Not until this class have I looked so far into how our technology, culture, and communication work together to form a basis to our everyday lives. I have always known the Internet to obviously be a huge resource of mine, and I have thought about how fortunate I am to live where I do and be able to have access to technology. It is just this class has helped me learn through writing the blogs. I really enjoyed this online class and the topics we covered. I have several blogs that I especially enjoyed. Last week’s blog about a new media article regarding the misuse of the Internet was great because I was able to write about a confronting issue in our culture and helped me learn and explore ways that we can help resolve these Internet misuses.
The blog about joining an Internet community, I feel, has benefited me the most. A few of my fellow peers asked me if I would continue to use the Internet community I joined. To answer to those I did not respond to, I have continued to use this Internet community and am really glad! It is so neat to log onto the community and discuss my career choice with thousands of people, many being all around the world. I also really enjoyed the Wild Card week because I felt that I was finally able to express (on the keyboard) my current situation regarding an exacerbation of my schools Internet program Moodle. It was nice to be able to share my story and relate it to how important it seems that technology plays in our lives and how we have to cope when systems malfunction. Overall, concerning blogs, I felt they were great and had great meaning to my learning.
I enjoyed our reading and forum posts because I liked having a set of questions to narrow our discussion postings. I also really liked the questions regarding the chapter reading and felt I really had a personal connection with the topics. I enjoyed the information available in each chapter of Wood and Smith. I have learned so many tidbits from our culture and technology than I ever knew before. I consider myself pretty computer and technology oriented on the average college student level, but this book helped me look at my computer and Internet on a whole different level. For example, there are so many terms such as pseudonymity and netiquette that I had not heard before, but now I understand how much these terms, and more, relate to cyberspace.
Although Postman’s Technopoly is definitely a huge contributor to the purposes behind this class, I did feel that his reading was more difficult because he did seem to talk about many different topics within one chapter. Sometimes it was hard to follow, but other information was very worthwhile. Overall, I enjoyed every aspect of this class. This includes the fact that this class was online because it helped me greatly with my school schedule. Just like a main topic to this class, the Internet is once again shown to contribute to our expanding uses of technology. America’s culture is seeing more online classes at the college level. The advantages are apparent and I am so glad that online classes are available.
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Sunday, March 9, 2008
News Media "To Catch A Preditor"
I found an article at CNN.com about online child predators and what parents can do to protect their kids. I think that this is a very serious topic and a huge issue that relates to the dangers the Internet can bring. Like online scamming, plagiarism, or identity theft, online child predators use the Internet as a foundation to seek unlawful and just plain discussing behavior. There is an obvious misuse of the Internet by these criminals. What is so true about online child predators is the fact that the access to being a victim is so open. Many parents think that it will never happen to their child, yet it is still strongly encouraged for parents to monitor what their children are doing online. I liked this article because I thought it gave good bases on what parents may be facing and how to deal children’s use of the Internet.
I 100% agree with the fact that there are people out there, some who may seem absolutely ordinary, but are misusing the Internet by breaking the law (example: sexually soliciting an underage individual). And just how might we prevent this illegal act? Well, MSNBC’s Dateline “To Catch a Predator” has already started accomplishing that goal. I think that a complete prevention of online predators would be an enormous goal to accomplish because of availability to the Internet and chat rooms, but I do think that a decline can be accomplish. Datelines “To Catch A Predator” has helped bring many guilty predators to the table and off the Internet chat rooms.
In regards to the concept of “To Catch a Predator,” I find it interesting, yet clever, how the predators are caught. The conversations between the victim and predator are real, yet the luring in of the predator is all set up. The camera crews are on “set” and the host of the show Chris Hansen is ready to confront the predators. I agree, that although the predators can say they have been “set up,” the best way to catch predators is to win them at their own game.
Beyond chat rooms, social online networks like MySpace are another great potential for child predators and stalkers to be located. Especially with MySpace, the amount of personal data that can be shared can but individuals at risk for danger. For stalkers or other people with the motive to do harm to others, these online networks are a prime location to find their victims. For protection, having security measures such as privacy control and limiting personal information on MySpace can cut down the possibility of becoming a victim.
In a culture with very popular Internet communities, the Internet seems to be the place to go for private conversation and illegal act. From watching “To Catch a Predator” I have noticed that many of the predators felt they could get away with their acts because they hide their communication from others by using online chat rooms. This misuse of the Internet shows a negative side to what the advancements in communication and technology can bring.
News articles at
http://edition.cnn.com/2007/TECH/internet/03/23/safeonline.101/index.html and http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9878187/
I 100% agree with the fact that there are people out there, some who may seem absolutely ordinary, but are misusing the Internet by breaking the law (example: sexually soliciting an underage individual). And just how might we prevent this illegal act? Well, MSNBC’s Dateline “To Catch a Predator” has already started accomplishing that goal. I think that a complete prevention of online predators would be an enormous goal to accomplish because of availability to the Internet and chat rooms, but I do think that a decline can be accomplish. Datelines “To Catch A Predator” has helped bring many guilty predators to the table and off the Internet chat rooms.
In regards to the concept of “To Catch a Predator,” I find it interesting, yet clever, how the predators are caught. The conversations between the victim and predator are real, yet the luring in of the predator is all set up. The camera crews are on “set” and the host of the show Chris Hansen is ready to confront the predators. I agree, that although the predators can say they have been “set up,” the best way to catch predators is to win them at their own game.
Beyond chat rooms, social online networks like MySpace are another great potential for child predators and stalkers to be located. Especially with MySpace, the amount of personal data that can be shared can but individuals at risk for danger. For stalkers or other people with the motive to do harm to others, these online networks are a prime location to find their victims. For protection, having security measures such as privacy control and limiting personal information on MySpace can cut down the possibility of becoming a victim.
In a culture with very popular Internet communities, the Internet seems to be the place to go for private conversation and illegal act. From watching “To Catch a Predator” I have noticed that many of the predators felt they could get away with their acts because they hide their communication from others by using online chat rooms. This misuse of the Internet shows a negative side to what the advancements in communication and technology can bring.
News articles at
http://edition.cnn.com/2007/TECH/internet/03/23/safeonline.101/index.html and http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9878187/
Monday, March 3, 2008
Wildcard
I instantly new what to write about! I should tell some of my classmates about this assignment, because they would definitely have something to write about! Okay, so I’m not going to do that, but seriously, this assignments topic is absolutely perfect when discussing the troubles my schools website “Moodle” has been going through this term. Moodle is a service like Blackboard. It serves as an online community for college students in which instructors can post forum questions for education purpose (which was a favorite of my nursing instructors), as well as other functions such as submitting papers and viewing grades. Moodle is described as an internet package that offers online based classes and websites. To the student, I see Moodle as an online service used for communicating. This situation wasn’t about misinterpretations of communication via Internet; it was more about a malfunction in technology that led to a pretty big communication problem.
This experience has basically been ongoing this whole term. At first, Moodle was hacked and all files were erased. As a class, we were able to bounce back from this incident, but let’s just say that was the least of our worries compared to what happened in the coming weeks. By about the third week into this term, things started getting ugly with Moodle. The system started shutting down periodically, which began with a little annoyance on my part. I would go the website and it would not load up. I thought, “Okay, it is just down for a little while, I will try later to turn in my paper.” So I would come back to the site, it would be running and all would be fine. Within the next two weeks, the situation was exacerbated to the point that Moodle was determined “shut down” due to technical difficulties and that as students, we must send our papers in through school e-mail accounts and find alternative ways to receive the educational information found on Moodle. But this point, the problems with Moodle went from an occasional annoyance, to complete unfairness when it was brought to our attention (myself and 50 other nursing students) that our school was not supporting Moodle and that we would have to convert to Angel (another program like Blackboard).
The claimed “temporarily shut down” Moodle turned out to be a farewell to Moodle. From the sources I have heard bouncing around campus, the main problem with Moodle was the Internet server. I’m not very good with technological terms or all the small parts to computers, but from what I hear, it is a problem that evidently is not going to be resolved by the school.
After using Moodle for the past two years and seeing how it makes communicating with instructors and peers very convenient and helpful for studying, the importance of technology becomes even clearer. The importance for every small thing such as the server and connection to be working in top condition becomes more evident. It makes me appreciate the Internets ability more and helps me realize how much I depend on the Internet’s functioning.
How would the situation have been different had it happened outside of cyberspace? If this had happened outside of cyberspace, there would be many changes. For example, there would be no reason to convert to another program, nor would my ways of communicating with instructors be hindered. Actually, if my school did not use Moodle, we would have other ways to communicate study tips, resources, etc such as using study groups and printed resources.
Regarding a cultural aspect, America’s culture seems to be becoming more familiar with online programs such as Blackboard, Moodle, Angel and such. Even for my nursing classes, which are not online, classes seem to use these online programs for additional communication services. During this whole exacerbation, communication has been resorted to e-mail instructors our papers via a different route and has eliminated all of our online forums, quizzes, and resources usually provided. This really did put a damper on learning because I felt that having Moodle helped me prepare for midterms and finals. Although I have not become extremely upset over this situation, I know many classmates that have shown very much anger toward our school board! This situation has even escalated to the fact that a classmate has started a petition to get a refund for our technology fees! Overall, I think that this situation is a prime example of how once again; our culture is turning to the Internet for many reasons. When Internet programs and such malfunction, it seems to interrupt our daily lives because many of us have seemly incorporated the Internet into our schedules. I view this story as an example of this. I don’t view it as a terrible, end-of-life situation, because it’s not. There are worse things that can happen. Like Moodle, every once in awhile, things break down. Hope you enjoyed reading about my experience.
This experience has basically been ongoing this whole term. At first, Moodle was hacked and all files were erased. As a class, we were able to bounce back from this incident, but let’s just say that was the least of our worries compared to what happened in the coming weeks. By about the third week into this term, things started getting ugly with Moodle. The system started shutting down periodically, which began with a little annoyance on my part. I would go the website and it would not load up. I thought, “Okay, it is just down for a little while, I will try later to turn in my paper.” So I would come back to the site, it would be running and all would be fine. Within the next two weeks, the situation was exacerbated to the point that Moodle was determined “shut down” due to technical difficulties and that as students, we must send our papers in through school e-mail accounts and find alternative ways to receive the educational information found on Moodle. But this point, the problems with Moodle went from an occasional annoyance, to complete unfairness when it was brought to our attention (myself and 50 other nursing students) that our school was not supporting Moodle and that we would have to convert to Angel (another program like Blackboard).
The claimed “temporarily shut down” Moodle turned out to be a farewell to Moodle. From the sources I have heard bouncing around campus, the main problem with Moodle was the Internet server. I’m not very good with technological terms or all the small parts to computers, but from what I hear, it is a problem that evidently is not going to be resolved by the school.
After using Moodle for the past two years and seeing how it makes communicating with instructors and peers very convenient and helpful for studying, the importance of technology becomes even clearer. The importance for every small thing such as the server and connection to be working in top condition becomes more evident. It makes me appreciate the Internets ability more and helps me realize how much I depend on the Internet’s functioning.
How would the situation have been different had it happened outside of cyberspace? If this had happened outside of cyberspace, there would be many changes. For example, there would be no reason to convert to another program, nor would my ways of communicating with instructors be hindered. Actually, if my school did not use Moodle, we would have other ways to communicate study tips, resources, etc such as using study groups and printed resources.
Regarding a cultural aspect, America’s culture seems to be becoming more familiar with online programs such as Blackboard, Moodle, Angel and such. Even for my nursing classes, which are not online, classes seem to use these online programs for additional communication services. During this whole exacerbation, communication has been resorted to e-mail instructors our papers via a different route and has eliminated all of our online forums, quizzes, and resources usually provided. This really did put a damper on learning because I felt that having Moodle helped me prepare for midterms and finals. Although I have not become extremely upset over this situation, I know many classmates that have shown very much anger toward our school board! This situation has even escalated to the fact that a classmate has started a petition to get a refund for our technology fees! Overall, I think that this situation is a prime example of how once again; our culture is turning to the Internet for many reasons. When Internet programs and such malfunction, it seems to interrupt our daily lives because many of us have seemly incorporated the Internet into our schedules. I view this story as an example of this. I don’t view it as a terrible, end-of-life situation, because it’s not. There are worse things that can happen. Like Moodle, every once in awhile, things break down. Hope you enjoyed reading about my experience.
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