PaddleGirl82

Reflection on my final project and the quarter….

2005-06-07T10:45:00.000-07:00

Extra eredit.....

I have just completed my final project. I choose to construct a portfolio. One of the reasons I choose to do this project was because I am actually scared of the internet and really anything other than just checking my email or a basic search. So this project forced me to go out of my comfort zone and learn a new program. Although it was not as extensive as DreamWorks, after working with the catalyst, I now have more courage and actually want to try and construct a website.

For my portfolio I just followed the prompting by the catalysis. This was very helpful and even I was able to figure it out. However, the only thing that I did not like was that I could not figure out how to make the links I wanted links. Also I couldn’t figure out how to put a picture on the front page of my portfolio. Nor could I figure out how to make the pictures appear with out having to click on them. I asked a few other people who were familiar with this program and they did not know how to fix this problem either. This was the only problems that I had with this program.

As a result of doing assignments number one and two, I ended up totally changing what I wanted to do for my final paper. I still love the fashion industry, but I think it was important that I explore the negative effects that it has. This is especially important that I do this if I am serious about going into the fashion world. Now I know the effects that it has and hopefully when I enter the fashion world, I will be more aware and will not contribute to these negative effects. The fashion world is constantly putting pressure on men and women especially to act think and look a certain way, but in fact there are only a small percentage of men and women who fit in this category. Because the media is putting this pressure on men and women, especially young pre-adolescent girls, negative and distorted self images as well as low self esteem are the result. If they are not achieving the image that the media is promoting, then they will turn to drastic measures such as eating disorders and plastic surgery to accomplish the look they are wanting. Fortunately, there are measures being taken to counter act this problem.

For me this class was pretty challenging because of the fact that coming into this class, I knew next to nothing about how to work the internet or how the internet even worked. Although much of the readings went over my head, I was glad that I had to read them. I am also glad that I had to construct a blogg. I am not really sure that I will actually keep mine up, however I will defiantly be using other people’s bloggs as a resource for other classes or just for my own knowledge. Before this class I had only heard of bloggs on this one 60 minute’s program that I happened to watch. I never knew how beneficial they are or even how big the community and their effects are.

2005-05-23T00:50:00.000-07:00

Voice over IP is the latest way for people to communicate over the internet. Basically voice over is the “hand free” way to talk over the internet. Instead of having to type out what you want to say to say you can just talk like on the phone. To do this you need an ATA connector. This is what transmits the information from analog to digital. People are able to place these “calls” over the internet for free. So this is a way to not have to pay for a land line and not use up minutes on a cell phone. Now companies such as AT&T are trying to tap in this industry.

I personally love this idea. I am one of those who no matter how many mins I have, I some how still manage to go over my plan. Also I am a big fan of texting and talking on im. However, just recently I got a really bad virus that completely messed up my computer so I am hesitant to us im. Having a system such as voice over would be great for me. However, I still think this won’t be to the disadvantage of the cell phone companies because people still would like the conveniences of being able to talk on the phone anytime any where. However, this may being to fade out the land line because people will no longer have need when they can just contact them directly on the internet. This will be able to kill two birds with one stone. I like that this software is easy and downloadable. People should be able to use this with their friends and avoid having to pay all those long distance and overage charges.

2005-05-20T01:01:00.000-07:00

A huge portion of the population is being left behind in the rapid growing technological world!

• The disabled
• The elderly
• And those who live in under developed countries.

These groups of people are frequently being left behind and the government is trying to find a way to make the internet user friendly to any and everyone. Currently they are trying to make it so the internet can talk to you and tells you what is going on in the screen. For those who are illiterate, they are making it so practically everything that appears has a picture so that those who can not read will be able to too at the pictures and navigate the internet that way.

This best way to understand what these people encounter when they are attempting to use the internet, which so much of our everyday living has come to depend upon…

When blind people use the internet and come across unfriendly sites, we aren't surfing, we are crawling ....Imagine hearing pages that say, 'Welcome to ...[image].' 'This is the home of ... [image].' 'Link, link, link.' It is like trying to use Netscape with your monitor off and the mouse unplugged. See how far you'll get

What is being done to include these groups?
• Auxiliary aids include taped texts
• Brailed materials
• large print materials
• captioning and other methods of making audio and visual media available to people with disabilities

In the end, making these changes will greatly affect everyone for the better!
• Accessible web design enables effective communication and
• saves government resources since documents can be readily available
• requests for ADA Alternate Document Formats can be satisfied
• Internet/Intranet access for employees with disabilities can be provided.

2005-05-11T02:14:00.000-07:00

I personally think that the internet and internet sources greatly impact politics. Before voters had to rely on what the politicians were telling them. Now they can do research on issues and can formulate an opinion themselves. Also they have the information at their finger tips. If they are not able to say watch a debate between politicians, a constituent could hop on the internet and get a recap of the debate. They can also look up the politician’s background information on the internet. Also I think politicians are able to reach more people though the internet. I think that there are many advantages and disadvantages to voting on the internet.

I completely agree with the statement made by Tony Miller that "If people don't have confidence in the voting systems being used, then they lose faith in the voting process itself." After reading all these articles and finding out the truth about electronic voting, I am not so sure that I have much confidence in the voting process anymore. It seems like something so simple they are making so complicated and I think that is where much of the errors come from.

2005-05-09T00:47:00.000-07:00

To me cyber space means a common place where people have access to others, where access would not be granted other wise. People don’t have as easy access to phone numbers where they could just call a random person up. This is a way to put your self/information out there so others who are interested can find you and look it up. This is a great way for people around the world from all walks of life to have access with each other. However, then comes the annoying pop-ups, spam and junk mail. Just as the internet can be extremely beneficial, it can also be dangerous and used in improper ways.

2005-05-06T03:08:00.000-07:00

Mid-Term report

For my project I have drafted a few ideas for lay outs that I want for my portfolio. I have reseached other students who are trying to get into fashion school and looked at their websites. I have decided what components that I want to put on to my portfolio. I have also found some picutes and backgrounds that I liked. I have also looked at professional portfolios to get ideas as well. I dinked around with the portfolio program. I have also started compiling ideas for my paper.

2005-05-04T00:20:00.000-07:00

I think how the readings relate to the scholar movement is trying to make sure that they are constantly improving and challenging the technology. I personally view this movement as the check and balance of the technology world. This movement is what is constantly making improvements of the technology. The readings that we read for today also shows how important it is for this check of power to be in place. And because technology is such an important factor in America's power, and also because other countries have access to much of American affairs thought this power, it is important that the scholarly movement be in place. It is a way to check and make sure that America is constantly staying ahead of the game.

2005-05-01T17:27:00.000-07:00

The new blogging software is a new and better way to promote community. Before there were sites such as Live Journal where people could keep a diary. However these were limited and restrictive. Now with bloggs it connects those who have an interest in what a person is writing their blogg about. People are able to communicate with one another in real time. As well as being able to contact more people at one time by mass emails or by posting on a site. Instead of having to call each person up or sending out many individual emails, this can all be don’t at one time. It is also a great way to get input form other people around the world.

Some of the challenges are that now anyone has access to this information. If you wanted your blogg to be restricted you would have to pay money. Also I once saw an episode of Dateline and they were doing a report about blogging. They were saying how a teacher got fired because of some pictures that she put on her blogg. The administration didn’t want their school to be represented in that way. Also there is the story of Dan Rather who was fired from his job because of something he reported on and a blogger did some research and proved him wrong.

Another challenge is most bloggs are not extremely reliable or credible sources.

2005-04-26T22:38:00.000-07:00

The implications for scholars in wifi technology would be that they have to see how internet could be implicated everywhere. This would be hard because they have to do a lot of research on these areas that currently don’t get internet. As well as they would have to have a lot of product based information. They would have to know all the products that are out there and make sure that the best product for the situation was being used. There are many regulations that would have to be up held and maintained. Even though this will take a lot of time, I think this is an important subject to stay on top of because having the whole world connected to the internet would be extremely beneficial to everyone. Although, it is going to take much work and constant maintaining and study.

2005-04-25T00:54:00.000-07:00

I personally think it is very important that scholars should keep a very close eye on the open source software movement because if someone is not researching or questioning the movement, then how would there be better improvements and how would the public be aware. With out this, there could be a lot happening and we the public would never be informed unless these scholars were studying it. And it is important that scholars are the ones that are questioning it because if it was just some regular person, they would not be as well informed or knowledgeable. They would probably be going off emotion or feelings instead of facts. I think that some of the points that were brought up in the first article were very valid in the study of the movement. It was brought up that if it is free then it is not as credible or reliable source. However, if you charge for it then people wont want to use it. That is so true. EVERYONE uses Google because it is free. But as we have learned in this class Google is not the most reliable source out there. Yet no one will want to pay for a source like Google because they can just get it free else where.

2005-04-20T01:10:00.000-07:00

It is amazing to see how far voting has evolved. From dropping a colored ball into a jar to electronically. Although I have to say that even though the way we are voting now is so much better than before. Much work still needs to be done to the modern way of voting, but I am glad that we don’t have a political leader in our faces as we tell someone to write what our vote down. I am sure that there was some shady business happening when that was how people were made to vote. It could be very hard to vote against the political leader was standing right in your face. So I am sure that was extremely influential. As well as the fact that you don’t even know if the person writing down the votes even wrote what you said. They could have interest in making sure that someone else wins the election so they write what they want to. Also dropping a ball into a jar right in front of the person I would imagine would be just as hard. And if you didn’t vote the way they wanted you to I am sure there were consequences. They would know who and what you voted for. Having these types of voting polls I am sure deterred some people from actually voting. If they were worried that something might happen if they didn’t vote the way others wanted them to, I am sure that it was just as easy not to vote.

2005-04-19T21:23:00.000-07:00

I never really thought much about voting. I guess I took it for granted. But after the recent issues, to me it is amazing for such a HUGE decision that affects everyone in this country, how much fine tuning still needs to be done. And really it seems so simple but on the contrary it is very complex. After debating electronic voting and comparing it to what Oregon does, I personally would be in favor of doing what Oregon does. Although I did like what they are doing in India. I think that in some cases simple is better. Like in India where they have the picture next to the candidate. I just think that this would be wasting alot of tax payers money that could be used else where. I also think if they are going to test then test on more than 5 people. It honestly seems like they are making it more difficult than it really is. I am sure there are lots to be taking into consideration. Such as ballot stuffing and networks getting messed up. But when do we say enough is enough? Stop playing with all these different kinds of fonts! I don’t think there should be a place to write in either. If they are not one of the top candidates by the election then I really don’t think the write ins would all of a sudden win an election. I think that it is just more confusing for some people and causing many votes to be voided!

2005-04-17T19:56:00.000-07:00

Extra Credit

"As a result, humans have enhanced creativity when in a pleasurable state."
This was one of the statements in the article. I realized how true this statement is. Although I also realized that this statement does not have any effect on machines. No matter what state they are in they are suppose to be creative or do what it has to. Because machines have no feelings, reflection really has no impact on them. Although they do monitor themselves, they still don’t react on any state of matter. This can be good as well as bad. Good because no matter what and in most circumstances machines can function without emotional issues. However, it can be bad because this will lead to a less interpersonal society and the need for human contact could eventually fade.

2005-04-17T19:12:00.000-07:00

While reading this article I found myself thinking about how far we have come in technology. That basically we are just numbers to identify us. Here at school I am only seen as 0127734 not who I am as a person. To businesses I am just my cell number, credit card number and social security number.

In one of my favorite movies, Sweet Home Alabama on of the lines in the movie is:
Mel inane: I see you don’t have an ATM...
Teller: yeah the boss didn’t want to install one of those things because it would take away contact with the customers.

This is so true. Now a day you can do almost everything with a machine. And I mean almost EVERYTHING!
Another point that I thought was interesting in this article was that "people hear what is intended not what is said." We get so busy and are so focused on and speed, biggest, most, the best that we often skip right over the details. We are in such a hurry that we don’t have time for the small stuff. However, if we skip over it, it can often lead to bigger things.

"All the things we are bad at matter, all the things we are good at are ignored. Bizarre." This reminded me of spell checker on Word. Many people are bad at spelling so we have installed a program to check the spelling. This makes people spend less time on learning how to spell correctly because they know that a machine will just take care of it.

2005-04-12T20:06:00.000-07:00

I agree with the article that newspaper would be the most effective way for politics to reach a wider range audience. It is cheaper and more convenient (can be taken anywhere where as the television cant as much). People can read it at their own pace. Pick it up and put it down when ever they want to. When you watch something on television, unless you record it, if you miss it then too bad. Pretty much anyone in every demographics has access to it. You can usually find newspapers or print in many different languages where as television is usually only in English. This is important because there are many people in the US that English is not their first language or they better understand something in their native language.

Although I think one of the major advantages with watching it on television is that it is constantly being updated every second. So if there is breaking news or something like that you can find out immediately. Where as the newspaper you would have to wait until the next morning. Television also gives a visual effect that newspapers couldn’t do as well.And personally I just think that reading a paper or print would be easier than reading information on the internet. Sometimes it’s just easier on the eyes.

My ah-ha for this reading is: "We argue that when people go online to access Internet news, they are more likely to both seek out and find information that is more national or international in nature than what they could find in their local newspapers." I think this is a very good point that I never thought of. It is easier if you are online and have a question or another concern to just click over...instead of just reading it and leaving it at that.

2005-04-10T21:23:00.000-07:00

With all the new and improve technology, although it’s supposed to “make life easier", for me I find that is not necessarily the truth. Because there is so much information other there, it is hard to really know what the truth is. Who is posting the information?...what credibility do they have?..Are there any biases that would be influencing what they are publishing? Not only are those questions a major hindrance, finding the correct information that you want at times can be a challenge as well. Sometimes it feels like finding a needle in a hay stack because you have all this information but now you have to filter through it and find what you really want. There can be other restrictions as well that makes it hard to even access the information you want. I know sometimes when I was looking for information, sometimes it is exactly what I want but in a different language! I was doing a paper on Rome and much of the information I wanted was in Italian. Also when I was doing research on the US military, much of it was restricted or classified or it was just over my head. It was in English but in terms that I didn't understand. And I think the major problem I have with all this new technology is that many times people just assume you have prior knowledge. And when you do it can be very frustrating and at times enough to make you not even want to bother. Then technology becomes intimidating! To think that a computer or cell phone could scare someone....

2005-04-06T01:35:00.000-07:00

My first ah ha is that I never really realized that one type of medium has a directo corrlation to another medium. That a painting is drived from a thought. That electricity is one of the main important components that enables us to have so many modern technologies. Without electricity we would not be able to use and have many of the luxeries that we have today.

The second ah ha is that I never gave much thought to think that every new development is just another development of something else. That they are just taking new ideas and modifying them and making them better, faster and easier to use. For example the camera was around many years ago, they didnt come up with a new thing for capturing the moments, they just made improvements to the old models.

2005-04-03T23:25:00.000-07:00

It is amazing to see how far technology has come. I just wonder what the reaction of the person writing this article would think if we told them that there would be a time that you could take a picture and it would instantly show up on a small screan. Then you could transfer these pictures to a computer where you could save them and print them whenever you wanted to. There would be no chemicals or anything involved. I am completely thankful to those who challenged and thought there could be a better way. I am sure it was hard and many people probably doubted them. I can only imagine what the future holds!

2005-04-03T22:53:00.000-07:00

I never really gave much thought as to how or when I watched cable television. However, after reading Social Aspects of New Media Technologies I began to think about how many levels there really are to television. Not only is it informative and a form of entertainment, but it also serves another porpose. For some it serves as a radio as well. However, television can also serve as a conpanion. When people are feeling lonely in their house or apartment they will many times turn the tv on or pop a movie in. When they are tired or feeling sad they will usually turn to television to make them happy by watching something with a happy ending. The type of televison they tend to watch usually goes with the mood they are in or trying to get out of.

Also with all this new media that is fast and being updated all the time, it is beginning to be placed as a huge importance in peoples lives. It is very unusal for a person to be completely with out some sort of ineraction with techonolgy. Although all these new technologies do make life easier and are suposed to be saving time, the time it is saving ususally gets spent with more technology.

2005-04-03T18:33:00.000-07:00

I am probably the most computer illeterate person ever...however after spending many hours on the phone with tec support I did know that I needed an IP address. Although I didnt know exactly why I needed it. After reading this artical I didnt realize how simple it was. I am not exactly sure that I understand the explincation it gives when it says you send an email and it gets passed from every computer connected to tne internet until it reaches the distination!?!?! Also I had no clue what TCP was and how important it was. Now I know that it is the TCP that makes sure that what a person sends reaches the destination and if it doesnt it requests that it gets sent again. It also lets a person know that their imformation has been recieved. I learned that both IP and TCP are part of a "stack" and that they are the basic fundimentals in order to send and recieve information thru the internet!

2005-03-30T09:16:00.000-08:00

I never new that the first computer programmer was a woman!

My first ever blogg

2005-03-28T10:53:00.000-08:00

So I doing my first ever blogg! I am really glad that I am taking this class so that I am not left in the stone age like before.