Class Next Week

Case studies will still be due next week (now you have an evening or two to complete them!). And a new question will be posted on Saturday.

In the meantime, stay safe and dry.

Rowan Closing at 3 PM...Do NOT come to class!

Here is the official link to the University's emergency announcement, if you haven't already been notified.


Rowan University - Emergency Information

See you next week, and stay off the roads!

The Changing World of Communication

Cyber Cafe
Originally uploaded by Blogdelirium.

This week, focus on the chapters in Haythornthwaite and Wellman on global use of the Internet and Syntopia.

What do you think about the use of the Internet around the world...will we have increased global communication, or is it as the Russian social commentator noted, "intellectual colonialism" because most of the Internet depends on English to communicate?

Then, too, consider the Syntopia research project in responding to this question...what are the social consequences and themes that might emerge from building a truly global village through the Internet? Do you think the Internet tools we have are having an ill or a good effect worldwide in terms of communicating with others around the globe? Is the Internet becoming that "third place" as Oldenburg (1991) describes on p.47 of Haythornthwaite and Wellman (that's why the photo of the Cyber Cafe is key this week, if you didn't get the connection)?

Also, a word about the weather...I'll be watching the Weather Channel and the Rowan web site starting early Monday afternoon. Since no one seems to know what we're facing on Monday, I'll post regular updates here to the blog. If school is closed or if I decide the weather is too dangerous for you all to venture out in (I know many of you have long commutes on Monday night), I'll post it here. Start looking for weather updates anytime after 2PM on Monday.

In the meantime, work on these questions and your blogs and your papers. You certainly have things to do!

Also, feel free to blog interesting things you find in your research to this site. Others might want to explore the same things you're finding!

I'll keep you posted on the weather. You keep me posted on what you're thinking about in the reading.

Technology sparks classes - 02/21/05

Technology sparks classes - 02/21/05

This might be of special interest to those of you going into teaching. Some really great ideas for developing writing assignments through tech, and a couple of ways to think about getting cash to set up these ideas.

Can laptops help younger students improve their writing?

eSchool News online

Ok, my technophiles, what do you think? Is there enough evidence from Maine and British Columbia for us to believe writing is improved when students use computers (laptops or desktops)...or, do we need more proof, and if so...what type of proof do we need?

Something for you teachers to think about!

For those of you taking or who have taken Evaluating Writing

eSchool News online

Kentucky and several other states are moving to complete computer-based testing of students. This article will give you a little more information on the "next wave" of standardized testing.

Radio-Frequency ID tags for grade schoolers...what's next?

eSchool News online

Thought you might be interested in reading about how one rural school in California was using radio-frequency identification tags for student attendance. Given our conversation tonight, this might give some of you a different look at how we can influence the technology around us.

Yahoo! News - Couple Build Startup Into Blog Powerhouse

Yahoo! News - Couple Build Startup Into Blog Powerhouse

Thanks to Vikki D for sending this! Thought you all might want to read up on
how two enterprising folks turned their blog into gold...

Entering the "information zone"

Entering the "information zone"
Originally uploaded by Blogdelirium.

This week we enter what I'll call "The Information Zone"...sort of like "The Twilight Zone" without Ron Serling's narrative.

On page 62 of _The Social Life of Information_ our authors present Anthony Giddens' quote, "The humanizing of technology is likely to involve the increasing introduction of moral issues into the now largely 'instrumental'."

Based on what you read this week, present two or three examples from the books where humanizing technology needs to be done. Or, equally engaging, find two or three examples in the books where you thought technology was humanized.

Explain why you thought those examples either address or refute Giddens' quote. We'll take those ideas up on Monday night...unless, of course, the "IMPENDING WINTER STORM" (cue scary music a la our local TV news stations) interferes.

Imagine if this were walking in your neighborhood

mecha2
Originally uploaded by superporcel.

Dery discusses movies like "The Stepford Wives" and how other writers and artists create robotic humans. Given what we talked about last week regarding nanotechnology, what you're reading about in Dery regarding neruo-linguistic programming (p 232) and the incredible advances in biorobotics to help the injured, how close are we coming to what Dery describes in Chapters 5 and 6?

Compare Dery's discussion of sex and love on the Internet with Wallace's. How is the Internet changing the ways in which some of us think about sex and love?

Lastly, how do you respond to Wallace's last question: What is so compelling about the Internet?

What will the next generation of Internet users (those who are in their pre-teens and teens now) do with cyberspace? And who will guide them in their decisions to use the Internet in more altruistic ways, if that is the way of future Internet use?

What is in your mind

What is in your mind
Originally uploaded by Blogdelirium.

Feel free to write this week about what you're thinking about Wallace or Dery. Or Wallace AND Dery. I'll use your thoughts to interweave with the material for class on Monday.

Here's some stuff I've been thinking about, if you want a prompt to work with to get you going:

--Dery's culture of cyberspace is dark and dangerous. I wonder how much of Dery's population dominate the Internet. Is Dery's focus of study a large percentage of online life that I'm missing, or is it a fringe group that appeals to Dery in some way?

-- Wallace's findings intrigue me, especially the online behaviors people take on. In my professional dealings with listservs, most of the time people are far more collegial and friendly on line than they might be during the day. I have some theories about this, but I wondered if you all might have encountered similar experiences in your own dealings with professors and such in online vs. F2F (face to face) situations. And if so, why do you think there is a difference?

Anyway, feel free to post what you like: good, bad, or indifferent. I want to take up your views when we cover this material on Monday. Remember, there is no penalty for expressing what is in your mind....