Shirky 1-3

Chapter one of Shirky is all about the power of the internet and its interaction with collective membership. In the beginning of the chapter he talks about how a girl loses her phone and a good friend of hers launches a cyber-campaign to get it back that reaches out and becomes powerful enough to sway the decisions of the New York Police Department. I think a lot of us take this power for granted and don't realize the consequences that can happen if that power is used wrongly. I know for example one of my friends found out an older man had been talking his little sister so my friend started posting on Facebook the man's name and phone number telling all his friends to message the older man. He ended up receiving threatening messages and the story ended up going to the police and my friend got in trouble for it. I have also seen great things done with the internet when people collaborate. For example I had a friend that suffered a serious fall that caused injury to his face and brain and he needed a very expensive surgery. We made a website and even started selling t-shirts to benefit my friend and the following got so big that we were able to take a large chunk out of the costs to my friend’s family. The internet allows us to reach out to a much larger following than just locals. News can spread nationwide in a matter of hours and support for a cause can be reached far easier than ever before. The internet combined with “power in numbers” is one of our most dangerous tools but is also the most underutilized by individuals. 

Tapscott part 3

After reading part 3 of Tapscott’s book the beginning of chapter 11 really stood out to me. The idea that some people believe that the net generation is dumber than other generations really hit a nerve for me and I agree with Tapscott’s refuting statement completely. Let first take a look at video games which require an intense array of hand eye coordination, whereas television requires you to sit on your ass and look at one spot the entire time. When you play video games you are engaging many different cognitive functions in the brain from strategizing to quick responses against unseen factors. If video games were making us lazy then why has it become almost a standard practice to make many controls of heavy machinery heavily based on the video game controller? You don’t see controls in a bulldozer based on a television. Another argument I have is if using the internet makes my generation so dumb then why is it so hard for adults to learn how to use it. I can think of numerous adults including my own father that has not a clue in the world on how to use a computer or the internet. An example of how the internet is making us smarter is the start-up page of most web browsers. Many of these pages include stories about what is going on in the world that draw our attention. Now let’s say a middle school student logs on and sees a story, he is going to read that story and become educated on what is happening in the world whereas a person who flips on a tv might catch part of some fictional sitcom. 

Tapscott part 2

I found chapter 7 of “Grown Up Digital” to be the most interesting and relevant to my lifestyle. The author discusses how the net generation has to be approached much differently than before in regards to advertising and product pushing. The early generations were subject to the constant bombardment of the companies and only saw the products that were put in front of them. The only reviews were from friends that had already purchased the product so whatever the manufacturer decided to tell the consumer had to be accepted. Now the tactic of throwing money, advertising, and product placement at consumers has fallen off the map. Tapscott discusses how consumers of our generation will now research a product, read reviews, and compare prices before even entering the store. One of the tactics that I have found useful in getting me to purchase a product is customization. In regards to vehicles I won’t purchase a vehicle unless I can work on it or personalize it and have done so with all 3 of my vehicles. Volkswagen is a great example of this; I refuse to purchase their vehicles because they are designed to require special tools that make customization nearly impossible. The upside to this increase in net savvy consumers is it has cause a drastic improvement in product quality and price. It’s no longer about having your product seen by as many people as possible, it’s about having the cheapest high quality product possible.

Tapscott part 1

 When I started reading part one of “Grown Up Digital” I immediately started subconsciously agreeing with the authors observations of our net generation. Don Tapscott talks about how the net gen is smarter, faster, and more distracted than the earlier generations ever were. With the plethora of information and resources provided by the digital age, this is hardly a statement you can argue. However one thing you have to look at when considering these statements is that we have tools that earlier generations never had. Cellphones are a major culprit for this argument. With most teens, adults, and even children owning cellphones the world is just a few button clicks away. Most phones these days have internet capabilities which allow these children to gain access to any information their little hearts desire. You can open up your phone and see what is happening on the other side of the world, learn how to pick a door lock, or even collaborate with your friends on projects via the net. With cellphones being the most common piece of technology that is accessible to children its easy to see why the net gen is becoming smarter at a faster rate earlier in life. If earlier generations had access to this kind of technology I feel that the results would have been the same. People are curious by nature and driven to learn regardless of what it is that they are learning. Now if you factor in all the new technology you can really see why the net generation is so successful. With computer technology constantly advancing and all the new ways to learn the possibilities are endless.  

"A Better Pencil' Part 2

After reading the second half of “A Better Pencil” and the authors take on literacy and technology it make me wonder if the two are creating a deficit in personal skills and human interaction. Don't get me wrong I live for the fact that I can whip out my cell phone and send an email to a teacher about that assignment I missed, but because of this I don't really know my teachers and they don't know me. With some people that we really don't want to meet in person or see this is a good thing but interaction is a life skill. When you’re in the work world you rely on face to face meeting and oral communication, so what happens when our youth are so used to sending “lol” or “jk” on their cell phone that they choke when it come to the required personal skills. It is also very hard to judge somebody by a text or email. There is much to be desired when reading a message, there is the lack of tone, facial expression, and physical action. A lot of the time I can tell a person is lying when they talk to me face to face just by watching how they react during the conversation. We miss this completely in text because of the neutral voice that it commands and lack of emotion.

" A Better Pencil" Part One

 I found it interesting in “A Better Pencil” by Dennis Baron that Plato said writing would cause forgetfulness. I feel like there is some truthfulness in that statement. Back in Plato's age they didn't have books and notepads to write notes on, it was all memorization. I think that he was trying to say that because of writing people would become reliant on text and lose their ability to retain information without a physical aid. I absolutely agree with this, I think that writing has caused us to lose much of that ability. There's no reason to memorize information if you can go pick up a book and read about it. A good example of this is studying before exams most of us do not retain the information that we read once or twice. We read the book, take the test, and forget the information just as quickly as we read it. Before there was writing people would only hear things once and then it was gone. People's memories had to be quick and not need the reinforcement of repetition. I think that we as a whole have lost that ability and we now require note cards, books, and cheat sheets to remember simple information such as a name or a phone number.  

Second Half of Things Fall Apart

The second half of “ Things Fall Apart” is about how literacy and schools were brought to the tribe by European expansion. What started out to the tribes as something new and exciting quickly cascaded into something they regretted. The Europeans created schools to teach reading and writing but these schools were run by missionaries that forced their religion into the teachings and the students. The tribes had nothing to do but accept the religion and teachings or the Europeans would run right over them. I find it interesting that expansion and knowledge has always had such a deep connection with religion. In history most societies that have looked at expanding their borders have operated in this same fashion. The goal is to expand into the country and try to assimilate the population by giving them something in common with yourself. This is exactly how the Europeans acted in the story. First they offered knowledge, then pushed religion, and lastly enacted their own form of judicial system over the tribes.  

First half of Things Fall Apart

The first half of “Things Fall Apart” is about a warrior named Okonkwo. The author tells the story about how his father was a man of words and music but was unable to provide for his family and disgraced them in the process. After this Okonkwo was determined to make a life for himself and have a big family which he succeeded in but still finds himself never satisfied. Throughout the chapter he continuously finds disappointment in his family and beats his wife and children.

I found the story line interesting because it almost seems like a modern story portrayed in an earlier time and different culture. The book follows the typical broken home story where the father is a deadbeat that never made it and the child is angry and always looking for something more in life. The fact that Okonkwo is never satisfied with his children or wife really follows the story of the father that wants to live vicariously through his son and make him into the mold that the father wants.  

Second half of Ong

 The second half of Ong's book focused on the transfer from oral culture to literate culture. His analysis looks at the what was gained and lost in the process. A major concept from his writings was that the new era distanced the writer from the person receiving the information. This is both good and bad in a sense that discrimination and classicism completely disappears due to anonymous writing. There are many people who are afraid to share their thoughts and opinions for fear of discrimination and physical violence. When you read a book you don't see the color of a person's skin or hear what sex they are, you simply take the information presented and analyze it as an equal peer. I feel that writing was for the most part a positive technological advancement for society. One negative I have noticed from this is that you can take the writing and interpret it however you want instead of how the writer meant it to be. I have seen many examples of this in religion where one group of people can take a passage in the bible to mean one thing while another group take it to mean something completely different.  

Walter Ong first Half

In chapter 3 of Ong's book the author discusses the psycho-dynamics of orality and how primarily oral cultures are able to retain conversations. Ong's idea is that since oral cultures don't have text to refer to about past occurrences the conversation must have certain qualities to aid in retention. His list of qualities makes a lot of sense and if you think about it we use the same techniques to this very day. His first and fourth qualities are very similar in that they group words and ideas together. His first quality discuses how we join ideas together with “and” so that when we recall one portion of the idea the second associated portion is recalled as well. This idea is very close to the fourth quality which says there is a tendency for orality to be conservative or traditionalist. He explains this as associating an adjective with a noun to aid in memorization. I use both of this ideas when preparing for a test. You attach a memorable adjective to a noun and it seems easier to remember. Previous teachers have also used the first quality of connecting ideas to help students by making songs or rhymes about the topic. Both of these strategies have been highly effective in my experience and it is interesting that the same strategies are used today with such effectiveness.