I would have to admit, I was a bit skeptical when I first heard that this class was going structured toward online blogging. Mainly because I was afraid of what others would think of my writing, mainly in comments. I also had doubt on how this new writing medium would affect my writing.
As we progressed through the course I found that the audience did in fact have an impact on my writing. I was more aware of who my writing was intended for. Instead of writing for one person to read, my writing was more focused toward a wider range of audience. The comments received also helped me in my writing. The comments brought up many questions which made me analyze my thoughts even further.
I found the discussion topics to be very interesting. It seemed that with every comment made, a new topic would emerge, which brought up many questions and thoughts. Although I was afraid to share my thoughts in discussion, I was still very engaged in what others had to say. The interesting topics compelled me to not miss a day of class. As matter of fact, I believe this is the only class that I have attended every day.
In my opinion, the most challenging part of this course would have to be the group projects. Mainly because of the time and effort that was put into these projects. Although challenging, our project has taught me a great deal about many of the keywords we studied in class. I have learned to analyze different forms of mediums more deeply. In addition to the knowledge gained, working with my group members was very enjoyable.
In retrospect, this course was very exciting overall. It has brought new perspective toward the average writing class. I believe many students would be interested in a class similar to this one. Maybe the University should add a writing course structured solely toward online blogging.
P.S. It would have been great to see you present your project on Google Earth!
Thanks for everything.
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Land
The OED (Oxford English Dictionary) defines land simply as “The solid portion of the earth's surface, as opposed to sea, water”. It is derived from the French origin term lande meaning “heath” meaning “uncultivated wasteland”. However this definition can be expanded and interpreted in many ways in terms of economics, ownership, and territory.
Land can be a very complicated and controversial issue in terms of land purchasing. Many questions come to mind when thinking of this issue, such as: Who has the right of say on who can own and purchase land? Can anyone own land? When was land first distributed as property? Was it back when dinosaurs roamed the earth and fought for territory? Dating back to the 7th century, the term land was viewed as political boundaries, separating territories. This brings up the term Native land, or in other words, homeland.
Homeland refers to ones native country or nation from which they originated. Seven years ago to the day, The United States was attacked by terrorist and as a result, The Department of Homeland Security which is “responsible for assessing the nation's vulnerabilities.” was created (in 2002). Analyzing the title, “The Department of Homeland Security”, it seems as if it means the protection of one’s native country; the protection of Native Americans, but it is really only assessing the vulnerabilities of the United States.
Property such as houses and apartments that are rented can be seen as a form of landed property. Wikipedia defines this as the “property that generates income for the owner without the owner having to do the actual work”. This interprets land as a form of capitalism by itself. This issue can be pushed even further into different mediums such as virtual reality. For example, in the virtual world of second life, it is possible for virtual land to be purchased and marketed as a form of capitalism. In the presentation for “Second Life”, we were brought to an art gallery of some sort. In this gallery, there were art work, but in order to view the art, we would have to pay. This can be interpreted as landed property on a virtual surface. This brings up the issue of land ownership and private property.
In this day and age, land purchasing and land ownership is not uncommon. People can purchase land all around the United States for low cost. Upon purchasing land, it can be then called private property. Private property is defined as “property owned by an individual”. What one person was determined to own the majority of land on earth? It would limit where people could go. Is this the same as imprisonment? Looking back on AmericanSingles.com, the limiting features practically provoked users into subscribing. This medium can be described as another form of landed property. The website owned by Sparks Networks is practically another form of capitalism itself. The site was setup at some point, and then the company relied on users to actually subscribe to the sites membership. No work was being done.
Technology has expanded the definition of the term land in many ways. A term once used to describe the surface of the earth is now used to mark territory and convey ownership not only in the real world, but in virtual worlds as well.
Wikipedia.com
OED
US Land and Ranches
Homeland Security
Land can be a very complicated and controversial issue in terms of land purchasing. Many questions come to mind when thinking of this issue, such as: Who has the right of say on who can own and purchase land? Can anyone own land? When was land first distributed as property? Was it back when dinosaurs roamed the earth and fought for territory? Dating back to the 7th century, the term land was viewed as political boundaries, separating territories. This brings up the term Native land, or in other words, homeland.
Homeland refers to ones native country or nation from which they originated. Seven years ago to the day, The United States was attacked by terrorist and as a result, The Department of Homeland Security which is “responsible for assessing the nation's vulnerabilities.” was created (in 2002). Analyzing the title, “The Department of Homeland Security”, it seems as if it means the protection of one’s native country; the protection of Native Americans, but it is really only assessing the vulnerabilities of the United States.
Property such as houses and apartments that are rented can be seen as a form of landed property. Wikipedia defines this as the “property that generates income for the owner without the owner having to do the actual work”. This interprets land as a form of capitalism by itself. This issue can be pushed even further into different mediums such as virtual reality. For example, in the virtual world of second life, it is possible for virtual land to be purchased and marketed as a form of capitalism. In the presentation for “Second Life”, we were brought to an art gallery of some sort. In this gallery, there were art work, but in order to view the art, we would have to pay. This can be interpreted as landed property on a virtual surface. This brings up the issue of land ownership and private property.
In this day and age, land purchasing and land ownership is not uncommon. People can purchase land all around the United States for low cost. Upon purchasing land, it can be then called private property. Private property is defined as “property owned by an individual”. What one person was determined to own the majority of land on earth? It would limit where people could go. Is this the same as imprisonment? Looking back on AmericanSingles.com, the limiting features practically provoked users into subscribing. This medium can be described as another form of landed property. The website owned by Sparks Networks is practically another form of capitalism itself. The site was setup at some point, and then the company relied on users to actually subscribe to the sites membership. No work was being done.
Technology has expanded the definition of the term land in many ways. A term once used to describe the surface of the earth is now used to mark territory and convey ownership not only in the real world, but in virtual worlds as well.
Wikipedia.com
OED
US Land and Ranches
Homeland Security
Friday, September 5, 2008
A Guitar and my Identity
Two years ago I decided that I wanted to learn how to play the guitar. I spent hours a day practicing until my fingers were blistered and drenched in pain. Each day I progressed and became noticeably better. After a year of concentrated practice on a friend’s guitar, I decided it was time to purchase a guitar of my own. I browsed through musicianfriends.com and found the Schechter C-1 Plus. This is the first and only electric guitar I own which is why it has a lot of meaning to me. Although I was unable to take the actual picture of my guitar due to the lack of a camera, I was able to find an image on the web.
From the image, you can see that the colors on the body are very appealing. The sunburst shades of orange combined with the dark border line gives the guitar an aggressive look. In addition to the body, most of the features are a metallic chrome color, such as the knobs and pickups, which also makes the guitar appealing to potential customers. The superficial design on the fretboard looks somewhat like small spacecrafts, giving the guitar a unique look. The neck of the guitar is the perfect size for the hand to grip around. The guitar as a whole is shaped as an axe, which is where the slang term for a guitar, “axe”, came from.
Although guitars can be a form of art with attractive designs and features, the real art in a guitar comes from the creative sounds it produces by plucking of the strings. The vibrations in the strings are received by the pickups, which sends the signal to an amplifier which produces sound. These sounds, depending on what is played, can bring out different emotions and feelings in people.
Not just anyone has the ability pick up a guitar and start playing. It takes time and practice, which requires patience. Whether playing as a hobby or professionally, guitarist of all genders and racial backgrounds understands the complexity and lengthy process it takes to become good. It takes a lot of passion and desire in order to be a decent guitarist. With enough desire, even people without hands have learned to play the guitar.
The more I played, the more my skill level increased, and I began to play my own style of music, which became a part of my identity. Because of the countless hours I have spent playing my guitar, I have integrated into one with it. I now perceive music in a different way than I did before. I get an amazing feeling when I play; the sounds bring out all emotions within me.
Although the object in the picture is not my actual guitar, I look at it a see a symbol that represents my personality. It’s like the guitar and I are one. It has become a part of my identity.
From the image, you can see that the colors on the body are very appealing. The sunburst shades of orange combined with the dark border line gives the guitar an aggressive look. In addition to the body, most of the features are a metallic chrome color, such as the knobs and pickups, which also makes the guitar appealing to potential customers. The superficial design on the fretboard looks somewhat like small spacecrafts, giving the guitar a unique look. The neck of the guitar is the perfect size for the hand to grip around. The guitar as a whole is shaped as an axe, which is where the slang term for a guitar, “axe”, came from.
Although guitars can be a form of art with attractive designs and features, the real art in a guitar comes from the creative sounds it produces by plucking of the strings. The vibrations in the strings are received by the pickups, which sends the signal to an amplifier which produces sound. These sounds, depending on what is played, can bring out different emotions and feelings in people.
Not just anyone has the ability pick up a guitar and start playing. It takes time and practice, which requires patience. Whether playing as a hobby or professionally, guitarist of all genders and racial backgrounds understands the complexity and lengthy process it takes to become good. It takes a lot of passion and desire in order to be a decent guitarist. With enough desire, even people without hands have learned to play the guitar.
The more I played, the more my skill level increased, and I began to play my own style of music, which became a part of my identity. Because of the countless hours I have spent playing my guitar, I have integrated into one with it. I now perceive music in a different way than I did before. I get an amazing feeling when I play; the sounds bring out all emotions within me.
Although the object in the picture is not my actual guitar, I look at it a see a symbol that represents my personality. It’s like the guitar and I are one. It has become a part of my identity.
Friday, August 29, 2008
Friday, August 15, 2008
Google is a Tool
What did we do years ago before the Internet became popular? How did we get the information for a project or research paper? What about just wanting to resolve our curiosity on a particular subject? What did we rely on? Yes I agree, the library, encyclopedias. Back when I a was a kid, before my brain was flooded with countless information from the Internet, I can remember spending hours at a time reading encyclopedias about species of snakes that I heard about on television. It was fascinating to me at the time that information on nearly every specie of snake that I was looking for can be found in the encyclopedia. But I wanted to know more then the encyclopedia was able to provide. So I began going to the library and checking out books that had more specific information on these charming snakes. I just wanted to know all that there was to know. Then Google entered my life and made this possible.
All it took was a few keywords, “Red-tail Boa Constrictor ”, and a click of the search button. I was immediately overwhelmed by massive amounts of links. So I began clicking on links after links, each time discovering something new, something I wouldn't find in a normal book at the library- images, videos, care information, every detail that there was to know. Practically everything that I would want to know about a particular subject can be found on websites through the Internet. Google is just a tool that's helps us find those websites. It is like a gigantic advanced library.
In the article titled Is Google Making us Stupid, Carr describes how the Internet has changed the way he takes in information, “a swiftly moving stream of particles”. He interprets this as the way he now reads, no longer being able to read long lines of text- skimming or “surfing” for information. But that's what the Internet is for right? Finding information. Researching. So who's fault is it if we get distracted and start to stumble on to other links? Google's? Is Google actually making us stupid? I thought Google's search engine was a way of finding information, so how can that make us stupid? Google in my opinion is like a tool, helping us to accomplish specific tasks.
Carr states, “the more links we click and pages we view—the more opportunities Google and other companies gain to collect information about us and to feed us advertisements.” “The last thing these companies want is to encourage leisurely reading or slow, concentrated thought.” It seems that Carr interprets Google advertising as a bad thing, but is it really? I mean how else is Google going to make money and keep its business from crashing? I would be crushed if that ever happened. Google is the most useful tool I have. However, I do agree with Carr that Google would not want to encourage slow reading on their site, but maybe Google is not the place for slow reading. I searched the word “Book” in Google and what came up was not surprising. Barnes and Nobles and Amazon, both websites that sell Books. So maybe Google is telling us that if wanted leisurely reading, maybe we should read a Book instead of being on Google.
So to answer the question, “Is Google Making us Stupid”. In my opinion I would have to say no. Like any other tool, Google helps us accomplish specific tasks by finding the information we need. We can not have all the information in the world stored in our brain. It is just not possible. After all, “The human brain is just an outdated computer that needs a faster processor and a bigger hard drive.” Right?
All it took was a few keywords, “Red-tail Boa Constrictor ”, and a click of the search button. I was immediately overwhelmed by massive amounts of links. So I began clicking on links after links, each time discovering something new, something I wouldn't find in a normal book at the library- images, videos, care information, every detail that there was to know. Practically everything that I would want to know about a particular subject can be found on websites through the Internet. Google is just a tool that's helps us find those websites. It is like a gigantic advanced library.
In the article titled Is Google Making us Stupid, Carr describes how the Internet has changed the way he takes in information, “a swiftly moving stream of particles”. He interprets this as the way he now reads, no longer being able to read long lines of text- skimming or “surfing” for information. But that's what the Internet is for right? Finding information. Researching. So who's fault is it if we get distracted and start to stumble on to other links? Google's? Is Google actually making us stupid? I thought Google's search engine was a way of finding information, so how can that make us stupid? Google in my opinion is like a tool, helping us to accomplish specific tasks.
Carr states, “the more links we click and pages we view—the more opportunities Google and other companies gain to collect information about us and to feed us advertisements.” “The last thing these companies want is to encourage leisurely reading or slow, concentrated thought.” It seems that Carr interprets Google advertising as a bad thing, but is it really? I mean how else is Google going to make money and keep its business from crashing? I would be crushed if that ever happened. Google is the most useful tool I have. However, I do agree with Carr that Google would not want to encourage slow reading on their site, but maybe Google is not the place for slow reading. I searched the word “Book” in Google and what came up was not surprising. Barnes and Nobles and Amazon, both websites that sell Books. So maybe Google is telling us that if wanted leisurely reading, maybe we should read a Book instead of being on Google.
So to answer the question, “Is Google Making us Stupid”. In my opinion I would have to say no. Like any other tool, Google helps us accomplish specific tasks by finding the information we need. We can not have all the information in the world stored in our brain. It is just not possible. After all, “The human brain is just an outdated computer that needs a faster processor and a bigger hard drive.” Right?
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Advertising Works
Last summer I tried experimenting, making a website of my own, which I gave up on after a week. If you visit it, you can see that all I really have on the homepage is a couple of Google ads. If these ads were to be clicked, Google would probably pay me about 20 cents or so. In a year long term, about forty people actually visited my page and clicked on the ads, and I ended up making a whopping fifteen dollars. So you could imagine how much Myspace makes on advertising. I also have open source or “free” software that I installed, such as chat and an media player. I even installed a free forum software which I later uninstalled because of multiple spamming and advertising of pornographic websites that were posted on it. I couldn't believe that other websites would actually take the time to spam my forum with advertisements. If websites are willing to advertise on a small site like mine, that practically has no visitors, then why not pay a popular website like Myspace a few bucks to advertise their website to the world.
Many websites are paid to put advertisements on them, including Myspace. Whether a fan page or self made, nearly everyone that is famous has some sort of Myspace page. Many Artists or Musicians uses their Myspace page as an way to promote their music, and it works. Just look at Coldplay's Myspace page, they have over 20 million views and over 400 thousand friends. In my opinion, it was a smart move on Cartier's part to pay Myspace for a page on their massive network. Cartier is promoting their jewelry the same way artists are promoting their music. Myspace is a huge networking website that has millions of users nation wide, and Cartier is just taking advantage of the Myspace technology, and using it as a form of media to communicate to consumers . So by paying Myspace to advertise their products, Cartier's name will spread like chain letters throughout the Myspace world.
In our discussion about open source software, John enlightened us on what open source software actually is and mentioned that there is an open source version of word that is available for download free of charge. Kara brought up a good question, “Do you think Microsoft would be mad?”. This was really interesting. At first I thought that Microsoft would be mad, why wouldn't they?. I mean who would want to pay a hundred dollars for something, when they can practically get the same thing for free. Microsoft would be losing valuable consumers and money to open source software. Then I realized that Microsoft like Myspace is well known. I've never heard of OpenOffice.org until John mentioned it in class and doubt that many people actually uses OpenOffice.org. The fact is that whether its software, music, or jewelry, if its not well known then people won't pay attention to it.
Many websites are paid to put advertisements on them, including Myspace. Whether a fan page or self made, nearly everyone that is famous has some sort of Myspace page. Many Artists or Musicians uses their Myspace page as an way to promote their music, and it works. Just look at Coldplay's Myspace page, they have over 20 million views and over 400 thousand friends. In my opinion, it was a smart move on Cartier's part to pay Myspace for a page on their massive network. Cartier is promoting their jewelry the same way artists are promoting their music. Myspace is a huge networking website that has millions of users nation wide, and Cartier is just taking advantage of the Myspace technology, and using it as a form of media to communicate to consumers . So by paying Myspace to advertise their products, Cartier's name will spread like chain letters throughout the Myspace world.
In our discussion about open source software, John enlightened us on what open source software actually is and mentioned that there is an open source version of word that is available for download free of charge. Kara brought up a good question, “Do you think Microsoft would be mad?”. This was really interesting. At first I thought that Microsoft would be mad, why wouldn't they?. I mean who would want to pay a hundred dollars for something, when they can practically get the same thing for free. Microsoft would be losing valuable consumers and money to open source software. Then I realized that Microsoft like Myspace is well known. I've never heard of OpenOffice.org until John mentioned it in class and doubt that many people actually uses OpenOffice.org. The fact is that whether its software, music, or jewelry, if its not well known then people won't pay attention to it.
Monday, August 4, 2008
My First Blog Post
I have never written a blog before now. However, being a runner, I do keep a daily log of all my runs, workouts, and mileage progressions and then write a brief description about how my run went. Unlike a blog, instead of posting my log online for others to read, I keep it on my hard disk for future references. I have read blogs of other athletes to get their perspective on things such as training and workouts. To me, a blog is kind of like someones online Journal that the public is allowed to access and read. I believe that by reading someones blog, a lot can be learned about that persons personality and the way that person thinks and writes.
Some of the fears I have with blogging is that anyone can read online blogs without the blogger knowing who exactly is doing the reading. I am also afraid of the comments I may receive from people who does read my blog and what they might think of my opinion on things. For the most part, blogging doesn't seem too bad. It is new to me, but I am excited and looking forward to writing more blogs for this course and reading blogs that other students write.
Some of the fears I have with blogging is that anyone can read online blogs without the blogger knowing who exactly is doing the reading. I am also afraid of the comments I may receive from people who does read my blog and what they might think of my opinion on things. For the most part, blogging doesn't seem too bad. It is new to me, but I am excited and looking forward to writing more blogs for this course and reading blogs that other students write.
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