Reed Chapter 8-10

The final chapters of Reed’s Digitized Lives were very interesting and thought provoking. Chapter eight discusses the debate of whether technology is making kids today less intelligent than before. But more importantly Reed talks about technology being integrated into modern classrooms and the possible effects that this can have. He states, “you need to know not how many tablet computers or digital projectors your son’s or daughter’s classroom has (though that is good to know), but rather what are teachers doing with the technologies they have. Are they using them creatively or dully, are they using them to escape their role as teachers or deepen that role?”

I know that my personal experience with computers was pretty limited in school before college. At least I feel like it is less so than what children have in school today. In elementary school the only time that I was exposed to computers was when we went to the lab once a week to take typing classes. This class was mostly an interactive typing game that was focused on you learning the keys and increasing your typing speed. In middle school I had a class that was dedicated to learning Microsoft programs and also learning how to form different papers such as resumes or different applications. This was very useful in learning how to use, not only Word, but also excel, and power point. By the time I was in high school computers were pretty integrated into my classes because I specifically chose technology oriented classes. I was taught to use and become proficient in illustrator, Photoshop, flash, and other Adobe programs. This was extremely helpful to me to learn at a young age. I also think it helped me later in life when choosing what college degree I wanted to peruse.

Another point that Reed brings up is who exactly is on the internet and who as access to it. “The world wide web isn’t.” The gap between those who do have internet and those who do not is called the digital divide. Reed makes the claim that the wealth gap (which can be said is the same as the digital divide) is not a socially sustainable trend. This can only lead to greater and greater strife. This leads to distress and social exclusion. This is the same concept that we have heard from a previous book panel. How this gap is only causing a greater and greater divide.

New Media and Politics Expert Group

Today in class the expert group on new media and politics presented. This group was very well informed and presented the information explaining news media and politics, its past history, and what possibilities there are for news media and politics in the future. I really enjoyed the texting polls that we did in class, rather than getting into groups! One thing that I found very interesting from their presentation was that they claimed 60% of people are politically active online. This means that they post, like, or comment on political things on any social media site. They also stated that 43% of users want to know more about an issue because of something that they saw online. This could mean that someone posted an opinion on a current political issue and just shy of half the people who see that would go pursue more facts on that issue.

Another interesting thing that has come up in modern politics is that the internet and social media has changed the way that political donations are collected. It used to be were a candidate gets huge donations from a small number of people. Now it is where a huge number of people can donate small amounts to a candidate of their choosing. This is what happened with the Obama campaign. He raised huge sums of donations just by having a large number of people donate amounts around $5. An interesting statistic that he group showed us was that today about 50% of donations are raised online or through email. Another 10% is raised through apps and text messages.

The group also talked about the history of the media and politics. Basically this showed us that FDR was the “radio” president. John F. Kennedy was the “Television” president, and Obama was the emerging “internet” president.

One thing that I found the most interesting from their presentation was when they showed a chart of all the current presidential candidates and what social media sites they are signed up for and use regularly. They brought up the questions of uses Snapchat in a political manner. Would you follow a candidate who is on Snapchat? It’s an interesting question since Snapchat is such a new medium and that means this is the first campaign where this is even an option for a candidate to use. One thing about Snapchat is that it is such a raw form of social media. By this I mean that once you post something it is on your story for about 24 hours and I don’t believe you can take it down. As we have seen in the past some candidates would tweet something out that they are later advised to take down. On other social sites such as Instagram, twitter, and Facebook you can heavily edit and even delete something that you have previously posted. Snapchat changes that a little bit. You can only really edit a chat with what text/stickers you want to add to it and then you cannot really edit it much further. I’m not so certain if that is fully appropriate for a political candidate running for the presidency, and in the long run it may actually do more harm than good for the individual candidate. I suppose only time will tell how new media is effecting politic. And we will see this especially in the upcoming year.

Book Panel 11/5

In class there were two book panel presentations. One was reviewing SuperBetter by McGonigal and the second one was Alone Together by Turkle. Alone together talks about how we as a society tend to now expect more from technology and less from other people. The example used is Facebook, which is technically human contact but it is easier to engage and easier to avoid if you want to. This is similar to the social media expert group where we learned that people are feeling down on themselves because we see a highlight reel that makes everyone’s life look so much better than it is in real life. This is something that we know yet we still feel down when our lives don't match up to others on social media. This goes to show how disconnected we may be in our own lives and we use social media as a way to make lives seem so much better than they actually are. In the first part of Turkle’s book the group discusses how our relationship with computers and machines looks like today. This goes into how a robot can be a companion in addition to a machine that is programmed to complete a task. In the second part they talk about how people are emotionally attached to machines and social media in general. How we have need to express ourselves online. This all just shows us how our personal and business lives are greatly affected by social media and technology overall.

The second group presented the book SuperBetter by McGonigal. This book sounded like it was extremely interesting to read. The group began their presentation by talking about ways to keep your mind active and attentive. This can connect to what the author talks about in the ways all games change how we respond to stress, challenge, and pain. By adopting a gameful mindset we can cultivate new ways to recover ourselves and learn to me more resilient in everyday life. I know that this kind of sounds like a relief because we as a society have been told that video games make us violet or impatient or just an overall less productive person. McGonigal says the exact opposite. The group talks about the steps that she created to make yourself into a more resilient person. This will result in you generally feeling better and being a better person. It is really interesting how video games and even just games in general, can have such a huge impact.  

Social Media Expert Group

The expert group that presented in class taught us about social media. Social media is a concepts that we seem to know a lot about now because we are the product of a generation that practically lives online. However there were somethings that were mentioned that I didn’t know. For one they mentioned how the first social media site was actually launched in 1997. This was only later followed by Myspace, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. This actually surprised me because I genuinely thought that Myspace was one of the first public social media sites available.

One thing that this group discussed was how social media has become so successful in the past ten years. There are multiple factors that attribute to the success of a social site but the main factor seems to be human self-obsession. Social sites feed upon you uploading information about yourself. This includes all forms of you everyday information to major milestones in your life. In a normal day you could post a status about your mood, then upload a picture of what you had for lunch that day, and finally post Snapchat pictures of your night out. This is all very “you” centric. What we have noticed as a whole is that people seem to now need some kind of validation from their social media lives. I know of an Australia model who was an “Instagram star” and she recently just one night just deleted all her social media overnight. She went on to explain how she felt horrible about how she was kind of living her life completely online. She would spend hours out of her day to post well enough to get a “post-able” picture. She also explained how she was once paid $400 dollars just to post a picture of herself in a certain dress. But this lead her to be overly conscious of her body images and she was doing unhealthy things to keep looking a certain way. It seems that kids more and more validate their self-worth based on how many likes they got on a comment or picture. If there were more likes, it was a great day. If there were less likes it was a horrible day.

However this is not to say the social media is all bad. This form of social communication gives us all a sense of community. We are all connected to each other now. We just need to make sure to not let a number of likes determine our happiness. 

Reed Ch. 3-7

In chapters 3 through 7 in Digitized Lives, Reeds touches on five pretty interesting topics. The first is how identity is perceived online. It’s interesting to see how you are perceived online. It is understood that people can mediate what is posted on a status or what pictures they post. That is a part of what makes an online identity. Another aspect that was talked about in class was what happens when you type your own name into any search engine, and the results that come up. Do we as individual have power over how our name gets responded to in that manner? For instance when I type my name “Jennifer McIlvaine” into Google, the first link that comes up is “cooking with Chef Jennifer McIlvaine in Umbria.”  Now it’s really cool to know that there is an Italian chef with my name, but that’s not my virtual identity. Just some interesting thoughts about how you are interpreted online. 

The next thing that this book brings to attention is how new technologies are possible creating or solving problems related to our desire for greater equality. The points that we came up with in class were that there is a noticeable gap in the wealthy and the poor. This creates a technological gap between the gadgets that some people have the ability to own. That was an interesting point but I had initially thought about how the internet has brought racial injustice to the limelight. As we have seen in the recent years it is easier for people to illustrate any racial discrimination just by bringing out your phone and recording them. This creates a way to open a dialog about what is really happening. So both the points about the wealth gap that is immersing and the social injustices that is being illuminated are both important points that technology is bring about.

Another point that Reed makes is about the presences of the Internet in our lives and how that affects our personal relationships. This is a significant component in our millennial lives because our social lives and relationships have been on the internet since middles school for most of us. One of the points that was brought up is that there is now this permanent record of all your conversations. If you say something to a friend, who later becomes someone you no longer trust, they have a concrete evidence of a possibly incriminating conversation with you. One of the good things about this technological medium in our relationships is when you are having a kind of heated conversation with a friend or a significant other you have a moment or two to think about how you want to respond. This is instead of face-to-face conversations that you have to think of a response immediately and you may accidentally say something that you don’t mean.

The reading from this week has shown me that there are a lot of positives and negatives to the moving technology, but it is never the fault of the tech. The internet is neutral. It becomes what you make of it. 

Ubiquitous Computing Expert Group

Going through the process of understanding ubiquitous computing and its integration into our society has been very eye opening for me. It’s really amazing understanding what is already on the technology market and what is right around the corner. Ubiquitous computing, which we found to also be referenced to as pervasive computing, is the growing trend towards embedding microprocessors in everyday objects so they can communicate  information. The words pervasive and ubiquitous mean “existing everywhere.” Pervasive computing devices are completely connected and constantly available. A technology trying to embed PCs into everyday objects to make conventional PCs invisible.

There are three main stages of computing that lead up to today’s standards of ubiquitous computing. The stages being the mainframe, and PC era, and then finally ubiquitous computing. The mainframe era was the time when there were multiple people using one machine. The example of this is when this peaked in the 90's, everyone had a PC in the home but it was one computer for the entire family. In the PC ear there was one machine per one person. Finally ubiquitous computing is when there are multiple machines per one person. This also shows us that the continuous connection is actually the opposite of virtual reality. Virtual reality immerses the person into the computer generated world, where computers are being embedded into the real world with ubiquitous computing.

The idea of having ubiquitous technology can be embedded into any aspect of your everyday life. We showed this in class by bring the groups together to think of different technologies in different areas. These being wearable, healthcare, home, automobile, and commercial technologies. For every category each group came up with multiple examples.  There are advantages and disadvantages or each category.

One of the categories with the most examples was for wearable technology. This would include things like Bluetooth jewelry, fit bit, smart watch, and the smart phone. The convergence of these technologies on one person would make that ubiquitous. The advantages for this wearable technology outweigh the disadvantages in my opinion. You have unlimited data that is at your literal fingertips 24/7. This data can tell you about your work, social life, family, and even your health. With the tracking technology of a fit bit people can see and keep record of their health. The only real disadvantages of this is to have to constantly keep you multiple devices charged. There could be a future around the corner, where all our wearable ubiquitous computing is in one single device. 

Book Group Presentations

Today in class two groups presented on their book reviews. The first group that presented reviewed a book called Future Perfect by Steven Johnson. This focus of this book is about peer to peer networking, how it works, and how it could be helping or harming our society. One thing that they talked about when it came to peer to peer networking was the ways in which it changed journalism. Journalism as a peer to peer network helped information management. What this means is that the news that you care about is probably what you are most likely to pay attention to. The example used in class was if your child scrapped her knee, you are more likely to care about that than a bombing in an overseas country. A better example of this, I believe would be that we as Americans care about new of our troops more so than the news of another countries troops. The group also mentioned how peer supported news makes the news cheap to come by. This can be seen by people uploading real-time YouTube videos, and live tweets and other social networks. A question that the group brings forth is “are the internet and the web pushing us into a positive direction.” The answer is that it all depends on your view of what is positive and what is negative. They talked about example of peer to peer networking which is torrent files, Wikipedia, or any social media such as Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.

Another aspect of a model of peer to peer networking that the group mentions was centralized networking, which is all intelligence that lays in the center of the networks, which made it easy to attack.

They concluded their review of this book by mentioning some examples of what peer innovation are. These include a Kickstarter which creates peer backing one another and crowd funding. Another peer innovation would be the prize back challenge and these sparked innovation whereas patents slowed down innovation.

Finally it can be concluded that peer to peer networking leads to more participation and thus more profit. This is because the internet and web is decentralized and has peer to peer architecture, and this allows anyone to voice ideas and opinions.

This group did a good job laying out all of the information provided in the book and gave a good understanding of the principles that need to be taken away from Johnson’s work. 

Virtual Reality Expert Group

Today in class the expert group that presented was the group doing virtual reality. This was a really well done presentation and I was very impressed with how they presented all their information. They began by explaining the difference in virtual reality and augmented reality. Virtual reality is defined by google as, “the computer-generated simulation of a three-dimensional image or environment that can be interacted with in a seemingly real or physical way by a person using special electronic equipment, such as a helmet with a screen inside or gloves fitted with sensors.” Augmented reality is a technology that superimposes a computed generated image on a user’s view of the real-world. The example of augmented reality that the group mentioned is the Google Glass. These allow you to see the real world while also interacting with the technology.

The group then went to talk about the history of virtual reality which was very interesting to hear about because there seemed to have been multiple failures in this area before getting to where we are today. The group talked about flight simulators, Weinbaum’s “Pygmalion Spectacle”, and Heilig’s Senorama in 1962. They also discusses Jaron Lanier who popularized the term “virtual reality” and founded the company Visual Programming Languages (VPL) Research. This also led to arcade games going 3D in the 1980s. And finally in the 1990s Jonathan Walker demonstrates “Virtuality.” None of these were apparently very successful in the beginning.

Talking about the current state of virtual reality was more interesting. They discusses Palmer Luckey. They also discussed the Oculus DK2 and CVI. These are said to have very slow adaption and will not be in everyone’s hand yet but the technology looks very promising. This was where we got to see the Oculus used in class and it was very interesting. I wish I could have been one of the people to try it out but there simply wasn’t enough time in class. From what I saw the uses for the Oculus look really promising. We talked about how it can have effects on tourism where you can virtually go anywhere and experience it almost as if you’re really there. This would be particularly good for educational purposes. Classes could visit famous museums in virtual manner and get in depth perspective rather than just reading about something out of a textbook.

Some of the possible downsides of this that were discusses were that if this were to try and be incorporated in an entertaining film, it would be difficult to know where the viewer is looking and they could be missing things without knowing it. Another possible downside is if the simulation had a more motion active screen it could cause possible motion sickness to the view. But those things seem to be small hurtles.

The possibilities for this technology seem endless, for now it is just marketed as something to add to the development of games but this could be great for the health industry, film, tourism, education, and so much more.

Reed Ch1-3

Digitized Lives: Culture, Power, and Social Change in the internet era by T.V. Reed was an interesting class reading that discusses the directions that digital technology takes in the modern world. In the first few chapters Reed discusses the emergence of a digital culture, what that means, and those digital divides. As he was setting up this information one factoid that he states just blew my mind. “If Facebook were a country, it would be the third largest nation in the world. YouTube broadcasts more in a day than all major TV networks have broadcast in their entire history. In the history of the world, counting every language, there have been about a hundred billion printed books; the amount of information contained in that number of volumes is uploaded onto the Web every month.” (p. 3). These statistics just give real perspective to the actual amount of information being created and readily available every single day, to every single person with internet access. This kind of immense information overload is what he touches on in a form of a digital divide. The fact that the amount of people with internet access is so much less than those who do not have internet access (in terms of population percentage) is showing a huge gap in income, education, and literacy. All of this is shown through statistics that Reed lays out in the beginning of the book.

One point that Reed visits in the first chapter is the question of a real-world verse virtual world divide. Reed discussion of the emersion of cyberspace and how that had been introduced in many different forms since then (such as e-commerce). This divide is something that I hadn’t really considered too much before reading this book. I previously just assumed it as a part of this world. Reed addresses this by stating, “This makes cyberspace a somewhat different kind of place, but it is still a place in the world.”  Unless you are an engineer, cyberspace is not something that the average user thinks of as an actual physical space but it is a space in the world. There are everyday average people who could look normal is every way to you, but online in the cyber world they could be an immensely successful blogger with a fairly large cyber presence. In this way I can completely see the digital culture that Reed is trying to describe to his readers. 

Convergence Group Presentation

The expert group that presented in class today covered the topic of convergence in a technological world. They began this presentation with an explanation of what convergence is in the most basic form of the definition. This being that convergence is the process of different things coming together. This in the tech world means that technology evolves and becomes more integrated in our lives as we have a higher adoption and demand for it. The example of this used in class is how you can contact anyone from your phone, computer, or even apple watch. A great illustration of this seen in the presentation was from the video that they showed of how  a typical desk used to look covered in books, newspapers, phones, notepads, etc. Then it was all shown how it can be all used in one place: on a computer. In other words a convergence of technology can be seen in the physical world through a Swiss army knife.

The greatest example of convergence that the group used in their presentation was when they started talking about how cars are convergent to technologies today. Modern vehicles have so many features to them it’s astounding. Cars are not only designed for safety but they also have cameras on the back and side of the car to prevent you from getting into or causing an accident. You can also see GPS being incorporated into cars with the ability to check your phone messages through Bluetooth and also check weather reports. You can do all of this while warming your car seat and listening to Netflix through the car’s Wi-Fi. This convergence of GPS, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth into the car industry has been extremely successful and seems to have no end to the possibilities for future cars.

The group touched on emoji’s towards the end of their presentation. Talking about how they are present in technology and how it is integrated into our everyday communications. Some of the things that classes discussed were how they are not necessary considered a language but they could be a very informal form of communication that can be understood through multiple cultures. A heart emoji means the same in the English language as it does in the German language.  

The last thing that class touched on was what could be the possible end of convergence in the technology age? It’s extremely hard to predict when it will be “enough” of the integration. There were example of how a typical home might look like in the future of how the television was touch screen and the mirror in the bathroom was part computer. That is interesting to think about seeing as we already have “smart” refrigerators and coffee makers with computers inside them.

Overall it was a good presentation on convergence in technology and the group did a particularly good job involving the class throughout. 

Tapscott Part 3

During class on Thursday we discussed the third part of Tapscott’s book, Grown Up Digital. Our group talked about the points that he makes about how to get Net Geners to volunteer and work effectively for a civil society organization. My personal favorite point made by Tapscott is to “Show integrity yourself.” He states that civil organizations should be honest, considerate, accountable, and transparent. “No BS to the generation with finely tuned BS detectors.” I couldn’t agree with this more. In a world where it is very easy to take out your phone and verify facts or claims of any organization you cannot throw around statistics that are modified or claims that are modified in any way. If this happens even once to the most reputable organization it could ruin years of trust building with their members.

Another one of Tapscott’s points is to forget the guilt trip. He claims that it will not work on the Net Generation. This is something I have to agree with. If the organizations volunteer work isn’t something that directly affects them they may not be as inclined to help out. However this doesn’t mean that nothing gets done anymore. We can see that things actually get done on a vaster scale. The examples used in class are the site of GoFundMe where a huge number of people can donate smaller amounts to add to a greater amount of money than if it were raised my just targeting a smaller amount of individuals for a great amount from each person.

This leads to another way to get Net Geners to volunteer and help out a cause. The organization must design around the eight Net Generation norms. Giving them lots of options for ways that they can help a cause is a great start to this. This can be see, especially in younger people, that if all your organization does is ask for money and donations then you probably aren’t going to get a lot of attention. But if the organization asks for volunteers to let’s say help clean up a certain part of a freeway, or to just bring further awareness to an issue people could possibly be more willing to volunteer their time when they can’t necessarily donate $20. A good local example of this would be Orphan Acres in Idaho. They ask for more than just cash donations. He asks people in the community to help get awareness for the good work they do for the abandoned horse. He also asks for help around the ranch with labor to build an new barn and help feed and clean up after the horses. There are a lot of college students who are willing to give some hours on a weekend rather than give money.

Expert Group: Mediated Spaces

The expert group that presented in class was on the topic of mediated spaces. A mediated space can be anything from school classrooms, to community centers. They could also be virtual "rooms" such as Facebook, twitter, or snapchat. With all of these mediated spaces there are some rules that are strictly laid out, and there are also some unspoken rules that are simple social norms.
The group that presented took the class out in different sections and some went to different levels of the cub, and one group went to the WSU stadium. I was in the group that went to the stadium and that is what I will be discussing here.

In the mediated space of the public stadium we made note of some of the things that an individual can and cannot do in that space. The first thing is that during a game you are allowed to scream and cheer and this is used to energize the crowd and players on the field. However, while screaming is allowed you are not allowed to scream profanities and this is the accepted social norm. During a game we also noted that there are some accepted norms when it comes to clothing that is worn. Guys don’t necessarily have to wear shirts, and some girls go with only a sports bra on, and body paint is common. Without the stadium as a mediated space this would be very bizarre and often frowned upon behavior.

The stadium was a mediated space was organized in this manner in order to bring full attention to the field, and thus the players on it. The stands surround the field and the lights concentrate on the center of the field. There are separate sections in the stands for students, visitors, and WSU alumni and this makes them the audience for this mediated space. The tech that was present on the field was the scoreboard, announcers, banners for advertisers, and the stadium lights. All technology is included to help center around the players and influence the action on the field.
Our group also took note of the times when a game is not happening. The stadium is used for people who want to just take a walk, run up the steps for a workout, or take graduation pictures. All these instances get influenced in the space by the tech present and the social norms allowed by the space.

The expert group did a really good job getting the class involved and discussing the different mediated spaces and what that means for different social components both in a physical aspect and also in a virtual aspect.

Tapscott Part 2

In part 2 Tapscott tackles the differing affects that a Net Generation has had on different institutions. These being Education, Business Management, Consumerism, The Family, Democracy/Government, and Activism. The aspect that I would like to focus on in this blog post would be the family aspect and how growing up in a revolutionary digital world has changed the average family dynamic.

Tapscott outlines how a family dynamic has changed since the baby boomer days. Now that advancing technology needs to be constantly checked up on and kept up to date with, kids of a family actually have the advantage because they have grown up with it. Parents are turning to their children to learn how to use a new device or to access and new application. My personal experience with this was not as extreme as I hear from some of my friends. I’ve heard that some parents even needed help accessing, and getting a little lesson on using, the internet. My parents weren’t like that. My dad is a computer engineer and my mom was a programmer before she stopped working. They both are actually really well apt at figuring out technology. However, I do notice that I am more aware of upcoming technology than they are today. I’ll mention a new app or device that has been recently released and they will not have heard of it. In this way we are a family that is collaborative because once I mention something that’s coming out that is worth having on their radar, they become users and we have bonded over a new tech. Our family even has a little Apple Vs. Android civil war happening. For the longest time I just loved iphones and my dad would say that Android is the thing to have. I agree with him for the most part now, but it is an example of how a family can change and have very different conversations than in previous generations. In other words, I can talk to my parents like equals instead of the previous norm of them teaching me a way, or the new norm of me teaching them current ways.

This is an excellent example of what Tapscott was referring to as a new dynamic. This is also a good example of one of his “seven parenting guidelines from the kids who have grown up digital.” The points to which I am referring to are the “collaborating parenting” and the “customize parenting.” I have always thought of my family as a collaboration of intelligent minds rather than a set of parents talking down to their children. 

Tapscott Part 1

Grown Up Digital

Don Tapscott’s Grown up digital, is extremely insightful into the generation of people who have grown into a digitized world. He calls generation Y or the millennials (born in 1977-1997), by a different name. He refers to us as the “The Net Generation.” In the first part of the book he addresses multiple different aspects of what it must be like for this generation to grow up and how it affects businesses and markets now that that generation is in the workforce. One aspect that I read about in this book is how our brains have been affected due to this digital generation and that is what I would like to focus on in this post.

Tapscott brings up what some of the Nay-sayers of a previous generation have said about the effect of a digital revolution on the Net generation. Some of these things being: “They’re dumber than we were at their age.” “They’re net addicted, and have no shame or proper work ethic and this will cause them to be bad employers.” “They don’t give a damn.”

Tapscott actually went to address some of these issues in a generation wide research project and what he found was, thankfully, quite the opposite of what was being said. Having access to so much worldwide information has actually brought forth an entire generation that is actually smarter than its predecessor. “This generation has been flooded with information, and learning to access, sort, categorize, and remember it all has enhanced their intelligence.” (p.30) as a person of this generation this is something that I am very glad to hear but that is what I have long suspected. Everyone knows now the wonders a digital revolution has had on businesses bringing more product to a larger market it makes sense that the ability to adapt to that world would make for a more intelligent generation.

This digital world had forced us to develop thinking and investigative skills just to be able to sort through limitless venues. Take for example, my usual morning routine: I get up and have some cereal and while I’m eating my breakfast I will check my google news app and see the local, national, and world headlines. After I have seen enough of that I would check my email and Facebook. In a matter of 10-15 minutes I have brushed up on all the news that is important, received correspondence from possible internships or school related information, and checked up on the recent updates from my friends and family. In order for an individual to be able to intake and properly sort through all that information, it simply makes sense that what Tapscott is saying is true. “Net Geners’ brains have indeed developed differently than those of their parents.” 

Baron Ch 7-12

The second half of Baron’s A Better Pencil addresses how current technology has the ability to fool an audience and make us question whether what we are seeing is in fact authentic. He also address the problems that social media may present in current social capacities for both personal and business relationships.

“All new writing technologies bring with them the potential for fraud.” Even when writing on paper was first introduced, Baron explains that people would question authenticity of the author until signatures began to prove who wrote what. Then computers were invented and Baron explains, “As soon as computers allowed us to generate digital versions of conventional texts, skeptics began to question the authority of those texts.” There will be skepticism any time there is a new technology introduced and new means of communication are formed. The example used in A Better Pencil is a Photo-shopped picture of Marilyn Monroe and President Lincoln together in a black and white photo. The photo appears authentic for the most part. The audience would have to be aware of the fact that these people were not alive in the same era to determine it a fake.  This could breed a certain level of distrust in the internet but that has not slowed progress. For example online shopping was once considered foolish to participate in for the belief that it was not safe to put your credit card information out on the internet. However today e-commerce is a huge business with actual stores that do not have a physical presence. They conduct all of their business transactions online.

Another question that Baron brings forward is “Should everybody write?” It’s an interesting thought. With new technologies every single person with access to the internet has the ability to be a writer. You can create your own blog and do your own investigative journalism. This is something that we has stated in class previously, but it connects to the idea that life used to be about writing for something, reviewing over that work and then publishing it. Now with the technologies that are available the process is publish something and then review it. This leads to a great amount of content available whether that be a good or a bad thing, Baron explains it’s a little bit of both.  “Certainly people use their web spaces to advance knowledge, but they also use them to promote misinformation, disinformation, and hate.”

A Better Pencil does a good job of giving an understanding of what it’s like during this digital revolution and how it effects people in general as a society and businesses, and also on a personal level.

Book Panel 9/22

In class there were two groups to review, analyze that discuss a specific book. Since I was a part of the Smart Swarm book panel I will reflect on Here Comes Everybody. The first thing that I noticed right away was there are actually references in Smart Swarm that come from the Here Comes Everybody book author. The understanding of how a groups works effectively together in an organization or business are key points to both book.

During one point in their presentation they mentioned meetings and groups that take place in an entirely virtual presence. One example was World of War Craft and also a Facebook group. I always think that it’s interesting when complete virtual worlds are relevant in the real world. For example, any group project that I have had to do in college, we have all (almost unspoken) make a Facebook group for that project for communication means. I haven’t actually gotten any of those people’s phone numbers and we all communicate effectively and get a project completed efficiently. This touches on the other aspect the book Here Comes Everybody talks about which is the three main factors of an organization in the modern day. These factors are the promise, tools, and bargain. The promise is what the organization can do for you. The tools are the means of group coordination and the bargain is what the organization can expect from you.

When I think of the three main factors of an organization I think of a group that I have joined here as WSU that is the National Society of Leadership and Success. I joined that group because I was promised tools for success after college as well as scholarships. The tools that we use are the society website as well as an exclusive Facebook group. The bargain for my example would be that the society expects me to conduct myself a certain way in my community as well as be in constant good scholar standing.

I think that it’s interesting how technology has changed so much especially when it comes to businesses, organizations, and personal groups. Instant communication and how we conduct ourselves on the internet has become vital to everyday life and I think that the book Here Comes Everybody does a good job of illustrating that. 

DTC 375 Blog Post 5

Baron CH 1, 3, &5

The first chapter of A Better Pencil talks about writing as a technology and it’s integration into society. One interesting idea that Baron was describing was the fact that text and writing in general must have been highly questioned when it was first brought about. Just like the wheel must have been, much like computers were until quite recently, all new invention have some hesitancy in the general public. However now we need writing as an essential part of our everyday lives. As seen in Baron’s example soda cans and dollar bill have writing of letters and numbers on them. They even bring us comfort and if they were to go missing we would probably question the contents within.

“The digital word can be as important or as trivial, as effective or as meaningless, as the analog variety.” What Baron means by this is that no matter how much you try and “dress up” some words with a new tech, after all the dust settles these words will either be great on their own, or they won’t.

Baron continues to make interesting notes on the hesitancy of advancing technologies. He write about how pencils were criticize when they first came to be because pens were the common usage. However pens were soon outdated by good pencils because of the writer not needed to stop to dip the pens into an ink well. They could simply continue their train of thought and pencils also allowed for the writer to erase mistakes.

This shows similarities to when calculators were feared to be allowed in classrooms for fear of making student lazy and not fully learning to add and subtract, now they are required for most classrooms and needed for standardized test such as the SAT and ACT.

One of the other criticisms that Baron discusses is “writers may pay less attention to what they are doing, and writing quality deteriorates.” This is in concern with the introduction of computers but it could be said that the same concerns were brought up when pencils were brought about. “Nostalgists frequently claim that the old ways were better because they were more natural.” But not all old ways are good ways and this book does a very good job of showing that though the different technologies that have been introduced and how they were received when integrated through society.

DTC 375 Blog Post 4

Achebe Things Fall Apart part 2&3

The second part of Achebe’s Things Fall Apart is a sad conclusion to the novel but it is also a very good example of the destructive influence a literary society can have on a strictly oral society. There are multiple examples through part two and three where the missionary’s ways of life and means of communication directly clash with the ways of Okonkwo’s people. The troubles began when the word spread (orally) that the Abame clan was wiped out by “the white men.” This was the first instance that the reader sees of a more modern culture trying to “civilize” the people of Nigeria and it does not have a peaceful end.

We also see a bit of disruption in the tribes when Okonkwo’s son decides to leave and get an education with the church. “He went back to the church and told Mr. Kiaga that he had decided to go to Umuofia where the white missionary had set up a school to teach young Christians to read and write.” Okonkwo disowned his son after this and it’s the last the reader hears of Nwoye.

When Okonkwo holds a feast for his mother’s tribe to thank them for welcoming him for his seven years of exile, there are a few important speeches that the tribesman make. The first is when they break the kola nut and prayed. “We do not ask for wealth because he that has health and children will also have wealth. We do not pray to have more money but to have more kinsmen. We are better than animals because we have kinsmen. An animal rubs its itching flank against a tree, a man asks his kinsmen to scratch him.” I believe that this was said at this feast because at this time the missionaries were moving in and making quite a presences amongst the tribes and the people were trying to keep together and hold a stance. It was breaking tribes apart when some would leave their old gods to worship this new ‘true’ god.  

A second thing to note at Okonkwo’s feast was where the Achebe wrote, “Yam pottage was served first because it was lighter than foo-foo and because yam always came first.” I read this as a reiteration of how important ritual and routine is to orality society.

The last thing I would like to look at from Okonkwo’s feast is that I think it’s important to note when one of the elders makes a speech and mentions the foreboding times, “I fear for you young people because you do not understand how strong is the bond of kinship. You do not know what it is to speak with one voice. And what is the result? An abominable religion has settled among you. A man can now leave his father and his brothers. He can curse the gods of his fathers and his ancestors, like a hunter’s god that suddenly goes mad and turns on his master. I fear for you; I fear for the clan.” This speech shows how fearful the people are of new ways and of this new means of believing and worship and what it will do to their people. I find it interesting that some elder people in our world today say the same about advancing technology. I’ve heard some say that no one knows how to socialize in person anymore. That young kids just sit on their phones all day and can’t talk to an actual person. These have some similarities to what the elder was saying.

Finally I would like to note an interesting conversation that Obierika had with Okonkwo when the white men came to Umuofia and Okonkwo asks does the white man understand our custom about land? Obierika replied “How can he when he does not even speak our tongue? But he says that our customs are bad; and our own brothers who have taken up his religion also say that our customs are bad.” Obierika brings up a good point about the inability to fulling understand ones customs when you are not fully immersed in that culture. This is the vital gap that ends up ruining the community. This inability for the literate society to ever really comprehend the ideas of an orality society.

I would like to conclude on one final note from the book. The thing that I found most interesting was in the last chapter of the book where it is narrated from the missionary’s point of view as the Umuofia people bring him to Okonkwo’s body and he thinks, “One of the most infuriating habits of these people was their love of superfluous words,” What he found infuriating and superfluous to him, was essential to the survival of orality. This simply proves the previously stated gap between orality and literacy. It is hard to fully comprehend one when you are brought up in the other. 

DTC375 Blog post 3

Part 1 of Things Fall Apart by C. Achebe

This book Things Fall Apart has given me a lot to think about Nigerian culture. My first impressions of the main character Okonkwo were not great to begin with, but as I got through more of the book, I disliked him even less. He is a man that is constantly filled with anger and on more than one occasion he has beaten his wives completely unnecessarily. The first occasion being when his second wife didn’t come home in time after doing her hair to make him dinner. This resulted in him beating her during a week that is supposed to be sacred and peaceful. The second time was when another one of his wives picked off all the leaves of a banana tree to wrap some of the yams in, and he accused her of killing the tree. He then beat her relentlessly and took out a gun and tried to shoot her. The way that the author describes Okonkwo makes his sound like a successful and almost powerful man in the tribe but his domestic life is completely ruthless and it makes me very much dislike the character. I do understand that there was a reason that Okonkwo came out this way. Achebe describes a childhood that is not so great due to Okonkwo’s father who was a lazy drunk who was in a significant amount of debt. Because of his father’s shortcomings, Okonkwo had to grow up at a young age just so his family could make it by. Okonkwo resented his father’s weakness and swore to never tolerate weekness of his own or even the weakness of others.  This however, is not an excuse for the way that he speaks to other people and how he treats his family.

Another thing that I have noted from the book so far was that the agriculture is very important to the tribe. So much so that here are yam festivals and the topic of the yam crop is continuously covered through the reading.

The final thing that I wanted to touch on was the way that the tribe handled the murder of one of the tribe member’s wives. When the wife was murdered in a different tribe they all had a meeting and agree that the Umuofia tribe would give the other tribe an ultimatum. Give up a young man and a virgin or go to war. The other tribe gave them a man and a virgin. This speaks to the level of power the Umofia tribe has in the world, especially over its neighboring tribes. It struck me as an interesting way of going about justice and the thing I found most fascinating was that the murder was never mentioned again. It was a thing of the past that was completely forgotten. 

DTC 375 Blog Post 2

Second half of “Orality and Literacy” by W. Ong.

I have observed that the first half of “Orality and Literacy” was mostly directed towards aiming the reader at a better understanding of what a primary orality society may contain and how it would function. The second half of the book, is more dedicated to the readers understanding of the differences between orality, second orality, and literacy while also giving the reader a strong understanding of how the invention and incorporation of writing into the world has changed society significantly for the better. “More than any other single invention, writing has transformed the human consciousness.” (p.77) seeing as that is a pretty strong statement to make he backs it up with some theories about how it is impossible to directly refute a text. “This is one reason why ‘the book says’ is tantamount to ‘it is true’. It is also one reason why books have been burnt.” (p.78). What is being said is that reading a book is not at all like having a conversation.  When you read something that you do not agree with you cannot interject with your own differing opinions. This is not necessarily a bad thing. Some subjects and theories need to be printed and read in their entirety, without interruption in order to be fully comprehended and valued. Although I do understand that this is coming from a literate person who is in a modern world because Ong does goes on to state, “People had to be persuaded that writing improved the old oral methods sufficiently to warrant all the expense and troublesome techniques it involved.” (p.95). This sense of distrust comes from the lack of extratextual context such as the ability to properly convey tone of voice, environment, and volume level. “Spoken words are always modifications of a total situation which is more than verbal. They never occur alone, in a context simply of words.”(p.100). This lack of extra content that is seen in literacy is something that I can definite note in the modern world technologies such as with text messaging. When someone sends me a text to my phone sometimes, based on the situation, if there is a lack of punctuation like an explanation point or letters in all caps, I can’t gather the emotion of the text and whether or not the send was mad, interested or just indifferent.

Even with this minor drawback of the written word, this form of communication has made possible great change in the exploration of the globe, family life, politics, modern science, and altered social and intellectual life for the better. As Ong states in his chapter on print, space, and closure. We also see the birth of what Ong calls “second orality” with the incorporation of television, radio, and telephone. Combining modern technology with oral communication as well as literacy has all combined for a more intelligent and aware society. 

DTC 375 Blog Post 1

First half of “Orality and Literacy” by W. Ong

The assigned reading for this week was very dense and at some parts of this book I had to actually go back and read over a second time to fully comprehend what was being said. The general ideas in the book were very interesting to me because I hadn’t thought about a completely oral society before. Previously I had assumed that the cavemen wrote on walls and written text has been evolving from that ever since. Ong brings very different ideas forward about what a primary oral culture must be like.

One of the points that Ong makes in the book is that it is almost impossible for a person from a literate society to completely understand what life would be like in a primary oral culture. One of the concepts that he tried to convey was that when you think of a word you almost can picture that word in your mind. The literal letters that it takes to make that written word, even if it is just being spoken, however someone from a primary orality that same word is just a sound. There are no letters to it, it is simply some sound that you can make yourself. “Literate people cannot have an image of a word by only sound like a primary orality person can.”

After reading through this I started to wonder how a culture could thrive with this kind of mentality. How are histories told and complex messages passed along? Ong answers this by simply stating you must think memorable thoughts.  Meaning that a person must think in mnemonics and formulas. An example of this means of communication would be when a story is being told and a primary orality use descriptors such as the brave soldier, the beautiful princess, the sturdy oak. Ong states, “An oral culture may well ask in a riddle why oaks are sturdy, but it does so to assure that they are, to keep the aggregate intact, not really to question or cast doubt on the attribution.” For any of these techniques to really take hold a primary orality speaker must repeat himself several times. During a speech it was stated to fill in pauses with a repeated sentence in order to solidify ideas. “Oral societies must invest great energy in saying over and over again what has been learned arduously over the ages.”

Ong’s book has brought to my attention the ideas of how powerful an effect the evolving media forms have on a society.