REPORT ONE:MY TRAVELS THROUGH G1 AND G2+NOREEN DORION

Report One

My TRAVELS THROUGH G1 AND G2

My Instructor's Home Page Dr. James

Take a Look at My Home Page

Leave me a message dorion@hawaii.edu

As a newcomer to the information superhighway, I was afraid that I would not make it through this fast-flowing traffic. It was like literally driving on the freeway for the first time. Where I'm from there are only six-lane highways going in both directions. This was a whole new dimension of traffic for me. Would I stall in the middle of a traffic jam and not know what to do from there? Would I be able to find the off ramp to exit this mesh of information? There was only one way to find out. I woul d have to be brave and plunge into that superhighway. We were given the address or location of our destination but what stood in my way was the ignorance I had for netscape. At first I did not realize that I needed to type in the address. Keep in mind that I have never used the net before. After discovering what I was to do with the address, I set out for my grand adventure in the information superhighway.

The address took me to generations before me who had taken traffic psychology under Dr. James. I was to make stops in generation one and generation two and search through through members' home pages. I chose three from each generation and made comments based on a)appearance of the page, b)content of the reports, and c)structure of the site.

GENERATION ONE

Todd Crawford

Appearance

When I finally arrived at his home page I was very disappointed to see yet another page with a dull background. It was all just another bunch of links with no description. I think I will definitely put an explanation on my home pages as to why it exists and what people could possibly get out of it. Tom's pages don't seem to flourish in artistic beauty. It did not seem like he spent very much time on his home page. This actually looks like the beginning stages of a page.

Finally there was some color which I discovered in his lab reports page. He used a smiley face icon, a graduation cap, and rainbow colored bars to accentuate his page. I think he should have just used a white background instead of the gray one. I think white would have brought out his text more. Seeing that he put effort on this page he could have attracted visitors more to this page.

There was a good heading for his glossary page telling you exactly where you landed. I think he needs a lesson in the beautification of his pages to attract more visitors to his page. He wouldn't want to put all his hard work to waste not having anyone search through the information that he has provided.

Content

As I read through his reports, I found interesting subjects to respond to. To answer his question about driving in a pack, it depends what mood I'm in or the conditions on the road. Sometimes I too like to break away from the rest of the drivers especially during rainy days, when the roads are very slippery. I try to be very cautious on the road. I think there is a tendency for accidents to occur when the road is wet. When there is an accident on the road and the cars are all traveling in a pack it is harder to avoid the car that is making a 360 or clear way from his path. There is no doubt that your car can get in their way. I think driving in a pack can be both safe and dangerous depending on the situation. He mentions that there is a sense of safety when traveling in packs. I assume most comes from the security that it is less likely to be caught by the police when everyone seems to go in the same speed or the thought the cop wouldn't be able to stop all the cars if they were all speeding. Lately I have seen several cars being pulled up at the side of the roads by just one cop.

Todd also mentions the way we drive when others are in the car with us. We tend to think more about what other drivers think about our driving abilities either our fast driving or slow driving. We neglect the feelings of the person that is riding in our car. Since my mom is afraid to drive, I'm usually her chaffeur. When I am on the road, I tend to forget that she is with me. I pay attention to the other driver who is just a second away from my bumper. What follows actually depends on my mood at the time. I usually speed up and my mom often tells me to slow down and just let the other car pass. Inside, a rebel comes out and I tell her he can't do that. It's like a race for me. He'd think I was another one of those slow drivers that should get out of the road when kings like him get on the highway. Wait a minute. Nobody rules the road, so if he wants to race fine. I'll give him one good competition. Anyway, my mom starts to hang on to the handlebar right above the window while telling me to slow down. Sometimes when I am in the mood for playing and all the lanes are busy and the car behind me is tailgating, I slow down even more just to irritate him. I sometimes play around and suddenly step on the brakes enough not for the other car to hit mine. My mom nags me to let him pass before he hits my car. When I see that he is totally irritated sometime I let him go or I move faster so he can pass.

Structure

I was confused with his pages because the main one connected from Dr. James directory for Generation One takes you to a page with five links on it. The links did not even describe what I could possibly see in them. I don't think not very much visitors will be prompted to look into his links except those curious monkeys. I could be one of them since I clicked enough to write about his pages. If I hadn't been given the task of looking through this generation's pages, I honestly wouldn't have clicked thr ough Todd Crawford's pages.

In order for visitors to leave comments to him, he suggests to write to him by giving his address. I think it would have been more efficient if he used a mailto button for him to receive e-mail.

Some of his buttons also did not work, especially the first one leading to his home page. He should have just taken that link out. I did not like the way he set up his pages. Many of them looked half done and the reports page looked like it was all clusterd. He used different fonts which wasn't that necessary because it made it look even more messy. There seemed to be too much text for just that one page. He also inserted links in between certain sections that shouldn't be there. I don't think the introduction of the weekly reports was necessary for the reports page. Those could have been placed in the topical index instead.

Jae Isa

Appearance

I did not find her pages attractive. She remained with the gray background like some of the other pages of the members of generation one. She was consistent in the use of a colorful bar and a few icons for some of the links that she placed on her pages. There was really no creative significance in her pages. Again, if she didn't want color she could have used the white background instead. Some areas of her work seem very cluttered and unappealing.

Content

She pointed out several issues that brought about different reactions from my part. She wrote about the attention deficit of the driver who talks on a cellular phone. The driver is forced to divide his attention on the road and with the conversation on the phone. One hazard also is if the topic of conversation is an intense one. There is greater likelihood for a person to become a dangerous driver when his emotions are fired up. If he is angry he may use his car as a weapon to express his emotions. The other drivers would take this as threat to them and may even drive more aggressively against that driver. There are certainly many consequences that can arise from one small incident.

Using the phone isn't the only thing that can distract a driver. Eating or drinking in the car can also take away the driver's attention on the road. I must admit that when I am eating in my car I don't focus completely on the road which results sometim es on the suden stops that I must do quick enough not to hit the bike rider on the side of my lane or the pedestrian walking on the crosswalk. Another act I'm guilty of doing is putting on make up while driving. I don't do it as much anymore, maybe because I don't wear it everyday now. I would always save my time in the morning or whenever I go out by leaving that job to be done in the car. I'm always pressed for time that it is the only way I can be prepared when I decide to go out. My attention is definitely not concentrated on the road because I'm afraid I might poke my eyes with the pencil I'm using or make a big red streak on my face from my lipstick. I usually am not aware of the activities going on behind me because the rear view mirror is turned towards me to use as a mirror.

I agree with Jae that the government should implement noise pollutant policies for vehicles. Jae mentioned that souped-up vehicles can be very annoying and distracting. I would be one of the first to hold a demonstration for this policy. I am easily ir ritated when a car vibrating with too much base sound system pulls up next to me and causes booming sound that makes you jump literally.

Structure

In her glossary page I did not like the way her file began with links. I would think the heading should come first to know where you have landed. This page seemed like a continuation of another page. She could have had a better set up also for her the rest of her pages. Some links ran into another and it's placement on the page did not seem well planned out. They looked scattered here and there. I don't think it was necessary for her to write down the links again each of her weekly assigments and group work in the same page as her reports. It would have already been sufficient enough to have them in her topical index. There was just too many links that detracts you from exactly where you are because the report doesn't start until a screen down from the very top of the page.

Michelle Ota

Appearance

I was beginning to dread going through this generation's pages because of the monotony of their pages and wanted to go on to generation two who I hoped would offer more. I finally stumbled on Michelle Ota's home page and I thought there was hope afterall. I guess what attracted me to her page was the penguin at the center of the page right below her heading.

There still remained a simplicity in her pages. There were a few icons that did not work and I figured she would have fixed it before putting here page out for everyone to see. I did not think her other pages were appealing mainly because they seemed half done. Her other pages were all very dull looking with gray backgrounds. I did like the picture of the dolphin on her glossary page. That gave me an idea of making my home page devoted to a scenary of the ocean.

Content

Michelle Ota advices that those taking this class should start on the assigned works early so it is possible to seek help whenever we run into problems and enough time to figure things out. This is also good in that we can avoid unnecessary stresses. Michelle also suggests that a modem at home would be very beneficial. I don't agree with this whole-heartedly because I own a computer and bought a modem the first day of class and have not put it to use as much as I would like to. This is not due to laziness or lack of time but the inability to get hooked up with the UH system. One must get up early in the morning just to get a connection (I mean two or three in the morning). I sometimes have to do this but if you sleep late like I do you come to school very spaced out because of lack of sleep.

It is true that working at home is more relaxing and comfortable. There's also the advantage of eating while working on your personal computer. I think I get more things done coming to school and working at the computer labs here even if it means coming to school even if I don't have classes that day. I usually stay for a good five hours straight or even more. I think I've already developed an ulcer. I usually can't leave the computer to grab something to eat because there are too many people waiting to use the computer and I don't want to lose it. There are definitely the pros and cons of having a computer at home. Perhaps, one of these days I will get my own server. I'm not exactly sure how that works yet. My roommate is hooked up to an outside server. I'll look into it later. I also have a problem with the phone line because I have five other roommates. It's hard to keep phone calls from coming. There goes another expense. That is, to get another phone line. Boy this class is getting very expensive. It is true Dr.James did not require us to get a textbook but all this amounts to more than one text.

Michelle also noted the affective self that Dr. James talked about. She talks about her habit getting caught by the police and being embarassed because her friends or people she knows might see her. It isn't the fact that she commited a traffic violation that worries her but the public humiliation that she is sure to undergo. I used to think the same way, when I get caught back home mainly because it is such a small island that everyone seems to know one another. I would turn red with embarrassment and try to duck down or bow my head when the cop has stopped me on the side of the road. I am lucky that I have never been given an actual ticket. I have been stopped before but never been issued a ticket and hope that I'll never get one. Despite the humiliation we may receive from others sometimes we still engage in violating traffic regulations. Also it is interesting how we question why people poke their nose into our business when they are driving by, we should stop and think that we also do the same when we see an accident by the side of the road or someone who just got caught. I think it is some human instinct that we naturally turn our head.

Structure

The formatting of her text were fine. They were pretty much structured and organized. Although I wish she placed a few descriptions with her links on her home page. Her topical index was well done. I like the fact that she annotated them so it gave me aglimpse of what was in them. The only problem, was that some of her links did not work. I was a bit disappointed in that because there were subjects I wanted to see. Below her heading was her email address which she should have put a mailto button for. Although her page seemed a little too compressed it was still well organized in that she put them in alphabetical order.

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GENERATION TWO

Letitia Lujan

Appearance

Letitia Lujan's home page is one of the few that I enjoyed visiting. She brought her work out by placing it over a white background. There was a certain simplicity in her work but it was very inviting. Her pages looked orderly perhaps it is because her text are centered that gives it a good appearance.

She provided enough icons to get my attention. She did not drown it with heavy use of pictures that were not necessary. I think her pages were lively. It made me browse through it easily. Her home page was sweet and concise. The links had enough annotations as to what I would expect if I clicked on them.

Content

In report one she comments on the works of others about aggression. My main reaction resulted from two of the four different types of aggression that Caroline Balatico discussed. I would say that I possess the two forms of aggression whenever I am behind the wheels of my car. The first is anti-predatory.This is actually in some sense being the prey to another driver. For instance being tailgated or literally being run off the road. One that I experienced was coming home late at night and the car behind me would turn his lights off and before I knew it he'd be riding my bumper. It is pretty scary especially when I am still far from home.

Being taunted by this driver I am forced to become an aggressive driver and take on the second form of aggression called the territorialists. Like Letitia mentioned without regard to other drivers I make my way between cars weaving in and out trying to lose the driver whose been following me. As a result of this driver's behavior I am pressed to react in a similar fashionm like him to other drivers on the road. It is like a domino effect in some ways because I'm sure those who feel threatened by my driving will also become territorialist themselves to avoid me. This is clearly an example of what aggression on the road can do to someone who has no intentions of actually being aggressives themselves. Drivers on the road can provoke you at any time. You are like a time bomb that is ready to explode with only others pushing the handle down.

Letitia comments on another student's report regarding speeding in heavy traffic.I really don't see the point in people speeding or weaving in and out of traffic thinking they can get very far. People who take the shoulder lane and try to cut me off irritates me. Just to be mean sometimes I don't let them in that way they are delayed even more just for trying to cut. Sometimes people whiz right by my car taking the middle road. On Guam there aren't any freeways so there's usually a middle lane so you can turn either left or right from it depending on which side of the road your on. During traffic people are speeding by and if a cop happens to be around they just pretend to be turning into the next street coming up. There are those who pass right by me speeding and I discover later that they are also stuck in traffic just a little ways ahead of me. When my lane moves faster than the lane they're on I like to grin at them to show what a waste of effort it was on their part.

Structure

One thing that made Letitia's home page very personal was her family album. Clicking on her album made us see who the creator of these pages were. We were also able to learn a little about Letitia through the entries that followed the pictures.

She also shared a part of her culture with net surfers through the Chamorro lessons that she provided and the archives. This personally reminded me of home. One of the reasons why I clicked on her home page was because I recognized the familiar name. I am also from the island of Guam and have been hopelessly looking for something that would represent something from there that she had done. I have seen someone's background and tried to copy it but was not very successful.

From the looks of her index page she must have done a lot of work on it. I think she anchored just about everything in her reports which makes it easier to get at certain subjects. She organized this page alphabetically and in certain categories. There was fluidity in her page.

Cynthia Yap

Appearance

I really enjoyed her artisitic creation for her pages. I wanted the Mickey Mouse background since I am a fan of MM. Her use of the brown sandy background with MM silhoutes and other images are very welcoming. When I clicked onto her page I knew somehow there was something I would enjoy in her pages and I was right. She uses various backgrounds for her pages which gave it more life to it as well. I think with the right use of color there is really no need for other graphics. Most of her pages caught my attention when it first appeared on the screen. After endless searching through the generations I needed something that would make my search worth it. This was one of the pages that I thought did.

Content

Cynthia comments on the the reports of her fellow generation members as well as those in previous ones concerning driving age. Saito pointed out that the essential part of driving is the reaction time. Age is a factor in this because some drivers on the road are the elderly. When we get older there is a longer period between the action directed at you and the reaction to that. Elders have shown to have a slower rection time. It was suggested that upon renewal of the driver's license the reflexes of the elders must be tested. If they do not pass the reaction test, then they should be denied their license. Here Cynthia brings up a good question in that what specific age should they begin testing for reaction time. She also points out that they did not give guidelines as to how they would implement the tests. I found this as a form if agism. If that is not the correct word then I meant prejudice against the elderly. Why should they be denied the right to drive? It is like banning the handicap from driving simply because they have a physical impairment. For many of the elderly, driving themselves is their only means of surviving. Some elderly would like to remain independent. Just because they are older doesn't mean the public should rob them of their independence.

Back seat drivers isn't a new concept. I feel the same way Cynthia does because even though we hate back seat drivers when I am the driver I am a hypocrite because I do the same thing back when I am a passenger. I seem even more irritated especially because my mom loves to nag me about stopping at the signs or to quit breaking suddenly in fromt of the car. I always reason with her that I am the driver and I can estimate the distance and the speed of my car. I hate it when she plants her feet in the front and pretends there is an imaginary break on the floor. I just laugh at her sometimes. When I am the passenger, however, I am constantly telling the driver to slow down and not make sudden stops. Sometimes back seat drivers can actually be helpful beacause I have been in certain situations where the driver seems to phase out sometimes that they forget they are actually driving the car. If I hadn't yelled at him to stop then we could have hit the car. Other times it is annoying because they bother my concentration when all that yakking.

Structure

First I couldn't understand why she had to make another link to a home page. Why couldn't she just use that first one from Dr. James' home page? She did a great job in her links putting them all in boxes to take you to her other pages. Her text was also centered which gave it a professional look.She must have done a great deal of searching throgh the net because she provided several links to her home page some of which I question the relevancy. Then again I guess one should have the freedom to put as much links if that is what the creator enjoys. Perhaps it is like a window to the person's character.

Her index page was well done in that she anchored her reports from there and also gave certain descriptions to her report titles. The links of boxes at her pages reminds me of what other students have done. That is when you click on her reports box it takes you to a list of all the reports she had written and then a link to the report itself. For her group reports, I think she shouldn't have cluttered all the reports in that fashion. She could have listed them down the page and not all together.

Bryan Yucoco

Appearance

I was drawn to Brian's page because it was very appealing. He used a dark blue background which I had once set one of my pages on before settling on a light cloudy blue one for one of my home pages. It is good that he used a white text over his background so everything would appear visible. There were some pages that I visited that looked like the creator worked hard on it but his links and words were not visible because the background tended to drown them. I actually fell in love with his home page because he put a great picture of a corvette. One which I would like to own one day if I can't afford a porsche but I like the older model better. The ones with a curvy body to it. I like the purple on purple effect of his picture and background. It blended well I think. I didn't think there was no need for icons because the background already gave it a lot of color.

Content

I went into his report one with the subheading mood swings which I thought was particularly interesting. Brian mentions a Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde personality when he is in his car. Unlike Brian, I am constantly ruled by my mood swings which is why I went to this section of his report. He mentions that music has an effect on the way one feels when driving. I found that to be somewhat true. There is also a cognitive-affective reasoning. Sometimes the music of my choice is actually dependent on my mood and not my mood being the result of the music I am listening to. Brian listens to uplifting music to get him through what he needs to do without any worries. His car becomes the object onto wehich his sensorimotor reacts to. He becomes a speedster when he is listening to Metallica. The setting of his car is also another mood matcher. (I feel like I'm presenting a mood matcher lipstick here.) He goes on to explain the physiopsychological basis of human nature and its interaction with the environment. It is true that our surrounding may indirectly or directly affect most of our behaviors.

I eagerly clicked on his driving makeover plan for report two. I looked under the heading use the force. I wanted to know what his plans really were to change his mood swings. What I discovered was that he would try to ease his mind through meditation. Since he had taken tai chi it was really no problem for him to do so. I think it would be difficult though to actually meditate every time you step into the car. I wonder if he still engages in this behavior.

Another one I found was his makeover plan to stop swearing. I must admit that I also have that problem when I am in my car. I don't normally swear off hand only when someone or something makes me really angry. It is like a natural reaction for me when I am driving. I have been trying to cut down but like they say an old habit is hard to break. Brian uses the the negative reinforcment I learned in behavioral psychology. Everytime he finds himself swearing, he gives his girlfriend a quarter for every bad word.

Structure

Brian was very consisitent with the use of his backgrounds which reminded me of one of the member's of my generation (Robin Miller) who used a light brown background to put up her pages. Brian also did a great job in the format of his home page in that his text seemed to just weave across the the page. He used links and described them very well to show exactly what they contained.

His topical index was well done. He place the different sections of his reports under each appropriate area. Which made it so much easier for me to browse the topics that I thought I might enjoy in his works.He placed anchors for each section as well.

As far as his team reports page is concerned I did not particularly like the fact that they were too one-sided. They all seem to lean more towards the right. This is probably due to the fact that he did not put annotations on his links. I was not particularly interested in clicking on each of his team reports.

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