Report 1:
Monitoring My Information Behavior
By Cloe Bernstein
Instructions for this report are at:
www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy23/409b-g23-report1.htm
Introduction
Hello everybody! I
initially took Dr. James’s class on the three models of marriage for the sole
purpose of fulfilling my graduation requirements. I’m a senior undergraduate student at
Section A
During this task, we had to start our new report 1 document, and
register as a computer lab user. This
was a very simple task.
I.
She
felt inexperienced when she approached this report. She was stressing about all of the computer
work she would be doing throughout the report.
II.
However,
because she took a computer-oriented class before, she was able to use what she
learned there and apply it to her report.
III.
Renae
kept a log while completing the report, to plot her progress from an okay
searcher to a much better and quicker search.
IV.
She
concluded that it was very important to view the work of former students, as
this would help you visualize what is expected of Dr. James.
V.
I
thought it was very useful of Renae to keep a log of her skills from the
beginning of the report to the end. She
also influenced me to keep referring to the work of students from other
generations to help with this report.
I.
At
the beginning of this first task, Jacquelyn Lim felt very overwhelmed with the
work that was described to her.
II.
She
thought the work seemed easy to do, but later found that it took up more time
than she expected.
III.
She
did not like the idea that she was told to keep a blog on her progress
throughout the report, but she did it anyway.
IV.
To
not make certain errors repeatedly, like forming her emails to Prof. James
wrong, Jacquelyn concluded that she had to slow down and absorb all the
information before she would took action.
V.
Her
insights apply to me in that I, too, feel overwhelmed with the way our tasks
are presented to us. I have to read them
at least five times before I start to understand what Prof. James is looking
for.
I.
At
the beginning of the semester, Carol had much anxiety over the fact that she
would have to learn how to do other things on the computer than just use
Microsoft word.
II.
But,
she kept faith and took this class as a challenge. She thought that if she put
in her full effort to the aasigned tasks, she could learn how to use other
computer programs and as a result, get over her internet/e-mail fears.
III.
So,
Carol took the aggressive route and went right to the clic lab and computer
monitor desks to ask for help on how to do everything she didn’t know how to
do.
IV.
She
then concluded that now that she knew how to email, the class would be a
breeze.
V.
Carol
is like me, in that if I don’t know how to do something, I just call up the lab
and ask. However, I did have a much
easier time than she did performing this task.
I.
Hae felt that the tasks of the report were pretty
self-explanatory, but as they got through the separate tasks, they began to get
frustrated.
II.
Hae
thought all they had to do was make comments on a discussion board, but realize
there was also a whole report to do which was basically a self-examination of
the progression of their computer skills.
III.
They
state how their class had to post twice a week on an online discussion board,
and she also read those posts of other students.
IV.
Hae
concluded that this task helped them advance in information learning
behaviors.
V.
This
report reflects some of the same feelings I am having about the report. I do not feel overwhelmed and know that if I
do what I have to do, I will succeed.
Hae Lin, like me, does not have the anxieties some of the other students
did.
Section B
In this task, we had to locate two different journal articles on the internet, post their abstracts, and summarize them. I found this task easy because I have experience searching through UH’s library system for journal articles.
First
Article
Persistent link to this
record: http://search.epnet.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&an=12787719
Abstract
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 identifiying opportunities and limitations associated with memory work as a method for studying embodiment
My Summary
This research study analyzes
the variation of reactions six women have to 25 different memories of both pain
and suffering, and compares the rationalism of their reactions to the
memories. This information is used to
infer the limitations of using memory in a study. My reaction to this paper about “discourse”
is that it seems like discourse itself.
The abstract sounds more like the author is just rambling and trying to
use the biggest words available.
Although I do find the study interesting, it took me a while to figure
out what it was actually about from the author’s abstract.
Second Article
Persistent link to this
record: http://search.epnet.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=rlh&an=9604085487
Abstract
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
My Summary
This article is about Emanuel Swedenborg, a Swedish scientitist
from centuries ago. He was an astonished
researcher who made predictions and discoveries in fields such as astronomy,
biology, psychology, and science in general.
I think this abstract is a good introduction, and makes the reader
want to know more about this influential person from the eigtheenth century and
what he has to say.
Section C
This section of the same task is just my own review of what
previous generation’s said after performing a similar task.
I.
Shawna
felt very stressed about this task where
she had to locate something on the internet.
II.
She thought her
feelings were her own fault for procrastinating on the task.
III.
She searched
around and found some web pages where you could chose different icons, as that
is what she was supposed to do in her task.
IV.
She concluded
that it was very hard to keep her concentration on the task and would often get
distracted by other internet activities and things going on around her.
V.
I can relate to
her insight because I often sit down at my computer to perform a task, but get
sidetracked by talking to my friends or looking at other webpages that have
nothing to do with my schoolwork.
I.
Kai’s report
describes his frustrations with using dial-up service while performing
searches. This really doesn’t pertain to
me, as I have not had dial-up since 1998!
II.
His frustrations led him to the school’s
computers, which he thought were ridiculously slow also. Then, he went off on a tangent and made some
awkward comments about how he hates people who move to
III.
He didn’t do this
task because he couldn’t get a computer to work. I find this very hard to believe, as it seems
as though everyone else is the clases at our university can get their computers
to work. If he really cared about the
assignment, he would’ve just asked someone in the computer lab for help.
IV.
Kai concluded
that all of the work Dr. James assigned them made him loose interest in the
class.
V.
His insights
included some inappropiate language and comments, never mind the lack of
grammar/spelling skills. The only way
this relates to me is that it sets an example for what my report should not
look like.
I.
Christine kept
her review of this task short and sweet.
She felts stressed and started off by procrastinating on the task.
II.
But, then she
realized this choice of no action was wrong.
III.
She said by
viewing previous students’ reports, this made it easier for her to visualize
what her report would be like and motivated her to complete the task.
IV.
I relate to
Christine in that I usually what until the last minute to do things, for no
reason. But, once I get myself
organized, I can pull it off just like she did.
I.
Jill felt that
when she first started this task, it was easy.
II.
Although, she
does state that she thought the class would move slower, at a beginner pace for
those new computer users.
III.
Then she realized
it wasn’t as hard as she expected because all she had to do was click and
follow Dr. Jame’s task instructions.
IV.
She concluded
that her first feelings of doubt were due to her lack of wanting to learn how
to use a computer for this task.
V.
Though short,
what Jill had to say is a lot like how I feel.
At first, I thought this class would be overwhelming with all of the
instructions we had to follow. But now,
I realize if you just take things step by step, they are easier than they
seem.
Section D
In this task, we had to locate a mailbox on the internet that was made of copper, sat on a post, and had some sort of design on it. Then, we had to post it’s link and picture to our reports. I found this task to be surprisingly easy.
Shown above: Medium Copper Mailbox
These beautifully crafted steel mailboxes are
wrapped with hand-hammered copper with designs on both sides and are available
in a small and medium size. Copper is untreated and will weather naturally.
Personalization, embossed on both sides, is only available on the medium
mailbox. The maximum number of characters is 18.
Section E
In
this section, we had to review how previous generations felt after completing
this task.
I.
She
felt this assignment really called for teamwork, and if the whole class worked
together to figure out our separate problems, everything would get solved.
II. With this assignment, Ginger gave the advice, “take the best and leave the rest”. She thought this assignment, along with the others, were all very draining and time consuming.
III. For her assignment, Ginger describes that the best thing she or anyone could do was participate in class discussions. Everyone has their own strong points dealing with the internet, so this could be very helpful. Pon attending class, I heard many people discussing how their mailbox picture would not post to the web. But, we all figured it out through discussing our problems, like Ginger says.
IV. Ginger concluded that before attempting work with HTML in this assignment, get comfortable in your chair. Also, dim your computer monitor to prevent vision problems from sitting at the screen so long.
V. I agree with Ginger that the best thing you can do to get help posting the picture required for this assignment is to ask your classmates. I, however, did not have a problem posting my picture. But, I can relate to the discomfort you feel sitting at the computer so long doing these assignments.
I.
She
felt this assignment was hard and confusiong at times, but happily surprised
that her html link didn’t give her any problems.
II. Carol thought the assignment helped her learn a lot about hot to use HTML and the internet, and she was smiling at the computer when everything would work for her on her first try.
III. To complete this task, she sat down calmy and figured out what link represented where she was, and how to put it into her report.
IV. She concluded that it is actually fun to figure out your problems on the computer and internet.
V. Her insight applied to my work because I, too, have not had any problems getting anything posted. I agree with her opinion that the internet is becoming a much more easier route of research than any formal library.
I.
Ryan
felt this assignment was difficult at first, but after you figure out the rules
of the internet and posting objects, it’s easy.
II. Tyan thought a valuable part of this assignment was the ability to discuss with classmates any problems happening.
III. For this assignment, Ryan did it as soon as he could, and does not recommend saving any task until the last minute to do.
IV. Ryan concluded that working at his project at home saved him a lot of time from having to sit in the computer lab.
V. Ryan’s advice inspired me to not keep any portion of my reports for last minute and it is always better to stay ahead than o fall behind.
I.
This
student felt that after completing this task, a lot of what she researched
prior students saying was the same.
II. They thought this assignment was very time consuming and sometimes frustrating.
III. This student peformed the task by putting in the exact terms she was searching for into the search engines. If she didn’t use the exact terms, the search would be much harder. Also, the words have to be in the same order Dr. James presented them in.
IV. She concluded that if the search engines were more user-friendly and easy to use, the assignment may not have been so time cosuming. She feels like people who design these search engines are already computer wizards. They should focus on creating search engines for the average computer user who could get lost easily.
V. Heather’s insight was useful to my assignment, because she helped me realize the importance of putting the right words into an internet search.
Section F
In
this task, we had to create and upload our homepages through the FTP
server. Then, we reviewed how previous
students felt after completeing this task. In accordance with my feelings about the rest of the tasks so far in
this report, section F was also very simple.
I.
Shane
felt the ability to look back on previous generation’s work was very helpful in
solving his problems and preparing him for the task.
II.
Because
he felt very overwhelmed at first, he took the advice of previous students and
decided not to leave it all for the night before its due.
III.
So to
complete the assignment, Shane decided to do a little bit everyday until it was
all finished to the best of his ability.
That sounds like a good idea!
IV.
He
concluded that because he worked on the report this way, his positive outlook
on getting it done is what made is easier and less overwhelming to complete.
V.
Shane,
like me, likes to take baby steps to finish an assignment, as opposed to
waiting until the last minute. I like to
do a little bit of my report here and there, when I am in the productive mood.
I.
Jacquelyn
felt she got off to the assignment on the right foot, but when she started to
procrastinate, she felt stressed and overwhelmed, like many other students,
with all the work she had to get done.
II.
She
thought working with WebCT was difficult because it didn’t store previous
information used in the system, making it more time consuming and frustrating
to finish the task.
III.
To do
this assignment, she just copied the original links to the folder. This was a very easy way of approaching the
task.
IV.
Her
conclusion was that the only reason she was able to finish the assignment was
some last minute motivation.
V.
I
didn’t have any problems using the server to upload and find my files. I didn’t think of just copying and pasting
the links, instead I took the route of finding the objects in their folder and
manually uploading them with the FTP program.
I.
Michelle
had more extreme feelings about this task than some of the other students I
researched. At times, she felt like
throwing her computer on the floor! She
exclaims how when learning anything new and complicated, it could be
frustrating for anybody. Sometimes she
felt “defeated” by the internet, because she wasn’t getting anything done after
working so long and hard.
II.
She
thought maybe she should give up on the class, or give her attention to other
classes, and just not care so much about this one.
III.
She
suggested copying other people’s homepages if you are having trouble getting
yours to look the way you want it to.
Another option would be to find out what commands everyone is using, and
try to copy those to your homepage.
IV.
She
concluded that once everything started to work to her liking, she became more
interested in the appearance and content of her homepage, which looks a lot
like how I am going to set mine up (simple).
V.
I
like Michelle’s “copying” way of creating a homepage. I was also relieved when everything worked
for me right away, and that motivated me to customize my page the way I want it
to be.
I.
I
think Carol felt overwhelmed when she first looked at the previous generations’
home pages.
II.
She
thought the assignment was unfair because she noticed previous students had to
do less reports than her.
III.
It
seemed as though she was very impressed with the way other generation’s
homepages came out, and felt as though she had to put in way too much time and
effort to get hers remotely like the previous students.
IV.
She,
like almost every other previous student, emphasized the importance of staying
on top of your tasks and not procrastinating.
V.
Some
previous homepages impressed me, and some were just cluttered and confusing. So, I decided to just keep mine as simple as
possible, to allow for easy viewing.
Section G
In this task, we had to
finish our reports and upload the final outcomes to the web. We had to make sure all links and pictures
worked as well. I thought this would be
less time consuming than it actually was, because I ran into some
problems. Alas, I got it done and this
is my review of what other students had to say after completing similar tasks.
I.
Hae, like me, was
feeling positive about the uploading task.
That is, before she started it.
II.
She eventually
came to realize that uploading postings would be the hardest task of the whole
report, and her frustration grew.
III.
A useful thing
Hae did to complete this task was to write out the task instructions and tape
it up next to her computer. This way she
wouldn’t have to keep referring back to Dr. James’ instruction page every time
she forgot what to do or how to do it. I
think this was a very clever way of cutting time out of doing the task!
IV.
Hae had a very
insightful conclusion, saying that working on these tasks with the computer
really brought out her negative emotions.
With this occurance, Hae realized the intensity of her emotions when she
is stressed out and that they are usually irrational, something she never knew
about herself before his report.
V.
I thought Hae’s
reflection of her task was very informative and well written. I, also, eventually wrote down the steps we
had to complete every week after a task when reviewing previous generations’
work and kept it on a post-it near my computer.
I. Ginger recognized that there would be
frustrations when dealing with this task right away. She felt that she could learn from her little
failures during this report.
II.
Ginger thought
that she should approach this hard task with little judgement. In years to come, she will probably look back
and laugh at this report.
III.
To do this task,
she found it was best to work collectively with her classmates, and solve each
others problems. If anyone solved their
own problems, they would share the solution with the class.
IV.
She concluded
that the task was more time consuming than she expected, and suggested that
future generations give themselves enough time to make mistakes.
V.
This insight
applied to me, as I feel I had too much confidence going into this task, and
now I am rushing to have it done by noon.
Of course, this was because I didn’t expect anything to go wrong, and I
ended p having some problems I wasn’t prepared for.
I.
Michelle
felt that there were many positive and negative aspects of working in
cyberspace. Positive aspects are that
businesses can grow from the internet and information is always readily
available. Negative aspects obviously
include when it comes time for you to be the actual webpage maker and all the
frustrations that come along.
II.
She
thought the way the generations were set up was very unique. She pointed out that as the generations
progressed, so did their web pages and use of color and images.
III.
She
used the prior generations as example for her own task
IV.
Michelle
emphasized the important notion that one should not be discouraged by cyberspace. We should all use it as a resource if we need
to find out information quick. However,
she suggests not replacing the internet with normal everyday face-to-face
socializing.
V.
I,
too, noticed differences in webpages as generations evolved.
I.
Sean
felt that the progression of his internet behavior is not guaranteed. It could take many wrong turns when you least
expect it, and you could really just be regressing.
II.
He
thought that one’s own performance is a reflection of their already acquired
knowledge of the software programs we may be using for the task. So, if someone in our class never used FTP
before or ever tried creating links, this may seem harder to them than the
experienced internet users. Luckily, I
am one of those experienced FTP users!
III.
He
concluded that to stay up to date with new technologies introduced everyday,
one has to always be learning new strategies of getting around cyberspace.
IV.
He
concluded that if someone wants to complete this task, they have to constantly
practice their internet skills, or else they will loose them and fall behind.
V.
Sean’s
report was a great reflection of emotions performing this task. I agree with him that if you sit away from
the internet for too long, you can loose your already acquired skills and not
know it until it is time to perform the tasks.
Section H
My Summary of Report 1
At first, I did
not recognize all of the work we were going to have to do to complete Report
1. However, I did find it easier that
the tasks were split up into weeks, and over time our reports would acquire all
15 pages if you kept up with the deadlines.
The instructions were confusing to me at first, but as time went on, I
got used to Dr. James’ writing style and started to understand just what he
wanted. I found all of the tasks to be
relatively simple. I never felt the
frustrations all the other generations were talking about until the final
task. This may be because I am confident
in my internet skills as a result of all of the computer-orientated work I have
done in many previous classes.
My only problem
was that my report 1 files folder would not upload. Because of this, when I viewed my report on
the web, none of the images showed up! I
was upset because I was very proud of my images. Somehow, somewhere, I figured out the problem
and now my images are posted! Actually,
I just messed around with every button I could find and ended up creating a
whole new report document and webfile, and for some reason FTP liked this file
more so it decided to accept my uploading of the images!
I am very
relieved that this report is behind me now, and look forward to any critiques Dr.
James’ may have. I do feel confident
that all of the tasks and instructions were followed and completed. I look forward to seeing what report 2 will
be about. With the computer skills I
leaned doing this report, I hope report 2 will not give me the same problems at
the end.
Section H
Advice to Future Generations
My advice to future generations would be to never let your self
got too frustrated with the report tasks.
There are so many resources out there waiting for you to ask to
help. You can simply email Dr. James,
like I did, and ask him how to do things.
Also, speak up in class because there is a good chance that someone else
will know the solution to your problem.
The whole class may even be having the same problem, but if no one
speaks up about it, Dr. James won’t know how we all feel. You can also turn to internet resources for
help, or call the clic lab. There are
many computer wizards out there just waiting to help students like us!
Another piece of advice that seems pretty prevalent throughout
generations would be to not procrastinate.
If you leave everything for last minute, you won’t give yourself enough
time to deal with any unexpected problems.
It is always best to be prepared for the worst.
My last piece of advice would be to reference the previous
generation’s web pages frequently when writing you report. This way, you can get an idea of what is
expected out of you in this task. Also,
other web pages may influence you to work to get your web page to look a
certain way.
Links!
Class Home Page: www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy23/classhome-g23.htm
My Home Page: http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leon/409bf2005/bernstein/bernstein-home.htm
