The latest modification of the U.S. terror alert system? 

Privacy Issues

What follows is a rhetorical précis I wrote in response to this article.

In their essay “Public: Take Our Privacy Please” (2001), Declan McCullagh and Ryan Sager claim that, according to polls, a vast majority of the American public does not seem to be concerned with Internet privacy. The authors support this claim by offering data drawn from these polls, which says that while most Americans are apprehensive to reveal personal information like Social Security numbers, financial and medical information, or information about their children, most feel comfortable supplying their gender, age, education, occupation, hobbies, and interests. The authors discuss possible future privacy legislation in order to persuade readers to think about Internet privacy and the possibility of it becoming a major issue. The authors have an informal relationship with their audience and they present this information to readers who may not consider online privacy to be a big deal.

Personally I fall in line with that sixteen percent that is not very concerned about Internet privacy. I agree with Humphrey Taylor’s description of privacy as a “landmine issue.” Issues that could personally affect someone online don’t really receive a lot of attention until negative media coverage or a bad personal experience make the issue relevant to Internet users. I have bought things online, supplied my phone number and address to online forms, and provided information about my hobbies, interests, occupation, residence, and age in personal profiles I have made for various sites. Privacy hasn’t been a huge issue for me because I haven’t personally encountered any negative consequences of “telling too much.” I have read articles about Spy Ware and identity theft, but I have a limit when it comes to how much information I am willing to share online, and common sense should be the tool used to decide where to draw the line.

Most Internet users don’t view the Internet as a similar phenomenon to Foucault’s panopticon, with the guard in the tower being replaced by Big Brother, with the ability to look out at “prisoners” and observe their activities. Anyone with the time and energy to devote to hacking could potentially access and corrupt our personal information, but most Americans seem either oblivious or indifferent to such possible surveillance and supervision. Legislation in America is all too often retroactive rather than preventative. Violation of privacy may need to become widespread or high profile before Congress decides to deal with this issue.

Community and Self

Here is a link to this assignment (Discovery Writing #2)

As a student, I am automatically a part of certain groups. I am a student in the school of communication, and in each of my classes, I am a member of a group. I work constantly with my co-workers at Panera Bread. I am also a member of my family group, and a part of my group of friends.
My family and friends are clearly Gemeinschaft-type communities. My relationships with my friends and family are stable and long-lasting. I know all my friends and family and I help them; they, in turn, know and help me. My family has been with me all of my life, my friends for a large part. My family is definitely normative, traditionally composed of a mother, father, and younger sibling, all of whom I get along with very well. I have a similar relationship with my friends. Although I have grown apart or lost contact with a few former friends, I have a core group of close friends that I have tight bonds with.
I also have relationships, although less constant and stable, with members of certain Gesellschaft-type groups I am a part of. Within the school of communication and within each of my classes, I may work closely with my classmates and learn all their names, but unlike the Gemeinschaft-type communities, these relationships do not have multiple bonds; they are one-dimensional. The relationships I have with people in my classes and with people in the school of communication are purely functional. We are simply students working together and interacting with one another. For a fellow student to become a member of my Gemeinschaft-type community of friends, I would need to spend time with that person outside of class and cultivate a deeper relationship based on more common interests.
At my job, people I work with are part of a Gemeinschaft community. I work alongside them regularly and we talk about many different things. Many people see each other socially outside of work and many of them have become good friends. Simultaneously at work though, a Gesellschaft-type relationship exists between the customers and my co-workers and me. Our job as employees is to deliver friendly service and quality product. Although we greet each customer and may have a short conversation with them, these are sporadic encounters, since we may go weeks without seeing the same customer twice. This relationship is shallow and instrumental.
I think the concept of Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft communities can apply to the Net also. I have a group of friends that I regularly email and talk to on AOL Instant Messenger. Although it is a stretch to call this "face-to-face interaction," many other Gemeinschaft characteristics are present. Many people within my online community of email and IM know not only me, but also each other. I regularly keep in touch with these people, so the relationships are stable and long-lasting. Cyberspace serves as a tool to connect us with friends we might have weaker links to, were it not for the technology that allows us to stay in touch.
Online, I am a member of a few Gesellschaft communities also. I often post messages on the Onestop forums when I am selling something, looking for advice about a professor, or requesting some other type of information. Any responses I receive are purely functional, serving the purpose of giving me the information I need. While I don't typically join chat rooms, I believe these also fall under the Gesellschaft category. Small talk between two people who don't know each other is quite shallow--often something to do to pass the time. They may be discussing similar beliefs or interests, but strong interpersonal communication is non-existent.
There are a couple of communities that I am not a part of, but yet I find them interesting. I hear a lot about how people that live on College Hill become really close friends. During my freshman year, I lived on west campus and since then, I have stayed in an apartment. Although I have several close friends, I sometimes regret not living on College Hill to experience that type of closeness. I also have a strong desire to be a part of the volunteer community. I am trying to find the time to regularly volunteer through United Way of Greenville. I have done some volunteer work before, and I crave the closeness that I know can come with helping people and working with other volunteers.
I think a major difference between Gesellschaft and Gemeinschaft communities is voluntary versus involuntary participation. In Gemeinschaft communities, I have the power to choose which relationships I want to cultivate into long-lasting bonds. I often form Gesellshaft relationships out of necessity, in order to functionally interact with other members of such groups.

Media Voyeurism

This précis is in response to this story

R. U. Sirius and St. Jude, in their essay “The Medium is the Message and the Message is Voyeurism” (1994), argue that American citizens have become obsessed with getting their “fifteen minutes of fame” by putting their lives on display and with taking part in “armchair lynching.” The teledemocratic view expressed in this piece seems to suggest that Americans are no longer “We the People,” but rather “We the Television People.” The authors support this argument by offering television examples such as popular sensationalized news and court programs (Dateline NBC and Court TV), talk shows (Oprah and Donahue), and crime shows (Cops and America’s Most Wanted), which reflect the current trend of Americans enjoying media voyeurism and exhibitionism. Their purpose is to call attention to this trend in order to encourage readers to ponder both the causes and possible consequences of such television viewing behavior. Their audience is anyone who is not aware of this voyeuristic trend and the authors explain the topic clearly, offering many examples to sway the audience and bring attention to this growing problem.

What’s startling about this piece is that it was written over ten years ago and yet it is still true today. This voyeuristic media obsession had grown. The Jerry Springer Show became immensely popular in the mid- to late-90s, with audiences tuning in to see what bizarre fetishes exist in the world of trailer trash, and whose bitch slept with which skank. In the modern world of “infotainment,” news channels have grown also, with MSNBC, FOX News, and CNN Headline News, to name a few, each offering as much footage as our greedy eyes can feast upon. And shows like Real TV, World’s Scariest Police Chases, and Ripley’s Believe It Or Not, give Americans glimpses into the crazy stunts, antics, and strange talents of anyone that happened to be caught on tape showing off. Clearly, this article is not dated; the voyeuristic media frenzy that had started over a decade ago is now out of control.

Educational video games

The following is a précis I wrote in response to a story about educational video games.

In his essay “Play Games, Be Better Students? (2004),” Daniel Terdiman asserts that it may be possible to use video games to improve American education. He supports this idea by providing suggestions from video game insiders and designers and evidence of the high sales of educational games in recent years. The author’s purposes are to make readers aware that many educators and game designers are actively trying to make the mainstreaming of educational games a reality and to convince any skeptics that these games may in fact be helpful. He establishes an informal relationship with his audience of skeptics, by writing a piece that is short, to the point, and easy to read.
This idea to educate with video games has its advantages and disadvantages. Teenagers already spend too much time playing video games, sitting motionless in front of television screens, in a vegetative state, thumbs blistered. Unfortunately, most students, when given the choice of an action-packed sports or military/spy game and educational game, will choose the one of the former. Most teenagers would be turned off to the idea of playing such a game before even giving it a chance, simply because it is presented as educational.
On the other hand, I believe that, if implemented properly, these games can be beneficial. While I don’t have much experience with educational games, I have played many word games online, on sites like Pogo, Yahoo!, and MSN, and I’ve expanded my vocabulary a little through playing them. I believe that games that have a message—games that teach students information they may actually retain in the form of new knowledge—can be a highly effective tool in America’s classrooms, but I think it would take a large group of game designers, parents, teachers, administrators, and lawmakers coming to a consensus agreeing on what types of games should be offered, the amount of time that should be allotted for playing these games during class time, and how these educational games should be supplemented with other material. Since such a large-scale effort is necessary, and since one of the sources in Terdiman’s piece says that she has been trying to get educational games to work for almost thirty years, I think that the established forms of education can be thoroughly effective if they are exercised properly.
Americans under the age of eighteen, for example, read far less that they used to. In an age of IPODs, chat rooms, and search engines, books are becoming a dying form of entertainment and learning. I think back on books that I have read and even the mediocre ones have taught me more and engaged my thinking more than any game I have played. Stories and lessons that used to be taught to students exclusively (and effectively) by both parents and instructors are being replaced by technological sources. Television, which is shaping children’s ideas about the world now more than ever, has become the interim parent while the real parents are busy. Internet courses, which have gained popularity over the last decade, have eliminated the need for personal instructor-student interaction. The Internet has made our lives much more convenience-oriented and it serves its purpose to make many aspects of our lives easier. But in the field of education, I don’t believe technology should take the place of books, teachers, and classrooms. These games can be used to supplement existing effective teaching practices, not to replace them.

Technology history

Assignment:

What is your "technological history"? What are your earliest memories of technology? Computers or video games or the vibrating bouncy-chair that cuddled you as a baby? What of Teddi Ruxpin? the Speak and Spell? or the See-and-Say? When did you use your first computer? What was it like? What did you do with it? What fears or phobias do you have regarding technology? computers? How does your computer function in your day-to-day life? How would your life be different without your computer? e-mail and the Internet? What would be more difficult about being a student if you didn't have computers/Internet? What would be easier?


Response:

My technology history started when I was 4. I had this machine that looked a lot like a mini-computer, complete with a working keyboard. On the side was a space for diskettes, and each diskette offered a game to teach me math, spelling, shapes, and U.S. states. I don’t remember what it was called, but I loved it. I carried it everywhere. The constant blurps and beeps must have driven my parents crazy, but they never said so. By the time I entered kindergarten, I could read books, identify every U.S. state, and solve basic addition problems (provided I could use my fingers and, if necessary, toes). I also had exposure to the cutting-edge technology known as Lite-Brite. For some reason, in my early childhood, multi-colored pegs that would light up at my discretion fascinated me.

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In second and third grade, we spent about an hour every day in the computer lab with Ms. Clark, the computer teacher. Ms. Clark was cross-eyed and she frightened me, but I did enjoy using the computer. We played with a program called Logo on Apple IIE computers with green screens. We learned how to manipulate and control the movements of a turtle on the screen, through a series of typed commands. It was in this lab that I had my first experience with a game called “Oregon Trail.”
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Ah, the joys of packing my 19th Century wife and kids into a covered wagon and heading out into the wild frontier, hunting for wild game, and bartering my valuables in exchange for supplies, only to have every wheel on my covered wagon break and each member of my family drop off like flies from drowning, dysentery, or diphtheria. I enjoyed it immensely.
Around third grade, I got my first Nintendo, and Oregon Trail and other Apple computer games took a backseat for several years. After Nintendo came Game Boy, Sega Genesis, Super Nintendo, Sony Playstation, and Nintendo 64. I loved video games. What’s interesting to me is that I almost completely abandoned computers in favor of video games; now I’ve almost completely abandoned video games in favor of computers.
In high school, I took a class called Computer Math. I learned how to use the programs Basic and C++. I began going to the public library to type papers for English classes, and while I was there, began surfing the Internet for the first time. I was fourteen. Although I’d had an old Apple computer at home since I turned eight, my family didn’t get online at home until after I had graduated high school. By that time, I already had an email address, basic knowledge of how to use a search engine, and a few favorite websites.
When I came to college, I bought my own computer and had a constant Ethernet connection. I began IM’ing people through AOL Instant Messenger, downloading music illegally, and using the Internet for school (I even took an online course). Having my own computer definitely exposed me to the most technology at one time that I had previously been exposed to. For most of my freshman year, if I wasn’t eating, sleeping, studying, or going out with friends, I was online in some capacity—checking my email, talking to people, surfing, or downloading.
I think I’ve actually become dependent on my computer. As soon as I get home from anywhere, my instinctive reaction is to immediately go to my computer and check my regular sites. Without a computer in my room, I would be lost. I rely on it for so much. I compose most papers sitting at my computer, rarely handwriting anything first anymore. I have several friends with which I only communicate via email or IM. I don’t use it so much that I leave no time for reading books, going out, working, or exercising. But it is definitely a major part of my life.
I think it would be difficult to be a student at ECU without my own computer. I can’t imagine having to go to the library or a computer lab on campus every time I needed to look up something. I have learned a lot from computers and I think my time online has been more valuable than wasted.

First blog post

This is the blog that I am being forced to create for my ENGL 3810 Advanced Composition course at ECU. I will be posting almost every day about writing, personal experiences, and websites.