Report 1:

Monitoring My Information Behavior

By Davis Hanai

Instructions for this report are at:

www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy21/409a-g21-report1.htm

Section A: Discussing Pre-Ratings for Task 1

I just finished doing the pre-ratings for task 1. It was not very difficult to do. I got confused on some of the problems because I did not understand if I was rating what I was going to be doing for task one or how I liked filling out pre-ratings or if it was a pre-rating for the class as a whole. Since filling out the pre-rating was part of task 1, I did not know what part I should have been rating. So I will clear up some of the confusion now. I felt that doing a pre-rating was an arduous, unnecessary task. I see how beneficial it can be, but it seemed to go on for too long and repeat questions. I liked choosing numbers for how I felt about some things, but I did not like writing why I chose that answer.

I feel confident that I am going to do well in this course, because I plan to put in maximum effort. I know I started out bad by e-mailing my pre and post rating late, but I got confused as when I should have turned it in. The instructions said to turn it in before September 6, but I got confused in class when you said don’t start this project until this week (which is after September 6). So I was a little confused on what to do. But I will be more conscientious with the tasks from now on.

I am a little scared about doing the computer tasks because of my lack of confidence with computers, but I will try my best. I will probably have to go to the lab to get extra help. I really want an A for this class, so I hope Professor James will go over what exactly going beyond what is called for really means.

The pre-ratings helped me realize what I want to get out of this class (a good grade and a better sense of confidence with using computers). I am pretty sure that I will be able to put in the work needed to get an A for this class. The pre-ratings also made me realize that this class will make me learn better time management skills. I am going to need to push and prod myself in order for me to finish all of the tasks on time. I am going to have to learn to dedicate a certain amount of time each week for this class.

I was confident I would be able to register as a lab user a write section A of my first paper successfully. It seems a little ironic that I am writing about completing section A in section A of my paper. I think I will do a good job with registering as a lab user because it does not seem like a really difficult activity.

Section B: Discussing Post-Ratings for Task 1

I have just completed the post-ratings for task 1. Registering as a lab user and doing part A of my report was fairly simple. I was irritated by the fact I had to fill out two ratings, which contained all of the same questions. I was very tempted to just copy and past my pre-ratings. But I did not because I also stated on my survey that is was important for me to do this project successfully and correctly. I am irritated and happy at the same time that we will be filling out pre and post rating for every task. Irritated because it is so repetitious, but also happy because it is a good way to make the 25 page minimum for writing intensive classes. I think and I hope I did this task correctly. I found this first task to be very simple and straight forward and hope all the rest will be like this. I know that thinking like this is a little naïve though, and I expect the tasks to get more complicated and time consuming as time goes on. I am glad that Professor James first acquainted us with this new style of work through a fairly simple task. This helped to build our confidence and gave us time to adjust to this new system.

It was interesting that my pre and post ratings where different in some respects. I guess I learned quite a bit in the forty-five minutes between filling-out the two ratings. I was still confident in that I would be able to finish everything correctly. Some of my feelings about computers and how I felt about this task changed, especially when I wrote about how I felt bad that I had done the assignment a little late. I had become confused about when things needed to be done. I really hope I do not get point deductions because I need every point I can get. Overall, I like computers and I think the benefits they provide for the human race outweigh the negative aspects of them.

I am now sure that what I will learn in this class will help me a great deal later on life. I will definitely be able to use the computer skills I will gain. I believe I will also become better at time management. This class requires a lot of work on your own, and I think it will be a good chance for me to regulate my study habits.

Section C: Discussing Pre-Ratings for Task 2

My pre-ratings for completing this task were very optimistic. I am confident that I will be able to do it because I have had some practice doing this kind of search. I just finished an English 100 and Speech 151 course in which it was required to find an article from a scholarly journal about our topic. I think this task will be even easier than those assignments because all I have to do is find an article that Dr. James specified. In my other courses, I did not even know if there were any articles about my topic, so I had to do a keyword search. I am pretty sure that a key word search is a lot harder to do than to locate an article in which you have the title of the journal, the volume, page, etc. already provided.

I have already planned out what I will do when I get to the library. I think I will first look for the articles in the Academic Search Premier, which is an online database that I have used and found to have most of the important scholarly journals that are in circulation. If that does not work I will look for the specific journals in the extensive database. I am not that worried about whether I will be able to locate the articles or not.

Section D: Pasting pieces of each article, summarizing in my own words, and giving my reactions

British Journal of Social Psychology; March 2004, Vol. 43 Issue 1, p99, 14p, 1

“Women's collective constructions of embodied practices through

memory work: Cartesian dualism in memories of sweating and pain.”

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 identifying opportunities and limitations associated

with memory work as a method for studying embodiment. [ABSTRACT FROM

AUTHOR].

Persistent link to this record:

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d&db=aph&an=12787719

This article is about a group of woman doing a study on their memories of pain and sweating. In the memories, it is clear that the Cartesian dualism (where there is a distinction of body and mind and the mind can see what is happening to the body as if they were separate entities) is present. The research is concentrated much on the embodiment of past experiences.

I found this article very confusing and drawn out. I had a hard time comprehending everything that was being discussed. I also felt that the paper was not very convincing because they were trying to talk about the distinction between mind and body in events of pain and sweating through memories which were probably distorted. In order to write about their memories, they had to reconstruct them with their mind, and I thought that this was not very good professional technique and left a lot of room for distortion. We all know that when we recreate events of the past, we distort it (usually unconsciously). I saw this a big problem for their study and saw it as a weakness would make their study lose validity.

Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion; Jun90, Vol. 29

Issue 2, p277, 2p

Abstract: Reviews the book `Swedenborg and His Influence,' edited

Persistent link to this record:

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d&db=aph&an=9604085487

This article is a review of the book Swedenborg and His Influence. This book recounts the life of Emanuel Swedenborg, a famous Swedish scientist and theologian. Overall, the author of this article thought this book consisting of 25 papers on the influence of Swedenborg was a great historical work.

I found this article a little easier to handle than the other one. I was unfamiliar with Swedenborg and his contributions to society, so I had a hard time relating to the article. I did not see how this article related to our class except maybe professor James is related to the James they talked about in the article.

Section E: Discussing Post-Ratings for Task 2

My post-ratings for this task were somewhat different from my pre-ratings. I was a lot less confident about the task. Before the task, I was sure this task would be a piece of cake because I have had quite a bit of experience performing database searches at the library for my past college courses. Yet, when I actually went to accomplish the task, it was a different story. I was able to locate the articles fairly quickly, but I had the idea in my head that they were going to relate to driving psychology. When they did not, I had to question whether I had found the correct articles. I double and triple checked to make sure that it was in fact the correct articles. When I was finally convinced that I had retrieved the correct articles, I wondered if everyone else in the class was as confused and self-questioning as I was.

I think being able to do database searches at the library for scholarly journals is essential for a satisfying college experience. We are all asked to perform this type of task sometime during our college years, and being to do so with minimal effort will give us a sense of accomplishment and save us from a potentially stressful situation. It is hard enough to write an outstanding paper without the confounding problem of trying to locate scholarly resources. I thought this was a good task for the class. I also thought it would have been less stressful and confusing if the articles were related to driving psychology.

Section F: Discussing Pre-Ratings for Task 3

My pre-ratings for this assignment were very positive. I have gotten a lot of practice cruising on the internet at work. Whenever I am not doing something in the field, I am “googlelizing” something. I am searching for things that would be very hard to find in a book. So I amused to looking for unusual things and locating hard to find things. I am pretty sure that I will be able to find a mailbox with the specific specification. I bet there are probably web sites dedicated to just selling mailboxes. I just hope I will be able to get a picture. I am not sure how to put a picture into my report so I am a little worried about that part of the task. I do not know if I have to download it or something. But I think I will be able to figure it out.

I hope I am not overly confident like last time, when I thought it would be so simple to find the articles at the library, but then I doubted myself when I could not figure out if I had located the correct articles. I plan to just type in “copper mailbox” into google and that will probably be satisfactory. I do not think there will be that many problems. I am not really stressing about this task since I have a lot of practice (as most students have also) with doing general keyword searches. I am confident that I will complete this task because I plan to keep searching until I do in fact find the mailboxes that I am looking for. I would definitely feel like a failure if I cannot complete this task correctly. I am very comfortable with doing this type of task on the internet.

Section G: Giving the URL of the mailbox, its picture, and specifications

The URL for the mailbox that I found is http://www.outdoordecor.com/cgi-local/SoftCart.exe/online-store/scstore/p-SASR-JUMPER.html?E+scstore+Partner-Froogle

The specifications of this mailbox are:

This Show Hunter Copper Mailbox is made of copper and steel. It holds up to 18 letters/spaces of personalization. Both sides of the mailbox are identical.

Size: 21" L x 8" W x 11" H

Ship weight (lbs.): 7.00

Color: Copper

Made of: Copper/Steel

Leaves warehouse in: 2-3 Weeks (click for shipping information)

Hardware Included: No hardware included; box only

Brand or origin: Crafted in the USA

Item Number/Name: SASR-JUMPER - Show Hunter Copper Mailbox

Price: $ 125.25

This mailbox as is only for the mailbox by itself, so I had to find a post for it also.

Here is the URL for the post that I found for this mailbox: http://www.mailboxes.com/product.asp?catalog%5Fname=Mailboxes&category%5Fname=Standard+Mailbox+Posts&product%5Fid=459&Related_Product=&sCondition=&Previous=yes

Here are the specifications for this mailbox:

4855BLK

STANDARD MAILBOX POST-BOLT MOUNTED-ROUND-BLACK

Dimensions 3"W x 42"H x 3"D

20 lbs

This product is IN STOCK and ready for immediate shipment

Price: $60.00

The total price for the mailbox and the post is $60 + $125.25 = $185.25 plus shipping and handling.

Section H: Discussing Post-Ratings for Task 3

My post-ratings for task 3 where good. Before the activity, I was a little apprehensive about putting the picture of the mailbox into my document because I had never done that sort of thing before. But all I had to do was copy the picture and then paste into the document. That was a lot easier than I thought it was going to be. I thought I might have to save it onto my hard drive and then use clip art or something.

This task was very easy. I was able to find the mailbox on the first site I looked at. It took some time to paste all the info and stuff, but it was probably one of the easiest tasks thus far. Doing this kind of search on the internet (locating something you that is a little rare and odd) is very useful. I do not think I will order things from the internet in the near future, but it is still beneficial how to buy things over the internet. The reason I do not like purchasing things from the internet is because I do not like to pay shipping and handling. I would rather get it from a store that sells it here in Hawaii. If no store in Hawaii sells it, then I would consider getting it from the mainland.

Overall, I liked this task and found a sense of accomplishment when I was a able to do it. I am very supportive of the internet. I cannot even imagine how life would be for college students without the internet and e-mail. It is good to learn how to navigate the world wide web because we most of us use it our every day life.

Section I: Discussing Pre-Ratings for Task 4

The pre-ratings for task 4 were not as optimistic as some of the other tasks that I have done before. I am a little apprehensive about this task because I have never done this before. I have secure FTP before, but never just regular FTP. I have never created my own web page, so I do not know how it will work.

One of the things that I think will give me the most problems is that I have a mac, so everything I must is different from everyone else. Macs are supposed to be user friendly, but I sometimes find them harder to use than a PC. I expect a few complications during this process. I think I will have a quite a bit of heartache and frustration when things do not work out. I wonder if I am also going to have to learn HTML to make my site look better. I hope not, because I once tried to do some HTML codes for my online diary site, but that did not work very well. My girlfriend had to do it for me. I think if I can learn do make web pages the right way, I would like to do it in the future. I would not mind to have a site with pictures of my girlfriend and my puppy.

After reading the instructions for this lab, it does not seem to hard, but I have a feeling it will be kind of hard. I have never done this sort of thing before. This kind of computer work scares me. I have never really tried do upload anything other than songs. I have never been motivated to learn how to create a web page, upload other stuff to sites, or learn HTML, because it always seemed too complicated. I think if I am able to do this with no problem, my confidence for using computers will be boosted quite a bit.

Section J: Discussing Post-Ratings for Task 4

After finishing task four, I was kind of happy. It was actually a lot easier than I thought it was going to be. I was able to make my homepage with almost no problems. The only problem that I encountered was when I was not able to see the new folder that I created of Dr. James’ directory for our class. I thought it was something that I did wrong, and for the life of me, I could not figure out what it was that I was doing wrong. I tried to delete my file and then remake it like three times and each time it did not work. The thing that puzzled me the most was that my home page worked even though my folder did not. I decided to e-mail Dr. James because I thought that maybe it was not my fault. When he finally e-mailed me to say he fixed it and that it was nothing that I was doing wrong, I felt very relieved.

I actually had a lot of fun doing this assignment. I figured out how to change to background color of my page as well as put in scrolling text, which was kind of cool. I also put music into the background of my page. I thought that was really cool. I think if I can get good at this, I would want to create a website in my free time and not just do this sort of stuff for school. I can apply what I learned in doing this task to my everyday life. I feel a sense of accomplishment and am quite proud to know that I successfully completed a task which I thought I would have trouble doing.

Section K: Discussing Pre-Ratings for Task 5

My pre-ratings for the last task were positive. This last task does not seem very difficult, it is mostly comprised of things that we have already done before. I do not think it will take that long to complete and I am confident I will be able to complete it successfully without much problems.

I am glad this is the last task of this report. I kind of want to get it over with to see my grade and gauge the class and how hard of a grader Dr. James is. I want to do good in this class, so I will try my best to deliver quality work.

Section L: Summarizing Report 1 and what I learned by doing it

Report one was about self-witnessing each persons own information behavior. We all did a serious of tasks in which we had specific steps we had to go through and we evaluated the process of doing these things. I don’t think the actual tasks really mattered. The important aspect was the process of going through these tasks. Dr. James wanted us to realize what goes through our mind when we do certain tasks for school. This is why we did pre and post ratings for everything we did. This would give us insight into our attitudes toward schoolwork.

I hopefully will learn from doing this report, to be more responsible with school assignments. I noticed that I am a lot more pessimistic toward tasks than I really should be. Usually I expect a lot more problems than I encounter. I also hope to become a little more computer savvy after this report. I got practice doing a lot of things I have not done before on a computer and I think this is good for my overall growth and sense of efficacy.

Overall, I learned a lot from this report and actually had some fun doing it. I feel more confident with my computer skill and learned to do some useful things that I could implement into my everyday life. This report had taught me to realize my expectations before doing a task and the high standards I sometimes hold myself too. It also reminded me not to be a procrastinator (although procrastination seems to be bane of every college students existence) is not very wise.

Section M: Discussing Post-Ratings for Task 5

Yay! I am finally done with all the tasks for report 1. I feel relieved and happy. I hope I have done everything correctly and get a good grade for my report 1. I know that I sure did work hard to make everything look nice and to complete all the tasks.

As I predicted, completing task 5 was not too difficult. It was just mostly typing in word and uploading everything. I spent some time trying to format my webpage for report one with the colors and fonts that I wanted. That took some time but it did not give me a lot of heartache.

I have a learned a lot about my information behavior from doing this report. I have become more aware at how much I like to procrastinate. Every task said, to do it well in advance, yet I still found myself staying up late on Sunday night to finish the task. I also learned I am more pessimistic than I should be, and that I hold myself to high standards. I feel bad if I am not able to complete an assignment that I know I am capable of completing. I am becoming more comfortable with computers, but I still wish I knew more about computing stuff. Knowing a lot of computers and being able to troubleshoot certain things can really make you a lot more employable. I learned a lot from this report. I will take the knowledge that I have gained and use it in the next report. It is always good to monitor your information behavior every once in while so that you can help yourself effectively handle upcoming assignments.

Class Home Page:

www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy21/classhome-g21.htm

My Home Page:

http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/409af2004/hanai/home.htm