WELCOME TO LORI'S WORLD: Week 8

You are what you eat.
Stay away from fruits and nuts.

Garfield
(the cat, not the former US President)

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...

If I were to tell you the world was built in a day, would you believe me? I wouldn't. Not the one where the dry cleaner has a face like a fist, or the neighborhood isn't safe; definitely not the one Whoever-You-Are is in now, reading this text. Everything built on something else, no?

And so what?

I think this is why these two weeks (see Week 7 also) are devoted to researching people we have mainly never seen. In fact, I had a conversation with The Chicken (obviously this person is living in fear and in the witness protection program, existing on vienna sausage and lentils) about just this. It proved to be a different perspective. Personally, I believe The Chicken enjoys his secret identity, just between you, me, and the browser.

Chicken:What is this? You're reading other people's stuff? And that's your assignment?! HA! Your life is a cotton ball, chucklebuns.

Me:I don't know. Think about all the papers to be read, and the work in evaluating them...and we mustn't make the mistake of thinking they had the same resources, Chicken. It's not that easy.

Chicken:Uh, right. And look for monkeys soon.

Okay, okay. Remember the home page I told you about? Grant Harada? So I e-mailed the man, and...

You did what? Such language! I'm telling your maaaaa-aaaa...

Excuse me. I was talking, LintHead. Anyway, I asked him why the font was so big on some of the reports. Turns out Generation One didn't do the original work on Netscape. In fact, when I asked him to look at the file from my home page, he wrote that it didn't look anything like what he originally typed. Ain't that a blip?

I told you Generation One sucked.

What's your damage today, anyway? It proves my point, Chicken. I told YOU Generation One didn't have the same resources, and didn't know what Generation Two knows now. After doing some more research, I confirm MY theory. You need to dilute your blood sugar, Chicken; you're scaring me.

There's really very little that you do know, don't forget. Generation Two is going to be so outdistanced by Generation Three, and Generation Three by Generation Four, you'll be a pterodactyl before you're thirty.

Anyway, if Generation One didn't use Netscape, how did Diane Beauchemin's project look like that?

I think she went beyond the original plan and maybe found out about Netscape on her own. I don't really know...but from the links she found, I'd have to say she did a lot of extra-curricular surfing.

And I will NOT be a stupid dinosaur. I don't even have any grey hair.

So you didn't ask her, did you?

No.

But I did check out the group before Generation One. It's not exactly an X-File, but I found The Others, the Ancients, the...

Alright!! So what, Little Miss FBI? What did they say?

Since you asked so nicely, my beloved HineyHead, I'll tell you. They did some work in the Plato lab in the last months of 1991. But they had even fewer resources, and they did files. Just files. Nothing but files. Yeech.

They must have been thrilled.

Some of them were, and some were not. It turns out this Plato had 8 generations, and was mainly used for socializing. These classes are a whole different ballgame.

I'm leaving. You're going to talk about the ratings, aren't you? You really have no imagination.

And you're still a pterodactyl. You're older than dirt, Weeniebreath.

One of these days, I'm going to expose your secret identity and let those guys get rid of you and your daily diet of lentils and luncheon meat. You little...

This week was interesting, although midterms are coming fast and furious. I experienced the same degree of everything as last week in my ratings. Does this mean I have not learned because my ratings have not changed? The task was not difficult in terms of learning new skills. This week was focused on assessment of pages; a critique. It is not as easy as it seemed at first blush.

In week 7, I found the pages I enjoyed and linked to them with some slight critique and overview. This week goes deeper. Why am I not as interested in delving into Generation One's files as I am concerning the little links and files in the Net? This became a serious motivational difficulty. I did not want to go further into G1's files. I feel badly about this, although I do not feel the always accompanying guilt. Perhaps this is arrogant. Perhaps I am tired. Perhaps I just need to pick things apart.

Picking things apart, breaking down things bit by bit, has left my habits concerning the Internet. I do not have the patience I once did. This may be because I spend a lot of time on the Net, and I recall resolving during Week 3 that I would maximize my efficiency and speed my work up a bit. (Really, 30+ and sometimes over 40 hours can become much. The rest of my studies were waiting. It was excruciating to rip myself away from the terminal. It was as though the cord were being cut.) I do not engage links that are unappealing at first glance. A catchy name, a well-arranged page, the overall tone of the links and page will stop me. Although I originally chastized myself for being so slow in looking through Home Pages, I now realise this was not altogether bad. It made me thorough. In ripping through pages and not considering what gems might be hidden in bad Home Page Architecture, I have probably missed much and developed this strange impatience.

Considering my belief in Week 4 (all you see here being pure thought, etc.), it follows that this must be an impatience with others' thoughts. This frightens me. Is there such a thing as an Internet Snob?

And still I do not know why I am not interested. Is it because this is all in the past? Because these pages will probably not be updated and the links lost? How will future Generations consider my work? Probably the same...Probably I consider things I will never know. In fact, I'm sure I do.

When finally going a bit deeper into the G1 files, I find a common thread: all files have optimism, and this optimism appears to feed off each other. There is nothing truly negative when these students talk about each others' files. Of course, if I had to see people week after week, I would not be harsh either.

In fairness, our Generation Two is not a rip-snorting, burn-and-slash critique pit either. It can be nice that way, no? In every piece of e-mail received from fellow classmates, there has been encouragement and praise. I send out e-mail messages because I know how hard this can be; the frustration of uncooperative links and the constant bottles of Visine. In looking at my classmates' files, I feel admiration and quite often awe. Where did these pictures come from? How was this found? The aesthetics of the page are pleasing...And I admit, sometimes I feel my share of jealousy. For example, I am highly impressed with Christina Kealoha's Topical Index. It is indeed as beautiful as Dr. J. enthused in class. I recommend any future generations (are you out there, guys?) looking at this to see what Generation Two was capable of. (Please remember when we embarked on this project as well!)

The Generation One students have links to other classmates' files as well, and these are accompanied by positive remarks or used as examples of what the host is saying. I have noticed that some links to anchors are the messages themselves. For example, this section seems to merely give a link to another student's opinion on a topic. Given the level of frustration I know I experience, have these students used these links as their own feelings because it commands the sentiment better or...because it is easier, finally, to link and link and leave the links be without personal input?

Many links are done with context, and thought through. I admire this. It is easy to provide a listing of links and not consider what the document linked-to has to say. (I know, I get tempted and sometimes...) I especially appreciate the way Jill Kaneshiro incorporates and evaluates other students' comments--those she agrees with and those she does not. It is fine and good to agree with the world, but to disagree takes prior thought. And of course, some chutzpah.

I find it very interesting that this pioneering group cleaves together so much, perhaps because they are operating sans text, previous HTML/Home Page experience, or Internet experience altogether. They were, as we are...how do you say? Flying by the seat of their pants. They provide their own positive feedback, with and possibly without authoritative comment (sorry, Dr. J., but these guys seem to really support each other. How does this happen in an environment as competitive as the Internet eventually creates? Were you considered the Enemy in Generation One? No texts? How frustrated really were these individuals and did they channel it towards you, nurturing selves like a pack after an attack?)

There are recommendations for awards in Generation One files. This interested me very much. Apparently award categories were designated earlier. Carrots of their own choosing? The award suggestions came most frequently during the last files of the semester. I am curious to know: were these awards given before or after these suggestions were made?

The Generation One Awards themselves are interesting. Some of the suggestions were not taken. These suggestions by G1 students seem to be geared towards what each student felt was his/her own greatest obstacle and therefore, best accomplishment in some aspect. Although comments by Dr. James were made for each file, providing recognition and feedback, other outside recognition seemed important. I know it is important to me. (Of course, some things just aren't done by wishing.) The awards seemed to provide a sense of closure to the project. This is important in such a turbulent place as the Net, where everything is constantly under construction.

Often I feel as though I am never finished. There is always one more link, one more engine, one more graphic to make it better. Perhaps I need a vacation...I can understand the need for a sense of closure after 15 weeks of immersion in an environment that, whether one likes it or not, is never closed, finished, nor expects you to be.

In the final analysis of this report, I am forced to look over my findings and laugh at myself. Look at what I chose to write about; not necessarily the individual Home Page, the individual files, but Generation One as a whole.

Perhaps I am as impatient as I fear. I would talk about the overall cognitive, social, all the rest of the package rather than fish through individual reports for the gems. Yes, Lori, you are a child in the 1990's, where ADD is what the marketers train you for and count on. Good grief.

Make my world bigger: lmorita@hawaii.edu