Bonus: also, I am excited because I just realized that this is a Summer III course so we have until July 29 to complete work. This is wicked good because I was having some serious concerns about trying to assign five projects! It seemed a bit much to ask you all to complete the amount of work I had initial planned to finish by this Friday, but it seems we are quite lucky! [First time teaching a summer class, so I apologize if I've caused any of you confusion in this regard].
Readings: I'll upload some more readings by the end of the week, too, since we have a whole month (plus) to continue learning about writing in the public sphere!
Assignments: A New Assignment Description Sheet for Project(s) D, E, and F will be uploaded onto Sakai by Wednesday evening at 10 p.m.
Forum: Please note that I've created a new forum in Sakai. I'd like you all to please respond to it by Thursday at 10:00 p.m.
Access: For this week, by Friday 1 p.m., please respond to the following prompt:
Consult the two readings by the PEW Internet and American Life Project. In "Mainstreaming" the organization predict that the following trends will occur:
The internet is constantly reshaping people’s informational and social universes, but people are constantly reshaping the internet as well. One day someone gets the bright idea to start posting
family pictures online, and, voilà, a whole new application takes off. With much of the remaining third of unconnected Americans likely to get internet access in the coming years, and with highspeed
and mobile access increasingly the norm, how these trends accelerate and recombine should make internet watching a fascinating and important undertaking for years to come. (69)
To what extent do you think such a prediction works against the organizations' earlier (2000) research that concluded that significant groups of the U.S. citizenry was not online. Specifically, I am interested most in the data found in "Who's Not Online" that suggests those who are not online do so because of four reasons:
- "The internet is... dangerous";
- "They are [not] missing anything;
- It's "too expensive";
- It's "confusing and hard...to negotiate". (3)
Do you still want us to finish our blog this weekend or should we continue to post the rest of the term?
ReplyDeleteGood question, I was wondering the same as well. Also, are the final drafts of projects 1 & 2 still due on the 24th or do we have longer to complete them?
ReplyDeleteI emailed Professor Amidon and he answered both of our questions:
ReplyDelete"...continue to blog but once you have the required amount of blogs for the assignment completed don't feel compelled to continue writing (unless you feel like continuing it as a project independently). As for A. Muntimurri's question, could you tell her that the 24th remains, but as long as drafts are uploaded I will be completing assessment and they may be revised for the final portfolio project.
Okay great, thanks for emailing him!
ReplyDeleteEVERYBODY TO THE NET
ReplyDeleteThe earlier assessment by the Pew Research Center is thrown into disarray by their latter findings. As stated in the latter article, the internet is changing every day. Where the net was thought to be too expensive, now it is easily accessed by those likely to be in the lower income tier (read minorities and the elderly) on their phones. Moreover, because the lower income youth may not have home computers and laptops they use their phones to blog, tweet, shop or simply have fun and games on the internet. It's amazing to watch how much young people are so engrossed on their blackberries and iphones; not just making calls but doing some form of Public Writing. And the elderly, though they may have preferred to use paper text for their reading and go to a physical store to buy what they need, the deals offered online are simply irresistible. Amazon offers favorite books on a tablet, groceries may be delivered by Stop 'N Shop by pea-pod and some states do not even have taxes on online shopping. How can the elderly, who are on fixed incomes resist these savings?
With the 'Craigslist Killer' and hacking into credit card information some have said that the internet is too dangerous. However the very same stores that we use or the same services that we count on are offered online by the same companies or businesses. Why would one burn expensive gas to go to the bank and transfer money from one account to another when it can be done online? It is still the same bank! What is dangerous about dealing with Bank of America online if it's the same service offered in the banking halls? Besides, would a reputable bank do something to put their valued customers in danger? Even the 'dangerous' sceptics of the internet are unlikely to believe this.
That 'they are not missing anything.' Really? Has anybody gone to the airport recently to try and buy an air ticket to anywhere? They must be among the very few because everyone is using Expedia, Orbitz and the like for air tickets, and cheap vacations. Try going to airline offices or travel agency offices and you may end up paying twice as much as an online shopper. Not too many people would do this, especially during these economic times. If one finds the net too confusing, local libraries seem to have responded to this expected hurdle. The paper text lovers who usually frequent libraries will find someone there to take them through the confusion and bewilderment of the internet that in no time, they are likely to be hooked.
Some services like bill payment over the phone have a charge and yet if one does the bill payment online, there is no charge! So access to computers should be a right otherwise such services as bill payment would be having price discrimination.
Since some services are best offered online or only offered online, then there should be a way for local administration to ensure that all people have access to the internet through their local libraries and if they need assistance with using it, it should be readily availed. There is no way around this means of Public communication through Writing.