Research Report:  Learning To Become Internet Literate

By:  M. Heather Piper, G18, Spring 2003

Instructor:  Dr. Leon James:  www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy/leon.html

Instructions for this report are at:

www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy18/g18research.html

Section 1:  Introduction

1st Review of Younger Generation:  Christine Marchadie

Christine seems to go through what many of us in college go through.  The internet is a huge catalog of information.  It is sometimes difficult to find exactly what you are looking for.  The four main stages she discusses are:  frustration, stress, anxiety, and depression. 

To quote Christine:

"I also learned from this semester that I am very impatient when it comes to waiting for pages to load up. That's one of the reasons why I took out some of the fancy stuff I had on this homepage."

"Overall I learned that there is so much information that you can look up on the internet, and then realize that you have too little time to go through it all, thus making learning through a cyber-community all the more worthwhile."

Everyone Gets A Little Frustrated

There is so much information on the internet that we sometimes get frustrated in trying to filter through the information.  Sometimes there is a site that sounds great in the brief description from the search engine, but is no longer available to view.  This happened to me on the first report when looking up articles that had been written for media purposes.  I found that most of them are only open for viewing for a very short time.  That made me frustrated.  I was not able to view these valuable sources.

Can You Get Stressed Out?

Most of us have had some amount of stress this semester.  This course tests our ability to work on our own.  I believe that most of our stress comes from procrastination.  I think there is a little more work than most of us anticipated.  The internet can be tricky sometimes.  It may take us longer to look up some specifics.  I got stressed out when trying to research "sexist jokes".  I never found any information that explained why men like sexist jokes.  All I found were sites that told sexist jokes.  Probably the same number of male sites to female sites (the sexism goes both ways).

Are you Anxious?

"Many students, including myself, found it irritating when a homepage took forever to load up," states Christina.  It seems that most of our anxiety comes from having to rush at the last minute.  I think that being impatient is not being anxious.  I do believe that you can become anxious when your computer is taking a long time.  I have a tight schedule and I like for the internet to be moving more quickly.  Today we have high speed internet (DSL or cable), which has helped in our anxieties with time.  I am a very impatient person and I like to get results ASAP.

Can We Control Our Feelings Of Depression?  
 

I believe that we do have the ability to control how we are feeling.  We know certain things that trigger a feeling, like depression.  All I have to do is see a picture of my friend who committed suicide or look at the photo of my childhood dog that died on my birthday.  These visuals make me depressed so I try to avoid dwelling on these photos.  Music is also a mood changer.  Certain music can elicit very specific moods.  We know what affects us, so try to avoid it.     

What I Think

I believe that as an internet user things can sometimes be overwhelming.  Being human, we can all have different emotions throughout researching.  I believe we need to be in control of those emotions.  There is no reason for your emotions to control you.  In my personal experience this semester, I have never felt depressed.  I may have gotten frustrated with one of my searches, but not so frustrated that I gave up.  The only times I felt anxious was when I was limited on time.  I do not believe that I felt stressed out at any point during this semester.

The Explanation

Going through some of these phases is part of becoming information literate.  Feeling overwhelmed is part of the process.  In phase A1, that is exactly how one should feel.  The important part is not to quit.  Continuing the research is going to help you become more information literate.  It is OK to have low self esteem.  With practice the overwhelming feelings will disappear.   This is part of the process in gaining information literacy.  Being able to understand the steps you should go through may help with the feelings of incompetence and the fear of the unknown. 

2nd Review of Younger Generation:  Kai Hansjuergens 

Kai thinks there are different emotions that we feel when learning to search the web and work with computers.  When we begin using the internet it is important to be patient and understand that there can be problems.  Kai believes that fear, frustration, information overload, and possible addiction could be some of the main feelings people go through. 

Kai States:

"Most students that have never used the Internet before report fear and anxiety before starting."

"Frustration is probably one of the most experienced emotions when dealing with computers. The machine just doesn't seem to understand.  Frustration within the reports was mostly centered around searching for topics on the internet."

"It was overwhelming. I had no idea how to begin; but after I did, and began tackling one task at a time, each moved into the other. Once one task was done (or was firmly begun--I wasn't too picky at the time), there was an enthusiasm for the others, and each sub-task became a natural progression. I was amazed that it seemed easier and easier, and I went faster and faster. I felt fascination, as though it were a labyrinth that never ended."

Did You Have Fear?

There are different types of fears.  Some students have a fear of deleting important information.  They feel that with the strike of the wrong key, they will accidentally erase those important words.  Kai believes that most of people's fears come from the feeling of the "unknown".  So as you practice and become better at using the internet, the fears will disappear during the learning process.

Even I Get Frustrated

Is your computer not understanding what you want?  Have you ever wanted to put your shoe through the monitor?  Have you ever slammed your hands on the keyboard?  If you have... then you have probably felt frustrated.  Frustration has to be the emotion that is felt the most.  You have probably felt frustration while trying to search for the topics.  Even with large search engines there are times when you just can not find what you are looking for.  You may have to do some more advanced searches which can lead to a lot more creative work.  Therefore you may become frustrated. 

How Many Hits Did My Google Search Get?

I am sure that in doing searches all of us have had times when there is just too much information to go through.  Some times there are just too many choices which cause us to feel overwhelmed by information overload.  The amount of data on the internet is endless.  This can cause information overload.  This can be positive or negative. 

Computer Addiction

Getting motivated could lead into possible addiction.  People say that the television is addictive.  Well, Kai and myself believe that the computer can be just as addictive.  Information can consume your time.  After your initial fears, the computer can be a pretty handy tool in everyday life.  One can find themselves diving deeper and deeper into this black hole of information.

What I Think

When starting any new project, I think we all have a little fear.  It is the fear of the unknown, not the task itself.  Because of the unknown we can find ourselves getting frustrated from not getting the information that we want.  I can not tell you the number of times that I have hit my keyboard because my computer would not do what I needed it to do.  And I get completely frustrated.

There have been many times when I have searched on the web and have gotten so much information I just did not know where to start.  Not until I took an ICS class did I understand how to search using search engines.  I learned how to advance search properly.   I do believe that you can feel information overload.

How many times have you stayed up into the wee hours of the morning surfing the web, chatting in a chat room, instant messaging, or playing games?  I bet that every person who has a computer has been guilty of this.  I know people that check their emails three times a day.  I know people that can be on their computers for eight hours solid just surfing or emailing.  This is getting to the point of addiction.  Be aware that this can happen.

The Explanation

Once you become a better internet researcher, the more efficient you will become in identifying what information is valid.  By practicing searches on the internet you should become better at this task.  The more you see the better you will become at critical thinking skills.  You will know how to filter through the untrue information to get to the information that you were seeking.  The more confident you feel about researching on the internet the more you will want to search on the internet.  You will become a life long learner with valuable skills.

3rd Review of Younger Generation:  Ryan Mitsui

Ryan believes there are three phases to learning on the internet:  Phase 1, Confusion, Phase 2, Resistance, Phase 3, Spider Man Phase.  He says no matter how much you are on the internet, no one could possibly know everything.  There is always something to be learned on the internet. 

Ryan says:

"What Ive noticed is that there is some sort of method to learning the internet."

"Learning the internet is a hands on process."

The Confusion Phase

"Remember learning to ride a bike? Its like that, in this phase its all trial and error. If you are a novice like me don't worry, you know what they say, once you've learned to ride a bike you never forget!"

Once again in the beginning, we feel confused and possibly frustrated at certain times.  This is not the time to give up.  Fight the confusion and go on.  The more you practice the better you get.

The Resistance Phase

"Its when we resist learning something new because we are unfamiliar with it. This phase is usually a little harder to detect than the rest because we think of it as just part of being frustrated or confused, actually it is the result, but we need to keep pushing on!"

During this phase it is important not to give up or call it quits.  Just because there is something we are unfamiliar with, does not mean that we can give up.  Remember to ask for help.  Ask fellow students how they are doing.  We all need to learn sometime.

The Spider Man Phase

"Transformation into a web slinger."

"They are like a worm that has blossomed into a butterfly."

 "Or like a baby bird that just learned to fly."

This phase is when we feel comfortable with our computer and the internet.  You no longer get frustrated.  You have confidence when using the internet.  You now want to search for different topics.  You now want to use the computer and the internet as a learning tool.

What I Think

I believe that we all go through these three phases.  I do not know if it is this simple, but we all have felt confusion and have had some resistance to using the internet.  I look at it like a challenge to conquer.  It is sort of a game for me.  I noticed that a few students dropped this class after the first paper was due.  I know they were having problems with all the computer work we have to do.  But instead of getting into it even deeper, they quit.  It is so important to ask others for help.  They also had to learn sometime.  I know before class there are a few of us that discuss our problems and try to work through them together.  Peer support is extremely important. 

The Explanation

Going through these phases is how we are going to learn.  It is part of our process of becoming information literate.  We all, in this class, have become active learners.  During our forum discussions, we transmit our knowledge which includes making our culture part of the process.  We get to hear others perspectives and integrate what we heard into our own knowledge base.  Just as the semester has continued on, I have felt a lot more confident in my work on the internet.  I know my searching has become more in depth.  And I have learned so much from my peers.  I have strong opinions, but my eyes have been opened to new innovative idea's. 

Section 2:  Self-Observation Data

The Forms Of Data

Please visit my 10 forms of Data at:

           Heather's 10 Forms of Data

The instructions for how to fill out the Form is at:

www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy18/g18forms.html

Describe how I gathered the data.  Forum instructions at:

www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy18/g18forum.html

 

The Gathering Of My Data

Through out this semester, I have been researching certain topics on the internet.  Every week is a new search.  I have filled out a self observational form before, during and after the search session.  I have posted ten of my forms for you to read.  These should help in understanding my research skills better.  In these forms, there are questions about feelings and why you have those feelings. 

Filling out these forms seemed to be very tedious and time consuming.  I know that a few of my questions were answered pretty much the same way on all the searches.  I think that in some of my sessions, filling out this long form made me frustrated.  It takes a lot of time.  I never have a lot a time and I can not see the significance of some of the questions.  I never felt rage.  This is not the type of situation and anyone should feel rage.  Why was this question asked?

One part that was not asked on the forms was the search terms that are used in the searches.  This is very important in the acquisition of information.  I think that this is the most important part of a search.  If you do not use the correct terms (for the search engine) than you are not going to get the correct information that you are looking for.  This is when I would start to feel frustrated.  The order of words are important.  Sometimes just changing the order of the words would create the results I was looking for.  Understanding how search engines work is the key.

This is the type of data that would be extremely useful to the system designers and search engine administrators.  Not all people think the same way.  And I have found that very intelligent people (computer whizzes) think in very different ways.  It is important for these companies to understand that.  Making a search engine easier and more friendly to use means that more of us average people will be using that product.    

This Is How My Data Came Out & What I Concluded