Monk 1: "The flag is moving."
Monk 2: "The wind is moving."
Zeno: "Not the wind, not the flag; mind is moving."
--from Zen Koan
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=2
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=5
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=10
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
Generation One Cybercommunity...
The name calls up Star Trek memories for me. And in effect, they did
go where no psychology class has gone before. Kind of. Okay, so I'm a
romantic; I want to believe in the great, the phenomenal, the pioneer,
hee-haw, doggies. It follows, then: if they are Generation One, we are
Generation Two, and we are the Jean-Lucs to last class' James Tiberius
Kirks (didja know that's what the "T" stood for?), the Datas to the
Spocks, and the list goes on. Yeah, I'm a Trekkie. How else could you
figure me getting so far into this stuff? The Internet just sucks my
brain sometimes. And know what? I like it. I am becoming.... This week's task was nothing excruciating (don't get me wrong, I'm
grateful), and went by pretty quickly. The only frustrating thing was
deciding what homepages I'd like for my report links. It took some time
to read through these, although I could tell in a heartbeat which
homepages caught my eye and would end up here. For me, that was the only
negative emotion running...I would have liked to examine all the home
pages links, the alternative home pages, and fooled around with them a
whole lot more. But time is of the essence (my Mom always said that, and I
hate saying it now; oh no...), so I apologize if I missed a few gems in
Generation One. My fossilized error this week: I kept selecting Exit under File when
in emacs. I wanted to return to my Uhunix account, but I left the
building instead. Times like those I really hate seeing the program
manager screen. After 5 or 6 times (I've got those damn FEFPs all over
the notes), I stopped myself, and logged out, like a Homo Sapien with no claim on the Sapien. But until that move, I felt like... I felt I was...just another... A page I hadn't gotten into previously caught my attention this time,
and I think it deserves note. I liked it partially because of the
arrangement, the picture of what I believe is the next Sexiest Man (uh,
well, sort of) In Show Business, once we get rid of that ridiculous
rhinoplasty business, and the sense of humor. It is finally the sense of
humor that keeps me at a page, that keeps me, period. I enjoyed the
links, especially the original names for them. Were they what the
appeared to be? Check it out for yourself, and let me know what tourist
attractions you saw in Kyle
Fujii's Creative Home Page. When it comes to the reports, I wandered around in Kyle's brain, via Kyle's
Standard Home Page for Psy 409, and realized something: THESE GUYS
HAVE SHORT WEEKLY REPORTS!! Okay, at least Kyle did. I really would have
liked a more structured format, probably something closer to what we have
to produce at present. But that's the generation gap, no? (Okay, I know
that's not really the generation gap, but just roll with it for
now...I'm kinda loopy.) I agreed with a lot of his comments, and I came to
realize something else: I HAVE A DISTINCT MALE MENTALITY. Ugh. I don't
ask for help; I don't like to admit knowing completely nothing at times; I
absolutely hate waiting for the computer to start up. Impatience is one
of my best qualities; it forces me to finish my own work that much
quicker. But for the rest of humanity, watch out at that red light--I
will beep at you like a Mack truck. CyberLori! (May the Lord
have mercy on my soul.)
Time for a surf break. Is this a lot of text or what? Speaking of a lot of text, something I noticed: not all home pages
have graphics, or any of the other little extras that make a house page a
home (da-da-DA-sha!). One I had a hard time with was Grant
Harada's home page. I checked out the alternative home pages, the
page 1, etc, but you know something? There is nothing of substantial
difference between the appearances of home pages 1, 2, 3, or the alternate
home page. What gives, Grant? I know you, man, your mind is much more
twisted than this. (Just kidding, GEEZ...) However, the substance of the
lab reports are there.
I like the recommendation: "...you view the whole class as a process in
coping with the information age." This is completely agreeable to me, and
has saved my hiney from a frustrating, terminal-bashing, amok session in
the CLIC lab. It helps immensely to remember that this is simply an
opportunity. I can either learn these skills, or I can drop the class and
not learn these skills. It is not testament to my competency; it is
testament to my character.
However, I do not agree as wholeheartedly with his following
statements: "Those who embrace and accept this will grow and flourish, and
those who do not learn the skills to survive will perish." I'm not sure
that those who do not learn these skills will perish, no matter how
advanced and further entrenched living in a computer age becomes. Perish
seems such a harsh term, especially since not learning computer skills
merely means stagnation at this point, and a quiet kind of surrender.
Because you've really ceded your right to be actively informed; you will
read what the papers tell you, papers you can get at the local
newsstand/thru the mail (read: OLD news), and talk to those who are in
close physical proximity, seeing their shells first. To not learn
computing skills is to build a wall round oneself. I know of many people
who remain in their own worlds quite happily, though powerless in any
other world. They are flourishing, by conventional definition. What does
Grant mean by this? I think at this point, his statement is a bit
far-reaching, although I do agree that those who embrace living in a
computer age will grow and flourish. I just don't think not learning
computer skills produces more than the antithesis of this. Grant's
files offer many suggestions that I see implemented in Generation Two's
syllabus, such as a week of exploration. This seems to be Week 6. And I
like the idea of an alternate interests home page. However, I think this
is the same thing as our team reports, simply with more guidance. We
select things about the Internet we find interesting at first blush, and
the team reports are a disjointed home page in themselves...But I could be
reaching; my philosophy professor said this can be a good thing, but
personally, I think the man is out to lunch, so I don't know about THAT
advice of his...But Grant's suggestions are really helpful for the
students, such as recommending as much time as possible spent on the
Internet, and getting fellow classmates' e-mail addresses early in the
semester. One other thing rather consistent about the Generation One reports: I
was impressed. The Internet was new territory for them, much more than it
is for us. We have their files to read, and the Net has produced many new
(and probably better) help documents and sites to make all aspects of
creating a Web page easier. Also, more people have become acquainted (or
in some cases, better acquainted...see The House that Ku Built; he's
constantly moving forward) with the Internet, even in these few months.
It's amazing how much can be learned and how much things change here in
such a small time. The Cybercommunity may be the only "city" that never
really sleeps. The Generation One persisted, and produced documents not
only for the next generations, but for Dr. James as well. I can see
suggestions from their files happening this semester, and I know I only
see a small portion of these sugggestions; the rest must be
interesting...what are we doing now that they have recommended?
One final page I've got to include...As you know from before, Diane
Beauchemin's 409 Home Page-University of Hawaii is my all-time
Generation One Cybercommunity favourite. Even her standard home page has
some cool links! I especially like Diane's
lab reports were fun to read, which isn't a statement one usually
makes about lab reports. She had information on a lot of her emotional
processes on surfin' the net, and her comments on students not really
recording their actual emotions on the Net were pretty interesting. (Of
course, Wundt would denounce her as a psychology student, and would have
kicked her out of Leipzig, but hey, he's dead.) I agree with her
observation: even the most well-meaning of students is going to have a
humdinger of a time remembering all emotions and experiences, or even
where they've been, copious notes or not.
If you have the time, Diane's
artistic home page is a whole lot-o'-fun. This woman has some great
links! I could journey out with her home page as a base for quite some
time.
Overall, this week wasn't so bad. (Of course, I could call down the
Cybergods with that statement and have the terminal blow up right
now.) Question:
In another student's report, she cited students doing this Internet
experiment in 1991...yet the reference was in the Generation One files.
What gives? Are we really Generation Three? Question for now; I'll do
some research later, maybe. Who are The Others? 
This is something I noticed in
quite a few reports, and it wasn't till later that I realized what
disturbed me so much. This is not to single out Jason
Raad's other-other home page as the only home page doing this; it's
just an example. It was really, really difficult to read this report.
Frankly, it hurt my eyes after a bit. The problem is with the size of the
font. The information is fine, but the grammar and spelling really
bothered me, and the arrangement is assaultive. Granted, I have my major
screw ups in the grammar and spelling department as well, but I try to
catch as many as I can in a spell-check. This is the only thing I found
pretty consistent in Generation One's lab reports that I didn't like. I
don't understand why the type was so large.
The Really Big Button
That Doesn't Do Anything,
probably because of the text, the
futility, the comments that run on and on like a stand-up comedian with
the most advanced case of MPD possible in this dimension.
Reach out, reach out and touch
someone...lmorita@hawaii.edu