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March 31, 2008
Momma Mia!
All this talk that we have been doing about the digital divide has really been quite relevant to my life right now. My mother recently made the switch from PC to Mac (with a little persuasion from me), and the phone calls have been nonstop. The transition for me was relatively easy, though I am still finding a couple neat new tricks I can do with mine, but she is not having quite the same experience. Her being the "technology immigrant" while I am a "technology native" really has made a huge difference. She is having tons of trouble just handling the basics of her new operating system and computer. I feel like she would like it more if I could show her all her computer was capable of, but i'm afraid it would blow her mind trying to learn everything too fast. As a "technology native" myself, it's very difficult for me to imagine why she is having so much trouble with the change. When I first got my Mac, I explored the computer, pressing different buttons and seeing what I could do with everything, so I could more effectively use it. Even when I needed to do something that I wasn't quite sure how to do, I just followed what seemed like the logical order of things to do, and I was able to figure it out fairly quickly. My mom doesn't seem to have this intuitive sense that I do, which is interesting, because we've both been using computers and technology for the same amount of time. The closest thing I can relate this to is how people say that it is easier to learn a new language when young, than when you are older. It's interesting how things work out that way. Any other takes on why this might be are welcome. I'll accept any advice that might help me figure out why my mom is so hopeless, haha.
Posted by btrues at 09:33 PM | Comments (0)
March 17, 2008
Global Communication
Networking websites such as Facebook and Myspace have really revolutionized how the youth of today interact and communicate. I can't even remember what I did with my time when I couldn't see what all 400 of my closest friends were doing every minute. When put this way, it does seem like Facebook is an insane concept, everyone putting there whole life out on the internet in order to see the life of everyone else. This sort of networking really does have many advantages though, first of their is the entertainment of it, as noted by the fact that I am on my facebook 24 hours a day. It allows for the easy sharing of pictures, the daily posting of notes to keep people up to date on life, and all sorts of things that i'm not gonna tell you about because i'm sure you guys already know. I just find the whole thing incredible on a macro scale though. Now that everyone in our generation is connected with everyone else, the possibilities seem limitless. People from every corner of the globe joining together in a group for a common cause is very incredible. People are creating new holidays at random. There seems to be a new hug an (insert personal characteristic here) day every week. It's just incredible what we can do with it, and it seems like new uses for this global connection are coming out every day. It will be interesting to see what the nature of Facebook is 20 years from now
Posted by btrues at 08:48 PM | Comments (1)
March 03, 2008
Writing Essays
For the first time ever, I tried writing an essay out of order. In my paper 2, I wrote the body paragraphs first, and then wrote the introduction. This had an interesting affect on my paper. After analyzing my advertisements in the body paragraphs, I was able to come up with a very original thesis. It helped me gain a new perspective on my advertisements that I may not have been able to think of before.
The downside of this method was that it seemed like it took forever to get the paper written. It took me a while to find a thesis to fit with my body paragraphs. Once I did find my thesis, I then had to go back and alter my body paragraphs. A very lengthy process.
If I had one suggestion for anyone attempting to write a paper through this method, it would be to have a clearly defined thesis in mind and write it out before writing the body paragraph.
Posted by btrues at 11:43 PM | Comments (0)