There were three main points to the article I enjoyed reading, the cause and effect technology has and creates on society, the history and the history of the uses of television technology. The article Technology and the Society was something that fascinated me. Williams summarizes the relationship of technology and the society and also how tec. changes culture and psychology. Professor Perez quotes on her page "the technology is in effect accidental". In other words, technology is the cause for change. The article talks a lot about television and how it mirrors society yet we mock what we see on tv. To me, this is an interesting theory, but according to the article the ideas of Williams are often ignored. In other words, the change would have happened regardless of technology. This was interesting because I go back in my mind to the invention of the wheel, because of the wheel we drive further distances, but without the wheel we would have created something else more effecient, it's the human way.

WEll, My favorite thing about this course would have to be the Journal assignments because they were first person accounts of the life we lead online. The things I would change were some of the articles that seemed very hard to read. Such articles come to mind "The Medium is the message" by mcluhan, which for me, was torchure reading. I realize in a college course, or any course for that matter, we may not enjoy all the required reading. I loved the article Virtual death and all the articles about avatars, especially learning and writing my final paper. I have learned a lot, thanks to that paper. In the future I'd have more options like the option to chose from the list of what the instructor is reading for the third blog. Having this option really allows to student to hone in on what they hope to gain from this major. I also would add the option of a text, specifically because some people like having the text. As a whole I loved the idea of analyzing twitter, youtube and facebook, which was what I expected from this course. THat's what comes to mind when I read 'new media, you media." Soon the course should just be renamed You Media, because it's newness is wearing away bit by bit :()

After reading this document and being extremely confused I gained the following information. “It is intended that after reading this article you will have an idea of what W3 is, where it fits in with other systems in the field, and where it is going. There is much more to be said, especially about providing information,but this is described on the Web itself. Also in the “Web about the Web” are lists contributed research and development work and ideas, and pointers to work in progress, so that those interested can work together.”

A W3 “client” program runs on your computer. When it starts it displays an object normally a document with text and possibly images. Some of the phrases and images are highlighted in blue, or boxed, or perhaps numbered, depending on what sort of a display you have and how your preferences have been set.
“Highlighted “anchor” causes the client program to retrieve another object from some other computer a “server” so the process of navigation continues. When viewing some documents, the reader can request a search, by typing in plain text (or complex commands) to send to the server, rather than following a link. In either case, the client sends a request off to the server often a completely different machine in some other part of the world, and within (typically) a second, the related information, in either hypertext, plain text or multimedia format, is presented. This is done repeatedly and by a sequence of selections and searches one can find anything that is “out there”
I assume it’s talking about the program and I just hope there’s not too much of this awful article on our final exam, it had way too much tech jargon which I cannot follow.

After reading this story Virtual Death- A real Dillema, I say…wow. So this woman Debbie Swenson, a resident of a small town in Kansas, created a false person, Kaycee Swenson, and led people to believe Kaycee was real. Kaycee was portrayed as a girl with leukemia and on her blog gained friends and as her battle went on the number of people involved in her story grew. What is crazy, and made me say ‘oh my god’ after reading, was that a woman named Debbie Swenson actually made this character up, and didn’t reveal the hoax until after Kaycee’s ‘death’. People felt hurt and angered, and understandably so. Let this be a warning to all of us, a stranger is still a stranger, even more so on the computer. Something we are told growing up is not to talk to strangers. I don’t understand why people think that should go away as adults?

Marketers will find you

"All the internet really does is give those same market research firms more data to work with. What did we click on? What web page did we visit and for how long? Where did we come there from and where did we go next? This information helps create a behavioral model about us. It doesn't matter how sensitive the data; the imprint is just as real.” Hallarious the tivo comment that the viewer mentions his tivo predicted he’d like gay shows, because of the types of shows he likes I don’t think the commercial privacy bill of rights needs to restrict it’s campaign efforts although when it comes to sexual orientation, advertising sex or relationships (the infamous zoosk.com) and financial and health care we need to be protected. I don’t see the harm in them predicting I’d like devil wears prada because I liked princess diaries, or that I’d like a striped sweater because I bought a striped purse. These things can be beneficial and also I’m so interested in the field it’d be a shame if they illiminated it altogether.
The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Douglas Rushkoff.
the link is below-
https://sjsu.desire2learn.com/d2l/common/navBar/externalLink.d2l?ou=47388&k=c_16126

After reading the article about blooging and privacy, it seems the main topics people keep private are details about relationships arguments religion finances sex or emotions or postings about other people. When I think of privacy I think of hackers in my information, not keeping my thoughts personal. Because I remain anonomous I would love to express myself through blog, however I am extroverted. For some people it's not this simple."Therefore, the disclosure of personal information by bloggers appears to pose very unique privacy threats as expressive privacy plays a fundamental role in our lives. It enables us to choose and dictate the way that we will live, it promotes the creation of our self identity,and it allows us to enjoy a wide variety of social relationships and roles, including intimate relationships. " How private we are or arent on our blog either opens or shuts the door for other commmenters and social interactions.

it's as relative as the 'falling apple'

Something I gained from the reading ‘end of books’ was that hyperspace and text are two different realms, and the writer for hypertext must write for their audience accordingly. With the advent of kindle, ebooks and blogging I find the article really relevant for todays students, and the author makes a point to mention she isn't accostomed to online text(using a mouse) This quote from the article sums of her idea of what authors run into online-

"There is still movement, but in hyperspace’s dimensionless infinity, it is more like endless expansion; it runs the rist of being so distended and slackly driven as to lose its centripetal force, to give way to a kind of static low-charged lyricism-that dreamy gravityless lost-in-space feeling of the early sci-fi films. How does one resolve the conflict between the readers desire for coherence and closure and the text’s desire for continuance, its fear of death? Indeed,what is closure in such an environment? If everything is middle, how do you know when you are done, either as a reader or writer?” I love this quote because it’s relatable, and I love how the author mentions online, we tend to ramble I can so relate to this quote! I also loved the last two paragraphs of the article which mention the text needs to fit it’s audience, a change in mind and text, that’s as relative as the ‘falling apple.’ Hyperspace is a one way street, that leads to a culdesac, unlike text which is a two lane highway- this is the conclusion I’ve drawn from the article.

expressive power for the ordinary user

Wait…so the coupling of laptop meets ipad was invented in the 1970’s but never made headway? Really? I am confused as to whether this Dynabook ever made the market, but from the sounds of the article it was simply an idea. Using a pen on a display screen to draw This is so far in the future for an invention from the seventies! The macbook meets photoshop meets etc- a-sketch meets doctor databases.

“Expressive power to be useful to an ordinary user. At that time we became interested in focusing on children as our “user community.” We were greatly encouraged by the Bolt
Beranek and Newman/MIT Logo work that uses a robot turtle that draws on paper, a CRT version of the turtle, and a single music generator to get kids to program.”


“Second, the kids love it! The interactive nature of the dialogue, the fact that they are in control, the feeling that they are doing real things rather than playing with toys or working out “assigned” problems, the pictorial and auditory nature of their results, all contribute to a tremendous sense of accomplishment to their experience. The kids, on the other hand, are used to finger-paints, water colors, color television, real musical instruments, and records. “
This quote makes me think of Leapfrog the educational computer game for children. Even books with talking characters, the Disney books that have a button with the Lion King on it roaring gets the attention of a child because it’s interactive, they make something happen and get a result!
Working with kids for most of my adult life, I’ve noticed how addicted children get to video games, and that their attention is kept much longer doing things interactively. It makes complete sense, as adults we can spend hours shopping, online or in a group meeting discussing ideas, but get us in a room solitary doing one task, our minds tend to wander. I believe this same concept applies to children, but the idea that resonates with me was….
“Mathematics could become a living language in which children could cause exciting things to happen. “ I’ve seen programs on the Mac home computer that have games where a child can be an animal in the forest ‘discovering’ things in a scene of their choice. The scene is an opportunity to do math, using their character of choice. They find five butterflies in a jungle or un-turn flowers in a specific order ect.

“What would happen in a world in which everyone had a Dynabook?.A composer could hear his composition while it was in progress, particularly if it were more complex than he was able to play. He could also bypass the incredibly tedious chore of redoing the score and producing the parts by hand. Learning to play music could be aided by being able to capture and hear one’s own attempts and compare them against expert renditions. “This conclusion was striking and undeniable. We have ultimately created many of these ideas, however the key difference I noticed in the article was that children-teenagers were given the chance to program and bring ideas to workshops. I love love love this idea! I especially loved the music program that you can orchestrate with a mouse and then replay with the keyboard and alter the music this way.

The internet is an index, not a catalyst

Han continues to talk about physical space and how electric messages on television and broadcast meeting new modes of deliver defy that limit. It was a tough decision which page to site from~ I found two parts of this article especially intriguing, and the article rang the same bell as the Licklider paper earlier in the semester.”the Internet is an index not a catalyst of democratization and modernity a sign of the neo(liberal) west’s triumph over Soviet East communism. “ With the advent of the internet rural areas have the ability to offer services (and scams galore! online)

”Even our technologies foster democratic practices!” I iove this quote! I’d say that an index gives the backbone, but not the brain. I’d say the catalyst would be the brain in this analogy, and this paragraph really questions what is ‘true’ online. Just because it’s on the internet doesn’t make it honest, true, valid or well versed. The title of this article Technomedia made me wonder, what is technomedia? According to Han, it’s the marrying of media and it’s instrument (tv meets computer, tv meets gas station, radio meets tv and computer meets phone.) “Prior to the popularization of the Internet, media and technology were considered to be distinct entities.” The definition has come a long way from photography, radio on am, and film.”Technomedia is unlike prior media and technologies precisely because of its ability to break down and reconstitute the classic categories of knowledge, space, time, subjectivity, and politics upheld by philosophy information, and systems theory,””These changes allow us to scrutinize what it is that technomedia do. Are technomedia means of communication? If so, what do they communicate-human ideas or just “information’’? Furthermore, are information and human ideas mutually exclusive? By using language to transfer ideas so we actually talk to create new ideas and talk about our new ideas, it’s a cycle really. When I’m at work I talk with my boss about what project we will pull together by the deadline, then I think about the ideas we’ve spoken of. This allows me to make the distinction that yes, ideas and information are mutually exclusive, we need both to do either, but without one, lacks the foreground to the solution. This weeks article was my favorite thus far. Thanks for reading my mix mash of thoughts:”)

rabbits...really?

When I read, and re-read this Second Life article not only was I disturbed I was so disturbed I almost didn’t respond this week to the article. I am so angry with the position women take and need to take in a virtual world like this one, according to the creator. As a woman I just think, what woman would even play this game? It’s obvious it’s made by a man- well dog, and for a dog. Even when Daria wanted to find a rabbit, her rabbit had sexual connotations. How disgusting is this? So gross. Just as the introduction of this article points out John Lesters invention is a creative world with no real point. The title should be changed to reality not just knee high boots and six pack abs, but sell sex buy sex it’s that easy. In this paper, we understand gender as being performed through our actions, behaviors, and choices; we do gender.
“But it is a situated doing, carried out in the virtual or real presence of others who are presumed to be oriented in its production... [gender is conceived of] both as an outcome of and a rationale for various social arrangements and as a means of legitimating the one of the most fundamental divisions of society” (West & Zimmerman, 1987, p. 126). Thus, gender is 'achieved, not given' (Eller, 2003, p. 90) within specific social circumstances and power arrangements. Judith Butler (1990) points out that the signs of gender are performed in response to our acceptance of shared discursive constructions. Gendered actions are, according to Butler, not the expression of an “internal core or substance” (p. 85). We might take them as such (which might contribute to their power), but in our understanding they are rather ways of positioning the self within a specific social environment. I see it day to day women struggling with their beauty and what society is beginning to define, and accept as okay. Plastic surgery and new face transplants, I am just scared with games like this, will it become the norm?
This article was disturbing, because it represents a world I do not want to see or hear about in my lifetime.

step into my office...

My first response to the ‘doctors one liners was, this sounds so CREEPY! The answers the computer responds to the girl in the article were pure guesses. I truly don’t think the computer could answer ANY of the patients questions if a person hadn’t programmed it to do so. I think what’s interesting is I’ve used computer programs that actually ‘predict’ or give advice, much like a palm reader or eight ball. I can’t believe I used them, especially because the computer makes you wait while it ‘thinks’ about the response it’s giving you. So, really I would use this Eliza program once those ‘crinks’ were worked out. The reason I would use it is because what makes us trust a human and not a computer as a response unit? Essentially we assume, well a doctor has a phd. and thus that education makes us trust her responses. Well, a computer is programmed with the same knowledge. Is it body language and eye contact, tone of voice and emotional connection that are missing? I think the article makes a great point, when grappling with the ideas from the 1960’s, about the possibility of computers ‘taking over’. “The concern that machines will take over not just the jobs that provide us income, but also those cognitive and emotional functions we closely associate with humanity, is a particular worry of the computer era-one that was highlighted for Weizenbaum by the way some suggested that Doctor should be employed as an actual therapist.” I am so confused, yet again, as my stance shifts back and forth on my opinion of computers doing ‘human’ jobs. I think if it benefits people, we should embrace the change. If it doesn’t make sense to do so, then we should shy away. However, as the article points out, this was a prediction that programs similar to the Eliza-doctor program would be apparent by 2000, and we have outstretched that with programs like secondlife and interactive videogames. When cell phones first came out I can remember people griping and complaining left and right, but now everyone including grandparents, have a cell phone. Therefore, given time, Im sure people would acclimate, because curiousity cannot be masked for long

obama backs new attempt to stop facebook bullys

Here is a quote from the article from CNN discussing the new attempt to stop bullying on facebook. "Today's summit is about collaboration and being innovative in the ways in which we address safety," the networking giant wrote on its Facebook Safety page. "We hope these new resources will help all of us -- parents, teachers, kids, safety experts, and Facebook itself -- work together to create safer environments."
I am so happy to read this improvement they have made to facebook! It was scaring me seeing how kids are effected by online bullying. A great point they make is that bullying shouldn’t be reaching childrens homes or phones. The social reporting feature is a private message kids can report on photos or messages. This article could have been better if they included some statistics about the impact social bullying has had on children in the past. However I understand this is a new development they are introducing and was a quick glimpse at what’s to come.

“It is never quite true to say that in modern societies, when a social need has been demonstrated, its appropriate technology will be found. This is partly because some real needs, in any particular period, are beyond the scope of existing or foreseable scientific and technical knowledge. “
With inovation we create new technology based on what has already been invented in the past. We develop this technology based on what is neccesary. For instance, the more people need to commute to the city for work the more they will need their phone to receive email and go online. As we define time in turn we define our needs in technology.Technological determinism is a reductionist theory that presumes that a societies techonology drives the development of its social structure and cultural values.
Reading this article reminded me of the evolution of media article from the first week of class. This article was hard for me to disect however I can appreciate the idea of technological determinism. “A key idea that technological determinsm carries is that technology has ‘effects’ on societies that are inherent, rather than socially conditioned or produced because that society organizes itself to support and further develop a technology once it has been introduced. “ WE work around technology, it doesn’t work around us.
“Strict adherents to technological determinism do not believe the influence of technology differs based on how much a technology is or can be used. Instead of considering technology as part of a larger spectrum of human activity, technological determinism sees technology as the basis for all human activity.”

“It is never quite true to say that in modern societies, when a social need has been demonstrated, its appropriate technology will be found. This is partly because some real needs, in any particular period, are beyond the scope of existing or foreseable scientific and technical knowledge. “
With inovation we create new technology based on what has already been invented in the past. We develop this technology based on what is neccesary. For instance, the more people need to commute to the city for work the more they will need their phone to receive email and go online. As we define time in turn we define our needs in technology.Technological determinism is a reductionist theory that presumes that a societies techonology drives the development of its social structure and cultural values.
Reading this article reminded me of the evolution of media article from the first week of class. This article was hard for me to disect however I can appreciate the idea of technological determinism. “A key idea that technological determinsm carries is that technology has ‘effects’ on societies that are inherent, rather than socially conditioned or produced because that society organizes itself to support and further develop a technology once it has been introduced. “ WE work around technology, it doesn’t work around us.
“Strict adherents to technological determinism do not believe the influence of technology differs based on how much a technology is or can be used. Instead of considering technology as part of a larger spectrum of human activity, technological determinism sees technology as the basis for all human activity.”

japanese love their avatars

This article examined second life avatars- a digital representation of a material body, without limits of time and space. It reports how various cultures chose their avatars looks, and what characteristics seem to denote world beauty (if any) I was so elated while reading the article Just like me only better this week! It was so interesting on so many levels, at times obvious at other times startling and verging upsetting. Something I found interesting was that during the process of making their avatars, people chose mainly human avatars (over animal choices) and almost all very closely resembled the makes actual look. One Chinese avatar had eleven ears, which I found hilarious, and when glancing at the tables it seems Japanese rank high in creating avatars. What was a bit upsetting was reading that practically all the women’s avatars had longer hair and were slimmer than the actual people creating the avatars. The men made their avatars with large biceps and shirtless, showing the ‘typical’ standard of beauty from both genders.

vlog 2- week 6

“In short, an individual will be motivated to use the Internet if he or she believes it will help serve his or her objectives to socialize with other people. The vast majority of participants stated they use SNS because they are an efficient way to communicate with friends. One participant stated, “if you want to spread news quickly about an event or something, you can do it very easily on MySpace.” Many users take pleasure in this capacity for dispersing messages to multiple friends at one time. As one participant put it, “with MySpace I can tell the same thing to everyone, which prevents a million questions being asked.”

IT seems from reading the article that the main reasons the subjects used myspace was out of laziness, not wanting to have a long conversation, to communicate to large groups of people and avoid questions. It seems ironic that the social network actual can limit socialibility! I am a phone person, and never turn down a long conversation, so this must be why I am not so into facebook! There were also responses like using facebook to check up on people from high school, use myspace to avoid an expensive long distance phone bill, or to stalk crushes! We know the obvious that myspace can be a great way to network for jobs, or meet new friends.

Another interesting purpose users mention was to check up on roommates and who they were friends with prior to the housemate renting from them. I was looking to rent a room from a couple and when I went to check out the room for the first time, they had my myspace profile up on their computer! They said “”Oh we looked you up online, just to see if we knew any of the same people.” It turned out we did, I didn’t know if I was disturbed that they were investigating me or thankful they were trying to bond with their new housemate. Unlike most people, I never saw the film Social Network, however the information about how Facebook first began as a Harvard-only social network was interesting. ).” In 2005 Facebook opened access to high school students and in 2006 opened the site to the general public and introduced communities for commercial organizations (Smith, 2006). By 2007, Facebook was reported to have more than 21 million registered members generating 1.6 billion page views a day”
I also looked up the statistic on http://www.facebook.com/press/info.php?statistics and found that the current number of facebook users is over 500 million! Some new information I gained after reading the article is that in less than four years facebook has jumped from having 21 million users to over 500 million! That means an 25 fold increase!!!! Wow.Also, approximately 50 percent of those users log in everyday. Seventy percent of it’s users live outside the United States! This information was so interesting and I really really enjoyed this weeks topic! Thanks for reading my lengthly disperse J

Community Media




“Disinterest in politics means that interest has shifted to other domains-to the private world, to community affiliations and networks, to the activist domains where citizens feel as though they do have power.” I think of the recent riots in Egypt and the role facebook played in the process of communication amongst the citizens. It was a media form that they had control over, and allowed them to communicate with one another.
Youtube comes to mind as I read this quote from “Community Media.” Another interesting point I found was “if communication was not just one way from politicians to the people, but from the people to the politicians, then the dynamics of politics would change in such a way that politics would (hopefully) become more responsive.” As I read this the question comes to mind, who would control the mass numbers of emails, videos and hits per webpage once this was implemented? Additionally, it’s been hundreds of years this form of democracy has ruled the US, although I see changes in the way we are involved in politics as a whole, I do think it would take a miracle for politicians to allow community talks on decision making process’.


“Community media also shows us that not everyone thinks the same way we do. It brings to the surface opinions and activities that we may not agree with. We might not want to know the people who think differently from us, but if we are able to see their thoughts and opinions on a more regular-and personal-basis, we might be less surprised by the world. And the democratic process would at least appear to be working, even when it didn’t go our way. Can community media democratize democracy? In many respects, it is already doing its part and showing us what is going on at the level of the individual and community. “ This quote from the reading really made an impact on me. It is so true that if people are forced to see other peoples way of life, it will allow us to be more open minded, but being close-minded is a sort of self preservation humans have done for ages. I think of my great-grandmother and when she found out my first boyfriend was African American, her reaction was “Oh no.” She was from Italy, and she was very close-minded in her thinking of mixing races. I think that democracy Is the choice to view what we want, when we want, however the news we are subject to now, unless bbc, world news, it is fairly limited to local happenings.

introvert vs extrovert

Consequences of Online Networking by Adam Acar, is a great summary of bow online networking creates an emotional reaction for us, at the same time a reflection of our personalities. Carl Jung introduced the idea of introversion and extroversion and how they play a large role in psychological functions and communication behavior. “Although he also mentioned four factors (thinking, feeling, rationalistic, intuitive) which interact with these two main personality types, according to Jung, extroverts in general are the ones who are sociable, outgoing, compatible and well fit into the society where introverts carry totally opposite attributes Both Burgoon (1976) and McCroskey and Richmond (1990) saw extroversion as an antecedent to (un)willingness to communicate. In addition, past research has shown that extroverts and introverts significantly differ in terms of communication patterns and group behavior” (s6)
I found this part of the article most influential and striking. I am very outgoing, I never let things go unsaid, however , I don’t like attention, so really I am just an extrovert with tendencies of an introvert. What is ironic is in my first posting I mention this, I am pretty indifferent to the way I look, and getting attention for the way I look, so maybe, although Id hate to admit it, maybe it explains why I never like putting my picture up on facebook. Although I am not outgoing online, I am very outgoing in person, which is really because I don’t like the attention (of pictures) like I mentioned. I’m beginning to think you can have confidence but low self-esteem, which is me. I think most people are a balance of introvert and extrovert, and their online behavior definitely reflects it.

Nothing follows from following, except change

The article could have been better grammatically constructed and contained a bit too much jargon for my liking. The first two sentences confused me beyond belief, however thankfully by the third and fourth sentences I began to get the point. I agree with the article, but did not enjoy reading it. I felt like I was reading a culmination of excerpts from numerous books that had nothing in common, and by the end of the article I didn’t know whether I was coming or going. From Hitler references, to early English writings, Shakespeare and electric light. I took away from the article that what we use is what is important, not what it is used for. While technology has replaced jobs that were there before, it has created them also. “Nothing follows from following except change” (McLuhan pg. 3) This comment really makes you appreciate that change is natural and throughout time, as far back as Shakespeare, change has occurred and not always patiently. The correlation McLuhan makes between cotton, oil and coal to technology was genius. This really was the paragraph that redeems McLuhan’s choppy article and what makes me agree with the seven page message.

practice vlog...

The internet has (kind of) run out of space

Doug Gross wrote this aricle for CNN news, which presents new information to me that less than two weeks ago the last internet address had been taken. I thought this article was so informative and I had no idea there was a limit to internet addresses (because I assume they would create more) It sounds like the Number-Resource Organization has been ready for this for decades. The new pool, which has technically been ready since 1999, has so many IP addresses that most non-mathematicians probably don't even know the number exists -- 340 undecillion. !!!! Curran was correct I HAD NO IDEA THIS NUMBER EXISTED ! Why didn’t I learn about this in my statistics class?  “The new system uses a much longer string, and has numbers and other characters. Internet addresses aren't limited to websites; every internet-connected device has a built-in IP address. Curran said that the numbers started running out much more quickly once smartphones and other mobile devices became more popular around the world.” (Gross) I personally believe they will create an alternative to .com in the near future, but lacking a techie personality Im not sure this will solve the problem!

online relationships

"All of these studies suggest that computer-mediated communication, and especially electronic mail, is less valuable for building and sustaining close social relationships than other means, such as face-to-face contact and telephone conversations." I agree with this statement. The main reason people gain a stronger connection face to face is use of language. In an email we can edit and hold back, or even worse, say too much. We can be misunderstood, or withhold certain aspects of our personality when getting to know someone. The main difference between online communication and personal is laughter and humor. The study done by Parks and Roberts suggested that respondents had less of a connection with friends met online versus in person. "The students, however, found electronic mail to be as good as the telephone and in-person communication for getting schoolwork done (p > .10) and even better than these other modalities for the exchange of information (p < .05)." I found this study to be believable because I too feel that for school purposes online communication is equally as effective. The purpose of the article was to summarize whether the implications of the interaction online either adds to or substitutes for offline interaction and relationships. In summary the article concludes “However, in one-to-one comparisons, an email message is not as good as a phone call or a face-to-face meeting for developing and sustaining social relationships. “ I definitely agree with this. I have friends who live in other states, and we only communicate through email. I don’t feel close to them, and therefore don’t call them. I have a much stronger bond with people I see on the weekends and text or call through the week. Even worse, dating, via text or email is AWFUL. Everything gets misunderstood, and the time spent waiting for a response or given to send a response makes two people grow apart before they built anything substantial.

man-computer symbiosis

Man-Computer Symbiosis

J. C. R. Licklider

IRE Transactions on Human Factors in Electronics,

Volume HFE-1, pages 4-11, March 1960

This article was written in 1960 looking toward the future in computer-man symbiosis. Then defined as a cooperative "living together in intimate association, or even close union, of two dissimilar organisms.”(27)

man-computer symbiosis as a subclass of man-machine systems. There were some main striking parts of this article that truly shocked and confirmed current computer accomplishments. The first was “computing machines would do the routinizable work that must be done to prepare the way for insights and decisions in technical and scientific thinking.” Licklider took the time to analyze his own routine at work and mentions he spent 85 percent of the time doing preliminary work. He then suggested that is what computers should be used to aid men in work for the busy work.

Additionally when Licklider says, “It seems entirely possible that, in due course, electronic or chemical machines will outdo the human brain in most of the functions we now consider exclusively within its province.” I recently saw a program (yes just last week actually) where an animated animal mocks your voice when you speak to it (an I-pad application) Gees here I thought the new interactive wireless and remote-less video games, 3d television experience brought to your TV through wireless internet was a leap and bound!

Lastly, Licklider says, “Men appear to think more naturally and easily in terms of goals than in terms of courses. True they usually know something about directions in which to travel or lines along which to work, but few start out with precisely formulated itineraries. Who, for example, would depart from Boston for Los Angeles with a detailed specification of the route? “ This makes me think of the gps and how revolutionary it has been (for some people) LOL! The commercial for an insurance company that has a man in the front seat misguiding you (a metaphoric look at the gps and it’s glitches!) I myself don’t use gps however DO use mapquest, and I feel it’s a perfect example of computer-woman symbiosis because the computer is not guiding me, it is helping me J

Tech Skills vs Life Skills

I chose the article written by Clayton Morris which essentially analyzes many peoples, mainly his own, dependence on the internet and ipad (ect) He writes about watching his son grow up and be very 'innately' drawn to technology. His reflection on his experience building a fence to keep the raccoons out and how he was fearful of his own son not learning to figure things out himself and use his hands to build something. I can reference numerous instances where people are so dependent on their gps, and it just gets them lost. I feel like good old finding your way around has lost it's fun. Really, no one likes to be lost , but hey, even with the stupid gps we're driving around in circles.... I see something wrong and concur with Morris on his fearful outlook on the future.



Growing Up Digital: Can Kids Balance Tech Skills and Life Skills? here is the link to the article

what is a phonograph?

For this response I was told to find part of this weeks reading about evolution of media and identify and give details on ideas I found interesting. The first, a phonograph is something I had never known about prior to the reading. Music is such an integral part of my life, so it was interesting to read the progression of audio. There were 78 rpm, to 33.5 rpm machines, then the cassette of course, we all remember flipping from side ‘a’ to ‘b’. Also, from the reading, I learned that in large cities messenger services are available. There is a blackberry torch commercial with a guy riding his bike around san Francisco  as  a delivery rider. He states he needs his blackberry torch to do it because of the apps it offers, however I see the bigger picture now. That blackberry torch (or like device) could soon be the messenger itself!  The idea that packages could eventually be sent by machine, through automated mail cart through tubes, essentially traveling the city electronically really was a wake-up call. We have come very far since the 15^th century when wood was cut, and ink laid on it, to produce a print (a beautiful form of art) is something many, including myself, have grown accustomed to just having.

... the joy of facebook

George Herbert Mead says 'we are only able to concieve ourselves in relation to other people.' This is a great quote because most of our daily actions are in response or for a response from other peers. Facebook poses an almost caddy realization of this, and how truly narcasistic our generation is. For me, the most prevelant part of the reading was analyzing what I value, especially in relation to my peers. If I look at my last status update on fb, it was a year ago, but my 'friends' update everyday. Do they do it out of bordem, seeking attention, insecurities of their current life-situation , for fun? Id say it varies greatly for each individual. I personally dont log on to facebook because I would rather talk to a person, via txt, in person or on the phone. I feel like the more I 'give in' to facebook, the less my real needs are met. Unfortunately for me, the direction of our media- revolution seems to be crazily dependent on fb. The article says 'communication overload has inspired a teen movement of 'switching off'"  This suprised me because teens, well and adults, are so concerned with peers reaction to them, it is hard to turn the cheek. Almost if someone says have a drink, even if you dont want one, the temptaion is there, and very hard to ignore. Ellis also says 'facebook is an extension of language' This sentence is the most appropriate summary of fb, without over analyzing the topic, because ironiclly in doing so Im annoyed that Im catogorizing myself as anti-fb. I dont take it too seriously, by staying away from it, I feel I am in the best position posible.

Claire's post

Although this blog is In the moment, my full name is Claire Orwig. I am a third year student majoring in Communications. I adore online courses mainly because of the flexibility and allowing me to communicate in other ways than speaking verbally. My goal is to further my career in marketing after completely my education at San Jose State. I am happiest at a coffee shop on a laptop, or at the beach, minus the laptop. I love color, media, fashion and being a social. At times I combat my assertive outgoing personality with my introverted quiet side, and consider myself a true communicator, balancing both. Really, I can't wait to write more blogs and read all of yours !