WordPress Research Log for Project 4

This are sources I used for my Final Project for WRTC 332: Computers and Writing, discussing education and the medium of Video.

Arroyo, Sarah and Geoffery Carter. “Tubing the Future: Participatory Pedagogy and YouTube U in 2020.”:  Carter and Arroyo have a grasp that because so much of media has moved onto YouTube for news or entertainment, that YouTube has a promising future of being a platform for education. Even though the website requires very participatory actions, the way people subscribe to YouTube and view it as powerful relies on a sense of involvement from the users and creators. It has spawned a Memetic culture with this way of editing or changing the video structure in order to make video content. However, YouTube can be prized as a video-sharing service if it’s programs and setups can be used for education, as it allows all forms of visual rhetoric to thrive. Similar to Blackboard, it just needs to be understood the correct way.

Barseghian, Tina, and Catlin Tucker. “Teachers’ Ultimate Guide to Using Videos.” Mind Shift. KQED: This great pdf guideline really represents how teachers can use video as an incredible medium to teach children. It offers so many examples of what students can watch from TED Talks, to PBS, to NOVA and Cosmos. It evaluates how teachers can create content and incorporate it into YouTube thanks to groups and systems available. It brings up some fascinating examples and I think it covers so much of what I wanted to cover in this essay from the creation process to the impact YouTube has to students and what it can do for education.

Dubisar, Abby and Jason Palmeri. “Palin/Pathos/Peter Griffin: Political Video Remix and Composition Pedagogy.”: Dubisar and Palmeri wanted to focus on the political aspects of YouTube, as many campaigns and politicans are viewing the Internet as the biggest platform for connecting with potential voters and listeners. As YouTube handles several issues in a comedic fashion (like remixing their speeches so they sing songs), they want to become modern satirists who can change a person’s perspective by looking at their more fallible qualities. New media is very significant for political rhetoric because it can reach new audiences while simultaneously being indirect. YouTube’s influence extends to several important societal concerns for students.

Rheingold, Howard. Net Smart: How to Thrive Online: Rheingold makes it clear that every website has a core following because it provides a service that can’t be matched in size, quality, or content. We value thoughts differently due to how social networking has changed with programs like YouTube and Facebook and we view each user with a greater value by attaching a visual representative or avatar to that person. People are required to connect with a greater level of depth, which can lead to stronger relationships between creator and audience.

Thompson, Cadie, ed. “YouTube Reaches 1 Billion Users Milestone.” CNBC. <http://www.cnbc.com/id/100575883&gt;: I wanted to cover CBNC’s opinion on this YouTube milestone to emphasis the potential YouTube has for people to experiment by creating videos. Many videos have broken the 1 billion-viewer mark, so I want to emphasize you can grow an audience outside of your students to teach or influence more people. And this is very recent, considering YouTube has only been around for about 8 years.

Workpress Research Log for Project 3

My Workpress Research Log for Project 3!

Christakis, Nicholas, and James Fowler. Connected: The Surprising Power of Our Social Networks and How They Shape Our Lives: Connected provides a sense of reflecting on human society and how social networking has always succeeded. It breaks down how a global community makes us value various opinions, but we have to adapt to the rate of all this information. Facebook is the new face of what Social Network could be.

http://kairos.technorhetoric.net/16.1/praxis/balzhiser-et-al/notes.html: The Facebook Pages is a rather unique presentation of creating a classroom and submitting assignments/personal information through a Facebook presentation. It shows that we value Facebook for bringing us closer and giving us more ways to understand others, but it can be overwhelming to look at so much at once.

Rheingold, Howard. Net Smart: How to Thrive Online: Rheingold makes us understand that Facebook, as useful as it is, presents new challenges within the outside world. We value thoughts differently due to the impact of Facebook and we have to view each profile as an new prospective to that same person. It could drastically affect your life to try and have a mix-life balancing both types of communication.

Turkle, Sherry. Alone Together: Alone Together is Turkle coming to a realization of how technology has made us connect with one another at a greater scale, but make us still feel isolated and lonely. I wanted to bring Turkle’s perspective, because she had a lot of personal friends who she called upon within the book. She really reflected over how looking over so many people at once creates a new feeling responsibility and anxiousness, as we can observe everyone while everyone can observe us.

Workpress Research Log for Project 2

Hey everybody, I’ve made a great image about the history of laptops in society, using the website Piktochart. I think you’d all really like this presentation.

https://magic.piktochart.com/output/8614870d-4592-42ed-ac46-387c2c9336e6

Here are the sources I used when researching for the project and why I used them!

http://blog.laptop.org/2010/07/15/impact-of-laptops-in-education/#.UZ1DPuv3ikK: The One Laptop Per Child Organization has goal to offer laptops to all students because they believe that the Internet is such a large-scale phenomenon, that it has changed the course of all natural education. It provided some good details about what one of their laptops would be if the project could reach full funding. 

http://blog.laptop.org/2010/07/15/impact-of-laptops-in-education/: This presentation provided a lot of great information for the project as a whole, covering the history of Laptops from the 1980s to the 1990s. He especially highlighted the importance of the Omission 1 and the GRiD Compass 1101. 

http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-31012_7-10378240-10355804.html: This set of reviews and guidelines from CNET gives a great amount of representation of the market and current availability of the Netbook. Netbooks were looked at as the new future for laptops as they were faster, lighter, and aimed for students.

http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewnews.html?id=213: This website was one of many that highlighted the influence and cost of the famous Tandy Computer TRS-80. However, it noted a lot of information about the first Apple computer, the Macbook Portable. It’s primarily because it was the first device to send e-mail through space, but the Macbook is infamous for it’s costs, than anything else.

http://sllapontamentos.blogspot.com/2011/07/history-and-origin-of-laptop-batteries.html: This blog gave a very nice detail of the history of laptop batteries through the decades. Batteries started with heavy lead-acid batteries, then moving to Nickel, and finally ending up with Lithium-Ion batteries we use now. Unfortunately, the blog was not updated that much, but it did provide very adequate information. 

Screencaptures of Different Templates

I’ve been thinking about using something new for this blog within the capabilities of WordPress. What do you all think looks nicest between the current layout and some new ones?

We have the current layout as you see now…

The secondary layout I’ve considered…

And the final, professional layout I’ve been looking at, but it would require special downloads to get. It’s very industrial and has bold colors, but the city theme fits very well with myself.

What do you all think looks the best in terms of visual design? How does it connect to you?

WordPress Research Log for Project 1

I wrote an article for my first project related to writing an article about Laptops to Wired.com. These were some great sources I found through my research.

http://en.community.dell.com/dell-blogs/direct2dell/b/direct2dell/archive/2011/11/08/history-of-laptops-portable-computing-from-1997-to-2011.aspx: A 15 year timeline of the technical restraints and hardware specifications of laptops through the years, observing all of the major companies of Dell, IBM, Toshiba, Apple, Sony, and Hewlett-Packard.

http://www.gse.uci.edu/person/warschauer_m/docs/writing-with-laptops.pdf: This study reflects on the positives of giving students laptops for an easier understanding of the lectures. However, there are concern to hooking up children to laptops, usually by a necessity for feedback and interaction using the programs. But this does benefit those children who have issues with handwriting.  There’s also the matter over how the text and information is exposed to the same students.

http://kairos.technorhetoric.net/9.1/coverweb/meeks/: This scholarly article emphasizes the importance of space and how a student with a laptop separates him/herself from other students and the teacher. There are different perimeters for how the education is set up as well, considering the development of Blackboard and learning through websites and documents/pdfs that are sent through e-mail.

http://blog.laptop.org/2010/07/15/impact-of-laptops-in-education/#.UZ1DPuv3ikK: The One Laptop Per Child Organization has goal to offer laptops to all students because they believe that the Internet is such a large-scale phenomenon, that it has changed the course of all natural education.

Discussion 3: The Digital Divides

Question: Looking at articles about Internet Access relative to certain demographics, what how has the American society mostly changed from the availability and cost of the Internet?

This is the article that really helped me out: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/04/opinion/sunday/internet-access-and-the-new-divide.html?pagewanted=all&_r=1&

As I read articles brought up the subject of a “digital divide,” I would remember my teenage years, as technology was available, but only a select number of people could pay for it or have it available within a certain area. At this point, some kids will be too young to know about the “dark ages” of the Internet, with incredibly slow dial-up speeds that cut off the access to your home phone. The impact of the Internet to work and play environments has vastly changed the way we live.

The Internet is the most valuable resource for a good portion of the world. I know several people who choose Internet for their sole luxury, because it offers an all-in-one package of entertainment and information. Communications can extend to all across the United States because the nation understands the importance of this technology. However, the rate that the country updates is completely scattered. While 100mb a second may be fast, some areas are even faster. Google Fiber, for example, is making things incredible for people in St. Louis and is now branching out into select cities. This does feel somewhat like a natural process, as digital trends take time before they really become mainstream. 

I think while some of the boundaries of Internet availability have been broken, Susan B. Crawford is absolutely correct when it comes to corporate influence. “A lack of competition from other cable companies or alternate delivery technologies, each of the country’s large cable distributors has the ability to raise prices in its region for high-speed Internet services.” That can be very detrimental to someone depending on where they live. Comcast has incredible control of one aspect of the market. Phones are even worse, as people have to become devoted to one provider and they can charge various fees depending on the situation, similar to making transactions with different banks. 

I believe the bigger question to Internet Access and the Digital Divide is how much it impacts the users. It’s hard for some of us to imagine where we would be without the Internet now, even statistics showing that only 1 in 5 adults DO NOT use it. However, the strongest people on the Internet are those who know how to use it to the fullest extent. Does that require a fast connection? Is a slow connection even that much a problem anymore? Or is it mostly about using your personal and communication skills in a new medium to connect with other people or form stronger relationships. We’ve even broken that text border thanks to programs such as Facetime and Skype, because so many little technical advances have been added to modern computers and devices. (Cameras, Microphones, Special Disk Players, Expansion Ports). Similar to many other social skills such as math, taxes, speech and English, I believe studying how to use the Internet will become the new normal to make us more advanced with the world. And that’s where the real digital divide will come from, if you can make that leap or if the lack of change affects you greatly. 

Discussion 2: Defining Digital Literacy

Question:  What is your own definition of digital literacy and how does a working definition of digital literacy useful for a class on computers and writing?

I believe digital literacy is defined by the ability to understand technological terms and processes about the field of electronics. Literacy is very open to what it can be defined to, but when you add the word “digital” to it, it has a narrow focus. Similar to how computers were decades ago, the concept of digital literacy could be seen as something very specific appealing only to the language of computers or understanding codes and databases. 

However, considering how technology has expanded to many aspects of our lives, digital literacy can connect to any scientific convenience. Literature is simply about writing, reading, and interpreting languages. You are performing digital literacy whenever you are reading a manual or understanding words written about the subject of technology, which includes software, hardware, appliances, cell phones, or other devices. It is a very open concept as we are using a visuals in tandem more with literature. We press an icon or select it and it brings up a new subject. Digital Literacy is all about the distribution of information, especially how we use it to learn or communicate. 

To bring up a tangent, I took a class last semester called “Studies in Literacy” which covered more types of literacy aside from books and literature. What opened my eyes to new forms of digital literacy was when we read The Art of Game Design: A Book of Lenses by James Schell. And Game Design goes beyond the idea of art design and programming languages, but it asked readers to compose games through very simple, but deep ideas. Any project is composed of aesthetics, mechanics, story, and technology, so that has really translated well to learning through digital literacy. 

To become involved in digital literacy is a very simple process. We are involved in it right now. It comes from a desire to learn about technology and the digital capabilities of everything around us. Digital Literacy roots itself in machinery so it comes down to learning about any basic or complex for of technology. It is a concept that can be very deep, if necessary. 

Discussion 1: Distance Learning about Computers…in the Past?

Question: You want to take a distance course about computers in 1985. What technologies and resources would universities have at the time? How much contact would you have with the professor/other students? How would your sense of writing/composing the assignments be different?

I imagine a course about the subject on writing and computers in 1985 would be quite difficult, due to the inert and limited knowledge at the time. We would only be able to rely on manuals and computer textbooks at the time that would only be available at local libraries. My mom would tell me that classes that focused specifically on typing developed in the 1960s, so I imagine we would still use the IBM typewriters. Unless the university had access to very expensive, state-of-the-art computers at the time with floppy disks, we would have to bring or mail copies to the teacher individually in order for this to be a real distance course. It would be very linear because of the lack of information and keeping up open channels of communication would be very difficult. I’d have to find other students within the area and talk to them if I needed some kind of help or confirmation. 

I really enjoy taking online courses, because they have a definite structure based around time and content and allow students to work at their own pace and at the comfort of their own home. Most of the work focuses on talking with others and doing writing assignments. I have to commute to JMU on a daily basis, so I’m very thankful for setups such as this. If there are any weaknesses, it’s that you don’t get automatic feedback when you have a question to a student or the teacher, and it’s very easy to slack off in an environment such as this. 

I do believe that technology will reach a point where writing on a device will be available for everyone, so we can all access the same website and information without trouble. And I do like the idea that the cloud will replace normal PC storage, since it’s such a wonderful convenience. Blackboard used to be secondary years ago, but now it’s very prominent towards every class and Canvas is expanding on these offers. Having all of these readings and assignments available is what makes online classes much more efficient these days. It makes the four week period much more manageable when all the work is displayed at once and the communication with the teacher is very direct because we are all on the same field. 

There’s so much available out there and so much of our technology is connecting to itself, I’m surprised there aren’t more online/distance classes. It saves so much on time and money, that I can see it becoming the norm within a few years. 

For a timeline, I looked at the storage aspect of computers and came across this neat display: http://www.computerhistory.org/timeline/?category=stor. Definitely check this out to discovery what was available at the time. 

Welcome!

This is my first blog post for WRTC 332. It’ll be a busy 4 weeks to update this blog and work on everything else, but I enjoy the challenge! Hope we all do great this semester!

-Scott Johnson