The Remediation of the Pen Pal

It seems that learning occurs when students are taken out of their comfort zone. When students are exposed to material which is unique to them they are much more likely to gain information. With the advent of digital technology we should take advantage of the instantaneous, world-wide communication which is available. Perhaps a remediation and a resurrection of the pen pal is in order. This could be set up on several levels: college to elementary, high school to high school. An Instant Message set up might not be sufficient due to large time differences from one continent to the next. Email or a discussion board form may be a more sufficient fit for this exercise.
In the process of composing letters the students would have to choose words carefully and avoid slang so that others who are reading English as a 2nd language will understand the students emails. The students will also have an opportunity to share in a culture which is not their own. At a high school level students are still very unaware of different cultures, so I think that this would be a good exercise for opening their minds to diverse ideas. Plus, it is fun to get mail (email) which is more fun based rather than business based.

Tweet Comm

The internet has allowed everyone to be connected socially through virtual means. It can easily connect people of similar interests and backgrounds. People are not the only entities being connected however. One of the most popular recent programs is Twitter. One of the reasons this program is popular is because it is simplistic and commercial free. Slowly the commercial industry is finding its way into Twitter though. Using programs like Backtype companies have an automated scan set up on Twitter so that when a specific word or set of words is mentioned the scan will pick it up and send an automated message. For instance it has been said if you Twitter about being sick the Xycam company will send you an automated response saying they’re sorry that you are sick and give you a 10% off coupon.
It is good that teachers try to incorporate these tools into their classroom. These programs are the forefront of social networking and digital composition. How much commercialization is okay in class? Right now Twitter is fairly commercial free, but it seems as if a door has been opened. How will Twitter address the issue? Is it wrong for them to block commercial entities from the use of Twitter and if so where do you draw the line? Can media companies use Twitter? I really do not have answers to this, but it does seem to be an impending issue.

Home Invasion 2.0

There was an interesting story in the news of Web 2.0 in action. Recently David Praeger awoke to someone walking into his home. It became instantly clear that the guy was inebriated and Praeger didn’t feel as if he were in danger. So Praeger pulled out his Iphone and began Twittering the play by play. The passed out man was in the bathroom. As the scene progressed so did the humor of the tweets. Praeger began to Ustream the event live online as he had to yank the passed out guy out of his bathroom. He never called the police and had a short struggle as he got the guy out of his house. After the guy was kicked out he tried to come back in, but the locked door was enough to deter him. Praeger stated that he regrets using as many curse words that he did since it was being broadcast. Since this home invasion occurred for the world to see in real time there has been critics on both sides. Some people said he should have called an ambulance and some people said he should have beat the guy up. As Preager tweeted, he had several people commenting live. Web 2.0 what an amazing concept.


http://www.businessinsider.com/revision3-coo-twitters-through-home-break-in-2009-3

Information for this blog from TWIT podcast

Influencing Change

As technology has advanced in the field of composition, some language arts instructors have stubbornly resisted, sticking with the time honored pen and paper or its remediation, the word processed text document (only after being drafted on paper first). In the process of taking a hands-off approach to technology, some of the commonly accepted tools within digital technology are substandard and have been allowed to flourish unchecked by the authorities within the field. The more involved professionals in the field are, the better of an educational tool digital media can be.
One standard and mediocre tool of digital composition is Microsoft Word spell check and grammar check. With out the voice of the professionals in the field these programs have been allowed to become authoritative in the area of digital composition. Many students take the results of these programs as gospel. I recall tutoring college students who automatically switched red underlined words to whatever the top word in the spell check result was. Language Arts professionals need to weigh in on the choices their students make about creating, modifying, and publishing their digital documents. The direction of the field is inevitable; the outcome is still being determined though.

File Sharing compromises security

The interconnective nature of the internet has done amazing things for the media world and for the educational world, but it can go too far. We all know identity theft has been a problem for the average everyday American. This can be a real pain, but for the most part you can bounce back. It was revealed last week that the plans for the President Obama’s Marine One had been downloaded into a computer in Iran. The whole schematics of the new helicopter had been revealed.
Apparently a defense contractor was using Limewire on their computer and gave others all access to the files on his computer. I could just see a teenage kid doing this on their parent’s laptop and their parents catching the grief from it. Computers with access to critical American documents that deal with American security should not be hooked up to the regular internet, let alone file sharing programs. A big time oops.

Box Logic

It was not long after I engaged with Geoffrey Sirc’s article, “Box Logic” that the 35 pages began to be “a box” which held my various contextual items. At first I questioned the sanity of the participants, like we are trained to do so. Could compulsively collecting various odds and ends of “junk” to thematically collect in a shoe box be healthy? Answer: just as healthy as any other compulsion. Arguably Duchamp and Joseph Cornell created a new mode of communication. I myself am a self-confessed pack rat. It is my contention that this can be traced back to the Great Depression in my family. The attachment and meaning of each individual object and then the collective synergy of the items allow the message to go beyond the box.

Not only would a strict written explanation of box logic be good for a composition class, but so would making an actual thematic box. This unto itself is a composition of sorts and different genres of writing could be assigned, as the box evolved, so could the writing. As I read the article I began to add in and explain the context of my understanding: what pen I was using to take notes, what songs were playing on my ipod, where I was in my house, what blanket I was using, random drawings, and zany notes. I liked the idea that the more we interact with something the more likely that we are going to be able to remember it. By placing some of my personal “belongings” into the box of this essay I will be able to make a more full connection with my experience of reading the essay.

Pirate’s Bay- Copyright Law

Something big is bound to happen when concerning copyright law. Now that all digital media is available through download on one’s computer how can the media corporations control the material which is out there? Log on to Youtube once. How often do users have copywritten material on their page, whether they modified it or just redistributed them. Right now media corporations are pushing for US laws to include anybody guilty of piracy getting their services cut. The point has been brought up that not only does this cut people off from downloading, but it also severs their access to the modern world. The corporations don’t seem to be boding well as the fight against the tidal wave. How can they go with the flow of change in order to capitalize on this change?

One large legal battle is taking place at the moment. Pirate’s Bay, a bit torrent site, is being sued by Sweden for violation of copyright law. The owner’s of Pirate’s Bay are not taking the charges seriously, even throwing a party in Sweden as they are on trial. The vast majority of torrent files on Pirate’s Bay are legal. The nature of torrent files also means that there is no illegal materials on the website itself, torrent files point to files elsewhere. The site was established out of necessity and the administrators do not control the information, it is user generated. Not only that but copyright laws vary from country to country. It looks like there is going to be no way that they can be pinned down, but only time will tell.

Material from this blog was derived from the TWIT podcast: http://twit.tv/

Online Communication (my high school website)

One of the major things that set me out from the other candidates that applied for my job was relatively low fear of technology. Since I have started my job I have consistently updated my website each year. Every time I update the website I will add another dimension to its existing capabilities. We use the rschool system at my school, this serves as a good template where the teacher just has to essentially punch in the information and the program puts it into html language.
The first year I put up vocabulary flash cards and lesson plans for 9th grade since I teach three sections of 9th grade language arts. The next year I put up 9th and 10th grade, partially because I wanted to expand, but also because it was expected of me. This past year I put up lesson plans, links, and flashcards for all of my classes. Since the beginning of this course I have began experimenting with new features on my website. Some things that I have recently tried are surveys and discussion forums. The discussion forums have been wildly successful as a tool for collaboration and studying. In February I got 1400 hits on website, when you consider that I only have about 115 students, that’s pretty successful. Having good online communication has also helped reach out to parents and a lot less of my time is spent soothing parents, which is priceless at the high school level.

Link to my site: http://www.rschooltoday.com/se3bin/clientgenie.cgi