looking back...

after reading some of the other reflection blogs, i see that i'm not the only one whose assumptions about the class were mistaken. but i wasn't dissappointed, i was intrigued. and i really enjoyed it. i liked that our discussions were on facebook instead of the pc star, and i really liked the fact that people could and did post pictures on facebook. it allowed me to put faces with the people who participated regularly in the discussions, and i felt like more personal relationships were formed. the pictures also showed a little bit of our personalities; pieces that may not have come out in our text discussions alone.

it seems the semester has gone by quickly. it seems like just yesterday, i had never heard of Second Life, Neopets, Diigo, and ma.gnolia. i was an avid protester of facebook and blogging, and had all but abandoned my myspace account. aside from the infrequent checking of my emails and googling certain topics, i was definately not what you would consider a "digital native."

and while i may consider myself a digital native rookie, i definately feel like i'm a part of the internet world. as much as i didn't enjoy my experience in the virtual worlds like Second Life, i do enjoy my interactive online experiences. I check myspace a couple times a day, and facebook at least three times a week. and while i'm not a huge fan of flikr, i have a photobucket account. i'm even starting to get more involved in applications that are available on myspace and facebook.

i am obsessed with my online bookmarking. i use it all the time, and i tell everyone about it, and everyone i tell is really impressed with it. (turns out i wasn't the only one who hadn't heard about it!) more and more people are using it, and we're sharing some of our bookmarks with each other. it's cool.

i haven't decided if i'm going to continue blogging or not. i have mixed feelings about blogging. everything we blogged about in class is justified to me and is easy enough to disclose my feelings about, but i'm not so sure i want to broadcast my feelings and emotions about my personal life experiences on the internet. i'm just not to that point yet, but i think i will let the account live on and see if that changes.

all and all, it's been a great experience :)

unit 5

ok, here's the cliffsnotes on my paper for unit 5....sex and violence in virtual worlds, and how it affects the real world.

in SL, i managed to find and score some free threads and shoes...and i was so uncomfortable even changing my clothes...i felt like everyone else was looking at me change. did anyone else feel super vulnerable?

myspace bully

i was appalled after reading the aol news article about the myspace bully. wait, let me clarify: the myspace MOM bully. correct me if i'm wrong, but aren't parents supposed to stress the "do unto others" schpiel? i mean, i don't have kids, so i don't know what it would feel like if one of them got picked on. but i remember when i got picked on as a kid. and i remember my parents telling me how i shouldn't retaliate with violence, and i shouldn't judge them, and i should "kill them with kindness" so to speak. wtf!!! did this mom just go to the bar and get drunk the day they taught this to parents? how can a parent not only encourage this sort of behavior but actually DO it?

ok, seriously....i'd LOVE to ask this woman...did she really think she'd never get caught? or how the world (or the community, on a small scale) would react to such behavior? what if you were her daughter? i can't speak for everyone, but my mom would lose major respect points with me if she ever did that. the amount of freaking IDIOTS in the world just never ceases to amaze me.

to blog or not to blog?

I get the purpose of blogging for this class. We further discuss class topics, mainly. But why do people blog outside of discussion topics? Or why do they blog on topics at all? Isn't that what discussion boards are for?

I thought that blogs were pretty standardly online journals; a place to write down any private or intimate thoughts that you may have as well as daily activities. But wait? Aren't journals private? I remember writing in a journal when I was younger and freaking out because I couldn't find a hiding place discreet enough for it. So why do people today think it's not only acceptable but perfectly normal to write such intimate thoughts that can be viewed by not only people you know and see on a daily basis, but complete strangers as well?

Youtube users

Like I mentioned in my discussion post, I had never heard of Youtube until my boyfriend showed me a video related to the car he was going to buy. I was pretty indifferent to the site as a whole at first, but then I started to realize that I could find pretty much anything on Youtube: television and movie clips, cartoons, product comparisons, and classroom related material (and the list doesn't stop there.)

I would say the majority of clips I watch on Youtube are homemade videos, usually just for a little entertainment. I watch videos, and click on related videos, and watch those: it's a pretty mindless cycle. There are actually a couple of people I know that post their own videos on Youtube, and I think it's kind of cool to watch them and see what they're doing, since the majority of them live out of state now.

Then you get the amateur videos of people trying to be rock stars, or teen girls trying to be skanky. Correction: being skanky. I guess you get the good with the bad on any site though.

I don't post any of my own videos, for a couple of reasons. First of all, I have absolutely no idea where to even start. Secondly, I don't really have that many interesting things to throw on an internet site that is going to be viewed by millions of people (respectively.) If I were to ever post anything, I guess it would be something along the lines of what I enjoy watching the most. I'd grab a few friends and make a silly skit. But that's not written in the stars anytime soon.

$1 billion balk

Mark Zuckerberg did something I don't know if I could ever do: he walked away from a $1 billion deal. Wow.

Part of me doesn't get it. I mean, everyone has a price, right? That's a big chunk of change to swallow. $1 billion!!! My mind starts to swim just thinking about all those zeros. I don't even think I could make a dent in that, and I spend money like the best of them.

However, to a different part of me it makes perfect sense. Zuckerberg has been submerged in this project for years. He watched it grow, nurtured and cared for it, saw it through good times and bad. It's like planting a garden, or raising a baby. Of course it has some sentimental value. $1 billion of sentimental value, but still. For example: I built my own tiki bar. On my balcony of my apartment building. I never built anything before in my whole life. It is gorgeous, if I do say so myself. All together, costs were about $400 bucks. But I would protect it with my life. Now if someone offered me big bucks for the tiki bar, maybe I would sell it. But it would be a hard decision.

Some think Zuckerberg is an idiot for walking away. I think it's really cool he stood by what he believed in. Kudos!!!

Facebook Faceoff?!?! UNBELIEVABLE!!!

ARE YOU SERIOUS? I didn't know how to react when I read the Facebook Faceoff article on students at Syracuse University. I guess I felt sorry for them. I felt sorry for them that they are that immature. I felt sorry for them that they were so cruel. And I wanted to watch Chuck Norris roundhouse kick all of them in the face.

What the hell goes on in the mind of people that create these "hate groups"? So you don't like your professor? So what? There is absolutely no excuse whatsoever for slandering them all over the internet, and verbally attacking and abusing them. Because you don't like their lecture?!?!? Who the f*** are these women? It is horrifying to think that not only does this seem to happen somewhat frequently at this University (let alone anywhere else it happens) but these people could be my future coworkers. Or even more horrifying, a superior. There's nothing superior about any of these girls. Here's my big middle finger up to you- and anyone else who thinks they're big, tough college students.