DTC 375: Language, Texts & Technology

2009-09-10T15:12:00.000-07:00

Relections of a Depressed Man

2009-04-30T15:51:00.000-07:00

Jared Thomas, Jay Makki
Neil Fastabend, Melanie Erickson
DTC 375
April 29, 2009
Dr. Farman
WC 867

Reflections of a Depressed Man

E-literature (E-lit) and games have integrated in everyone’s lives, since the 70’s. They either interact with them or they have been integrated into their lives or careers. E-lit and gaming has advanced over the years. The first interactive game came out to the public in 1976. Because of the memory and the technology at this time, computers were the limitation. “During the 70s, games had to be small enough to fit on a single 5½ floppy, the only way a computer could tell a complex, engaging story was through text-based interactive fiction” (Jerz). Gaming and E-lit has grown dramatically since 2001-2003, witch at this time Broadband came out. Broadband made a big impact on online gaming and E-lit.
E-lit is a innovated spinoff from the Tree Fiction novel. Tree Fiction novel is choose your own adventure book. The book will ask the reader a question like do you want to stay in the house (go to page 5) or do you want to go into the woods (go to page 15). Our project is a Hyperlink extension to this, that uses advanced technology such as Photoshop and flash, to create an on line adventure. The variety of options gives our reader an in sight of what is going on in the depressed, morbid character’s mind. Instead of turning to page five the reader may click on the link to what they are interested in. The interaction with the body and mind gives them more of a perception of being the person sitting at the table. By being, and thinking that they are the protagonist it gives a sense of owner ship to the story. They are able to go back and reread it or move on to something else. As they continue on with the journey they get a better understanding of character’s thoughts and the state of mind.
The main focus for our E-lit project is to interject the audience with a sense of mystique and perhaps the sensation of uneasiness. The viewer should get a dramatic sense of hopelessness from the unknown narrator. Most of the slides are darkly foreshadowed and carry with them a bleak, macabre aura laced with cynical commentary. The idea is not to disgust the viewer but to draw them into a generic, yet intriguing inner monologue of a depressed man.
Our project “undoes the teleological effect” (Barth’s); there is no beginning and end. The reader has control of the story. The reader is able to click on what ever he wants; when ever he wants. A disconnection from the author appears because the reader has control of the story. The reader has a sense of authority that is not offered in paper books, because paper books are linear and they are reminded that the author sets the path. The audience in our e-lit will have spacial control. With our project they are able to select on an image and read the macabre aura laced with cynical commentaries. The home page consists of a picture of a table. On the table there is; a scrapbook, a pill basket, an address book, a bottle of whiskey and a bullet. Each item has several sub-items that they are able to select. This gives the audience many different variations of how the story may go. They also have the choice not to continue in the story as well. This could conclude to be a dilemma, whether or not they will be interested in going through all the steps to get through the whole sight. This is why we made our story short and to the point. We did not want to bore our audience and make them walk away. We decided sweet and simple gets our message across, and still leave the audience with a since of understanding.
With our project we are able to use pictures as well as text; because we are not as concern about memory space or dinosaur technology like they did in 1976. This gives our audience the chance to visually see what is going on in the story as well as read the uneasy and bleak thoughts of the character. The audience can choose what path they wish to travel. Our limitations are not as strict as the 70’s or 80’s; however, we still have limitations. We will need to consider reasonable sized files so it down loads with out a lot of time. If something takes a long time to up load the audience will get impatient. When people get impatient it is so easy to leave the sight before they even have a chance to find out what it is about.
We encourage you to go on a journey in to a personal transformation and get in side the head of a depressed man. You may explore all the possibilities and relate to his pain and suffering as if it were your own. Most of all have fun with it.

Reflections of a Depressed Man. Group Project:
http://www.thomasbros1.com/dpman/

Work Cited

Jerz, Dennis. “Interactive Fiction How is it Different”. Retrieved April 30, 2009. January 27, 2000. http://jerz.setonhill.edu/if/differs_from.htm

Mateas, Michael; A Preliminary Poetics for interactive Drama and Games. Retrieved April 30, 2009. http://www.jasonfarman.com/dtc375_sp09/Mateas.pdf

The Apples in a Seed

2009-04-30T15:37:00.001-07:00

Beau Yancey
Rochelle Juette
Lee Kidd
Agustin Tovar
James Cavanah
DTC 375
Dr. Farman
Word Count: 812

How many seeds are in an apple? Although the numbers of the seeds may differ from apple to apple, there will always be a definitive answer to this question. However how many apples are in a seed? This question cannot be answered. The planting of one single seed can produce millions of apples. Our project has taken this ideology and transformed it into something positive. Something that not only has the potential of reaching millions of people, but determines whether our seeds are planted for the good of mankind or damages society one deed at a time. On your way to work or running errands, did you help anyone in need? Someone with a flat tire on the side of the road, or perhaps you just opened a door for someone? The focus of our project is to not let these deeds go unseen. Millions of people blog every day over the most minute details in their lives. Our concept is to take the power of blogging and utilize it for the benefit of mankind.
Instead of blogging about taking your dog out for a walk, our website will be dedicated to the documentation of everything you have done that was beneficial or detrimental to society. The idea behind our concept is to make people aware of their surroundings as they travel through life and to hopefully reflect on our website as they do so. The concept is virtually the same as blogging. For those who manage their own blog site, they are always mindful of circumstances that are “blog worthy”. The purpose of our website is to influence other people to not only finding those blogging moments, but the actions that matter to other members of society.
Our website will consist of a homepage which will have a video of positive as well as negative images of people in the community. This video is developed to make the reader reflect on their activities throughout the day and to decide what actions they have done that have influenced others. Below the video will be two separate links that the reader can transfer to. One link that transfers the reader to a blog site that is strictly for the actions they have done during the day to help other people and another link to a blog site where they write what they may have regretted doing. Once the reader is on either blog site, they will have the opportunity to post a comment of the actions of their day. It will be a journal of what they did that made a difference to someone else, or what they could have done that will change their future relationships with other people.
The positive blog will be a journal of what other people are doing throughout the world that brings people closer to each other. In today’s society, we are so busy with our own lives that we seem to forget other people. The key to the positive blog will be to inspire other people to make their communities a better place and to make other people more aware of how they treat each other. The idea is to spread this blog site and ideology to as many people as possible. The more individuals who see what others are doing to change the world, the better off we all will be.
The negative site is not meant to be a confessional. It is meant to be a reflection on the activities of the day that may have been altered for a better result. For example, perhaps you were in a hurry and cut someone off on your way to work. Maybe the person you cut off was having a less than stellar day and being cut off was just another addition to it. It is almost impossible to go into the world today and not be involved in the lives of other people in one way or another. Instead of cutting the person off, you could have waited for the person to let you in the lane and waved to them, acknowledging their generosity. The results would have been beneficial to both parties, and a seed would have been planted.
The website will be completely interactive. The goal is to have our website in the back of our minds at all times. Wherever we go throughout the day, we can always utilize our idea to change our circumstances and the lives of other people. The most inter
esting part of our website is that you can always monitor both blogs to see which blog is being utilized the most. The idea is not to see which blog has the most comments, but to see where society is going and to lift it up in any way we can. One seed at a time.
www.dtc375good.blogspot.com
www.dtc375bad.blogspot.com

Adventure

2009-04-29T22:26:00.000-07:00

Denise Garner (Academic Researcher)
Kelly Rauh (Writer), Ben Oliver (Designer)
Alex Lasota (Writer), Adam Roll (Designer)
Dr. Jason Farman
Electronic Literature Team Project
www.adamroll.com/DTC375.html
Word Count: 1088
April 26, 2009

ELECTRONIC LITERATURE ADVENTURE

Cultivating Growth: Since forming our electronic literature team, we have advanced immensely. Starting as a small idea, this has blossomed into an amazing accomplishment. We began slowly, but as time went by, the pace perked up quite a bit. We had great success keeping informed with meeting minutes, and encouraging words from others, both through emails and verbal contacts. These techniques, along with the diverse skills of each member, have matured our project from a seed to a flower in a matter of weeks.

Brainstorming and Project Description: Our assignments to review existing electronic literature created a number of possible directions. After deciding on positions for our group, we brainstormed what role our task should take. Several plans were shared about two people corresponding, or a campus treasure hunt. This evolved into a story about climbing up a mountain trail, including one member’s vacation pictures. To provide a varied sense of linearity, we incorporated a unique effect. Instead of reading from top to bottom, ours would start from the bottom and be read upward. In place of moving left to right, ours would do the opposite.

We were inspired to utilize the bricolage technique of putting things together in a new way they were not necessarily intended. As authors, we controlled what the reader sees, by making the picture invisible, until after its corresponding section of text is read. At first we planned to have the image open to the side (in the same window) by clicking on a hyperlinked word, but that proved too difficult. We kept the meaning vague so our virtual hiker has increased mental agency until the photo appears to reveal our idea of the storyline. In those few seconds, the reader has a role in the narrative, as they imagine what that text might represent. This provides them with the illusion of control, although we maintain the hierarchy of publishing power. The reader must fill in the blanks, and is limited to the amount of text they read at a time. Once launched, there is no opportunity to go back, as in a book. We have hot media and keep the reader on a short leash. Our project offers minimal embodied agency. The audience has physical interactivity when initializing the software. We give them choices to view group members’ names, access contact information, or launch the program.

We decided to add the sound of a beating heart. The throbbing channels the reader’s imagination and brings energy to the journey. This pulsating, coupled with other sound effects, involves the reader’s senses in ways a traditional book cannot. These electronic attributes immerse the audience, transporting them to another dimension, engaging their thoughts more interactively in the setting.

As the authors, we hold power over the pace and flow. If the readers are distracted, they miss a segment of action or portion of scenery, forcing them to rerun the entire program. They have no influence over the speed at which they will read. This locks the audience in, keeping them from walking away, and placing the burden on them to complete the adventure in a single sitting.

Challenges Resolved: Initial group communication was hampered by an incorrect email address, infrequent checking of email, and complicated personal schedules for the five members. Tension occurred when crossing or misread emails resulted in expectations different from intermediate results. Apologies and clearer statements of desires and limitations achieved compromises and resolutions. Time became a major issue, and it was vital for all to accommodate each other’s different schedules. We decided to overlap separate duties, helping each other with all aspects.

Our designers thought it would be possible to incorporate a background with sound and pictures. Although it initially looked promising, the second designer felt he wasted effort using PowerPoint. They discussed advantages and disadvantages between Adobe’s DreamWeaver and Flash programs. They went with Flash’s greater flexibility of control over graphics movement. The first designer worked on initial motion of text frames in the portal, while the second designer learned to use Flash, experimenting with text display fading in and out. Inserting pictures and reformatting fonts has been a difficult process. Designers consulted Dr. Farman for assistance in creating picture boxes, and methods to join two programs together for a smoother transition.

We experienced media challenges when discs would not open on a laptop, emailed Flash files would not run, and thumb drives were too full to accept more information during class. We learned an html file must be included to view content if anyone does not have Flash. All teammates eventually installed Flash on their home computers. We were able to successfully appreciate each other’s progress.

Successful Techniques: Group discussions were taken seriously, with each member's opinion respected. Further detail, editing, and changes were handled in a timely manner. We reviewed the five assignment guidelines to make sure we were still on track. These techniques formed a great basis for our success, resulting in commitment, honesty, and open communication. Designer work sessions at WSU’s Mac lab, full team conferences in the classroom, and a writer’s home meeting have all been highly productive. Members’ work in various formats was exchanged on discs and jump drives to make efficient use of time. Peer reviews encouraged refinements, and were well accepted.

One writer submitted text for the story line, while the second writer was excited to help with the design efforts. The writing was short, but electronic elements required extra effort and collaboration to master unfamiliar features of the platforms. So, the third designer built on the foundation previously laid by the second designer, bringing to life what the group originally envisioned.

Our academic researcher took meticulous notes at each meeting, wrote them up, and distributed them within 48 hours. Her chronology of events became the foundation for this report. In that capacity, she functioned as writer and historian, keeping the project intact and on schedule. Both writers and the academic researcher did the final editing and report submission on time. This document was generated using electronic technology by dictating into Dragon NaturallySpeaking voice recognition software.

Wrapping Up: Electronic literature began by simply displaying text on a screen, and then added interactivity with hyperlinks. Although we have not pushed the boundaries into the anticipated future of total disembodiment or complete immediacy, we have enjoyed creating an adventure that provides a satisfying interactive experience somewhere in between these extremes. With this “new media” literature, classmates will be able to enjoy the fruits of our labors in a simultaneous feast within hours of our completion.

All A-Twitter over Nothing

2009-04-29T22:16:00.000-07:00

DTC 375 – Dr. Farman
E-Lit Group Project
04/30/2009
Word Count: 763

All A-Twitter over Nothing

Produced by: Team Twitterpated
Josh Colby
Kristin Elsen
Shannon Mendenhall
Sheila Newsom
Zack Woffinden

Upon avid brainstorming efforts, Team Twitterpated made an executive decision to pursue the creation of electronic literature centered on the often perceived nothingness of the Twitter application. Twitter is often regarded as pointless due to the large capacity of mundane information entered into the application, but as we discovered through personal experience, when hundreds of pieces of mundane information are combined they result in what we now know as ambient intimacy. The mission of Team Twitterpated is to exhaust the concept of ‘nothing’ in the form of electronic literature.

Team Twitterpated thought that this concept would fit well in embracing the medium of electronic literature as opposed to printed literature. Twitter is an edgy social platform that utilizes cyberspace for functionality so it is appropriate that our literature exists electronically as well. Twitter has also been utilized as a medium/platform by electronic literature writers. Jay Bushman created The Good Captain which takes Herman Melville’s novella, “Benito Cereno” and publishes it via Twitter updates (Bushman). Because of this usage we believe electronic literature is appropriate for our subject.

Team Twitterpated decided to use the Adobe Flash platform in the creation of this electronic literature. We were inspired by other electronic literature in the use of this platform, such as The Dreamlife of Letters and Star Wars, One Letter at a Time, both created by Brian Kim Stefans. We liked the word introduction used in The Dreamlife of Letters and the fresh edge offered by the Star Wars piece. We decided to mimic these literature pieces through the use of flashy entrances that at some points are borderline invasive. Due to this design choice, the level of interactivity employed in ‘All A-Twitter over Nothing’ is minimal. This is suitable for our concept of ‘nothing’ because individuals cannot really do much about nothing. The individual or audience viewing this piece is left with two choices: watch or do no watch. This is typical of literature that utilizes the Adobe Flash platform.

The literature we used for our e-lit is both borrowed and original. Much of the literature is sourced from Twitter, some from unknown and innocent tweeters and some are original tweets entered by members of Team Twitterpated. The tweets of innocent bystanders were gathered by Kristin, Shannon, and Sheila. Kristin and Sheila created much of the dialogue of our electronic literature through their own tweets; either centered around nothing or on the word ‘nothing’. Examples of such pieces are, “What do u do when there is nothing to do?” “Oh, you know, nothing” and tweets as outlandish as, “Oh the satisfaction of popping a zit!” The combination of tweets come together to show the audience what Twitter is really about, which truly is a lot of pieces of nothing.

Team Twitterpated collectively agreed to include the ideas of Shakespeare in our literature as well, with quotes from King Lear and Much Ado About Nothing. King Lear is frustrated with Cordelia, who provides “nothing” as an answer to King Lear’s inquiry. King Lear states that, “Nothing will come of nothing”, a statement that serves as a dramatic point in our literatures definition of ‘nothing’. The title of Much Ado About Nothing can be interpreted as ‘a lot of trouble over nothing’. The central theme of this play is making something out of nothing, with many of the characters influencing others to fall in love through manipulation. Our literature asks the readers, “What’s this all about anyway? Isn’t it all just much ado about nothing?” While it is clear to Team Twitterpated what the benefits of Twitter are, we encourage the audience to question that for themselves.

Another borrowed piece of literature employed within our Electronic literature comes from Lance Winslow, who wrote an article titled “If Something Comes of Nothing; Then Nothing Can Be Redefined”. This article induces critical and philosophical thinking with statements such as, “Of course if we know nothing will become something then nothing is really a pre-something and it is not nothing at all. Therefore nothing cannot be nowhere, it can only be in an unlabeled place and first we need to find where nothing exists, if indeed it exists at all” (Winslow).

Sheila collected much of the borrowed literature while Kristin organized many of the tweets to make them useful. The material for our electronic literature was then distributed to Josh and Zack who worked together to create a design. They then split the assignment in half so that each of them was actively designing. Team Twitterpated successfully and collectively created the masterpiece that can be found at the following link:

www.zwoffdesign.com/elit

References:

Bushman, Jay. "The Good Captain" THE FISHER: a diary of the Loose-Fish Project.
2007-2008. 29 Apr 2009 .

Winslow, Lance "If Something Comes of Nothing; Then Nothing Can Be Redefined." If Something Comes of Nothing; Then Nothing Can Be Redefined. 24 Feb. 2007. EzineArticles.com. 29 Apr 2009 .

RIDDLE ME THIS

2009-04-29T20:44:00.000-07:00

Adriana Naccarato

Team-Tastic

Farman/DTC375

4-29-09

wc:1052

RIDDLE ME THIS

When given a task to pick an online piece for inspiration, we try hard not to copy the piece exactly. E-lit and online works give us the platform and we use our creativity to make it different and our own. Coming up with the idea was easy, how we were going to put it all together was the difficult part. Working with a great, intelligent group of individuals makes it that much easier though.

Our vision was simple: create a riddle game online. We created a work that allows the audience only three choices. The three initial choices are hyperlinks and you choose from the hyperlinks of: Person, Place, or Thing. It is very simple in its layout and easy to follow as well. We decided to keep the interactivity extremely basic, simple and to the point. Not too much content was needed to meet our needs of interactivity. The audience picks one of the three choices and then waits for the descriptive words/clues to appear. Random images flash in the background as soon as a new word appears to somewhat confuse the player and then they are supposed to guess who, where, or what it is that is being described. The interactivity comes into play with their initial choice and the user needs to stay interacted with the work in order to see all the clues and guess wisely. We give the answer at the end after a delay of about five seconds.

We used Flash as our medium because we wanted to somewhat replicate an initial link we liked and it is what we replicated our piece after. It was very simple and easy to follow. Flash was simple and easy to use, so we thought it would fit perfectly into the creation of our piece. We liked the simplicity of words coming onto and off the screen, in somewhat random patterns. We did not want to overload the audience with too much to do and Flash allowed us to keep it from being confusing. Without extreme knowledge of Flash, it kept us from adding too much information, which would then, take away from the game. In a perfect world we wanted to do at least four different people, places, or things for each category, unfortunately our designers had little to no knowledge of Flash an had to apply what basic knowledge they had, as well as learn while doing the projects. So for that simple fact we had to simplify our idea even more and limit it to one riddle for each category.

We want the audience to have specific interaction with the work. They have to specifically choose a person, place, or thing. They then have to read all the clues given and at the end of the riddle, take a guess. The interaction may be somewhat limited, but they have to stay focused throughout the whole work, in order to make that final guess. If they initially click and then look away, there is a huge chance they could miss one of the clues that would allow them to guess accurately. The clues are the main part of the game. We actually didn’t offer much agency in our work, besides clicking over a few hyperlinks, there is no agency, no avatar or character.

I believe the dilemmas concerning interaction is the fact that we do not have any special characters the audience can use or create. We have no avatars because it is not that kind of game. The way ours is set up is that you have to wait until the end of the first riddle and click on the answer to get back to the home page. We should have created another link, so at anytime the user can get “home”. If we had the chance to add more options we probably would have done that. Marsha Kinder was correct in saying: “All interactivity is also an illusion because the rules established by the designer of the text necessary limit the user’s options”. Also, we ran into the problems of wondering if our piece was aesthetically pleasing and stimulating. Would the user be enticed to initially play and keep playing? It is hard trying to decide all the key elements of the piece; color of background, color of text and font, color of images, how do clues appear, how long of a delay for an answer, all these factors can make or break our piece.

Our piece utilizes a computer instead of printed page because nowadays people are online more and more. Computers keep up with people who are in that fast paced atmosphere/environment and spend ridiculous amounts of time in front of a computer screen. The computer adds great dissemination of our work because the minute you type in the word riddle, instantaneously, you are bombarded with infinite finds for that word, which, one of the finds would be our link. The more people online, the better the turnout is.

Our work fits in with the history of e-lit because it is solely meant to be read on a computer. You cannot interact with our work any other way than through the net. The narrative component is minimal, but it does impose interactivity. Our work is in fact a game rather than a story, but still allows the audience to choose which clues/words they will see first. It is procedural, participatory, and online. The way our culture and society is advancing can only mean that so is our technology. Most games are already accessed online and create a new place to do so. E-lit is advancing with the amount of whom or what is presented to us.

Overall this was a fun project. We enjoyed making an interactive game for our fellow peers. We are excited to see the other projects, as well as hear if they had the same dilemmas. When working with and catering to those who absolutely love and get lost in technology, we have to push the envelope. We have to think, “sure, this may have been done before, but has it been done like this?” It is up to us to add that little something extra to make it unique and make it our own!

Dr. Farman ROCKS and so does his class, we loved it!!!!!

link: mattlarsonmedia.com/riddle

2009-04-28T19:09:00.001-07:00

Twitter: Old Dog, New Tricks

2009-04-09T16:28:00.000-07:00

Josh Colby

DTC 375

4.9.09

Instructor Jason Farman

Word Count: 967

Twitter: Old Dog, New Tricks

Let’s say you attend a technology conference and on the agenda is a session on Twitter. It might be called something like “Ambient Intimacy” or something about connectedness or awareness. Regardless, if you attended this and heard the latest craze about what has been coined as micro blogging, you might be blown away; not by the genius or newness of it, but by how strikingly mundane and trivial it all sounds. If the speaker got up and talked about how he tweets regarding when he wakes in the morning or when he makes a quick trip to the grocery for some milk, cheese and tortillas. Now, you could even be an avid Facebook or Myspace user and still find a service like Twitter that offers users the incredible opportunity to project banal details such as those listed above to be fruitless and it very well could leave you stunned by the apparent pointlessness of it all. However, if you were actually force yourself to try it with a few friends, in time you might discover what many skeptics and non skeptics alike have been discovering - Social connectedness and even intimacy. This is what makes Twitter and micro blogging in general a phenomenon. The mundane details that Twitter allows users to project among those that choose to “follow” the user actually over time begins to foster intimacy on a level not possible before among so many, and this is what makes media like Twitter “new.”

In closer examination of Twitter, it is not a breakthrough new media that pays no homage to pre-existing media. The term “micro blog” obviously gives that away seeing as how the word “blog” is in there. Twitter technically really isn’t any different from an actual blog except that it is limited to 140 characters (Mischaud, 2007, p.4). However, Clive Thomson (2008) says when writing in the New York Times that “the phenomenon is quite different from what we normally think of as blogging, because a blog post is usually a written piece, sometimes quite long: a statement of opinion, a story, an analysis. But these new updates are something different. They’re far shorter, far more frequent and less carefully considered (p.mm42).” So, while even blogging pays homage to earlier form of writing such as journaling e.g. writing in a diary and micro blogging obviously are very shortened blogs, their style is much different and than normal blogs and treated like they are something entirely different by their users.

In light of this truth, the effects of Twitter’s micro blogging within its community of users are far from mundane and actually are very fascinating to look at. Mundane little nothings become something much more as Clive Thomson points out. “This is the paradox of ambient awareness. Each little update — each individual bit of social information — is insignificant on its own, even supremely mundane. But taken together, over time, the little snippets coalesce into a surprisingly sophisticated portrait of your friends’ and family members’ lives, like thousands of dots making a pointillist painting. This was never before possible, because in the real world, no friend would bother to call you up and detail the sandwiches she was eating (2008, p. mm42).” This is where even skeptics like myself have to stop and ponder the implications of this because an effect like this over something so simple at first glance is the genius of Twitter. Putting in no more effort to use Twitter than the effort you put into a text message, over time, users can maintain a degree of intimacy with a vast number of people that would not be possible in simple face to face interaction and all the while giving a whole community of tweeters the chance to know them too.

In Twitters simplicity, people have an outlet for their need to express themselves and be heard. There are plenty that don’t even address the question that Twitter poses of “What are you doing? (Mischaud, 2007, p. 38)” In my experience on Twitter, I’ve found that people can and do say whatever they wish. In whatever way people choose to express themselves they will say it regardless of the question. Because of this, along with the knowledge that many people are hearing them, users can rest assured in that their expressions are not in vein. The mundane lives of people over time become something much more; something special. That in itself is a satisfying thought and it fosters a communal social consciousness that only at first looks like the opposite of narcissism.

So, to the many that have doubts about Twitter’s genius, I have no reason to blame you, for I was once in your shoes, and really I still have my frustrations with it as far as its capabilities. However, I think Robert Lucky of IEEE Spectrum (2009) said it best when he said that we are in the middle of something that we don’t really quite yet understand, and the full effect of rising social awareness isn’t yet fully visible to us (p. 22). The trend I found in my research of this was the term “ambient awareness” or “ambient intimacy.” This is actually happening. The many involved in social networking really are becoming much more socially conscious. As said in the beginning of this essay, this is what makes Twitter new even though it obvious remediates other media both new and old.

References

Lucky, R. W. (2009). To Twitter or Not to Twitter [Electronic version]. IEEE Spectrum, 46(1), 22. From Academic Search Complete.

Mischaud, E. (2007). Twitter: Expressions of the Whole Self. (Doctoral dissertation, Media@lse, London. 2007). Retrieved April 9, 2009, http://www.lse.ac.uk/collections/media@lse/mediaWorkingPapers/MScDissertationSeries/Mishaud_Final.pdf

Thomson, C. (2008, September 7). Brave New World of Digital Intimacy. The New York Times, p. MM42. Retrieved April 9, 2009, http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/07/magazine/07awareness-t.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1

Information reformation: The blog revolution!

2009-04-09T16:18:00.000-07:00

Information reformation: The blog revolution!

A product of the web, the blog (short for weblog–a diary or log) began to emerge as a new medium around 1999. Since its conception, it has grown out of online news casting, itself a remediation of cable news networks, and T.V. news networks, and has developed into its own medium–a virtual environment with unlimited potential. New technologies in the communication of information bring about radical change in existing hierarchies of power, and it is never pleasant for those at the top, as the Vatican discovered when Luther got his dander up (Hewitt, H., 2005, p. 63). The unique nature of a blog is the power of its format, the power of its potential, and the power of authorship; which revolutionized media in the digital age, by breaking down the hierarchy of the news media–empowering the individual to make a difference (globally) through one’s own personal expression textually and interactively!
[W]eblogs bring the Web–in theory–a leveler, a democratic medium–to the People (Rodzvilla, J., 2002, p. x–Introduction). The blog reformation has literally leveled the playing field, so to speak, between the news media and its individual audience members for anyone wanting to participate. The nature of the blog structure allows for unique developments in social networking and publishing. These new opportunities have changed our understanding and use of textuallity and our level of interactivity within the news media itself each day.
The blog has very uniquely empowered the individual by changing the ordinary citizen from readers and viewers to writers, editors and publishers. Just as email has made us all writers, weblogs have made all of us publishers (Rodzvilla, J., 2002, p. x–Introduction). No longer does one have to rely on professional journalists to find out what is going on around the world. The two main types of weblogs are structured blogs (usually pertaining to a certain subject or particular viewpoints) or free-style blogs (where one can talk about anything). At any given moment, a person can express their opinion about daily events or interest in various subject matters. There are weblogs for just about everything including: daily news events, food, photos, art, points of view, judgment, religion, socializing and many sites that cater to different professions. Some of the most popular weblogs are about politics or war, called poliblogs or warblogs respectively. Many are free and usually noncommercial. Thus, weblogs can be used as outlets – sources of empowerment where an individual can feel like they are making a difference or just a place where a person can vent one’s frustrations to millions of others who may share similar feelings (where one can gain a greater sense of solidarity). For many people, a weblog is a soapbox from which they can proclaim their views, potentially influencing many more people than they can in their everyday lives. (Rodzvilla, J., 2002, p. x–Introduction). Other ways in which blogs have become uniquely powerful forms of media in their own right, are that they are perfectly suited as natural global agents for social networking.
The powerful nature of weblogs are their virtues or characteristics of form, its potential use and power of the author – you. These are just some of the reasons it is a
unique medium. The virtues of a blog’s form (or intuitive option) are how it allows the user to interact with others on the internet. One can use it for short comments to express opinions about daily events, and naturally for the exchange of ideas, information, photos and art, or by exchanging social narratives, the blog site can be a very powerful or helpful devise for socializing.
A blog’s potential is virtually unlimited. One person can literally affect millions of people form all across the globe by the information one posts on a blog page. Your blog input may influence others and could actually help to change the world. For example one could post a short essay and photos on a popular blog site, expressing how one person or a group of people are making a difference in the world. Or a person can use a blog to shed light on a real-life situation, involving ongoing social struggles, which would presumably never get noticed otherwise.
The virtues or characteristics of the author and that author’s writing style or social message, can also be a powerful way of using a weblog to influence others from all over the world, and all walks of life. The power of the author can also be expressed through one’s own blog. With one’s own weblog, a person can be more than just an author. The creator of the blog is empowered as the editor and publisher of their own global media network. In this respect the capacity of a global blog site, again, is unprecedented – it can’t be matched!
In closing, I reiterate that blogs are not mere remediations of T.V. network news channels, cable news networks, or on-line news casting. Blogs have become new and unique forms of media with unmatched integrity all their own. They are revolutionizing
media in the digital age, and reforming the information age, by redefining society’s understanding of textuallity and interactivity through remediation of each of these older forms of communication media.

Kidd 6

References Page
Hewitt, L., (2005). Blog. Nashville, Tennessee. Thomas Nelson, Inc.
Rodzvilla, J., (2002). We’ve got blog: How weblogs are changing culture.
Cambridge, Massachusetts. Perseus Publishing

Chat Rooms: the Distinct Medium

2009-04-09T16:07:00.000-07:00

Daniel Bates
Dr. Farman
DTC 375
4/9/08

The term "chat room" refers to an interactive, communicative medium used to read or express thoughts of the users in usually just text and emoticons. Chat rooms exist for a variety of reasons, but the most common is to communicate cheaply to friends, family or coworkers. This is why a study by the Pew Internet and American Life Project found 68% of teens 12-17 use instant messaging (2006). Instant messaging / chat rooms are remediating face to face talking in a much simpler fashion. But they, by design, force users to communicate with simply their words. This creates havoc when considering sarcasm, humility, anger, pride and all the other emotions of the spectrum are greatly limited with regard to expression in chat rooms due to no visible body language. This is where emoticons come in. They are usually a luxury but help assist in displaying emotion. They however, like words, can be misinterpreted much more easily than body language can, given its innate origin.
Although chat rooms started as a simple user interface concept, code writers have since greatly expanded their interactivity. This is displayed most often in video game software where users must communicate with each other in an effective way. Time and accuracy of the message play large roles in players’ ability to complete missions or solve problems. For these purposes we see the use of preset words or phrases clickable while typing. In Final Fantasy XI, a MMORPG spanning multiple countries and languages, these presets even translate into the user’s own language, allowing cross language communication with relative ease.
Chat rooms are very unique to other media when it comes to flexibility of interface design. There are thousands of different text commands and options on different programs to better suite communication, information, and action needs. If, say a particular site is the host of practicing medical workers, it could have numerous medical jargon words preset to use, or have the ability to check a user’s education by typing “/checkED UserName.”
User biography checks are very common in chat rooms in fact. This compromises some anonymity but for the most part chat rooms are much more anonymous than other kinds of mediums. Research from Becker and Stamp of Communication Studies suggests users are more able to strategically project themselves as favorable in chat rooms while withholding bad information, maintaining given impressions (Becker and Stamp, 2005). This is most clearly shown when FBI agents catch child predators through text chat. Manipulation isn’t necessarily a bad thing between chat room participants though. Bromly writes, “Although misrepresentation can hold a pejorative connotation, it is sometimes necessary for smooth social interaction” (1993). And we know that misrepresentations are common and expected in new social interactions (Goffman, 1959).
An extremely wide variety of functions make chat rooms very different than other communicative tools, such as voice chat and telephones. These often serve just one purpose, getting your voice to someone else’s ears and vice versa. Chat rooms also differ when it comes to the theoretical limitlessness of the number of conversations comprehended and participated in by a single user. This is much like a cocktail party, except you can understand as many conversations as your mind can read. So, it is common for multiple conversations to occur and multiple topics discussed simultaneously by as little as two or three users. In comparison to say . . . blogs, communication occurs at a much faster pace. Blogs generally are much longer and make direct communication harder by design. Vlogs are very similar to blogs in their communicative capabilities, with the exception of "video responses" on YouTube (the king of vlogging sites). So, they perform a little better in the area of communication speed, but lower in communication quality. This is simply because there is no easy review process for vlogging. Each video is pretty much a one shot take, unless the user wants to edit the footage afterwards, which is very time consuming in comparison to shooting. Communication quality is usually low in chat rooms as well because the majority of users don't look up when they type and often can't edit posted script, therefore it leaves a lot of room for error. A lot of spontaneity is involved in this; there are no take-backs. It's almost a text version of talking face to face, in that regard. If you want to edit previous script, chat rooms are very difficult to work with. The most common self response to a mistake is retyping the grammatical error correctly with either of these symbols: *, ^.
Chat rooms remain an integrated part of our social society with consistent use and application. With expanding horizons of use and technologically growing developing countries, I would not expect other mediums to replace them anytime soon.

References

Pew Internet & American Life Project Survey (2006). Retrieved Wednesday, April 8, 2009 from
http://www.pewinternet.org/Infographics/Generational-differences-in-online-activities.aspx

Becker, J. A. H., & Stamp, G. H. (2005). Impression Management in Chat Rooms: A Grounded
Theory Model. Communication Studies, Vol. 56, No. 3, 243-260.

Bromley, D. B. (1993). Reputation, image, and impression management. New York: John Wiley & Sons.

Goffman, E. (1959). The presentation of self in everyday life. Garden City, NY: Doubleday Anchor.

It’s Spring, and I’m all A-Twitter

2009-04-09T15:54:00.000-07:00

Sheila Newsom
DTC 375
Dr. Farman
April 9, 2009
Word count: 831

In 1974 Arthur Fry and Spencer Silver accidently invented the post it note (Ament, 2007). Used widely in offices since its birth, the post it note has also become a staple in homes to answer the question ‘what are you doing?’ Jump to 2006, in walks Twitter, and asks ‘what are you doing?’(Sarno). To which one has about as much space to type as one would have to write on a post it, and one might reply about food they are eating, music they are listening too, books they are reading or a combination of all of it. Twitter combines our society’s desire for speed and information sharing with an easy to use application that surpasses the post it note in today’s fast paced culture by allowing one to quickly share thoughts with others.

On a post-it-note one may write a note that says ‘I am out back’, or ‘I went to the store’. Maybe the note says what one of my high school friend’s step mother used to write ‘Debs, cat box, NB’ (NB being her stepmother’s initials). Short sweet and to the point. Now NB could have used some of her fancy letterhead and written a lovely note explaining to my dear friend Debbie the she would like her to clean the cat box and take the whole mess to the dumpster outside, but even in 1988 we wanted speed, and the post it note did the trick. Pointedly so, since post it notes are quite small, the information has to be concise. Twitter has taken the post it note and made it environmentally friendly. There is no paper waste when one ‘tweets’. No pencil to find, and unlike a text, when one ‘tweets’ the love is spread all around, so everyone knows you’re cleaning the cat box, walking around with snot running out your nose, or eating French fries, but only if you ‘tweet it’ that is.

Twitter is unique in that one can share their daily activities through their phone, laptop, or home computer to a select group of followers. From a Wired article on Twitter author Clive Thompson explains the benefit of receiving tweets from friends, “when I get such granular updates every day for a month, I know a lot more about [them]. And when my four closest friends and worldmates send me dozens of updates a week for five months, I begin to develop an almost telepathic awareness of the people most important to me.” He goes on to declare that, “Twitter and other constant-contact media create social proprioception. They give a group of people a sense of itself, making possible weird, fascinating feats of coordination” (Thompson). Twitter brings a group together and creates a sense of solidarity even when a ‘group’ is separated by miles, or even an ocean.

McLuhan’s idea of a global village is the idea that we are interconnected through technology, Twitter facilitates this. It brings people closer together through our connectedness with our technological extensions of ourselves. McLuhan states, “As electrically contracted, the globe is no more than a village” (McLuhan, 1995). As part of this ever changing global village we communicate digitally and create bonds that transcend the span of our physical village. Prior to the invention of Twitter this bonding was done through other avenues of digital and non-digital communication, and as McLuhan theorized , “[t]hey are now involved in our lives, as we in theirs, thanks to the electric media” (McLuhan, 1995). One can follow celebrities on Twitter like Paris Hilton, Demi Moore, Ashton Kutcher even P. Diddy, right along with your favorite Aunt in Omaha and best friend in New York. And with McLuhan’s idea of a global village we are digitally intertwined in each others lives and further connected globally.

What's more, “[t]witter provides an opportunity for community participants to control their own experience. Each user can arrange their virtual space as they see fit, compose the content of their own posts, include content of others they choose to follow, and engage at whatever level of participation they desire” (Hazelwood, Makice, and Ryan). Our society loves solidarity within a group, and at the same time enjoys expressing our individual desires. We are a culture that is “all about me”. Twitter gives one their fifteen minutes of fame, while allowing those to stay in touch.

In regards to the interactivity of Twitter, Zhao and Rosson agree that, “[t]he brevity of microblog posts make them easy to update and read. Its pervasive accessibility (e.g., from website, browsers, and mobile phones) allows authors to update their experiences and thoughts instantly, as things happen and thoughts cross their minds. Readers can check others’ updates when they get a moment (e.g., in the airport, on the train, or in between of two meetings).” We are globally connected even when we are physically apart. Twitter is another way to keep in touch that it is quick and convenient, and with rising advances in technology Twitter will make the post-it-note obsolete.

Works Cited
Ament, Phil (2007). Post-it-note history. Retrieved April 2, 2009, from The Great Idea Finder Web site: http://www.ideafinder.com/history/inventions/postit.htm.

Hazelwood, William, R., Makice, Kevin, and Ryan, William. Twitterspace: A Co-developed Display Using Twitter to Enhance Community Awareness. Retrieved April 2, 2009 from http://www.wrhazlewood.com/~whazlewo/publications/pdc2008.pdf.

McLuhan, Marshall. Essential McLuhan. Ed. Eric McLuhan, and Frank Zingrone. New York: Basic Books, 1995.

Rosson, Mary Beth, and Zhao, Dejin. How Might Microblogs Support Collaborative Work? Retrieved April 2, 2009 from http://research.ihost.com/cscw08-socialnetworkinginorgs/papers/zhao_cscw08_workshop.pdf.

Sarno, David. Los Angeles Times. Twitter creator Jack Dorsey illuminates the site's founding document. Part I. Feb 18, 2009. Retrieved April 2, 2009 from http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2009/02/twitter-creator.html.

Thompson, Clive. "Clive Thompson on How Twitter Creates a Social Sixth Sense." Wired Magazine 15.07. 26 June 2007. Retreived April 2, 2009 from http://www.wired.com/techbiz/media/magazine/15-07/st_thompson.

What are YOU Doing?

2009-04-09T15:49:00.000-07:00

Alex Lasota
April 9, 2009
Jason Farman
Essay 4
Word Count: 787

           What Are You Doing: An Inside Look at one of today’s most popular interfaces

         With the advent of new technologies on the rise each and every year, and our societies constant demand for rapid communication tools, it seems fitting that Twitter has become one of the largest social networking sites across the globe today. This free digital communication tool, has introduced its users to a whole new realm of instant communication. Unlike many other social networking sites, Twitter takes pride in its one hundred and forty character limitation barrier, which has most commonly been referred to as ‘tweets.’ Tweets enable individuals across the globe the capability of micro-blogging anywhere, anytime, to anyone. No longer do individuals have to physically position themselves in front of a computer screen, but instead can translate their inner thoughts and emotions to the world, all through their cellular device. Twitter Users not only have the capability of informing society of their own thoughts, but also allows its users the access to explore other individual’s micro-blogs through ‘following.’   Individuals are thence able to subscribe to any individuals micro-blog, all in hopes to virtually connect a large mass of people in real time. The popularity of this social networking site has also enticed other social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace, to embrace the “what are you doing,” logo onto their own networking sites.
        After continually evaluating the novels and articles of our ancestors, it is quite apparent that many historical figures throughout history have undergone a type of censorship in their lives. Individuals such as John Milton whom wrote articles such as “Areopagetica” , have been known to persistently attempt to dismantle this power influx, through their pivotal articles and novels. However, because of the timely and costly constraint of the particular medium they were utilizing (print), their attempt was never entirely successful, for their distribution could not reach a mass influx of individuals. It is quite obvious today, that in 2009, this power influx has undergone a major transformation. No longer do only the privileged political figures have the power of communicating to a mass audience. With the advent of blogging, individuals were thence able to transcribe their thoughts, ideas, and emotions to whomever took the time to read them. And in 2006, blogging itself underwent a massive remediation. Founder Jack Dorsey weighed in on the heightened popularity of Internet blogging…and found a way to enable communication at a much faster pace. Funded by Obvious in 2006, Twitter then took on a life of its own (Jones 146). Dorsey’s simple and basic idea of virtually communicating through instant messages eliminates the social barriers our history has taken pride in. The power of the author is no longer privileged to the countries elitists; but is instead, open to each and every individual across the globe. It is simple, the more followers you have, the more capability you have to reach out and make a difference. While popular figureheads of pop culture today, like Barrack Obama, Ellen DeGeneres, and Good Morning America, may have the capability of inhabiting more followers because of their celebrity…everyday individuals are also capable of establishing their own credibility online. All individuals are thence able to interact with one another, and the boundaries are thus removed. This then rids society of its social dynamic structure, allowing the people to communally express bits and pieces of information without any hierarchy of power.

These popular texts based posts, have condescended and simplified older forms of communication in a timely manner. Because of the mobility of its infrastructure, Twitter has taken on a life of its own, and has enabled individuals to connect with each other in new ways. Josh Bernoff argues in his article “Groundswell” that “Twitter doesn’t add media to existing forms of communication like blogging and texting, but instead permits people to broadcast and subscribe to a constant stream of content in a new place: the mobile phone” (Bernoff 20) . Unlike any medium ever before, Twitter allows the globe to stay simultaneously connected to one another at all hours of the day. Through its frequent distribution of tweets, individuals are able to build founding relationships, relay information, gather support, transverse ideas, broadcast knowledge, and keep in touch with those around them. Twitter doesn’t care who you are, what you do, how much you know, or how little, but instead only poses the question “What are you doing?” Unlike any other medium before, twitter inches forward each and everyday to globalization, allowing individuals to stay virtually connected in real time.

Work Cited

Bernoff, Josh. “Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies. Harvard Business Press, 2008.

Jones, Bradley. Web 2.0 Heroes: Interviews with 20 Web 2.0 Influencers John Wiley and Sons, 2008.

"Tweet" "Tweet" "Tweet"

2009-04-09T15:21:00.001-07:00

Matt Larson
Essay 4
DTC 375 Farman
4-1-09
WC 1087

“Tweet” "Tweet" "Tweet"

“Just lost my championship game for city league.” This was the message I just added to my twitter account. Twitter is a micro blogging website where you can put short messages everyday about what your doing at that very moment. You can only put a total of 140 characters in each message or “tweet”. Not only can you “tweet”, but you can follow other members “tweets” as well. These tweets can even be sent directly to your phone via text message so you can make sure you don’t miss an update. Twitter is unlike any other form of communication in the digital age but yet still holds true to its historic background.

Since writing was invented, journals have been a major role in our society. Take the bible for instance, it is many journals of holy men compiled together to help us learn about God and be more like him. It is the moral basis of our culture today. Another example is how many people keep journals about their everyday lives. They write down their thoughts, experiences, and ideas in these journals. It is usually a very private and personal thing. Then in the coming of the digital age, blogging became the next big thing. Blogging is basically keeping a journal on the Internet, however, it is not so private anymore. Twitter, however, allows people to capture an individual’s experience that would otherwise be missed. It takes small snippets of people’s daily lives and makes them important (Kroski, 1). Now people can read them and follow your everyday experiences and thoughts. This brings a new sense of a society, and helps people feel like they are part of a group, a very large one at that. People today even read and use blogs to gain political information and ideas. A newer type of blogging done today is video blogging or “vlogging”. This is again a journal online, yet it adds more to it than that; it adds video to the mix. Now people can see the person whose blog it is. One of the more popular vlogs was a series by Lonelygirl15. It was a video blog of a girl where she talks about her problems and thoughts. It became very popular, and people couldn’t wait for the next one to come out.

Twitter is like these previous forms of communication of the Internet yet still staying fresh in being a new idea. It is the idea of micro blogging, to where your “tweets” (blogs) have to be fewer than 140 characters. You can do multiple posts throughout the day, but the idea is not what you did today but what you are doing right now. This is a new idea because it now quicker and you don’t have to sit down and think about what you did today, you can just say “just ate bananas in my cereal for breakfast”. It becomes an emphasis on the mundane rather than the major events in someone’s life, and that fact makes this form of communication revolutionary. It makes the little things in life actually matter, and become more important to people. The fact that you can have the “tweets” sent to your phone so you don’t miss anything goes to show you how people now care about the simple things in life.

Twitter or something like twitter, has been around our whole lives. When we talk on the phone and we tell people we just ate, or tell someone what we were doing at the time. Or when you are with a group of friends and you talk about how your child had a noodle come out of his nose. It used to be called chatting. However, Twitter is most effective in the digital age. It allows us to anyone anytime. You don’t have to directly communicate with someone for them to see what your up to, they can just look online at your updates. Think of it as a new way to gossip, except the person writing the tweet is gossiping about themselves, to anyone that wants to hear. NBC and BBC use Twitter to deliver news and programming information. Corperations such as H&R Block and Dell use it to answer customer questions and “converse” directly with the customer. Authors are asking people to give short reviews of their work. Penguin Books has even distributed new titles using twitter. (Kroski, 1). Twitter is a powerful tool and we can use it for as much or as little as we want.

We know that Twitter is out there for people to get those mundane things out everyday, but how interactive is it really? This question is followed with another question, how interactive do you want it to be? Yes you can post your tweets anytime, but that only has so much interactivity. The true nature of interactivity is in the people following your tweets. As stated before they can have the tweets sent to their phone, so they know what your up to all throughout the day. They can even log in from their phone and write their own tweets. Also you can add pictures as part of your tweets, which Twitter calls “twitpics”. Even though it is limited to what you can or cannot do, Twitter still can be as interactive as you want it to be.

Twitter is an idea that has been brought about through years of journal keeping, blogging, vlogging, gossiping and chatting. Even though Twitter isn’t the most novel of ideas, it is still revolutionary because it has drawn the focus of the major events in everyday life to the now very mundane. People can see what you are doing throughout any part of the day. Even if they are not by their computers, they can still receive tweets via text message on their phones. It is fairly interactive medium, where you can “tweet” and receive tweets anytime as well as send “twitpics”. Twitter is limited to what you can or cannot do, but it can still be as interactive as you want it to be. The digital age really has revolutionized the way we communicate today, and Twitter is a result of that revolution.

Citations

Grossman, Lev, “Quitting Twitter”, Time Magazine, 3/16/2009, Vol. 173 Issue 10, p50

Kroski, Ellyssa. "All a Twitter: Want to Try Microblogging?" School Liabrary Journal (2008): All a twitter: Want to Try Microblogging? 1 July 2008. Reed Business Information. 9 Apr. 2009 .

No more Mediation

2009-04-09T15:21:00.000-07:00

Jared Thomas
DTC-375
Dr. Farman
4/3/09
Word Count: 932

No more mediation.

Blogging is “a type of website, usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in reverse-chronological order. “Blog” can also be used as a verb, meaning to maintain or add content to a blog” (Wikipedia). Blogging is completely reliant on the technology of today and has redefined the hierarch of today’s published culture. In this paper I am going to discuss how blogging and technology have re-invented they way in which we are able publish unmediated content for all to consume.

How would one who wanted to get their point across in a published form go about it? Well, not too long ago you only had a couple of options. One, you could write a letter to the editor of you local paper hoping that it would make it through the editorial process and they (the paper) deemed it ok to publish. Secondly, if you had the means you could publish your own book, but then again it would go through the editorial process. Another option, though not textual, would be to place a call to a local radio station trying to get your opinion heard on air if you could get through the call screener. All of the above mentioned ways to get your opinion out into the public realm is somehow dependent upon someone else allowing it to be published or mediated. Another restriction on published thoughts was typically geographical, whether it be your city, state, or your country. This is explained by Gillian Youngs as “the public sphere“ (128). Youngs goes on to say that “the majority of people consuming such media (whether local or national) would traditionally have been located within, or associated with, the public sphere within which the media is generated. These audiences could be assumed to bring some kind of foundational historical knowledge of the specific context to the material they are accessing” (129). This means that people talk about what they know, which typically is dependent upon their geographical and societal standards.

With the invention of the World Wide Web (WWW) a new form of communication is now possible. There are no longer geographical boundaries in place; this new idea of communication is known as globalization. Globalization has no boundaries on communication; it brings the whole world to one common place, the internet. Technology has allowed people to communicate simultaneously around the world. The best thing about the WWW is that for the most part it is unmediated. This is where the success of blogging comes into the picture. After all the years of mediated information, now there is a way for anyone to post anything online. Blogging has removed the hierarchy put in place by public media, newspapers, news TV, magazines, etc. In 2006 “more than 20 million blogs being tracked around the world. They have risen in prominence as well as in numbers, with some leading blogs challenging the established order of the mainstream press”(worldpress.org).

It is safe to state that blogs are a remediated form of communication. “Individual voices, including different forms of feedback or audience engagement, are not new in themselves in the public sphere, “letter to the editor” in the traditional print media, perhaps being the archetype, but radio phone-ins, continuing to be a familiar form (and now text-ins and emailing-in)” (Youngs, 130). What Youngs is trying to say here is that the content of blogging is not necessarily new, but new technology has allowed us to create a spinoff of textual print media and move it to a digital age. You can find all sorts of what used to be private and or public information in the form of a blog, for instance; journal, political, personal, and business, etc. You name it and there is someone out there with a blog on the subject.

This brings up another interesting point about blogging, since anyone can blog people have to use their better judgment to make sure that what they are reading is valid. With the ability for anyone to publish Youngs states that “ as already indicated the location of the blog, its form and content, all contribute to how it may be regarded, and in addition to the points covered earlier, this goes well beyond distinctions between, for instance, fact and opinion. We might want to ask what kinds of facts, presented for what purpose, what kinds of opinion (professional, personal and so on) and for what purpose. Judgments about such areas are likely to contribute to the level and kind of authority, authenticity and trust granted to the blog by different audiences”(132). Basically the old saying “don’t believe everything you read” holds true here.

Blogging has given the world a new forum to publish our thoughts and opinions on anything and everything. It gives people a chance to say whatever they choose without having someone “screen” it so to speak. However with blogging allowing us to remove the hierarchy of published media, it has intern opened up the possibility for fiction to rule over the truth. If people are not educated or at least selective when reading blogs, then they run the risk of believing fiction over facts. We need to make sure that we understand the different types of blogging, the form, the content, and the context in which is relayed. Blogging has brought back the power of speech to the people and we need to encourage people to “speak” their thoughts as this was a given right that our Country was founded on and still follows today.

Works Cited
Blogs and Freedom of speech, June 6 2006,
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blog
Youngs, Gillian. “Blogging and globalization: the blurring of the public/private spheres.” New Information Perspectives 61.2 (2009): 127.

Chat Rooms: A Pioneer of Communication

2009-04-09T15:10:00.000-07:00

Eric Higginbotham
DTC 375: Language, Texts, and Technology
Dr. J. Farman
4/9/2009
Word Count: 931

Chat Rooms: A Pioneer of Communication

When I was growing up, I was fortunate enough to have a computer readily available for my explorative needs. In my eyes as a twelve year old, I had to be entertained constantly. My father had the remedy. I can remember the first time that my dad introduced me to the new member to our family: a computer. Shortly after this the words “America Online” and “Chat Rooms” became a term that was thrown around the house way too much to not be important. My father was certainly fully embracing this new type of media. It was an emerging technology that my dad was fascinated and completely consumed by. The idea of being connected to a huge network opened up possibilities that, I bet, could never have been thought of, by the majority, a decade ago. My father’s new playroom would eventually draw me into the same state of fascination that he was plagued with. Chat rooms became an amusing yet different experience that interested me. Although chat rooms are still available, I don’t visit them as much as I did when it was popular. Chat rooms did manage to create an interactive medium that helped develop other forms of media into what they are now. Simply put, chartrooms were the first stepping stone for the widely successful and popular social networking sites that are engulfing the world today.

Chat rooms played a significant role for the “online experience” that were offered by the emerging early internet services of CompuServe and America Online in the early 90s (Stone). The computer, at that time, would take what seemed like forever to boot up. Then it would take an additional ridiculous amount of time to connect to the Internet and of course the addition of the annoying high screeching noise of the connection provided the “cherry on top” (I say this because broadband has spoiled me over the years). It was worth the wait to go online and have a conversation with a friend, relative or even a total stranger across the world, or perhaps down the street, for that matter. This was a new interaction that had many people shocked at the fact that this type of communication was publicly available. It gave the people an individual identity that could flourish around the world.

After fully accepting all of the benefits of this god sent communication tool, I found out that some pretty deceptive people existed out there in the cyber world. I remember that many people didn’t quite represent themselves truthfully. The kid that I thought was my age started to sound like a different person…an older person. Then my parents started to see some disturbing news about these innovative chartrooms. Men and women were trying to exploit children to sexual acts or child pornography. It’s disgusting and sick that there are people out there that are targeting our children. Sites that have taken a step into more of a secure environment have created a barrier to this type of criminal behavior.

Sites like MySpace, Facebook, and Twitter allow people to learn more about an individual before they take that first step of contact. It’s still possible for predators to create deceptive profiles, but it at least makes these predators “jump through hoops.” MySpace gives the option of creating a private profile and Facebook defaults a newly created profile to be private. Facebook, which was developed in 2004, has represented itself as the safer social-networking site. Generally, Facebook has gone to greater lengths than rivals to keep a distance between adults and young adults (Stone).

Chat rooms have started the social networking craze that’s still spreading like a wildfire today. Over the years chat rooms have transformed into instant messaging. Instant messaging then had jumped mediums from the PC to mobile phones. Instant messaging is working at full force through our cell phones. It’s also revisiting our computers with the addition of social networking sites like MySpace, Facebook and Twitter (I wasn’t even aware that chat rooms still existed until attended class within its parameters). These sites are now trying to configure other types of interactive media. Currently, Vivaty, a startup venture, has been quietly working for the last two years on a new technology that utilizes chat rooms. Of course, these chat rooms are no longer the traditional style. Vivaty is creating 3-D virtual chat rooms that can be added to social networking sites such as Facebook (Stone).

It’s evident to see that the loosely secure chat rooms that CompuServe and America Online endorsed in the early nineties, is the forefather for the successful and addictive, more secure social networking sites such as MySpace, Facebook, and Twitter. Not only was it the foundation for these sites, it’s now emerging once again in a new format. By the sound of it, the addition of the revamped chat rooms and other features will only fuel the addiction of the daily visits that the majority of us are so familiar with. As we continue on this road of innovation it’s hard to say what we’ll come up with next, but whatever it is we have to pay homage to the chat room for pointing us into the right direction.

Works Cited
Stone, Brad. “New Scrutiny for Facebook over Predators.” The New York Times. 30 June 2007. 8 April 2009. .

Stone, Brad. “Online Chat, as Inspired by Real Chat.” The New York Times. 31 March 2008. 8 April, 2009. .

Blogging: Welcome to Your Doom, Print Media

2009-04-09T15:00:00.000-07:00

Jay Makki
DTC 375
Word Count: 1,080

Just a little taste is all it took. Like a dealer pushing his wares in a questionable neighborhood, blogs began to pop up in the shadowy depths of the internet, offering quips, quotes and cute little anecdotes from the everyman sitting at his computer. After a collective revelation resonated throughout the culture we found out the truth; that the everyman was us. With the advent of the internet the power of information was put back into our hands. A few short years later and America is now watching the phenomenon of blogging permanently changing the core of written word media.

It wasn’t long before blogging started conquering a heavy portion of the world’s information scheme. Media analysts, political pundits from all parties, respected financial advisors and mainstream journalists all have one major similarity in the last few years; the expansion of their online presence. As society was exponentially expanding onto the web it was no longer pragmatic for old media to skate by with only a mere website online. Internet users were on the move and content needed to follow in suit. If someone could not provide content to the users there was a safe bet that someone else could.

Some older media personalities anticipated the coming shift in media and met it head on. Former Richard Nixon ghostwriter Hugh Hewitt sensed the power of the blog movement and helped lead the way. His thinking was with the instant gratification given from blogging the “American attention span—which was never long to begin with—is getting shorter and shorter.” (Hewitt, 2005)

What were the older media empires to do? In order to meet the demands of the ever morphing user base, the older, more rigid models of media made the leap into blogging. NBC couldn’t wait for the evening broadcast when someone else was leaping on the story at noon. Bloggers, armed with a network of peers and websites they could update in second were delivering content to users armed with smart phones and notebooks. With each new blog and RSS subscription being offered on the web, it’s clear that content is becoming fluid.

Do you wish to wish to hear the latest inside celebrity gossip floating around Hollywood? 10 years ago Americans had to wait for the next broadcast of Inside Edition or next issue of Entertainment Weekly to hit newsstands. These days names such as Perez Hilton and Nikki Finke are becoming synonymous with ‘juicy celebrity gossip’. The reasons behind this are simple. First and foremost, people appreciate the authors and have built a cyber community around them, building faith on their credibility. Secondly, since these blogs are normally ran without any permission slips, they are allowed to speak what they feel with little hesitance because of editors and advertisers. Finally, these blogs have the content when you want it, as it happens. Gone are the days of media informing us of what has ‘happened’ as we usher in the days of media informing us as to what is currently ‘happening’ around the world.

Because of the speed, availability and to some degree the expectation of quality in blogging, the effects are cascading down upon printed word media. “Magazines, as we know them, are dying,” said journalist David Lipke. (Lipke, 2006) As technology progresses, it is only getting worse. The Seattle Post Intelligencer, on March 18th of ‘09, ceased production on printed newspapers. The Baltimore Examiner went under on February 15th of ’09 and The Rocky Mountain News also went under after closing their doors on February 27th of ’09. A New York Times Sunday newspaper now costs more then one share of their stock. Magazines such as Electronics Gaming Monthly, a staple among the gaming community for 20 years, shut down the printed edition of the publication in April of ’09. This is not a phase or a trend but a shift in where media is heading in the near future.

While it might be disheartening to consider that some beloved newspapers and magazines are shutting their doors, there is a glimmer of hope. Some publications—almost prophetically—are rising from the ashes of their former businesses to make new media geared towards the modern users. The aforementioned Seattle Post Intelligencer, Rocky Mountain News and Electronic Gaming Monthly have now shifted their entire focus online. The job of the journalist remains the same; observe and report. The only difference is how the product is reaching the readership.

This is not to say the interactions between digital media versus traditional print or broadcast media are note entirely sour, nor does this mean the end of printed media. In fact, none of these points are attempting to insinuate these two models are at war with one another. Media, as a whole, is simply having to learn to work together in order to provide their services to a broader core user base. Continually they are remediating content from one other. One man’s words become another man’s speech which becomes another man’s blog entry. This is the true power of the blogging scene as a whole.

What does this mean for the future? With many publications simply being unable to make ends meet in the physical portion of their work, they may be able to find empowerment by shifting to an all digital presence on the net. Perhaps without having to worry about the restraints of the physical product they can instead invest more into the quality of their work. Further, the lack of a hassle concerning the delivery of their publication may lift an unseen burden, making the reader themselves the delivering agent. No longer will an author have to ‘send the product out’, but now the reader ‘sends themselves to the URL’.

As the shift in media still spirals into new directions, speculation comes up about the future of written word. With the advent of Amazon’s Kindle 2 being recently released and several newspapers testing the internet based subscription waters, it may be too early to give any projections about the coming changes in media. There is only one certainty that anyone can be sure of; blogging has made its mark on media. No matter which way the media inevitably changes, you can be certain it will be blogged about the entire time it is happening.

Hewitt, Hugh (2005) “BLOG: Understanding the Information Reformation” Nashville: Thomas Nelson, Inc.

Lipke, David. (2006, October 2) Whither Magazines? E-Paper May Imperil the Printed Page. Daily News Recor. Vol. 36 Issue 40, p14-15

Benefits On the Web

2009-04-09T14:46:00.000-07:00

Adam Roll
Dr. Jason Farman
DTC:375
4/9/2009
Words: 789

Benefits On the Web

Every day people engage in a form of communication with one and another whether it’s a simple telephone call or a one on one conversation between two people. It wasn’t too long after the invention of the Internet that a new form of communication became possible. This new form of communication was online chat rooms. It was a form of communication that was unlike any other prior to its time. With this new medium you can “engage in a live, real-time conversation, conversations with people around the block or around the world at the same time. Chat rooms can give people a wonderful opportunity to make new friends anywhere in the world, and keep in touch with old ones.”(Disabled World, Para 2) In addition to global access, it was a medium where you can chat anonymously. Chat rooms therefore became a form of textual and interactive form of communication that encourages social activity.

Chat rooms are inviting due to the simplistic nature of them. Unlike any other forms of communication, in a chat room, a user can chat anomalously. You do not have to be who you say you are or disclose any unwanted personal information, which you do not want to give out. For instance, Marisol Del-Teso-Craviotto states, “Text-based Computer-Mediated Communica-tion (CMC), such as some varieties of chats, instant messengers, or electronic mail, seems at first sight a body-free environment. The absence of visual and aural cues downplays participants’ bio-logical bodies, and thus greatly reduces the amount of personal information available in interac-tions. Social traits such as gender, race, ethnicity, age, or features such as height, tone of voice, or hair color are invisible unless a participant makes a point of displaying them. ”(251) Further more, chat rooms enable people who are bounded by problems keeping them from the social world to become social without having to leave their home.

Chat rooms are a good tool for social interaction, especially for those who are anti-social or who have problems communicating with others. There are no boundaries a Chat room cannot cross, which allows for a well rounded medium for communicating as well as learning purposes. The unique nature of the medium not only allows for speedy messages to be passed back and forth but allows communication across the world and even in foreign countries. For instance, Peris Et Al, states, “Cyberspace has become a new meeting point in which time/space boundaries are blurred, and interaction prevails over linearity in communication processes.” (Para 1) This all can be done instantly with the click of a mouse.

Chat Rooms for many individuals are a way to explore sexuality and other complicated embarrassing issues without scrutiny. It is hard to talk about sex and other related issues during adolescence for both young men and women. According to Kaveri Subrahmanyam, Patricia M. Greenfield and Brendesha Tynes, “a major developmental issue during adolescence is the con-struction of a psychosocial identity, which may be best viewed as a quest for self-understanding. The changes that occur during adolescence challenge the adolescent to find “his or her unique and consistent self-definition” (qtd J Kroger, section 1.2 para 4) Chat rooms are unique in the way that individuals can communicate to the world.

Communicating in a chat room is very similar to other forms of communication such as in person or over the phone. All three of these mediums communicate at a fast pace and serve the same purpose. They are socially interactive. For example, Mark Henderson states, “ Young people who spend hours in front of a screen may appear antisocial to their families, they are gen-erally using it to socialize with school friends and people who share their interests.” (Para 5) The only main difference between these three forms of communication is the medium used for com-munication. As far as Chat rooms go, at the click of a mouse, the recipient can receive and re-spond back to a message, just as they would in a formal conversation in person or over the phone. In addition to the speed of these mediums, they all engage in social interaction.

There are many different purposes for engaging in an online chat room. Some of theses purposes may be for education and learning purposes, where others may be for seeking advice for personal issues in a realm where identity is not an issue. Regardless of the purposes, online chat rooms are a new form of social interaction that is used by millions of users on a daily basis. Depending on the users intentions there are many benefits to online Chat Rooms. The Internet for one is a tool that is used to access the world, and its possibilities are endless.

Works Cited

Marisol Del-Teso-Craviotto, “Gender and Sexual identity authentication in language use: The case of chat rooms.” Discourse Studies, 251, Sage, 2008, http://ntserver1.wsulibs.wsu.edu:2504/cgi/reprint/10/2/251

“Communication”, 2009-02-02, Disabled World, Para 2 http://www.disabled-world.com/communication/chat-history.php)

Mark Henderson, The Times, “Scientists: Internet, Chat Rooms Good for Teenagers”Para 5, 2006, http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,185823,00.html

(Kroger, 1995 J. Kroger, The differentiation of "firm" and "developmental" foreclosure identity statuses: A longitudinal study, Journal of Adolescent Research 10 (1995), pp. 317–337. Full Text via CrossRefKroger, 1995).

Kaveri Subrahmanyam, Patricia M. Greenfield and Brendesha Tynes, ScienceDirect, Elsevier Inc. 2004
http://ntserver1.wsulibs.wsu.edu:2071/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6W52-4F02RX2-4&_user=7810834&_coverDate=11/01/2004&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_sort=d&view=c&_acct=C000011439&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=7810834&md5=4ff735568b8f6fe2b19e8182a2a07951%20%5C%5C%20bbib62

Peris Et Al - Scribd, “Online Chat Rooms Virtual Spaces of Interaction for Socially Oriented People” CyberPsychology & Behavior Volume 5, 2002, Mary Ann Liebert, Inc
http://www.scribd.com/doc/8475523/Peris-Et-Al-Online-Chat-Rooms-Virtual-Spaces-of-Interaction-for-Socially-Oriented-People

Tweeting around the world

2009-04-09T13:34:00.000-07:00

James Cavanah
DTC 375
Dr. Farman
Word 807

Twitter has been an epidemic sweeping the nation for the last two years and with its popularity reaching to over 6 million users, it could be here for a while. But why do we use it? Is it the immediacy in that, we get instant answers or is it because we can be our own editors of news? I believe we use twitter for the simple reason, it communicates what we are doing in the fastest possible way. We Decide what we want to say or what feeling we want to convey in 140 short characteristics. The use of twitter I believe has direct correlation to hand written letters, pagers, texts messaging or a phone calls.. It helps people feel connected to the energy of the community that’s building the social web.

“It’s the messaging system that we didn’t know we needed until we had it”. This is what Biz Stone the co-founder of twitter said in an interview. When we go back in history we can see that technology only moves as fast as the people using it. For example the emergence of the printing press, telegraph and computers, these are all a remediation of each other. Twitter has distinctive characteristics between its previous predecessors. Not only can we sum up the thoughts and messages we are trying to say but it also gives immediate satisfaction with a real time network. People can go to twitter and find out the status of who ever they want and even become there own authors by writing about other peoples posts. For instance there are a ton of famous people on twitter such as Tony Hawk, Shaq, Pdiddy and so forth. They all have the option to put information out there that is used to defend him or herself from bad media or vise versa. We also see that more and more news medias are tweeting to get their viewers opinions. Twitter has defiantly changed the definition of the word “Author”, by giving the user a voice. Most people love the fact that they can agree or disagree with statements made on the website because it creates a relationship between the technology and the user, giving them freedom and power.

People are staying connected through Tweets all over the world. Users who tweet can stay connected with their families or friends and actually feel like there closer to them. In some ways it gives us a visual perception of what the other person is doing which makes us feel like we are connected. This idea also builds on the websites popularity with the incorporation of mobile phone. Not only can we give and receive tweets from our home computers but we can also send them with our phones. No other type of media has branched out to use more than one communication device, which I feel makes twitter one of a kind. In the article “ How to be a better tweeter” on Cnet.com they say that “I now realize that people on Twitter don't want to just hear what others have to say, they want to be heard. And the best way to satisfy that desire is to reply to their interesting tweets.” Having our mobiles connected to other people all to time creates an ambient intimacy. From one of our readings on Disambiguity.com we were introduced to this term . Ambient intimacy is the idea about “ being able to keep in touch with people with a level of regularity and intimacy that you wouldn’t usually have access to, because time and space conspire to make it impossible” . Having the technology to use a network like twitter creates a cultural/social bonding that will expand more and more social networking cites out to the public.

Having used twitter for the last month has gave me a good Idea of who my classmates are. At first I didn’t really get the idea of twitter and how people could “really” get to know there followers but that is half the fun of it. I decided that twitter takes a while to get used to but it is defanitly a social netwroking experience. The fact that you have to decide what to say in 140 charicteristics almost makes your post more personal than a handwrittenletter . When you leave an updates it feels like you have to cut out all the fluff and make well thought out statements to convey the message you want. Twitter is fast and effective and gives people the chance to keep there day intresting Not only do we have friends to talk to but know we have Twitter.

Works cited:

Reisinger, Don.Http://www.Cnet.com "How to be a better tweeter." 102/03/2009 1. 6 Apr 2009. http://news.cnet.com/how-to-be-a-better-tweeter/

Reichelt, Leisa. "Ambient Intimacy." Disambiguity.com 03/01/2007 1. 6 Apr 2009.http://www.disambiguity.com/ambient-intimacy/

2009-04-09T13:30:00.000-07:00

Kristin Sanders
DTC 375: Language, Texts and Technology
Dr. Jason Farman
April 7, 2009
Word Count: 997

Macro Microblogging: Tweets in a global village

The microblogosphere is full of chirps, and Twitter is at the heart of it. The Twitterati may tout its newness and hipster edginess, but this SMS social network is only as edgy as the text messages that came before it.

Twitter, a free social-networking service, allows users to post 140-character updates based on this prompt: What are you doing? Since its debut in November 2006, Twitter has accumulated a rather large following – about 5 million, according to Jeremiah Owyang (2008). The State of the Twittersphere found that at the end of 2008, about 5 thousand to 10 thousand new accounts were being opened every day, and that approximately 70% of new Twitter users joined in 2008.

But where would Twitter be today were it not for its technological media predecessors – the telegram, e-mail, forums, blogs and even text messages? Twitter is, after all, based on the concept behind text messages – express yourself in no more than 140 characters. And could the term “microblog” – a mini web log – exist without its macro blog precursor?

Given the limitations of what you can express (HTML is stripped, character limits), it’s curious as to why microblogging has exploded in the last year. Its predecessor, blogging, saw a similar explosion early in its career as an Internet mainstay. A few blogs took off (Huffington Post, for example), but many more ended up going belly-up. Why the loss of interest? As one writer points out, blogging can be hard (McFedries, 2007).

“Unless you love to write, churning out even remotely interesting mini-essays every day of the week is a tough slog,” notes Paul McFedries. He goes on to postulate that this daily grind has led to a growth in the popularity of short-message service emulators, perhaps because having a 140-character limit is easier for some.

There also is the immediacy of the service to take into consideration. Where once the initiator of topics had to wait hours, sometimes even days, we are approaching territory falling into “zero seconds” between post and reply. This networking also builds a sense of camaraderie among the various groups of “Tweeter” and followers (Stevens, 2008).

Vance Stevens also addresses the different kinds of information made available to him through his Twitter account based on who he decides to follow: “Suppose you have cultivated a network of professional colleagues who reliably feed you URLs you might want to check out, and you've weeded out those who dwell on sagas in the laundromat. What we're talking about here is just-in-time informal learning, social networking, low affective filters, a playground for knowledge workers where you can ‘follow’ almost anyone you choose and enjoy his or her 140 character musings, often with a provocative URL to explore, from time to time, day to day, and even minute to minute. These gems of genuine interest are lodged in a matrix of emerging personalities that are themselves interesting.”

On the topic of networking, Twitter has evolved with its userbase over a short period of time. In user streams, one may notice a wide variety of “at” tags, wherein the “twitterer” directs a particular post to one or more of his or her followers. At first, this “@username” function appeared as normal text in posts. Once the Twitter leaders noticed this catching on, a script was created to link these comments to the intended recipients’ Twitter profile – both to call attention to it and to direct other viewers to this page, perhaps to get a better understanding of the conversation flowing among different tweets. Some blogs and news aggregate sites, on the other hand, still function as a “post only” service, limiting interactivity among users.

Due to the immediacy of Twitter and its ilk, these SMS services have been credited in the speed of victim rescues, from the 2008 earthquakes in China, to California wild fires, to getting a man out of an Egyptian jail for taking photos. In the latter scenario, through his cell phone device, the young man was able to alert his followers to his situation, after which they were able to secure his release (Stevens).

Could blogs and e-mail, even mass text messages, could have had the same effect in search-and-rescue missions, like those of southern China’s earthquake recoveries? It’s difficult to say, but various mainstream media outlets seem to credit Twitter with getting the world on alert about the disaster-in-progress (Cellan-Jones, 2008) (Siegler, 2008).

After all the praise is taken into consideration, Twitter seems to fall short in one significant area: bandwidth capacity. It is increasingly more frequent that users will log in, only to be greeted with an image of a whale being precariously towed through the sky in a net carried by birds and a message that says it clearly: “Twitter is over capacity.” Where quickly-popularized services like Google were able to handle the surge in popularity with additional in-house servers, Twitter appears to lack the means to address this current issue.

Could this deal a blow to Twitter’s popularity once the novelty of the service has worn off? As new as the service is, it’s hard to tell at the moment. At least one website exists already (twiddict.com) to tackle this issue head-on, but the Internet can be a fickle audience.

But maybe it is that long-lasting novelty that has kept Twitter at the forefront for as long as it has already. Perhaps instead of pontificating over the nuances of the latest communicative medium through a several-pages-long blog entry, it will remain easier to simply say, “Twitter is something special and here to stay.”

I have heard it said that the key to effective communication is brevity. And for that reason, no matter the telegrams and blogs and text messages that predicated microblogging and that which will come after, Twitter is and will remain the communicative medium of choice through the foreseeable future – or at least until my ADD-riddled internet generation moves on to the next big medium.

But really, after 140 characters, what else is left?

Works cited

Owyang, Jeremiah. (2008, November 19). Social networks site usage: Visitors, members, page views and engagements by the numbers in 2008. Retrieved March 31, 2009 from http://www.web-strategist.com/blog/2008/11/19/social-networks-site-usage-visitors-members-page-views-and-engagement-by-the-numbers-in-2008

Volpe, Mike. (2008, December 22). State of the Twittersphere: Q4 2008 report. Retrieved April 2, 2009 from http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/4439/State-of-the-Twittersphere-Q4-2008-Report.aspx

McFedries, Paul. (2007, October). Technically speaking. IEEE Spectrum. 84.

Stevens, Vance. (2008, June). Trial by Twitter: The rise and slide of the year’s most viral microblogging platform. Retrieved March 31, 2009 from http://www.tesl-ej.org/ej45/int.html

Cellan-Jones, Rory. (2008, May 12). Twitter and the China Earthquake. Retrieved April 6, 2009 from http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/technology/2008/05/twitter_and_the_china_earthqua.html

Siegler, MG. (2008, May 12). Twitter is first on the scene for a major earthquake – but who cares about that, is it mainstream yet? Retrieved April 6, 2009 from http://venturebeat.com/2008/05/12/twitter-is-first-on-the-scene-for-a-major-earthquake-but-who-cares-about-that-is-it-mainstream-yet/

Online Journalism Blog. (2008, May 12). The Chinese earthquake and Twitter – crowdsourcing without managers. Retrieved April 6, 2009 from http://onlinejournalismblog.com/2008/05/12/twitter-and-the-chinese-earthquake/

adrianan.essay4

2009-04-09T12:39:00.000-07:00

Adriana Naccarato

Dr. Farman

DTC 375

4-9-09

wc: 792

I’ve been Twitter-fied!

I am definitely a social butterfly to the fullest. I adore being able to let my friends, family, and peers know what I am doing at all times. Twitter is the best place to do so. There is unlimited ease of doing so on Twitter without the hassle of friend requests or pointless applications that clutter Facebook and MySpace. Twitter is easy, convenient and can be used by all, anywhere, everywhere, anytime, and as often as your heart desires.

Twitter is a privately funded startup with offices in the SoMA neighborhood of San Francisco, CA. Started as a side project in March of 2006, Twitter has grown into a real-time short messaging service that works over multiple networks and devices. Twitter is a form of micro-blogging that allows users to keep people updated of their status. You can update as many times as you want as often as humanly possible. Simplicity has played an important role in Twitter's success. People are eager to connect with other people and Twitter makes that simple. Twitter asks one question, "What are you doing?" Answers must be under 140 characters in length and can be sent via mobile texting, instant message, or the web (Twitter). The beauty is that it is continuous and linear. You can update as many times as you like in order to say as much or as little as you want. The beauty of Twitter is that you do it from your cell phone. You can update your status, as well as receive updates of other “tweeters”.

Sure we can do status updates on Facebook or MySpace, why Twitter? Good question, Twitter allows you the freedom to let people know what you are doing without the hassle of endless applications, games, or hassle of intricate designing of a creative page for people to navigate over. Twitter keeps it simple. This is refreshing to me. Don’t get me wrong, I find myself jumping from one social site to the other, but my sole purpose is to simply update my status.

Of course Twitter remediates older forms of communication. I believe everything is remediated. This is why and how we are able to grow as a civilization, socially and technologically. We start off with journals and diaries and work up to blogging and then before you know it we are micro-blogging. Micro-blogging has hit the forefront full force and seems to have everyone hopping on board. Micro-blogging is simply stated small talk digitalized on the web. People find this exhilarating and profound because these days most of our time is spent surfing the net or simply living online. Twitter can eliminate the frivolous chit-chat to specifics of “what we are doing”.

Not only do social butterflies, like me, find Twitter to be easily usable and accessible, so do journalists, celebrities, politicians, and businesses. I cannot even limit the use to just these few categories, everyone has the ability to try Twitter and, like us all, get hooked.

Journalists take people places that we cannot normally go. It’s informal and approachable and great for conveying a little moment from an event. For some, journalism is already getting smaller. Newspapers are shrinking. Serious news is being pushed aside in favor of entertainment and fluff stories. To many journalists and guardians of the trade, the idea that any journalist would willingly embrace a smaller space is horrifying and dumb. One journalism professor drew himself up to his full height and denounced Twitter journalism — or microjournalism, as someone unfortunately called it — as the ultimate absurd reduction of journalism. We can all agree that journalism shouldn’t get any smaller, but Twitter doesn’t threaten the traditions of our craft. It adds, rather than subtracts, from what we do (Dickerson).

There is absolutely EVERYTHING revolutionary about Twitter. It eliminates chaos and unncecessary clutter, it is perfect. No reader expects more from Twitter than it offers, and no one writing tries to shove more than necessary into a Twitter entry (Dickerson). With the ease and simplicity of Twitter, I do not think it could have been able to survive during any other era other than that of the digital.

Living in a a digital era, we look for the newest, coolest, more advanced forms or ways to communicate. With most of us juggling careers, school, families, and just the chaos of daily living, not only are we looking for the coolest, we want the simplest. Twitter has become a convenient way for people to give others a glimpse into the chaos. It is a fun and easy way to keep people enthralled in our lives. Twitter was never a thing of the past. Twitter is, and will remain a thing of the present, but even more so, the future!

WORKS CITED

“About Twitter”. Twitter 2009 April 2009. http://twitter.com/about

Dickerson, John. “Don’t Fear Twitter.” Nieman Reports. (Summer 2008).
http://www.denieuwereporter.nl/2008/08/dont-fear-twitter/

Extra! Extra! Newspapers Are Obsolete!

2009-04-09T12:11:00.000-07:00

Neil Fastabend
Dr. Farman
DTC 375: Language, Texts & Technology
9 April, 2009
Word Count: 1,148

Over the last decade, the widespread use of the internet has drastically changed the way we live our lives. The way people are getting their information is quickly switching to online sources due to their quick accessibility. Blogging is one of the new ways to get opinionated information that you used to have to get from newspaper. No longer do writers have to struggle to get noticed and be published before the world can read their views; now anyone can sign up for a blog spot on any number of different websites and voice their thoughts to the world. Blogging has become a widespread phenomena because of it's ease of use, freedom to say what you want, and reader interaction.

One of the greatest factors into the widespread use of blogging is the ease in which you can make posts. Websites such as www.blogger.com have set templates for people to use that allows them to sign up for an account, type something in, and publish it in minutes. After using the class blog for DTC 375 I can see why many people post on blogs daily; it is extremely easy and you do not feel limited by anything while writing. One of the greatest aspects of the internet is the ability to connect to millions of people around the world from the comfort of your own home, and blogging takes full advantage of that aspect. Never before in the world have average people had the ability to convey their thoughts to so many others that they don't even know. Even professional journalists are getting in on the blog hype. They don't always want to worry about having to wait until the next time their publication goes to print before they can voice their opinion on a breaking topic, so they'll make a blog entry about it. "Monthlies aren't nimble enough to react to breaking events, you want to be out there in the public discussion, building a like-minded audience and building exposure by having other blogs linked to you and your commentary" (Lucas, 5). The use of blogs for this reason as well as for average people to display their opinions alongside professionals and critique them has allowed the number of active blogs to reach enormous numbers. The exact number is debated, "Technorati.com cites more than 1.2 million blogs of record. Others, like Wolff, cite upwards of 4 million people blogging on the Web today" (Lucas, 3).

Another reason blogs are so popular is because you have the freedom to say whatever you want. The internet is known to give people a certain anonymity when they use it, and blogs have gained that feeling as well. Even though your name is on it, you do not always feel like you are typing to hundreds of millions of people when you make a post. You are safe behind your computer screen, and are therefore more inclined to really speak your mind about a topic that you might have held back on if you were speaking in a public place. In some countries, such as Iran, media is censored before it is released to the public, and blogging is often the only way to really get the truth heard. Asieh Amini writes in his article about the censorship issues in Iran:

"At first, journalists were extremely guarded about what they wrote, even online. But that soon changed. As official pressure on the print media increased, daily papers were threatened with closure, and the fear of arrest and imprisonment spread among journalists and activists. Blogs have become our major source of news and information" (34).

Even professional media in the United States is limited by the expectations of their sponsors, so they do not always want to put something on the air that could possibly be offensive, making them censored in their own way. Blogs do not have this issue and therefore can pick up on controversial stories and comment on them. Lucas gives the example in his article of the racial comments that Senator Trent Lott made at Senator Strom Thurmond's birthday celebration, and how the mainstream media did not pick up on the story: "It just kind of flew under the radar. But the bloggers started asking questions and discussing it. And because most bloggers don't rely on access for their livelihood, there's no taboo about discussing certain topics" (5).

Blogging also introduces a level of interaction that is really not available to any other form of mass media. A person can post a blog and in minutes people can read the article and then comment on it, allowing the author to revise their view or at least easily have access to other viewpoints. Many authors enjoy this aspect, which allows them to connect with their readers much more personally than if they were writing for a newspaper and only getting written letters or email responses long after the article was written. "My blog puts me in much closer touch with my readers. The blog has been a fabulous way for me to have a conversation with them. They let me know when I'm wrong and when they agree with me" (Lucas, 5). Lucas also gives some examples of how newspapers such as the Boston Globe or the website for the television network, CNN, have discussion forums set up for their readers and listeners to respond to stories that they are speaking about. By doing this they are trying to use old forms of media to get advantages of the new forms such as blogs. Some publications have even been created online completely, with a type of blog format, allowing readers to go to the website and read published stories and comment on them instantly after they are posted.

Blogging is still a relatively new form of communication, and a large percentage of people don't even know what a blog is still, so who knows where it could end up once more and more people start participating in the blogosphere. Blogging emerged as an evolution of the newspaper article, allowing users to voice opinions or publish stories on their own and still have millions of people with access to it. The facts that blogging is easy to use, allows you to say whatever you want, and allows a large interaction between reader and author has made it very unique in it's own way. Online media is still evolving, and like how the Gutenberg printing press revolutionized print media, blogging is doing the same, digitally.

Works Cited

Amini, Asieh. "Battle of the Blogs." New Statesman 137.4913 (2008): 34-35. EBSCOhost. Local University Library Service, Washington State University Lib. 9 Apr. 2009. .

Lucas, Andi. "Learning to Ride the Big Blog Boom." Seybold Report: Analyzing Publishing Technologies 3.16 (2003): 3-7. .

Twitterpated

2009-04-09T09:48:00.000-07:00

Shannon Mendenhall
DTC 375 - Dr. Farman
04/09/2009
Word Count: 937

Twitterpated

Jay David Bolter and Richard Grusin wrote that, “No medium, it seems, can now function independently and establish its own separate and purified space of cultural meaning” (Bolter and Grusin). Forms of communication that utilize electronic textuality are all seemingly remediated from older forms of communication. Individuals who utilize cyberspace for both communication and expression find that different forms of social networks and blogs have become the primary applications utilized. One such application, Twitter, is a microblog that simply asks “What are you doing?” which has interestingly enough had a large impact on societal communications. Twitter is not just another example of remediation at its finest, though it is remediation, this application has shaped electronic textuality by creating what some are calling “ambient intimacy” or a “social sixth sense.”

In the aspect of remediation Twitter is unique because it is remediated from a combination of previous forms of communication. Twitter is similar to many social networking websites such as Friendster, MySpace, and Facebook in that it enables individuals to connect with one another through cyberspace. Twitter is also remediated from blogging because like blogs, Twitter enables its members to publicize personal entries within cyberspace. Micro-blogging remediated from blogging, and thus, Twitter and other micro-blogging applications were created. Many social networks also utilize an aspect of micro-blogging with their available ‘status update’ type features, but these networks are not dependent on status updated to function while Twitter is. Twitter is also remediated from text-messages. Many individuals utilize mass text-messaging to dispatch messages to multiple friends at once. Twitter simplifies that process, and Twitter as an application is best utilized through text-messaging. It is obvious that Twitter is remediated, as Bolter and Grusin suggest.

So what makes Twitter different? Clive Thompson compares the Twitter experience to a “telepathic awareness” of the individuals whom he is connected to (Thompson, Clive). Thompson argues that social proprioception is created through the use of this application. Individuals are aware of one another as a body; an understanding is created through the available knowledge of the actions and feelings of those whom you are ‘following’. This new “sixth sense” extends our physical bodies into the lives of others. Through Twitter individuals have the capability to know what is going on in other locations at the same time they are experiencing life in their current location. Their bodies are extended to the locations of the bodies of those that they are connected to, enabling them to inhabit spaces that they are not physically present within. Visual images of actions and occurrences may present themselves if the recipients of the tweet are familiar with the location and the personality of the individual who authored it. Because of this phenomenon Twitter has the ability to strengthen relationships.

Leisa Reichelt coined the term “ambient intimacy” when reflecting on Twitter (Reichelt). Ambient intimacy is the ability for people to intimately stay in touch with one another with regularity. We find ambient intimacy unlikely in our society because of time constraints and the limits that location places upon us. Both Thompson and Reichelt comment on how Twitter and similar applications allow users to focus on meaningful subjects once they are able to communicate face-to-face. Ultimately this saves these individuals time because the ‘small talk’ that society is accustomed to has become obsolete. Topics that are meaningful and purposeful can rightfully be restored as the platform of face-to-face communication. In another article on ambience, Clive Thompson talks about how Twitter allows for face-to-face conversations to pick up in the middle (Thompson, Brave). He calls the phenomenon and ambient communication “co-presence”. When you meet up with your friends it is as though you were never apart. Many critics laugh at this idea, and Twitter has been scorned for glorifying meaningless personal statements, but Thompson put things into perspective by saying, “Each little update — each individual bit of social information — is insignificant on its own, even supremely mundane. But taken together, over time, the little snippets coalesce into a surprisingly sophisticated portrait of your friends’ and family members’ lives, like thousands of dots making a pointillist painting.”

Twitter also has an edge over e-mailing and blogging. As Thompson notes, e-mail messages are typically individualistically targeted (Thompson, Brave). Their intention is usually to communicate a topical (and usually lengthy) message to a specific person. They are time consuming because they are personal and require a response. Thompson points out that tweets can be skimmed like newspaper headlines, you can even skip some, reducing the amount of time you spend communicating textually. Twitter is an awareness tool that can relay similar personal messages, but responses are not necessary with this application. Some of the disadvantages of e-mails are also shared with blogs. Reading all of the entries of a particular individual on a blog is very time consuming, and following the entries of multiple people would be extremely difficult. Twitter engages individuals in a synopsis of the activities of multiple persons in a very small amount of time.

The discovery of the social sixth sense that Twitter has introduced has caused use to expand. Twitter has drawn in many users, and is one of the fastest growing social networking tools. It is popular because it is different. Though it is remediated from past media, Twitters strength is ambient intimacy. This application is enveloped in ambient intimacy in a way unlike the applications that came before it. Individuals appear to have love affairs with this application because of its uniqueness and availableness. Twitter has changed the way that people communicate, and has brought them closer to one another through a common knowledge of ideas and activities.

Works Cited

Bolter, Jay David, and Richard Grusin. Remediation: Understanding New Media. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2000. 53-62.

Reichelt, Leisa. "Ambient Intimacy" Disambiguity. 1 Mar. 2007. TypeBased. 9 Apr. 2009 .

Thompson, Clive. "Brave New World of Digital Intimacy." The New York Times 7 Sep. 2008.

Thompson, Clive. "Clive Thompson on How Twitter Creates a Social Sixth Sense." Wired Magazine. 26 June 2007.

Twitter: Leveling the Playing Field

2009-04-09T09:07:00.000-07:00

Angel Almaraz
Dr. Jason Farman
DTC 375
9 April 2009
Word Count: 758

Twitter: Leveling the Playing Field

In the past, the distribution of information was limited to newspapers, journals, and news channels and access to people in positions of power was greatly limited. If you wanted to ask a politician a question, you had to have specific credentials that gave you access to the politician. We looked to journalists and news channels to provide us with information. The growth of blogging changed that and now Twitter is taking it a step further.

Unlike social networking sites, such as MySpace and Facebook, Twitter limits the amount of information a user can post at one time. This limitation forces the user to cut out all the filler information they may usually include, requiring them to get to the point. The limitation of 140 characters per tweet also well suited for sending tweets from cell phones, which increases the interactivity and mobility of the information being sent. Unless users carried their laptops with them, their updates to MySpace and Facebook were usually sent from the same location. Because users can easily post updates from their cell phones, we are seeing an increase in the amount of information being sent out.

Updates are also being posted from a wide variety of locations, including courtrooms, the senate floor, and the presidential primaries. During one Obama’s campaign stops a reporter sent a question to Obama which was responded to by an audience member. Obama then responded to the reporter and the audience member (Dickerson). All of this happened in real time and without the formality of a traditional campaign stop. In the future candidates will have to rethink the ways in which they run their campaigns. Because the general public has had unprecedented access to the candidates during our last presidential campaign they will expect the same type of access for all campaigns.

Twitter is changing the way journalists do their job. In the past, a journalist went to a press conference or interview, took notes, prepared their story, and submitted it for publication. Now they can send out tweets in real time, perhaps relaying information that would not make the final version of their story. People following journalists can also suggest a wide variety of questions that the journalist may have not thought of. (Dickerson)

Twitter is also changing its predecessors. When Facebook’s attempt to acquire Twitter failed, Facebook redesigned their site. Facebook now features real-time web updating and even changed their prompt to more closely resemble the Twitter prompt. (Gahan)

The simplicity of Twitter may also attract more users than social networking sites. Some people may have stayed away from blogging and social network sites because of the limitless amount of information they could post, which can be overwhelming. Twitter limits the amount of information you can provide and the time commitment to send a tweet is very small. It takes just a moment to inform everyone following you how your day is going or what current problem you are facing. The time commitment required to read all the tweets you may be receiving is another story.

The Internet has leveled the playing field in terms of the global economic structure. Companies with access to the Internet are now on the same level and have the same opportunities and access to the same consumers. Twitter is changing the social structure of our society. Twitter users are on the same level because all user accounts on Twitter are the same for everyone. There is no longer a difference between celebrities, politicians, and the general public. Because there is no longer a distinction between users, the general public has greater access to people in positions of power or status. The general public can interact directly with their favorite celebrity or send a question to a politician. That would not have been possible in the past.

Some of the criticism of Twitter is that the mundane natural of the majority of tweets sent proves that it has no real value. But it is exactly the mundane natural of the tweets that reminds users that, regardless of our standing in the world, we are basically the same. We all face the same issues and problems in varying degrees. Just as a user sends out a tweet commenting on the boring meeting they are sitting through, a member of Congress sends out a tweet about the boring meeting they are sitting through. Technology continues to expand and gives us new ways to connect with each other, bringing us closer together in the ways that matter most, the small ways.

Works Cited

Dickerson, John. “Don’t Fear Twitter.” Nieman Reports. (Summer 2008). <http://www.nieman.harvard.edu/reportsitem.aspx?id=100007>

Gahan, Brendan. “With Twitter Envy, Facebook Adds (Near) Real-time Web Capabilitites.: GigaOM. 4 March 2009. <http://gigaom.com/2009/03/04/twitter-vs-facebook-real-time- web/>

Diaries are So Ten Years Ago

2009-04-09T09:04:00.000-07:00

Rochelle Juette
March 31, 2009
DTC 375
Dr. Farman
Essay 4
Word Count: 830

Diaries are So Ten Years Ago

Over the years digital technology has seemed to take over the world. People are no longer writing their thoughts down on paper, they are now transcribing them into digital forms on their computers, Black Berry’s, cell phones, digital planners, etc. When I was a little girl I always kept a diary. I wrote in it every night. My greatest fear, however, was that someone would find it and read it (which of course I later found out my mom read it religiously). With today’s technology, blogging has given people the opportunity to write their thoughts online which can then be seen by their eyes only or to the public if they wish. Blogging has many advantages and disadvantages for personal use, businesses and education.

People look at blogging as a way to track their feelings. A great advantage to blogging is people no longer have to worry about other people reading through their diaries or journals. The technology we have today has allowed us to protect our work and set passwords to where only we can see our writings. When I asked my friend how she felt about blogging she said, “I feel they are a necessary escape to those who like to express their feelings, through writing, to the rest of the world. I personally have written over 60 blogs both private and public.” The privacy option on blogs is great for those who want to stay private. For those who want to be heard, there are many disadvantages that follow. Some people use blogs to talk about anything and everything. In this case, they can end up giving too much personal information which can then only lead to bad things such as stalkers, predators, getting fired from their jobs, conflict with others, and so on. The one thing about blogs that bloggers have to consider is that if the blog is public, ANYONE can read it.

Businesses often use blogging for marketing their company as well as intercommunication between employees. It’s a great way to spread information fast to customers and employees. The information can be updated as often as deemed necessary but this could also be the down fall of a blog in a business. Gerry McGovern stated, “Like practically everything else on the Web, blogs are easy to start and hard to maintain. Writing coherently is one of the most difficult and time-consuming tasks for a human being to undertake. So, far from blogs being a cheap strategy, they are a very expensive one, in that they eat up time. As a result, many blogs are not updated, thus damaging rather than enhancing the reputation of the organization.” There are many other disadvantages of blogging for a company. According to marketingtitain.com they said, “While writing in a blog that is business related, it can become all too easy to start writing in a conversational tone, or to express some personal feelings towards your company that might be misconstrued.” As long as you stick to the topic you were meant to blog about, blogging is a great tool for business. Blogging also has many advantages for a company. According to enterpriseblogs, “They boost your search engine rankings if you add fresh content on a regular basis. Google and other search engines rewards sites that are updated often, that link to other sites and most importantly, that has many inbound links.”

Blogging can also be used for educational purposes. In our case, our class used a blog to post our papers. This was very intimidating to me because that meant that everyone (and not just people in the class) could read my papers. In fact, my mom was trying to find my personal website and Googled my name and our class blog popped up, so of course she read it and yelled at me for not trying hard enough on one of my papers (this could be the disadvantage of educational blogging, nosey parents). Blogs can also be used as ways of discussion for a class. A teacher could assign a certain reading and then ask their students to blog about what they thought of the reading. In the article I found online it said a group of fifth and sixth grade students used the web to blog and post their homework. The students said, “Blogging is an opportunity to exchange our point of view with the rest of the world not just people in our immediate environment.”

People young and old are now blogging more than ever. Blogging is now being used for personal use, businesses, as well as for educational purposes. It won’t be long before the trees will be safe since we will no longer have to cut them down to make paper. It seems like people are moving more towards the digital forms of writing. It is way cheaper and also a lot less expensive. It is no wonder blogging has become so popular for many different purposes.

Works Cited

1. Unknown, "Advantages and Disadvantages of Internet Blogging." Blogs. Marketing Titan.
< http://www.marketingtitan.com/advantages-disadvantages-blogging> 1 Apr 2009.

2. Unknown, "Corporate blogging advantages." Enterprise Blogs Info. Enterprise Blogs Info.
< http://www.enterpriseblogs.info/corporate-blogging/advantages> 1 Apr 2009.

3. McGovern, Gerry. "Blogs and Blogging: Advantages and Disadvantages." WebPro News. 23
Aug 2004. < http://www.webpronews.com/topnews/2004/08/23/blogs-and-blogging-
advantages-and-disadvantages> 5 Apr 2009.

4. Downes, Stephen. "Educational Blogging." EDUCASE Review Vol. 39 Num. 5 (2004): 14-26.

2009-04-09T08:20:00.000-07:00

Zach Woffinden
Dr. Farman
LL&T
April 9, 2009
WC: 967

Tweet-er-ific: My reaction to Twitter

My thumbs seem to be aching for something to type. My mind is racing with things to say, it’s a clash of verbal diarrhea and the naked dream wrapped into a cute blue bird, Twitter. Once I signed up for the tweeting and the following, I soon realized that I was signing away my right to privacy, for whatever I write can be read by anyone.

The word shocking comes to mind, maybe creepy, and a little vulnerable. But soon my inner twitterer had hatched and I was in full flight. Now with the capability to reply and receive twitters from my cell phone, I want everyone to know what I’m doing.

What is this phenomenon? Simply stating: microblogging. Manipulating the basic rules of small talk, creating a free flowing digital brainstorming, and announcing digital headliners, Twitter has brought in the revolution of microblogging.

Small talk or better known in the world of twitter as daily chatter, allows the twitterer to “talk about (their) daily routine or what people are currently doing” (Java et al. 2007, p. 8). Basic rules of small talk were to have one person try and create a conversation from nothing and hoping the listener would care what was being said. Now with the creation of microblogging, focusing on Twitter, the twitterer can “tweet”, post a comment, on their home page for everyone to read, and with a membership starting at over 94,00 in April 2007 when Twitter was first launched (Java et. Al., 2007, p. 1) and has done nothing but increase, there are a lot of people to read your posts.

Paul McFedries speaks on the goal of Twitter in his article entitled, “All A-Twitter”, “the goal of all this twittering seems to be to enhance one’s cyberspace presence…” (2007, para. 5). McFedries goes on to point out that many of those who have a Twitter account also own accounts to other social networks, such as MySpace or Facebook (2007).

Twitter has caused myself among thousands of others to branch out and become present in many areans all the while remaining at my compter desk. I created a Twitter account, actively update my Facebook page, and heavily rely on contacting others through email and test message. What does this really al mean, one I have a lot of extra time on ym hands, and two there has been an egg implanted in my head that triggers a need to be known, and its call is being answerd fervently and not just by me.

Looking beyond the face of daily chatter, Twitter is also being used to share information, especially URLs (Java et. al., 2007, p.8). If I want to personally retrieve anything I had written, or read, or was influenced by I have the ability to run to my Twitter Home page and scroll through the hundreds of tweets, or send out a tweet to my followee’s.

The idea that you can share information digitally is not a new idea but rather a re-twittered idea. Emails, blogs and databases were all in affect before the hatching of Twitter, but what Twitter offers that others cannot is “constant-contact media” (McFedries, 2007, para. 3-4). “Blogging is hard”, the need to update daily a short monologue is time consuming, and lack of knowing if anyone is really even reading your blog can rain on anyone’s parade.

As I have come to experience with microblogging on Twitter, I can connect my cell phone to the my Twitter site, be notified of any of my friends latest tweets, post my own tweet, and even reply to someone’s tweet. I have connectivity like never before. Some people are putting a positive twist on this concept of constant connectivity.

With that constant connectivity people have reached out to create movements and causes in which followers on Twitter are responding. The uniqueness of Twitter is not the ability to just drop your thoughts off, like in a personal diary but to reach unlimited amounts of people. One aspect of Twitter is to find other people to follow or tweet with; this creates an atmosphere of exploration within a simple setting. A setting that even in the jungles of Africa can be explored.

Joseph Kimojino, a Kenyan ranger and recent hatched blogger, hit some hard times recently. The Mara Triangle wildlife park, the place of Kimjino’s work, went broke after Kenya’s post election violence, so Kimjino reached out the digital world to find some help. And help he found, receiving donations that have kept himself and other rangers and the wildlife reserve over all up and running (Meehan, 2008, para. 2-5). Texting in news updates from rangers patrols to Twitter, with the help of expert blogger William Deed, and uploading pictures onto a photo gallery called Flickr, Kimjino has highlighted how Twitter is the digital headliner (Meehan, 2008, para. 11).

With the character limit per post at 140, short and sweet is the only way to go. Twitter moves beyond the newspaper static headlines and creates digital interactive headlines, such as Kimjino’s story, but also with the sharing of websites weather forecasts, and videos (Java et. al., 2007, p.8).

Wrapping up the uniqueness of Twitter, I conclude that Twitter sprouts from the basic foundations of human communication, where the twitterer can send out a message to all those that want to read it, this also creates a specialized atmosphere where groups of interest can gather rapidly and remain constantly connected. Finally if properly used the affect of microblogging in Twitter can gather help and awareness around the globe in such an unheard of way until now. “Twittermob” or the “Twitterati” maybe the next step in the journey of Twitter but as for now the little bird is singing and will only continue to tweet (McFedries, 2007, para. 5&7).

References

McFedries, Paul. (2007, October). Technically Speaking: All A-Twitter. Spectrum IEEE, 44(10), 84.

Meehan, Emily. (2008, May). Life, Death, and Twitter on the African Savannah. Retrieved from http://www.wired.com/print/culture/lifestyle/news/2008/05/kenya_blogger

Java, A., Xiaodan, S., Finin, T., & Tseng, B. (2007). Why we twitter: understanding microblogging usage and communities. New York, NY: ACM.

Twitter

2009-04-09T05:40:00.000-07:00

Agustin Tovar
DTC 375
Dr. Jason Farman
4/09/09
Essay #4
Word Count 962

"What are you doing?"
Twitter has transformed the way we socialize and communicate with each other, and in turn has had an affirmative impact upon our societies ability to speak with one other.
Twitter has been the rage to communicate with people. It’s quick, easy and convenient. Can be done in any place, and at anytime as long as you have some type of Internet service. It is a way to send or receive messages or Tweets (user updates).

You have up to 140 characters to work with. Other users who subscribe to you can read or send you messages and you can also allow or restrict other users. Twittering has revolutionized microblogging and conversational tools. Look at the media, the public and professional sports. It was seen during President Barack Obama’s address to Congress on February 24, 2009. In the NBA Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban has found another way to vent about his teams games, he Twitters it. (Walker) Cuban was arguing
that referees had made bad calls as well as other officials calls, it didn’t last very long he was fined by the NBA shortly after a few Tweets. Everybody seems to Twitter,
celebrities, politicians etc. are all weighing in on this. You can follow daily tweets from Seth Rogan, Madonna or even better someone like Warren Buffet. It is the hottest form of social networking happening today.
The history of one of the most talked about social events was shelved at one point because of its complications. Founder Jack Dorsey was working as a dispatcher software developer when he came up with Twitter idea. His original idea in 1999 was to be able to shoot off messages to his friends at lightening speeds, but the users that he was trying to communicate with didn’t have the same type of devices he had so it was put on hold until 2006. In 2006 Twitter was initially funded by Obvious, a creative environment in San Francisco, CA. The service grew so popular that in 2007 Twitter grew into Twitter Incorporated. (Twitter) Since then it has been the third most popular social network to emerge since social networks appeared.
“The goal of all this twittering seems to be to enhance one’s cyberspace presence, an
elusive concept that seems to refer to being “out there” (wherever “there” is) as much
as possible. Peel back the layers of a typical Twitter user and you’ll probably find that
he or she also maintains a regular blog, a Facebook or MySpace account, Second Life avatar, and so on. The dream is to achieve a sort of virtual omnipresence. Such people
are said to be ultraconnected.” ( McFedries 84-84)
The concept of Twitter has pushed the envelope of communication. It has begun to grow into its own entity. It has reached its potential within its space and time. Twitter has taken older forms of communication and condensed them, simplified them and delivered them even faster and more mobile than before. It is a modern
form of remediation. Clinging to the same idea that media feeds off one another, although this type networking has created its own type of media by making networking simple and
easy, affordable if not free and instantaneous, something everyone wants. It has spawned many ideas supported by Twitter if not in the name of Twitter. There are all types of sources that utilize the Twitter. When have you ever heard of a pro athlete microblogging something during a game? Or automatically hear about something that just happened a half world away? And to even read thoughts from some of the most influential people around the world.
Although it can be argued that Twitter is just another blogging site, another way to waste time and that its real value lies in how much money the founders make. This is what a closed minded person may see in these medias. Is that there is ways to be unproductive or wasteful yet make it look hip and fun. Because although Twitter is very finesse in its mobility, don’t people have better things to do? How is Twitter going to change my life or will it make life better? If Twitter is revolutionizing social networking, doesn’t that mean that we as people should be able to create something physical, something great, and something useful instead of modernizing how we talk to our friends? These are age-old arguments that can go forever, but do carry valid points to them. The future of Twitter could be “Twoogle”, rumor has it that Twitter could be bought out by Google, but if that happens Google may not be able to do what Twitter did to begin with, communicate easily without too many distractions or dilution of the product. Twitter may not be able to sustain its identity if this is to happen. But this is just a rumor. No it will not please everyone, nor will it stop world hunger. It could probably be just another novelty that will come and go. I’ve never been attracted to blogging, Facebook or Myspace, but after Twittering for the first time I admit it does have potential
to it. It just has to be utilized as a more of an effective, efficient means of communication. But the fact that it has generated such a huge following is poignant to the specifics that people from the world can be brought together by 140 characters or less.

Works Cited
“About Twitter” Twitter 2009 April 2009
http://twitter.com/about

Walker, Dumont “Twitter's Impact on the NBA” The Bleacher Report
March 2009
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/147680-twitters-impact-on-the-nba

McFedries, P., "Technically Speaking: All A-Twitter," Spectrum, IEEE , vol.44, no.10, pp.84-84, Oct. 2007
http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?arnumber=4337670&isnumber=4336089

2009-04-09T00:57:00.000-07:00

Beau Yancey
03/26/09
DTC 375
Dr. Farman
Word Count: 779

Dear diary…you’re no longer needed

The diary has always been a universal record of our daily accomplishments in life. Our thoughts, feelings, and dreams have been recorded in these manuscripts of sacred literature and have been hidden away in our bedrooms under lock and key. At least that was the case until the early nineteen nineties. In just fifteen years since the first weblog was produced, blogging has taken the sacred writings of our diaries and turned them into the greatest form of personal publicity the world has ever known.

“A blog… is a contraction sans apostrophe of the words 'Web' and 'log.' The word refers to an electronic diary (some prefer to call it a journal) that one may keep, situated on the Internet for the perusal of interested parties. Just like a book or article, it's there, regardless of whether or not anyone cares to read it. Blogging (the act of creating, maintaining, and updating a Web log) is, in effect, self-publishing; and, because you usually have to pay somebody for it.” (Savage, William W., pg. 2)

Originally created for journalists who wanted to break free from the hassles and costs of publication, the weblog became a source of independence and freedom for writers everywhere to publish their writings for the world to see. Through the overwhelming success of blogging came other media based forms of self production. Video blogging, MySpace, Facebook, YouTube and other websites erupted into a frenzy of self promotion. The opportunity to create your own work and to publish it on a global scale had never been so simple.

The modern day blog has evolved into something much more than a publishing tool for journalists. It has become the diary of the twentieth century. Instead of writing personal records of our inner thoughts, blogging has taken the diary and developed into a daily record of our lives for the world to see.

A typical blogger logs in daily, or every couple of days, and publishes an account of their lives and activities for the week. This is beneficial for several reasons. The most important aspect to this web based diary is that your activities can be seen by family and friends throughout the world. Instead of calling home every Sunday, or every other weekend, a family member can check a specific blog and be up to date on everything of importance in their loved ones life. Bloggers can also place videos and pictures of loved ones on their weblogs, an important addition for grandparents and other family members who are unable to attend important events.

The interactivity of blogs is also important. As well as being a diary, it also doubles as a chat room. Instead of writing letters, mailing them, and waiting for a response, the blogs are instantly published which bypasses the need for any postal communication saving time and money.

Until now I have primarily focused on the benefits of blogging as it pertains to family and friends. However, through the interactivity of blogging, other people who come upon your weblog have the freedom to post comments, pictures, leave their email addresses and other functions.

This feature leads us to the ideology of Marshall Mcluhan’s “global village” which allows people to make friends throughout the world via the internet. In a recent article by Terry Teachout, he states “When the history of blogging is written a half-century from now, its chroniclers may yet record that the highest achievement of the Internet, a seemingly impersonal piece of postmodern technology, turned out to be its unprecedented ability to bring creatures of flesh and blood closer together.” (Teachout, Terry)

No other invention on the planet has the ability to touch the lives of total strangers as blogging does. Some blogging sites today actually take care of the technical aspects of your blogging page for you. There is no need to even create your own web page. Simply type in your name, pick out your background theme, and begin. With the simple click of a button, our lives are published and shared with anyone who wishes to take time out of their lives and involve themselves into yours. The only possible flaw with blogging is the limitation to each particular blogs length. However, in today’s society, everything needs to be done quickly and without much effort. The shorter the blog, the more interested we are in reading it.

Whether you’re interested in publishing articles, writing columns, or just letting your loved ones know about your day, web logging is the answer. Although some might say that blogging focuses on the trivial aspects of life, there is nothing wrong with participating in the human race.

Work Cited

Savage, William W., Jr. "The Transom: You Can't Spill Mustard on a Blog." Journal of Scholarly Publishing 38.1 (Oct. 2006): 47-51. MLA International Bibliography. EBSCO. [Washington State University], [Richland], [WA]. 1 Apr. 2009

Teachout, Terry. "Culture in the Age of Blogging." Commentary 119.6 (June 2005): 39-48. MLA International Bibliography. EBSCO [Washington State University], [Richland], [WA]. 2 Apr. 2009

Blogging Is Not Only Evolutionary But Revolutionary

2009-04-09T00:13:00.000-07:00

Denise Garner
Jason Farman
DTC Essay 4
March 8, 2009
Word Count: 780

Blogging Is Not Only Evolutionary But Revolutionary

From long hand to typewriting, writing into the new future writing that is typed into a computer has made journaling much more simplified. With a blink of an eye, a second of a thought, and a touch of a finger, blogging has brought us up to date so far in the future. Blogging is an everyday routine for the majority of all citizens of America. Blogs have jumped “19 percent in the last two years” by Americans that have gone on line to view media daily instead of reading the newspaper. More people are turning to the Internet for news and information that they want because they can get what they want faster when they want it. No more waiting for the daily newspaper for the next day. In an instant they can retrieve all they need in seconds instead of minutes or hours. Americans had gotten more campaign news from interviews in 2008. You Tube became a major part in delivering information for people. The Obama Campaign had 1800 web videos that were viewed 100 million times. In August of 2008, 29 percent of Americans watched the nightly network news, 32 percent watched morning shows, and 13 percent watched Sunday morning shows. Blogging has its own uniqueness because it maintains your creditability and employs lateral thinking.

Meanwhile, you can maintain your creditability by taking “people on a journey with you” and using an intense amount of leeway and learning as you go. By this, try not to “ hide behind false or arrogance.”
For instance, going from the smallest amount of information to the largest information, anywhere from the facts of life and our thoughts to worldly information. Giving one a chance to comment on all of it or some of it. One could take away from given information that is put out there or could add a numerous amount of information on their own. Another example, one can communicate their thoughts of value,by this, always make it clear and expressive. Giving your blogs importance and making ideas
and thoughts more powerful to the business world . One more is by using excellent link sources, one can be very complimentary to another. On the other hand, there could be a draw back in using outside views that are helpful by allowing us to grab onto fresh ideas and thoughts. Start out clean, using all angles giving creditability to our information. This can trick or not trick the media into believing what we have blogged by our journals.

Next, employ lateral thinking by differentiating every ones off the wall creditability. A logical way of thinking needs to be taken into consideration, separate yourself from the norm. For instance, when blogging, use lateral thinking on your own, by directing your own inner thoughts to create a logical bridge with context. One can make a blog that they can call their very own. Its an estimated start for ones jokes, even if they maybe about work or play. A joke such as: There are two muffins in a oven, one muffin says “boy is it hot in here.” The other muffin says “ holly shit, a talking muffin.” Mind is a wonderful tool for our new and improved way of journaling and blogging. The opposite, in a more serious sense in the work environment. A person needs to stress all correct importance for the interest of ones co-workers. Serious jobs take and need serious measures, one doesn't take lightly to miscommunication when it comes to priority in the job place. If one is going to post a thought, comment, direction, order, memo, duty, or meetings. It is very important to get it right the first time. Especially these days, one has to post those blogs and journals correctly in order to keep your job. More than a few people view these posted blogs but several millions come across them daily.

Because blogs bring out the uniqueness in all of us. It gives us a gift of lateral thinking options that we never realized we have, so we can go further in life. Also, this give us the tool to maintain our creditability to share to others. So remember, when editing your blogs into the Internet you can choose to keep it very serious, humorous, sad, happy, professional, or gross, etc. Just apply your creditability
in all aspects of journaling techniques and thought process.

Work Cited
Jarboe, Grey. Search Engine Watch. April 3, 2009. http://blog.searchenginewatch.com/090403-135206.
Clark, Brian. 5-steps-2-A-truly-unique-blog-that-works. March 01,2007. http://www.copyblogger.com/

2009-04-08T22:40:00.000-07:00

Ben Oliver
DTC 375: Language, Texts &Technology
Dr. Farman
April 8, 2009
Word Count: 810

Vlog, Son of Blog.

Web-logs or “blogs” have been around for quite some time. Blogs are typically digital diaries posted on the internet. A recent enhancement to the blog is the video-log or “vlog”. Vlogs are very similar to blogs in that they use the internet and are also typically a diary or journal. Vlogs utilize many more facets of textuality than their ancestors the blogs. Because a vlog contains elements from nearly every form of textuality, it is more credible, captivating and interactive than any of its individual textual components.

A vlog is an excellent example of individual textual components being combined to create a new form of media. In the book Remediation: Understanding New Media written by Jay David Bolter and Richard Grusin, the authors describe how new media pays homage to old media by manipulating, combining and modifying the old media. They call this transformation “remediation”. Vlogs combine the oral medium of sound, print medium of text, and the electronic medium of video and interactivity of the internet into a form of textuality that is seen, heard, read and interacted with at the same time at any time. Each of the basic medium forms can stand on their own but the combination into a vlog creates a powerful, new, non-linear medium.

Advances in technology have been one of the leading factors in the emergence of vlogs. Not too long ago the primary way to access the web was through dial-up and was very slow. The slow dial-up speeds were frustrating and web sites with unnecessary graphics were regarded as rude. Simple text was preferred. In those days the thought of transmitting a video was almost obscene.

Technology increased bandwidth and with it web based applications were able to evolve. Blogs also evolved. It eventually became appropriate to share videos. It is widely accepted that Adam Kontras created and still operates the first known and longest maintained video blog. Adam started his vlog in January 2000 documenting his move to Los Angeles. His first vlog was short, very low resolution and lasted only 10 seconds. As bandwidth grew and Adams abilities developed, his blogs became more complex and transcended comedy, opinions, music, and more. His most recent entry at 11:55 PM, on Saturday, March 28th, 2009, #869 titled The Kismet is nearly television quality with (comparatively) rich audio and lasting one minute and 45 seconds.

Vlogs hit a spike in popularity when YouTube came on line in February 2005. Suddenly, if you weren’t uploading a video to YouTube you were watching one on YouTube. Everything and anything imaginable took on the form of a video. These blogs with a kick added more layers, more dimensions and more interactivity than a simple text journal. Some vlogs have become so popular they have been syndicated and broadcast using Really Simple Syndication (RSS).

A new market has evolved with the advent of vlogs. Popular vlogs, not necessarily syndicated vlogs, are targeted by advertisers who want to purchase exposure of one form or another. Some advertisers may post a link on the page with the vlog; some vlogs may actually contain trailers in the video itself. Other advertisers have disguised their advertisements as personal vlogs injecting them with product placement and fooling the viewer into unwittingly watching a commercial.

The age old statement ‘seeing is believing’ comes to mind when experiencing vlogs. For example, a vlog may be created to show how dropping a Mentos in a bottle of diet pop can create a 20 foot geyser of soda. If you were to read it or someone told you about it I doubt you would be nearly as impressed as a video tutorial complete with the results. You may even be inspired to go try it! What about the vlog showing how to make Mountain Dew glow in the dark with some basic household chemicals? The video is impressive and the instructions are so simple. The problem is that the Mountain Dew video is a hoax and care should be taken when trying to duplicate anything seen online.

The vlog is more than just tacking a video onto a diary. It combines all forms of textuality and packages them into a new, powerful medium that interacts with people and grabs their attention. Vlogs are more than seductive sounds, bright flashes or engaging images but a homogenous mixture of all. Whether it is a vlog about how to make the perfect Mocha, or fiction like how to make Mountain dew glow in the dark or amazing news events, vlogs are an impressive and effective way to share information and engage the viewer.

Work Cited

Kontras, Adam. “The Journey.” Adam Kontras. 2009. 4tvs. March 31, 2009.

Bolter, J. David and Grusin, Richard. Remediation : Understanding New Media. Cambridge, Mass. MIT Press, 1999.

Twitter: Community Building for Commuter Campuses

2009-04-08T20:07:00.000-07:00

Kelly Collier Rauh
Word Count: 986 + tweets (309)
April 7, 2009

Using Fragments to Defrag
Though plagued by coughs of “oops…” error messages, and that sick feeling you’ve wasted precious time reading pointless drivel, Twitter does offer one healthy remedy to the partially-connected atmosphere at colleges where no one lives on campus. Twitter is a unique communication medium for students to enhance social ties that are often fragmented on commuter campuses.
Fad With Staying Power
An August 2008 Fortune magazine article compared Twitter’s hot flash of popularity to two recent predecessors: Facebook (2003) and YouTube (2005). Both ancestors have been tremendous unifying factors among college students. “Twitter is…a free service that lets you send the briefest of messages to everyone in your network. Users prefer the term ‘tweets.’ Users ‘follow’ one another…at Twitter.com as well as by cell phone and on sites like Facebook” (Lashinsky 41).
With Facebook’s $500 million offer for Twitter in 2009 (Ante) and commercial giants Dell, Comcast and H&R Block finding it useful for marketing and customer service (Beckwith 50), it’s unlikely Twitter will be a passing fad, or one that fails to produce income. The power of the medium seems to have been historically cemented with Obama's presidential campaign tweets—astutely aimed at college-age voters—containing “announcements, rally locations, and election info” (Beckwith 50). Barack’s Twitter account shows over 737,000 followers and over 618,000 he’s following (Twitter). Twitter is “the big daddy of micro-blogging…While plagued by erratic service because of huge growth, Twitter remains the standard bearer” (Hargadon 15).
Hybrid Vigor
Twitter has remediated several forms of social communication prevalent on college campuses, resulting in a hybrid with some distinct advantages. It’s the electronic equivalent of passing notes in class, posting notices or tear-off-phone-number ads on bulletin boards, and voicing questions in groups. Twitter requires no printing. Tweets aren’t taken off their posting site (unless deemed obnoxious by monitors), and are less stressful than public speaking. Messages are akin to brief e-mails, but don’t carry the obligation of a timely response—or any reply at all—and won’t fill an inbox to rejection levels. Content is similar in length to text and instant messages, but no usage maximum threatens fees for exceeding allotted quantities. Twitter’s 140-character limit treats the boredom suffered by readers of blogs, and reduces mindless spam to tasteless morsels that don’t even need deleting—scrolling past successfully ignores them. Twitter shares a chat-room quality, but with a relaxed pace. There’s an intimate and realistic feel when students who interact physically on campus are in comparatively small Twitter groups.
Gaining Independence Interdependently
"Twitter is at the forefront of the real-time web," says Fred Wilson, a Twitter investor. "Blogs were the beginning…a progression from the static web. Now with Twitter… there is…smaller and ever more rapid bursts of information" (Lashinsky 40). “It's very easy to keep track of others; indeed, never before have we had this ability to be connected with so many people (Hargadon 15). An etiquette ‘rule’ explains how 140 characters at a time can forge such interpersonal connections: ''Add value. Build relationships. Think LONG term'' (Pogue).
Twitter helps bridge the generation gap on commuter campuses between older students and their classmates who typically graduated from local high schools this millennium—often beside the sons and daughters of those returning students. Twitter can link such diverse students through quick facts on each other’s Twitter biographies or as they glean tidbits of information in tweets.
Tapping Tribal Knowledge
Going beyond superficial answers to "What are you doing now?" challenges users to tap into Twitter’s dynamic capacity for rapid textual distribution of tribal knowledge. One Twitterer asked “if a certain project had been tried before. In 15 seconds, his followers replied with Web links to the information he needed. No e-mail message, phone call or Web site could have achieved the same effect” (Pogue).
Commuter campus students at Washington State University, Tri-Cities formed a Twitter group as an assignment for Language, Texts and Technology. After members bemoaned the shallow, narcissistic nature of many tweets, pleas for group knowledge, project support, and valid news resulted in helpful exchanges:
agustin_t Big event tomorrow! Live 9am Saturday at WSU @ Richland, Wa 5k Fun Run 100 people enter two leave as the victors!
sheila_wsu Guest speaker Myioko and the "campus striptease" in the east auditorium WSUTC starts @ 4. See you there!
tibbin Just saw a car on a hill on its roof about 5 mins after rollover on i-82. Scary
sheila_wsu can't figure out how to make my buttons have that nice looking rollover...ugh! I'll try again tomorrow
zwoffinden@sheila_wsu u can do it sheila! just use your insert rollover! i believe in u!!!!!!!!
tibbin Repackaging project printed and assembled. I feel really good about it! <3
JMC Yeah im finished in the mac lab..@tibbin: consider your repackaging project another WIN!! Nice Job!
agustin_t Oh yeah, this morning seen Twitter being talked about on ESPN's First Take.
AngelAlmaraz Today's Dilbert mentions the Turing test
KellyRauh You guys gotta see today's (Sat) Doonesbury in TCH. I never read it, but my husband pointed it out 'cuz it's about Twitter.
honda650@KellyRauh i don't get the TCH, how was that article on Twitter?
KellyRauh@honda650 Try going online to Doonesbury comic for Saturday 03/14.
AdamRoll How was the test?
tibbin@AdamRoll Surprisingly well, I think. Had an epiphany halfway through that worked in my favor I think. We'll find out in two weeks
zwoffinden@AdamRoll surprisingly awful, I mean after your extraordinary build up adam I was slightly disappointed the test wasn't easier
KellyRauh Which classes on DTC major list do y'all recommend the most? Or the least? Do tell, please!
JoshColby7 Kelly, 355. Look out though its really fast paced
shenanagins@KellyRauh Dig Imaging was fun. Only do it if you know a thing or two about photography, like photoshop, and can handle A LOT of projects.
shenanagins I'm in the MKTG class online now. It's super easy. So easy sometimes I forget it exists...
Peer Publishing: More Power, Less Pressure
Announcements of student activities on posters or bulletin boards generally require administrative approval, maintaining the hierarchy of publishing power. With Twitter, approval is bypassed, giving every student publication power. We traditionally consider colleges as publishers and students as researchers, but Wayne State University has "taken an original stand on Twitter. Instead of using the platform to communicate with potential followers…[it’s] a customer service tool to listen, address, and reply to any problems reported via Twitter….Mentions of…the institution's name (are) tracked and their authors ‘followed’….‘Students started talking more about Wayne State, both positive and negative. We made it a point to respond to everyone, figure out what they are having issues with, and offer our help’” (Joly 40). This turns students into research subjects, giving them more input into their college experiences.
Group e-mails have become so abundant that students often ignore them—whether from official sources or friends on their network fringe. Tweets aren’t opened individually, so readers make no conscious decision—based on a subject line—whether to absorb more text. Students who enable Twitter on their cell phones need not access their desktops or laptops to be in touch. Brief tweets fit well on screens of portable devices. Since the full sentences and correct grammar expected in email are compressed, standards are more casual. Even spelling errors are excusable as possible “thumb-typing” slips, so authors are freer to contribute without concern for collegiate writing guidelines.
Catching or Catching On?
Twitter is traveling the popular path across campus, following Facebook and YouTube. All three carry germs of self-absorption and threaten to infect schedules with wasted time, yet also provide social sutures. Twitter’s unique blend of instant portable messages, free mass distribution to chosen networks, and absence of obligation to respond present an opportunity—especially for commuter college students—to quickly bond in both sickness and in health.
Works Cited
Ante, S. “Facebook's Thiel Explains Failed Twitter Takeover.” Business Week Online. 2 Mar. 2009. Academic Search Complete. Web. 14 Mar. 2009.
Beckwith, S. “Is Twitter a Fad or a Solid Business Tool?” Black Enterprise 39.6 (2009): 50. Academic Search Complete. Web. 14 Mar. 2009.
Hargadon, S. “Microblogging: It's Not Just Twitter.” School Library Journal 55.2 (2009): 15. Academic Search Complete. Web. 14 Mar. 2009.
Joly, K. “Should You Twitter?” University Business 12.1 (2009): 39-40. Academic Search Complete. Web. 14 Mar. 2009.
Lashinsky, A., and D. Burke. “The True Meaning of Twitter.” Fortune 158.3 (2008): 39-42. Academic Search Complete. Web. 14 Mar. 2009. 2008, August 18.
Pogue, D. “Twitter? It's What You Make It.” New York Times 12 Feb. 2009. Academic Search Complete. Web. 14 Mar 2009.
Twitter, Inc. “Barak Obama.” Twitter: personal page. Web. 07 Apr. 2009.

Social Aspects of Twitter

2009-04-02T15:41:00.000-07:00

Melanie Erickson

March 26, 2009

DTC 375

Dr. Farman

Word count 867

Social Aspects of Twitter

Tweeting has been around since October 2006, it has been a relatively new way of communicating. In the last 2 years it has grown dramatically because of the simplicity, and the fact that it only has 140 characters it is easy to read and does not take too much of your time. People are crying out for help in life. They need to feel acceptance with piers and friends. People find new ways to feel alive in their everyday world, Today’s society has become fast pass and there is no time to sit and relax any more. There are just not enough hours in the day to get things done: because of this people feel like they have to keep in touch and involved in people’s lives in new and faster ways. If they do not then they get sucked up in the day to day patterns of work, school, kid’s schedules, and the chores that need to be done every day. Micro blogging such as twitter breaks up this mandarin of life and brings people together in new ways.

The benefit of tweeting is that it is easy to follow once you get used to it. Writing a blog does not take too much of your time. The flexibility of connecting it to other devices makes it convenient to tweet anywhere and not just at the computer. Because it is flexible to any devices, people of all income levels and education have access to tweeter. If people put it on the cell phone then it just at their fingertips.

Every one is tweeting it has become the newest communication of today. News media are tweeting to get information from their audience, to find out what they have to think about a topic. The rating has gone up since they put this new interactive technology into their show. People now days feel the need to voice their opinions and be a part of something bigger than themselves. Tweeting has helped the news media to combine this theory, and take an advantage of bringing themselves to the new concept of interactive T.V.

People are able to stay in touch with friends and families because of tweeting. People can post internet links and information that they want to share. Upload pictures, music, jokes and interesting facts, and send the link to friends and families on twitter for everyone to enjoy. It also gives a special awareness of where your friends are. When people have a visual map of what others are doing it bring them closer to friends and makes each other not feel a alone when they are actually doing something by themselves. Such as taking a coffee break at Starbucks sitting at the table for one you can open your phone and tweet to someone it feels like they are next to you having a cup of coffee right there with you.

The fact that it only has 140 characters per tweet allows people to really think about what they want to say. People cannot be long winded and say everything. The return time for communication is almost immediately. Conversations back and forth with people are convenient for the busy people that do not have time to sit on the phone all day and still feel close and not isolated to there every day work. People like to feel a part of other people’s lives even when they are not able to, Tweeting allows this kind of communication and friendship building to happen for them.

Micro blogging has brought families closer together; it is the new dinner table in our society. Families are now going opposite directions in their everyday life and do not have the time to sit at the same dinner table as much as they want to. People are working more with jobs that are extending their business hours from the traditional 9-5 to 6- midnight or even some cases 24 hours. Husband and wives have to work opposite shifts to avoid the coast of daycare. Twitter has brought families closer in the fact that they are able to communicate with families when they are unable to be together. Children do not have to feel like they are walking aimlessly in the world because they have no way of getting a hold of parents, or other family members during the day. They have micro blogging that allows child and parent to stay in touch when they are not physically able to.

Twitter is one of the fastest growing micro blogs of today. It has brought people that would have never met in a traditional setting together, builds bonds between families, and breaks up the boredom of everyday life. Twitter put the dinner table back in family’s lives in a whole new way.

Work Cited

Jones, Ron. Twitter 101 part 1, Search Engine Watch. March 30, 2009. March 30, 2009. http://searchenginewatch.com/3633223

Huberman, Bernardo, Daniel M. Remero, Fang Wu. “Social Networks that Matter: Twitter Under the Microscope”. First Monday peer-reviewed Journal on the Internet. Volume 14, Number 1-5 January 2009. March 27, 2009.

http://www.hpl.hp.com/research/scl/papers/twitter/twitter.pdf

Qualman, Erik. “Social Media Madness the Final Four.” Search Engine Watch. March 23, 2009. March 29, 2009. http://www.web-strategist.com/blog/2008/12/08/understanding-hp-labs-twitter-research/

Grandmothers Changing To The TimesMelanie Erickson 3/12/2009 DTC 375 Jason Farman Wd 1147

2009-03-12T17:31:00.000-07:00

Melanie Erickson
3/12/2009
DTC 375
Jason Farman
Wd 1147

Grandmothers Changing To The Times

I interviewed a great woman named Helen. I have known her for many years and she acts as my segregate Grandmother. She has lived an amazing life in her day with her husband Mike. She owned an antique shop and a bread and breakfast in California. She used a typewriter and forms to keep records and filed everything in a filing cabinet. It took a lot of time to do paperwork and keep things well organized. When he passed away she got her first computer from her granddaughter. In the three years that she had her computer she has adjusted well with it. She uses it for pleasure, social entertainment, hobbies and personal finances. She was surprised with the amount of usage that she gets with her computer now that she is used to it. She said that she saves a lot more time getting the tedious wok done so she can spend more time enjoying the things that matter most in her life. In the beginning when trying to learn the computer it was hard and she spent hours on it using trial and error; however she kept with it and it paid off in the end.

Melanie: When was it that you decided to learn the computer?
Helen: Just about three years ago I learned the computer. After my husband died, my granddaughter bought me my first computer for my birthday. She said that it would give me something to do with my free time and keep me from going insane. I let it sit for a long time. She came over one day and hooked it up for me and got me set up on-line. She showed me the basics and picked up a few books; you know the ones that are titled windows for dummies and internet for dummies. The title kind of took me off guard and made me up set that a book would call me a dummy. I got past all of that when I decided to move on from my loss and start living and getting things done that I put off.
Melanie: Did it work? Are you not insane?
Helen: Melanie you are delight. I think that it saved me; I get everything done in half the time now. I am insane in the sense that I am getting older and I can never seem to remember where my head is. Now if we could hook up my memory to the computer then I will do just fine. I can sit and do more cross word puzzles and read the books that I want to. I get more knitting done in my day then I was able to before. I stay in touch with my family; they have helped me more then they will ever know through the rough times and made most of my days good and filled my days with love and laughter.
Melanie: What form of writing did you do before the computer?
Helen: I wrote hand written letters to my friends. You know I have beautiful hand writing. I buy blank cards and stationary paper. I write about 15 different people that I like to stay in touch with. They live in California. I met a few of my friends in high school, and others were friends I meet in my journey of life. When your grandfather and I owned the bed and breakfast, and the antique shop in California in the 60’s and 70’s we used filing cabinets and receipt books to keep records. I used to do everything by hand and still do write my friends with my fancy stationary. I handwritten checks every month on the 1st of every month and spend about two days paying bills for both companies. I would have to write what it was for and do the entire inventory by hand as well. It was a lot of work keeping up with all the paper work involved in keeping up with a business.
Melanie: How has using the computer changed your life or the way you view things?
Helen: I have always resisted change in my life. When it works why change it. The computer was a challenge for me in the beginning, getting used to the windows and programs, deciding what to use my computer for. I think I went bold pulling out my hair during this time; it was not from old age. I put a lot of my important documents on the computer and have lost a bit of it from not saving the information right. This has caused me a lot of frustration and I wanted to revert back to my old ways, of keeping a filing cabinet and using log books. Once I figured out the tricks of the simple things such as saving, backing up files, and knowing which programs to use for the best results of my project, I have enjoyed my computer. I found that after the initial information was put in my computer it saved time with; looking up information, using the internet for shopping and meeting new friends has help me with my social life and keeping in touch with my family. I used the web cam to talk with all of my 18 great-grandchildren, and 10 grand children. I get to see their awards when they put it to the camera. I see their faces, and see how much they grow every day. A few of them IM me and send me e-mails. I feel closer to my family now than I ever have before. Now that I do not get the chance to travel; I feel like I am not missing out. I feel like I live right next door to them.
Melanie: What kinds of projects do you do on your computer now that you have familiarized yourself with it?
Helen: I pay my bills; I manage my personal finances, and all of my banking on the computer. I scanned all of my pictures in the computer, so I can get all of my scrap booking done. I make yearly personalized calendars for myself and family that are close to me with my scrap booking I do. I e-mail friends and family. I look up information and keep up with current events on-line and read the notional news.
Melanie: Would you ever think about going back to the historic ways of your life and get rid of your computer?
Helen: Not in your life. This present has made my life meaningful and keeps me sharp and young. This would be like giving up my freedom and my social outlet. This computer has been glued to my fingers for a long time. Without the computer I cannot keep up with the friends and family that I love and wish I could move next door to. This was the best present that I have ever received.

Evolutions in Technology

2009-03-12T15:11:00.000-07:00

Jay Makki
DTC 375 @ 4:15 T-Th
Dr. Farman
Word Count: 1,094

My grandmother, Theda Maki, formerly Theda Johnson, was born a few years after her parents arrived in the United States after venturing from the northern Sweden Finland borders. Her parents came to the United States in the 1910’s and in that timeframe she would come to live in Wisconsin, and then eventually move to Washington State when her father got work on the Grand Coulee Dam. In that timeframe she has gone from not even possessing a radio in her home to being surrounded by technology on a near constant basis. In my interview I asked about many subjects but selected the most interesting portion of our conversation; the transition of music and radio.

When you were a little girl, can you give me brief description of what life was like?

Sure. Oh, you know, it was pretty normal I suppose. My sisters and brothers would walk to school in the mornings every day. When we got home we would play outside and then my sisters and me would come inside and help my mother make dinner and then we would get to head.

Can you tell me about any technology you were using at that time?

We did have a radio. I don’t remember when we got it but I really liked the radio. We would sometimes sit around and listen to music but my dad and Axel [her grandfather, who lived with them] liked to listen to the news and things like that, you know. We had a phone, too, but us kids didn’t use it much. We didn’t really didn’t need to.

What was it like when you would use the phone or radio?

The phone was sometimes more trouble then it was worth. Every time the phone rang you had to make sure it was for you. Everyone on our street was on the line so anytime the phone rang you had to see if it was a ring for you.

Could you elaborate?

We were on a party line. So whenever you picked up the phone, everyone in the area could just pick the phone up and listen to what you were saying. When the phone rang it would ring one way for our neighbors, one way for us and then one way for everyone else, you know. But anytime the phone rang most people would just answer it anyway even if it wasn’t for them. You would ask into the phone if anyone else was on there and you would never get an answer, but you knew [someone was listening]. So every time you wanted to talk to someone on the phone and didn’t want people listening you would have to say, “This is an emergency!”

I imagine there were lots of emergencies.

[Laughing] Yes, I think after a while most people stopped believing it. But you wouldn’t overuse it and most time your neighbors would give you privacy when you wanted it. When people didn’t have to use party lines anymore it was so much nicer. You could say what you want without having to worry about people listening to you. It still took us a while before we could say what we wanted without feeling like someone could hear us.

Can you tell me about your radio usage?

Well, when I wanted to listen to something I had to ask someone to work the radio for me or my sisters or brothers. But I thought it was neat. I loved to sing when I was a girl, you know. I loved to sing at church and hearing the people sing on the radio always made me happy. That’s probably why I got into radio.

Can you tell me about that?

Yeah, when my dad moved us out [to Washington State] to work on the [Grand Coulee] Dam, I spent a lot of time listening to the radio. Since there were lots of families in the area who were all working on the dam there was a need for teachers and radio employees. So when I was 16 I applied for a job to sing on the radio. Of course I got the job and every day after school I would head to the radio station and sing [on the radio] for the [dam workers].

Back then you had to do your shows live, right?

Yes, there wasn’t the recording like there is now. They had those music boxes but not recordings of singers. So every day when I would go to work I would always have to try my best. Some days when I would come home people would tell me, “Well, Theda, today was good” or “Theda, maybe you needed a drink of water.” [Laughing]

It’s interesting that each day people would hear a new performance.

Yeah, but in those days people didn’t remember exactly what music sounded like. Sure you could remember but it wasn’t as easy. All you could remember was if you liked [the singers] or not and if you wanted to hear them again the next time they came on.

Did things change when albums started coming out?

Sure it did. When I was a little girl you had to remember every little bit about a song each time you heard it. And the big difference was that when I was young being a musician was a day to day job, just like a nurse or a banker. Musicians were people who made music every day. Today musicians only have to work once on a music album and then sell those. It’s very different now.

Conclusion

The reason I chose to use this section of my interview was I never considered how big the advent of newer technologies affected people pre and post World War II. After speaking with my grandmother I got the distinct impression that the 2 biggest impacts of technological advance happened in this timeframe for some people. While my grandmother does occasionally use computers and internet, her impressions about them don’t mimic the same impact as these two leaps in technology.

Before having this conversation I never considered that in today’s society we have several ways to communicate. In her time, there were three: mail, radio and telephones. It gave me insight as to both how spoiled and privileged I am to live in information age. Today it seems like our several modes of communications are vital and we would cease to function without them. Even further, it makes me curious if my grandchildren will be able to say the same about me when they are adults.

Technology: Today and Now

2009-03-12T15:04:00.000-07:00

Alex Lasota
DTC 355
Essay 3 Wdcnt. 1,314
March 12, 2009

Technology: Today an Now

For this essay, I chose to interview my mother Mary Lasota. Mary is mother of two, whom presently utilizes her time as a homemaker. Throughout her life Mary has spent the majority of her hours interacting with various mediated forms. Graduating from Villanova University with a major in Mechanical Engineering, Mary made frequent use of the analogue technologies such as the typewriter. Mary states that the typewriter was a difficult medium to utilize, for it wasn’t nearly as efficient as the computer. When writing her thesis back in 1979, Mary states “if you made a mistake on the typewriter, you had to redo the whole page.” Obviously analog technologies posed as a time constraint, for many individuals, causing them to take twice as long in there thought process as they do today.

With the advent of computers, Mary has experienced an easy transition. Mary states that the computer has “brought the world into our home.” It allows her to manage the household efficiently, as well as research documents at a much faster rate. Not only is the computer a more efficient form of communication, but also is more economically sufficient. She is able to research products, such as automobiles, rather than traveling from dealership to dealership. Yet even with this improved form of communication, Mary states that she feels her writing has remained the same. While it may be a more efficient way of writing, individuals are still able to improve their dialect with the aid of a thesaurus.

Throughout the entirety of the interview, it became quite apparent that individuals, whom utilized analog technologies, feel that the computer is a very beneficial medium in our culture today. It allows it’s users to budget their time more efficiently, and to some degree can even be more economically sufficient.

Alex: What writing method did you utilize in College, before the advent of computers?

Mary: Hand-written notes, primarily. There were typewriters. But you didn’t take a typewriter to class to type. I had taken a typing class…so I knew how to type.

Alex: When you were at Villanova, what were the various difficulties you came across when using the typewriter?

Mary: The only difficulty was, I had to do a thesis, and if you made a mistake, you had to redo the whole page. So the secretaries had these programmable ones. So if you got to know the secretaries, you could use theirs. And it was a little more modern. It was almost like the computer, they had these cartridges or something, so you were able to correct your mistakes. backspace…ect. It was somewhat like the precursor of the lab-top. That was the only time during college that it was great to know the secretary, because the thesis was pretty long. And needless to say, I got to know the secrattieres for this reason. I believe they were IBM computers/typewriters…you were only allowed to them after-hours as well, and not many people knew about them.

Alex: How do you feel a typewriter helped to improve your education?  

Mary: No effect. It didn’t have any effect on my education. The only time I needed a typewriter was for thesis or to type up papers for the required English courses, because a professional document need to be submit. It did aid in submitting professional papers. But it only aided in 5 percent of my classes, overall I didn’t need one in my major… 

Alex: When were you first really introduced to a computer and began to understand how it works? How did you feel about this?  

Mary: Desktop? We had computers in college but they filled the whole room. We had desktop computers at work. We had these things at work that you could use computers, they weren’t the desktops that we use today. The first time I was introduced to a desktop was in the early 80’s when my brother in law left us a computer, and let the family play around with it. They weren’t connected to Internet, but were used for word processing. In that we had at work and at home. It was like a glorified typewriter, to me. The Internet came to us in the early 90’s. Computers, I wasn’t afraid of...because I had been introduced to earlier computers…the Internet I was. I thought by accessing the Internet I could somehow mess the computer up. I didn’t understand it. I was never fearful of the computer, technology doesn’t scare me.

Alex: When did you transition from being afraid of the Internet, to feeling that it is safer, or do you even feel that it is safe?

Mary: I think when we were first exposed, we had these trial periods with the internet…because it was dialup and my cash was full, you didn’t really get to experience the internet, because it was eating up your time going from one site to another, and that was frustrating. My husband understood things from work, but I had nothing and was learning the Internet on my own. It made the computer slower, and I didn’t understand how to empty the cash, which really impacted your speed. When we signed up for an Internet provider and didn’t have the time limit.

Alex: What did you think about the Internet when you got a better understanding of it?

Mary: I really liked it a lot. It’s very efficient, really eliminates having to go to the library to do research. Now you can do research from the comfort of your own home. I would have to spend my time in the library looking for jobs, research…ect…and now I can stay at home and utilize this piece of technology. It brings the world into your home; to some degree…I can even shop at home.

Alex: Do you feel that the computer has helped you express yourself in a more efficient manner?

Mary: No. I don’t think it’s impacted me from that perspective. For the most part, I don’t think it has made an impact on my writing style. I mean if you need a thesaurus you can go online, which I also do when I write. It does change the ease of writing…so I believe it only aids in the efficiency of writing, not how you’re writing.

Alex: What do you feel you use the computer most for?  

Mary: Organizing the household, finances. It illuminates paper and file cabinets. You can fill everything on a little disk, as opposed to storing numerous files at home. I also use it for shopping needs…I now shop from home. The Internet, I believe, saves me quite a bit of time and money. And it also aids in doing your research, and also makes you more informed. Like for example, buying a car. We are able to research the cars…and then able to make an inform decision…rather than running from car dealer to car dealer, because we know exactly where to go.  

Alex: If you were able to have the Internet back when you attended college, do you believe this would have benefited from this in your education?

Mary: Yes I do. In my field, my field was a technical field…so research would have been a lot easier. Computer wise, they don’t do the problems on paper anymore. They do it all on computers. Engineering wise, they don’t run numbers anymore; it’s all done on software.

Alex: Any predictions on future technologies? Do you think the computer will be the same in 10 years that it is today?  

Mary: I don’t know how much farther they can go to improve it. As much as I like it, and makes life easier. But I am glad I was exposed to life without the Internet. I just don’t see what more they can own up. I just hope they will eventually improve the malicious attacks, like viruses and stuff.

A New Edition to the Family

2009-03-12T15:00:00.000-07:00

Eric Higginbotham
DTC 375
Dr. J. Farman
12 March 2009
Word Count: 1,014

My fiancée’s mom is a 46 year old, very down-to-earth individual that often puts others first. It’s a characteristic that often falls short to the majority of people I know. It’s rather unfortunate that she’s gone through some very tough times throughout her life. She’s a very strong individual that doesn’t ask for a hand unless it’s absolutely necessary. She hasn’t had a significant other since her divorce about 25 years ago. Fortunately, she’s always had her family and friends by her side to get through tough times of heartbreak and finance. Luckily, most of her family lives in town. In fact, her sister and parents live across the street. She’s been in the floral business for the last 25 years and absolutely loves the creative freedom that her job offers. She’s gained a certain level of respect around the town for her talent.

As a result of being very independent, she has picked up a strong sense of stubbornness. She still can’t grasp the idea of the ability to pause, fast forward, rewind and record TV with a DVR system. At times it can be a struggle for her to expand her horizons. She recently was introduced to a personal computer from her friends because they believed that she needed it to adapt to the advancing new technologies in communication. She’s been very happy with her new computer and finds it hard to break free from its grasp. She is still very careful and nervous about pushing the wrong buttons, but at this point of having it for only 2 months she can’t see herself not owning one.

Eric: What type of new technology have you recently experienced?

Shari: I recently just received a new computer from a friend and former co-worker. My friend bought the computer for me because he thought that it would help me keep in contact with friends and family.

Eric: Were you open to getting this or did you think it would cause more problems?

Shari: I was always skeptical of getting a computer because I thought that I was too behind to understand the new technology. I thought that it would be too hard to learn how to work the damn thing. I thought that I was going to have to learn it on my own and that scared me, but I had help from my sister.

Eric: Was it difficult to adjust to the new technology?

Shari: It was easier than I thought because I thought that if I pushed the wrong button on the computer that I was going to break the thing. Since the computer was a present, I didn’t want someone to lose money over the purchase. I’ve always been hesitant in operating something that I’ve never used because I feel like I’m going to break it. I don’t know why I have that phobia. Maybe I broke something at a young age and it’s always been in the back of my mind…hahaha.

Eric: What do you use it for?

Shari: Honestly, I’ve been on the computer playing games. My friend downloaded some games on there and I’ve been hooked ever since. I think I’m addicted to Solitaire! I use it for other reasons though too. I like to window shop on the internet. I don’t have much money but at least I can get an idea of what I want to get once I get the money. I’m going to be in an upcoming wedding so I’ve been looking at dresses, which the Internet has been great for. I also use it to email my friends and family who are not in town and I’ve recently been introduced to Facebook. I’m becoming addicted to Facebook too! All I need to do is get the hang of navigating on it and I'm set...or ruined. LOL!

Eric: So how do you primarily communicate with others? Email, IM, or Facebook?

Shari: I’ve been primarily using e-mail to talk to others. It’s such an easy process. I can’t believe that I was intimidated by the word e-mail when I didn’t’ have a computer. I absolutely love it! I’m getting into Facebook too.

Eric: What do you think of Facebook?

Shari: I think it’s great! Especially like it when I can find people who I went to high school with. I lived in a very small community so we were all pretty good friends. It’s pretty cool to see what they’re doing nowadays. I had no idea that there was an application like this.

Eric: What method of writing/communication did you use before computers?

Shari: I only used my telephone and I would write a letter every once in awhile, but I had my phone attached to my hip. Now that I have the computer I only keep it on the table instead of my hip…lol! But I still use the phone a lot.

Eric: What are some of the things that you don’t like when using a computer?

Shari: I feel like I need to constantly check my email. I don’t want to wait too long just in case the message is important. I find myself always going in that room to monitor what’s coming in. I also feel like I’m spending a lot of time on the computer. Time goes by so quickly when I’m on that thing! I get engrossed in what my computer has to offer. I wouldn’t say it’s a waste of time, but it makes me lose track of time easily. Also at work we use computers to take online orders and use email to talk to our customers about orders. I liked it much better when we used to talk to customers face to face. I think the personal touch is underrated. I feel bad for the smaller companies that are not connected to these new technologies. I feel that they are getting most of their business taken away from the bigger more technologically savvy companies. Smaller companies are being pushed out of the industry, which I feel sorry for my former co-workers that work for that small company.

Engineering a efficient work place: the tranistion to a digital technology.

2009-03-12T14:54:00.000-07:00

Jared Thomas
DTC_375
Dr. Jason Farman
March 12, 2009
Word Count:1413

Engineering a efficient work place: the tranistion to a digital technology.

Name: Mari R. Wilson
Age: 55 and counting

I interviewed a coworker named Mari who is 55 and started her career as a drafter in 1973. She wasfirst hired by Catalytic, Inc. in Charlotte, NC as a drafting trainee. She had been a Fine Arts major in college, did not finish, and was looking for work in the classified ads of the local newspaper when she ran across an advertisement for a drafting trainee and said to herself: “I can do that!”. That was November of 1973 and she have never looked back. Mari was assigned to the Electrical Engineering group, given a design supervisor to mentor me into the system and began learning all about parallel bars (not the kind that gymnasts use!), lettering triangles, mylar, templates for drawing symbols, SkumEx bags, electric erasers and E1 Lead. She felt as though she was stealing every time she got a paycheck, because she was being paid more money than ever to draw all day long. Mari also broke the gender barrier, at least in that office, as the only female doing technical work. None of the other women in the office worked in the design floor, so she was Avant Garde!
Mari loved everything about it. Her mentor began teaching her about electrical engineering concepts right away and she was given assignments to draw building layouts, Motor Control Centers, Wiring Diagrams and Panel Schedules. Eventually she learned to do lighting calculations, size transformers and balance load panels with simple calculations.
Initially every calculation was done using slide rules and within the first five years the Hewlett Packard programmable hand held calculator came about. Then the Texas Instruments products hit the market and prices began to drop. Technology was racing back then and Mari along with everyone was truly excited about it.

Jared - What was you primary mode of communication and how did you use it in the work place?

Mari - Back in 1973 we had to keep accurate and complete documentation for discussions and decisions, so we relied on Inter Office Memorandums that were either hand-written or typed with an old IBM Selectronic typewriter and then copies were made using a duplicating copier that created a template that would be placed onto a duplicator drum. This system was time consuming and messy, because the templates would sometimes leak. The color of the ink was a lovely indigo blue, though, and had a smell that reminded you of rubbing alcohol. Not too much later the Xerox copier came about and we could run copies immediately. It really improved the transfer of information and the techniques used for playing pranks on co-workers.

Jared - What year did you transition into computer based communication?

Mari - 1986 - DuPont Corporation used a crude form of email at that time. We also were beginning to use CAD programs to generate the engineering documents. It was an entirely new world.

Jared - Was it difficult to adjust to the new technology?

Mari - No. Engineering recognizes that we thrive on innovation and new technologies offered all of us a way to celebrate the advances of our profession. There are always engineers in the workplace who want to have the latest and demonstrate skill with new technology, it is a form of displaying geek superiority!

Jared - How long did it take for the change?

Mari - When clients decided it was needed, the contracts enabled the business expense of upgrading to new systems. Drawing boards and desks were replaced pretty quickly with computers and drafting systems. I would say within a one year period the changes took place. CAD entered the workplace slowly - the cost was extraordinary and special facilities were needed to provide adequate cooling, power and proper lighting. Oddly enough, the first people who were asked to learn CAD were the ones who were not very good as draftsmen; their drawing quality was awful, and for those who took lots of pride the aesthetic of their drawings it felt like a back- handed slap that the lower quality producers were given the first shot at learning the new technology! That was back in 1980, right when I was starting my career as a mom, and I took a sabbatical from the office for a while. My company kept me busy at home, where I ran a home-based design service for six years. I returned to work full-time in 1986 and by then the CAD systems had overtaken things.

Jared - When you were introduced to the computer were you excited or intimidated at first?

Mari - I admit I had a certain amount of disdain for CAD, since I was one of the recognized ‘artists’ in the design room for my drawings. I took a lot of pride in being able to do hand lettering that looked like it was done by a template; I had a great mentor back in 1973 who showed me how to do beautiful lettering, and I thought that the CAD system would take away all vestiges of creativity and drawing excellence and make everything look ‘vanilla’. I was wrong, I soon learned!

Jared - How do you feel writing has changed between the transition from analog to a computer?

Mari - I think we are regressing. When you look at the level of vocabulary that people use today, the way SMS has taken the place of real conversation and the expected speed of responses it shows that we have lost some of the warmth in the workplace and society in general. We used to laugh about Big Brother back in the 70’s and now he is in charge. The future came to meet us while it had us mesmerized. The need to be able to communicate effectively has always been primary in advancing someone’s career. That goes all the way back to Plato, Socrates and Aristotle. We have tools at our disposal to make great improvements, and some people take advantage and use the tools for improvement. But overall, I would say we are suffering. Email allows us to hide at our desks. Before this method of communication we had to get face to face or at least make phone calls to connect into someone’s personal space. When we would estimate jobs back in the 70’s we figured it would take 100 Man Hours to complete a P&ID. today we have computers that allow us to make repetitive changes so it can speed things up and we are taking 500 hours to do the same thing. This ability to make quick changes means we can also be indecisive.

Jared - Has the change in technology affected your overall career choice?

Mari - The technology changes have modified my workplace dramatically from being tactile and conversant to provoking repetitive motion injury and perpetual email. The workplace has gone from being professional and fun to professional and cautious about every word you speak. But, I love my career. Engineering and the technology that it brings have been better to me than I ever dreamed. When I began in this industry I expected that if I made half of my current income I would be successful beyond my wildest dreams. I have met people from more than 20 different nations, worked on important projects that have impacted lives in a positive way and made enduring friendships along the way.

Jared - Which do you prefer? Old or New.

Mari - I would be lying to say that I don’t miss the old, and dishonest to say that I don’t enjoy the new. But it is hard for me to fathom how much the current ‘young generation’ has missed by not experiencing the frustration of having to start all over again on a project that may have taken 80 hours to complete and realizing that it impacts your decision making skills and forces you to look ahead at potential problems before the great memories of the days when we smoked at our desks, made silly pranks with mylar, burned E1 lead and wore pocket protectors. And actually drank hard liquor on Christmas Eve morning before we were sent out at noon to finish our Christmas shopping. But I’m willing to bet that if you were to come see me in 20 years when I am retired and begin sharing the milestones of your own career, you will have similar memories to share. And we can laugh about it as we wag our heads for the generation coming along next.

Interview with a User of Preceding Writing Media

2009-03-12T14:37:00.000-07:00

I interviewed Alan Bates, previous executive secretary and current chief of media at Areva Inc. Richland, on the topic of his participation in the use of different writing media in the workplace. His work history is a very long one of document production and creation as a profession, not always on a computer of course. He has over thirty years of experience under his belt and has seen companies transition between mediums, often with much difficulty. As an exectutive worker in his departments, he has had to learn new media well in advance of company use, and therefore, has a large role in the training of coworkers in the use. On an average day he will have at least 25 people come into his office, needing something or his assistance.

Having an interview with Alan gives me the impression past media were good in their use, but it’s necessary to eventually use promising inventions. Being in the secretary and media departments for an extended time, he has seen his coworkers complain and attempt to slow technological evolution in the workplace (most likely for the protection of their old jobs). This is no surprise, because we see this time and time again more evidently in the evolution of writing media. He also describes computer use as, “indispensable part of daily life,” implying great benefit to those willing to learn. These changes don’t just occur though, it takes effort and help. Alan says that naturally, new technologies and media move towards efficiency and it’s easy to see how, given some of his responses below.

Daniel: What devices did you use before computers to write?

Alan: Pen, pencil, and a typewriter. The typewriter was an IBM Selectric - at first there was no correction capability, but eventually there was a correction tape version which made possible fixing typing errors.

Daniel: Helpful. How long did that take in comparison to computer typing though?

Alan: Pen and pencil was slow and painful - in that my hand would ache after writing for awhile. Many times I would be writing on a multipart form (NCR or carbon), that would take a fair amount of pen pressure to be able to read the writing on the last part of the form.

Daniel: Sounds much more difficult… So what complications were involved in this medium?

Alan: When typing on an IBM Selectric, before correction versions, I used white-out (correction fluid). If the document were a "legal document", it would have to be retyped from the beginning, as white-out was not allowed. If I took the page out of the typewriter and then noticed an error, there was the difficult process of trying to realign the text in the typewriter carriage - to attempt to use the correction capability of the typewriter. As time went by we started getting "memory" typewriters. These typewriters could store a limited number of keystrokes in the internal memory, thus retyping the page from memory and allowing corrections. Eventually, we got "Wang" typewriters or "Mag" typewriters that could store a number of pages of text and type them automatically (usually a document).

Daniel: What were the benefits of using those?

Alan: The IBM typewriter used a ribbon to produce a crisp impression (providing the ribbon was not worn out). Because the typewriter was an "impact" printer, it could type on multipart forms (usually NCR) - which is not possible even today with a laser printer. Dot matrix printers eventually replaced the typewriter, which are still in use today, partly because of their speed and partly because they are an impact printer for multipart forms.

Daniel: What situations are those typewriters still useful for, if any?

Alan: The typewriter has been replaced by the impact printer (usually dot matrix, though sometimes thermal) connected to a computer for printing. There are situations where the typewriter is still the only way to type on a multipart form.

Daniel: When and why did you switch to computers?

Alan: In 1981 I got my first personal computer at work. I started using a main frame computer in the mid 1970's with a "terminal" (no screen - thermal printer, keyboard, and telephone modem). I would call the main frame (large room-filling computer) on the telephone, and when I heard the tone - I would place the telephone handset in a cradle and the terminal would start responding. Everything was command language - no windows or GUI (graphical user interface). I took FORTRAN Programming, BASIC Programming, and other command level programming courses to help with process of developing computer applications.

Daniel: What else did computers replace in the workplace?

Alan: Some organizations specialized in things that are now performed primarily by computers, such as spell checking and grammar was performed by a technical writing/editing organization.

Daniel: In what ways are computers better, in general?

Alan: Computers provide most of what we consider to be modern conveniences and automated processes. Without computers and programs, we would be still in a very much manual mode for communication and data transmission. Computers provide real-time information in a cross-platform format, allowing groups of individuals to access information at the same time. On the flip side - computers have made us more dependent on computer chips with less ability to perform things manually. Additionally, some skills (i.e., drafting, calligraphy, etc.) are essentially a lost art because of the computer programs.

Daniel: Were computers just an upgrade in media or a revolutionary change?

Alan: In some ways, computers are merely tools to perform tasks - with the mind of the user still providing the creative direction. Programmers for today's software have done much of the thinking for the common end user. This can sometime give the impression that the end user is using creativity, when it was really conceived in the mind of the programmer.

Daniel: Overall are you happy with computers in the workplace?

Alan: Yes - computers are an indispensable part of daily life - from the chip that controls the car's parameters so the engine will start, to the chip that monitors the air handling unit of our HVAC system.

Typing: a Tactile Burden

2009-03-12T13:53:00.000-07:00

Che is a retired factory employee and former union steward. She is a very proud great-grandmother, of Prosser, Washington. Originally from Western Washington, she and her husband (then, a small contract business owner) raised their family of four children, and have lived in Eastern Washington for the past 32 years. Married at 17, she worked for many years as a waitress in a very upscale restaurant (located inside the local Mall), to help support their family. She remembers the days of poodle-skirts, manual cash-registers, non-electric typewriters, and black and white television, when T.V. was considered high-tech. Back then, changing a channel actually meant getting up, walking all the way across the room and manually turning a knob on a big box! Whew!

Just last month, she and her husband celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary with a 42 inch flat-screen Sony, from their children. Looking back, it easy to see how much technology has changed. She has the voice activation set on her cell phone, speaks to her grand-children through her computer, and wonders how soon she’ll be able to buy a voice activated device for her new flat screen T.V. Over the decades, Che has seen technological advances improve the lives of many people, especially for women.

Che says, “It created the need for a whole different set of job skills”, referring to the development of the computer-age, of the 20th century. “Today’s careers have different requirements utilizing various computer-skills, and knowledge of textual programs like Excel and Word. This has provided new employment opportunities in such areas as information technology, and data processing. It has also allowed many mothers to raise a family and still be able to work from home”, she asserts proudly.

Although she is computer savvy, hand-writing or using the telephone remain the front-runners, as her personal forms of communication because, it is just that–personal. “They have computer programs that allow you to do all the same things as a high-end phone”, Che says. “That is okay but, I don’t like all of the advertising or text messaging when using a computer. It is too distracting and you forget how to spell–LOL”, she laughs.

“The computer would be the way to send letters. I do enjoy getting form letters from old high-school friends because, I hear from people who may otherwise not write. They write one letter for the year and email it to everyone. “That’s probably what I will do in the future”.

Since retiring, Che doesn’t write as much. “It is more relaxing somehow, less distracting, more personal and economical to use a pen and paper for correspondence,” but she acknowledges from experience, a computer is more efficient. For now, at least, Che waits with excitement, anticipating the day voice command replaces textual communication–typing, freeing mankind from his tactile burden!

Lee: What methods of writing did you use before buying a computer?

Che: In 1957 I took typing and shorthand. At that time, a secretary was about the only career choice for women.

Lee: How long did the process take compared to computers?

Che: It was a much longer process. First you take down the shorthand, and then transcribe it on the typewriter. All corrections had to be done by hand, and editing took longer before word-processing came along. On the computer, you type it out and press send or print, and it is finished.

Lee: What was your initial reaction, when first confronted with a computer instead of a typewriter, for textual communication?

Che: I took a computer class in college and was afraid to do anything on my own. I was very excited to learn computers but, nervous about touching anything. I didn’t want to get things messed up. I was worried about breaking it [the computer]. I was definitely intimidated about crashing it. When an unexpected problem came up on the screen, I didn’t know how to fix it. Issues weren’t explained until the problem happened.

Lee: Were there any obvious differences you noticed, from your computer class, between analog to digital technology?

Che: You can’t draw with a typewriter. It is also a resource for gathering information. With a typewriter, you have to go to the library or find another source. A computer also has programs you can use. A typewriter doesn’t.

Lee: How do you use computer programs in your daily life?

Che: Now that I am retired, I do a lot of quilting on a computerized sewing machine. I can use the computer as an inspirational resource for quilting ideas and patterns. I also use it to research other information, for correspondence (writing or speaking) with friends and family, playing games with my grandchildren, sending and receiving photos, and paying bills online.

Lee: What ways did you use the computer at work before retiring?

Che: I worked in a warehouse, and all the machines used digital technology. Everything was programmed by computers. Temperature gages, weight scales and office equipment were all computerized. Even the truckers used laptops instead of writing their information is a log-book.

Lee: Was it a difficult adjustment to digital technology at work?

Che: It kind of was at first because, when I took the computer class, I didn’t have anything to practice on at home. It was also difficult because technology was always changing.

Lee: Did you notice other adjustments during your transition to computers, outside of work?

Che: I saw in my own family, that some spent too much time on the computer. They have become more content to visit online than in person. When my grand-daughters visit, I spend a lot of time with them, playing computer games. It was also interesting and exciting getting used to a new type of socializing. You meet more people from all over the world. It’s a much faster form of communication, unless the computer crashes or the internet is down.

Lee: Were there any adjustments to maintenance issues between typewriters and computers?

Che: Typewriters just need ribbon, ink and paper. The repairs are cheaper and it doesn’t take a technician to repair it. With computers, sometimes you can call your internet provider and they can help you solve a lot of your problems. If they can’t, then you need an expensive technician to repair it.

Lee: How did typewriters make the transition to computers easier or more difficult?

Che: Typewriters were more practical because they didn’t crash! They were also less expensive to buy, required less training and needed less maintenance than a computer.

Using typewriters for correspondence is less practical because, it takes longer to write a letter and is much more difficult to correct errors. If you want to send it [letter] to someone, then you have to get an envelope and a stamp, go to the mailbox and wait for it to be delivered.

Lee: How did computers make the transition from typewriters easier or more difficult?

Che: The computer was easy to use. It made typing and editing much faster and less of a burden, but required more training than a typewriter. Although we had a good instructor, I still needed more time on it. Record keeping is also easier and more efficient, and requires less storage space. I can save vast amounts of information on a compact disk. It is lighter and takes up less space than boxes of paper.

Lee: Other than the capability to write faster and easier, have computers influenced the way you write in other ways?

Che: Yes, definitely! I write less when using the computer. Looking at a computer screen is tiring on your eyes. Your wrists get tired and sore holding them in position, while typing on the keyboard. You get pop-up ads and viruses all the time. It can be very distracting and physically stressful. Hand-writing is more ergonomic for me. There is less stress on your back, neck, eyes, hands & wrists. With a computer you get to the point of your conversation sooner.

Lee: How do you see that changing in the future?

Che: Computers will probably all run by voice commands. They will be much smaller and easier to use. They will have a more secure way to protect our personal information.

I agree with Che’s views of computers in the near future. How will computers remediate textual communication, reshaping man’s social interaction? Is textual communication becoming obsolete?

Sounds of the past

2009-03-12T13:35:00.001-07:00

Rochelle Juette
March 10, 2009
DTC 375
Essay 3
Word Count: 1,377

Click, Click, Ping, the Sounds of the Past

For this essay I decided to interview my mom, Linda Mitchell. My mom graduated from Richland High School and then went on to Eastern Washington University to get her bachelor’s degree in business administration. Once she graduated, she chose a career path that will forever link her to technology, an internal auditor. She started using typewriters in high school. She said, “At my high school I used an electric typewriter. The electric typewriters would move by themselves to where you didn’t have to change the paper or move the paper. The noise was my favorite part. Click, click, ping, click, click, ping. Later I begged my mother to buy an electric typewriter like all my friends and the school had, she finally ended up buying one in 1974.” Once she graduated college she moved on from the electric typewriter and began using what they called a dummy computer. Soon the technology once again advanced and she owned her very own computer at home and had one at work.

To her, the hardest part was learning all the new programs that were created for the computer. She said it was also hard because one company would have you using a certain type of software that you would have to learn, and then you would go to a different company and they were using a completely different program that you would have to also learn which sometimes got confusing for her. However, she said compared to the technology that we have today she feels that no one would ever want to go back to typewriters, not even the electric typewriter that she had to beg for. She said that they were too slow and messy and it was just very inconvenient to have to load them yourself, especially if you had to make several copies.

Rochelle: What was the first form of textual communication in analogue form?
Linda: I first used a manual typewriter when I was in high school, during 1972, where you actually had to use the carbon paper. However, at my high school I used an electric typewriter. The electric typewriters would move by themselves to where you didn’t have to change the paper or move the paper. Later I begged my mother to buy an electric typewriter like all my friends and the school had, she finally ended up buying one in 1974.

Rochelle: Did you ever take computer classes in school?
Linda: Yes, in college I took a beginning computer class where we learned about computer language like cobol and fortran. We also learned how to write a computer program, this was during 1975. And this was still on electric typewriters. I learned how to type up to 90 words a minute. I also took a class on short hand. In this class I learned to write at 110 words a minute.

Rochelle: When did you actually start using computers?
Linda: I didn’t start using computers until 1984. They were called dummy computers and we really couldn’t do anything with them. We just entered information into these formatted programs. Behind the scenes someone else would run the programs. They also called them dummy terminals. There was no way to wreck anything on them; all we had to do was enter the data. This was what I did in the payroll department at my first job at Bechtel.

Rochelle: Was it hard to go from typewriter to computer? What was different about it?
Linda: No, nothing was really different. The key board is exactly the same on both. The hardest thing was learning the different programs like excel and word. Before excel it was lotus and the difficult part was at one job you would learn one program then you go to a different job and you learn something different. It was hard to transition from all the different programs.

Rochelle: What other ways do you use computers? How do you use your computer at work?
Linda: I use computers for communication, data storage (information), entertainment, information gathering, current events, pictures, etc. For work, it is basically the same as how I use it at home: communication, data storage, information, research, audit programs. The audit program stores the information on the computer instead of keeping hard copies. We scan the information into the audit program and it can be shared to other people and to people who work for our company in a different state.

Rochelle: Before how would you do your audit reports?
Linda: We would keep all of the hard copies and store them in files. We would send things in mail so it took longer. However, we always send our reports through the mail because you sometimes can’t trust the internet. It is our policy to send it through the mail.

Rochelle: That’s an excellent point. So then what do you think are the negative things about computers?
Linda: I believe that computers can become an addiction. Computers have taken us away from personal connection with other people. No longer do we just go to the library to research, we now look it up online in our own homes. We have lost a lot of that personal touch. There is so much stuff out there now, it’s inappropriate stuff, and it can be easily accessed by anyone. When you send e-mails you have to really be careful with how you say things because the tone of the e-mail could be misinterpreted. E-mails could be sent to the wrong person and confidential information could end up in the wrong hands. Computers can be easily hacked

Rochelle: What were the negative things about typewriters?
Linda: They were so messy and time consuming. If you wanted three copies you had to have the original, then carbon copy, then original, then carbon copy, then original, and one more carbon copy and then you had to type really hard in order for the type to actually show up on the paper. It was slower than what we have today. If you lost a copy you would have to completely redo it unlike with computers you can save things. I don’t think anyone would go back to typewriters now because of how time consuming they were, you would have to use white out over the typo if you didn’t have the corecto tape or the type of typewriter where you could go back and actually take off the print. But on a carbon copy you couldn’t go back to it at all, on the original you could correct it but not on the carbon.

Rochelle: Well what are some positive aspects about computers?
Linda: They are more efficient, quicker, there are also so many different types of programs you can put on the computers, document programs, and different type of painting programs you can use for entertainment. There is so much technology on computers now you can do it at your desk at home, you no longer have to go out and get things done for you, and you can now do it yourself.

Rochelle: What were some positive aspects about typewriters?
Linda: I think the only positive thing about typewriters was that they couldn’t be hacked. Unless it was a carbon copy and people could get a copy from the carbon. Other than that your information was pretty much safe on the typewriter where as today anyone can hack into your files and steal all your work.

Overall my mom believes that the computer was a great invention. She said, “I don’t think anyone would go back to typewriters now because of how time consuming they were, you would have to use white out over the typo if you didn’t have the corecto tape or the type of typewriter where you could go back and actually take off the print.” With a typewriter you had to really check for errors, it took a lot of time to type up your work and make copies, the ink got everywhere and all over your hands, and you could only do one thing at a time. She enjoys computers at work because they store a lot of information electronically and they no longer have to worry about losing their hard copies.

Sounds of the past

2009-03-12T13:33:00.000-07:00

Today's Technology

2009-03-12T13:32:00.000-07:00

Adam Roll
DTC:375
Dr. Jason Farman
3/12/2009
Word Count: 1066

Today’s Technology

For this assignment, I interviewed Tamara Tilley, my girlfriends’ mother. She is a 50 year old mother of three who has worked her entire life since age 16. Her jobs have ranged from working in a shirt factory to running an office for a cleaning company. Upon entering her supervising job in the cleaning office, she had a lot to learn about computers, at one point stating, “I had never even turned a computer on.” Growing up, Tamara had never been exposed to computers before this specific job, well, other than through her children at home. Right away in the interview, Tamara made it very clear that computers were extremely foreign to her, and in fact, still are to a degree. I was very impressed with the distance Tamara has came in her journey to learn computers. “I’m not dumb, I’m just very undereducated.” This statement hit me as sad in a way. Computers to me are natural and extremely essential. To Tamara, they are still frustrating and something of a luxury. She would love to take classes to learn more but does not have finances at this time to do so. She seems to be a very determined person. In Tamara’s career now, she runs the front office of an optometrist. She relies on the computer for scheduling, billing, and any other day to day tasks of a working office. Although a pen and paper feels much more natural to her, she has no choice but to bite the bullet and use the computer. She states that if it weren’t for her boss in the past pushing her into the position she had as an office supervisor, she still would probably have never turned on a computer. The technology of a computer seems very scary to Tamara. Afraid of breaking one and not knowing at all how to fix it, prevents her from really exploring it to its fullest potential. She strikes me as someone who knows what she wants in life, but just needs a little pushing to get there, such as she has had with computers.

Adam: What was your primary mode of writing technology?

Tamara: Pencil and paper was all I knew until my kids came home from school talking about computers and the internet and started printing off things they had typed. Of course they tried to get me to use a computer but I never really had any reason or want to use one. Then when I started working as the office supervisor for the cleaning company, I had no choice. My boss at the time, whose job I was taking over because she was leaving, just happened to be a good friend of mine and she knew how little I knew about computers. I had never even turned one on before. She made me a cheat book and sat for hours with me teaching me. So if it weren’t for her, I probably would still never have turned one on.

Adam: How was your transition from hand writing to computers?

Tamara: Well since I haven’t completely done it its hard to answer. I’m still so slow at typing that I don’t usually use a computer other than at work when I have to. It’s been rough and scary. Computers are not easy for everyone.

Adam: Were u looking forward to using a computer?

Tamara: No, not at all. Computers have always scared me. I hear people talking about viruses and computers crash-ing and I have no idea how to fix one if anything like that happens. I don’t want to click on something wrong and have that happen.

At work now, I will write on paper what the people say then transfer it into the computer. When someone's talking, I can’t write fast enough on the computer. They talk so fast and I am so slow at typing, I do shorthand on paper then transfer it to the computer.

Adam: How long ago was this when you first started using the computer?

Tamara: Well, it was 8 or 9 years ago when I first started, then later it was back to paper for a while when the com-puter broke. My boss didn’t get me another computer for almost 2 years after that. It was back to paper for the time being. Which was really weird. Then a couple years ago I switched jobs to one where I didn’t have to touch a com-puter. I hated that job though, it was very physically hard and tiring. I also worked every weekend. Then just a few months ago I started the job I have now in the optometrists office, where I do have to use a computer.

Adam: Have u ever used a typewriter?

Tamara: When I was in the 9th grade I took typing classes with a typewriter. I don’t remember much of it these days, but you know how they say, if you don’t use it you lose it.

Adam: What were some things to help u learn to use it?

Tamara: People such as my friends, co-workers and my kids helping me.

Adam: Prior to the computer, was there any other form of technology you used to write with?

Tamara: Other than the typewriter, In high school, not really. Just writing everything out with a pen or pencil.

Adam: So how often do you use a computer now?

Tamara: Everyday except on Saturday and Sunday, well I have email at home but I don’t write people. I just check my email. Like I said earlier, Im so slow at typing, it takes me so long to write people. I also go online to check my checking account, manage my Netflix account, and check my sons grades.

Adam: How has your life changed now that you use a computer?

Tamara: In my personal life, not that much. I am able to go on line and check my checking account, so that’s pretty cool. As for work, it has changed a lot. It is faster and more organized, it even saves time when storing and locating files.

Adam: So how far would u say you’ve come in your knowledge of computers?

Tamara: Oh a lot! I went from not even knowing how to turn one on to using email now. I would love to learn more about them when I can afford it. Maybe someday down the road.

Computers in Agriculture?

2009-03-12T10:13:00.000-07:00

Matt Larson
Essay 3
DTC 375 Farman
3-12-09
WC 966

Computers in Agriculture?

I interviewed Rodney Larson, a 65-year-old man who should be retired right now. Rodney has been in the agriculture industry for more than 37 years. He has grown many different kinds of crops including Alfalfa, beans, wheat, sweet corn, sunflowers, potatoes, grain corn, blue grass seed, timothy hay, sugar beets, and soybeans. He has held many positions as well moving up from just a lowly sugar beet field man to an area director, and now he is the General Farm Manager in Cambridge, England. AgriNorthwest asked him to move to England to manage the entire England farm for 3 years. With much deliberation with his family and his wife he decided to go.

With being in Agriculture for so many years, Rodney has seen technology change in his industry right before his eyes. Technology has revolutionized the way agriculture is done today. Rodney has been at the AgriNorthwest Prior Project for 37 years, which he has seen it grow to where they now farm over 80,000 acres. The new technology has brought new farm equipment such as harvesters and planters. Talking about computers, Rodney said, “Computers streamlined and opened doors to collect and analyze data and to easily see means of improvement.”

Matt: What sort of writing method did you use before you started using computers?

Rodney: I used a typewriter for all the formal writing and documents, that is an electric typewriter, I’m not that old. For normal documents, however, I just used pen and paper.

Matt: What was the process like and how long did it take you to finish the entire process?

Rodney: The process seemed to take an eternity to what I use now. With typewriting you would have to double check or triple check all of your spelling and grammar quite often. If you made a mistake you would either have to erase it or use white out, which you would apply with a little brush much like fingernail polish, then would have to retype it all over again. The whole process was very time consuming, probably 3 to 4 times as long as now. I hated the darn process. I would always write my paper with pen and paper and then find a girl to type it for me.

Matt: How do you take notes at meetings and at other functions now?

Rodney: When I’m at meeting I use my computer to take notes now. It is just so much easier. It’s easier to store, keep track of.

Matt: What other uses do you use computers for in your normal workday?

Rodney: Oh lets see, I use it for so much now, I use it for research information, track data, analyze that data and information to make adjustments in growing crops to get better yields. I also use them to communicate with my workers, its nice because it’s less phone or radio time, which allows them to work more with out me having to bug them.

Matt: What was the transition like when you first started to use computers?

Rodney: Well as long they work it was a very easy transition. The problem comes when the computers don’t work, I don’t how to fix them at all so it takes men to come in to fix them and it becomes a huge pain and makes it very hard to work. The computers I use now are so much easier than the first one I used. Now they have spell check and many other functions that make the ease of use much simpler.

Matt: What are the downfalls if any are there to your use of computers?

Rodney: Well really the only downfall to computers is I’m stuck in the office more. I don’t get the face-to-face contact with my managers and workers. It also takes me out of the field so I don’t get the hands on experience to see how the crops are coming along.

Matt: What were some of the downfalls of using a typewriter?

Rodney: As for typewriters, where do I start, as I said earlier the spelling and grammar has to be correct or you have to erase or whiteout whatever the mistake was. Also, lets say you wrote out a paragraph and didn’t like what it said; you would have to completely start over with an entire new sheet of paper. Also if you ended up running out of ribbon you had to stop typing to replace it. Which stops your writing process and your ideas stop flowing through your head. With a computer you can finish whatever you need to write, then when you’re done you just have find a printer. It is so much easier. One other thing with typewriters is to enter any number data you had to use a calculator and a typewriter, that process was very painful as well as extremely time consuming.

Matt: Which of the two technologies to you prefer?

Rodney: Oh computers without a doubt. In 1975, I created the first budget on a computer that had ever been used in the company. Computers streamlined and opened doors to collect and analyze data and to easily see means of improvement. Writing also became much easier and that allows ideas to flow easier. You can pull data from the Internet and things that can add to papers such as pictures and graphs. I really like computers for business and home uses. When it comes to spelling I’m the worlds worst speller, computers keep me out of trouble. I can keep track of spreadsheets over years, where I can analyze them in minutes instead of hours. Computers also enable me to create crop production scenarios that greatly enhance production and fine tune progress with little effort.

The oldies are grooving with the newbies

2009-03-12T09:40:00.000-07:00

Zach woffinden
Dr. Farman
DTC 375
12 March 2009
758

Out with the old in with the new

Opening my email reveals yet another message from Verla Walters. The highly decorated background and pulsating font color and size overshadow the fact that Verla is the ripe age of 58. Coming from a secretarial background, Verla is no stranger to the world of typing. Using a typewriter for most of her job career Verla fully accepted the “new fangled” invention of the computer. What was surprising is this chatter bug in a private interview could not stop talking about how she uses the internet, email and cell phones, but once I moved our interview to the internet (via email) her answers became one liners.

The intimacy Verla finds in the Internet reverts back to her love for her family, with kids with families and living away from home, she finds comfort in being able to “talk” to them with just the click of a button, and have a response back just as quick. Now retired and working from her home, via the internet, Verla enjoys the comfort the computer has brought to her life and the life of her family and although she rolls her eyes at the idea on new technologies replacing new technologies and how to keep up, but her husband simply tells her, they will just have to learn.

ZACH: Before the computer what was your main avenue of communication?

VERLA: I used the telephone. It has been such a blessing. I have seen the evolution of the phone. You were first hooked to the phone, then it became cordless, and then the invention of the cell phone. This really helped me do the laundry (she laughs). When I was pregnant I was able to have constant communication with Nick (her husband). Through the years we have seen those cell phones become part of our world. We love the cell phones, and now Nick even does his business with the cell phone.

ZACH: What was your main profession?

VERLA: I worked a secretary; we mainly used a typewriter to do most of our work.

ZACH: How did the computer influence your secretarial work?

VERLA: The computer is great benefit to secretarial work…once you get past the learning curve. It is faster and the benefits are much greater than that of just an old IMB Selectrix.

ZACH: Was the transition to a computer difficult for you?

VERLA: No with my experience as a secretary I was able to pick it up easy enough.

ZACH: What were the downfalls between using a computer versus a typewriter?

VERLA: I cannot think of any drawbacks of using a computer versus and typewriter.

ZACH: What your experience with the “evolution” of the computer?

VERLA: When Nick and I were newly married, I used to run an ad in the Tri City Herald for those who needed a typist. I wanted to contribute financially, but once the personal computer was introduced no one needed to hire someone who knew how to type. I now work for a company called “Live Ops”. I work from home with my phone and PC. Everything is online and I love the dress code!

ZACH: How has the computer influenced how you communicate?

VERLA: I started typing in high school and took some courses in college; I was “key board friendly”. I can type faster than I can write, email for me is just so much faster. They taught you short hand in 60s and 70s, but now its not needed. But most of all email allowed me to keep in contact with my kids, and it continues to be my favorite. My son Aaron, served a mission for my church and at the time the only way to communicate was through letters, but when my daughter Amber left for Africa I was able to email her and find out weekly what she was doing. Email is instant here, and now.

ZACH: What are your feelings about new technologies?

VERLA: At times I think, “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks”. There is a learning curve for your generation, who has been raised with the evolution of so many programs. I have a Kodak picture-editing program I like to use but its now becoming outdated. Nick says we will just have to find a new program. So either I am going to learn something new or nothing at all.

ZACH: If I have any other questions for you, what is the best way to contact you?

VERLA: You can call or email me.

This Verla Walters has definitely entered the world of the computer.

A Vietnam Vet's Trasition to the Digital Age

2009-03-12T09:13:00.000-07:00

Josh Colby

DTC 375

Instructor Jason Farman

3.12.09

Word Count: 1,935

A Vietnam Vet’s Transition to the Digital Age

I interviewed my father, David Colby, who is a pretty simple and practical man whose wisdom I personally value. Through his life of 50 years so far he has seen a lot and has been through a lot and yet still has an optimistic zest to life and has used his experiences to teach me a lot. From his time in the Army during Vietnam to the beginning of his career as a meter relay technician all the way until present where he continues his successful career of 25 plus years at the Benton P.U.D. here in the Tri-Cities, he is truly one who has witnesses the exponential growth of technology in recent decades along with the advent of computer technologies. He was trained while in the service to type official documents on mechanical typewriters and was also the guy sorting through endless trays of punch card data wrought from an old IBM 360 which, by the way, could probably fill our downstairs living room. He also is an avid photographer by hobby who transitioned from old film cameras and developing techniques to enjoying the convenience of digital photography even though he has won local numerous photography contests with both methods.

After Dave’s service in Vietnam, he spent some time as an electrician at the Martin-Marietta aluminum plant in Goldendale before moving to the Tri-Cities to work for the P.U.D. In these professions, he has seen some great technological advances with some of the mechanisms that he has had to work with. The utility meter would be a great example of this where once it was completely motorized and would last for 30 years to now where everything is completely digital and interfaced through computers but nothing lasts as long but is at the same time cheaper. Even though Dave’s transition to technology was relatively simple, he made compelling points for and against digital age technologies giving good examples like this and saying multiple times how “there’s good and bad,” or “there’s advantages and disadvantages,” and this was the strongest theme of the interview.

He personally has enjoyed newer technologies in the home and on the job yet has seen many fruits of these technologies in younger generations that he finds distasteful. “Their penmanship stinks,” Dave said about younger generations today and jokingly added “it looks like they’re (referring to college grads) in the third grade as far as their penmanship because they don’t teach it anymore [like they used to].” Yet, when asked about what he doesn’t miss about the old way of doing things, he didn’t like how “they were slower,” and “you weren’t as productive.” Yet even though he had plenty to say about the old and new way of doing things, his transition seemed pretty seamless compared to some. “It wasn’t so much a transition at is simply was buying a computer” for him.

Josh - What method of writing did you use before computers to communicate?

Dave - We wrote long-hand; just writing on a piece of paper. Also, while in the army I learned how to type; not with an electric one but with a mechanical type writer. That is how you did official documents was with a mechanical typewriter. At a max I could get about thirty words per minute, but if you screwed up it was very tedious to fix it. A lot of the time you would have to throw it away and start all over again; there was no editing. You could white out a few letters but basically if you made a mistake you would have to start all over again. It was lousy (laughter)..

Josh - How long did it take to do that usually? Like, compared to now, how long did it take to write a document or a paper?

Dave - Well…the actual coming up with the document didn’t take much longer. A lot of the times I would write a lot of the thoughts down on paper, and then I would take and type it, compared to putting into a word processor now like Microsoft Office. But then, you would just basically get it the way you wanted on paper and then you’d put it – manually – type it. So, the editing and changing afterwards, like if you changed your mind, you’d basically just have to redo the whole stinkin’ paper. Now, you can move stuff around, change things, spell check…stuff like that. [Back then] you had to manually spell check with a dictionary. So the spell check, grammar, and things like that took a LOT longer cause you had to manually look it up in a book, and now you have a computer that does all the spell checking for you.

Josh - Name a task at your work and describe how it was done before and how it is done now with computers.

Dave - Word processing is probably the big thing that you do now that you couldn’t do before where everything was manual. Another one would be databases. I remember when I first was introduced to computers back in the 70’s, there was an IBM 360 which filled up this whole room and they were teaching me how to use this thing and all of the data was on punch cards. You had trays and trays of punch cards that they would sort. Now, you can do the same thing on Microsoft Excel where you can sort by the columns whereas with that you had to pick the cards all the way through and it might take hours to do. You just had to go through sort by another one and sort by another one with all these cards with little punches, little holes in the cards, and it would take hours. Now you can do the same thing in a matter of thirty seconds. It would take hours and hours to do before. That was with an IBM 360 back in the 70’s and that was the first computer that I ever saw.

Josh - Describe your own personal transition to computers, not only at work but in your personal life at home, with emphasis on difficulty.

Dave - It wasn’t so much a transition as it was simply buying a computer. I bought a 486 SX25 with 4 mg of RAM for $1400. It was $50 per one mg of RAM. It was MS-DOS, [as] there were a lot of DOS programs, and Microsoft Windows 3.1 was the operating system which was basically running on DOS. And so, there was a lot of command lines. If you wanted to do anything, you would have to drop down and do a lot of typing and memorize a lot of commands whereas a lot of stuff now is more automated. It was a lot more manual – getting a printer to work and dial-up modems versus Ethernet over the internet. You had to dial up and you had to configure the modems and sometimes that was a tedious thing trying to get them to work. It made the geeks worth more money cause it was harder to do stuff.

Josh - What do you think are the downfalls of computers compared to how it used to be?

Dave - One of the downfalls is with kids today. Their penmanship stinks. They don’t ever learn how to write [properly]. Most people that graduate now can hardly write legibly in long-hand whereas whenever I graduated from school penmanship was important and when you wrote you could read the writing, whereas now you can’t. Everything now is mostly computerized and text, so actual writing is not as stressed. So when some of the people do write, you look at the penmanship and its just awful. So when you try to read a letter today and you look at the penmanship, if its someone who is a college graduate, it [sometimes] looks like they’re in the third grade as far as their penmanship because they don’t teach it anymore [like they used to]. I noticed that big-time. Also, people might not learn how to spell as much because they rely on things like spell check instead of learning the actual spelling, and if spell check doesn’t catch it a word might get by and the people without the knowledge will read it and since the spell check missed it they won’t know better. It might be spelled correctly but it might be wrong for the context. That’s a trap for those people.

Josh - What were some of the downfalls to the old way of doing things before computers?

Dave - They were slower. You weren’t as productive.

Josh - Which technology do you prefer now?

Dave - As far as computers? …

Josh - More specifically do you prefer computers over the old way of doing things or not?

Dave - There’s good and bad. Most of the stuff that I work with, like for instance what used to be an electromechanical meter which was a revenue meter that would run for 30 years on a motor, now is digitized and you interface with it with computers. Well, they’re more susceptible to glitches, they don’t last as long because their electronic components degrade quicker over time than some electromechanical device. So, they do a lot more and they’re more accurate, but they’re possibility for more error. Usually the electrical stuff doesn’t last as long as the old stuff which has longer life, but one of the things about [computers] is they’re a lot cheaper so you can afford to replace them every three to five years. Some of the electronic meters that twenty years ago cost $50 twenty years later cost $25 so when they used to spend a lot of money on the old meters fixing them, now they just put a new one in. So there’s good and bad. They don’t last as long but they’re cheaper and more accurate. This is more an electrical utility meter.

Josh - What about more like in your home life/personal life though? Do you like having computers?

Dave - Oh yeah. Well you can do so much more with computers like in the media. Take digital media for instance. Like with pictures, you would have to take 35mm film and then send the whole roll in to get it printed and you would have to pay for every picture (even the lousy pictures). So, you’d have a bunch of pictures and let’s say you’d have twenty pictures in a row and maybe five pictures that were really good. With digital you can just delete the bad ones and save the good ones. You’d have to remember to print [the pictures] or you can’t really do anything and you can’t even look at them. The disadvantage of not having them on film is that if you lose your hard drive then you lose all of your digital files. So, there are advantages and disadvantages. With the old way with film they would last longer than a digital file. Sometimes you can have a lot of work and have it gone by accidentally deleting a file or getting a virus the will wreck your computer. A lot of your work could be gone, whereas something that is a hard copy paper type thing you might not lose it as easily as something like a file where you can lose it or have a virus crash your computer and you lose all your work if you don’t back it up or do proper maintenance of your stuff.

Essay #3 Interview

2009-03-12T01:48:00.000-07:00

Agustin Tovar
DTC 375
Dr. Jason Farman
3/12/09
Essay #3
Word Count 836

My mother’s introduction to the new world of communication

The person I chose to interview is my mother. She is 67 years old and never really received an education in her lifetime and has struggled to learn much along the way. Due to the fact that her upbringing did not offer her education or that she struggled to get any education. She has primarily worked as a farm worker and a nurse’s assistant. Has never been in a situation were working with a computer was part of the job.
One thing that me and my sister have stressed to her was that even at a more advanced age she should try to do more for herself and try to learn new things, this has been a difficult transition for her. She has tried but gives up more often, than none. As for learning about new technology, the computer and the Internet would be the most. Probably the web would be her choice, I will admit though that she trying to understand the Internet but gets turned off a lot. She tells me “ I think technology is wonderful but for me it is past my learning point and there is only so much I can get out of it”. I think my mother is overwhelmed by what she sees me do on the computer and thinks that is the learning curve. I don’t know how much my mother will learn about the computer and the Internet but I’m proud that she is trying to learn it.

Agustin: What education did you have growing up?
Gloria: I migrated from Mexico in the 1950’s with my family. Education was the last thing that my parents wanted for me and my brothers and sisters. All they made us do was work, work! Coming into another country for that opportunity for a better life was the idea of moving from Mexico. When they actually put us in school it was intimidating because we were older than the other students and had problems getting along with them.
We moved around so much that we never had the chance to really get any kind of education and our reading and writing skills were not very good.

Agustin: Did you have any more education when you got older?
Gloria: Yes. I received my GED in the 1980’s. It was a difficult thing to do because my husband was against that, so I had to do it behind his back. At this time computers were not so much around, and we depended more on writing and filing.

Agustin: Did you work with computers much or at all after getting your GED and getting into the non-labor workforce?
Gloria: Very little, I was a CNA (Certified Nurses Assistant) and most of what I would do was written clerical, I did try to work with a computer, but it was mostly used by doctors and other staff in the work place. Plus it was very intimidating because I really had a limited education and no computer skills.

Agustin: Because of your background with work and education, did you want to learn something new like a typewriter or a computer?
Gloria: I did but, but being brought up in old ways, it was difficult for your father to want his wife to be more educated than him. That is why I had to do things sneaky.

Agustin: How about typewriters?
Gloria: My daughter, your sister actually showed me how to use a typewriter it looked nice but took a long time to write something, it didn’t seem to fit me and your father didn’t like it either.

Agustin: When were you first really introduced to a computer and began to understand how it works?
Gloria: When you moved back in with me after your father left. That was the first time I was exposed to that technology.

Agustin: And what did you think about it when you got a better understanding of it?
Gloria: Turned off. It was so much information and the fact that I am older and not very educated made it even harder to understand. I was amazed by what was possible with the computer and what you could do with it. After going through exercises on the computer with you, it was too much. That’s probably why I have taken so long to understand it.
It really was and still is overwhelming to me.

Agustin: How do you feel about it now, since you have your own computer for yourself?
As of last year I gave my Power Mac G4 to my mother.
Gloria: Still a little overwhelming trying to understand some of the programs in it.
But it is a little more friendlier than before. This time around I know how to get around the computer, and actually do some things like email, word documents and itunes.

Agustin: Recently I introduced you to working with the Internet, and shown you more than email functions. How is that going along?
Gloria: Kind of good, there is so much stuff on the Internet I still get lost getting around it. I try to do the easy stuff, but the Google page is hard to understand, why so many links come up, when you type something. I still get confused on why so much information, and is it all true and good?

Agustin: One thing I noticed on teaching the computer is that you have trouble clicking on certain things. That is you double click a lot or not click hard enough on buttons. This bugged me, have you been able to physically use the keyboard properly?
Gloria: Yes. That was also a difficult thing to get use to, as I get older things get harder and it was and still is a challenge to type properly.

Agustin: When was the last time you used a keyboard?
Gloria: Probably 5-7 years ago.

Agustin: At this point in your life do you feel that a computer will serve you or help you? And will you be trying to educate yourself more about the computer or the Internet?
Gloria: Probably not so much, I probably will try to use the Internet more, but as for trying to get a better understanding of the computer and all it has to offer, probably not.
I think things like crossword puzzles, reading, and exercising, those things will probably serve me better in the future.

2009-03-12T00:37:00.000-07:00

Kristin Sanders
March 11, 2009
DTC 375
Dr. Jason Farman
Word count: 1,216

New age correction tape

I interviewed my mom, Kathryn Elsen, for this essay. Kathryn is a 47-year-old mother of two who works for the federal government. She started as a pseudo secretary at her office, and 15 years later she’s acting as her co-workers’ on-site tech support. Just yesterday she was troubleshooting a wireless router connection at a teammate’s home office. She’s always struck me as particularly tech-savvy –- she was the first in my family to get an iPod way-back-when, had a cell phone just after the bulky trend had passed and has just recently gone to “cell phone only, no landline” at the home and office -- but I really had no idea until I went about talking with her for this paper.

Among typewriters and computers, we talked about first cell phones and how while now it seems we have wide areas of reception with small pockets of dead space, it used to be quite the opposite. “ ‘Let me just make a call – oops, nevermind,’ ” she said with a laugh, channeling one of our family friends in the early ’90s who owned the “brick model” cell phone. “ ‘It works back at home, but I guess it just doesn’t get service in town.’ And we just accepted that, because that’s just the way it was!”

Seeing her light up as she described her first dial-up modem at the office and when she remembered learning basic programming for her first computer (“You had to be very specific – 0010, enter, 0020, enter, 0030, etcetera – or else you had to go through each line again to see where you goofed. … And if you were really clever, you could punch a slot on the OTHER side of a floppy, doubling your storage space!”) reminded me that, yes, I am indeed my mother’s daughter.

Kristin: I remember you telling me about one of your graduation gifts: A typewriter. What was it like before you had your own typewriter and what it was like afterward?

Kathryn: The typewriter I got was the exact same as the one I had used for a few years: an electric Smith Corona cartridge typewriter with slide out cartridge and optional correction tape cartridge. It was the latest thing to have the correction ribbon. It came in a hard-sided carrying case. The main difference between before and after was the supply purchase. Before I used mom’s typewriter and she bought the replacement ink cartridges and correction tape. Often the paper was from household stock. Afterward I had to buy the supplies. Probably like today’s college kids making that first ink jet cartridge and paper purchase – the supplies don’t come cheap and other people’s work best.

Kristin: How did having a typewriter make things like school work easier? What were any downsides of having a typewriter compared to writing by hand?

Kathryn: Having a typewriter I could do my typing at anytime and often did in the wee hours of the morning or early hours before class. I also was guaranteed the same font size on the typewriter I owned rather than risking the use of the library’s so I could start and stop a project whenever.

Most instructors gave you the option to type or write it out at that time. The typewriter helped to create neater presentations. But two things: once an instructor knew you had your own equipment, you pretty much sealed your fate and couldn’t submit anything by hand. The typewriter also wasn’t as mobile as a pen and paper.

Kristin: What was your first experience with a computer-based piece of equipment, professionally and personally? How old were you?

Kathryn: My first experience with a computer was when I was fall of my senior year in high school (1979) and I was 17. There was a computer in the library for college research and planning. I remember simple questions on the monitor, keying the answer and submitting the response… and waiting and waiting for the machine to process. Sometime the next day, I could go back to the library and get my dot matrix print out of colleges and degree programs. I don’t think it took that long to process, but I do remember the interface was between offices in Olympia and the high school in Kennewick. My first experience of owning a computer was Compaq 128. This was financed in 1985 in Wisconsin and was something like $2,000 with the monitor or $1,500 without the monitor. We bought without the monitor and hooked it to the color television. I learned a little basic programming and helped write a couple of basic programs. Professionally, I used a computer to update dental records for members of the United States Navy at the Post Graduate School in Monterey, Calif. The computer was stand alone with a dial-up connection we used to transmit information to the regional and then national databases. The dial-up was in a box that was 36 inches tall, about 6 inches wide and 12 inches long. We had to put the phone headset on the top of this machine after dialing in and getting the connection noise. That was 1990.

Kristin: How do you use computers today, both at work and outside of the office?

Kathryn: E-mail, instant messaging, surf net, correspondence, presentations, information management, photo gallery, storage system, authorization of work repairs and financial integrity and obligation of funds, planning travel and coordinating flight arrangements, manage training history, training online, webinars, e-mail on my phone…

Kristin: What are some issues you’ve come across using computers that you wouldn’t normally encounter with typewriters? With writing by hand?

Kathryn: Viruses and system upgrades are major issues with computers. Typewriters were pretty simple. I have a Blackberry for work and while I’m learning all the time, there are so many new things to do with it I don’t have time to learn them all and feel I’m missing out on stuff. I also would think that computers would help us reduce using paper, however I wonder at that effort. It seems I have to print something out to read it if it is really important to be sure I haven’t missed anything. When you put pen to paper, you don’t have all the choices for change and go with the best effort first time.

Kristin: Which do you prefer: Hand-writing, typewriters or computers? Why?

Kathryn: Computers are preferred, but a hand-written note at Christmas beats a form family letter over and over. It really depends on the audience and message.

Kristin: OK, then of these following, which do you prefer: Online interaction, phone interaction or face-to-face interaction? Do you have different preferences from those for work and personal life? Why?

Kathryn: Probably, for almost all, face-to-face interaction. You give and get so much more out of that face to face interaction that can’t be touched over the phone or the silence by writing and reading.

Kristin: Any gadgets or online goodies you’re looking forward to? How about anything in the offline realm?

Kathryn: Setting up a Facebook account; a better Bluetooth connection for my cell phones and hearing aids to work together; learning more about my Blackberry. Offline: more kitchen goodies and working new recipes into the mix; spring; farmer’s produce; watching the kitties in my home play together; and more time with my family.

Once Upon a Lowly Desktop

2009-03-11T23:18:00.000-07:00

Sheila Newsom
11 March, 2009
DTC 375
Dr. Jason Farman
Word count: 902

I interviewed Josie Koelzer, a student majoring in Psychology at WSUTC and mother of three. Josie’s day consists of an hour commute each way to school and helping her husband run a ranch. Additionally she is in charge of accounts payable for her brothers business on a weekly basis.

Josie remembers the days in high school when she had a paper to write. She often had to rewrite a paper several times to get it correct. “Your thoughts were on a paper and you needed to incorporate all the pages together, with a computer your thoughts can be cut and pasted into the appropriate areas.” Since she started using a laptop for her school projects she spends less time writing and rewriting.

In regards to her husbands farming business, she explained that, “it was difficult when you had to make several copies (had to use carbon paper) and when you made mistakes if you had a manual machine you had to start over or be able to erase it very carefully. Later the farm was able to purchase an electric typewriter with a correction key. When we purchased our first computer, life became so much easier, and we have never gone back to an electric typewriter. We could have standard forms that were easily changeable, such as leases, employee information, etc.”

Sheila: What other methods of writing did you use before computers?

Josie: I used a manual typewriter for formal stuff or business, and usually it was pen and paper for casual correspondence.

Sheila: What programs have you incorporated into your farming business?

Josie: Our banker suggested it would be easier and better tracking to use a computer based accounting software. Twenty years ago we got a computer for our accounting system for the farm, prior to that I was doing it on a ledger sheet with different pages for different accounts, then adding everything up with a calculator. So I had to hand write checks, envelopes, then write in on the ledger sheets and add each page up and balance everything together.

We started off with a program that was very difficult, Peachtree, and when QuickBooks was introduced it was scary, but very user friendly.

Before QuickBooks we had to have an invoice book for sending out bills, and now it is intergraded into our software program.

Sheila: Before you got QuickBooks how long did it take you each day/week to do the accounting?

Josie: I would say about two days or one long day, depending on how many bills needed to be paid, because you had to hand write the checks, hand write envelopes, transfer information to accounting pages then total everything by hand, to cross balance.

Sheila: How much time does it take you today?

Josie: Time frame for today is about 2 – 3 hours if you are matching exactly to duties.

Sheila: Was the transition to QuickBooks difficult?

Josie: The transition just took some time because I had to remember numbers for accounts and what I set up the account name as, and remembering where is was on the software.

Sheila: What are some of the downfalls of doing the books by hand?

Josie: Addition is the biggest downfall or forgetting to transfer to the next ledger.

Sheila: What are some other forms of technology you have transitioned into?

Josie: Faxing. Since we live in a rural area this saves time in driving. Prior to a fax it could be a two hour job to take a paper somewhere. Now faxing is slowing becoming less used and scanning is becoming more popular, businesses are trying to become paperless so bills are coming via email.

Cellular phones are another thing that has changed the way we live. They have become such a vital importance to our business, when someone is in the field and needs to call for parts for equipment or for fixing equipment they just have to call us and the problem can be taken care of.

Sheila: What are some of the downfalls of using computers?

Josie: Hard drive crashing is the worst. Then there is taking the time to turn on computer to find information out, backing up data, and having to restore it if for some reason information is lost. One thing that I have found, sometimes if you inputting a lot of information just hitting a wrong key (date or number of check) can send your information into no man’s land and it can’t be found because of wrong date, but can throw your balance off. I think they call those glitches.

Sheila: What are some other ways you have incorporated computers into your lifestyle?

Josie: Accounting, keeping in touch with other people one on one, keeping in touch with a group, making flyers, invitations, excel, mailing lists, address book, PowerPoint, downloading pictures and sending, school homework, children learning with games, finding information, being able to connect to the web using your computer to watch TV.

Sheila: Which technology do you prefer now?

Josie: I don’t know what I would do without a computer, it is much faster, and your work can be easily edited and then sent to anyone. You can keep in touch with anyone through email, Facebook, and if needed you can use a webcam. Today more than ever we are using email for correspondence rather than the telephone or mail. The computer is an overall timesaver once in everyday life.

The Transformation from Old School to New Computer Technology

2009-03-11T21:47:00.000-07:00

Denise Garner
Dr. Jason Farman
Essay 3
3-12-09
Word Count: 796

The Transformation from Old School to New Computer Technology

My long time friend and co-worker for over 20 years, Claudia Schmidt, has agreed to an interview with myself. Claudia has been a Tri-City citizen all of her life. She was born in Kennewick Washington and resides there still. She is a 48 year old custodian that works for the Pasco School District. She has worked as a custodian for 20 years, she is a single mother of two grown children and has worked the majority of her life as a labor worker. She had never thought to much about computer technology and how it has an empowering effect that would enrich her use of technology today. She had mentioned to me that she loves to hand write; but her job would be much less complex and the job load would be much more efficient all the way around if her management would let all custodians obtain a computer in their office. She said, "she knows that work orders would be done sooner, communication would be documented, and paper trails would be simplified."

Claudia grew up learning old school writing by hand or having the use of a typewriter. Claudia thinks old school technology should not be forgotten, but is ecstatic about all the new technology. Claudia noted that "if not for having a brother who is a computer programmer and two grown children that had the opportunity to learn technology, she probably would not be as aware of technology use and its advantages today." Another comment was said, she thinks it is wonderful how far technology has come in 35 years, "just think what the future can bring us now."

Denise: What was your main technique of writing when you were younger?

Claudia: I printed in elementary school, then started cursive writing around 4th grade. I used cursive
through middle school and high school. I took short hand for the rest of my high school years.

Denise: Was this process sufficient for you as far as time wise?

Claudia: I never thought much about the length of time in cursive writing until I learned short hand in my junior year. I put short hand to use for the rest of my high school courses.

Denise: Do you practice short hand at your job now?

Claudia: I do not use short hand now, it is not a necessity for my job description. I do not take many notes for much of anything right now. I have a meeting once a month and it requires very little writing. Although, I have paper work due monthly; I would prefer a computer to complete my monthly supply orders, daily check lists, and various other paper trails that need completion.
Denise: You have been talking about other ways of writing, do you use a computer at your job?

Claudia: No, I would like to have the use of a computer for my job. Not only for supply orders, time sheets, and other information; but to be able to place work orders without having to write one up, turn it into the secretary, and then wait for a response. I would be able to store information compactly and not have to hand write notes all over the place. Spelling can be a challenge for me, so instead of dragging out the dictionary, all I would need is the computer to resolve my spelling issues for any job related paper demands.

Denise: As a transformation from hand writing to a computer, do you use a computer anywhere else and is it difficult for you?

Claudia: Yes, at home the transition from writing to computers was difficult at first. It took time to understand the basic use of it at first, turning it on, getting to where I wanted to go on the computer, and just learning all the steps to process what I needed. I enjoy hand writing, but I especially appreciate computers, just the fact that they automatically spell check for you.

Denise: Going back to typewriters, did you have any problems?

Claudia: Sometimes I had to type everything, check all the spelling, check for mistakes and change out the typing ribbon. With the use of a computer, all of this has become simplified.

Denise: Typewriter vs the computer, which one is more beneficial to you now?

Claudia: I would have to say, I would benefit more from computers. It not only allows us to become more efficient; but the programs that are offered through the click of the finger are endless.

I never imagined in my mind how advanced the world has grown in the short period of time with all its technology methods, uses, and ideas.

Mikey's Typewriter

2009-03-11T21:21:00.000-07:00

Ben Oliver
DTC 375: Language, Texts &Technology
Dr. Farman
March 11, 2009
Word Count: 962

Mikey’s Typewriter

My interview was with my mother. She likes to be called “Mikey”. We decided to focus our conversation on her transition from the mechanical typewriter to the word processor or computer. The bulk of mom’s time on the keyboard was done in college, writing letters to friends and relatives, and later when the family started a peach farm business. The transition from analog to digital was a combination of luxury and a rationalized necessity. My father was a mathematician and worked with computers so when a “bonafied” application came up for getting a personal computer my father took full advantage of it. The “bonafied” application was the bookkeeping. Using the computer for writing letters was the furthest thing from my father’s mind.

I was really impressed with the different techniques required to produce a good looking document on the old typewriters vs. using the word processor. Mom used the terms “cut” and “paste”. I thought cut and paste only applied to computers and kindergarten. It never occurred to me that at one time it was a physical activity used to prepare final documents. The image of my mom cutting out paper dolls for a college paper seems comical.

Mom didn’t seem to have too much trouble with the transition and when asked if she would like to go back she stated “I might collect one but I doubt I would use it. I think it would be fun to try one again. Actually I think I would get frustrated rather quickly especially if I was trying to do something important.”

Ben: Mom, you used to use a typewriter back in the day right?
Mikey: Yes.

Ben: How do you feel about the way we type now, I mean using word processors and computers and such compared to the old mechanical units.
Mikey: The old units are kind of romantic to me. I used them frequently in college and on a few jobs on the campus library. We had an old one at the house do you remember?

Ben: Yes I do. I liked the mechanical aspect of it, the smacking hammers and the effort to make a good dark letter.
Mikey: The old unit was sturdy and heavy. You used to jamb all the hammers together and make you father mad.

Ben: It was a game I played Mom. I would try to get every single hammer stuck up in one big cluster against the ribbon then I would stick my hand in and flick them down one by one until all of a sudden they would all fall neatly back into place.
Mikey: And you got your inky fingers everywhere.

Ben: So Mom, how did you make the transition? What was the turning point?
Mikey: I would probably still be using that old typewriter today but we started the peach business and needed a way to manage the bills. We purchased a very expensive computer and some software for it. It was exciting because it was new and frustrating because it was a bit different to interact with than the old typewriter.

Ben: Did it take long to adjust?
Mikey: No. I had more trouble getting used to moving around with the mouse than typing. It didn’t really take long to get used to but I just remember pawing at the mouse pad with the mouse rather than gliding it around smoothly at first.

Ben: What were some of the more remarkable things about using the computer to type a letter?
Mikey: At first it was just a big quiet typewriter with very little difference. After a while I found that I didn’t have to think things out from beginning to end. I could almost type random sentences then cut and paste them into the right order. When I would type with the old typewriters I was typing a final draft but the computer changed all that.

Ben: So you wrote it out by hand first then typed it up?
Mikey: It depended on what I was typing but yes. I remember in college typing papers and then literally cutting with scissors and pasting with tape to edit my papers then type them again for the final copy. It took a lot of time.

Ben: You could erase though right?
Mikey: Yes but it depended on the paper and the ink. Some paper wouldn’t allow you to erase without ruining it. Actually you sort of sanded the ink off some of the paper.

Ben: That seems crazy! Did you have a different thought process? I mean it seemed like you would want to take great care to minimize your mistakes.
Mikey: Yes. I was much more careful and planned ahead. I think it is one of the reasons I am good at spelling.

Ben: Because you took the time to look the words up before you typed them?
Mikey: Because you HAD to look the words up. You could have someone else proof read for you but it wasn’t quit as effective as the word processors are today and if you already typed the word it was too late anyway.

Ben: Lets back up a bit mom, what about electric typewriters. Did you ever use one with the ball type head on it?
Mikey: Your dad and I used the mechanical one then switched straight over to the computer. I don’t think I ever did use one of the electrics.

Ben: The editing gyrations you went through make it seem so barbaric. Do you think you would ever use one again?
Mikey: I might collect one but I doubt I would use it. I think it would be fun to try one again. Actually I think I would get frustrated rather quickly especially if I was trying to do something important.

Finally out of the Cave

2009-03-11T20:04:00.000-07:00

Beau Yancey
03/07/09
Dr. Farman
DTC 375
Word Count: 926

Finally out of the Cave

My parents have always been a bit hesitant when it comes to technology. Whether it was the several gaming systems my brothers and I went through, or even cell phones in recent years, they have always wanted the piece of technology with the fewest options and buttons possible. As a family we joke about how they are stuck in a cave, refusing to come outside of it and see the light of newer technology. However in recent years, this has not been the case.

I have always been fortunate enough to be surrounded by a computer. My Father worked out at Battelle while I was growing up and he would bring home his massive computer system home on the weekends. The colossal green monitor, the bulky computer itself, and the keyboard, that was so precious that it was protected by a clear plastic cover at all times.

Before my Dad would ever even think about using such a piece of technology, he would always read the instructors manual from cover to cover, even with a highlighter at times. This habit still exists today. Nothing would be operated unless it was fully understood, to protect the machine from being annihilated from the user, or my siblings.

I believe it was the invention of the cell phone which made my parents finally see the light. A technology which made communication so readily available through the push of a button. There was no DOS system to worry about. No files that could be removed. Just a communication device that needed to be handled and fiddled with to be fully understood. From one cell phone to the next my parents crept closer towards the light. From the cell phone to the Palm Pilot and finally, at the end of last year, the Blackberry! A technology which I don’t even posses. We were all so very proud of them both. It wasn’t until this interview that I came to realize why they had such a hard time coming out of the cave. The technologies they described and the inventions they have seen during their lifetimes is nothing short of miraculous.

Beau: What was the most commonly used technology you used during your childhood?

Mom: The television. I remember getting our very first one. We were one of the first people on our block to have one. We were pretty popular. It had tubes and everything!

Beau: What other technologies were memorable?

Mom: Ok, this is a cool thing. It was called the Magcard. It was made by IBM. I was one of the very first people to be trained to use it. You could hold twenty two pages of information, and I could back up twelve spaces if I wanted to and make changes. The best part about it was that it typed by itself once you hit the send key. It was pretty cool! If I wanted to only print page twelve, I could go into the settings and hit print page twelve, and it would only print page twelve. It was amazing and I was there. I had to be trained for a whole week to use it. Everyone thought it was the coolest thing ever, but a year later, another model came out and it held one hundred pages! This was just unnatural.

Beau: What has been the greatest technological breakthrough of your time?

Mom: Without a doubt the computer. The old manual typewriter would have to use carbon paper if you wanted to make multiple pages and if you wanted seven pages or so, the last page would look blurry and you probably couldn’t use it. Then if you made a mistake, you would have to erase it on every single page. Even the electric typewriter was a huge advancement because it would not only type faster, but you didn’t have to return the carriage manually, and it would correct mistakes easily.

(About this time my Dad entered the room and he added to what my Mom had said.)

Dad: I remember the Mimeographs. I remember being a kid in class and we all had to take turns making copies with a hand crank thing and you would run paper through it and it had a strong smell that smelled really good!

Dad: Another technology that has come a long way is the telephone. Remember when we had to talk to an operator to make a phone call?

Mom: Yep, his name was Hunter number 51547.

Dad: Or there was a party line where families in remote areas would share the same phone line and cost of the phone bill. You would pick up the phone and your neighbor would be talking on the phone and you would have to ask him to leave so you could make a call.

Dad: Cameras are another one. You had to keep cleaning the flash bulb before a picture was taken. They then came out with a camera that had four flash cubes on it that would rotate every picture so the lighting was good. When they wore out we used to throw them into the river and shoot them with bb guns.

Beau: Did you ever think technology had reached its peak?

Mom: No, everything was changing so fast. A man on the moon, television, everywhere we looked things were popping up. It was a space age of rockets and amazing flying machines. It became expected that tomorrow there would be new and better things.

Computing the past to the new

2009-03-11T19:03:00.000-07:00

James Cavanah
DTC 375
Dr. Farman
3/12/08
Word: 786

For this assignment I decide to interview Dawn Cavanah, which would be my mother who is currently a travel agent at AAA Travel in Kennewick, Washington. My mom has asked me not to reveal her age but as a true son I feel its necessary for the purpose of this paper. Currently 43, my mother has had many reception jobs and has seen how our technology has grown. She has seen it all; going from a typewriter to the evolution of the computer and the transition from written logs to data logs. As are new generation advances with the new trends and crazies we forget about our older generation and the change they must make to a faster, more efficient style of writing. My mothers recent discovery is using itunes to download all the songs she use to listen when she was younger and accessing WiFi areas.

My mom had many jobs from the age of 16, starting out in a local pub in Manchester, UK. As she finished school and University she began work at a doctors office as a receptionist. There she said she had to look up manually hand written files for patients and type proscriptions and check up slips on a typewriter. She said, “ I was lucky that the type writers at that time had a somewhat erase button, really it was a white out button”. She felt that the growth of technology came piece by piece, which made it some ways easier to grasp the applications.

James: So mother, what did you use before the computer?

Dawn: well when I was at school we used manual writing and curly writing.

James: Curly writing?

Dawn: Well you know, cursive! we called it curly writing in England. When I went to university I had a tape recorder that I would record my professors with. Usually after my classes I would go home and rewrite what I had heard that day. I would say that most of the time at university we handed most things in using the typewriter, well that’s if you could get one to use.

James: So what was the general form of writing you used when you went to work?

Dawn: Well when I started my job at the doctor’s office they were in the switch from manual files to the computer files, so everything had to be typed up and put into a database. I felt like I had the skills to use the new computer system since I was so familiar with the typewriter and had used a computer at one point.

James: how hard was it to make the transition?

Dawn: Well it was just a process of getting to know the applications and the programs. Learning how to interact with the computer to get what I wanted was pretty tuff. I had a lot of help from family members.

James: Do you feel like you are more familiarized with computers know.

Dawn: My computer is my lifesaver. As a travel agent I rely 100% on the Internet and my files being saved. I can honestly say that even though I use a computer everyday, I am still eager to learn new short cuts and find new applications. It makes it so much easier for me to work at home and keep up to date with my client’s status. When I worked at the doctor’s office I would have to answer the phone write down the information, usually ask them the information over again and then file it, that’s until we got computers. After a while I was learning how to type faster and answer the phones at the same.

James: What don’t you like about the computer?

Dawn: Well the only thing I don’t like about it is that I always seem to have problems with my network connections, it seems like that it is week when I use my home computer. When we first started using the computers all the phones and other computers were connected to the same network, which took forever to connect. There’s not much that I really don’t like, I would say that there is a lot to learn and all the applications can get a bit confusing when entering the Internet.

James: So where do you think the future of computers will go?

Dawn: Well I think its pretty amazing already! I look at your sister and she can type so fast and use her phone to text without even looking, she’s only thirteen! I think that maybe we will move to voice commands, just like they’re doing with cell phones or computers that are fully touch screen like the iphone

Technological Adaptation – Moving up the Chain

2009-03-11T17:25:00.000-07:00

Shannon Mendenhall
DTC 375 – Dr. Farman
03/12/2009
Word Count: 922

I utilized Windows Live Messenger to interview Alfred Garcia, Jr., a seemingly humorous 50 year old Division Contracts Manager (DCM) at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (Battelle) in Richland, Washington. He has been employed at Battelle since 1993, and he served as an intern at the lab in 1978 and 1979. Al has been a DCM for approximately 8 years, which he thinks is “too long”. He claimed to have first utilized charcoal for writing, but soon confessed that he used a typewriter in high school and a word processor during his intern years at Battelle. Al enjoys new technology; about six months ago he purchased a BlackBerry smart phone to manage his email and calendar while in meetings and for other occasions when he is out of the office.

Al’s first job was during his high school years as a banquet busboy. He framed houses the summer after he graduated from high school, then he landed his internship at Battelle in his first years of college. He used a word processor to type information, but didn’t have any “computational abilities” until later. Al thinks that he has kept up with technology pretty well. He has adapted as it has adapted and he believe that that’s a necessity. “I would agree that I have developed as technology has developed; it’s a requirement in today’s business world. Not to do so would be detrimental to ones career.” Al mentioned that the advancement of technology was “progressive in nature” and that he “just used what tools were put in front of (him)”. He also finds pleasure in technological advancement. Al utilized Windows Live Messenger regularly, he forwards funny emails to his staff members, and he enjoys the customizable options that are available to him with newer technology.

Shannon: What method of writing did you use before computers?

Al: Charcoal. Lol. Word processor, actually. You could just use it to type information... words, figures, etc., but it wasn’t a computer per say... no computational abilities. I used it during the summers of ‘78 and ‘79 or so, as an intern.

Shannon: Did you ever have to use a word processor before you were an intern at PNNL?

Al: No. Only a typewriter in high school, in a typing class; where I learned to type faster than you can.

Shannon: Funny. How long did the process of using a typewriter take?

Al: Learning to use one? I don’t know… it was a class, so probably 3-4 months. It also took a long time to type a paper. They were hard to use. I had to use one in college… it was a pain if you didn't have a typewriter with auto-correct, where the back-space key typed over the wrong letter with a whiteout strip. Before that you had to use an eraser, and/or liquid whiteout.

Shannon: What didn’t you like about the older technology?

Al: I liked it back when that's what was available… the manual typewriter replaced by the electric, the electric replaced by word processors, word processors replaced by computers…

Shannon: So you appreciated what was available. Did you ever wish that people would make what used to be the current technology better than it was? Or did you not ever think about it?

Al: Obviously I thought about it. I did have an idea as a DECA student on a new product; it was called an Audio-Type. You spoke into a speaker and whatever you said would get typed on a typewriter. I was way ahead of my time. But that was when I was 17; other than that it was not my cup of tea…

Shannon: Did you dislike the implementation of technology? Was it hard to get used to? Was it ever exciting or intimidating for you?

Al: It was progressive in nature, so no; it wasn't hard to get used to. It was a little of both excitement and intimidation - until you learned it and then learned of its shortcomings. Shortcomings being the learning curve to use technology, and doing a certain job a different way. I really just used what tools were put in front of me.

Shannon: What about the computer, was it difficult to transition to? Did you have to take a class similar to the one you took to learn the process of using a typewriter?

Al: Not really - it was basically the same keyboard… you did have to learn Word Perfect and/or Word to know how to edit.

Shannon: In what ways do you use a computer in your current job role? Are there specific tasks that a computer is necessary for?

Al: Yes, I use it for everything at work. I get hundreds of email a day, and we maintain all of our contracts electronically. And there’s the Outlook calendar too, and I get all of my Outlook stuff on my BlackBerry as well.

Shannon: So you’re pretty innovative, since you’re utilizing a smart phone and all?

Al: Yes, but it ties me down. I like new technology though.

Shannon: Do you prefer new technology over older technology?
Al: Duh.

Shannon: Why do you prefer the technology that you use now?

Al: It's easier to correct mistakes, more options on fonts and styles, more efficient, etc…

Shannon: It seems like you’ve adapted well to transitions in technology. Would you agree that you’ve developed as technology has developed?

Al: Yes, I would agree that I have developed as technology has developed; it’s a requirement in today’s business world. Not to do so would be detrimental to ones career.

"You Can Teach an Old Dog New Tricks"

2009-03-11T13:58:00.000-07:00

Neil Fastabend
Dr. Farman
DTC 375: Language, Texts & Technology
11 March, 2009
Word Count: 987

I interviewed my mother, Deanna Fastabend. She is 50 years old and a very cheerful and laid back mother of three. She grew up Santa Ana, California and then moved to Spokane, WA when she was thirteen. She went to Shadle Park High School and was the typical teenage girl, using the phone a lot and spending time with friends as much as she could. She commented on her phone usage saying "we had five teenagers in the house so we had time limits on the phone every day. We were limited to an hour a day roughly."

Deanna is currently a stay at home wife and mother, but she used to work at Baum’s candy store in Richland as well as at a paper factory in Spokane, WA with her mother before she got married. She also worked part time as a car hop for Zips drive-in near her home in Spokane as a teenager. She grew up transitioning from having one black and white television in her entire house to having a color television and a computer in just about every room now. Long gone are her days of having to fight over phone time because of cell phones. "I love the new technology and I'm glad we have it" she says happily. Deanna uses e-mail every day to keep in touch of her friends and family and according to her, she couldn't live without it. She has had to learn to use cell phones, text messaging, computers, and the internet in just the last twelve years, and she said it best in her own words, claiming: "you can teach an old dog new tricks."

Neil: What type of communication method did you use before computers?

Deanna: I used the telephone and hand wrote letters.

Neil: What were the downsides of using that method?

Deanna: Long distance phone calls were very expensive. I was lucky that my mom’s sister worked for the phone company and she could connect us to friends and family living in Spokane when we lived in southern California so it wouldn’t cost us anything. But using the phone would make your ear hurt a lot after a while. I always like writing letters to my aunts and uncles when I was young, it was just very time consuming. If I misspelled anything I would just have to scratch it out.

Neil: How did you communicate with friends usually?

Deanna: I would call them on the phone. But we had five teenagers in the house so we had time limits on the phone every day. We were limited to an hour a day roughly.

Neil: In comparison, how do you communicate with friends and family now?

Deanna: E-mail is great for people out of town, and I use the phone as well. I am able to keep in touch with a lot more people now using e-mail than I could before, and it doesn’t cost anything to use it.

Neil: Was it difficult to learn to use a computer?

Deanna: I still don’t know how to use it, I’m still learning, and it’s been twelve years. I had to learn how to type using a typing program. Everything else I learned from my kids.

Neil: Were you excited or intimidated by computers when you started to use them?

Deanna: Intimidated at first but now I love it. I was intimidated by the unknown, and I wasn’t sure what I was doing so I was afraid I was going to do something wrong and crash the computer. And they were very expensive when we got our first one so I didn’t want to break it.

Neil: After using e-mail to communicate, do you think you could ever go back?

Deanna: No, I love e-mail. It’s just more fun and convenient.

Neil: Are there downsides to using e-mail and text messaging compared to older forms of communication?

Deanna: Not really. I really like e-mail, it’s the one thing I do all day is check my e-mail. I still talk to people on the phone as well so it’s not like I feel disconnected from them at all. It just makes everything easier.

Neil: What do you think about kids growing up today where everyone has a cell phone and communicates with text messages and computers rather than how you did?

Deanna: I think that there is more isolation now. I don’t feel like kids now have the communication skills today that I had when I was a kid, because they don’t have to because of the technology.

Neil: If you had grown up in present day how do you think your life would be different?

Deanna: I would have been one of the kids with a computer, using Twitter and text messaging and using cell phones. I would be in-the-know. I would have been one of the kids that used everything to keep in touch with friends.

Neil: What form of communication do you prefer to use now?

Deanna: I still prefer the phone, even just the land line so that I don’t worry about using minutes. But I text message for fun and definitely love to use e-mail over hand writing anything.

Neil: Is there anything else you would like to add about your experiences with these different forms of communication?

Deanna: You can teach an old dog new tricks. I love the new technology and I’m glad we have it. I will never forget the first week we had our first computer I remember going online and touring the Louvre museum online until almost 3 am, I just couldn’t stop. And about a month ago I got on Google Earth and looked at photos of my old neighborhood, it was so much fun, and I’ll never forget it.

From Pen and Paper to Ones and Zeroes – There’s No Way Back Now

2009-03-11T13:31:00.000-07:00

Angel Almaraz
Dr. Jason Farman
DTC 375
12 March 2009
Word Count: 1,200

From Pen and Paper to Ones and Zeroes – There’s No Way Back Now

I interviewed Zelma Jackson, who works for the Washington State Department of Ecology, located in Richland, Washington, as a Hydrogeologist. She is very active in the community, currently serving as the interim chair of the Tri-Cities Chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. She is also the chair of the Washington State Commission on African American Affairs and is a founding member of the National Association of Black Geologists and Geophysicists.

She earned her Bachelor’s Degree in Geology from Virginia State University in 1974 and continued her graduate work in Environmental Geology and Uranium Exploration at the University of Washington, earning her Master’s Degree in 1984. While at Virginia State University, she took a mandatory class that required the use of mainframe computers that took up an entire room. Her thoughts on using the mainframe computers? “I couldn't fathom the ones and zeroes, what that all meant. It wasn't a reality to me, it was forced on us. When I was finished with that class, I vowed I would never touch it again. People who wanted to do computer science - that was their business, I didn't care.”

She started using a computer in her daily job in 1990, while with the Washington State Department of Employment Security. She found it “cumbersome” and the use of the computer was limited to writing letters and memorandums. Nevertheless, she adapted to using a computer because she knew that our society was changing in a major way. She saw that we were moving away from the traditional communication method of pen and paper to ones and zeroes and she does not see us going back.

Angel: Did you use computers in your first job after college?

Zelma: We did have smaller mainframes in Atlantic Ridge Field, but it was only a certain techie group that did that kind of work. They would just bring us spreadsheets, we would do our work thru a spreadsheet and then return it to them, and they would enter it in the mainframe.

Angel: What kind of computer training did you get?

Zelma: Pretty much here it is, have fun.

Angel: Did you find that you took to it pretty quickly?

Zelma: Personally, it took a while with me being that close to a machine all day long, and not people because I'm more people orientated than I am machine. And it probably took me about a year to start using it much more.

Angel: And did it slow things down or did it speed things up in your daily job?

Zelma: At that time, it slowed it down. Because I had 10 people that I was managing and it was much easier for us to communicate with them walking into the office and having a dialog then for me to sit there and type them a letter. And it wasn't good internal management etiquette to send out emails or send out conversations over the computer.

Angel: Did your staff like using computers?

Zelma: I believe the younger staff, staff members that were under 30, enjoyed the new technology. Staff members that were pass 30 didn't, and some didn't even use it.

Angel: Do you use a computer at home?

Zelma: I have a computer at home. I use it only if I absolutely have too. And the reason is because I'm so entwined in using a computer at work that when I go home I'm a brick and mortar kind of person.

Angel: Do you think you would use it more at home if you didn't use it at work?

Zelma: Yes, if I didn't use it at work then I probably would. But because now I'm so accumulated to using a computer for all my needs that I probably would have a very difficult time, matter of fact, I know I could not return to paper and pencil anymore, those days are over with.

Angel: What are the disadvantages of being a computer driven society?

Zelma: The disadvantage of the new era we're in is that more than 50% of our country is still computer illiterate. And it might even be greater. The fortyish, up to the 100ish age wise, that's the whole group or population that is computer illiterate. Under 40, to even a baby, very computer literate.

The second big disadvantage is it takes away a considerable amount of how we deal with one another as human beings. We deal across a media that is a very electronic language that takes away from the touchy-feely eye contact, what I call lovely dove feeling of being around another individual. I don't believe that we're ever going to return to that, it's almost personally as an individual you have to get up out of your chair and go and talk to someone.

The other disadvantage along that same line is that as you send messages or blog you lose emotional contact with the groups or individuals, even though there are small icons that you can put in there, that's still not a human being.

Angel: What are the advantages of being a computer driven society?

Zelma: We have moved from the agrarian society into the industrial and now we're in the cyberspace and it's probably another lever of cyberspace. You really can't get a job if you go to a store or to put in an application, everything is on the web. They even have little kiosks in the store. So the advantage of knowing how to use a computer and being familiar with the programs on the computer is that it puts you in a position where you could be economically self-sufficient.

The other advantage is that it's the quickest way to communicate; no matter if it's within your job level or externally and if, like me, you're part of a national society, no one sends paper anymore, everything is over the web. So that advantage is that you are able to communicate externally outside your work environment or your personal life environment.

The third advantage is that we've passed from the me generation to the new word for cyber group and the whole blogging group and all the other verbiage that goes along with the new language of cyberspace. If you were to communicate with your children, your siblings, or anyone in the world, you've got to communicate that way, that is the way of the communication style. And the language has changed, the text messages, even your phone, everything is now almost like a mini computer and they get smaller and smaller. And for those of us who have thick glasses it gets to be hard to see.

Angel: Where do you think we can go from here?

Zelma: I think we're just keep moving to the next level, the only way we would ever change is if we had a complete global meltdown. Of course there are many small grass roots segments of population that have gone back to more of a tribal environment in living and they're going to be islands in the world, but as far as globally, we will not go back.