Final Project Presentation

My research question is: What types of adaptive and assistive technologies are available in schools to help aid students in need? (schools ranging from elementary through college)

School systems I received information from and took picture at (of their technologies) include Warren Twp., Perry Twp., Franklin Twp., IUPUI Adaptive Education Services (Univ. Library), and Rise Special Services

* Introduction (its features)
Assistive technology is defined as any item, piece of equipment, or system of products that is used to increase, maintain, or improve functional capabilities of individuals with disabilities. Adaptive technology aids users by adapting content or user responses into a medium appropriate for the user. For example, screen readers "adapt" conventional text by converting it into content spoken by a synthetic voice, thereby making standard text accessible to blind students. (www.education-world.com)
* Works Cited
* (10) Assistive/Adaptive Technologies used in Indianapolis schools
* Each page includes: Description of technology, Features, Models Available, Software, or Publisher/Company, Users/Benefits, Issues, and Cost

I chose a blog for this assignment because I wanted to get it out on the Internet, creating a webpage would be too difficult for me right now, and this class is the first time I’ve ever blogged…wanted to try out more of its features.

How does what’s important fit into reading?
~Expansion of what we’ve talked about in class

Anything else to help me? Other technologies you’d like me to add?

Blog URL: http://adaptivetechw412.blogspot.com/

-AAK

Final Project Focus

Research Question: What types of adaptive technologies are available in schools to help aid students in need? And, possibly including what adaptive technologies should be available in schools? (schools ranging from elementary through college)
Information Gathering: I have already contacted Adaptive Education Services at IUPUI. I plan to have John Ault show me around the Adaptive Learning Center in University Library. I will have him show me the different technologies IUPUI offers, as well as take pictures of those technologies and gather information on what and how the technologies aid students with different disabilities. From there I will focus on adaptive technologies offered at middle schools and high schools, mainly focusing on the Indianapolis area. I have contacts at schools such as, Franklin Twp., Perry Twp., and Roncalli (Ryan from class). Finally, I will also take a look at adaptive technologies and elementary schools, Warren Twp. (Pleasant Run Elementary). I will take pictures of all the different technologies, learn about their capabilities, and do further research on their uses (books/scholarly sources).

Steps/Timeline: Next week, I’ll plan to visit the Adaptive Learning Center, and as soon as I can get to the other schools, I will. This week is their spring breaks, so next week and the week after, I’ll start contacting and visiting the schools hard. By the final two weeks before the project is due, I’ll be working on the extra research of the technologies, possibly even using interviews from the teachers/people who are in chare of using the technologies. And, then I’ll begin writing up what these technologies do, their uses, how they benefit students, and I’ll probably even include some their shortcomings.

Obstacles: I can see some schools may be busy or may not want me to take pictures of the technologies, but hopefully that’s hurdle I can overcome. I have enough contacts and helpful friends that I think even if one school turns me down I should be able to get enough information from another school or just by doing research on the internet. Gathering and organizing all the data and pictures will take the most work, but I’m already off to a good start, I think, so it shouldn’t be too bad.

Questions: I don’t have any questions at this point. However, if you have any information on good sites/articles that talk about adaptive technologies in schools, I’d love to hear about them. Also, if you know of any schools that really do a great job of integrating these technologies, and they’re located in the area, that also would be helpful information.

Genre: I’ve definitely ruled out power point. I want to get my information on the web for public access. I was originally considering creating a website; however, I’ve been playing around with the features of Blogger, where you can add pictures and a new thing they have now is to add video/slide shows, so I think a blog (or a series of approx. 10 or more blogs about each of the different technologies) will be what I do. Each page will contain a picture of the adaptive technology, its name, other information about it, its uses, how it benefits students, and its shortcomings.
-AAK

Reading Notes 4/10/2007

"Understanding Visual Rhetoric in Digital Writing Environments" -Mary E. Hocks
(includes discussion of websites)

• Hybrid forms defined: "at once verbal, spatial, and visual" (631)
• Acknowledging hybridity "means that the relationships among word and image, verbal texts and visual texts, 'visual culture' and 'print culture' are all dialogic relationships rather than binary opposites" (631)
• "Critiquing and producing writing in digital environments actually offers a welcome return to rhetorical principles and an important new pedagogy of writing as design" (632).
• Again it is brought up that digital rhetoric is an ongoing dialogue with both reader and writer.
• Audience stance: audience participation in online community. This includes reasons that may encourage or discourage audience activity (632).
• Transparency: "the ways in which online documents relate to established conventions like those of print, graphic design, film, and Web pages" (632).
• Hybridity: the combination of visual and verbal designs (632). (key word: multifaceted)
• In Anne Wysocki's "Monitoring Order," I agree with Hock's point about two-dimensionality. "Two-dimensional graphic design offers some guidance for designing web pages but it is also limited" (634) Wysocki's is this way. At first when I went to this site I was very annoyed. I'm used to copying and pasting the documents we need to read for class into a Word doc and then printing them out to read at my leisure. I didn't realize it would take that long, so I started clicking each box, highlighting the text, and pasting it into Word. By the end of all this, I was very annoyed. I do feel this clicking on the boxes, like turning a page in a book was a neat idea, but it did not help me so much for what I had planned for it.
• Boese's Xena website seems more typical to me. "An experience of open-ended possibility...not very transparent" (640). Xenaverse was cool. To me it was set up more like an interactive website, so I didn't really even try to copy and paste every page into a word document. I enjoyed the pictures, music, and place where readers could participate. I think she does a great job, like in a book, of listing a table of contents. She even provides a "How to read" section with navigational map. Even though I've never seen a full episode of Xena, I can tell this site was created with the Xenites in mind. Anyone can make a contribution(s) to the site.
• Teaching Visual Digital Rhetoric: create new designs/scrutinize current designs
• To build on this article it would be helpful to look at a guide for critique websites, which I'm sure deciding on specific guidelines is not an easy thing to do. I could see many debating what makes a good website and what doesn't...especially when "the pleasure" you get out of a website is one thing you're looking at.
• Storyboarding is helpful when creating one's own site
• Hocks concludes by saying those who participate in digital design "can see themselves as active producers of knowledge in their discipline" (652).

Reading Notes 4/4/2007

"Remediation, Genre, and Motivation: Key Concepts for Teaching with Weblogs"
-Brooks, Nichols, Priebe (North Dakota State Univ)

• Blogs in classrooms (a.k.a. genres): journals, research tools, sharing ideas
• As discussed in class, people creates blogs for many different reason. (For education purposes, is far from the top of the list for reasons to blog)
• Weblogging= relatively low-tech
• Is it possible? Weblogs have the potential to "encourage that person to continue writing where he or she might otherwise stop" (1)
• "The writer who is self-motivated and community supported" (1)
• I could see where this vision, blogging for educational purposes, might anger some bloggers. Blogging for some is a place were people can vent, misspell, share opinions, say basically anything, and now it's being looked at as an educational tool. I support the use of the blog in the classroom; however, I can see some who may have mixed feelings about this...like at the beginning of this class when some classmates were not to thrilled about blogging class notes.
• This idea of motivation in students is nothing new.
• Research questions: "Which weblog genre(s) engage or motivate students to make significant contributions to their personal or class weblog?" (1)
• "The web is remediating all media that has come before it" (2)
• Research assumption: "An engaged and motivated weblog writer will become a better writer of other genres" (2)
• A pretty big difference to w/i a year to go from 79% to 52% students who had never heard of weblogs before their class (don't see many other surprises in the other tables)
• Five Points: Point 2: "In both semesters, our students preferred the journal weblog regardless of which course they were enrolled in, and as student awareness of weblogging increases, the personal, daily reflection seems likely to be the defining characteristic of weblogging" (again not much surprise there)
• Would be interesting to repeat this study today. I would go to show how much and how quickly technology is changing.
• The notebook=seems likely to be most successful
• From Point 5, seems like beginning with weblog is a great thing to do, before you start moving on to more advanced technologies in the classroom.

AAK

Reading Notes 4/3/2007

"We Can't Ignore the Influence of Digital Technologies" -Cathy Davidson

• I think banning Wiki would be taking a step to far


• Davidson realizes the media exaggerated the real story, and after doing some research, she realizes that Middlebury College's history department's policy is that not only is Wiki not to be cited in paper, but the same goes for Encyclopaedia Britannica.


• I can understand that professors would want students to site scholarly source; however, it is important to note that those sources also have the possibility of containing errors.


• Davidson describes exactly what Alan mentioned in class about Wiki being a "collaborative, digital environment."


• I like the fact the Wiki's errors can be corrected quickly; however it is still somewhat of a Catch 22. If you are researching on Wiki come across and article that contains incorrect information that has not been corrected yet, you're out of luck.


• Davidson mentions other characteristics of Wiki: unites anonymous readers, is overall devoted to a common good, and deals with intellect, a community of lifelong learners


• "Why not make studying what it does and does not do part of research-and-methods?" -I agree


• In Davidson's Pokemon/Dinosaur analogy, I cannot see how knowing 500 Pokemon characters is equivalent to being able to name 500 dinosaurs. (What am I missing here?--possibly a different example would better explain a child's ability to memorize useful information)


• John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation's Digital Media seems to be working on some great research initiatives; anything to inspire children in schools is great!


• HASTAC- a site "sponsored by the Institute for the Future of the Book, a group dedicated to investigating how intellectual discourse changes as it shifts from printed pages to networked screens."


• Davidson goes back to Wiki and discuss how it may be a great resources, just as we discussed in class: "A quick and easy reference before heading into more-scholarly depths."


• It Wiki can be a great starting point.


• I think Davidson sums it all when she says, "Why rush to ban the single most impressive collaborative intellectual tool produced at least since the Oxford English Dictionary. [!!!]

Remediation, Genre, and Motivation blog coming soon!

Reading Notes 3/24/2007

"More on Plagiarism Detection" Sept. 24, '06 -Clancy

• I think I am like Clancy. I wouldn't mind bringing in my paper trail on an essay if it meant that those who were plagiarising got caught.
• Clancy makes a good point: easier to plagiarize and easier for professors to prove plagiarism
• While more work for the professor/teacher, I think Clancy has a point here: establish communication with students. Watch their writing process closely
• Googling passages from the paper (a teacher thinks might be plagiarized) is also a great idea
• Way to call out Turnitin.com...it's a business, just like any other...interested in $
• I think if a teacher/professor is going to call a student in b/c of possibly plagiarizing, it is the teacher/professors duty to at least tell the student what he/she is getting called in for. Give him or her the opportunity to present sources. It should become obvious during the meeting if the sources are legit.
• I'm looking forward to discussing this article further in class. I'd really like some info on what Turnitin.com is all about. Maybe I'll do some looking around on the site. I've heard of it, but I'm not all that familiar with its features.

"Wikipedia to Seek Proof of Credentials" -Brian Bergstein

• Wikipedia verifying credentials, but authors can still remain anonymous
• "W/O a lot of hassle" isn't that mainly what the Internet is about? At least when it comes to people using the Internet for leisure...if the features of a website create too much of a hassle, the website probably won't be able to keep very many users
• Interesting that Ryan Jordan was lying, yet got promoted to arbitrator. I am sure there are many other cases like this same one that haven't come to the surface. I can understand why professor wouldn't want students to be able to use this site as a source. Scholarly sources are the way to go.
• Anonymity of Wikipeda="a frequent cause of mischief"
• I am amazed by all the articles Wikipedia houses in other languages
• Jimmy Wales, mockingly, "It's always inappropriate to win an argument by flashing your credentials, and even more so if those credentials are inaccurate" (2). In regards to Ryan Jordan

"Can Wikipedia Ever Make the Grade" Oct. 27 '06 -Brock Read

• Alexander M.C. Halavais "Dr. al-Halawi" added errors to Wikipedia articles (Wow, surprised to read that less than 3 hours later all of his incorrect additions were fixed)
• Wikipedia and its amateur editors
• But, using Wikipedia as a source? I'm not sure I want to use a source for my papers that "does a FAIRLY good job at getting its facts straight" (1).
• I can see where some academics are coming from when they say, "It devalues the notion of expertise itself." (1) Anyone can post!
• I think if experts and professors are trying to screw Wikipedia b/c they are not getting priority, that's ridiculous.
• A new site specifically for experts...Larry Sanger
• I agree, "If you can't beat the Wikipedians, join 'em."
• Wikimania...with the number of articles growing each day, how is it possible to check all for accuracy? (Now Wikipedia has made a turn toward accuracy)
• "The openness that makes Wikipedia so alluring to its contributors is precisely what discomfits scholars" (2).
• John Seigenthaler's incorrect site
• Now users must register before they post articles
• Wow, sites like answers.com pull from Wiki...who would have thought?
• Nature's findings: Wiki and Britannica on almost the same playing fields
• I think that's the cool thing...Wiki is continuing making itself better--"Mr. Rosenzweig [history prof at George Mason] notes...several Wikipedians have read his critiques and edited a number of articles in response to his concerns (3).
• A surprise to me that science articles are the strongest on Wiki
• Less articles on humanities b/c of interpretive finesse
• Unfortunate that experts are writing things and they get cut up...I can see why some scholars are turned away from Wiki
• Does Wiki have a "tendency to value anonymous communal thought over individual intellect"...group think can be a bad thing
• I like how Read puts it, Attitude Adjustment
• Wikipedia vs. Mr. Sanger's Citizendium...expert editors get final say!

"Internet Encyclopaedias Go Head to Head" Dec. 14, 2005 -Nature

• Nature's investigation used peer review to compare Wiki to Britannica's coverage of science
• Since about the same amount of errors in both...Wiki's co-founder says this "shows the potential of Wikipedia"
• Four errors from each encyclopaedia were considered serious
• 162 minor errors in Wiki vs. 123 Britannica (seems to me like a lot of errors from both, but it does show Wiki's ability to be on almost the same playing field)
• Wiki has speed but more articles that are "poorly structured and confusing"
• New thing for Wiki=tagging articles as stable (seems like a good idea)

[Supplementary Information]

• Reviewers regarded as experts (in field long time/highly regarded by peers)
• They did not know what article was from what encyclopaedia
• Randomly selected scientific articles (based upon terms reporters would check in an encyclopaedia)

[Encyclopaedia Britannica's Rebutal] "Fatally Flawed" March 2006

• Saying Nature's research invalid
• Brit claims, what Nature said were inaccuracies were not at all, also, some of the articles examined were not even in the encyclopaedia.
• Misleading headline (the journal misrepresented its own results, so Brit says)
• Brit says, Nature declined making full reports available
• Brit identifies problems: article not from actual Encyclopaedia Britannica and in some cases the full article was not reviewed, or they patched two different articles together
• Reviewers = not required to provide sources to Nature (I definitely see this as a problem)
• One thing that bothers me about this article is that Brit is saying what they think the "lay reader" or "general reader" needs to know. Why is it up to them to decide what I need to know and not know?

[ Nature standing by their story]

• Nature saying they provided Brit most of what they asked for, except for reviewers' reports
• Seems many of the things Brit is against (or says were wrong), Nature says they did deliberately
• ***Interesting, "Britannica has subsequently corrected many of the errors that our reviewers identified.
• Final point, "individual mistakes will have averaged out" (I don't think this is the best, to make me feel the data is accurate; however, I guess it will have to do)

AAK

Reading Notes 3/23/2007

"In Teens' Web World, MySpace is So Last Year" Oct. 29, '06 -Yuki Noguchi

• Yes, that's what I'm talking about! I love THE FACEBOOK. I've never been a MySpacer, I don't even have an account.
• Teens and the Internet: "Powerful but fickle"
• Interesting, the effects teen fickleness has on advertisers
• Never even heard of Xanga (and Friendstar?)
• I think the reasons listed for leaving MySpace are very legitimate
• The want and search for innovative and new features by teens on the Internet is what helps keeps it fresh.
• It's amazing how the list for popular teen sights can changes drastically by month
• I think as long as MySpace and other sites like it keep expanding their features, they'll be around for awhile.
• As with Noguchi's last point (Evan Hansen's comment), will people go back to more traditional forms of communication when they get tired of talking on the computer? An interesting thought.

"Etiquette for the Bar" Jan. 12, '07 -Katherine Mangan

• As with the two Drake Univ. fake examples, where is the line drawn when it comes to innocently socializing and being disrespectful toward authority?
• Being somewhat younger, I almost want to say, these (profiles) are these kids lives, let them live.
• I do agree that writing an e-mail to somebody makes the communication seem informal no matter who the receiver is
• I'm still not sure how I feel about the judge getting in students business and writing to the dean saying that the students need to act professionally.
• I think the workshop is a good idea though. At least to present the information to the students.
• ***That's a better way to go about. It makes sense. Just restrict access for who can view your pages. Although, now that I think about it, one of my professors from U of I is my friend on the Facebook.

AAK

Reading Notes 3/6/2007

Scott McCloud's online comic "Porphyria's Lover"

• McCloud presents an interesting take on this poem through his comic.
• Looking at his other online comics, I felt his graphics could have been better and more detailed.

Scott McCloud's "I Can't Stop Thinking Columns"

• (1) "The HTML Blues" June 2000: "Today's HTML standards reflect just a small part of what the web is capable of."
• (2) "The 99.9% Solution--Online Diversity" (chess example) "Diversity can be a doorway which non-comics readers can be drawn to the form itself through pre-existing areas of interest."

***Can't Miss This (My recommended Scott McCloud Online Comics--listed under The Morning Improv)

• #24 "A Bucket Full of Kittens"
• #10 "Meadow of the Damned Conclusion"
• #2 "Proto the Pet"

"What We're Doing When We Blog" -Meg Hourihan June '02

• Weblogs vs. Warblogs
• Weblogs traditional definition= "links-plus-commentary" (1)
• Commonality of weblogs=the format
• Blog characteristics (1) conversational tone (2) post is not a full argument but open to discussion
• Readers join the conversation by commenting
• A weblog "post is a self-contained topical unit" (2) There is no minimum or maximum on its length
• Weblog has the newest information at the top (immediacy and timeliness play a role here)
• I like Hourihan's discussion under The Time Stamp about moments of shared experience. While you may not even know the person's blog you're reading, there is a connection, especially if you comment back and the blogger reads it. To describe this, Hourihan uses the term "bloggers dinner." (3)
• Hmm, what does Hourihan mean by her statement, "What we say isn't as important as the system that enable us to say it?" (3)
• Final idea: I think Hourihan gives us a nice perspective into blogging, since she is a blogger herself. This class's blog is the first blog I've had. It's interesting to learn what else in the form of blogging exists our there in cyberspace.

"Bloggers: A Portrait of the Internet's New Storytellers" Summary of Findings

-Amanda Lenhart and Susannah Fox July '06

• #1 reason for blogging=personal journal with politics and government as runner-up (I don't think that finding would surprise anyone)
• I like hearing that blogging is evenly split between men and women. And just as we've talked in class, it's no surprise that bloggers tend to be younger.
• Wow, 74% of users are white to 9% African American. I didn't think this data would be even; however, I did expect African American users would be higher.
• It's good to hear that bloggers are focused on checking facts and citing original sources. If this is true for high school age bloggers, this could be a great help for students already knowing that citing sources is important for their classroom papers as well.
• I think being aware of what's going on in your world in community is an important thing. It's great to see that 72% of bloggers also look online for new or information about politics.
• "Blogging is bringing new voices to the online world" (I totally agree, thanks for the Findings @ a Glance)

*Be looking for notes on "In Teens' Web World, MySpace Is So Last Year" and "Etiquette for the Bar" in my blog for our next class meeting.

-AAK

Reading Notes 2/26/2007

"Technology as Teacher: Augmenting (Transforming) Writing Instruction"
-Janet Carey Eldred and Lisa Toner

• Computers have and will continue to transform writing instruction (I agree)
• Writing teachers integrating pedagogy and technology are pivotal agents in changes in technology. (I feel this is an interesting point considering the last article we read discussed how teachers in the English department at a university, I believe in Florida, were not even involved when the university set basic technological requirements that students were to know before graduating)
• The campus technology ladder: at the top=Technology-rich campuses, then we move on to technology bound campuses (with lofty goals), and at the bottom=ill-equipped campuses.
• Kudos to teachers and students e-mailing one another
• The real questions: "What can be done with computers in traditional, print-focused writing classrooms?" (36).
• One strength of going digital: access to many resources (scholarly journals, etc)
• Discussion about online classes/discussion--The online Shakespeare class that I took last semester was quite interesting. It was my first online course, and I thought I might miss the traditional classroom setting but I didn't. The instructor worked in ways to get many different classmates sharing their ideas, just as they would have been in the classroom. One thing that helped was an active instructor wanting to set up dialogues between students. I think online classes/discussions have the potential to be very beneficial for students.
• Heuristics defined-is a set process or method used to solve a problem or explore an idea
• I think this quote also goes with the last article. We should not let computers rule us. We should always be thinking about ways that we can use computers to enhance writing in the classroom. "For writing teachers integrating technology, it becomes crucial to determine how the software drives a particular way of thinking and whether or not the engine can be diverted from the programmed path and encouraged to take alternative mental routes" (39).
• Comment function on Word is great for Instructor reviewing
• Spell check can be helpful as well as annoying ( I will admit that I am one of those people that relies on spell check to catch my misspellings and because of this, I think my spelling has become poor in some circumstances)
• Thanks to the Internet, everyone can publish
• Thought the "Whole Classroom Management" discussion could have been expanded. I think technology can be such an advantage here
• Wow, that's definitely a point I haven't paid much attention to: ethical choices about technology. It's something teachers need to think about.
• Good list of what an instructor needs to think about before adopting a new technology. This part of the article I will definitely hold on to and think about beginning teaching.
• ***Students and teachers should drive "our decision making about literacy issues" (45).

-AAK

Reading Notes 2/19/2007

Reimagining the Functional Side of Computer Literacy -Stuart Selber Feb. '04

• "Faculty of English departments are rarely (if ever) consulted in institutional matter of computer literacy. Who is at fault here? Should English faculty take a more active approach?
• Past: advantages of word-processing programs for literacy
• Teachers of writing=focus on critical concerns NEED= more focus and broader on functional concerns of technology
• Students need both, plus rhetorical and visual literacies
• Just addressing critical concerns causes failure in 3 ways: attending to such functional concerns as 1. "managing online environments, 2. participating in online activities, 3. dealing with technical problems" (472).
• Just learning the "simple and fundamental" is not adequate!
• "Critics have argued that limited approaches to teaching functional skills overlook culture contexts, focus on vocational requirements, and reinforce social norms and values" (472).
• We need to do more than just maintain status quo...this is causing domestication and dehumanization of students (in other words, it's not fair, and we're cutting students' education short)
• Functional literacy has been focused on "highly specific, stabilized skill sets detached from particular social contexts" (473). This thought process...even damaging
• Functional technological literacy should (like Levine explains) "reflect the needs and motivations of the groups served, and should aim for a self-sustaining standard--one which permits pupils to make independent use of what the have learned without further help from an instructor" (473-4)!!!!
• Functional literacy should be about more than just survival
• Pg. 475= reasons that justify a functional approach. However, we shouldn't be satisfied with universalizing
• Parameters for functional literacy should be set around: educational goals, social conventions, specialized discourses, management activities, and technological impasses
• Educational Goals
• Be mindful of what is important to students
• Computer mediated users vs. functionally literate users (empowered users)
• Functionally literate users="confront skill demands, collaborate online, and explore instructional opportunities" (476)
• In other words, "further their educational goals
• All about computer control (being alert to technological limitations)
• Pg. 478 interesting discussion of use of computer as "glorified typewriter"
• Hmmm, interesting concept, style sheet. I'm not quite sure I know what this is.
• Online environments can suit individuals needs
• Similar to Yancey: "Design multiple arrangements that reflect different perspectives and educational goals" (479).
• Deliver individualized content in a creative and convenient manner
• Social Conventions
• Essential="decoding the expectations that have been adopted in socialized network spaces" (481)
• Pg. 482= the social forces of online discourses that shape the rate of participation
• Are you playing by the rules of computer etiquette?
• Thinking about social conventions in actual computer-mediated communications is a good exercise
• Focus=to be able to discern "productive modes of engagement" (483)
• Specialized Discourses
• While learning internal and external sketches of a typical computer system may be helpful, so should other discourses be emphasized
• There is really no such thing as a "coherent disciplinary discourse" (484-5)
• Pg. 485 Gives examples of what students/teachers need to know in computer-supported classrooms. A good rule of thumb for knowing the technology is being able to talk about it using the jargon or "language of...the technology" (485)
• Online environments are important as well
• Classes ahead of the game merged the computer industry, the print and publishing industry, and the broadcast and motion picture industry (486). In other words, they looked outside the box at the possibilities (which today is reality) of interdisciplinary relationships, specifically in regards to technology.
• Problem (at least for English teachers) technology gets the instrumental rather than pedagogical approach
• What may be needed is immersion and uninterrupted time in technological contexts
• Or, Selber offers some pedagogical strategies: use of advanced search engines and engage the specialized discourses of software programs or technologies. (Sounds like the place where the basis for our next project has come from :)
• Management Activities
• Sorry, I can't help but think about Britt during this section (and her management of her online world)
• Online management goes beyond housekeeping
• Possibly Selber should give students more credit when he argues that at least some students "assume that the Internet holds everything" (489).
• Interesting discussion about management of information, I have not played with the Windows Vista software, but I think it would be interesting to see the management of info on this system vs. older systems (is it moving more toward a time-oriented architecture?)
• Automated management activities that are already active and helpful: detailed filters, resources for personalized homepages, bookmarking, and shareware programs for maintenance (490)
• An important question: What managements activities can students solely turn over to the machine?
• "Management activities...unite technology and literacy in ways that require social judgements" (492)
• Filter assignment (this seems a bit basic, but might be fun); I understand how it plays a role in management activities
• Technological Impasses
• Lacking computer-based expertise "needed to solve a writing or communication problem" (493)
• Teachers should focus on performance-oriented impasses
• Computer anxiety
• Intervention and processes useful in classroom settings: First, assessment; Second, treatment; Third, adaptive computing; ***Fourth, instituting collaborative support systems; Alternative, micropolitical approaches (495)
• Assessment w/collaboration could be helpful (sounds like a helpline via e-mail)
• List of what teachers should do. Most importantly, don't run away from the issue when your student is asking about a technological impasses that you yourself do not know how to answer. "Take advantage of campus-wide resources!" (495)
• To overcome technological impasses both students and teachers need to make a shift in thinking (less dependence to machine) Semantic knowledge is the key
• Simple heuristic: "part 1-phrase an impasse as a qualitative question"; part 2-"locate the qualitative question in a classification matrix derived from empirical research on user-aided design" (I think this Selber is basically saying, ask the interpretive question); part 3-"appropriate forms of assistance" (497)
• Not only will this help a student get their problem solved or question answered, this way of thinking will allow the student to become more resourceful and "discover effective ways to work through performance-oriented impasses" (497)
• Social Problem
• Selber's basic point: "students must learn to work with computers in productive ways" (498).

-AAK

Reading Notes 2/2/2007

Made Not Only in Words: Composition in a New Key Dec. '04
-Kathleen Yancey

Intro

• "Words...will not stay still" (297)
• New technologies have contributed to the creation of new genres
• Yancey brings up a great point that no one is making "anyone do any of this writing" (298) ~That is in regards to production (blogs, videos, etc.) on the Web

Quartet 1

• Words and images work together
• The writing public has expanded
• They've learned "to write, think together, [and]to organize" (301), which is extremely important considering it was without "our" instruction. ("Our" is referred to as the composition instructors)
• Students and faculty have learned these genres on their own.
• Yancey notes, "we may already have become anachronistic" (302). It would be helpful to have this theme explained in class.
• Yancey is saying that numbers show the disappearance of English departments. (Not necessarily that they've gone away, just that they've merged into other departments)
• Today, more funding is going to students than what is going to public institutions. (It's becoming less about the country and more about the individual.)
• There is a linkage in between print literacy and screen literacy
• As quoted in Yancey, "No longer...can students be considered truly educated by mastering reading and writing alone" (305).
• (quote continued) "The ability to negotiate through life by combining words with pictures with audio and video to express thoughts will be the mark of the educated" (305). My thoughts are that Yancey must agree with this considering how she went about presenting this speech using words and pictures.
• Oral literacy + Print literacy = Third literacy
• Literacy should not be taught in composition classrooms but in media studies programs. (Let me digress for a minute here: It almost seems to me that this new curriculum that Yancey is trying to get at can be and in some ways is already being covered in current media courses. I feel this way because my undergrad was in communication/electronic media studies. Is it correct for composition/literacy classes to start taking on media and electronic writing courses? Obviously, Yancey is a biased source. It seems to me that communication departments might have more experience in dealing with what Yancey talks about in Quartet 3. I do agree that a new curriculum needs to be integrated; however, might it be more efficient for communication/media classes to take this on than general English/composition classes?)

Quartet 2

• Currently composition plays a key role as a first-year course...composition (as an actual course) becomes less and less important as a student continues in their education.
• Yancey calls that Gatekeeping vs. Gateway. (Yancey wants to focus on Gateway!)
• Yancey asks, "shall we teach print, digital, composition, communication, or all of the above?" (306). I think you know how I feel about this...read my comments above.
• "Many of us continue to focus on print" (307).
• Yancey says that composition already utilizes the "digital" (there just needs to be more structure...hence, three changes to composition curriculum)

Quartet 3

• Change 1: develop a new curriculum
• Change 2: revisit or revise our writing-across-the-curriculum efforts
• Change 3: develop a major in composition and rhetoric
• Discussion: stretch composition all along from first year through graduate studies. In composition there has always been and still is emphasis on the human relationship. Is the student and teacher relationship appropriate for what is going on in our world today with composition? This is specifically in regards to technology and the genre of electronic writing on the Web. While it would be beneficial, it's not manageable to evoke the one-to-one tutorial model. (constant teacher to student contact) If writing is social it should extend "beyond and around the single path from student to teacher" (311). Yancey's new curriculum says a lot about the appropriate way to transfer writing through various genres and put more focus on "real world." The 3 part new curriculum goes as follows: Part 1: Circulation of composition; Part 2: Canons of rhetoric; Part 3: Deicity of technology. Part 1: Circulation helps students learn the integrity of different fields and there genres. By dealing with new genres, there will also be reconstruction of texts. This new major would be called: Composition and Rhetoric. Part 2: Intertwining the domestic and disciplinary. Yancey uses laundered blankets in closet analogy. "What a shift in the means of delivery does is bring invention and arrangement into a new relationship" (317). Take a look at the difference b/t a book portfolio (singular) and a digital portfolio (plural). Part 3: "Words...whose 'meanings change quickly depending on the time or space in which they are uttered' or read" (318). Technological changes happen quicker than new literacies can emerge.
• Yancey says, while wrapping up the discussion of her new curriculum, "it will require a new expertise of us as it does of our students" (320). Hmm, a new expertise. You mean the one that communication professors are currently dealing with on a daily basis???

Quartet 4

• Should assessment begin to reflect technology?
• Yancey again restates her point about print and screen

What Should College English Be? (to discuss in class)

-AAK

Reading Notes 1/29/07

Trusting Writing -Michael Clanchy

• Evolution of trust in documents: 12th century England
• People had to be persuaded that documenting was a "sufficient improvement"
• Assumption: "modern literature tends to assume that statements in writing are more reliable than spoken word"
• Writing = secondary importance (over oaths and public ceremonies)
• No stability in early charters
• Truth existed on the good word of one's fellow
• Customary law quietly passes over obsolete laws vs. written records which do not die peacefully
• Memory will no longer be exercised if we become dependent on written records -king of Egypt (Thamuzz)
• Hard to tell what was forged and what was not
• No system of safeguards to prove documents (or at least these principles were not followed in medieval England)
• Date omitted vs. various systems to date a document
• Even "time" was written on document
• "More precise forms of dating began in the last decade of the 12th century"
• Pg. 301 explanations for not dating documents
• In 13th century, dating becomes "less self-conscious" and more "uniform"
• "What constituted a valid signature?"
• "Qualified notaries were not used much in England"
• Training for notaries = "haphazard"
• Seal (pictorial symbol and legend)
• Seals=more efficient
• Earliest seals, middle of 11th century
• Portablility of seals
• Crosses over seals = "primitive" and "unprofessional"
• William the Conqeror and improvements to the seal
• The cross (or form of wax impression) plus the seal = "to signify a sacred undertaking"
• Seals were more to show a "status of power"
• Phrases began to be used to justify seals
• Antique seals (w/gems) become popular in 12th century
• "Before being offered printed books, the public had to be persuaded of the value of writing itself (317).
• FORGERIES!
• "The purpose of forgery was to produce a record in a form which was acceptable" (318).
• Very hard to tell fact vs. fiction
• Italians in theory has a way to eliminate forgeries; however, this was not practiced in England
• Innocent III (scrutinizer of documents)
• English courts became skillful in detection of forgery
• "In this bewildering world...it may seem surprising that written record ever got a good name at all or established itself as a reliable form of communication" (326).
• Writing acquired prestige
• "A new technology usually adapts itself at first to an existing one" (237).

From Pencils to Pixels: The Stages of Literacy Technology -Dennis Baron

• Does the computer promise or threaten to change literacy practices for better or worse, or is a change already in progress?
• The computer has "left its mark on the way we do things with words"
• Could computers one day replace books?
• Baron's point of his article: 1. To acknowledge the importance of the computer 2. To predict that in the future the computer will be put to communication uses we cannot now even begin to imagine
• Baron tried to write on paper, but it felt awkward.
• Baron states, "writing itself is always first and foremost a technology"
• New communication strategies go through similar stages that the pencil did: 1st-restricted communications function (available only to a few) 2nd-begin to mediate the technology for the general public 3rd-cost decreases and the technology mimics familiar communication and a new literacy spreads across a population
• New technologies = opportunities and fraud possibilities
• "Literacy technologies, including writing itself, were initially met with suspicion as well as enthusiasm." (the suspicion part is similar to Clanchy's article)
• Humanists a.k.a. writers/scholars of liberal arts (also people who have long been considered out of technology loop)
• The pencil developed into a "tool [technology] so universally employed for writing that we seldom give it any thought" (during my interview with my grandma, she said she did not consider a "pencil" as a technology)
• Progress: pencil (writing), printing press, telephone, electric power, radio, typewriter?, television, computer
• "Computer gurus offer us a brave new world of communications where we will experience cognitive changes of a magnitude never before known"
• I agree with Bolter in what he is saying about the shift brought about by the computer.
• "Cuneiform geeks" - no pun intended
• First forms of writing for record keeping
• Speech vs. Writing...two very different forms of communication
• Reference to Clanchy's article and human witnesses
• Monks responsible for forgeries (as also mentioned in Clanchy's article)
• Digital age: we are also faced with the "task of reinventing appropriate ways to validate"
• Pencils originally used for measuring
• Pencil manufacture/production (Thoreau and Co.~ironic since Thoreau did not value pencils)
• From telephone to e-mail messages (and privacy)
• Interesting discussion about use of words "hello" and "good-bye" on the telephone
• "Personal computers were not initially meant for word-processing"
• Not so easy going with computers at first (for both programmers and writers)
• Digital fraud (figures 8 and 9)
• "A lot of text is still accepted on trust"
• Digital text is easy to corrupt using scanners
• Ways to establish expertise of author (bicycle example)
• Information and the WWW
• More concerns with newer technologies (old become invisible with time)
• It's not computers that divide haves from have nots, but literacy itself
• Sledd's view about computers reducing literacy
• Will the computer one day be taken-for-granted like the pencil? Is this theory already in motion?

The Effects of Computers on Traditional Writing -Sharmila Ferris

• 3 Great Communication Revolutions: symbolic language, writing, print
• No. 4 = computers
• "Writing enabled societies...to communicate across the boundaries of space and time"
• What is incorperated in "writing" (ex. alphabetic word, vocabulary, relationship to spoken word etc. It's both abstract and analytic thought)
• Writing has permanent quality about it, and print made writing even more permanent
• Print enabled development of modern educational system
• Printing Press-------->Computer
• Computers are unique because of participation and interactivity
• "Computers re-introduce many oral characteristics" (and beyond)
• "Roles of writers and readers...become unclear"
• Electronic writing jargon
• More focus on group thinking than individual
• There are similarities of traditional writing as well
• Electronic writing has "brought about a 'significant increase in the artifacts of literacy"
• Ferris argues, "ideas are expressed in a logical, linear fashion" (what about stream of consciousness?)
• Hypertext=non-linear=the way the mind works
• "Electronic text is always fluid; it is never fixed" (dynamic)
• Interpersonal relationships
• Vanishing words on a screen (I see as not much different as vanishing words from turning the page of a book)
• But no one communicates in binary code?
• "Non-discursive reading...electronic writing opposes the standardization of language encouraged by the traditional text"
• Interactivity among reader, author, medium
• Hypertext=navigate using links (or how about navigate a book using chapter titles or index)
• Electronic writing must be visually appealing and utilize interactive features
• "Electronic writing requires a knowledge of computers and software," as does electronic reading
• Anyone can "publish" on the Internet
• "What common standards or criteria can we judge content in cyberspace?"
• "Any writing that leads the reader to seek it out can be called good writing." Wow, really???
• Electronic writers have the potential to shape "the development of standards and norms of writing."
• Is electronic writing more oral than like print? (Ferris is perhaps leaning more toward oral)
• Fish metaphor made me laugh! Where'd that come from?

-AAK

Reading Notes 1/23/2007

Accumulating Literacy: Writing and Learning to Write in the Twentieth Century
-Deborah Brandt Oct. '95

• Story of Genna May (born 1898) and her great-grandson, Michael May, (born 1981) and their differences in accumulating literacy in a changing world (650)
• As Lauren Resnick puts it, today, "everyone now has to develop reading and writing skills that used to be used to belong only to an elite" (650).
• "Challenges faced by all literacy learners in a society whose rapid changes are themselves tied up so centrally with literacy and its enterprise" (651).
• Seems Brandt is saying, what used to be one or even two dimensional learning is now more like three dimension learning or even higher. "Literacy learners...find themselves having to piece together reading and writing experiences form more and more spheres" (651).
• "Diversification of literacy" (651)
• Amalgamate-to combine into an integrated whole (651)
• Brandt collected accounts of 65 Americans in regards to their literacy development (651)
• Trying to identify "major effects of 'accumulating literacy' that are especially pertinent to teachers of writing and reading" (651)
• Literacy aside, in the "real world," now "documentary practices" play a role (652).
• "One's world is almost totally organized by a system in which one can have no real say" (652). Hmmm, interesting point
• A notion called "'piling up' quality of literacy...sets up interpretive problems for people learning to write" (653).
• Based upon two personal examples, we see how "ruling institutions control literacy and use literacy to control the population in different historical periods" (654).
• Transformation=explains dynamic literary shifts (however, Brandt sees continuity in these changes) (654)
• 1. Transformations in literacy are complex 2. There will be resistant strains of literate practice (655)
• For Sam May (born 1925), "literacy learning was about acquiring manners" (655).
• Arrival of radio at first inspired and enhanced writing; however, it also brought in new abstract genres (657).
• Intensified writing after enlisting
• Old literacy forms don't disappear, they shape "future interpretations of reading and writing" (659).
• From her interviews, Brandt believes what she is seeing is that "literacy in an advanced literate period requires an ability to work the borders between tradition and change" (660).
• Charles Randolph (born 1948), African American, growing up in Tenn (660).
• Watched his dad and won various writing competitions (661)
• Charles also did well in school and learned essay and topic sentence writing (661).
• Writing was "a vent" for Charles (663).
• Went on to teach at a public school and then became the first affirmative action officer, while working toward his PhD
• "He said his fascination with writing throughout his life has resided 'in the power of it'" (663-4).
• Both Sam and Charles "memories exhibit residual influences of the educational experiences of previous generations" (664).
• How could accumulating literacy be better accommodated in school? Brandt answers, "simply by beginning to recognize the historical conditions of literacy" (665).
• It should not so much be anymore about "disseminating literacy" (665).
• From Brandt's perspective, we see how "school-based" and "home-based" literacy function together, "within larger historical currents" (666).
• Important: how literacy materials come into people's lives (666).
• "Literacy is always in flux" (666)
• Layers of literacy=past,present,future (666).
• "Being literate...has to do with being able to negotiate the burgeoning surplus" (666).
• (In layman's terms, succeed in managing the rapidly growing surplus)
• In summary, what themes about literacy accumulation does she identify?
• A: learning manners, upward mobility, imitating a higher class, father to son, books collected at home (manuscripts, Life of Poems, etc.), grads from excellent colleges as teachers, focus in school on essay writing and topic sentences.

Literacy in Three Metaphors -Sylvia Scribner Nov. '84

• How do we define literacy? "We have yet to discover or set its boundaries" (6).
• "Literacy...is a social achievement...an outcome of culture" (7).
• Literacy described in terms of individual abilities (7)
• Boundary problems in all metaphors (8)
• Certain assumptions apply to each metaphor: "social motivations for...this country, the nature of existing literacy practices, and judgements about which practices are critical for individual and social enhancement" (8).
• Literacy as adaptation-"the necessity for literacy skill in daily life" (9)
• Problem 1: it is not logical "to define this universe of behaviors...which compose functional competence" (10)
• Problem 2: there is really very little uniformity in these skills (9)
• "Today's standards...need to be considered in the light of tomorrow's requirements. But not all are agreed" (10)
• Are technologies new systems of literacy? (11)
• Literacy as power-"relationship between literacy and group or community advancement" (11)
• "For the poor and politically powerless groups to claim their place in the world" (11)
• Problems arise in developing countries; rapid changes seen in mobilized countries (12)
• Problem: possibilities and limits are not clear with this metaphor (12)
• "How are communities best mobilized for literacy?" (13)
• Literacy as a state of grace-endows the "literate person with special virtues" (13)
• This metaphor deals with people who are "cultured," knowing the "sciences, arts, and humanities" (13).
• (Literacy) not bounded by politics or economics but by the individual (14)
• "A great divide" b/t those who have and "who have not mastered written language" (14)
• Problem: "how widely dispersed is book knowledge...in our society?" (14)
• There is a boundary of "value of literateness...across social classes and ethnic and religious groups" (14).
• "book cultures" (14)
• "What implications does it pose for our educational objectives?" (14)
• All three metaphors have "validity" (15).
• Case Study: Vai people of West Africa
• For Vai peoples, "Literacy is not a necessity for personal survival" (15).
• Based upon Vai lifestyle and core values, we would need to use all three metaphors to develop a worthy education program. (and that's not even totally worthy)
• What is literacy? 1. "skepticism for 'one best answer' approach" 2. "urges the need for understanding the great variety of beliefs and aspirations" (17)
• implications analysis has for literacy policy (18)
• ***"minimal literacy standards would serve a useful function" (18) (could we compare this to Indiana State Standards?)
• ***"diversity of educational approaches" (18)

-AAK

Reading Notes 1/14/07

"Technology and Literacy: A Story about the Perils of Not Paying Attention"
Feb. '99 -Cynthia L. Selfe

• Technological literacy-ability to use computers and other technology to improve learning, productivity, and performance
• CCCC-Conference on College Composition and Communication
• By allocating the responsibility of technological decisions (often times to a single staff member), the result is that computers are rapidly becoming invisible
• Computer technology=cultural strangeness
• Organizations deal with technology in a piecemeal fashion, creating little focus being paid to technology
• PAY ATTENTION to how literacy is linked to technology
• Not paying attention to technology is an unfair system (in my opinion-for students especially, it is doing them the injustice)
• what's are role in all this...
• One idea that might be a release for us to not pay attention is the fact that literacy and computer technology is deemed a socially progressive movement
• American Narrative: Clinton-Gore administration '96
• Getting America's Children Ready for the Twenty-First Century
• Document refers to use of computers for reading, writing, and communicating as well
• Plans shortcomings: not enough $ allocated and not enough to the correct places per state
• Also, not enough allocated to the correct places by government. Lack of punctuality on allocations (and generation of funding) AND not enough guidance to teachers and students
• ***Must do a better job of paying to attention to technology issues that affect us
• Lessons created from the different perspective on literacy that technology issues provide
• 1)Efficacy of large-scale projects/myth of literacy
• Primarily schools serving poor students and students of color have less access to computers
• Literacy and Technology link: race and socioeconomic status
• (this opportunity) will "help give all young people the opportunity to grow" is erroneous. It "deflects attention from the complexity and real political difficulties"
• 2) Literacy is always an political act (motivated by political agenda) as well as an educational effort
• Global Information Infrastructure (GII) and the national one (NII)
• Not so much the plan it self but a spark of the nation would help the expansion of technological literacy
• The plan's downfall in Selfe's eyes: not a consistent production of individuals acquiring technological literacy
• These deemed "illiterate/unskilled" individuals are necessary to sustain the American economical system
• Teachers who are teaching students how to "use" technology in the classroom, and those who virtually see it as "just another instructional tool" are both missing the point.
• Situated knowledges-approach
• It will also takes societies and schools working together
• Typical sites for critically informed action on technological literacy:
• Curriculum committees, standards documents, and assessment programs (diverse range of literacy practices and values)
• Professional organizations (activism)
• Scholarship and research (keep the research coming)
• In LA and English classrooms (learn the technology and become critical thinkers about technological issues and social issues surrounding its use)
• Computer-based communication facilities (serve as teaching environments for both students and teachers to learn)
• In districts that have poor schools and students of color (more equitable distributions of technology)
• In our voting
• In pre-service and in-service educational programs for teachers (or soon to be teachers)
• In libraries and public places
• As for teachers (and for everyone), make a commitment to literacy and technology everyday.
• Do the best to our personal abilities

"'Among the Greatest Benefactors of Mankind': What the Success of Chalkboards Tells Us about the Future of Computers in the Classroom" Spring 2000

-Steven D. Krause

• Basic question: will computers take the lead as chalkboards have?
• Technologies that have profound influences on how we teach: pens, paper, desks, chalkboard
• Chalkboard not viewed as technology but as natural (Krause arguing this is not actually true-chalkboard is a technology just as a pen is)
• Chalkboards don't push the envelop to change how writing is taught
• Writing = humanism; technology is something that gets away from that enterprise
• Krause finds himself agreeing with Cynthia Selfe (technology is inevitable, but, at times, negatively affecting our literacy)
• Will we consider computers "natural" in a school setting in the future, like we now view chalkboards as natural?
• Chalkboard=innovation of early 19th century
• In Lancasterian schools in Philadelphia, chalkboards facilitate large group instruction (usually a teacher/student ratio of 1 to 284)
• However, this was good compared to a past in which there was an absence of any previous systematic approach to learning (many went to school who would not have originally had access)
• Chalkboard's 20th century cousin=the overhead
• The chalkboard was here to stay
• Praise for chalkboard, why not so much for computers?
• Chalkboards (easy to operate/low-maintenance); Computers, essentially the opposite
• Chalkboards don't do, they enhance what teachers are already doing
• 1. We are not willing to change how we use computers (right now we are just interested in using them for enhancement)
• 2. It is pedagogy that motivates the use of technologies, not the technologies that motivates improvement in pedagogy.
• ***Computers are not universal yet because teachers do not see how computers enhance pedagogy
• Technology misuse (computer)=not training the teacher computer-based writing pedagogy
• Forcing teachers to use computers in the teaching of writing will do little good without changing the way writing is taught!
• Definition of computer will continue to change
• Future for computers and writing pedagogy is still unclear
• If computers are to become "natural," we need to work harder in our pedagogical approaches

"Time's Person of the Year: The Computer" Jan. '83

-Otto Friedrich

• Just in the first paragraph, I realize this was the extent of our computer knowledge by this date.
• "This passion is partly fad, partly a sense of how life could be made better, partly a gigantic sales campaign" (interesting take)
• Friedrich argue the personal computer is the "end result" of the technological revolution. Is that so, or is it just the beginning?
• The computer is now accessible to millions...here comes the information revolution
• What affect will all of this have? Dehumanization and unemployment? Or a spark in new industries?
• Comparing telecommunications to canals, highways, and railroads
• End of WWII ENIAC, the first fully electronic digital computer was built in U.S., costing $487,000. Today (1982), a personal IBM computer costs $4,000.
• Looking ahead, the computer industry sees pure gold.
• Estimate: 80 million personal computers in use by end of century
• In '82, the surface has been barely scratched for the computer industry.
• Video game...a teenage fad, doomed to go away like the Hula Hoop and Rubik's Cube (not to sure about that)
• Argument that these games have educational value
• These games promote the "user-friendliness" of the computer
• Personal computer: help with the idea of working from home
• Electronic mail, databases via dial up (I almost forgot that's what we used to have to do. I don't believe it has its name as WWW yet.)
• A doctor says that one day he accessed the computer 3x's in 12 minutes (imagine that!)
• Farmers are even jumping on the bandwagon
• The office is even giving way to the computer and joining the network. No more typewriters
• Office professionals a could save 15% of time if they used technology now avail.
• Electronic message system could eventually make "paper" obsolete
• "Suspicious" of this new equipment, and scared to death of it
• Why should anyone have to go to work in an office at all? Is the great megalopolis about to be doomed by technology?
• The Third Wave -Alvin Toffler (The home will become an "electronic cottage)
• Work is more about the social intercourse, a community
• Personal computer, robots, customization
• Advance of computers in medical field
• Computer crime
• Unemployment: get more work done by fewer people
• "It is a tool to help the rich get richer." -Katherine Fishman (I think we can say that is not necessarily true)
• The user will be able to carry out many functions simply by pointing to a picture of what he wants done rather than typing out instructions
• Quality electronics coming from Japan
• Use of computers to teach children about computers
• Will the the computer change the very nature of human thought? (higher IQs, higher level of thinking?)
• The personal computer can "greatly increase the forces of both good and evil." -Nils Nilsson

"Time's Person of the Year: You" Dec. '06

-Lev Grossman

• The few, the powerful, the famous shape our collective destiny as a species
• Individuals we could blame for a disturbing 2006 (Bush???)
• Community and Collaboration!!! (Wikipedia, You Tube, MySpace)
• Helping one another for nothing (wow, what a concept, seems to be it's been around for quite sometime). This will change how the world changes
• Tool making the possible=THE WEB or Web 2.0
• It's telling us about how Americans live.
• An explosion of productivity and innovation from the masses
• Grossman calls this a passion (is it truly that?)
• You: seizing the reins of the global media
• Web 2.0=a massive social experiment (w/ no road map)
• Staring at a computer screen, who's out there looking back at you?

AAK