An Online School

I hate that the basis of our school work is online. In many classes we do most of our work online. In ASL I take all my tests online. In Math I take all of my quizzes online. In Sociology I submit my papers online. In Com I do most of my homework online. This online basis of school is not fair. Professors do not seem to care that computers and technology are not always 100%. We cannot count on them to always pull through for us. When taking tests, I have had my computer completely freeze up. This put me fifteen minutes behind in my test. I have had several experiences with not being able to submit a quiz online. When this happens I usually recieve a zero. I have had difficulty submitting papers online also. Another problem that I have with our school being online is that not everyone has the same access to computers. My apartment does not supply the greatest Internet. My Internet goes down all the time. If the the bus has already left my apartment, I have no way to get to the school. And even if I did get to the school there is no telling if I would be able to find an open computer. I feel like having school online is not fair to the students.

Games

Last week in lab we learned about games. I already knew that there were tons and tons of games that we can play online. I did not know that there were so many different kinds of games that we can play. You can play strategy games, board games, fantasy games, and many more that I have never even heard of. I had no idea that RPG stood for Role Playing Game, and FPS stood for First Person Shooter. Another amazing thing about online games is that several of them are free. Having free games encourages us to play. Who wants to work when we can be playing free games instead? These free games can be accessed at a numerous amount of sites. Two sites that I have used before are msn.com and freearcade.com. I have currently become addicted to is Bubble Town on msn.com. I seriously play it all the time. It took me awhile, but I finally reached level 9 :)
http://zone.msn.com/en/bubbletown/default.htm?intgid=hp_populargames_1

Relationships

I think that people were embarrassed to admit to looking up information about others online. I think that we have all done it before. We want to know as much as we can about people before we seriously get invovled with them. Why wouldn't we want to do this? It is much safer to know someone before we are alone with them. It gives us the upper hand. I don't think there is anything wrong with wanting to know who we are associating with. I would certainly want to know if I was about to get involved with a psycho or not. Lookin up this information online is very beneficial to me.
Facebook has encouraged the online population to learn about the people around us. It has also encouraged us to learn about people that we don't know at all. As long as people havn't blocked their acount, you can look at whoever you want to on Facebook. I have been as guilty as the next person of Facebook stalking. It is so hard to now look at people's profiles because we are nosey by nature. Now Facebook allows you to look at multiple profiles on one page. Facebook is just promoting us to stalk people!

Phones

I was absolutely amazed to learn that one in two people has a phone. This is just crazy to me! I guess looking at the United States it is really not surprising, but this statistic is worldwide. This means that people in poorer countries now have access to phones and this type of communication. The more that we technologically improve, the better we can make it for people.

I did not have my own phone until I was eighteen. When I was sixteen, my parents gave me a phone to use for emergencies. They were afraid that I would have trouble since I had just gotten my license. I also think that they just wanted to have a way to be in constant contact with me :( lol. I was not surprised to learn that most teens get their first phones when they start driving. I am pretty sure that is why most of my friends got theirs.

My contract is up in a few months and I am going to get a new phone. My carrier is Verizon and I think that I want to get the enV Touch.

Online Identity

I did not realize how big a problem online identity was until we learned about it in class. I guess I never really thought about it before. I have grown up being online and it just feels normal to me. I have never really worried about people pretending to be someone that they are not. But it is true that people can become anyone that they want to be online. People can have multiple usernames and lie about who they are. Women can pose as men and men can pose as women. In the back of my mind I knew that this kind of thing could happen, but it was just not on my priority list. It is very easy for people to assume false online identities. There is no accountability when you are online. A perfect example is the story that we read about Kaycee Nicole. The woman who created this fictional character did it very easily. She embodied the character and pulled people into her lying path. This kind of stuff is scary and we all need to be more conscience of it.

Cochlear Implants

I am currently taking ASL as my foreign language requirement. I am also taking ASL 280 The Deaf Community. These two classes have allowed me to learn quite a lot about cochlear implants. A cochlear implant is a device that is surgically implanted into deaf people. The purpose of the implant is to help deaf people to communicate better with the hearing world. Supporters of the cochlear implant believe that it helps people to communicate more effectively. Those in oppostition to the implant believe that it takes away from the deaf person's identiy. They feel like using an implant is admitting that there is something wrong with the deaf person. Most deaf people feel that they are just as normal as the next person.
Now that I have given the basics of the cochlear implant I want to let you know how I feel about it. In theory I think that they are an excellent medical breakthrough. The cochlear implant is technology at its best. The whole purpose of it is to help people who can't hear. I can honestly say that I believe that I can understand why some deaf people would not want to be implanted. I have heard the defenses of deaf people in opposition to it. Overall, I think that cochlear implants are a wonderful piece of technology.