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This is my last assignment for this course.  It is so strange that it is already over, it went by so very quickly.  I have been in school for a long time, and I have taken a lot of online courses over the last few years.  This course has truly been one of the better ones.

One of the things that often frustrates me about higher learning is the lack of follow through for the emphasis that is placed on critical thinking.  I love learning. I get a kick out of delving in to new topics, concepts, and ideas.  A lot of courses, despite the facade of wanting a student to think critically, often seem to “really” just want the student to think just as the professor does. There does not always seem to be room to question and ponder personal thought.  I did not find this to be true of this course.   

What I loved most about this course was the blog activities. I loved taking the concepts we were learning about in the texts by Postman and Wood & Smith, and applying them to our real lives.  I loved getting the opportunity to use my brain to think outside of the box.  I also really liked the time and thought that each person put in to their own blogs. They were each unique and it was fun to go through the different blogs and see what each student was up to and how they chose to present themselves to the world/or just their class peers. 

My favorite blog activity was the interviewing of the the different generations.  I loved that I got to communicate with people about a topic related to their communication to others. I was intriguing reading other people’s blogs to see the similarities and differences in the findings for each age group.

I also really enjoyed the Discussion Boards. It was rather fun to write out a thread and then check each day to see if someone had responded to my thoughts about the given subject-matter. I loved digging in to our society and I found the texts, particularly Postman’s Technopoly to be quite fascinating.  I have to admit, it was my favorite out of the two texts assigned.

One of the things that I might change would be that I think it would be good to comment on both texts each week on the discussion board and have to write a response to both texts.  I think this would have kept from getting confused about which week I was doing which book.  This is only a minor change and it has more to do with preference than anything else. 

Also, the one blog that was a bit difficult to do was the one where we had to share about  writing an email versus writing a letter.  If we had to write a letter earlier in the course and then blog about the response at the end it would have been more helpful to me.  It took too long to get a response so I was not really able to fully share my findings on the given assignment.  Again though, this is just personal preference.

Overall, this was an excellent course. I would recommend it to anyone. I felt as though it was refreshing to get to roll all of that new information in my mind and be able to apply in almost instantaneously.

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The “wild card” situation that I have chosen to write about is my recent situation with cyberspace hackers.  About a month ago, despite my triple firewall/virus/spyware protection, my computer was hacked into.  I am an online student, so I do a lot of things on the internet. One of those things is shopping around and purchasing school books and supplies.  I try not to store my personal data in cyberspace, but sometimes it cannot be helped.  Ultimately, all of my credit card information was stolen.

The hackers used my credit cards to purchase 900 dollars worth of I-tunes. They also routed other their in the amounts of 700 and 342 dollars respectively, through various other job hunting sites. These, as far as I know, are just fronts for transferring money to far away places.

In this case, technology both exacerbated and eased my problem.  The purchases made in cyberspace caused me a lot of problems but because they were also out of the norm for my spending habits, my credit card company notified me immediately when it happened and were able to take care of crediting me back my “funds.”  I can only thank technology for this quick response. Also, I was able to monitor my bank account online, and I do so every day….this also helped to ease my frustrations. 

If this situation had been done to me outside of cyberspace, I am not sure how easy it would have been to track all of the illegal dispersements of money.  The credit card company was able to pinpoint the users “identities” so they could be flagged in case they made any other attempts at illegal purchases and I do not know, but maybe they will ultimately be caught. It was because the credit card company had cyberspace on their end, that they were able to do this.

In the end it was the criminals who used technology for their advantage that helped perpetuate this issue. They are incredibly intelligent and use it for unfair gains.  It feels very violating to know that someone can be spying on me through my PC over the internet.  But as Postman asks, even with all of the pain and frustration I went through, “what really is the solution to my problem,” (181).  According to him it begins with the, “individuals response” to “the world around them,” (182).  And how will I respond…

I will continue purchasing books on line, because more often than not it is cheaper when I research the costs through many different venues.  I will also still use cyberspace despite the risk.  I can protect myself and my property to a point, but I cannot fear those who use a great tool for horrible means.  Hopefully this never happens again, but I am sure not betting my life on the idea that it will not.  I also hope that this blog helps you to understand how important it is to have firewalls/virus scanners/spyware trackers. Even though these people got through my defenses, it has only be once in eleven years…so something has to be working pretty darn well for them to be deterred for such a long period of time.

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18-35 :  7/28/08 (Over the Phone), Ashley Read –

For this age range I interviewed my friend Ashley Read.  Her primary use of the internet was for school.  She does a lot of research for her papers she writes for all of her classes as she pursues her Biology Undergraduate degree.  As a side note, I chose Ashley because her desire is to be a scientist. In Chapter 9 of Technopoly, Postman goes into great depth about how technology and science can be “misapplied and falsely trusted in,” (161,162). 

When I shared with her about my readings, she was very interested. She agreed that in a lot of ways science with all of its theories and hypotheses is a hope…a faith. She said that being a Christian allowed her to navigate around some of these issues, particularly the moral ones, but at the end of the day she too struggled with how science and technology often produce false hope and shaky ground for humans to stand on. She also leads a group of college-aged people for her church group Remedy. She said that she uses social-networking sites like MySpace and FaceBook a lot to keep in touch with her group during the days when they do not meet.  She also uses the sites to get in touch with friends she has not seen in a while. When I asked her whether or not techonology has changed her life for better or worse she said both.  She is a people person so she hates that she has to primarily keep in contact with people over the computer, but she loves the fact that she can use it as a tool, because otherwise she would never talk to some of her friends.  Ashley said she is pretty comfortable using the computer and the internet, though she keeps in her circle of influence who are much better at it so she does not have to become an “expert.” She likes that she can use the social sites to send out mass invitations to events, this is a very useful tool for her.  In general she thinks that the Internet is scary, mostly because she knows very little about it and is afraid that if it in not kept in check some how that it could easily become something that is, “too intrusive with long-lasting negative effects.”

36-60: 7/30/08, My mom (Terry Armstrong) –

For this age range I interviewed my mom, Terry Armstrong.  Currently she is not working, so the internet is primarily used to search for jobs, email regarding job interviews, and for shopping online.  Mostly she shops for things like concert tickets and the occasional piece of clothing.  She likes that she can view the Register Guard online, this makes it easier than thumbing through all of the job placements in the Sunday paper.  She likes that she can specify the type of job she is looking for and all of the available listings “pop-up” immediately.  My mom said she was not that comfortable with using the internet.  She just discovered that there is a thing called AdWare and SpyWare and dealing with that on her computer has been hectic.  She is only comfortable using her email account with MSN and does not know how to get an account elsewhere.  I imagine she will be the type of person who will keep this account for the rest of her life unless something horribly drastic happens.  In general, she thinks that the internet is “far beyond her mental capabilities.” She said that she rarely gets on because she does not like the hassle of trying to “figure things out.”  Overall this technology has made her life better.  She is able to communicate with people who live long distances from her and she is glad that she does not have to rack up a horrendous phone charge to “speak” to them. She thinks the internet needs to be monitored more and she mentioned she was really saddened by the case where the young girl took her life because of people acting “foolish” on the MySpace. 

61 and up – 7/27/08 (Rod Haney-My husband’s stepdad –79 years old)

For this age group I interviewed Rod Haney, my husband’s stepdad.  He knows about the internet, but that is about it. He does not own a computer.  The only interest he has in the internet is Ebay, because he is an avid antique dealer/collector.  He asked me if I could help him out, but showed no interest in learning how to do it himself.  He also was interested in having me email a missionary in the Philippines whom he is donating money to.  He gave me the missionary’s email address and now it is my job to be their liason.  Again, he showed no interest in learning how to do it himself.  =)  When I asked him what he thought about the internet he said it is like, “the television these days, full of a lot of garbage.” He clearly is not comfortable with or knowlegable about the internet.  He thinks we should go back to the 50′s, he recollected with me about his life in the 50′s and how it was so nice back then.  I think he is comfortable with limited technology, ie the television and the land-line phone…as he stated, “no cell phone for me…no way on God’s green earth!” Evidently, Rod is not nor will he ever be a follower of what Postman refers to as scientism, “a comprehensive belief system based on faith in science,” (147).

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For this assignment I joined the BSG (Battlestar Galactica) internet community.  I was a really big fan of the show and thought that it would be interesting talking to other people about it.  Joining this type of group was new to me because I have only been a part of social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook.

At first I had to become a member so that I could contribute to the forums and discussions.  Secondarily, I had to learn to navigate the hundreds of threads posted to figure out which ones I wanted to ‘grace with my presence.’  I decided to stick to contributing to two of the thread topics so that I could observe all the small nuances in great detail. 

The first thing I learned from joining this forum was that people in this community EXPECT you to post to the correct thread.  For instance, one of my discussion topics was about the last episode of BSG.  All appropriate posts must focus on this one idea.  If I was to post a thread about Kara and Lee’s relationship (two of the shows main characters) I would get chided by this community and then I would get “BUMPED.” That is a cue to move this topic to the right discussion thread.  I was amazed at how I felt after being bumped…I actually felt hurt.  This could be what Wood and Smith define the word flaming, “as a message that is intended to be and/or interpreted to be hostile in nature,” (91).  I definitely took it as hostile and wanted to ‘bump’ someone back. Haha. It was interesting to think about why I felt this way…I mean after all this was just a social/academic experiment.  Looking back it is funny, but it was not at the time it happened.  In this case I guess I did not feel fully accepted. 

 I felt accepted by this group when they validated my theories on the show or when someone took the time to reply to my post in a positive way.  This did not mean that they necessarily agreed with everything I had to say, but the fact that they responded help me to feel a part of the group at large. 

For the most part it seemed as though people were civil to each other. I have seen other forums and chat rooms where there are curse words flying back and forth, but this seemed to be more thought through.  Maybe it is because the site is monitored, or maybe it is because most of the people taking part in the discussion are older??  I do not know this for certain. 

I learned that people really invest a lot of time in giving their opinions.  My question going in to this particular assignment was why would people want to join a ‘virtual’ community.  I learned that it is easier to connect with a lot of people who share a similar interests.  I wonder however if these virtual communities take the place of ‘real-life’ community.  Society wants to be heard, that is what I learned through this.  Maybe we do not have a lot of people listening to us in our homes, places of work, school…maybe we feel people in our lives do not take real interest in our passions so we join a community like the BSG forum to be heard.  Anyways, this was a good assignment and I am actually thinking about staying connected to my “community.”

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. 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?

The Choice: This was a very thought provoking assignment.  The two people I chose to write to regarding their influence on my life were my long-time friend Ashley and my former boss Angel Warrior.  I chose to send Ashley the email, because she is younger and would be the most okay with receiving the letter in this format.  In regards to Angel, there is a difference in age, level of position/respect, and culture (she is from India).  This is why I chose to send her a letter that was written in long-hand.  I wanted to respect her culture and she was my boss, so there is that authority level too. 

Language Usage, Length, Tone: My email letter to Ashley was longer than my hand-written letter to Angel.  Mostly because I type faster than I write, and I had not written a letter in long-hand for such a long time that my had actually ached from attempting this. This is sad I know.  The language in my email was much more colloquial and common, most likely due to the fact that Ashley is my age and Angel probably would not have understood some of the phrases I used.  My language usage in the long-hand letter was much more ‘professional.’ I would have used similar language style if I were writing to someone of great importance.  My tone in my email to Ashley was fun, jovial, respectful but to the point of regal.  My tone with Angel was serious, respectful, and kind. 

Responses:  My email was responded to very quickly. In fact, I think the very next day I received an email back from Ashley with a very similar tone and language style as the one I had sent her.  I have not received a letter back from Angel, and I am not even sure she received it…I guess that is the anticipation and surprise of using the “real” mail service.

I like how Wood and Smith said that, “in order to manage our relationships effectively, competent communicators need to attend to some issues that are even more salient in online relationships than in real-life relationships,” (90).  For me this really caused me to think at length about what I wrote online to Ashley and also to Angel.  I wanted to clearly articulate what I wanted to say, but that was hard in the construction of both letters.

What does this all mean for society? I think society now is much more likely to write an email than send a hand-written letter.  This seems rather impersonal to me.  If we are going to write emails, we need to make very sure that we are choosing the exact right terms to most effectively communicate how we feel.  Otherwise a person could be left confused and hurt.  It is just so incredibly important to understand that our words are powerful and when you don’t choose them wisely, misunderstandings can and will occur.

For this assignment I did not have to create Myspace page or a Facebook page because I already had both.  I went to each of my pages and really tried to look at them with an outsiders eye.  My goal was to see what my pages reveal or distort about who I am. 

What did my pages reveal?

Both of my pages revealed that I am a 26 year old caucasian women who lives in Eugene, OR with my husband and my young daughter.  My Myspace highlights my Christian faith with the background that emphasizes how I see my God as a father.  My interests focus on my passion for traveling and I have a map of the places I have been posted on my Myspace page.  My Facebook highlights my love of reading and traveling too.  The pictures that I have chosen to put on both of my pages focuses on my family and friends, as well as the places I have traveled to.  Mostly the pictures of my daughter Eliana, but a few are of my husband too.  I have very few of myself, except for those that show other countries like India and Nigeria.

What did my pages distort?

 Myspace allows you to put a song on your page. My song is a Christian rap song by Le Crae, so I guess people might think that I enjoy rap in general if they don’t listen to the lyrics, but it is really only Christian rap that I listen to.  Other than that I am not too sure.  I am pretty truthful when it comes to who and what I am.  I do not feel as though I need to distort anything.  This may be because I am already married and am not looking for a mate…this seems to be a huge reason why people choose to distort their self-image.  Myspace does ask for body type and I put average, though I have a little more baby weight to lose. 

Wood and Smith say that, ” manipulating one’s identity is nothing new to Western culture, and, indeed, neither are many of the insecurities associated with the practice,” (pg. 57). I guess if I really looked at it from a very critical standpoint I could say that my pages give the illusion that my family and I are totally happy all the time and that there are never any arguments or conflicts that happen.  I suppose most people do not generally post pictures of awful things in their lives though I guess they could blog about their frustrations, I just choose not to air out my business in a public forum.   Anyways, besides the pictures of the slums in India I do not have any pictures up of total “reality” as I know it.  This would probably be the biggest distortion.

Overall this has been quite an assignment.  I enjoyed having to take an outsider’s stance and perspective on my own life.

Find the video for Brad Paisley’s So Much Cooler Online.What can you say about the characters in the music video? How does their personality change online/offline? What conclusions can you draw?

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I had never heard this song or watched the music video before, and I thought that it was hilarious.  Brad Paisley’s So Much Cooler Online, completely captures the essence of creating an alter ego over the internet.  The character of the fairly plump and dorky pizza-man who creates an image of a country-rock star with a great voice, a hunky body, and more money than he can count was very interesting.  I laughed aloud when we see the pizza-man online chatting with two gorgeous, young ”model” type women, who in their own right, turn out to be older women with a frumpy, homely look.   By the end of the song even the pizza-man’s parents, whom he lives with, desire an alter ego.  While the dad is creating a profile for himself on a Myspace or Facebook type program, his wife comments about how all of his friends are rather “chesty.” She says to get revenge she will create a profile just so she can have a friend that looks like Brad Paisley. 

Postman states in his book Technopoly  that, “Karl Marx understood technology well in saying that technologies create the ways in which people perceive reality, and that such ways are the key to understanding diverse forms of social and mental life,” (21).  This has a direct connection to the Brad Paisley song.  Our own thoughts about what is “attractive” or “acceptable” in American/Western society has driven people to create alternate realities, lying about who and what they really are.  This is not always good and can lead to disastrous results.

For instance, I think about the young girl who committed suicide a few years ago because of her relationship with a young “boy” over Myspace.  The young “boy” told her that the world would be better off without her.  The young “boy” was in fact a classmate and the classmate’s mother who lied about the profile so that they could gain this other girl’s trust to see if she was talking bad about people in her school.  This says a lot to me about perceived reality and the mental state of each person involved.  I am certainly not a psychologist but it was messed up situation on all sides and technology was at the center of it.  I also know that technology has been used by criminals to lure people young and old into schemes and horrible situations. 

To go along with this idea, one piece of technology that has recently come out on Myspace and is becoming quite the trend, is for young people to add what is called a Truth Box to their website.  This is a box that allows people to anonymously leave “truthful” comments about the person.  This is really sad to me because I can just imagine some of the things that are said and it seems to avert working out conflict face to face while at the same time allowing people to haphazardly leave mean or malicious comments without fully thinking about the repercussions of their words. 

I am just saddened by the fact that people actually think they are finding life in their lies.  Just like in the music video.  Like the pizza-man, a lot of people can’t be or choose not to be who they really are because they aren’t confident enough in themselves or our world tells them over and over again through television, magazines, movies, etc. that they AREN’T good enough. 

I think we convince ourselves that having an alter ego is fun…that we can be anyone and have anything.  However, I believe that a part from the cute music video, it is more harmful than we allow ourselves to believe.  While it is human beings that are using the technology for these purposes if they knew that the technology was more regulated they might think twice about making up things up about themselves for their own selfish purposes.

Abstinence: Students must abstain from the Internet…ALL Internet interaction for one 24 hour period. You cannot use email, check Blackboard, see the sports scores, research, or do anything else on the Internet. If you fall off the wagon, you have to start all over again. WHAT HAPPENS? You should blog about your period of abstinence. How does it affect your ability to communicate? How does it affect how you spend your time? What do you do to replace your time on the internet? These and other questions should be discussed in your blog.

From eight o’clock in the morning on Saturday June 21, 2008 until 8 o’clock in the morning on Sunday June 22, 2008 I ‘abstained’ from all Internet activities.  This was not an easy task for me because all of my schooling and most of my communication with friends and family is done on-line.  I started this assignment by writing myself a big, bold-faced note which I taped over the top of my computer screen.  This was a helpful reminder and kept me from cheating.  Plus, I told my husband that he had to keep me accountable for 24 hours.  He did a great job!

As I said above, this assignment was not easy for me.  I have never been an addict of any chemical substance, but I literally felt like I was going through withdrawal.  I also noticed how having the Internet in my home seems to make things more convenient for me and my family.  For instance, usually if I need to find directions to a particular place I will look it up on Mapquest, but during this period of time I had to physically get a map, a phonebook, place a call to a restaurant for an address, look at the map, and chart my course.  While this stretched areas of my brain that had not been used in a while, it was frustrating and time-consuming. 

Another lesson I learned was in regards to communicating with friends and family.  Three years ago my husband and I moved from California.  I have a myspace and facebook account specifically to keep in touch with people who are a long distance away.  I check these accounts every single day.  It was tempting to get online, because I knew that I had friends coming up to visit and I wanted to check in.  I noticed though, that despite my thoughts that I would somehow “miss out” on something in a 24-hr time period, I actually did not.  I found that not being on the Internet gave me more time for other things that are at least just as important.

One of the more important things that I got to do on my day of abstaining from the Internet was spending more one-on-one time with my husband and daughter.  The sun was shining so we went to the park and had a picnic.  I also got to call my friends who were going to be visiting.  Even though the call was short, just hearing their voices was worth not having to type out our conversation.  The biggest joy I got out of the experience was sitting down to eat with my husband.  We had not had a date in a long time and it was nice to reconnect on a personal level, which is very difficult to do when you are facing a computer and a not a human being. 

Overall this experience was excellent! I actually decided to plan a day of abstinence in every week…maybe if I get organized I can even have two!  It was not easy, especially when my job is being on-line, but it worked out and I am really looking forward to my next exercise for this course.