lesson #7 adventure

Whew! Found time to do the adventure, and I'm glad that I did!

Clay Shirky makes some excellent points about the shift of what he calls "cognitive surplus." I couldn't agree more with many of his points, and I believe that the shift is overall a healthy one for society as a whole. Sure, we're still going to veg, but if we can have just as much fun or more creating something, all the better for us! (Did you know that your metabolism is slower when you watch T.V. than when you sleep because of mental inactivity? At least zoning out/into a game will make you a little more active.)

Of course, it's not as if someone can't veg on the Internet. It's amazing how much time can be wasted just clicking between updates. This is probably not very different than watching T.V.; it is still passive.

Alternatively, there's a good chance that the ease of Internet communication may cause more work for people who would otherwise be relaxing, which I don't view as necessarily a good thing. Shirky says that people have free time and that we don't know what else to do with our cognitive energy except sink it into numbness. He says that gin was what people did with their free time when they moved from agricultural to industrial living. The thing is, I'm not sure that people have actually had more or much more free time. In agricultural living, you may have to work every day, but there are certain times of the day or of the year where the amount of work that needs to be done wanes (in winter, for example).

I didn't have a lot of free time before, and thus did not watch a lot of T.V. The reason I use the Internet more now is because of the information and networks available, and because it's often easier to communicate casually with someone over the 'Net than it is to physically meet with them. For myself, and I suspect many other people, I think the reason for using the Internet is its convenience more than any supposed free time we might have.

lesson #7 web2.0 continued

This module has been more enjoyable than the others so far; I can always appreciate links to sources with brief descriptions that leave me to make my own judgements on the content. Also, kudos to Learn 2.1 for posting a link to the Google Maps video. That sort of humor is right up my alley. ^_^

After browsing through some SEOmoz's Web 2.0 Awards winners, the most interesting to me were still those that I have known about for a while, like Mango Languages and Pandora. This module has allowed me the time to finally play with Mango Languages. The format is clean and clear enough, and it allows you to start lessons right away. I went to the Japanese lessons to see if they would be good to recommend to Japanese language leaners, and found that, though pronunciation is authentic, translations and usage may not be accurate. For example, they gave a corresponding Japanese phrase to "How are you?" The problem is that there is no direct corresponding phrase to "How are you?" in Japanese, and that, "Ogenki desu ka," is generally used when you haven't seen someone for a while or you are concerned about the (health of) the other person. It is not used regularly in greeting as "How are you?" is used in English.

The usefulness of Pandora is well-known --so well-known that we are forbidden to use it at work! (Oh noes!) I don't listen to the radio much, and, when I do, I tend to listen to NPR or more eclectic stations. Pandora makes it much easier for me to find music I like. (I have to admit that I'm a little confused about why Pandora is forbidden for use in the workplace; people tend to substitute Youtube poor quality music for Pandora, and I think that that probably eats a lot of bandwidth as well. Then again, I don't know the stats. I do think it's a bit ironic that, if something is so useful that it actually gets used by lots of people here, it becomes disallowed.... ^^;)

Lulu.com also has its merits, but I would like to hear some personal stories of successful business with them from people close to me or from those in the smaller publishing circles (i.e. at universities).


One last word: Blogger needs to seriously improve its customer support. I have had to request a human review of my blog 3 times because it continues to be labeled as a spam blog. It's supposed to be reviewed within a few days of the request, but since it keeps promting me to request a new review after a couple of weeks, I have to assume that something is wrong. I don't have the time or inclination to search for a solution on their forum (though I tried, briefly). (I also don't want to sign up for their forums because my work email includes my full name --too risky for public or other posting, thanks.) It would be nice if I could directly email them to ask them to remove my blog from the spam list and keep it off, but their help resource pages narrowly define issues and funnel only to very specific problems (which do not include my own, as far as I can see).

There are far too many parentheses in that last paragraph. That's a sign it's time to end this post. >.>

Until the next module,

-M

lesson #5 change process

Has higher education changed? I know it has in certain ways --technologically and financially, certainly-- but there will never be a way to get through college without doing the work. I mean, you could try, but then why even bother attending a university? (The classroom portrayed in the video appeared to be a university class, at least.) Sometimes it just makes more sense, if you are not inclined towards an academic career, to go to technical or art school. Could the video, "Has Higher Education Changed?" come closer to playing a violin for the students? And yes, I agree that college is too expensive today, that the materials required for college (like laptops and textbooks, especially those with CDs that are supposed to help) call for a ridiculous amount of money from each student. But at the same time, isn’t change what we are advocating? And isn’t a lot of change imbedded in and in some ways contingent upon use of technology? Which side do I take when I know that higher education could be infused with more innovative teaching and learning tools but I am also painfully aware that those tools cost so much money that either many students become unable to participate in higher education or the new technology and tools that facilitate change are not integrated?

In my experience, colleges usually lean towards innovation –as they should. Unfortunately, just because information comes in a different format doesn’t actually mean that it’s helpful or is innovative change. Did anyone else here not use the supplemental DVD that came with the nutrition textbook?

When it comes to our mission statement, I am most interested in how OCLS "will create a well-informed, well-connected community, making Orange County a great place to live, learn, work, and play." I could see a semester long checkout from a collection of textbooks helping out students a lot. In order to create a well-connected community, I think it also helps to create/expand computer lending programs and set up more computer stations for those who cannot afford to buy their own computers. We can’t expect people in a community to keep up with change when the main vehicle for change today is something beyond many people’s financial means. It may also be interesting to find a way to checkout Internet services/connection to the Internet for use at other locations (i.e. someone’s home) through the library.

lesson #4 open source information

Leave it to a young guy in Shibuya to create a fee-less university. The class seemed fun, but I still wondered who paid for the instructors' time and for the space. And while it seemed enjoyable --I would hardly hesitate to join if I were living in Japan-- I wondered what was being taught and how that knowlegde could be applied in Japanese people's lives. (A bulk of the presentation seemed to be stretches and miming.) The other aspect about the university that makes me wary is that Shibuya is essentially the district of fast fads. I earnestly hope that the university continues to remain in service!

Library Spot strikes me as a good idea, and I will probably reference it in the future if I have students and they need literary resources. I am familiar with the rest of the sites, and I don't at all advocate use of Yahoo Answers, Answerbag, or Askville. If I need to find the answer to something, I do research on my own or ask questions on a forum that deals with a specific topic. The validity of information on quick answer sites easily falls into question, and they require many people to casually haunt the site and almost just as randomly answer questions. People serious about finding out real, valid answers would better be advised going to a forum or set of sites that deals with the topic of question, and where people better versed in the topic information can offer higher-quality answers.

Since working at the library, the way I access and use information has not changed. However, the ways in which I provide information has evolved to accomodate a wider range of people. Some people are unaware of how the Internet may aid a search, and how much it can help them access more --and often more up-to-date-- information. There is also information on the Internet and in research communities having to do with topics on which there are not many book sources, and I have regularly provided information on these other sources to patrons. I have also had a lot of experience guiding patrons through the library search engines.

As open source gains more recognition, I think that access to infomation may almost precede in importance having the information. The library will need to provide more routes to this open source information and, at the same time, maintain a high volume of hard copy material at locations.

-M

lesson #3 technology, health, & wellness

When we’re young, we refer to physical activity as "play," but when we’re older we refer to it as "exercise" or "workouts." One primary reason that so many people don’t get enough exercise is probably because it simply doesn’t entertain us much anymore. I remember recess being a great time to do whatever I wanted to do on the playground. Physical education courses, which consisted of obese teachers yelling at students to run faster (and only run, due to the lack of school funding for more interesting activities), only made physical activity more of a task and less of a natural enjoyment.

In come the games, which can compete for people’s attention to the point that they don’t feel like they’re even exercising (in the work sense). The information on the sites didn’t teach me much, and I even found the article by David Pogue offensive. Nintendo did not dub their console to be primarily a fitness machine because, frankly, it is a gaming console. It is, despite what Pogue says, for gamers. (I mean, has he ever heard of, say, DDR, which preceded Wii fitness? Has he even played any of the Wii games that don’t have to do with fitness? You mostly wave your arms, which I guess is good for getting rid of arm fat, but not much else.) The point was and is to make more people gamers –and this isn’t a bad thing. Video games have, for some strange reason, had a bad reputation for a long time. The fact that you can use Wii for fitness is relatively peripheral.

I am also unimpressed by the other sites and fitness programs, and the Youtube Pilates seems like an obvious cheap solution if you need a video. I would never pay to use Cardio Coach or NikePlus, since I could track fitness information on my own and, if I don’t use self-discipline to get me through exercise, I won’t get through it at all. I am also capable of and find pleasure in creating my own playlists. However, when it comes to actual exercise, I prefer to go outside and away from electronics in general. Blading, biking, and swimming, though I don’t get to go out very often, are activities I like to do just hearing the sounds around me, and I wouldn’t use a playlist and especially not a virtual coach.

NutritionData is useful for finding out BMI and food nutrients, but I did not find it compelling or original enough to create an account. Still, I can see myself revisiting the site if I really want to know the specific nutrients in my food.

two things

1) I forgot to mention last time that a day after I had set up this Blogger account, it was labeled as a potential spam blog and is currently under review. I would like to note that I had not even created a post at the time. How it was flagged as a potential spam blog is beyond me.

2) I would also like to add that I wouldn't mind time at work to enrich any sort of technology skill that goes beyond my current proficiencies. I am very familiar with gaming systems (being a gamer since I was six), I like mp3 players but dislike the dominance of the iPod, I am aware of and advocate open source programs, etc. However, I would like to improve my skills in specific areas. For instance, I would certainly not mind taking the time to relearn HTML and CSS code.

I would also like to use this blog to talk about issues that are important to me. On the other hand, I also see these discussions as endeavors best pursued outside the workplace, and do not want to speak too frankly at my place of employment. (I don't mean to offend anyone, but I do think that meaningful discussion requires a level of candidness not especially encouraged in any work environment --unless you're a debater, of course ^^ ).

Anyway, while I don't like being spoon-fed links and being told how something is "new" or "awesome" (especially when I find it not novel at all and dull) I do enjoy the opportunity to discuss issues, technological or otherwise, on this blog.