Blogs Revisited.

I enjoyed the idea of blogging in this PWR class. It wasn't too formal, but not too informal either. I didn't feel like I was writing a dissertation, but I didn't feel like I was writing in a diary either. In class, we discussed that there are three different kinds of blogs: diaries, thematic-based, and political/journalistic. I use LiveJournal, which I use as an online diary. I don't use it to improve my writing skills, as some say blogs are supposed to do, but rather to keep tabs with some friends back home. To use blogs academically, I feel that only political/journalistic blogs would work, unless the theme-based blogs had an academic theme, such as our class did with e-rhetoric. Either way, I feel that blogs CAN be and ARE used in academia. Before this class, I thought blogs were used purely for online diaries, but I have since learned about the more formal forms of blogs. I don't know how much I would take them seriously. I definitely would not use them as sources for research because sometimes you can't be too sure who is writing what. Overall, I feel that blogs are harmless. They can improve your writing if you write in them in formal way, as you would with a research paper, etc. They are also helpful in just posting an opinion on an issue. They may also serve as a great way to bring people together on certain topics.

Reflecting on Midterm Presentations

I felt that the midterm presentations overall went really well. Mostly everyone seemed pretty focused and had good ideas and points for their topics. I really liked when people would tie back to their initial presentation.. like saying what they did at the end of last time... or almost picking up where they left off. I also liked when people used effective forms of rhetoric... video clips, flash animation, sound bytes, good images, etc. Looking at Powerpoints over and over, however, was sort of redundant and boring. (This is where those other forms of rhetoric came in handy) Also, some delivered their speeches too formally and some maybe even too casually (mine?) but the overall results looked good.

AIM-less Addictions

I feel that most college students can easily relate to this article. Now that I have ethernet and am away from friends from home, I am always signed on to AOL Instant Messenger, even if I'm "away". It has definitely made it easier for me to keep in touch with people from home because I can see what they're up to or just drop a quick "Hey, miss you!" if I'm too busy or lazy to call. I use it often for people on campus as well because I can multitask by talking to more than one person at once and even do homework. On the phone or in person, I can only focus on that one. If I'm having a serious conversation, however, I usually use the phone. I agree with the points that it improves typing speed and makes people more sociable. On the other hand, I also agree that it has taken away from personal communication skills. It's a lot easier to talk online than in person, which, I feel, is frustrating. People shouldn't have to rely more on a supplemental vice for communication over themselves. As mentioned in the article, people can mask their own identities more easily through AIM, but what's the point of that? (Unless you never intend to spend time with the other person outside of the virtual world.) So I guess overall I think AIM is good AND bad. I use it all the time, as do all of my friends, and buddy list has hit the 200 limit, so what does that say?

Plans for Midpoint Presentation

To be honest, I haven't really thought about my presentation at all. My research is not completed yet so I'm not sure what my content is or how I'm going to structure it. By the time I do my presentation, a draft of my homepage and some nodes will be completed; therefore, I plan to present based on how I structure my research and arguments in the hypertext: broken down into specific areas. When presenting, I will have about the same time limit, but I want to use it differently than I did the last time. I, again, will try to grab the audience's attention with something original and then dive into the important topics. I may use Powerpoint, but will most likely not... because I don't like Powerpoint. I will try to use some sort of visual aides though, so that the audience doesn't get bored or distracted. Overall, I think I will focus on interesting things I found in my research and how I will apply those rather than focusing on what I am arguing (that was the last presentation). ------------------------------ After talking with Nikolas, I'm still at the same standpoint. I don't know where I'm going with the presentation and I need to do more research to figure that out!

Powerpoint Response

I read "Learning to Love Powerpoint" by David Byrne. This short article basically praised Powerpoint. At first, the author did not enjoy the program, thinking it was limiting and somewhat difficult to use. Once he started using it on multiple occasions, he learned how much there is to do with Powerpoint. Personally, I have little experience with Powerpoint. I used it once or maybe twice in high school because it was required for a project. I found that it had TOO MANY elements to it. I was intimidated and left to only stick with the basics when creating a slideshow. Seeing the photos in the article surprised me, to say the least. I still don't know what else Powerpoint does besides make slides with different backgrounds, sounds, or graphic effects. I feel that people can learn a lot from technology and programs such as Powerpoint can really provide a great opportunity for one's creativity to flourish.

Research ideas

I really don't have a lot of direction right now and I could totally change all my research ideas in the next week, but for now the one idea I'm most interested in is The Facebook and its effects on college students' communicating. People are very much into today's "virtual communities" (the Facebook, AIM, chat rooms, etc.) and I want to explore what people do on the Facebook, how effective it is for meeting people or communicating with a group of people, how the advertising ties in, why people really join, etc. I would obviously use http://www.thefacebook.com and probably use surveys and interviews through facebook messaging and interpersonal questionnaires for research as well. The other idea I had was to research downloading, and how the rates of illegal downloading has fluctuated since Napster, all the other downloading agents, and even with the emergence of iTunes and the availability of BUYING music to download. Again, I need suggestions and guidance because I'm still not sure what direction I want to head in for such an extensive project.

PWR2 rocks my world

Hey kids! So here's my blog. I actually started one on LiveJournal in May or sometime just cause some of my friends got them and I liked reading theirs either through LiveJournal or Xanga, and they convinced me to get one too. I used to think it was just a dumb idea and I wondered why people would want to share their thoughts when ANYONE could access them. I don't post anything too personal just in case the wrong person reads it at the wrong time. As far as I know, only a few of my close friends read it now and I read theirs as well. I see it as a fun thing to do to write down stuff you may want to remember on a certain day... or if I feel like getting something off my chest, even if it's not a big deal. Some post a link to their blogs in their AIM profiles, but I don't even do that. Most of my friends don't even know I have one. I guess I keep it more for me than for anyone else, even though I don't write my innermost thoughts or anything. It's entertaining.