Monday, September 28, 2009
First English Essay Rough Draft
Here is the link to my first English essay in college!!! I hope it is decent.
Sunday, September 27, 2009
An Overview
When we started class I thought that blogging was a way for smart people to throw their technical ideas around on the internet; little did I know that it was for everyone even people like me who use the internet for its basic uses. Over the past few weeks I have developed a new respect for the blogging world as it is an art to me, not a way for geeks to show their technical genius by giving advice that the common man would not know. I can now get online and express my feelings freely (well certain feelings) and instantly to a crowd who will either accept me or criticize me. Either way the fact that I am able to write things and “publish” them is amazing.
The great thing that really made blogging very interesting to me is how easy it is to blog and post whatever I wrote in a matter of seconds. The one issue that I have with blogging is that if I make a mistake or say something wrong, it is public so anyone can rip what I say in pieces and make a public spectacle of me. Furthermore, blogs aren’t as reliable as articles or other pieces that have been edited or revised by multiple people.
Throughout the past five weeks I have not changed my internet habits as much, and my view hasn’t changed much either on reading and writing on the web. I still do not have a different view on pieces on the web because I have not read as many blogs as I should. For me the pieces that I read are on news websites such as CNN.com or abcnews.com and they are edited and go through a system to make sure they are accurate. Nevertheless, I can say that I see the arguments that some people make that writing has changed compared to newspaper writing as writing on the internet is easier. I think that writing for a newspaper is more competitive than online because if you want to be published online you have to do your best because of the limited space; if you write for an online website you are able to put as many articles as you want online.
The great thing that really made blogging very interesting to me is how easy it is to blog and post whatever I wrote in a matter of seconds. The one issue that I have with blogging is that if I make a mistake or say something wrong, it is public so anyone can rip what I say in pieces and make a public spectacle of me. Furthermore, blogs aren’t as reliable as articles or other pieces that have been edited or revised by multiple people.
Throughout the past five weeks I have not changed my internet habits as much, and my view hasn’t changed much either on reading and writing on the web. I still do not have a different view on pieces on the web because I have not read as many blogs as I should. For me the pieces that I read are on news websites such as CNN.com or abcnews.com and they are edited and go through a system to make sure they are accurate. Nevertheless, I can say that I see the arguments that some people make that writing has changed compared to newspaper writing as writing on the internet is easier. I think that writing for a newspaper is more competitive than online because if you want to be published online you have to do your best because of the limited space; if you write for an online website you are able to put as many articles as you want online.
Friday, September 25, 2009
High School Learning Article
Saturday, September 19, 2009
What is Really Happening to us?
Hedges knows these are bad days for newsrooms because he is not blind like the rest of us. Every day, a news organization or a famous newspaper reports losses or the need to shut down after numerous years serving its customers and giving them what they need, the real stories. Hedges believes that “the rise of the corporate state, the loss of civic and public responsibility on the part of much of our entrepreneurial class and the intellectual poverty of our post-literate world, a world where information is conveyed primarily through rapidly moving images rather than print.” (1). Basically, he is saying that technology isn’t the only reason that we are losing this institute of journalism slowly, but because we are too stupid to figure out what we are about to lose, and that giants such as Time Warner, and GE want to get their hands messy with the worlds events, especially politics. Hedges does an excellent job of countering the most common excuse about people using the newspapers’ websites; however, the time spent is much less that what it would take to read a newspaper and the internet is the easy way out, the shortcut to get what you want and get it fast.
Clive Thompson unlike Hedges sees the internet revolution the way I see it, the way most of my fellow classmates see it, and the way most people in America see it; it is progress. Unlike past generations, writing is a daily part of most teenagers’ lives. Instead watching television or doing something unproductive, most students get online and start typing and talking with one another and with people all around the world. As Thompson points out through one of his sources, Lunsford, the writing that is done on these sites do not translate into scholarly papers that are turned in at school. Rather than this being the decline of the literate America; maybe we are experiencing the revolution of our generation in which we are able to comprehend more at a quicker pace and continue practicing becoming more intelligent through the use of the internet via Facebook, CNN, etc.
Hedges and Thompson would most likely get into a duel over the pros and cons of the internet with both sides making valid points. Hedges shows us how as a nation; we are losing a valuable part of our culture that has withstood the test of time until now. Thompson on the other hand doesn’t go into this topic but shows how the excuse that Hedges makes, which basically is online journalism and social networking is actually a pro for us as a society and that it is helping us evolve with the time and increasing our intelligence rather than decreasing it and making us illiterate. While Thompson seems to be talking more formally, Hedges seems to be reaching out to a larger audience that can help slow down the fall of the newspaper/print media age.
Clive Thompson unlike Hedges sees the internet revolution the way I see it, the way most of my fellow classmates see it, and the way most people in America see it; it is progress. Unlike past generations, writing is a daily part of most teenagers’ lives. Instead watching television or doing something unproductive, most students get online and start typing and talking with one another and with people all around the world. As Thompson points out through one of his sources, Lunsford, the writing that is done on these sites do not translate into scholarly papers that are turned in at school. Rather than this being the decline of the literate America; maybe we are experiencing the revolution of our generation in which we are able to comprehend more at a quicker pace and continue practicing becoming more intelligent through the use of the internet via Facebook, CNN, etc.
Hedges and Thompson would most likely get into a duel over the pros and cons of the internet with both sides making valid points. Hedges shows us how as a nation; we are losing a valuable part of our culture that has withstood the test of time until now. Thompson on the other hand doesn’t go into this topic but shows how the excuse that Hedges makes, which basically is online journalism and social networking is actually a pro for us as a society and that it is helping us evolve with the time and increasing our intelligence rather than decreasing it and making us illiterate. While Thompson seems to be talking more formally, Hedges seems to be reaching out to a larger audience that can help slow down the fall of the newspaper/print media age.
Thursday, September 17, 2009
The Dumbest Generation?!
Hodges starts off his piece by squeezing lemon juice on America's most recent and sensitive cut. Hodges explains how the country now has become so lazy that even political campaigns have shifted their tactics to accommodate this decrease in literacy. He explains his reasoning and gives examples as recent as the past presidential campaign in which key terms where what defined the person and what they believed in. Hodges says that companies and candidates have, "catered to a nation that now lives in a permanent state of amnesia," (1) this "image-based society" (2). Hodges defines America as illiterate because "It cannot differentiate between lies and truth" (1).
The part of Hodges' article that confused me the most was that of how the transformation has affected Christians and in general the consumer culture. As both of these subjects seem seperate to me, Hodges says that because the use of television and images that truth and fact are now not an option and the people who are part of this deception are using force to get their message out. I am not sure where he got that or is going with this idea but nevertheless, it is included in his piece.
Hodges and Carr both highlight the key to what technology is doing to people in general all around the world. They both indicate how now with the advances in technology people are in need of constant stimulus. The fact that people cannot sit down and think, as as Carr sees in 2001: A Space Odessy, and Hodges sees as an illiterate is a red flag that we are slowly degrading ourselves abd that sooner than later we will not be able to comprehend the smallest things as Hodges noted about parents and their children. He notes that the little things are starting to be difficult for people such as filling out forms about themselves or getting scammed by false deals and unrealistic benefits.
The part of Hodges' article that confused me the most was that of how the transformation has affected Christians and in general the consumer culture. As both of these subjects seem seperate to me, Hodges says that because the use of television and images that truth and fact are now not an option and the people who are part of this deception are using force to get their message out. I am not sure where he got that or is going with this idea but nevertheless, it is included in his piece.
Hodges and Carr both highlight the key to what technology is doing to people in general all around the world. They both indicate how now with the advances in technology people are in need of constant stimulus. The fact that people cannot sit down and think, as as Carr sees in 2001: A Space Odessy, and Hodges sees as an illiterate is a red flag that we are slowly degrading ourselves abd that sooner than later we will not be able to comprehend the smallest things as Hodges noted about parents and their children. He notes that the little things are starting to be difficult for people such as filling out forms about themselves or getting scammed by false deals and unrealistic benefits.
Monday, September 14, 2009
Are We Slowing Losing our Touch?
After reading Carr’s piece about the fears he has that search engines and the internet is making is stupider, I realize that I am not the only one who has noticed a difference in the way I function; and not only myself, but also everyone around me and even education itself. Nicholas Carr answers this question as follows, “If we lose those quiet spaces, or fill them up with “content,” we will sacrifice something important not only in our selves but in our culture.” (7). Carr believes that the internet is taking away different parts of our brain and making them have desolate spots which are ignited only by a new event on the internet such as breaking news, a new email, instant message, or text on our phones. The sense that slowly piece by piece we are being stripped of our intellectual attributes and becoming machines and trading spots with the machines we created as he compares us to the final scene in the book, 2001: A Space Odyssey. He believes that we are using our minds differently by being able to navigate on the internet but becoming so dependent on websites such as Google that we are losing that skill of searching things in libraries for example or critical thinking.
Our conversation in class today however, makes Carr’s argument difficult to swallow; these websites do make us lazier, but allow us to be able to take in more information quickly and be able to store it in our heads. With a click of a button we are able to jump from one culture to another and learn about them. Unlike the old methods of doing research on other countries/different regions or whatnot by getting the most recent library book available which could be an outdated copy, you can go online and explore the world firsthand and get immediate updates if necessary. Nevertheless, on a personal note, I have to agree with Carr that our way of thinking and translating the information we get has changed; now the thought process is if the information is not recent as in the last five minutes recent, then its old news and we need to move on to another site/activity to do.
Our conversation in class today however, makes Carr’s argument difficult to swallow; these websites do make us lazier, but allow us to be able to take in more information quickly and be able to store it in our heads. With a click of a button we are able to jump from one culture to another and learn about them. Unlike the old methods of doing research on other countries/different regions or whatnot by getting the most recent library book available which could be an outdated copy, you can go online and explore the world firsthand and get immediate updates if necessary. Nevertheless, on a personal note, I have to agree with Carr that our way of thinking and translating the information we get has changed; now the thought process is if the information is not recent as in the last five minutes recent, then its old news and we need to move on to another site/activity to do.
Saturday, September 12, 2009
Harris' Introduction
Joseph Harris takes reading and writing to a new and more personal level than I possibly could have imagined. It is the probably the blatant way he tells us that we aren’t really reading books but rather getting the information and “forwarding” it to either another source or just writing it down in different words. Harris does not believe this is the true way to read; rather, when reading and writing you need to understand what you are reading and writing; it is a matter of diving into the text and researching what you are dealing with in a way. He mentions how there will be a personal bias or what I see as just the readers’ beliefs included in the response to a piece. Furthermore, Harris makes writing out to be a social activity rather than a personal one as is the common thought with most pieces written.
Sullivan and Harris have a decent connection I believe when it comes to the writing as a social activity. When I think about blogging, everyone is able to read what is being written by the specific blogger and comment on it which makes it more personal for the interested readers out there. In addition to this, blogs are flexible unlike the kind of writing Harris is talking about and are capable of being transformed to give the audience a better understanding and even examples through other sources. Nevertheless, most writings go back to what Harris was saying, which is that a main document being repeated again, and includes an idea that was evoked by the piece or your understanding. In the end, I believe that Joseph Harris was telling us that what we do is rewrite information and add a personal spin to it; the goal is not to lose focus of what the original piece is but to react to it after understanding it thoroughly.
Sullivan and Harris have a decent connection I believe when it comes to the writing as a social activity. When I think about blogging, everyone is able to read what is being written by the specific blogger and comment on it which makes it more personal for the interested readers out there. In addition to this, blogs are flexible unlike the kind of writing Harris is talking about and are capable of being transformed to give the audience a better understanding and even examples through other sources. Nevertheless, most writings go back to what Harris was saying, which is that a main document being repeated again, and includes an idea that was evoked by the piece or your understanding. In the end, I believe that Joseph Harris was telling us that what we do is rewrite information and add a personal spin to it; the goal is not to lose focus of what the original piece is but to react to it after understanding it thoroughly.
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Internet Habits
As I compare my internet habits with those of my fellow classmates, it relieves me that everyone has the same general habits. It may be that we all are part of this new digital age so we have the same habits, or it may be that the internet has once again connected us through unorthodox means. While looking through the list that was complied on the board I realized how social networking sites are the number one place where most people spend their time. For most people other forms of entertainment came in a more mature form as reading the news websites, listening to music, and reading blogs and whatnot.
I was intrigued in all honesty that the internet habits we share are similar; how could it be that people from different walks of life who never knew each other have similar habits? Then it struck me that even though we come from different backgrounds, society has gotten the best out of us. As I kept looking at the list of websites, it struck me how what we read online is actually reflected in our reading and writing skills. Most of us go to some sort of website that requires us to read; whether it’s a news site, social networking site, entertainment site, or blogging site, we read at a pace that will allow us to achieve getting the most information we can at the least amount of time as possible. The way information is relayed out to us now on news sites and other places online has transformed our brains in a way to be hyper and be ready for updates ever so often and to look for key words. Now when we read books we are hyper in a sense to get the main point of what we are reading so that we can translate it into a useful sense. Nevertheless, there were some websites on the list that were just for fun or relaxation such as Pandora.com, megavideo.com, youtube.com, and a few more. Even though the internet can be a major portal for information, it still is used for entertainment. It is funny as I reread this that I can even put this online when only a few years ago having internet was a luxury rather than a commodity that now almost every student has.
I was intrigued in all honesty that the internet habits we share are similar; how could it be that people from different walks of life who never knew each other have similar habits? Then it struck me that even though we come from different backgrounds, society has gotten the best out of us. As I kept looking at the list of websites, it struck me how what we read online is actually reflected in our reading and writing skills. Most of us go to some sort of website that requires us to read; whether it’s a news site, social networking site, entertainment site, or blogging site, we read at a pace that will allow us to achieve getting the most information we can at the least amount of time as possible. The way information is relayed out to us now on news sites and other places online has transformed our brains in a way to be hyper and be ready for updates ever so often and to look for key words. Now when we read books we are hyper in a sense to get the main point of what we are reading so that we can translate it into a useful sense. Nevertheless, there were some websites on the list that were just for fun or relaxation such as Pandora.com, megavideo.com, youtube.com, and a few more. Even though the internet can be a major portal for information, it still is used for entertainment. It is funny as I reread this that I can even put this online when only a few years ago having internet was a luxury rather than a commodity that now almost every student has.
Monday, September 7, 2009
It's either I'm addicted or I have no life...
So our assignment for this next blog was to write down a list of what our internet habits are and what times of the day do we get on. As I review my list, I see that there is no list; it is me just getting on Facebook, not finding anyone to socialize with and then just going to my comfort which are the different news websites were I read about how the world a horrible place and we are all in for it in the long run. Furthermore, there are the occasional moments where I check my email to make sure that I don’t miss out on something important involving one of my classes or the university as a whole. This is how my weekend looked for the most part.
Saturday
11:17 A.M. www.facebook.com
• Check for messages, posts or requests.
11:19 A.M. www.cnn.com
11:20 A.M. www.foxnews.com
11:22 A.M. www.abcnews.com
11:45 A.M. gwwebic.louisville.edu
• Checked email
12:29 PM. Skype- talked with a friend
2:03 P.M. www.facebook.com
• Check for messages, posts or requests.
2:15 P.M. www.cnn.com
9:37 P.M. www.facebook.com
• Check for messages, posts or requests.
11:29 P.M. www.goarch.org
11:34 P.M. www.foxnews.com
11:35 P.M. www.facebook.com
• Check for messages, posts or requests.
Sunday
4:06 P.M. www.facebook.com
• Check for messages, posts or requests.
4:14 P.M. www.cnn.com
4:17 P.M. www.cbsnews.com
4:20 P.M. gwwebic.louisville.edu
• Checked email
5:13 P.M. www.facebook.com
• Check for messages, posts or requests.
5:14 P.M. www.fmylife.com
5:23 P.M. mylifeisaverage.com
8:12 P.M. www.facebook.com
• Check for messages, posts or requests.
8:18 P.M. www.megavideo.com
• Watched a movie
1:35 A.M. www.facebook.com
• Check for messages, posts or requests.
1:37 A.M. www.youtube.com
• Listened to music
As you can see it this past weekend was not exactly the most productive of weekends on the internet, but I did manage to use up a lot of my time either reading the news or checking my useless Facebook account. Nevertheless, I do realize that there were some moments where I went to a website that was useful such as the ones where I watched movies on and chatted with my friends.
Saturday
11:17 A.M. www.facebook.com
• Check for messages, posts or requests.
11:19 A.M. www.cnn.com
11:20 A.M. www.foxnews.com
11:22 A.M. www.abcnews.com
11:45 A.M. gwwebic.louisville.edu
• Checked email
12:29 PM. Skype- talked with a friend
2:03 P.M. www.facebook.com
• Check for messages, posts or requests.
2:15 P.M. www.cnn.com
9:37 P.M. www.facebook.com
• Check for messages, posts or requests.
11:29 P.M. www.goarch.org
11:34 P.M. www.foxnews.com
11:35 P.M. www.facebook.com
• Check for messages, posts or requests.
Sunday
4:06 P.M. www.facebook.com
• Check for messages, posts or requests.
4:14 P.M. www.cnn.com
4:17 P.M. www.cbsnews.com
4:20 P.M. gwwebic.louisville.edu
• Checked email
5:13 P.M. www.facebook.com
• Check for messages, posts or requests.
5:14 P.M. www.fmylife.com
5:23 P.M. mylifeisaverage.com
8:12 P.M. www.facebook.com
• Check for messages, posts or requests.
8:18 P.M. www.megavideo.com
• Watched a movie
1:35 A.M. www.facebook.com
• Check for messages, posts or requests.
1:37 A.M. www.youtube.com
• Listened to music
As you can see it this past weekend was not exactly the most productive of weekends on the internet, but I did manage to use up a lot of my time either reading the news or checking my useless Facebook account. Nevertheless, I do realize that there were some moments where I went to a website that was useful such as the ones where I watched movies on and chatted with my friends.
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Sullivan's Reasons For Blogging
As I am reading this piece written by Andrew Sullivan, I see how even though he has many reasons to blog, it seems like he has an inner battle with himself over what the reason is that he blogs. First and foremost like many other bloggers, Sullivan says, "Blogging is therefore to writing what extreme sports are to athletics: more free-form, more accident-prone, less formal, more alive." (2,3, iii). Furthermore, he explains how in the past the pains of publishing work used to cost time and money but now there is no trouble with that thanks to blogging as he says, "Every writer since the printing press has longed for a means to publish himself and reach—instantly—any reader on Earth." (3,4, ii-iii). Nevertheless, it is evident that blogging is a more personal form of writing that he sees as a portal to a writers core in a way. With blogging allowing a person to write what he/she thinks immediately and unedited true thoughts come out but with a risk. "Writers can be sensitive, vain souls, requiring gentle nurturing from editors, and oddly susceptible to the blows delivered by reviewers." (3, 6, i-ii). In the end, I believe that Sullivan is telling us that the freedom associated with blogging is the reason for its popularity; there are risks involved; however, it is worth it because the pros out due the cons. Rather than going through the process that the past technology required us to, everyone can keep an online diary to keep their thoughts and dreams alive.
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