I found Postman, Wood and Smith’s book so fascinating; both texts helped me better understand the true meaning of technology. Technology is more than just a computer or a machine—it is the essence of so much of our history. Postman writes, “ It is important for students to be shown, for example, the connections between the invention of eyeglasses in the thirteenth century and experiments in gene-slicing in the twentieth: that in both cases we reject the proposition that anatomy is destiny, and through technology define our own destiny. “ (pp. 198)

I wrote this in my discussion posts as well because I love what Postman’s says about defining our own destiny through technology. I think we should look at technology differently in that it can help us achieve most anything we want to do in our lives. We should be careful and watch out for the things of technology that can harm us, but embrace the positive aspects of technology that can help define our future. Before this class, I never had really thought much about technology or the advancements it has helped our nation make.

Technology has been on all the front lines of some of the biggest achievements the twentieth century has seen. The speed in which technology is moving is sometimes overwhelming, but if embraced the proper way it can take you for a great ride. I cannot say there was anything about the course I did not like. I have learned a lot about technology and writing.

This course really helped me sharpen up on my writing skills and that is always a good thing. I never had really blogged before this class, and I have to say I really do enjoy blogging. I want to start my own personal blog and hopefully be able to stay faithful to it. I think blogging is a great way to get your thoughts out there in hopes that someone will enjoy what you’ve written. Overall, this class was very enjoyable and challenging, and I really appreciate all the comments and feedback from everyone. I look forward to seeing all the new achievements technology will bring us.

Well in writing this post, I do know I am revealing something about myself I try to keep private. I mean, not very people are shouting it from the rooftops that they have tried online dating.However, yes, I have! EHarmony to be exact. I actually started EHarmony shortly after this course began; I thought: I am single, what I have to lose.

I have to say my first impression with this dating site was great. They make every person go through an extensive profile questionaire; I believe it was around 15 pages of questions. It took me almost an hour, which at the time seemed a little annoying but in the end, I know why they asked so many questions. EHarmony really believes that compatibility is the key ingredient to successful longstanding relationships. Makes sense, right? Nevertheless, in actuality many couples/relationships are lacking this simple thing, capability.

 Within 24 hours of signing up, I received my first set of matches. It was somewhat weird browsing through all these profiles, trying to decide if any of them looked like a possibility. It is hard to look over so many profiles and try to figure out what some of them are trying to say with their introductory profile statements. Some people just put their lives right out in the open;everything about them seems to be  summed up in the one page profile of themselves, while others (me included) try to be a little more cautious and only reveal tiny tid bits of their lives. Right away, I had a couple matches interested in communicating with me. Communication starts by sending each other questions EHarmony has already created; you just get to pick which ones you wish to send to your match. After about 3-4 back and forth sets of questions, open communication begins. This really just means emailing freely with your match.

The reason I write about this experience is that this is a prime example how far cyberspace has taken relationships. I found this online dating experience rather informative to say the least. I realize that it is easy to misinterpret someone’s questions or writings online. I know with EHarmony there have been times when one of my matches said something in an email, and I was left to wonder “is this guy serious or joking.”  Online communication can be very difficult when you are dealing with complete strangers, people you have never met, people you really know nothing about. All you know is what they write in their profiles, or answer in their questions.

Online communication is a great way for many people to socialize, meet new people, and establish new relationships. I believe dating sites can be a great thing for many people. However anytime you are opening yourself up to someone, especially an online stranger, you are taking a risk. For myself, I prefer traditional dating:  you meet, you go on a date, and you decide if you want to pursue the relationship based on perceptions and impressions from an actual live person.

 I agree with Postman that we cannot rely solely on science for all our answers. If this were true, than every match that EHarmony thought I was compatible with, would be my perfect prince. EHarmony uses their advanced technology to match people together, but in reality, the best way to know if you are compatible is by having human interactions.

The first person I interviewed was my grandfather, who is 80 years old. He owns a Fire Fighting equipment company, and uses the internet primary for this business only. He explained that he rarely emails, and if he does, it is mostly business related. I asked him a handful of questions about his internet use, and really got the feeling that he is not a big cyberspace fan. I know by the time he gets off work, he just likes to come home and relax, and the last thing he wants to do is surf the web for hours. He does not enjoy surfing the web, unless he is looking for a particular product he is thinking about purchasing. He does go on our family tree’s website to see the latest blog entries etc.  So other than the occasion product inquiry or  random email at work, my grandfather does not use the internet. I would not say technology has changed his life, but as far as work is concerned, it has changed his business quite a bit. His business does have a website, and with the help of their IT Tech, the website has been a good resource for many of their clients.

The next person I interviewed was my sister n law, Amanda. She is 21. Now she is the total opposite compared to my grandfather, especially when it comes to internet usage that is. She is on the internet allot throughout the day. She is in college, so a lot of time spent online is related to school projects and course research etc. However, my sister n law, loves emailing, and loves doing Face book.  She is always very quick to respond to any emails I have sent, and she is the first to post pictures and update her Facebook status. She says she is very comfortable communicating online, and prefers this form of communication most days. She said technology has not changed her life drastically besides the fact “that is makes things a lot more convenient for her”.

The third person I interviewed was my stepfather. I chose him because he is the last person I would ever see on the computer. He said in the past couple years, he has probably been online a handful of times. He doesn’t type well, and he does not even know how to “surf the web”. I asked if he has ever emailed someone, and the answer was no. I told him I could not imagine that. Nevertheless, the reality is, he is being very truthful, and has never emailed one person.  He owns an appliance business, and the only form of communication he has with his customers is on the telephone. Customers do not email when they need their dryer fixed, they use the telephone. Therefore, as far as work is concerned, he has no need for internet. My stepfather says he has no interest in learning how to use the internet, and prefers to use the good old fashion telephone for his business.

In comparing these three interviews, I concluded that internet is not a necessity. People can run businesses with cyberspace, they can have meaningful relationships, and they can have a normal existence with every using the internet.

In the book Technology, Postman writes “it is entirely possible for a business and other institutions to operate without a highly technicalized management structure, however hard fort us to imagine.” I find this statement so true. I cannot imagine a business ever functionally without ever using modern day technology, such as the internet. However, the reality is, for centuries businesses were flourishing without these modern day technologies.

There were quite a few different chats forums going on throughout day. However, the first forum I chose was an “introduction”. Everyone in that particular forum was introducing themselves, giving a brief introduction in their lives. Everyone in this group were moms, so the introductions for most past were, how many children everyone had, are you married or single, are you a stay-at-home or working mother.

 I stayed with that group for a few days, but it didn’t seem that it got a lot of “chat action’. So then I then join another group from Café Mom, titled “what this group is not”. Now this group did get a lot of chat action. The way I worked myself self into the group was by introducing myself to the chat room, and then answering a few questions that some of the other mothers asked of me. The questions were pretty basic, how old your daughter was, do you stay at home etc.  

As for being accepted by other group members, I guess I was. I seemed to somewhat just mix right in with the conversations.I replied to posts when I thought I had some creative to say about the topic.

This moms group actually had quite a bit of disagreements. One of the biggest ones I witness was between one mother and the group leader. This mother took offense to the nature of some of the discussions, particularly the ones about sex. When you join that particular group there is a disclaimer letting people know that topics as sex will be discussed, and if you do not feel comfortable with that than this was not the group for you.

Nevertheless, this mother had taken offense to some of the topics, and she wrote candidly about her frustrations. The chat between this mother and the chat leader became a little heated. The angry mother starting using profanity, and then after about three posts she left the chat.

I was very surprised at all this because, the topic this mother took offense to was rarely being discussed. When it was discussed mother were being very appropriate, and for goodness sakes, it was about married couples. Also the group posted a disclaimer, in red bold letters about these types of topics, so anyone who felt uncomfortable with the discussion of sex should know not to join that group.

Overall it was an enjoyable joining this group. It was fun connecting with other mothers, and hearing about their journey through motherhood. As a mother, I find it refreshing to know that other moms are going through the same things you are as a mother.

If I were to write an academic paper for this course, I would choose cyberspace. I think cyberspace is extremely fascinating, and how it has evolved is mind-boggling. As we discussed in our weekly discussions, that internet/cyberspace has become so enormous, that people are spending hours a day online. Cyberspace has advanced so far; that people are using it has their main form of human communication.

How do you evaluate the source as being credible?  Do you evaluate the source’s credibility? I look for creditable sources for any research paper.  I always look for published articles, journals, and scholar materials. Books and creditable magazines are always helpful to in retrieving information, and use both these quite frequently when doing a research paper.

 Is some information more or less believable? 

Absolutely, I think there are many articles that I read and think,” Are they serious here”. Sometimes a reader has to wonder what the author was thinking when he wrote the article. A great source for unbelievable material is celebrity magazines. Any information taken from those types of magazines should be taken with nothing but a grain of salt. Celebrity magazines have articles that probably consist of about 20% fact to them.

 I think a lot of magazine and newspaper articles are great sources for information, however a reader must look for creditable magazine and newspaper.

Put yourself in a professor’s position.  How would you evaluate a student’s research skills based on the information you found. 

I think as a professor the main things I would be looking in terms of a student’s research paper are what types of sources they are using. If a student uses Wikipedia, or information off a celebrities blog than probably the sources would not be considered appropriate for a research, academic paper.

However if a student used sources as: New York Times, Academic Journals, or EBSCOhost, then the student probably were citing accurate sources.

My there sources for this particular topic and academic paper are:

·         Facework on Facebook: The presentation of self in virtual life and its role in the US elections by Dalsgaard, Steffen, of.Anthropology Today; Dec2008, Vol. 24 Issue 6, p8-12, 5p

·         Before the Gunfire, Cyber Attacks  by John Markoff of the New York Times punished 8-12-2008

·         Global Crime Case: Cybercrime and Counterfeiting by Foltz, Joan E. of Futurist Magazine Nov/Dec2008, Vol. 42 Issue 6, p46-46,

It was easy to make the decision which to write each style of letter to mainly because both women are so very different, especially when it comes to communication.

My best friend works for a software company, and everything, I swear, she does revolves around her forms of technology, Internet, blackberry etc.  She has become so accustomed to using the Internet to communicate to people, she rarely calls people anymore. We have been friends since grade school and used to talk on the phone probably a handful of times a day. Now I am lucky if I get a call a week. I do however get enormous amounts of texts and emails, not to mention face book comments!

So I knew if I hand wrote a letter to her, the chances would be she would have little time to read it. I chose to email it her instead, and sure enough she read it within minutes of the delivery.

My sister received the snail mail, mainly because she loves handwritten letters over emails. She still uses her journal every day, writes little notes for people, and is the first to have a birthday card in the mail. She uses the Internet daily, but if asked, she would probably say she prefers old-school communication. You know the kind of communication where you actually sit in front of the person to have a conversation.  One of her favorite things to do is go to a coffee house with a friend, sit there for hours, and have meaningful conversations.

Both of the recipients of my letters responded. My best friend reply through an email, and my sister through a phone call. I knew I probably would not receive snail mail back from my sister in time to write about it this week. Nevertheless, I imagine a letter is on its way, and should be arriving very soon from her.

I used similar writing language and style when I wrote both letters but there were a few differences. In my emailed letter, I used quite a few “emoticons.” Whereas as the handwritten one I used none.

In the text Online Communication by Wood and Smith, it suggests that emoticons are “echoes of traditional nonverbal cues, they do deserve the same function as their face-to-face counterparts in that they provide more information to the receiver.”

I love using emoticons for many reasons but mainly because it is easier to show an emotion in an email.

When I am handwriting a letter, I never use emoticons. In addition, handwriting a letter, shows an emotion all by itself. It shows the recipient that you have taken the time to sit down, and put your feelings for them on paper.

Another difference between the two letters was the length of each. The emailed letter was quite long in comparison to the handwritten. Mostly this happened because I hate my handwriting and wanted to keep the handwritten letter short and sweet. I always start off handwriting a letter with quite technique, but after a few paragraphs the writings begin to look a little sloppy. Emails are so much easier to write in length. Typing just flows, whereas handwriting takes a lot of work and time. This, of course, is all just my own experience and opinion.

Both letters, I think, turned out great. Both came from the heart, and hopefully showed each  reader my true love and emotion for them.

Facebook, MySpace, two very similar ways for people to connect, interact, and communicate. I have a Facebook account, which I opened a little under six months ago. I was always reluctant to have a MySpace or Facebook because I always assumed it was meant for the younger age crowd, perhaps high school students.

When I decided to sign up, I thought I was going to try to connect with a few of my old friends from high school and that would be it. I never knew once you sign-up Facebook takes on a life of its own.  You start with uploading your profile, a few pictures, and maybe even favorite quotes or facts about yourself. However, after about 48 hours you begin to upload more pictures, and reveal a little more information about yourself. After about a week of my signing up to Facebook, I had around 50 friends on my account, 2 or 3 albums of pictures, and a ton of information about myself. Information like my political views, my religious association, my website, my email, etc. 

While Facebook is a world of itself, I must admit it has become something I like to partake in. I love that I have connected with people from my past andI enjoy seeing my friends pictures, or reading about the latest news in their lives.

Nevertheless, after reading about this week’s assignment I began to wonder, how much of truth “true me” do I distort or reveal on Facebook? How much of the truth do my friends distort or reveal?

In the text by Wood and Smith, it states that self-presentation is “the process of setting forth an image we want others to perceive.”  Face book is all about self-presentation. Facebook while being a great network for people can have some potentially negative effects on people. More times than not people on Facebook or MySpace are presenting themselves to the world, as they want others to perceive them. I present my better side on Facebook. I do not post pictures of me getting out of bed in the morning. I post the cute, fun pictures that I think people will enjoy and that show off a more positive side of me. Most people on Facebook and MySpace want others to perceive them having it all together. I am sure most people do not want others to hear about how bad their day was, or how they yelled at their kids that day, or how messy their house was. Most people want to portray the positive sides of our lives. We want others to perceive our lives as put together, enjoyable, having the time of our loves.

Although I do not present myself anonymously on Facebook, I will say that giving the impression to others that my life is somewhat put together, can rather be like having part of your life being anonymous. Wood and Smith state, “Anonymity is a state of communicating where the identity of the communicator is not readily apparent.” So in some way on Facebook when I am communicating with others I am making my more negative side of my life anonymous to others.

I did not open my Face book account using any sort of anonymity. However, it is possible that people do open Face book, and MySpace accounts and have “potentially anonymous communication”.

This movie is probably one of my all-time favorites. When I read that watching this movie was part of my weekly assignment, I did not hesitate to get down to the movie store and rent this movie. I probably have watched You’ve Got Mail over twenty times, and it has yet to get old or boring.  I am a huge Meg Ryan fan, as well as a Tom Hanks fan. The onscreen chemistry that they have is amazing. When they did sleepless in Seattle together, I never thought I would see them in another movie again. Therefore, when You’ve Got Mail came out, I was overjoyed that this amazing, onscreen pair was back doing another love story together.

However, this time while watching the movie, I had a few questions lingering in the back of my mind. How did each character recreate their identity in their online profile? How can we account for their actual feelings for each other in their non-internet worlds? How likely is this scenario in the real world?  

First off, I absolutely think this type of scenario is possible in the “real world.” Online dating is extremely popular. Millions of single people a day are logging onto their computers, hoping to find that ever so exciting message, “you’ve got mail.”   In reality though, there is no Meg Ryan or Tom Hanks on the other end of that internet chat.  Our love interest does not own the biggest bookstore in New York (Fox Books), and most likely, we do not own the little children’s book store “Shop Around the Corner.”  Nevertheless, love can happen online. People are able to recreate their identifies in hopes of escaping from their daily worlds into a world with endless possibilities.  Online chat rooms are full of people just waiting to find their Meg Ryan or Tom Hanks. EHarmony, one of the internet’s most popular dating sites, declares that “236 E-harmony couples a day get married.” Imagine that – 236 couples! That is hard to imagine. Our world has taken advanced internet technology and used it for personal advancement in love.   I think movies like “You’ve Got Mail” have really helped people see the endless possibilities with chat rooms and dating sites.  I also think,for all us romantics at heart, it is a fun reminder that “love can be just around the corner”.

In the movie “You’ve Got Mail,” Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks recreated their identities online by not disclosing details about their actual selves. Meaning, they had many meaningful chats, but they never disclosed their real-life identities. 

In ”Technology,” Neil Postman writes,” Technology gave us the idea of progress, and of necessity loosened our bonds with tradition-political or spiritual.”  This is so true with online dating. Can you imagine our world without the internet? How many relationships have been formed because of our world’s advancements in technology?  Chat rooms, Facebook, MySpace; these are just a few examples of how “old school” tradition is bending and new traditions are being formed.

My first attempt to rid myself of internet was actually a pure failure. I feel off the wagon right away, first thing in the morning.  I started drinking my first cup of coffee, and had this total urge to check my email.  I failed the assignment within an hour of being awake.

I did however make it through the next day. It wasn’t as easy as I had thought it would be. First off, I run a business online, so I am always checking to see what orders have come in, and what clients have emailed. I had this constant pull to my computer all day. It was actually quite eye opening for me though. I realized that I rely so much on the internet, and even my computer for that matter. I wouldn’t say I spend all day on my computer, but I do spend allot of time during the day on it.

Not having access to my internet made it difficult to communicate to allot of people. I usually email several friends in a day times, I email clients, customers, and family members. After going a day with the internet, I felt I lost connection with everyone. As silly as that may sound, that is how I felt.

However, on the upside of not having internet, I got allot down. When my daughter naps and goes down for bed at night is when I normally on my computer. Therefore, I was able to organize so many closets, get things out to goodwill, and even had time to work on my taxes. I realized that although I need my internet for work, I do not need it to communicate always to my family and friends. In that 24-hour period, I talked on the phone to my friends, and had real meaningful conversations. Emails can be so addicting, and it can become a serious habit.  

Using the Internet is such an easy way to communicate to virtually anyone.  Emailing someone seems so much quicker than having to pick up the phone and call someone. Sometimes I use email just to avoid having to talk to someone I would rather not talk to. However, I realized this week that although using the Internet is amazing, it shouldn’t be something I always have to rely on. I always realized that maybe I spend too much time on-line, and that I should put my focus on other meaningful things that need to get down around the house.