Last Post!!

This has been a very interesting class online. I think that this has been the best class online that I have ever taken. I was worried about reading all the information on the syllabus. I felt that it was so much information cramped in a few pages and I looked doomed to get a bad grade. It looked like a lot of busy work, but come to find that it was smooth sailing. The dead lines to post blogs was hard at times, but managed to post most of them on-time.

I thought that posting weekly blogs was a good idea to further the reading assignments. I felt like I was in a physical classroom giving my thoughts about the weekly discussions and blogs. I have participated more in this class than any physical class. Posting your comments to other peoples discussion and blogs gives you an idea of all different opinions and thoughts about cyberspace. It also gives you ideas of what other people think of the technology we today, and how we use it.

The blog assignment was pretty much my favorite part of the cyber class. One blog about example was not using the internet for 24 hrs. I found it difficult to stay away from it, because its important to many peoples lives. Many use this medium to keep in contact with family and friends, work, and employment. Its also a way for business to happen in quick speeds and the fast service of information. I also liked joining a internet group. I love cars, so I joined a car forum. I found useful information about car, and found some friend's to network around Oregon. That would have taken longer if I didn't have the current technology to connect with these people.

Honestly, I liked the structure of the assignments and books. Dr. Goodnow did a great job in creating a guide line to learn about cyber space. The blogs are good ideas to put a lot of thought in what you learned that week. I find mini papers better than writing a huge paper at the end of the term. I think it defeats the purpose of learning cyber space. I think that the deadlines can be changed to a weekend other than a work week. I was at work one time, and totally forgot about posting a blog. I left work without notice to turn in my blog on time. That was a close call for me.

Is Craigslist the world's biggest bordello?

http://news.cnet.com/is-craigslist-the-worlds-biggest-bordello/?tag=mncol;txt

I found this article on CNET. I think that everyone has been on Craigslist to look for good deals on furniture and cars and other things. In the other hand many are using it as a gateway to sell sex on the internet. The internet is being used as a medium to filter and find potential clients for prostitutes or sex workers. This misuse of Craigslist is also getting juviniles arrested for posting sex ads for money. I think the misuse of posting a child for sex is one of the saddest things that can be done on the internet.

One view in the article talks about using the internet to "weed out" potential trouble from customers. The sex worker is able to screen people online and make a decision if its worth to meet up with the customer. She states that it gives helps her and others in her profession to stay out of the streets. Prostitution being one of the oldest jobs around, it has moved on to the cyber world to conduct buisness. Many are using the internet as a medium to find sex work. I think that using the internet for false pretenses is common in the the internet world. One prime example is looking for love in adds in Craigslist, but the underlining is sex for money. I can understand that this view of using the internet is for safety purposes. In the other hand it still illegal to sell sex online.

My other view is that many organizations are using Craigslist to find online predators. Police around the country are posting as young juveniles to lure child predators to comply to committ a act with a minor. I see that its been a huge success around the country to find people who would committ such acts with minors. The sad part of it that many of the people that get caught are people from all walks of life. Some example are doctors, lawyers, and many others. I think that letting people know that police and other agencies are online looking for the next child predator. Advertising this cause can let people know what will happen to those who break the law online.

I know that parents are concerned about the social networks their kids are using to connect with friends. However many kids are using it to find sex form money. This creates a trust issues with parents and their kids. The parents believe they can trust their friend, but in the other hand a misuse of the internet is being conducted in the other room. This happens to many families around the country. I suggest having a filter device for the computer to filter potential sites that can cause harm to your children.

Postman brings a good point on moral and technology without cost. We can see that technology comes with a cost. Child are being sold for sex and many are being pushed into a old profession by people who think they love them. This is a huge cost to families and friends who loses people to sex work.

WILD CARD!

I have several incidents on the internet. The first is sending a message to the wrong person on MySpace. I wrote a quick "I love you" message to my wife, but I sent it to another person. I made the mistake when I used the search bar to find my wife's name. I clicked the person below her name. It happened to be my wife's best friend, I didnt not know any of this until I arrived home and my wife was sitting on the couch with her best friend. I thought of nothing until my wife was questioning me about what I did today.

My wife drilled me when at home. She started throwing things at me and punching me. She thought I was trying to hook up with her best friend. I asked for a explanation, but she refused to give me one. Later she calmed down and explained what had happened. I explained that is was a mistake on the internet. Since that issue and others, I decided to erase my MySpace because of the drama it can give me. I thought that leaving her a nice message during the day would be nice, but it turned for the worse. I think erasing my MySpace helped ease the situation.

The other situation was shopping online. I live in Corvallis, which is millions of miles away from civilization. At times I need to find my size of clothing and style online. The problem with ordering online is the other person receiving the order. This can be a problem when someone does not pay attention to what size they put in the box. I found it to be very irritating when I have to resend merchandise back and wait for it longer. The only way to correct the problem is to call the place where I ordered to complain. I think that going to a store can help eliminate such issues of shopping online. I am able to find what style and size needed.

Postman talks about logic and intuition in our lives. My experience came down to just simple logical answers. Also having the intuition to just double check who Im sending email to can save alot of time and drama from the wife. It just makes logical sense to just go to the department store and dont shop online because of mis-communication through technology.

WILD CARD!

Interviews

I interviewed my three people in different generations. My 18-35 person was a university student in Hawaii. Her main purpose of using the internet is e-mail and research. She finds it easy to contact researchers and other students in her various projects. Doing research online in her university library helps when she is in another country doing projects with other students from other countries. Its keeps her informed on any progress that is going on her research. In the other hand, she finds it a little occupying when she gets mounds of e-mail and research questions from other students. Its time consuming looking at each e-mail, but she manages to get through them. She occasionally shops online when she has no time to go out and shop.

The 31-61 person is my landlord. She is a mother of three that tries to balance work and her kids high school activities. She is a team mom for her son's high school basketball team, and two daughters volleyball teams. Being busy with her kids high school activities, she uses e-mail to coordinate team mom meetings. She also gets informed of changes to any team issues that deals with the mothers. Being a landlord, she gets information with work related issues from the main offices in Portland.

She orders supplies for the grounds crew to help maintain the apartment complex. In her real estate business she get numerous e-mails about homes that are posted in her website, she makes appointments through e-mail, and also sends messages to confirm meetings with potential buyers and sellers. She finds the internet as a source of business, she uses it to make contact to other people to help run the apartment correctly and help her real estate business in moving forward with clients.

My 61 and up person only uses the internet to use e-mail. Using e-mail to her is convenient to e-mail friends and family. She is just learning how to use the internet to shop on eBay. She explains that using the internet is still new to her. She finds that using the internet has helped her get in contact with friends and family faster than air-mail. She does not feel that the internet has changed her way of communicating with others. The internet to her is a means to make your self too busy. She loves the way how she lives, with limited use of the internet, but finds it easy to find quick meal tips at times.

Interviewing the three people, I found a common ground in all of them. The use of email is a huge part in keeping in contact with others. This channel of communication has been a huge part for the three people I have interviewed. Technology has made some strides in helping people connect with others around the world. I find the older person using the internet handy to use, but does not really rely on it as much as the other two people. Postman thinks through machinery we can achieve goals. This reminds us how much we use the internet to do our various activities and job assignments. We rely on machines to help us in our daily agenda, like the use of e-mail.

Internet Community

I joined a lowrider car forum earlier in the term. A lowrider is a car or truck which has had its suspension system modified (sometimes with hydraulic suspension) so that it rides as low to the ground as possible. Lowriders often have user controlled height adjustable suspension. I was raised in Los Angeles, so I was influenced by the style of lowriding. This is my first time joining a internet community forum. I found it to be a little difficult to navigate the different forums in the community, but some good practice I found it to be fairly easy to find my way around.

I posed as a student from Oregon State University. In the general forum area, I posted a thread asking for places in Oregon that specialize in lowriders. I also told them that I have a 1964 impala to be fixed into a lowrider. The following day, I received numerous replies about places to fix my car, tow companies that can move my car. The responses were helpful and informative about getting my car fixed. I found out that I was accepted when my thread was read by other members in the forum, also being invited to join car clubs in the state.
The lowrider community has given me a sense of belonging to there forum. I have been active with the community, and replying to other peoples post.

Wood and Smith talk about lurkers who give no feedback or contribution to the internet community. Being a member of the forum, I feel obligated to leave comments on other members posts to show a common respect to them. Being the newbie in the forum, I think its my duty to be active in the car forum. It shows others that I'm serious about cars and lowriders.I have also checked other threads in the forum. Many suggested their style of making a lowrider, I guess there is different ways of making a lowrider. Some members like the traditional way and others the newest technology to make a lowrider. Members would state their opinions and facts about the subject.

When there was a agreement of disagreement in the forum, many used some form of vulgar language to get their point out. In other cases some use emoticons to suggest to others how they feel. We can see the different ways people in internet communities communicate their feelings to others. It is just the same when your face to face to someone. Wood and Smith talks about netiquette in the internet. Many people don't have respect for others in the internet, but having the same standards in life such as respect can clear some disputes. The use of vulgar language is a prime example in the net. I think having good manners in the net can further a better relationship in the community. We need to remember that there are people in the internet that has feelings also.

Academic Research

My topic of research this week is pop culture. I think that many of us in this class can relate to some form of pop culture in our individual and social lives. I chose the topic, because of the information that is available in print and the Internet. The first place I looked was the Oregon State Library database. I knew that reliable information can be found at a credible university. I also tried organization web pages that dealt with pop culture to get some information as well.

Information is everywhere on the Internet, existing in large quantities and is always being created and revised. This information exists in a large variety of kind’s facts, opinions, stories, in statistics and is created for many purposes to inform, to persuade, to sell, to present a viewpoint, and to create or change an attitude or belief. For each of these various kinds and purposes, information exists on many levels of quality or reliability. It ranges from very good to very bad and includes every shade in between.

When evaluating your sources, I usually ask if I'm looking for facts, opinions, reviews, stats for my research. Thinking about what you’re looking for beforehand can speed up finding sources. When I look at potential information on the Internet, I look at the author's source of information. I would check the title of the author or organization that they belong to. Looking for a biography or past experiences about the author can give good insight in whether the information is truthful and correct. One important one that many tend to forget is a contact number or email. Contacting the author(s) can give you more feedback on their research you are looking for. I also think that if a source is in print and on the web that tells me that the work has been through peer review several times, such as journal articles.

Sometimes we forget that not all information from the Internet is credible. Some signs that I follow when looking around the Internet is the style and tone and writing which can give you a heads up. Another way of finding non-credible sources is the bad grammar and misspelled words. This is a huge given to be cautious about that information. I found that many information is not dated, which mean its inaccurate most of the time. These small problems or mistakes really helped me determine what’s credible in the Internet.I also think that search engines help in finding non-credible sources which many students take advantage of to speed up the research and time.

Being in a professor’s position, I would limit the search to journal articles and literature reviews from credible web sites and the university library. I would also take interviews which can help as well. Knowing that professors are loaded with work, I would not waste time in looking for sources that are not reliable. By limiting the search to a few can lighten the load for professors. This also gives the professor a certain web site page to search all of the information and citations, such as the university library database.

Postman talks about technology itself as a means of providing clear direction and information control. In this case many people assume they are providing clear information on the Internet which is not the case all the time. In my interpretation is that we are filled with all kinds of information, and many think it’s a reliable source to start a research paper. I think that having good sense of control of what you’re looking for can help enormously. I also think that institutions such as OSU have a good deal of control of information that is available to students and staff. I guess you can call it a reliable filter of information that is credible.


Maginnis, Robert L. "Parents want help fighting pop culture's influence." Headway 8.2 (Feb. 1996): 22



Browne, Ray B. "Pop Art and the Contest over American Culture by Sara Doris." Journal of American Culture 30.3 (Sep. 2007): 354-355.



Wilson, Robert N. "Pop Culture in America (Book)." American Sociological Review 36.4 (Aug. 1971): 766-767.