PSY. 409

Oct. - 10 - 1995

W/ DR. LEON JAMES

Week 7 Report
Assignment:Browse and read the reports of Generation psy 409 students. Describe your reactions to both appearance (form, style) and content (what was said). Make links from your text to each of theirs.

Self-assessment ratings

How difficult was this week's task (lumping all the sub-tasks together)? Circle one.
Very easy 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Very hard
This week's rating = 1

How much Negative emotions did it cost you, in all?
Very little 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Very much
This week's rating = 3

How Valuable for later use is this knowledge or skill going to be for you?
Not useful 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Very useful
This week's rating = 10

How likely is it that you'll be getting good at this week's tasks?
Not likely 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Quite likely
This week's rating = 10

How satisfied are you with the computer and Internet systems?
Not satisfied 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Very satisfied
This week's rating = 8

How hard did you try to get through this week's tasks?
Gave up easily 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Refused to give up
This week's rating = 10

Summary of activities, feelings, and thoughts while exploring Generation One Cybercommunity reports

Getting overwhelmed by zillions megabytes
I was overwhelmed, at first, by this week's task. Imagine leafing through and reading all these megabytes that Dr. James mentioned in his article Home Page Architecture in only a couple of days. Impossible! I'm definitely not cyber-warm yet, and probably would never graduate this semester if I did decide to comment on all of them. After deliberation, I skim through Generation One Home Pages, specifically their lab reports, and settled on Ms. Beauchemin's weekly reports.

Are we to become a cyber-stone-age generation?
After reading several reports it was evident that we, Generation Two (i.e. only one semester away), are relatively more productive and tech-advanced then them. Nitsa's survey found that, in terms of productivity, their reports were published on the WWW after the third or fourth week of classes whereas our generation's reports were there by the second week. Way to go class! Moreover, they explored the Internet via the "dully" Lynx pages (i.e. graphics, colors are not implemented on Lynx) for five or six weeks whereas we got to explore Netscape on our first week's task. Also, compared to their weekly tasks, our weekly tasks seem much more complex and structured then theirs. That is, each week we have to rate, discuss, report our experiences, emotions, etc. while learning the Internet and on top of that we also have these team reports. Do I hear myself complaining? Seriously, I just wonder what the syllabus for the generations to come will look like and, more importantly, what would be their reaction to our reports. I bet that by then we will be looked at as a cyber-stone-age Generation Two.

Delving into Diane Beauchemin's lab reports
Anyway, I delved into Ms. Beauchemin's lab reports and she used a colloquial style of writing where she captured, in a facetious way, her emotions and experiences while exploring the Internet. I really enjoyed reading her reports and often found myself chuckling all the way through to the end. If you want to read a sample of her comical annotation to her lab reports click here.

Ms. Beauchemin reported that she had some difficulties in logging onto her CSS server since she lost communication and had problems with links. Yet, by the fourth week she finally succeeded to log onto and publish her lab-reports. Sounds familiar to some of us, huh?

See how Diane and Nitsa combat depression, pessimism, and anxiety
Her solution for fighting depression and pessimism are suitable for individuals who like to eat vegetarian taco salad and drink Killian's Red Ale at Manoa Gardens. But, if your negative attitudes about the Internet persist, you may want to click here for more of Ms. Beauchemin's tips.

When I feel frustrated with the Internet system (i.e. when encountering the so called fossilized errors or when feeling lacunae at times) I usually don't get depressed or pessimistic about it but anxious. The best way I've found to fight my anxious state is to take a deep breath, relax for awhile and blame the whole __ system (you know what I mean) and those "cyber-nerds" who created it. Sorry! But you have got to release your vapor somehow. If berating others does not work, I usually take a walk away from the cyber site to get some fresh air. I think that this method is preferable since it puts things in perspective (i.e. me thinking clearly about my errors).

It was apparent in Ms. Beauchemin's fourth week's report that she used Lynx to surf the Internet. I'm glad that we were not asked to explore Lynx first. Imagine surfing in the grayish "UNIX HELL" (Beauchemin's words). Lynx doesn't offer the images or graphics illustrations and colors that Netscape does.

The suckers get sucked into the World Wide Web
In her fifth lab-report Ms. Beauchemin reviewed other students' reports and summarized her reaction to one of them. In her sixth report she was tempted to find traffic-related documents but instead found the CIA's Home Page, the Miller Genuine Draft Taproom (MGD), the Horror Web, and more (sorry! no links are available from her report). I often encounter the same experience when trying to search a document on Netscape. I usually know what I'm looking for but it is easy to get side-tracked from the target search since the Internet offers so much information and zillions of links.

The Really Big Button That Doesn't Do Anything
To view Ms. Beauchemin's favorite document The Really Big Button That Doesn't Do Anythingclick here.

View Diane's and Nitsa's comments on Dr. James articalHome Page Architecture
In her seventh week Ms. Beauchemin commented on Dr. James' article. I think that her comments were related to his Home Page Architecture article that we were required to read. To view her comments click here.

I agree with Ms. Beauchemin since we are often not tuned to our affective, cognitive, and sensorimotor acts. Indeed, we take them for granted at times. For example, while exploring the Internet I do not consciously pay attention to what I feel or think since my attention is focused on the task. It is the before and after effect that is often cognitively, emotionally and sensorimotorly registered. In other words, inevitably, we do modify to some degree our thoughts and feelings because when we report about them we are already in a different state of mind, different time, and different medium.

Diane sneaks into other students' reports and offers fun things to do in an elevator
In her eighth week she shared, in a humorous way, some of her reaction to other students' reports and included some anchors to their experiences. To read Beauchemin's reaction click here. She also included some Fun Things To Do In An Elevator.Check it out! On her ninth week she spent some time navigating through PLATO files but I couldn't understand what she was talking about since I'm not familiar with the PLATO system. However, if you want to read about her comments click here.

Nitsa reviews Diane's final reports
On week ten Ms. Beauchemin finally learned how to copy images to her Home Page. Wow, it took her ten weeks. I had already accomplished this task two weeks ago and actually added some more when I modified my Home Page in week six task. You see how advanced we are. I'm proud of our class production and progress.

Finally, in her later weekly reports she reviewed a book on Seeking Meaning: A Process Approach To Library and Information Services by Carol Collier Kulthau, maintained her Home Page, and discussed how she relates to titles, file names, and e-mail addresses.

Nitsa moans on second-language handicap
In sum, I really enjoyed reading Ms. Beauchemin's lab-reports. The style that she used to convey her emotions and experiences with the net is very comical. Some of her lab-reports were very short (i.e. included only one or two paragraphs), and so lacked some in-depth discussion on her work and feelings. (Now I wonder why Dr. James assigned minimum of three pages to our reports!) Anyway, length of a paper shouldn't be an issue here since some people, unlike me, are able to capture things only in one sentence and Ms. Beauchemin did it very well. Unfortunately, I tend to use a more methodological form that can bore you to death. I just wish that I could express my feelings in an informal way like she did. I believe that my lack of expressing my feelings via humor, slang, etc. on paper is due to "second-language handicap". Believe me, I'm trying my best to convey my emotions in writing but I simply feel much more comfortable when I need to do so orally i.e. TALK! For that reason I believe that I will never become an e-mail addict.

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