In the beginning, I was slightly overwhelmed by the number of reports to choose from. Consequently, I decided to begin my search with the best of the best.
The first place I chose to look for interesting reports was at Special Awards for All Generations. I randomly chose to start with G-7 and began clicking on students' reports in succession. I viewed each student's report for approximately 30-45 seconds. During this time, I skimmed the report to see if it was worth reading in greater detail. If upon my initial inspection I found that a report was dull or poorly written, I would move on without reading it in its entirety. Some reports did not even warrant 30 seconds. For example, if reports used blinking icons or color combinations that made the text hard to read. When I came across such a report, I immediately returned to the index. When I found a report that was aesthetically pleasing and interesting to read, I would spend as much as 15 minutes reading the report and exploring its links. Some of the reports were not necessarily that engaging, but I became mesmerized following the different links to (what was for me) uncharted territory.
Unfortunately, my tangents were
taking a great deal of time, and after an hour, I had only viewed five
of the G-7 reports. In order to complete my research
When I clicked on Ms.
Rho's report , I immediately noticed that it was attractively organized.
Although she did not use the traditional black text on a white background,
I found her use of black text on a pale yellow background very easy to
read. I especially liked how she incorporated color within her report to
emphasize certain words and points. (A technique I have opted to use into
this report.) After an initial screening, I found that not only was Ms.
Rho's report attractive, but also engaging to read. I decided to choose
Ms. Rho's report, because I could relate to her frustration from my own
Internet experience.
In her essay, Ms. Rho humorously
recounts her experiences learning to use the Internet from her
In the first portion of her report,
Ms. Rho gives her initial data regarding her Internet venture. Ms.
Rho's initial feelings with respect to her Internet experience were
very negative. She reported that
In the second half of her report,
Ms. Rho evaluates several of her classmates' reports. By reading her classmates
reports, she is able to commiserate and draw strength from her peers' experiences.
From her generations' experiences, Ms. Rho reminds the reader that the
most important factor to surviving in cyberspace is
As I read Ms. Rho's report, I realized
that I was not alone on my Internet adventure. Initially, I felt so inept
and fearful about using the Internet. I have never had a talent for technology
and I firmly believe in the old
The main reason I enjoyed Ms. Rho's report so much, was because of its honesty and simplistic, yet effective design. I liked being able to scroll down the page as I read the report. Likewise, she broke up her text into small, easy to read paragraphs. However, the feature I favored most was how she used color to highlight specific words. This very simple technique is very effective for a reader who is skimming the report. Since most texts are done in black and white, I probably would not have thought to use color in this way had I not seen Ms. Rho's report. Subsequently, I have used her ingenious technique in my own report.
In addition, Ms.
Rho got straight to the point that learning the Internet takes
Overall, I thought that Ms. Rho's report was done very well. Yet, the section regarding her classmates' reports was slightly weak. She described their reports in very general terms and did not expand on how she related to her classmates' experiences. However, Ms. Rho did link her essay to her peers' reports, so the reader could easily access that student's report.
From Ms. Rho's report , I connected to several other students' reports including Philippe Gaillard's report entitled "Acquiring Cyberspace Citizenship: The Ascension."
Mr. Gaillard's report was also very attractive and interesting to read. His organization was excellent, and he even had a separate link to his data. Mr. Gaillard, like Ms. Rho, encountered several difficulties on his quest for cyberspace citizenship. He encourages novice net users, explaining that while his entire class felt like they would not make it through the course, eventually they all were successful. He likens the experience to climbing a mountain in which one expends a great deal of energy at the time, but the struggle is well worth it when one reaches the summit. Mr. Gaillard also included links to other student's web pages including Diane Beauchemin's report, which was full of silly ways to combat Internet frustration.
I tend to agree with Mr. Gaillard's mountain analysis of Internet acquisition. I know that I will be so ecstatic the first time I see all of my reports posted on the net. Goodness knows how excited I was when I saw my home page for the first time!
I found Edward Sugimoto's Report through the index of all generations' reports via the G8 instruction's page. I had already found a G-7 report to use, and I needed to find reports from other generations to fulfill the requirements. Thus, I began my search by scanning reports in succession from earliest generation to most current. Within each generation, I arbitrarily clicked on names. Just as I had previously, I examined each report for approximately 30-45 seconds. Unfortunately, I could not access several of the earlier G1-G3 reports and some reports loaded without their icons. After approximately three reports in succession failed to load properly, I became irritated and abandoned the entire generation. Generation 4 was the first generation that afforded me a reasonable variety to of reports to chose from. I clicked on G-4b and examined approximately five reports before deciding on Mr. Sugimoto's Report.
After quickly eliminating approximately
five other G-4 reports on the basis that they had irritating blinking bars
or busy backgrounds, I randomly clicked on to Mr.
Sugimoto's name. When I accessed his report, I was immediately impressed.
His index page was tastefully done in three, easy to read columns. The
titles of each report are clearly listed and the reader can even access
a graphical rendition of his report's index. In addition, Mr. Sugimoto
also has an icon of Dr. James's head
that rotates! I was also impressed at how he made his report look like
a notebook by giving the left hand side of his page a spiral boarder. Since
publishing on the web is so foreign to me, I decided to read his report:
"Discuss The Concept of Web Publishing." I hoped that I would be
able to learn some of Mr. Sugimoto's secrets to publishing on the web.
Mr. Sugimoto's report discusses
the advantages of publishing on the Internet such as low overhead, round
the clock availability of information, and high tech interaction. His site
has links to several other sites that showcase new technology and Mr.
Sugimoto gives a brief description of three web browsers (Netscape,
Microsoft Internet Explorer, and Lynx). In addition, he reports that he
prefers Netscape over the other two browser methods. This report also offered
an instant evaluation form that the reader can fill out and submit. I examined
the form, but opted not to submit any comments at that time. Presently,
I do not feel that I would have anything constructive to say, except to
applaud Mr. Sugimoto for his attractive site.
I am positive that I could not duplicate Mr. Sugimoto's three column index or rotating Dr. James at this point in my cyber journey! In addition, his graphical presentation of his reports (complete with Albert Einstein and Beavis) was very impressive and amusing. I took advantage of his links to other web sites, but some of the technology was over my head. I also accessed Mr. Sugimoto's home page and ED-LAND sites. Both of these sites were very creative and fun to check out. I got a kick out of the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleader who introduces ED-LAND and G-4.
However, while his presentation was impressive, Mr. Sugimoto neglected content. It would have been advantageous for this cyber alien to know how Mr. Sugimoto became interested in publishing on the web and how he attained his knowledge. He is obviously very skilled at creating web sites, but he does not give away any secrets in his report.
In addition, his report was very
brief and did not give much detailed information. For example, he reports
that Lynx differs from Netscape and Microsoft in that Lynx will only load
text with no graphics, but he does not tell the reader how Microsoft IE
and Netscape differ. Nonetheless, since he is currently focusing his energy
into starting a business creating web pages, I suspect that the writing
portion of the class was less important to him. Based on what I have seen
of Mr. Sugimoto's web creations, I expect he will be very successful in
his entrepreneurial endeavors!
Mr. Sugimoto's practical understanding
of the web seemed far more advanced than any of his class mates Compared
to his classmates, Mr.
Sugimoto's report was very polished and professional in appearance.
Other reports quickly alienated me with their blinking bars, busy backgrounds,
and complex organization. This generation seemed especially obsessed with
fancy reports that made the text difficult to read. Another thing
that especially irritated me were reports that required the reader to click
each section from the index. This necessitated that I click on a section,
read it, and then go back to the index in order to read the rest of the
report. Although this technique is advantageous for very long reports,
I found it annoying and time consuming for short reports.
From G-4, I moved on to G-5. Now
that I had obtained two reports from the 409 group, I chose to start with
the traffic psychology side of the G-5 index. Once again, I arbitrarily
clicked on students' names. I immediately abandoned the first three reports
I accessed, because they were hard to read or took more than 15 seconds
to load. At this point in my search, I had viewed well over 25 reports
and several of them I explored at length. So after having spent almost
ten hours over three days surfing for reports, I had become very impatient
and intolerant of slow loading reports and overdone web sites! I was becoming
a cranky alien
who just wanted to go home already! I skimmed several lengthy reports and
absorbed some interesting facts, but by now, I had become bored just reading
essays and I wanted to journey farther into cyberspace. Ms. Yamauchi's
report turned out to be just what the doctor ordered!
Although Ms. Yamauchi's report was not aesthetically impressive, I chose it because it offered good links to other sites. Since, I was not in the mood to read another student report, I liked being able to go straight to her sources. This allowed me to bypass her opinions of the material and read it for myself.
Ms. Yamauchi's report is a broad over view of what is traffic psychology. She leads off her report with a brief explanation of traffic psychology. The next section of her report contains a short introduction and a link to Dr. James's and Dr. Nahl's book Inner Power at the Wheel: Dr. Driving's Tips for Hassle-Free Driving. Other sections focus on Dr. Driving's credentials and credibility.
Her report was less an essay, and
more a summary and listing of various links to other pages.
I enjoyed Ms. Yamauchi's report for its links, but it was very weak in many areas. For starters, it was very basic. She did not synthesize any of the information presented in the links; she merely told what was contained in the link. However, since my goal was more exploratory in nature, I did not care that she did not analyze the information.
I examined several links from this report including Chapter 12 Driving on the Information Superhighway in Dr. Driving's book. I initially thought that the chapter would be about how people navigate (drive) in cyberspace. I felt silly when I realized that the chapter discussed how people use the Internet to converse about various driving issues. I also examined the site Media Interviews with Dr. Driving. I was impressed by the sheer number of interviews Dr. Driving has conducted. I also examined the three levels of emotional intelligence of drivers. I agreed with Dr. Driving about how defensive drivers can easily become enraged and that driving with Aloha is the best way to go! From this site, I ventured on to read about random acts of kindness by drivers. I enjoyed reading how even small considerations, like waving, could change a person's attitude and driving style.
From Ms. Yamauchi's site, I also
accessed Dr. James's credentials, then clicked on Dr. Driving, CARR, and
an Article Written By Dr. Driving. The
article I found was written by Dr. James for the Newsletter of the
Mental Health Association in Hawaii. The exposition, entitled Traffic
Violence A Crisis in Community Mental Health, examined the issue of
violence while driving and some preventative measures that drivers can
use to combat road rage.
He suggests that modern driving aggression can be traced to one's sense
of morality. I strongly agree with Dr. James on this point, because I feel
that if you respect other drivers and take into consideration their plights
then you will be less likely to succumb to aggressive driving impulses.
Reports like Cheryl Andaya's report on road rage were more intellectually stimulating than Ms. Yamauchi's report. However, Ms. Andaya's report was very long and did not contain a table of contents that the reader could use to navigate the report. Although she made several interesting points, including how we tend to take other driver's poor behavior as a personal attack on us, I quickly became bored with screen after screen of text and returned to exploring links.
As my cyber journey wore on, I became
even less tolerant of slow loading web pages and hard to read text, so
it was nice that the majority of G-6 reports loaded quickly and were all
similarly organized. I accessed the entire generation in random succession.
I eliminated three reports from my quest on the basis of ugly color schemes,
hard to read text, or busy backgrounds. For the remaining reports, I used
the titles of their essays as criterion for selecting my next report option.
I ultimately chose Kathy Teruya's report about "Driving Cartoons". I chose this report, because it was very well organized, easy to read, and a report about driving cartoons sounded interesting. This report also peaked my interest, because of Dr. Driving's reference to cartoons in his article that I had read previously. However, what cinched my decision, was that Ms. Teruya's report was also listed on the award's page for her generation.
Ms. Teruya hypothesizes in her report that cartoons could be an effective way of teaching people how to become courteous drivers. She reasons that if the experience were fun, then more people might be apt to change their behavior. In addition, cartoons are universal and can be used to teach adults as well as children.
Ms. Teruya also discusses the idea of how to establish a web cartoon database for teaching good driving techniques. She suggests that the database could also be used for drivers to submit their cartoons as a constructive form of venting. Ms. Teruya even addresses how artistically impaired people could create cartoons using clip art, photographs, pre made icons, and other software drawing aids.
The reader can also access several examples of driving behavior depicted in cartoons. She credits her mother's friend, Ronald Corpuz, with creating the cartoons, which she scanned into the computer. Accompanying each cartoon is an explanation of the inspiration behind the cartoon, and how the cartoon relates to driving behavior.
I think Ms. Teruya did an excellent job of conveying her message humorously. I laughed aloud when I saw the cartoon of the kid tailgating the car in front of him in order to read the bumper sticker. I have to admit that I have done this on occasion. I usually try to wait until the person stops and then inch up close enough to read it, but sometimes I have tailgated. It is for reasons like this, that I feel bumper stickers are dangerous. In addition, some people may be offended by a bumper sticker, making them more inclined road rage.
My only suggestion to Ms. Teruya would be that in conjunction with her cartoons, she should have included how she felt about the actions that were occurring. For example, she could have described similar driving situations she has been involved in and what events occurred. In addition, Ms. Teruya could have given some suggestions as to how drivers could react appropriately in her cartoon scenarios.
I did however, enjoy Kristy Kato's report on portrayals of driving in the movies. The report examined how many movies glorify reckless driving. The report was very interesting and offered many examples from movies. While I remembered a majority of the movies and even the specific scenes, I was surprised that I did not recall thinking that the driving in the scene was dangerous-even when it clearly was!
In examining my classmates reports, I notice that some reports were more accommodating to the reader than others. As a rule, I do not like hyper-text documents except when the text is extremely long. I find it frustrating to have to constantly click back and forth after just reading one page. I appreciate reports that are easily navigated and offer links to the pages they reviewed within their text. I also prefer reports that are attractive to read, but do not detract from the text.
I feel that my report compares very well with my classmates. I have revised it several times since my initial posting, and I am finally satisfied. I took special care to try to synthesize the information and not just summarize. In addition, it took a long time for me to fix all of the little layout mistakes and ensure that all of my links work, but I think it was time well spent. I always try to do my best, and the fact that my site has the potential to be seen by millions of people made me want to work even harder!
While I am still nervous about the technical side (html), I am quickly becoming a big fan of the information side of the net. The more information I find, the hungrier I am for next the tidbit! After successfully (more or less) completing this report, I do not feel as alien as I did at the beginning of my journey.
My advice to future generations is to be sure that you keep your reader in mind when you are designing your web page. Graphics and fancy letters are fine for home pages, but are annoying and make reading difficult. If you focus is purely enjoyment and not academia, then have a blast. Nevertheless, if you expect anyone to take your report seriously or even read it for that matter, then be sure to present you information in an attractive and user friendly manner. Also, keep in mind that this is a writing intensive class and the computer is only used to facilitate learning. Although we are learning how to use the Internet, our writing is what will determine our grade!
In addition, I feel that you should be sure that your report is grammatically correct, well written, and free of errors. Since all of our sites represent the University of Hawaii, we should present the cyber community with our best efforts!
Most important of all: DON'T GIVE UP! You can do this! I started out not knowing ANYTHING and I think my site looks pretty great! Remember that any learning experience takes time, so start early! Also, don't be afraid to experiment-Trust me, the computer will not explode! To help you on your way, I have compiled some links to that I hope will help ease your frustration. Good Luck!!!
