone two years ago with much disgust.

 

I really can’t think of any more to say about Myspace and Facebook,   ahhhhhh.

 

And that’s all I have to say about that!

 

Jared

Brad Paisley says I’m cooler online!

Well first off I have to say it is very hard for me to sit down and listen to an entire country song with out getting annoyed. For some reason it is just hard for me to stomach country music. But, I was able to watch the whole video a few times in order to complete this week’s assignment.

 

The characters in the video seemed to be ordinary people who were embarrassed by who they really were in the world. The main dude was not a super good looking man, and he did not seem cool or hip. But once online he thought that he was like Brad Paisley. He imagined that he was a super cool dude with star status. He pictured himself as a rock star with cool cars, notoriety and beautiful ladies by his side when online. All of the characters in the video seemed to have a different persona once they were online and in fantasy land. Their personality changes once online because no one can see who they really are. When on the internet the characters are free to be who ever they want to be and can act in any way they feel will make the look “cooler”.

 

Basically one can see that the internet can be a release from everyday life and an outlet as well. After viewing the video you can see that people may not seem or be who they appear to be in real life. People can be who they want to be and can have a kind of alternate personality and persona from who they really are.

 

In one of the reading from the text the writer explains that the “history of computers is a narrative of human beings seeking to employ technology to alter their worlds.” And in the music video that is easy to see. I also remember reading that the internet and technology enables us to create our own kind of world away from the real world and society.

 

That being said it seems as though technology gives many of us a way to escape from our normal lives. Online we are able to act and be someone who we may not be in public or face to face. The internet lets us be anything or any one we want because who will really find out who is behind the typing or technology. Our society is beginning to move away from face to face interactions and toward technological interactions where we can hide our true selves. I read a study a few weeks ago about how teenage kids are becoming to involved in non face to face interactions through the internet and text messages. These kids are losing the important skills needed to communicate with others face to face.

 

Jared

No internet! (so what)

Wow, at first glance I thought this idea to observe no internet to be pretty easy considering I was without cable or the internet for the last two months. But then I realized that since I am taking 15 credits of online school that this may be harder than I had thought. Also this week I am trying to help plan a trip with some friends to Sunriver for this weekend and with no e-mail contact with anyone for a day that could complicate the situation.

 

Starting off my day at work was not so easy with the ban because I am able to use the internet for school or whatever. So right there, my morning of checking out the news and seeing what was going on around the world was over. I found the morning to be pretty slow and boring considering all things.  I was unable to check any of my e-mails which I do a few times a day because of the volume at which I receive them sometimes from friends. So, funny enough that day I had received about 50 emails unchecked and was not able to communicate with my friends. The other main problem was not being able to go online and complete any schoolwork for that 24hour period. When you are taking all online classes, which can be a bit of a problem not being able to use the internet. I found that whole aspect to be the most frustrating because all I wanted to do was to be able to get some school work done at my job and figure out what needed to be completed for this school week. Other than that I really had no issues with not being able to go online.

 

The only way that it affected how I spent my time was the fact that I did basically no school work for that day which put me behind in my school work schedule. I only really use the internet to pass time when bored and for school. So, this was not too much of a shock to my system without the internet. I used my time instead listening to music and watching a bit more TV at home. I also used my non internet time to get out of the house and check some things out and run a few errands.

 

After looking into the readings for the week and learning about the way that we all use the internet and technology I found out that I am not an internet addict. I really only use the internet for non essential e-mail use and online classes. Of course having technology such as the internet makes life a bit easier for certain things and luckily it was not really missed for the 24 hour period I chose. Not being able to go online can cause a problem for certain things but one must remember that like 12 years ago their was no such thing as the internet and we all seemed to be able to survive just fine.

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