Chapter 3: Freedom Pg 77

I have found myself wanting to read this book more and more because of the many things that i find true. I have found a few things i disagree with but for the most part Tapscott is much more accurate than Bauerlain. On page 77 he states "Typical Net Gen shoppers know what they are going to buy before they leave the house." I liked this statement because it relates to me. I always do research online before i go and actually buy omething. Or sometimes I even just stay online and buy from sites such as www.ebay.com or www.amazon.com. This makes your shopping expierence much easier. I watch how older generations, such as my parents and grandparents, research before they buy and it is much different. My grandma just goes to the store and if they dont have what shes looking for she just keep "store hopping." My parents on the other hand have gotten a little more effective in that they call the stores before they go to buy something. But we are even more advanced and effecient!

Check out consumer guides before you buy!

Week 10

One problem I've had with Chapter 3 was his "Scrutiny" section for the 8 Net Gen norms. He says that he sent an email to his co-workers saying that Angelina Jolie would be at a private lunch at the office. He says that he received several emails from his younger co-workers saying, "Nice try" and none of them fell for the prank. However, he says that his staff his age fell for it completely. First off, the fact that people our age didn't go to a blatantly obvious trick isn't saying much. Then there's the fact that even the older employees fell for it makes them look really bad and they're the ones conducting all of the studies. I don't know anyone who would fall for that, regardless of age. And to top it all off, the email was sent on April Fool's Day. Seriously??? He says that we have to sort through a lot of spam and phishing attempts and scams and that we have developed the ability to see through lies as a result. People have always needed this skill. They just might not have needed it as often as they do now.

Are police now regular citizens

On page 62 and 63, Tapscott talks about how power is being transferred from actual authoritative figures to regular citizens. I myself know how this can be true cause i think that i have a lot of authority in my house especially over my younger siblings. However he says that by creating television news clips that rival whats already on t.v., or writing encyclopedias like Wikipedia, or even selling goods online in places such as Craigslist is going to distribute power among people. He says that as knowledge expands like on how to scrutinize authorities power will become more widely distributed. I want to know why is it that just because we may learn ways to go against people we think we have more power over them.

Here is a video of how some people think they can order people around and do what they want them to do.

Private or Public?

While reading chapter 3, I found it interesting that Tapscott does disagree with one thing that our generation does - post very personal information on the internet. He uses statistics such as 60% of British employers browse the net for personal information and 20-25% of applicants are turned down because what is found on their page. This poses the question: Is it ethically correct for employers to search for incriminating evidence on the net or should they just leave it alone? Does a picture of a potential employee drinking with friends mean that they are a drunk or a respectable social person? I found a video on Youtube that discusses how ethical online "stalking" actually is. The video begins stating that it is a problem if an employer can use any and all information that they can find on the web against you. Public opinion seems to back this opinion up as quite a few different people are interviewed during the video. Clay Shirkey, a professor at New York University, is interviewed about the topic. He states that a line needs to be drawn between public and private online, but doesn't know how exactly to accomplish this. To start off, he says that you should change Facebook or Myspace settings to private, as they are most likely defaulted to public. This made me wander why social networking sites assume that the majority of people would want their personal information to be public. Shirkey closes his argument by comparing facebook stalking to real life stalking. If an employer would go to the mall and follow teenagers around just to hear their conversation, there would be something VERY wrong with that. However, if an employer happens to see something bad on the net, it is free game. This shows that a line between public and private must be set.

Customizing

In Chapter 3, Tapscott talks about how the Net Gen customizes things to make them their own. Whether it is a car, a job, an i-pod; people want to mess around with them and find creative aspects that they like. The internet helps in accomplishing this. There are some awesome websites out there that allow you to customize just about anything you want. Wheel Envizio is a website that allows you to select your vehicle and fit it with different kinds of wheels to see which one you like the most. NikeID allows you to customize your own shoes or sweat shirts. Even Myspace allows you to customize your own myspace layouts to fit your moods on myspace.

In the beggining of Chapter 3 in Tapscott's book, he talks a lot about the freedom of the internet and how kids are able to gain a sense of freedom away from their parents and be whoever they want to be or look at what thy want to look at. I felt like this photo portrayed this very well because when you first use the internet, you do feel like this whole new person, and you can place anyone you want to be in the blank space as the person.

"Netting" the Net Generation

So while surfing the web and just looking around I found a really interesting web page about the Net Generation. More specifically it was about how to attract the Net Generation to jobs. It was a very interesting article and it went into detail about the things we look for in jobs and the things we need in a job. Tapscott kind of talked about how the Net Generation likes to work in Chapter 3. He really talked about how our work habits are a lot different than any other generation in history.

"Netting" the Net Generation

Net Generation Cares

In chapter 3 of Tapscott, he starts talking about the integrity of the Net Generation. He proves that the stereotype about our generation not care about caring about the issues going on around the world. The Net Generation is the generation that wants to make a difference for the future generations. I searched through the internet and find this article about the expectations of the Net Generation. You can go the this website here to see the article. I also found this video about how we should care for the Earth for future generations. I doubt that this video was put together by someone from the Baby Boomer Generation. It is things like these that go to show that the Net Generation isn't just a bunch of young people that are narcissists, and that they don't care about what is happening in the world outside of them.

Does What Happens In Facebook, Stay in Facebook

It's a valid question with the fear of identity hackers who could possibly steal the one thing you don't want stolen. Facebook isn't exactly the safest site on the web. Like Tapscott said in chapter 3, Facebook contains your name, number, work history, schools etc. The sad part is, teens don't really take the time to think about what they put up on the web. Most don't know that information put on the internet stays on the internet and anyone has access to it, whether it's through Facebook or other sites. Advertising companies can look at your "home page" and match advertisments to your interests written on the page. And if you're not careful information can fall into the wrong hands. Teachers and businesses can look at the pictures and things written on your wall, stickers posted and notes, and make a decision that may keep you out of school or a job. Although Facebook has a privacy feature, is that enough?

Watch this and then you make the call

While i was reading Chapter 3, Tapscott talks about how when he wrote his first book, he only had a low 360-bits-per-second dial-up connection, and when he wrote this book, fifteen years later, he had around 9,600-bits-per-second dial-up. With that much of an increase within 15 years is a giant jump. He also explains how the Net Gen do not want to wait around for a long period of time, just to wait for a message. The internet has developed a quick response, that the Net Gen does not just want to settle for e-mail, but something much faster like instant messaging. Businesses these days use instant messaging to talk to everyone in the building for corporation instead of using e-mail. They want a faster response so they can get whatever they want done, to get done faster. No one wants to wait around for a message that you might not get for a couple hours, or even days.

video

Tourettes Guy

In chapter 3 Tapscott tells us about an eperience his child Niki had while on a trip. She had met a young boy with tourettes symdrome. It was odd at first but everyone seemed to understand what the child was going from. I think this is greatly due to the internet. There are some famous videos of a someone suffering from this same issue. Although the videos are rather comical, they definately raise awareness of the disease and have allowed many of todays youth to understand this odd disease. Before the internet if would have been very diffiult to get this message out to the public. Now, thanks to videos like these, we are now muh more educated on its effects on the individual. Now those suffering fomr this disease can live a little bit easier being surrounded by fellow peers that understand the disease.

Social Networking worries

Does social networking have downsides? Well if the air force, army, marine corps, navy, and DOD all have strict rules on what is acceptable to have and what is not, should we take the same precautions?

The answers is yes. All these social networks can be fun, but also hurt us in ways we never thought possible. "A survey in the UK showed that 62% of British employers now check the social networking posting of applicants and that a quarter have rejected cadidates as a result" (Tapscott, 66). Tapscott is trying to tell us that social networking can hurt us in ways such as finding a job. An employer has every right to look through our profiles and deny us the job for anything they do not like. If our soliders are taking precations with social networking sites maybe we should as well. Something as stupid as saying a personal thing about yourself can possibly ruin future jobs. I don't think things like facebook are dangerous, but I think we should be attentive to what is put onto it and make sure nothing bad can be available to future outside sources.

Privacy Online

In response to what Katelyn was talking about, the idea of webcams is great, but really scary. Me and my cousins always turn to the internet out of boredom at family gatherings on holidays. I remember one time, at Thanksgiving, I think, a few years ago, my cousin had found a certain thing to put into Google's search engine and the results came up with a bunch of different links that brought us to webcams from everywhere from college campuses to peoples' homes. It was really fun to watch people stand in a parking lot and talk, play tennis on the top of a building, or stare into an empty room. But it was also really scary to think that people could probably very easily do that to us. Anyone can do it. By typing "webcam hack code" into google, and clicking the second link that comes up, you can gain access to a list of links that bring you to hundreds of accessible webcams. You can even move some of the physical webcams, to change the view, from the click of a mouse. Here's a storefront of what looks like a gas station :)
Also, with the idea that we share so much information about ourselves online, I think that is a big part of the internet. We want to be known, and we also want to express ourselves. But often we overlook the downsides of that. I know I try to be careful of what I put online, but I'm sure there's a lot that I've put online that I'd rather not see again.
Here's a video that I found on youtube that was done for an AP course, relating privacy on the internet to Orwell's 1984.

The images and music used really helped to powerfully convey her argument that no one is safe online.

Privacy and Webcams

A big topic in chapter 2 is privacy. Today's generation doesn't seem very concerned with privacy and it is obvious in many aspects. People post all sorts of private information on Myspace and Facebook, new reality shows come out every week with people having their entire lives on TV, people upload videos of everything on YouTube, and cameras are everywhere. I can definitely see a big change in feelings toward this from my generation to my parent's generation. Many older people in my family think it is crazy the amount of privacy we have lost over the past decade while many people my age think it is completely normal and actually enjoy the openness. I found a website called EarthCam where you can view thousands of live streaming videos from streets and buildings all around the United States. Just by searching "New York City" over 600 results come up. I think it's crazy that just by walking down a street, you could possibly be being watched by hundreds of people who are just sitting in their house. It's a neat website that can possibly be used for numerous things but it also really shows how public our daily lives have become.

Privacy issues

Our generation does not look at privacy to be much of improtance anymore. We just worry about catching the attention of others with our great photos or handing out our information to friends, but we don't look into or consider the negatives of revealing all this private information. As Tapscott says "... And I think what privacy is coming to mean today--....--is less about kind of totally public versus totally hidden, and more about giving people the ability to control what information they're sharing with whom. (69)" Our generation does not think of privacy like it used to be thought of. It is more about the thought that we can hide certain information from some people but let others view it, which is not always true. As Tapscott also mentioned, revealing information on these social networking sites can cause great damage, such as losing a job. He mentions a cop and a teacher, and as I searched the web I can across this story of how this cop lost his job due to graphic photos revealing his sexuality. You can read the article here http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/beds/bucks/herts/7265775.stm. The information we think is kept private between just our friends is not true. More people can view these than we think. Our private information is databased daily when we buy something with a credit card or search the web or from our cars converstations with the databases via satelite. Privacy has become a new meaning to our generation compared to times past.

Online Dating= Facebook

Tapscott gives us an example of dangers with facebook. He let us know that if you add only one application to your facebook, that application can see your profile and can give out any information it wishes to. People post pictures of their friends and themselves maybe on vacations or at parties(holding alcohol that was captured in the picture), post how old they are, what school they go to, who are there siblings and if they are in a relationship, single or married. These type things are the same type of posts you put in an online dating. Though, in online dating your profile page may be more in depth of what you like, what you want in a man/women. So a stranger who saw your dating page could act like he knew you just by reading your dating page and maybe try to get you alone or get inside your house just by acting friendly, or by acting like how you posted on your profile about what kind of guy you want. Just like how Tapscott said, there are dangers when putting your personal information online. You select that only your friends can see it but really anyone can hack in and get that information.




http://www.eharmony.com/?cid=55201&aid=1001&kid=GOG0038430973

Newspaper vs Internet

To answer Giovanni's question in my opinion I don't think that newspapers will possibly be around much longer. I mean sure there are those who still read and use the newspaper to their advantage and to learn some things about whats going on but more people are turning to other sources than newspapers. Tapscott did a survey on what people were more willing to give up; T.V. or Internet and it was a landslide on T.V. being given up in every country the survey was taken in. I think this is because with the Internet being constantly updated with news reports people can access what is going on much faster this way instead of having to wait until the next day when the paper is delivered and then finding out about something the entirely next day. I think that the Internet is going to cause the entire newspaper system to go under. Who else would possibly agree?

I liked Tapscott's argument that we are smarter than everyone says we are, but I don't like how he goes about saying it. For example in Chapter 1, in a global sample of thousands of Net Geners, 7 out of 10 people chose that they would rather be smart than good-looking. My first problem with this is 7 out of 10 choosing to be smart doesn't seem believable. Another problem I have is that he took a sample of "thousands" in a global survey. He should have sampled millions because thousands is not enough to represent the hundreds of millions of Net Geners around the world. Another problem I found was on his population pyramids, he had age 0 at the bottom of the chart and age 100 at the top, but he never put any specific age increments. He uses an inconsistent number of lines in each pyramid. For example, there are 18 lines in the U.S. Pyramid (Figure 1.7), and 21 in the U.K. Pyramid (Figure 1.8). In both graphs, there is not an even number of years that the lines signify. In the the "Population Under 30 by Country" (Figure 1.17), he has India twice, one as 66 million, and the other as 4 million.

No More Newspapers?

On page 44 of Growing Up Digital, Tapscott writes about a person who says that they prefer to use the internet over newspapers. I decided to look up on what some people thought about whether we should keep using newspapers at all. It seems like no one even gets their news from the papers anyways. I found this article about someone's thought on newspapers. Daniel Lyons thinks that we should get rid of the newspapers. He says that the people that want to keep the newspapers are holding back the shift to the internet. Some people think that if we take the newspapers away, then part of our democracies will be taken away. They say that people will lose jobs as well, but there has been democracy long before the newspapers and journalists will not lose jobs if they shift to using the internet. Anyways, what do you think we should do with the newspapers?

The Net Generation

Finally we are done with Bauerlein! In contrary to Bauerlein, Tapscott believes that technology is a great thing for our generation and the we should embrace it. He also states that it is amazing that our generation can use all sorts of technology so fluently. Obviously, because we have grown up with it - but it is true that we are FAR ahead of our parents when it comes to using a computer. Interestingly enough I found an article in Business Week that is actually written by Don Tapscott. It sums up his views about our generation and also how he thinks of technology. He states that the internet of today not only allows us to access more information, but it allows us to contribute more information. This, in turn, allowed the Net Generation to become very involved in the Obama campaign and other current political matters. I found this funny because Bauerlein says that technology is doing the exact opposite for our generation - making us very uninvolved in politics. Overall, I believe Tapscott has a much more valid argument and that it will be much easier to read.

The article can be viewed here.

The Digital Generation

After looking through Chapter 1, I actually got annoyed with his writing. Yes, I agree that we are possibly the greatest generation and our technology has revolutionized the world, but I almost feel like he takes this too far. I hated Bauerlein, but this guy is just kind of annoying. The chapter sort of bored me. But on the bright side Tapscott gave credit where credit was due.

Skimming the internet, I found a timeline that dates of important inventions in technology. It was interesting to find that the number of inventions to technology increases as the timeline reached the 2000's. This timeline just shows how our generation has been effecting the world as a whole. Take notice that close to half the page is full of inventions that were introduced in the 1990's or later. Most of the inventions in the last 20 years have revolutionized our understanding of medicine, made world networking possible and allowed others to benefit educationally from our discoveries.

Here is the timeline:

http://timelines.ws/subjects/Technology.HTML

Grown up digital

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EoqiRRMQ0fs

We are the smartest generation.

I love this video clip because it is a short introduction to the book"Growing up digital." The introduction of the book basically shows us tha we ARE going to be the smartest generation, and gives evidence why all other negative books are wrong. The video is awesome because he starts out by summarizing the book "The Dumbest Generation" by giving its main arguments in about a minute time span. He then goes on to say how authors such as Baulerain are wrong. He introduces his book by giving us power and will to read the book by praising our generation. He wants to show us how we are the smartest generation. I think this video clip is an AWESOME introduction to his book, "Growing up Digital."

Technology and thinking outside the box

So after reading the first chapter of Tapscott's book, it is very evident that he is a firm believer technology within our generation. This is basically the exact opposite viewpoint that Bauerlein took. So after reading this I did some searching on the web and found a pretty funny article. The article is about the top 10 'hacks' or rigs as I call them. Almost all of them have to do with a technological device and they are pretty funny.

Top 10 Hacks

Technology in Everyday Use

After reading the first chapter, it is very evident that Tapscott believes technology is a good thing and an improvement to our culture. But, I started thinking, how much we really take technology for granted. If you're sitting at home you are doing a couple of things. You are watching TV, or on the internet, or maybe even playing a video game. However, when a bad storm rolls in and the power is cut out, you freak out and get all mad because you cant do those things. You get annoyed with the fact that you have to sit around at home and talk to your family or read a book. It just amazes me how so many people have become so used to using technology in our day and age that when it is taken away they go through withdrawals.

RE: Technology is normal to us

Adriana kind of stole my idea with her post but I thought I could still talk about the same thing because I agree with most of what she said but not all. I agree that we have grown up in a world where technology is so natural to us we forget about how cool it really is. Our parents and older generations are amazed by the technology because they didn't always have it. We take our technology for granted becuase we have had it our entire lives. Most teenagers today couldn't go more than a day without logging onto the Internet and getting on a social networking site. Also, Adriana's comment:"If anything the technology is making us more in our own world and better able to tune our families out of our life." I think this is true in some cases but not all. My family is fascinated by the technology that we have attained and we use it to the fullest. My parents, aunts, and even my grandparents have laptops and Facebook! So in some cases technology can bring us closer together.

The Net Generation

In the first chapter, Don Tapscott talks about what he calls the Net Generation. So after reading the chapter I looked more into the net generation. I did some research about the group and came across this. It goes very much into detail about the generation. It is intended to describe the generation in a way to help businesses get the generation's business. Most of the research done on specific generations are done by businesses to learn about their consumers. This study goes into detail about how the net generation thinks and what influences their actions. I thought it was a very interesting read.

Technology to us is normal

On page 20 Tapscott talks about a conversation he and his children’s were having about technology. His kids teamed up against him to say that adults care too much about technology and what it all means. They said a refrigerator is technology but we're not watching people raid their refrigerators like it's a big deal so why are other things so important. He says to us technology is like the air referring to his son looking at a picture of mars through Hubble Telescope thinking isn't Mars so cool as he himself was thinking wow my son is accessing all this right in his bedroom with technology. I think this shows a good point that to us it is just natural to have all these technological things like cell phones with internet access. As many people have said our parents are terrible with computers or texting and are fascinated that we can do it. To us it's like come on all I'm doing is typing of my phone just like you do on a computer it's not difficult what’s the big deal? This makes me think about the statement about kids getting along with their parents. I agree with the previous post that majority of kids aren't getting along well with their families. If anything the technology is making us more in our own world and better able to tune our families out of our life. I found a blog post by someone talking about the generation gap between children and their parents. They don’t even refer to technology being the reason but more so parents being so busy and consumed by their own world. This made me think maybe that’s why we become so consumed with technology at such a young age before it’s even being required in school. It’s like all these technological advances are our escapes to our own world.

http://www.blurtit.com/q888294.html

Changes in Technology

From the very beginning of chapter 1, it is obvious that Tapscott has a completely different view of technology than Bauerlain. He discusses the many advances in technology and how we use technology in our everyday lives, such as checking out movie times on our phone rather than looking in the newspaper. He doesn't feel that it causes us to be lazier and easily distracted but instead discusses how easily teens and adolescents catch on and learn how to use new technology. I found an article about some interesting changes in technology over the past 75 years. It's crazy to think that about 40 years ago people were in awe of microwave ovens and now today I don't know of anyone who doesn't have one and use it regularly. In the day of the baby boomers, as Tapscott often refers to, technology was just to make things easier and now today seems to be more about outdoing that last invention. There are some ways in which technology can be seen as a negative but for the most part it constantly improves our lives in one way or another. You can read the article for yourself here.

Global Generation

On page 31, Tapscott begins the bottom paragraph by saying, "Family is a big deal for today's youth," and ends it with, "most young people and their parents get along well." This paragraph struck me because, from what I've seen, it seems fairly inaccurate. By observing the actions and words of friends, family may be a big deal for today's youth, but kids don't "get along" so well with their parents. A lot of people I know have mastered the art of manipulating and pleasing their parents, determined to get what they want, when they want it. They talk bad about their parents, and often encourage each other to lie in order to get their way. This may not be something new, and it is natural for everyone to have a desire to get along with their parents, but it seems to me that families today are not as picture-perfect as Tapscott portrays.


On page 21, Tapscott introduces the idea of a global generation. He says that, "today's youth inhabit a flattening world" (23). I find this to be very true. Even ten or twenty years ago, it was probably a lot harder for people to communicate on a global scale. Now all we have to do is get on the computer, and communication is instantaneous, no matter where the people are located. On this website, which is called, "Management-Issues; the heart of a changing workplace," a blog from 2008 discussed the topic of a global generation.
It points out that such instant communication is changing the workplace. An article published in Harvard's Business Review suggested "that geography, culture and communication are now so interwoven into the very life fabric of today's business leaders that they are, in effect, a "global generation." However, the author of the blog points out that in order for the technology to be effective, the people must know how to use it, and therefore, business schools must switch from a local to global mindset.

Grown up with Technology

After reading the first chapter, i already like this book more than "The Dumbest Generation".

On page 18, Tapscott explains how the Net Gen children are more used to the newer technology than a citizen that was born in the "baby boomer era." The Net Gen children assimilated technology because they grew up around it, and that for adults they had to accommodate it. He also states later that the children came across technology as a another part in their environment because they grew up with it. I agree with this very much, because my mom is pretty much a computer idiot, and she asks me and my brother to help her out with the things she needs on it. I find all of his statements in this chapter to be very accurate with todays generation.

The Eight Characteristics

On the bottom of page 6 of the introduction of Don Tapscotts book Grown Up Digital he states eight characteristics that describe our young generation today. We prize freedom and freedom of choice, customize things to make them our own, we are natural collaborators, we'll scrutinize you, we insist on integrity, and we want to have fun everywhere we go. This really hits home for me because I believe those characteristics are exactly correct. We have become independant of ourselves and our beliefs and we stick to them. We do everything our own way, we come up with some of the neatest, craziest, yet amazing things just because of our imaginations. We speak with power and confidence without worrying about what people will say about us. I believe all of these things are attributes that are needed in the world today to help us to be successful; they are a good thing. I am proud to be characterized like that instead of being described as followers, dependant on other people, nonverbal, boring, and not creative.

Facebook Viruses

Social networks bring friends closer together. There is no need to have to call someone or text them to see what they are up to, just read their status. There is no time for me to talk to my best friend anymore, so now whenever we have time we post a message on each other’s walls whenever it is convenient to us. I also take a look at the pictures she posts to see how much fun she is having in college. Once again people only see the positives of these networks and either doesn’t see the negatives or the just try to ignore them.
Tapscott mentions some negatives: sharing too much information, in appropriate pictures can lead to loss in jobs. Another danger that Tapscott does not mention about social network users are the viruses that you can catch. How easy it is to catch a virus and not know where it came from. People say “I was just trying to load a video off of facebook” and all of the sudden they have a virus that does not go away. Viruses are being linked to social networking cites in many different ways. We all have facebook and are using it at least once in our daily routines. This link shows what to look out for while using facebook, what signs are a clue that it may be a virus.

http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/the_facebook_virus_spreads_no_social_network_is_safe.php

Cell Phones

Tapscott talks a lot about media and how it is different from the Net Generation and the Boomer Generation. One topic I found interesting was the cell phone topic. Tapscott states how the Net Geners use this tool of choice as access to the web anymore. We live around these small cellular devices for access to friends, family, web, and more. 72 percent of 13 - 17 year-olds in US have a mobile phone, which leads to the next statement that most teens say they would be disconnected from the world without their phone. The Boomers do not use phones for these uses but mainly just to call up family and friends rather than send a quick text like the Net Generation would do. The statistics stated about cell phones were almost expected but also eye opening, such as how many teens have a cell phon and how many minutes spent on the phone and so forth. This small device has a great future ahead of itself. I found a website that was related to this topic. This site shows a lot of statistics about cell phones like Tapscott was talking. It shows what they use them for and why, but mainly about what the teens want out of cell phones in the future. It is as if they are just not good enough. Take a look at this site Cell Phones Key to Teens Social Life... and mainly what the teens want for the future orf the phone. Some of the thoughts are good but some seem far fetched. What does anyone think of these ideas??

Center for Democracy

Seeing as how we are supposed to do this post on how digital media can have potential for progressive forces, I did a little digging to see if I could find a site that accomplished this. I came across the Center for Democracy and Technology, a web site that does exactly what it's name says. They are first interested in keeping the internet user controlled and not centrally controlled. They also fight to keep rights such freedom of expression and privacy on the web. Lastly, the try to stop government surveillance on the net and are funding a project to give every American access to the Internet. Overall, the CDT enforces democratic policies on the internet, hoping that it will never biased. They do this because they realize the net is a great way to enhance citizen participation in the democratic process. In simple terms, they keep the internet free so we are not reading about only what the government wants us to hear. Pretty cool if you ask me.

Peace In the Media

There are so many things that this world needs to change for the better and one of those is to focus more on peace. I came across a website that does a very good job of promoting peace and talks with celebrities and gives their views on how we should go about getting a peaceful world. Yoko Ono Talks about Obama winning the Nobel Peace Prize and how he needs all the support we can give him in this crazy world we live in. Please check this sight out it is well worth it!

http://imaginepeace.com/news/

Give Peace a Vote

This week we are supposed to talk about how digital media (websites, forums, etc) have potential for progressive forces. Well I came across a site that does just that. At GivePeaceAVote.org it encourages people to...well...give peace their vote. On the site it educates people on the peace movement. It encourages all those who come across the site to join the cause for peace. It goes into detail about world peace and what it actually means. Many of have heard or used the tearm, well they go into detail to tell us what they believe that really is and how that would help make the world a better place.
We are all familiar with the idea of peace and this site realizes this and goes a step further. It tells us about conscientious objection and what others are doing in an effort to promote peace and how we could get involved. The site is not trying to recruit people, rather it is just trying to educate; get their message out. It is a very good message that should be heard.

Digital Stories

Watching the digital stories, I have noticed that the tone of the voice and the pace of the voice has a great deal on the movie. Along with the perfect amount of time that is taken on each time and also the transitions (make sure they are appropriate for the picture that is being presented. The background music seems very hard to pick. Finding the right song that flows with the tone of the story seems difficult. The creator of each movie has to make sure everything is portraying how the feeling was to the author. The emotion of these movies are so strong, in just 3 minutes you can be in tears about some story about a person you have never met. A lot of these stories seem so strong and passionate, mostly seems that people right more about death and about ill people, I’m not going to lie but that is kind of sad.

A Story to Tell

I looked into digital stories more after I began working on the project in hope to learn more on how I can improve my own digital story. There are several different ways that people go about making their own digital story. Some have many pictures, some have few, some use real pictues while others use symbolic pictures. Every one has a story to tell and find different way to go about telling their meaningful story. I find the ones that use symbolic pictures to have a stonger and more powerful meaning. The music also plays a role on how powerful the story comes across. I am trying to imply the new thoughts and ideas to my own story as I learn them, even though they can not all be applied. By simply going to this link of YouTube you can see and watch several different digital stories, all using different ways to make their story their own.

Digital media can have potential for progressive forces. The different digital stories and other videos made through digital media can have impact on different aspects such as peace and equality. Just like sites such as http://www.worldmapper.org/ that have clip about our world can change these aspects. By watching these clips we can see how the population is divided among the world, see if equality met, etc. By watching these videos, one can relize the differences and try to impact that aspect.

Haiti's Digital Storytellers

So I started looking around the internet for sites on digital storytelling but couldn't find anything that hadn't already been posted so I decided to go to youtube. I found this great video about Haitian digital storytellers. It is a great story about a very poor country. The video talks about how creative Haitians can be and how good they are at digital storytelling. It is a pretty cool video and I hope you all enjoy.

Haitian Digital Storytellers

Everyone Has a Story.

I’m sure I have seen many digital stories before, but I had never really thought about them. Looking through the Stories For Change website, I found out a lot about digital story telling. Some stories use no music, but many pictures. Some use very powerful music that ties in to their narration. Some are like personal letters to people, while others are more lighthearted and fun. The one thing that all of these stories have in common is that they share a personal experience in a powerful way. Whether it is about the person’s favorite place, or how they made a difference in their community. The thing I like about digital story telling is that everyone’s lives are different, and we all have many different impactful stories that we could share with others. Digital story telling is a great way to do this, since it uses the story teller’s own voice, with significant images and music.

Digital Stories

As i was looking around for some information on storytelling, i came across what makes storytelling, storytelling. Some basic tools you need to have a digital story are images, text, a narrator, video clips and/or music. This website has a video which explains a great way on learning how to do a digital story. This video helped me with what i need to get done with a digital story. LINK

Digital Stories

After looking through several types of digital stories, I find it interesting that basically any type of story can be told through a digital story. Some are about love, adventure, tragedy, morals, and comedy. The use of pictures in some of the ones I watched made a big difference on the entire feel of the story while on others it was the music. I liked how some people really put a lot of emotion and personal feelings into theirs while other people had more fun with it and made it exciting. There are lots of ways to add interest in a digital story and here is a website that I found with several good tips for digital storytelling.

Five stages of death

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IkpAO0f0oN0&feature=fvw

I don't know if someone could classify this as a digital story telling, but more of a digital education message. In health class we just learned about the five stages of death. They are: Denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptace.

The video above gives a basic understanding of the five stages of death through a funny animated clip. It goes through each stage with a giraffe, and how he is affected by each of the stages. The animation basically makes it easier to understand the concept of the stages of death. It is not as much as a digital story as a digital education video. The fact that someone could make a concept easier to learn by making it into a digital story is amazing.

Digital Story - High School Life

Here is a video a friend of mine made for his high school senior portfolio project. It shows how his experiences at DeSmet Jesuit High School, the school I went to as well, had a huge positive effect on his life. I can definately relate to his video because we were a part of the track and football team as we did a lot of stuff together throughout high school. The video not only shows how the school changed us, but brought back some great memories of all the friends and fun that we had at the four years we were at the school.

Digita Story

Well I see that our blog for today is about digital storytelling. This reminded me of this flash animation that someone made about their 18th birthday. The person told his story with a song about him turning eighteen and having to be drafted into the army. I thought it was a little sad, since the person seems scared to be in the army. I also found it a little strange seeing this kind of flash animation, since this person usually makes funny animations. You can view the animation here. If you like his animation, then you should probably check some of the other work that he his made.

Digital Stories

Last night I got out the assignment on digital stories and started to do some research because I had never heard of them. What I was surprised to see was the mass amounts of websites dedicated just to them. There were literally thousands. The websites had many types of videos also that ranged from personal stories to the recounting of historical events, there were even videos about how to make videos. Therefore, after looking through quite a few it is going to be very difficult for me to decide what to do mine on. However I did like this informational video...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2f2IwxZ2iQ

Facebook leads to kindey transplant

Bauerlein often criticizes social networking sites and simply groups them all as bad. He never really mentions anything positive about them, making his arguement very biased. However, KMOV recently did a segment on the news about my "uncle" who received a kidney transplant and how facebook saved his life in a way. His daughter was always on Facebook and often wrote about how her father badly needed a transplant. None of his family was a match snd a lady from their church, who also used Facebook, saw this and decided to see if she was a match. She was and the surgery was performed a few weeks later. He is now doing MUCH better and without Facebook, who knows how long it could have taken to find a match. Things like this go to show that social networking sites can be about more than just fun and entertainment. Because they reach out to a very broad group, you can reach hundreds of people from one simple post or status update.
Here is the link to the video: KMOV Video

Your Digital Story

After looking through a couple of digital stories on YouTube, I started to notice some very similar things about them. On most of them, they would use Flash in order to help them tell their story. I watched a simple one on baseball. He used Flash to demonstrate how he swung and missed the ball rather than just using a picture. From what I've seen digital stories just are much more interesting and make the job of telling a story much easier. The pictures and the use of Flash make it very easy to keep people entertained. I think that details are more easily remebered by these stories too. I know personally that I learn much easier when I have pictures to back my information up.



Although I found quite a few digital stories about serious/tragic issues in one's life, I also came across some stories that were just for plain entertainment. All in all, digital stories seem like an interesting way to share a story that the teller may find emotionally disturbing. It is also just a different way to get out "your" story to the rest of the world.



Here is a digital story about baseball:

A Student's Voice

Ok, this blog is strictly from my views about learning styles. Bauerlain, in his book, talks about how this generation doesn't pay any attention to the subjects that are supposed to be learned in school, kids just don't go out and read a history book because it is "fun" to do. What I believe is that if classrooms would start getting the kids more involved in the classroom discussions instead of having them write notes the whole hour that maybe kids would be more interested. When you are writing notes down, you aren't thinking about what your writing down, all you are thinking about is getting all of the words down before the teacher is done discussing the topic. What if you don't understand? Well most students won't just interrupt and say " Explain this in depth." Students need to get their opinions in about these subjects. If they are studying about World War II then let them sit in class and discuss amongst themselves the important points of the war, debate about what would have happened if this... and what would have happened if that.. This gives a better learning experience and the students are probably going to remember these discussions more than they are going to remember " She said this in class I think so I should probably study about it a little bit more." Have debates, ask questions, let the students learn amongst themselves and maybe we wouldn't be so "uninterested" in these school subjects. The learning experience has much to do with what we are interested in and what we understand.

Digital Stories

After reading and looking into these digital stories I found them to become quite interesting. A lot of them that I looked into were outlooks of that persons life. They had something that was hard to tell or emotional and by sharing it through a digital story we got the impact and point of what they were trying to say. I found some done by younger children that was just about their room or life in general and how they thought of it. These can be very personal stories or a general story that you would like to share. Digital stories can be used to express something not easily spoken to others or too emotional to say. I came across one digital story at this particular website that was given in our assignment pages that related sofas to his life. I found this rather interesting. I never looked at relating ones life to something as general as a sofa, but he does and he does a good job at it. There were many other stories on this site that I looked into and also found interesting. Most digital stories are personal and relavent to their own life, which is what we are going to be doing here soon.

Digital Stories

At first I wasn't too excited about this project but after going over the assignment in my other class with Ted I got really into the idea of it. He showed us a website that has digital stories done by young kids and I was amazed that I am so worried about this project but look at what these kids can do. I think digital stories are an amazing way to get your message out to the public. Anyone can post a video on youtube, so any digital story you make can be shared with the world. I feel that is very powerful. Sometimes when you just tell someone your story they may not be able to fully understand what it means. You may also hold back some emotions while standing in front of people and telling a story. With digital stories your emotions are shown by the music, the tone in your voice in which no one is seeing you speak it, and the pictures you choose and symbolism to them. I'm starting to see a bigger picture in all these assignments. I think at the end of this semester we will be better able to get our voice heard and when we get the chance for someone to listen to our voice we will be professional at how we deliver it. This class is helping us not be what Bauerlein says we are. We are being taught how to use all these technologies to better ourselves and have fun at the same time. Though there are many more assignments to come I'm excited about how proud I'm going to be at the end of the semester knowing I accomplished so much. I would no longer rather be in a blow off freshman seminar because this class is truly going to benefit us all!

I found some cool digital stories that are really effective at getting their message heard.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uR2tXjG5PSE&feature=fvw

The next video is about Hurricane katrina. This just shows how digital stories give us a chance to show things from our own eyes. It's kind of long but just watch the first minuet. The pictures with the song is so moving.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3gduXLPpTw&feature=fvw

This video shows how digital stories really give someone whose voice is never heard a chance to make everyone listen.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvCRHTQwXAk&feature=related

Christopher Phelps

As I was reading the Dumbest Generation, I saw that Bauerlain was talking about Christopher Phelps. He was talking about how he writes about society and cuturial history. I honestly got a little interested in this person. I decided to look him up and found this website about all of the books that he wrote and some information about him. I saw that he wrote about the history of philosophy, political thought, social dissent, popular movements, race and racism, and literature and society. If anyone else is interested in reading what this guy wrote about. Just go to the link and you can see all of the books that he wrote.

Bauerlein again has succeeded in making many assumptions about our knowledge gained through technology. A few have mentioned how he states that it is our teachers and mentors fault that we hold higher learning at the priority that he assumes we do. The paragraph at the top of page 201 is ridiculous. One line he says is< “A teen world cranked up by technology a knowledge world cranked down by its abdicating mentors. I want to know what proof he has that our mentors are teaching or lack thereof teaching us what is important and preparing us for each higher step in education? In high school I still had to read books for my English classes, compose essays, keep journals, and do reading reports on outside reading. He later in that paragraph says that mentors condone our lack of learning by actually believing that we are smarter than we are. What he forgets is that it is true that most of our parents can't do half of what we do on the internet. Some parents may not have ever sent a text message. Of course they are going to be amazed at what we can do in no way do they credit our intelligence or not push us in academic areas. Another thing that bothered me was the whole paragraph on page 202 pretty much this whole four page rant is ridiculous! He is making nothing but assumptions on page 202. Some things he says are, "They leave school but peer fixations and social habits stay the same. They join the workforce only to realize that self-esteem lessons of home and class, as well as behaviors that made them popular, no longer apply." What! All of us are raised very differently in our homes and what is popular to one may not be popular to others. He then says something like it will take us years to adjust into adulthood. Again everybody is different some people adapt very well to new situations of course some don't but they could just have a underlying social issue maybe that doesn't mean they aren't educated to move forward. I have been seeing those "foundation for a better life" billboards popping up and I really like them. I wonder according to Bauerlein is this not our mentors trying to teach us? It seems to him if it isn't strictly academic then it isn't educational. So we can all just be really really smart and academically driven but have horrible values and morals? It seems he would be happy with that but then again I'm just assuming the way he does half the time about us! I found the "character" site with all the different billboards and what their mission is. I found it really cool check it out.

http://www.values.com/