Acquiring Cyberspace citizenship is unique to the modern world. There are still countries with widespread famine and disease; homelessness exists even outside our windows. The advancement of technology still presses on. As a citizen in this world of unsolved differences, I was eager to step out of my natural surroundings to see what the "new world" was like.
The Internet and cyberspace are part of our world. Becoming familiar with it is a process that takes time and patience. I will examine my experiences and offer any advice to future explorers.
My Self-Evaluation of This New Experience
As a person fairly new to the world of electronic communication, I evaluated my reactions that I got from the process of becoming a cyber-citizen.
stressful -3 -2 -1 0 +1 +2 +3 pleasant
dissatisfied -3 -2 -1 0 +1 +2 +3 satisfied
wasted -3 -2 -1 0 +1 +2 +3 valuable
confusing -3 -2 1- 0 +1 +2 +3 clarifying
discouraging -3 -2 -1 0 +1 +2 +3 hopeful
A scale was used to represent my reactions to computer sessions. This would give me a tool to track my progress and a way to see how I have grown or not. The
highlighted numbers are my responses.I though of the first two scales,
stressful-pleasant & dissatisfied-satisfied, as affective stages of learning. Your feelings were being acted upon as you worked on the computer. Your experience was a result of how you were progressing during that particular session. This in turn affected the next three scales, wasted-valuable, confusing-clarifying, & discouraging-hopeful, adding to how you felt about the sessions after they were completed. When I found that a session was wasted or confusing, I would have a higher expectation of stress going into a subsequent session.Friday, September 5, 1997
Part 6
stressful -3 -2 -1 0 +1 +2 +3 pleasant
This was a fairly easy day, I have had some experience with e-mail through using America Online. The interface wasn't pretty, but it was similar. I felt a little challenged, but not enough to cause stress. I was still an eager participant. This was soon to change.
Wednesday September 10, 1997
Part 8
stressful -3 -2 -1 0 +1 +2 +3 pleasant
This day wasn't as easy as the first couple of days, I experienced confusion and wasn't satisfied with my progress. It wasn't until after a couple of hours at the computer that I began to grasp some of the new terms and commands. It was at the end of my session that I felt I was making a little progress, but I needed to get out of the lab because another class was coming in.
Friday, September 20, 1997
Part 8 & 9
stressful -3 -2 -1 0 +1 +2 +3 pleasant
It was at this time that I started getting hazy. I enjoyed navigating the Internet using Netscape, I was impressed by the amount of information that was available. It was when I tried downloading and uploading files that I got into trouble. Stress was high on this day, I was beginning to wonder if I could do this, I pressed on.
Tuesday, September 24, 1997
Parts 8 & 9
stressful -3 -2 -1 0 +1 +2 +3 pleasant
I had a major breakthrough today! I started feeling better about my accomplishments, finally I could see and experience being part of a cyber community. Using the FTP program was to me a gateway to this new universe, I was pleased with my work and felt eager once again to move forward. I forgot that what goes up, must come down, and it did later.
Wednesday, October 15, 1997
Part 10
stressful -3 -2 -1 0 +1 +2 +3 pleasant
This exercise was meant to expose us to HTML. This new language was strange, but I was willing to learn it. I experienced stress and was confused, but felt that I would be able to understand more given time and practice. I still am not quite sure how this language "talks" to the computer and allows certain functions, but then again I'm not sure exactly how a car operates, but I can drive one with ease. I left the computer lab feeling drained of brain cells and ready for some food.
Tuesday, October 21, 1997
Part 11
stressful -3 -2 -1 0 +1 +2 +3 pleasant
I began to feel overwhelmed with the power of this new tool. I found that my time in front of the computer began to go quickly; I was slowly getting the hang of things. I found the newsgroups exercise challenging, but fun in a way. Doing links caused some problems, I still run into problems with links.
Monday, October 27, 1997
Report 1
stressful -3 -2 -1 0 +1 +2 +3 pleasant
STRESS!!! I had an all-time low today. I had a nice report with links and beautiful icons, but when I went to upload my Report 1, something happened, I caught a virus or something. My beautiful report had changed into an ugly jumble of squares, symbols, and letters. I had no idea what to do, I was angry and felt that I had just wasted hours of work. The report was due the next day! What to do, what to do?
My ups and Downs
I had my good days and bad. The bad days were really bad! I find that by looking at my evaluations, I can see my ups and downs. One thing that seemed to remain fairly positive was my feeling of the session as having some value. Time spent learning computer skills is valuable. It was on October 27th that I felt I had wasted hours. I even followed it with another similar day. I was getting very frustrated with my report and with the computer.
My Future Status as a Cyber-citizen
If there's one thing I've learned about the Internet, it's that I don't have adequate time to become fully involved with it, but this will change. I don't own a computer at the moment, so I am limited to the lab hours here at the University of Hawai'i. When I eventually buy one, I will know more about the different capabilities of computers, what type I want, how to better utilize it, and to be able to choose one that would fit my needs. I plan to investigate more into web publishing when time is on my side. I want to be able to grow alongside the technology that is spreading across the globe even more.
It's been a challenging semester, learning to overcome any technophobia a may have had. I've gained more from this experience than I thought possible.
What Will It Be Like For Others?
Internet learners may all too well agree that the ups and downs of obtaining cyberspace citizenship are a result of gaining experience and learning from mistakes. This is true in most of life's aspects. Keeping an open mind and maintaining a desire to become a citizen is important.
This experience will be valuable, no matter if you have a good day or a bad day. Learning time at the computer is valuable, all though you may suffer cramps or sore behinds from hours of sitting, every session is a building block towards a tighter grasp of computer skills. With each session you lower your technophobia as you become more acquainted with the computer.
I was ready to board the ship that would eventually take me to this new place, so I ventured by way of Cyber Psychology 409a. The oceans that we were to navigate had been mapped by previous explorers, our ship was lead by a seaworthy captain, Dr. James. Our crew was large at first, but a few were lost at sea during our first weeks. This is when I started to wonder, "what if I were to fall overboard, the ship would not stop to save me and I would be lost forever."
As in the perils of another fearless crew, the Minnow, of "Gilligan's Island", the weather started getting rough, the tiny ship was tossed. I started feeling homesick, this was all too new for me and I wasn't sure if I was going to like this new world.
These students have gone through their own adventures, finding ways on their own to deal with technophobia and other issues of learning the internet.
"I advise acknowledging the fact that you must spend an enormous amount of time doing your homework. Once you accept this fact, I think that relieves a lot of tension that arises from rushing to just get your homework done. I advise to be careful how much time you spend exploring instead of doing homework (I got caught in this trap). I advise taking good notes, not being afraid of trial and error, finding ways of dealing with the frustration before it builds, and, most of all, remember to have fun!"
I wish I would have read Rebecca's report at the beginning of this semester. I think I forgot to have fun, that's what my problem was. I got frustrated regularly and wanted to stay away from the computer lab as often as possible as a result. This was something I should've overcome in the beginning. The amount of time spent for this class is quite a lot. Looking at Ross' site, I can see that she spent even more time than I did at the computer.
"students then had the same problems with computers that we did. Not in the sense that they have to make links or have insane things happen to their files (like erasure!!!) but finding time to get to the lab, and the irritation of the assignmnets are about the same for the 91 and 94 classes. I say irritation because being a full time student and working AND having to go to the stupid lab to do your homework is very irritating."
I totally agree, Diane! It is tough balancing schedules, especially fitting in computer time. Yes, time is valuable, and time in front of the computer is learning time, but it's still difficult when you're a full-time student who also must have a job to help with the bills. I have lost all social contacts and have no social life, but I sure can type a lot faster!
"The rest of my studies were waiting. It was excruciating to rip myself away from the terminal."
Lori has a very interesting site. Her humor is genuine. She does top quality work from my point of view. I could tell that she spent hurs in front of the terminal by the way her page is organized and presented. I wish I had her motivation!
She is a real "surfer" from what I got reading some of her reports. She would easily get sidetracked doing browsing like I would. There's just so much cool stuff to look at on the Web.
"...it took me over a 100 hours of out of class work to get to the point that I'm at now.That's good and bad."
Shane atarted at the same point that I did. It's amazing what he has done with his page. He definitely overcame his frustrations to become quite good at web publishing. He offers good advice to new generations: changing negative attitudes and making time for learning.
Others in My Generation Seven Class
I was joined on my adventure by others who sought to find their own pieces of land in this strange new world. It was strange to get acquainted with them through cyberspace.
One person who I would constantly look to (at her page) for examples would be Dana Rho.Time, time and more time is essential as an element of learning in this classroom format. Dana's page and reports made me wonder if mine were ever going to look as nice as hers. She also hints that overcoming frustration is a big part of learning. It's not surprising that I have added Ms. Rho's site to my bookmarks.
Relating toAyada was simple. She took the words right out of my mouth. Hindsight, looking back on all the frustration that went hand-in-hand with this class was a good way of ending this class. I too have developed a new frustration, knowing that I can now improve on my work, but time has run out.
I've gained insight in doing this report. I see just what I have put into this process of becoming familiarized with this strange form of learning. It has been quite a learning experience in general because of the self-teaching, hours of computer use, and overwhelming amount of trial and error. Maybe I would have been better not to take this class in conjunction with SOCS 225 because I had to learn another type of computer skill in that class in addition. My face was seen often in the computer lab. I want to redo this semester, but I can't. I can just take what I have learned and try to move forward. From doing this report, I can see what it is I need to work on, time management!
For those in future generations: There may be times when all seems to be overbearing. Look to your classmates for help. That's something I wish I would've done, but I have been instilled with an attitude that, "It's my fault if I don't get this material. If they can learn it, then I can". I see others pages and wonder what I am doing wrong. Here's some things that I found that may have helped me. Try to get help as soon as you are falling behind, get a basic no-frills page or report uploaded as soon as you can, then fix it from that point. Learn as much as you can from each session and remember what mistakes you've made. Look at other's pages and get ideas that will help you.
