Journal 9

I've learned this semester that I do have a certain writing style. Most of the time I perfer to write in either an explanatory or persuasive tone. I do use much satire in my papers, so that I do not confuse others with it. Also my ideas are pretty straight forward and most everything can be predicted from my introduction paragraph. I feel that in college people need to adapt to whomever they are writing for. Teachers want their students to write for themselves, but they definitely have a preference for certain styles of writing. If they are reminded of their own writing I am sure that they would enjoy and grade the paper with higher remarks. The only thing teachers do not want is plagairism. Throughout this semester though I have found what type of writer I am and it gives me more confidence. It tells me that I know what I am comfortable with and capable of doing. If I had to do something other then explanatory or persuasive writing I might be afraid because that is out of my comfort zone.

Journal 10

Respond to "Is Google Making Us Stupid?". After having researched and written about media, do you agree that the nature of writing, power, and knowledge is changing as technology is increasingly democratized? Does this inform your ePortfolio assignment?'

Yes, I do believe that since the rise of technology, the nature of writing and communication has changed drastically. Because of blogs, social networking sites, and even online restaurant ordering systems have stopped the communication of people face to face, and started a whole new generation of a different form of writing. No longer do people send each other long letters discussing what they have done recently in their lives, instead they write a sentence long "post" on their "wall" for them to "like." It completely changes traditional forms of writing and replaces it with a fake, public form of communication that can be viewed by all. As technology continues to increase, the value of communication and writing decreases at the same rate.

Journal 10

Respond to "Is Google Making Us Stupid?". After having researched and written about media, do you agree that the nature of writing, power, and knowledge is changing as technology is increasingly democratized? Does this inform your ePortfolio assignment?

Yes, I completely agree with this statement. With the use of social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace, we have forgotten what it is like to communicate with each other face to face. When we think of how to reach someone now a days, most people choose the internet as a way of communication other than talking on the phone. Technology has become a part of our everyday lives. I feel that in a lot of ways, technology distracts us from learning in that we pay more attention to social networks instead of interacting and learning from the world around us. I know that even during class, students are on their phones and lap tops tweeting and facebooking. Although, technology has helped us in various ways as it has made it easier to communicate and also is used for educational purposes. The eportfolio is an example of this in that we have taken the internet and have turned it into an opportunity for our project. This is not a bad thing, it just reflects the fact that internet has become a large part of our lives.

Journal 10

Respond to "Is Google Making Us Stupid?". After having researched and written about media, do you agree that the nature of writing, power, and knowledge is changing as technology is increasingly democratized? Does this inform your ePortfolio assignment?

Yes, i completely agree. I have actually thought this for a while now. Specifically about the new greatly expanding social networks, (facebook, mediafire, twitter) I think they are ruining social interactions between people. Only about 30% of interaction is what people actually say and the rest is facial expressions, inflection of voices...etc. All that is lost with communication on social networks. Plus, personally i think the excitement of talking to a new friend in person or a girl you lost is lost in social networks. Its not as exciting or nerve wrecking and therefore not as rewarding. Also there is not nearly as strong of a connection made. I know I talked to girls by texting, IM, or facebook and our friendship just fizzled so quickly when we didnt talk online. Its not a real social interaction, its not reality.

What have you learned about your own style this semester? Do you agree with Vonnegut’s rules for style? What might you add, change, or remove?

This semester i have learned that i have some really cool ideas, i just need to spend time expanding and fully developing them. I can develop them when I sit down and think about them, but a lot of times i don't think long enough about my ideas or cant express them on paper the way i want. I've realized that if i spend time analyzing texts, and spend time thinking about what i want to say i can come up with some really cool ideas and papers. I do agree with Vonnegut's rules for style, I think he has some really good advice. I myself need to learn how to "have the guts to cut." I think a lot of unimportant information is important to my paper when really it needs to be cut out. I also have trouble realizing what information needs to be cut out and what needs to stay. I feel like I might accidentally cut important information out. Also, i need to learn how to not ramble on. I think i do this a lot, sometimes to lengthen papers to meet length requirements but i need to work on coming up with more important information in some papers. This may just be a need to do more research.

journal 10

i agree completely with the article. the internet has changed our world a lot and we have gone from having to interact with people in reality and now we interact with people through the web. and a huge part of communication is facial expressions and body language, and when on the web its hard to show that expressions so it has major impacts on peoples life that way. i also feel that it does give you a lot of information. i think that our eportfolio just shows how much the internet is in our lives and it makes it much easier to share our work.

Journal 10

I agree with everything that this article is reflecting upon. In fact I would even take the topic to a new level in that google/internet is not only changing the way we think, but it's changing the way we engage and act socially. Since the internet is a gigantic source of information, we no longer are required to socially interact to obtain information. Now, we can virtually obtain all information about anything through the internet in a small amount of time. When asking someone to go on a date, all the joy of personal engagement is gone when a 2-d text comes through asking the very same. All in all, I agree with the article in that google is in fact making us dumb, for we no longer need to seek adults knowledge and textbooks and instead have to seek out information through the internet.