Report 1:
Monitoring My Information Behavior
By: Amy Beeler
Instructions for this Report are at:
www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy22/409a-g22-report1.htm
Task 1: Registering on the Web as a lab user and writing Section A
of Report 1
Section A: part a
Working through completion of this
report, with all the tasks and steps, was really a first for me. I have begun to rely on my husband for his
electronics expertise, especially when pertaining to computers. In addition, I have grown up using Macs, so
having a PC is also very new to me. So, these are two of the reasons that I had
such difficulty with the uploading and folder creation and so on that this
report required. Like I said, this report was definitely a first for me, and
with some perseverance, I have now completed it, so that it may be shared with
the world.
Section A: part b
When looking over some of the
previous generations of student’s reports, the first one that stuck out at me, was the one written by Hae Lin Han (www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/409af2003/han/report1.htm). Aside from it being a very clear, and
strongly written report, her difficulties sounded somewhat similar to that of
my own.
i.
She felt overwhelmed by the tasks, and briefly went over the
requirements before she began, which in the end she felt was not the best way
to tackle the task.
ii.
She thought she had a good enough grasp on the requirements, but she did
not which she feels resulted in error and confusion.
iii.
When she completed a task, she feared that she had done it incompletely
or wrong. So she carefully completed the steps again, in order to make sure she
had them done.
iv.
She concluded that is was an overall, successful assignment for her, as
she learned many things about herself and the way she handles difficult
situations.
v.
Her insights apply to me and my own situation because I too, was very
overwhelmed by the amount of steps and information. In addition, I too just skimmed the procedure
before attempting it, and later had to return to the same instructions in order
to complete the tasks correctly and completely.
Next,
I looked at Jacquelin Lim’s Report one (www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/409af2003/lim/report1.htm) and found some of my same frustrations manifested
in her words. She felt as if she knew what she was to do, and attempted to just
quickly complete them. However she found that this was not necessarily the
case, as I too, found.
i.
She felt as if she
understood the instructions, but later realized that there was much more to it
than she had given credit for. She felt somewhat as if the instructions were so
detailed, that some of the message was lost.
ii.
She thought that she would be able to just cruise through the tasks, that
they seemed easy.
iii.
She quickly read through the instructions for the tasks, but found them
to be more difficult than first anticipated.
iv.
She concluded that while taking notes on her feelings during these tasks
was time consuming and tedious, but was beneficial in the long run.
v.
Jacquelin’s insights applied to me
on how I preformed my tasks, because I also thought that the tasks would be
easier than they turned out to be. I too, felt that the directions were so
wordy, that I wanted to put them down and try later, because I already felt my
brain shutting down.
Following
Jacquelin’s report one, I looked at her report 2 (www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/409af2003/lim/report2.htm) and again saw many similarities between hers and my own feelings.
i. She initially felt optimistic of the new tasks, as she was
familiar with WEBCT and thought it would go smoothly.
ii.
She thought that it was frustrating, however, when she found that she had
to manually login every time.
iii.
She began a system of logging on, choosing a topic, and then crossing the
topic off when she had finished with it.
iv.
She concluded that “loosing her cool” did not bring her any closer to
being a productive student and completing her tasks.
v.
Her insights apply to me because I too, got so frustrated with my
computer not doing what I thought it should be, and really it was my own error.
I thought that I was doing everything correctly, and continued inputting my
password that would not work. I finally had to quit for a few days and try
again later… because I was beginning to panic and that was not how I was going
to get any work done. I went back later, calmly, and figured out the
problem. Keeping cool is so important to
fixing the errors.
Finally,
I looked at Jill Umetsu’s Report 2 (www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/409af96/jumetsu/report2.html) and found a very interesting timeline, so to speak,
on the transformation from intimidation to confidence when dealing with the
internet and new tasks that involve using the computer.
i.
Jill felt
intimidated by the tasks, and felt as if they were very complicated.
ii.
She thought that
the initial frustration is the hardest part to overcome.
iii.
She spent more
and more time on the computer, and as the weeks went by, felt more confident
with using the internet.
iv.
She concluded
that after the initial frustration, it became fun, once she knew more about how
to do things online.
v.
Her insights
apply to me because she is right, once I spent more and more time online,
performing the tasks, I felt proud of myself, and I actually enjoyed it.
Task 2: Locating two specified journal
articles in electronic resources and writing Sections B & C of Report 1
Section B
British Journal of
Social Psychology; March 2004, Vol. 43 Issue 1, p99, 14p,1
Persistent link to this
record:
http://search.epnet.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&an=12787719
Abstract fr. Article:
“Women's collective
constructions of embodied practices through memory work: Cartesian dualism in
memories of sweating and pain.”
The research presented in this paper uses memory
work as a method to explore six women's collective constructions of two
embodied practices, sweating and pain. The paper identifies limitations in the
ways in which social constructionist research has theorized the relationship
between discourse and materiality, and it proposes an approach to the study of
embodiment which enjoins, rather than bridges, the discursive and the
non-discursive. The paper presents an analysis of 25 memories of sweating and
pain which suggests that Cartesian dualism is central to the women's accounts
of their experiences. However, such dualism does not operate as a stable
organizing principle. Rather, it offers two strategies for the performance of a
split between mind and body. The paper traces the ways in
which dualism can be both functional and restrictive, and explores the tensions
between these two forms. The paper concludes by identifying
opportunities and limitations associated with memory work as a method for
studying embodiment.
This article discusses the connection between
sweating and pain using several women’s memories of it. It then goes into the
idea of duality in the mind/body and how they are two separate entities, and
the theories of which show their analysis of 25 different women’s memories. Or
at least that is what I got from it, it was very
confusing for me, and fairly distanced from anything I have thought too much
about. It was interesting though, especially in looking at connections sweat
and pain have in the mind and body…working separately.
Journal
for the Scientific Study of Religion, June 1990, Vol.29 Issue 2, P277, 2p
Persistent link to this
record: http://search.epnet.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&an=9604085487
The year 1988 marked the tricentennial of the birth of the Swedish scientist,
theologian, and revelator Emanuel Swedenborg. Swedenborg and His Influence consists
of 25 papers originally presented at a symposium held by the Academy of the
Theologian and revelator,
Emanuel Swedenborg, wrote 25 papers that varied in
subject due to his vast knowledge and interest in many different areas. This article
basically conveys the vast impact that Swedenborg had
on many different walks of life, even in today’s world. He seemed to me like
quite the renaissance man, with the ability to excel
at a variety of fields. This is not all to common of a
gift, so he was probably an interesting man.
Section C
When
looking at how prior generations solved tasks like this one, I took notice of
Carol N. Ohta’s paper (www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/409af96/cohta/409/409report2.html), because she talks about how real libraries will become more and more
obsolete as computers become more and more advanced. I thought this was
interesting, as I just used online library resources to complete the last task.
i.
Carol feels that she must be careful how much anger and frustration she
takes out on the computer…in case it has feelings of its own!!
ii.
She speculated about the future of intelligence in computers, and
jokingly wonders about what it may be capable of towards us. She also felt that
it was beginning to replace libraries, letters, and other actual written
documents.
iii.
She played with addresses and tags of places she liked and wanted to
place in her reports.
iv.
She concluded that while the internet does not replace certain things,
it is a great way to have fun and explore new places.
v.
Her insights apply to me because, like I said, it interested me when
she spoke of the internet beginning to replace things like libraries. That
applied to what I was doing in the previous activity, because I used an online
resource that combined the library with the internet.
In
addition to looking at her second report, I examined Carol N. Ohta’s second report (www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/409af96/cohta/459/report2.html) and again found a voice that I could relate to.
i.
Carol felt
nervous and somewhat overwhelmed by the idea of doing multiple activities with
the computer, not being at all versed in the machines.
ii.
She thought that
she would just simply ask how to email, but was quickly embarrassed by the
response of, “it’s easy!”
iii.
So she continued
to ask questions and learn in order to acquire the skills needed for completion
of the tasks.
iv.
She concluded
that eventually she could get it, with some hard work, and persistence.
v.
I feel that this
report applies to me, because I had to learn many new things when completing
these tasks. One of which was learning how to access the above articles. I had
to ask other people, who kind of looked at me like I was dumb. However I
finally got it, and have acquired new knowledge of something that I am sure I
will use again.
Following Carol’s two
reports, I looked a Ginger Andrew’s report 2 (www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/409af96/gandrews/report2.html), and found it interesting. Although I found it a
little annoying that her name was not clearly posted at the top of her report,
I had to search a little further before I could put a name to the voice.
i.
Ginger felt more
confident on computer tasks this time around, and
really felt that the hard work was worthwhile.
ii.
She thought that
she had a lot of work and responsibility, but that she acquired valuable skills
because of them.
iii.
What she did,
was she showed up to class, participated, and spent many hours in the computer
lab.
iv.
She concluded
that TEAM work was an important concept in a cyber community.
v.
Her experience
applies to me because I learned the value of getting help from others in this
task (or TEAM work). Jessica Lacy, one of my classmates, helped me a lot with
moral support and instructions.
Finally, I read through a
report done by M. Heather Piper (www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/409as2003/piper/g18research.htm) who talks about the importance of not
procrastinating, as the internet does not always have the sources you need, at
any given time.
i.
She felt fear of
the unknown, fear of the tasks at hand and completing them.
ii.
She thought that
it was overwhelming at some points, because there is so much information out
there to use in order to complete a task.
iii.
What she did was
learn how to advance search properly, then she did not get so bombarded with
information.
iv.
She concluded
that the more techniques that she learned when doing these tasks, the easier
she could complete them, and therefore, she would not be so overwhelmed and
fearful.
v.
Her insights
apply to me because the last task was time consuming for me. I did not know how
to go about finding the articles, but eventually, I figured it out, and I
learned something new because of it. Next time I have to perform a task like
that, I will not be so overwhelmed and fearful.
Task
3: Shopping for a specified type of Mailbox on the web and writing Sections D
& E of Report 1
Section D
Wrap around Base Kit, surface mount:
SPK-591
Hummingbird Curbside:
SCB-1005. Price: $130.50 Price:
$151.50
http://www.barbecues.com/web/catalog/product_detail.aspx?pid=4330
Section E
It is always interesting to look at how prior
generations attacked tasks like this one.
While no one searched for a mailbox, they did have to perform other
tasks which are easy to compare to. One such paper, written by, Shawna Honeycut (www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/409af96/honeycut/report2.html) and she discusses that many times, she would rather
be doing something else.
i.
She felt
stressed, after her initial fear wore off. She felt like some of it was
self-inflicted because instead of working on her reports, she surfed
the web. She was not making good use of her time.
ii.
She thought that there were other things she would
like to be doing.
iii.
She finally went to the lab, sat down, and started
typing.
iv.
She concluded that once she really knew what it
was she was supposed to be doing, she could actually do it.
v.
Her insights apply to me in this task because I
put it off a lot, and instead of working on it, I just messed around and
emailed. I felt like it was such an easy assignment, but it was more difficult
than I had anticipated. Once I just sat down to do it, I got it done.
I also looked
at Ginger Andrews report 1(www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/409af96/gandrews/report1.html) and found again, very similar insights that I have
at the end of this task.
i.
She felt
frustrated, because she knew that hypothetically she could do it, but
performing the task was a little different.
ii.
She thought that
she should expect to learn like a baby learning to walk, with a lot of little
mistakes.
iii.
What she decided
to do, was be altruistic. She would work on one
problem, while a classmate worked on another, and that way, they got twice the
info in less time.
iv.
She concluded
that it was a good idea to work collectively with someone else, due to the amount
of work that is required.
v.
Her insights
apply to my own task because, while I didn’t work closely with another person,
I did get a lot of help from my fellow classmates, which I feel was very
beneficial to me. Also, I feel it kept Dr. James from getting tired of my
little questions because he did not have to deal with them. So I actually think
that my getting help from others was beneficial to the teacher as well!
On the other hand, I found Michelle
Alonzo’s report 1 (www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/409af96/malonzo/report1.html) to be
interesting in other ways.
i.
Michelle
seemed to have really enjoyed herself when doing some of the tasks she was
assigned.
ii.
She thought
that it was interesting because of the opportunity to look at past generations
of home pages.
iii.
She decided
to make the best page she felt she could, and then 20 generations later, they
would see her page as an earlier, pioneering home page.
iv.
She concluded
that it was beneficial and enjoyable to see other’s work online. She thinks
that there are advantages and disadvantages to cyber communities and the
internet. She felt like the good out weighed the bad, and was pleased with the
final product of her assignment.
v.
Her insights
apply to me because I agree with her… it is very interesting to look at past
home pages and reports to get a feel for their experiences.
Finally, I read about Sean Arakaki’s experiences and ideas in his research report (www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/409bs2003/arakaki/research.htm). This report
caught my eye because of the second introductory paragraph, in which he
assimilates the complexities of the internet, to the eternal mystery of a
woman. This was not a bad assimilation
(for a man to make) and I found it rather amusing.
i.
Sean felt like
many, many others in the beginning, unsure of his knowledge of computers and
the internet.
ii.
He thought that,
learning these skills, like anything else, is a process.
iii.
He completed
vast amounts of research every week, which was tedious and time consuming for
him.
iv.
He concluded
that even though it was extremely time consuming, it was interesting to conduct
his research. He really delivered a strong research paper in the end!
v.
His insights
apply to me, not necessarily because of his own, personal insights, but because
of the ones that he had for other people.
He used previous experiences (many of which I have used in my own paper)
and showed a five step process of learning the internet. I could place myself in these steps very
easily.
Task 4: Acquiring FTP
software, creating and uploading a Home Page and writing Section F of Report 1
Section F
It is not difficult to find other people’s papers
that describe a similar predicament that I had, or the same struggle that I
too, endured. The first such paper, is Renae Mendez’s (www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/409bs2003/mendez/researchreport.htm).
i.
She felt
inexperienced at the beginning of doing her new tasks…like searching on the
internet.
ii.
She thought that
having to do a self-observation data sheet, was very difficult, but did it
anyway.
iii.
She filled out
the data, and she examined the results, as she was instructed, despite the fact
that it was difficult for her.
iv.
She concluded
that her emotions/feelings did not match up with the data she was to compare
to.
v.
Her insights
apply to me in this task of acquiring FTP software, because I had difficulties
that no one else seemed to understand.
Sometimes your personal experience does not match up with others.
The
next paper I looked at was Shane Cobb-Adams’ report 2 (www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/459f96/cobb/psy409a/report2.html),
in which he writes about the different stages you go through in learning
something like the internet.
i.
At first, he felt overwhelmed by the topics and all the commands that
you need to know.
ii.
He thought that the only way to really learn these topics and commands
was to start to use them.
iii.
So, he did. He began to use the new commands and topics, and became much
more versed in them.
iv.
He concluded that while overwhelming at first, the knowledge is
attainable, and it helps to see prior generations and how they overcame such
problems.
v.
These insights apply to me when I was doing this task. Much of the language and commands I was not
familiar with, and I felt overwhelmed and discouraged. However, I found the
same thing that Shane did, once you jump in, you become familiar with the
commands and topics.
I found a familiar name when reading about
different people’s experiences with new tasks.
Hae Lin Han report 1, I talked about in the
first section of this report. Hae Lin Han’s report 2 (www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/409af2003/han/report2.htm)
was right along the lines of what I faced when completing this FTP uploading
task.
i.
She felt somewhat more confident of her already acquired knowledge, but
still was very angered and upset by the computer not doing what she thought it
should be.
ii.
She thought that she would be able to figure it out herself, which just
resulted in more problems.
iii.
So she finally got some help from WEBCT, and got password help. After
that, she had the problem solved.
iv.
She concluded that her not asking for help was her biggest downfall. It
caused way more stress than was necessary.
v.
This applies to me because I had tremendous trouble logging into the
class website. A friend in class said that the website had taken her several
attempts before she was able to login. I assumed that was my situation too, and
did not get any help. I just got more and more frustrated and thought I would
literally throw my computer out the window.
Finally, I retyped the same Server address that I had been, and this
time it worked.
Finally, when searching for a similar
struggle, I found again, the voice of Carol N. Ohta
in the third work I have looked at of hers.
Her report 1 (www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/409af96/cohta/409/409report1.html) was again, one that I could see my reflection
in.
i.
Every day,
she becomes overwhelmed by the possibilities that the internet has to offer,
and doesn’t seem to be able to concentrate on her work.
ii.
She thought
that she was still not able to come up with as creative and colorful Home Pages
as other students.
iii.
She continued
to try to improve and expand upon her Home Page.
iv.
She concluded
that her frustration now points more at herself than at the computer, and she
always has the desire to improve her work and knowledge.
v.
Her insights
apply to me because I feel that way about my own Home Page. It is not as pretty
and creative as the ones I have been seeing. I don’t even know how to make the
words bend across the screen. I do agree
with her that there is always room for improvement, and it is a work in
progress.
Task 5: Completing
Report 1 and publishing it to the Web and writing Sections G, H, and I of
Report 1
Section G
Ryan Mitsui’s report (www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/459f96/rmitsui/409/reports/report2.html) discussed, like Sean’s did, about phases of
learning the internet. He outlined three
main ones, and so far, I think I have made it just past phase 2 (resistance)
and headed for phase three (the stage in which you are getting more familiar
with the Web).
i.
He went through the phases too, and he felt that
the internet can be difficult.
ii.
He thought that there was a lot to learn at first.
iii.
So he used previous generation’s experiences to
guide him.
iv.
He concluded that learning the internet is easier
in a cyber community, because everyone else is in the same boat and they can
help each other.
v.
His insights apply to me, because I do see myself
going through his phases, just like I have seen many, many others. I agree that following others as guidelines
is beneficial, it helped me a lot when performing this task.
Christine Marchadie’s
report (www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/409af96/march/409/report2.html) was helpful to me as well, because I enjoyed the
way she wrote it.
i.
At first, she
felt like she was aimless, did not know where to go or where to click.
ii.
She thought it was very annoying when pages took a
long time to load.
iii.
She finally just began to “surf” the net, and
found some very useful resources.
iv.
She concluded that it is very beneficial to use
the internet for various things. But she must remember that she gets easily
frustrated by pages not loading quickly.
v.
I found that her insights applied to me, because
now that I have actually figured out how to do things like uploading, I can do
so much more with the internet. I also need to remember to be patient with web
pages, because I get easily frustrated when they go slowly.
Again, I will
use one of Michelle Alonzo’s reports to assimilate my experiences. (www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/409af96/malonzo/report1.html)
i.
She initially
felt that learning the internet was the hardest thing she has ever done.
ii.
She did not even
know what cyberspace was.
iii.
She learned
about past generations by looking at their pages, and she learned how to use
the system and became versed in cyberspace.
iv.
She concluded
that she thinks cyberspace is a great thing, and she wants to share her
knowledge with others.
v.
Her insights
apply to me when performing this task because I too was scared, and now that I
am near the end of this project, I see that pretty much everyone was at the
beginning. Now that I can perform these tasks, I want to share it with others.
The last and final report I looked at, was
Kai’s (unsure of his last name). It
seemed appropriate for being the last one I discuss, because it is called,
“Problems and Victories dealing with the Internet” which is appropriate
because, now that I am nearly done with my report, I am almost at victory, when
I began with problems. (www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/409af96/hansjurg/reports/Report2a.html )
i.
Kai felt, like
so many others (including myself) large amounts of frustration.
ii.
He thought that
he had somewhat of an information overload, and that added to his frustration.
iii.
He tackled one
task at a time, and found that they built upon each other, and he could do them
one at a time.
iv.
He concluded
that by taking one task at a time, he could complete them, despite the
inevitable frustration.
v.
His insights
apply to my own experiences in my tasks for report 1, because I found the same
thing that he did. I was overwhelmed, frustrated, information overloaded, and
was ready to crawl in a hole for awhile. However, I got the courage to take the
tasks as the came, one at a time, and completed them. That was what worked for
him, and for me.
Section H
To summarize what report 1 has all
been about, just look back at the title, “Monitoring My Information
Behavior.” This sums it all up really,
because report 1 basically consisted of doing some online tasks, most of which
I was lacking the know-how that was required to complete them, and comparing my
experiences to those of past generations of Psych409 students. After each task,
I read through reports of past students in order to find similar experiences to
similar tasks. Overall, this was an interesting part of each task, because
inevitably, for every task, I got frustrated and felt stupid. When this
happens, it is common for one to feel that they are the only one with such a
problem. However, I found that for every task that I eventually completed,
after my initial stint of feeling frustrated, overwhelmed, and stupid, I found
that others felt the same way by looking at their reports.
In doing this report, I have learned
that nothing is accomplished in a meaningful or effective way when one gets so
frustrated and angry. Many times, I just
wanted to break down and cry, or plead with my computer to just to what I
believed I had correctly instructed it to do.
Every single time, I stuck with it, although sometimes taking a few days
break from it, and came back able to eventually solve the problem. I have
learned that while computers can be, and usually are to most people,
overwhelming. However, with patience,
there is usually a logical process for what you are trying to accomplish,
although sometimes this includes a number of steps. In addition, if nothing
else, I have learned the tangible skill how to upload documents! Which is a
skill that I know will manifest great importance for my life, and that it will
undoubtedly serve me in the future.
Section I
I would like to leave the future
generations of Dr. James’ Psychology classes, my legacy of advice for tackling
their own reports. One, the directions
will seem wordy, lengthy, and overwhelming…this is a fact. However, printing them out so that you can
see the directions right in front of you, as opposed to re-reading them over
and over again on a computer screen, seemed to me to be beneficial. In addition, by taking them step by step, you
get very thorough directions which do help when the inevitable confusion
follows your first attempts at completing tasks. Also, find someone right away in class that
you can exchange contact information with, and that way, if you have problems,
you can ask them first. Many times they will be able to help you, and you do
not have to bother Dr. James with the silly little problems. Then you can save getting help from him as
your last resort…though I must warn you that a common response from him is to
re-read the directions and try again.
Which takes us right back to my first piece of advice, which urges you
to print out the directions so that you may read over them as many times as
needed.
In addition, one thing that I was told by Dr.
James on the first day of class, is keep trying. The confusion and errors make
it so frustrating to complete what seems like a simple task, so leave your self
enough time before the deadline, to take a break and go back to it. I had the
hardest time trying to set up my folder and login to the class website, and as
a result, I was a bit tardy with uploading my final report 1. I have already
learned my lesson on this one, and so I will be better prepared for report 2
and its deadlines.
Finally, my last tidbit of advice is to not assume
that the tasks are easy and you can breeze through them. After reading through
many past generations of papers, I have noticed that many people made that
mistake. The tasks may seem to be straight forward, but usually they have many
time consuming steps to them. Like I
said either, budget your time to figure in technical difficulties and human
error. With that, I conclude my pearls of wisdom, and I wish good luck to
future generations!
Our
Class Homepage: www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy22/classhome-g22.htm
My
Home Page: www.soc.hawaii.edu/leon/409as2005/beeler/home.htm