Traci’s Blog

Class Experience

            My experiences with the blogs were all in all positive.  There were only a couple things that posed an issue for me, but overall they were not that big of a deal.  On a couple of the blogs (like this one) I struggled with trying to write 500 words on the topic, but I pulled it off in the end.  The only other minor issue I had was remembering to read what I would be writing in the blog the week before I wrote the blog.  So for the assignments that required planning like the blog written about interviews, I had to pull the interviews together really fast.

            I personally think blogging in annoying, but writing the blogs for this class was not as bad as I expected.  The topics seemed to have relevance with the class in a different way.  But that is one thing that I liked because it made me connect things that I normally wouldn’t have and also to think outside of the box.  I also liked being involved in the discussion boards.  I thought it was interesting to hear what others thought about certain topics, and it made it seem like we were actually in a class having a discussion.    

            There were a few things that I didn’t like, one of which was trying to keep track each week what I had written.  It just seemed like so much to keep track of for one class, on top of all my other classes.  Having to write a blog, a discussion board and then write a certain length of responses for each and then having it all due on different dates.  I definitely got confused a few times throughout the term. 

            I think I would keep everything in the class, because I feel like the assignments were fair and fit the class as a whole.  But I would change a couple things.  The syllabus was slightly confusing in many aspects.  I found myself reading it every week and still ended up doing some things wrong.  I think one thing I would change is only having one response for the blogs and one response for the discussion board.  I would also somehow put the assignments each week in a calendar format along with what is said already, I think it would just break it all down a little more clearly. 

            Overall I thought the class was good, I enjoyed taking it.  There was a lot of writing but the topics were easy so that made it easier to complete each week.  It was interesting to read everyone else’s blogs and to see how different we all think.  We all bring up our own points to justify what we were writing about and none of them are the same!  I would recommend this class to someone needing comm. credits or just elective credits. 

Internet Misuse

I was sitting in the airport Friday March 6^th waiting for my flight home from New York.  Thankfully they have TV’s in every gate to keep people occupied.  So I was watching the news and a startling story came on, that made everyone’s heads pop up and tune in.  Craigslist Now “Largest Source of Prostitution” was the headline the news reporter spoke as the story was further divulged by a county sheriff filing a lawsuit against Craigslist.

Apparently the Sheriff has been following Craigslist ads that facilitate prostitution.  He spoke about specific ads and showed some of them on the news interview.  His argument is that these ads are clearly promoting sexual activities and that they leave no mystery to what they are offering.  Some ad titles were “Teens for cash … $100 quickie,” and “Ask me about my 2 girl specials.”  He feels that Craigslist is not monitoring their customers services well enough, and that they only delete those ads that are receiving direct complaints from people.  The sheriff, along with one of his colleagues posted their own ad promoting underage sexual offerings, saying “14-year-old looking for sex” and it was never taken down, they had to take it down themselves.  

Craigslist has apparently been cooperative in the past with the law, but clearly based on the many examples the Sheriff gave, many I have not mentioned, the website has some serious monitoring and regulation to attend to.

I for one did not even know that Craigslist had an “Erotic Services” section, but apparently they do.  This is what the Sheriff is suing for, to make the site delete the entire section for good.  This is clearly a problem and a misuse of the internet in my eyes.  I feel that the internet was created as a world wide resource to information at anytime in an efficient manner at any location in the world.  I don’t feel this should include illegal and known activities going on within certain websites.  The internet was not originated for those to solicit themselves in a sexual manner.  I believe that this type of misuse will directly effect our youth because this generation is so technologically savvy.  There have already been reports and arrests regarding this type of action on Craigslist, it is just one more outlet for teens to go down the wrong path in life.  I do not agree with prostitution in general, and even more so soliciting it on a site like Craigslist that kids and young teens enter.  This also increases the risk for underage illegal activity, which just puts this whole issue over the edge. 

            In order to prevent this type of misuse on the internet, as a company Craigslist needs to delete all reference to an “Exotic Services” sector.  They also need to open up jobs in the company, where people are solely hired to monitor and edit the postings that people are creating.  I also believe as users of Craigslist it is our right and our duty to monitor it ourselves as well.  This means if we see something inappropriate or offensive in this manner, we need to report it and follow up making sure the posting is deleted.  

Wild Card

            I don’t normally have many situations pertaining to emailing that go astray, because I tend to not to discuss controversial topics through email at this point in my life.  But I have had an experience recently that was made possible by communicating through cyberspace. 

            I made many connections into the fashion industry by studying and doing an internship in London.  So I have kept in contact with them through email, because it is the easiest and most efficient way to communicate with people overseas.  While I was in London I was the lead producer for a fashion show my school put on.  I recently received an email from my teacher requesting any pictures taken the night of the show that the school could use for future marketing purposes.  So because emailing is so convenient I was able to respond to her in a timely manner and attach the digital pictures I had saved to my computer and send it out within 24 hours. 

            Clearly this type of situation could have been much more of a hassle but because of the technology of the internet we were able to have a conversation and send media much faster than if it were done in a manner outside of cyberspace.  If this conversation would have occurred outside the realm or emailing there could have been many negative aspects.  One way we could have initially communicated would be by phone, which would have cost me and her $1 a minute or 1 pound a minute.  She would have also had to plan out when she would call me because of the time difference, so this is also an inconvenience.  On top of that she would still need the photos, so I would have had to save the picture files from my computer to a usb drive and take that somewhere to get the pictures printed out.  Then from there I would have to mail them to her and pay for postage.  This would have taken over a week to do and for the pictures to actually make it to London.  The other way we could have communicated would have been solely through the mail.  Which would clearly have taken even longer, because she would have to send me the message requesting the information and then have me send it all back, making it about 2 weeks of waiting for this to fully be completed. 

            I think it is obvious the areas in which the simple task of emailing made this communication so much easier.  It doesn’t cost anything to send an email; it also saves time, because it only takes minutes for the email to be sent overseas while it takes days to send something through the mail.  It also saves time in another sense because most of us can type faster than we can write.  Emailing also made it much more convenient to both parties, because we were able to work around our own time zone and not have to worry about calling one another at a certain time.  Emailing also save from printing because we can keep it all digital by sending the media as an attached document.  So all in all I would say online communication certainly eased this type of situation and enabled my teacher from London and me to converse in a fast, convenient, and efficient way! 

Interviews

The first person I interviewed was my sister. She is 19 years old and just got her own personal computer about a year ago. I now know why my parents always held out from buying her, her own computer because she is addicted! She uses the internet to do everything, and I mean everything. She takes classes at PCC so she will use the internet to do research and class work online. She also uses facebook about 24 hours a day 7 days a week to chat with friends and blog about her boring life. She also emails occasionally and plays games on yahoo. I would say she is 100% comfortable with using the internet for communication purposes and more. She loves the internet and it has changed her life for both better and worse. Considering she has grown up with a computer literally her whole life, she knows no other way. But the change came when she got her own computer. For the better she told me it’s a great way to keep in contact with her best friend and cousin who lives in Montana. But for the worse, her social life has dwindled, for a number of reasons but being online 24/7 doesn’t help. Instead of going out to join a soccer club she is content sitting on her couch having little to no contact with friends except on facebook.

The second person I interviewed was one of my managers at Nike and he is 36 years old. His primary use with the internet is using email. He is constantly emailing employees and Nike headquarters about sales numbers and just generally how the Employee Store is doing. He also occasionally goes onto facebook to catch up with friends as well. For him it has slightly changed the way he lives his life, but more for the better not the worse. Having the internet makes his job easier, because he is able to relay information faster and more efficiently. Similarly to my sister he also said having the internet was a great way to keep in touch with old friends and family living out of state. He didn’t have any negative consequences to using the internet, so this must mean he uses it in moderation. And overall he thinks the internet is a positive resource as long as you are capable of going without it if need be.

For my final interview I chose to speak with my Grandpa who is 82 years old. He has no primary use of the internet; in fact he has never even sent an email. This is not surprising at all considering he has never owned a computer. I believe the only interaction he has had with the internet is when my dad or I show him something on the screen. And even then I don’t think he actually understands where the images come from and how they got there. My Grandpa is not stupid by any means; he graduated from college at University of Portland and served in WWII. But clearly his generation was not exposed to the type of technology we all have been exposed to our whole lives. What he does understand is that the technology has affected his life indirectly. He may not personally use the internet or a computer but he knows that when he takes his car in to the shop, a computer is what will find the problem if any. So to him, all in all, the internet has not affected him either way, but the technology of it all has affected him positively.

I believe the moral of this assignment is to use the internet, not abuse the internet. I feel we all need human interaction to build up normal social skills and we should not let the internet or other technologies override such an important skill to know. Like in my sisters case she has let the technology take over her life, because that is all she knows. But finding a balance is key, don’t be naive to our growing world but don’t be overtaken by it either!

Internet Community

I decided to join a fashion internet community called MudPie. This is an exclusive site that you have to get approval by an agent to join. I was able to join it while I studied at a fashion school in London. This site is a place for people in the industry and subscribers to get the latest trend forecasting information from street wear to colors that will be fashionable in the next 2 years. It also serves as a place to blog about opinions and research done in the field.

Firstly I hate blogging because I just think it is a waste of time and for some reason I just feel so weird doing it on public sites. But in order to incorporate myself into the site I first started by introducing myself and stating what my interest in fashion was and how I contribute to it. Then I commented on some of the upcoming trends that were posted. I then received comments back welcoming me to the site and asking me questions about why I was living in London etc.

I felt as though I was accepted because people responded to my posts and enquired about me as a person further. And I guess I compare getting accepted and unaccepted by the positive comments I received. I think if I were to get negative comments or even no comments at all I would feel unaccepted. As people we need reassurance with almost everything we do. This is especially true when we are putting ourselves out there by posting comments read by thousands of people around the world.

Well considering fashion is totally subjective, there were of course disagreements about what will be fashionable and what will not be. And if you have ever met anyone from the industry you will know that there are many feisty people who think there viewpoint on everything is the only right one. People would bluntly tell others that they were full of s*** thinking certain trends were amazing. And of course there would be a rebuttal, but the arguments could never be solved, someone would just end up having nothing more to say about the topic and then it would end. The reason being is because you can debate about fashion all day but when everything is based on opinion it is unlikely you will change someone’s mind about what they think is aesthetically appealing. In most other subjects people would agree to disagree or they would come to some sort of compromise, but on this site anything goes and it can be quite entertaining to read.

Sources

I have been currently working on a research paper for another class on global trade in Turkey.  So for this assignment I have decided to just use a few sources from this to evaluate.  I evaluate the credibility of sources for research papers based on where and who the information came from, also the date, time, and place where the information was found.  I always like to find sites that are government affiliated or at least some sort of expert in the field of the information I am looking for.  The paper I am writing on Turkey is more specifically about trading textiles and apparel with the U.S.  So I would prefer to find sources like University research journals, where the information is clearly legitimate and found based on field experience and tests.  Also any government sponsored site focusing on the world of textiles and apparel would be highly accurate information.  A textbook or encyclopedia is also sources I would find credible. 

Any information that came from sites like Wikipedia I don’t use ever for research papers, because there is just too high of a chance that the information will be skewed or even false.  I find myself questioning the credibility of this website more than not just because of the way the information is published and filtered.  If I am reading through information and see a discrepancy, or something that just doesn’t seem right I usually then look at the date it was published.  In relation to my paper on Turkey I have to be sure to find current statistics because the economy world wide changes so drastically, so information found in 2005 might not be valid today.  I do feel that some information based on the sit it came from is more believable than others.  I tend not to trust as much information found on websites where there doesn’t seem to be a legitimate source of where that information came from.  So if it is published by a third party, at that point information gets distorted, much like the game of telephone if you will. 

As a teacher I would evaluate a students research skills based on a few things.  One I would look to see if the information is actually accurate and where they found it.  I would also look to see if the student used a variety of sources.  Textbooks and any library resources are somewhat unique these days.  I think in today’s world we have the advantage of the internet and I think it is a great place to find an array of sources as long as they were using this to their advantage.  I think journals online in PDF format are a unique internet source if you don’t have time or access to a library to find the hardcopy. 

Ercan , Emine (2002, Fall). Jouranl of Textiles and Apparel, Technology and Management.

NC State Univercity, 2, Retrieved 2/7/2009, from http://www.tx.ncsu.edu/jtatm/volume2issue4/articles/ercan/ercan_full_47_02.pdf

(2007). Textile & Apparel Industry and Technical Textiles in Turkey.

General Secretariat of ITKIB, Retrieved 2/7/2009, from http://www.itkib.org.tr/english/reports/TECHNICAL%20TEXTILES%20IN%20TURKEY.pdf

(2009). Turkey’s political pipelines. Energy Risk, Retrieved 2/7/2009,

from http://www.energyrisk.com/public/showPage.html?page=819442

Letters

I decided to write to my Mom and my best friend Lindsey.  I chose to write to my mom because she means a lot to me.  She has been there for me through everything, she is not just my mom she is one of my best friends!  And I wanted to write to my best friend Lindsey because she moved to Texas with her boyfriend and I wanted to let her know how much she meant to me as a friend.  I decided to send the email message to my mom because I live with her and she is on a computer at work all day, so I knew she would get it right away.  And I wanted to send Lindsey the letter in the mail because it is always exciting to get personal mail when you move to a new place. 

Because I sent my mom the letter in the email, I noticed that I didn’t write it as sentimental as I normally would.  It just seemed more and more impersonal as I was writing it, because it was in an email and she would be reading it at work.  There is something very detached about sending a personal letter as an email.  My intensions were to sincerely and seriously tell her how much I appreciated all that she does for me, but I switched gears a bit as I was writing it.  I did thank her for being her, but I did it in more of a cute way.  Kind of like the tone you would use to brighten up someone’s day rather than making someone cry with happiness, if that makes sense. It was also much shorter than the letter I wrote to my friend, perhaps because I didn’t want to go into too much detail in an email. 

In the letter to Lindsey it ended up being very long, partly because my handwriting is large and therefore the letter turned into about 4 pages.  Unlike my moms letter this one was much more serious and I was able to completely release all my thoughts.  I think there is something really special about getting a handwritten letter from someone. Because it shows that you took time out of your busy day to do something just for that person.  In the letter to Lindsey I used different language in different ways.  Clearly when talking to my mom the word love was used in a different context than when I used it in reference to my friend.  I also used slang in the letter to Lindsey and I think I even used bad language, which I didn’t and wouldn’t do in a letter to my mom!

They both responded to me, which made me happy because it showed they really cared that I took the time to write them a letter.  My mom replied back in an email and Lindsey called me.  My mom thought it was very sweet of me to send her the email; she said it made her day.  She was also curious as to why I chose a random Thursday to write her a letter like that, but I later explained it was for a class.  Lindsey called me and was very appreciative about what I had written to her.  She was very excited to get a letter in the mail, because it’s such a rare thing now days to get one.  She said she even shed a tear when she read it.  Despite the different methods of creating the letters, both my mom and Lindsey returned the sentiments in their responses in a positive way!

Facebook

I have had facebook and myspace for about 4-5 years now.  I don’t really use my myspace anymore but I do use my facebook religiously.  I have always portrayed myself as who I am on both sites because I think it’s silly to do otherwise.  There are however plenty of people that make up false identities for various reasons. 

Personal profiles are such an easy and tempting way to alter who you really are.  You can be whoever you want to be in a sense, by changing your interests or what type of job you have.  Some people even go as far as to manipulate pictures or put up fake pictures pretending that’s who they really are.  I actually met a girl while studying in London who would photoshop every picture of herself before she posted them on her facebook.  This clearly is pretty minor compared to what some people do, but she is still giving people a false perception of what she really looks like. 

I tend to keep information about myself fairly limited because I don’t find it necessary to expel too much personal knowledge about myself to the world.  I do reveal things like my occupation, birthday, relationship status, some interests, and of course pictures.  I don’t distort anything about myself but I do tend to put up the best picture of me at the time, as my main profile picture.  I believe this is a pretty normal thing to do, as most people want to look their best at first glance.  Although I have plenty of pictures that people have tagged that are just “normal” pictures, so it’s not like I am trying to hide what I look like to anyone by just putting up the good ones. 

One thing I think that is really annoying is that some people reveal very personal information in their status updates.  I don’t think it is appropriate to talk about your life story or every emotion you’re feeling through facebook or myspace.  I also stay away from having a long conversation through wall postings.  I prefer to send a message if it is a conversation that goes further than “hey how’s it going”?  I think sharing such personal information is an attempt for attention in a pathetic manner. 

Another reason why I prefer to keep my personal information private is because many companies use facebook as an inside view to their potential or current employees.  There are many cases where people have been fired or not hired because of incriminating photos on facebook.  These photos can be as simple as a drunken night, but if a company has a strict value system and they feel that your personal life reflects poorly on the company than they can easily fire you. 

At this point in my life I will be searching for a fulltime job soon and by doing this assignment it has made me think about what I reveal on my facebook.  My pictures are open to be viewed by anyone and I have realized that I have many pictures from my freshman year of college that could be considered inappropriate.  And although I am not embarrassed of them, I would certainly not want to be discounted from a job because of them.  So I have now set them so they can only be viewed by my friends. 

So Much Cooler Online

For this weeks blog I decided to analyze the Brad Paisley So Much Cooler Online video.  I think that this music video is such a great example as to how some people in this world take advantage of online communication.  Of course what is portrayed in this video is harmless compared to some realistic examples. 

            The main character in this video is somewhat of a typical computer nerd that spends all his free time in his parent’s basement chatting online as someone slightly other than himself.  Here are some lyrics from the first part of the song that will give you a good visual as to who this guy is, “I’m five foot three and overweight, I’m a sci: fi fanatic, mild asthmatic”.  To add to this he is balding, wears strange things throughout the video like spock ears, and is just overall looks relatively unappealing.   

            To add to the plot of the video there is a cute girl across the street that seems to be interested in who he actually is as a person, but he is too shy to even say hello to her.  He is always staring at her outside through his window and she waves to him but he can’t seem to handle this.  As you can imagine he wants to be anyone but himself, so he creates this alter ego online, more specifically through Myspace.  He wants to be Brad Paisley so he creates a profile inspired by him.  Next thing you know he is cool, drives a nice car, is a model, wealthy, mysterious etc… and he goes online and chats with woman as this alter ego.  Then it’s quite funny because they show clips of these beautiful women in which he imagines he is talking to, and then he takes in to account who he really is and what he portrays online and the women suddenly become unattractive in his mind. 

            At the end of the video he sees his dad start getting interested in making friends online and finally notices how silly changing yourself for a profile is.  He looks out his bedroom window and spots the girl across the street in her window looking at him and he goes to his closet and pulls out his marching band outfit.  Then at the end the two are walking down the street arm and arm together in their uniforms.

            I think it’s a great thing to be able to set up profiles about yourself, it gives you a link to friends that you don’t see as often, it leaves great opportunity to network, and it also is a way to meet new friends.  But I also think there are many people that use this resource for the wrong reasons.  And even if we just go into simple facts like changing ones occupation, you are still lying to the world and sometimes to someone you may be perusing for a lasting relationship.  I don’t know of any relationship that will last that was created based on lies.  I think that people need to be more accepting of others flaws and even more so people need to accept their own flaws.  Overall I think this music video sends a good message out, and that is to simply to be yourself.  I think the media today makes is seem as though you won’t find love or be successful in life unless you are this stereotype of perfection, but reality is that you won’t be successful online or in life if you are creating a false identity. 

Abstinence

            This week’s assignment pertained to abstaining from internet use for a 24 hour period.  The assignment really makes me wonder how we communicated without the use of internet on our computers for the longest time. I realized that I am constantly on the computer, especially now because I have two online classes this term.  Throughout the 24 hour period I counted about 18 times that I wouldn’t have gone to use the computer if I could have.  Several of those moments related to me checking my email, other times I wanted to check the weather forecast, myspace/facebook, and of course checking up with my other online class on blackboard. 

            Not using the internet really affected the way I communicate.  One specific example is that I am in the process of getting all my paperwork together to study abroad at AIU this fall.  I have been solely communicating with the college through email because they are based in Chicago and the college is in London, so clearly email is the most effective and efficient way to contact them with questions.  Another little communication gap I had during this time was with UPS.  I have been expecting a book to come, and normally I would just go online to track the package, and of course I could not do that because that requires internet.  There was no solution to this either; I pretty much just had to wait to see if the package would come or not (which was actually really annoying).    

            With that said I actually started to feel a little anxious (as sad as that sounds) not using the internet.  I started to think to myself, what if AIU has sent me an important email and I need to get back to them right away, and now I cant etc.  Another kind of funny instance was when I needed to double check the date of my friend’s birthday.  I couldn’t remember the exact date and I couldn’t go on facebook to look that up, so I ended up calling a friend who actually had to look it up on facebook for me because she couldn’t remember either. 

            Not using the internet also affected the way I used my time.  Throughout the day if I was bored I would usually go on facebook or myspace and kill some time.  But I couldn’t do that, so I found myself watching more TV or using my phone to call and chat with some friends I hadn’t talked to in a while.  This sounds really silly, but it also took me less time to get ready in the morning because I wasn’t taking the time to go on the computer and check my email in between getting ready.  So therefore I was able to go run errands earlier and hang out with my friends sooner than usual.

            So all in all I would say not using the internet in this day an age is very difficult.  It’s really crazy how much we rely on technology today just to get us through simple daily tasks.  I would say the biggest pain was not being able to use my email.  It seems we have become so impersonal, because just 8 years ago if someone needed to ask someone else a question the majority of people would use the phone to call and ask.  But now we use email to conduct business, ask questions, send cards, send out invitations etc.  It’s almost like we are so worried about calling at a bad time that “respecting” others has been brought to a new level.  And unless it’s an emergency, most people would rather email, than deal with someone right at that time.  With that said I am very glad I can use the internet again at anytime I choose, but I will definitely make a conscious effort to try and spend my time doing other things as well.