Reflective Essay

When looking at the overall effect of writing a research paper, there are several key factors that had to have gone into making eh paper. Questions such as, Why? How? For Whom? are all part of developing a well-written paper, along with one’s own opinion. How one came to write their paper all depends on the writer him or herself. When coming down to look at mine, there were several distinctions and steps that I took in order to come up with my topic and finally, in the end, my paper.

Originally when I started to think about my topic, which was already narrowed down to the subject of ‘Technology’, there were several things to think about. What was something that I wanted to explore and enter into? Was there something personal that affected me and I wanted to research on it to share with others, hoping that they can relate as well. All different types of questions came into play and it was hard for me to figure out what I wanted to do.

It came to me after reading the book Technology Matters by David E. Nye. Several chapters just sprang out at me, and got me to think that maybe he has a point here; there is something that I can see and relate to. Nye talked about being universal and different and just about how technology can either control us or we control technology. Right then and there I knew what I wanted to talk about and that was being ‘plugged in.’ Now in my paper I explained how that it is not necessarily bad or good’ that it all depends on the person who is using the technology.
Being plugged in has a variety of answers, but trying to find a true answer is difficult just because there is so much that one can be plugged into. One, however, has to be able to realize if what they are doing is good or bad for them, and also those who are surrounding them. Sometimes people get too involved with what they are doing and tend to lose focus of their main objective. Distractions are what lead us off the path and tend to get in the way, leading us to being to plugged in. A good way to look at that would be asking, “Does technology control us, or us it?” It makes sense in a good way in that if we have control and purpose we are able to be stable and balance out the personal versus the social life.

There are several things that I had noticed when researching my topic, many of them dealing with a lot of the same material, and or relating the subjects together. It seemed as if they all had just copied off of each other, but that didn’t make any sense because some of them had been written years before others were written, but in general the studies seemed to produce the same outcome or results. It just showed a trend that seemed to go in the same general direction, as technology grows so does the demand and usage of the technology. The sources that I found and used seemed to agree with that idea, but not to a full 100 percent. There is a lot that I had found, that I could see was true because I saw that it was true in people and was able to compare it to them and myself.

When I started off with the researching there were a couple things that I wanted to research, such as tv addiction, and gaming, but then as I continued to look at it I realized that it is not so much there anymore but more along the lines of computers, cell phones, and the internet. People use this more and more each day, somewhat leaving behind the tv and gaming. Well, I guess I can’t say that it has been left behind, but most of us don’t go watch the tv or play games on our game consoles till late at night, because we get home later from work and yet have things to do before we relax. This is not the same for everyone however seeing how children are either at home or in school and not having to worry about adult matters in life, well at least for now. Anyone and everyone can be apart of this matter, kids to adults, no matter who you are, there was at some point or is presently something that we are addicted to that keeps us either focused or distracted that leads to us being plugged in. Remember it is not necessarily a bad or good thing; it all depends upon the individual and how they can correlate the two, the mind and the object.

What really helped were the sources, a lot of the research that I pulled was from articles online and from newspapers. I searched through several books, but the ones that I used were basically from the texts we had to read from class. I did use another book that I found interesting and related it to the material that I was writing. I think that the books helped a lot with my thoughts and ideas/brainstorming, but the articles from online really helped bring out the ideas and helped me put it into words so that I could put my paper together. In class there were a lot of key factors that also helped me, such as the online blogging, the discussion of the texts, and other small things, such as simple questions that really had helped me get a good structure for my paper.

Originally when we had to do this paper, we, the class, all knew that our subject was going to be on technology. The one thing that I did not like and wish we would have been able to do in the beginning was pick a topic right away so that we knew what to aim for. I struggle with papers if I do not know what we are aiming for. What I mean is that I knew that technology was the subject but I didn’t know what the objective was for the paper; I didn’t know basically that we were going to have to take a certain topic and pick a subject from that topic and write on it. If I would have known in the beginning I think that I wouldn’t have struggled so much just to get a start on it. It takes me a while to gather my research and get it all together nice and tight. I felt that all of the in class research and looking at other papers and articles helped bring out the idea of finding key words and terms that help relate back to the paper’s topic. When we kept doing this I got the understanding that a good paper has the ability to let people keep in their heads that this is what the paper is about, that all of these little sentences are meant to come back and relate to the subject of the paragraph, but more importantly to the thesis statement of the paper.

After a good semester’s worth of looking at other works, reading several texts, and doing our own research it came down to creating a research paper ourselves and being able to put it together well enough so that everything seemed to have a good flow. Another thing that I used was the usage of quotes from different sources, hoping that it would relate to what I was trying to say in a certain part. Sometimes and a good majority of the time I felt that the quote could be used in several different places, but I really had to look at what I wanted to say and make sure that the quote I wanted was appropriate in the area I was writing. I also used some of my own experiences and those of others and put that into my paper. Sometimes the best way to explain things in a simpler way is to use everyday examples or examples so that those who are reading can understand what is trying to be stated at that certain part.

However I feel that it might be easier for students to be able to know what they are being told to type in the end, just so that they are prepared and know what to look for and have the time to research. It really does help because it helps the student focus more on what is need to be written about and understood. There is the concern that people will just go ahead and write away, but it is a good thing because then people have time to learn from their mistakes and continue to improve upon what they wrote. Teachers, I think, just need to know when to start this and let the students get a head start so that the students have more time to research and write instead of giving them a certain time period, as in the day you go into a class room and the teacher says that we are going to discuss the paper, its requirements and when it is going to be due.

In the end, I felt that everything that we had done since the beginning helped me out and led me the right way into writing my research paper. It wasn’t an easy road, I can tell you that much, there is a lot that has to be done in order to reach the finale, but like in any case whether it be art, music, etc. it takes time to reach your goal and have it to a point where you are not only satisfied but beyond satisfaction and you have that feeling of accomplishment. Now it is only time that you hope that it does well and that well and that people like the work that you have done and then you know that all of that hard work had really paid off.

Conference Reflection

When starting my essay, there was a lot to think about before writing. Something that I chose to do, was first start writing about my topic with the new thoughts and ideas that I had, but eventually I decided to see what I had written and put in previous ideas that I had before when we had the other required papers to write. I went into these other papers and incorporated that writing into my essay. This I think helped me because it gave me previous information that I was able to relate with my paper. In general, just hearing from other people, and seeing other papers helped me narrow down what I needed to do.

With “face-to-face” conferences I liked the idea of having more than two people comment on my work. I felt that it wasn’t so much as people agreeing with each other, well it was, but what I mean is that online people seem to repeat what the first person said in front of them. In the conferences though, people did that, but each brought different ideas to the table, making it easier to have a broad range of options, but at the same time knowing what you should have to be able to do in order to have a much better paper in the end. Also with a group of people it is easier to get a feel of what people are trying to say to help you. Sometimes reading comments is hard because they are not as clear as you want them to be, making it difficult to cope with and use when editing or revising your paper.

One thing that I most likely took away from the group conferences are the ideas that everyone gave me. It is easy to suggest ideas, but what people told me really helped me. I know that my paper is kind of all around, but with their suggestions and their help I was able to help bring my paper back to life and kind of get a better sense of what I needed to do. I wrote down all of the ideas that others told me at the conferences and then when doing my essay over, I used what they said to help me build a stronger paper. Overall, I believe that group conferences are helpful to the extent of being able to get a better sense of what others want to see in my paper, which will help me provide a better paper in the end.

Rough Draft for portfolio

Is society today plugged in? Are we any different than our parents were when they were children/teenagers growing up with the ‘new’ technology they had? These are questions that I decided to research and look for answers. Seeing how there is no definite answer, the best that can be done is to look for answers that researchers have come up with and also personal opinions that I have experienced along with others that I have noticed. This paper will focus on sources that I have had to read for this class along with the research that I found while searching for answers to this question. This involves anyone from just being born to those who are elderly; rich and poor, because we all are some how plugged into something, whether it is technological or not. It relates somehow and in some way can be compared from the technological world to the non-technological world.
To start off, there is Kim Vicente. Vicente wrote the piece called The Human Factor. This piece is interesting because it starts off with talking about an event that had happened in the past and had terrible consequences. The event took place at Chernobyl. The failure of a nuclear reactor had tragic consequences that resulted in the deaths of many, radiation burns and other hazardous illnesses that followed. You ask yourself though, how does this deal with being plugged in? It may not directly, but sometimes, like today we are used to machines dealing with them. We expect them to fix their own errors or have no issues at all, in other words, we expect and more on the side of want, them to be able to never fail. What I am basically trying to say is that machines and technology have come so far that we expect them to be flawless, we expect them to work, but they don’t. Ergo, we are plugged into the fact that it, the technology, will never fail, and this leads us into the idea of being blind of what happens.
However then you go into the idea of being able to fix the ‘malfunction.’ Some of us do not have any idea what to do. We buy the product thinking that it will last us the time duration, which we need. There is no need to worry about what will happen to it, we have a guarantee. This leads us into the idea of being blind; we are now plugged in. We do not look at what the problem is, instead we are so in tune and in sync with what we are doing, that everything around us, becomes a blur and what we are doing is the only main focus. There are many things that we can see this compared with such as: cell phones, TV’s, computers, internet, and just so much more. Society once thrived on people being able to work together and get things done, but now we are able to cut work forces in half. This just leads to more problems with the economy, but that is off topic, but it shows that what we do has consequences. Has society come down to simply being lazy? Yet again, a bit off topic, but it just shows that each decision society makes leads to something either positive or negative. If you break that down into the individual person, it can also be applied, we make decisions about many different things, such as when we choose to use our phones, watch tv, go on the computer or anything like that. When we choose to do that we are in an economic term making “opportunity costs.” What this means is that we are giving up something for the use or production of something else. So either way we are dedicated to something, we plug ourselves into what we want to do, whether beneficial to society or ourselves only.
Whatever we do, there is a cause and effect. Sometimes it is beyond our control, while other times we proceed without looking beyond what we already know. When inventors create projects they always, or should always be thinking of the repercussions that might be possible if it fails. Like nuclear reactors, if they fail, they cause much damage to the area. They think of the benefits and harms of the product, but it is not up to them sometimes to see where it goes. Take iPods for example: They are great for sharing music and getting information, but can make society anti-social in many ways. There is a lack of communication between people when we are "plugged-in." We are the final critics of the technology and how we use it is the review. If we use it a lot, it will get a good review, but sometimes the over use and under use of something can be good or bad. But sometimes we are so near sighted that we lose our focus and cannot seem to look beyond the actually problems that might be caused. In the end, it comes down to being our fault then, we are the reasons why communication is at a breaking point, why it fails and why the world seems to be more individual than what it was before.
Then we have David Nye and his book Technology Matters. First, before I decide to go into the piece, I felt that his title was more of a question, but put as a statement. More along the lines of…Technology Matters? The reason I feel this way is because his chapter titles are usually questions. So you would think that the book is a matter of fact and opinion. The facts coming from his use of other books to make his points, but then his opinion, which would be later, stated in his chapters. But, beyond that, there is much that can be said about Nye and his work.
With Nye, as stated before, he labels each chapter with a question. One chapter in particular that really catches my eye is Cultural Uniformity? or Diversity? What makes this chapter so interesting is the fact that with Vonnegut and Vicente each talk in some way of being uniform or diverse in life. Nye uses this to discuss the ways in which we live as individuals. He uses a quote from the book The Making of a Counter Culture by Theodore Roszak. His quote talks about how there are ‘little boxes’ each with the same family style, children, all who go to the university. It makes me think that deep down are we all trying to be the same as those around us? It may not seem like it, but I see it. If our neighbor gets a new TV, we want a new TV as well, but just not the same brand. We are trying to ‘Keep up with the Jones’. Another chapter, which can also tie in with Vonnegut and Vicente, is Sustainable Abundance, or Ecological Crisis? Vicente can be tied in with his idea of Nuclear Reactors, and even basic things such as schedules and Vonnegut with the idea of Ice-Nine.
With those authors in mind, it makes you think about today’s society and what should be doing and not be doing. Things that come to my mind are the ideas of being ‘plugged-in.’ We have so many personal items, such as cell phones, laptops, mp3 players, that we forget that we are part of society. Society cannot depend on surviving with individuality, but the cooperation of everyone. IF we are not paying attention to what is going on around us. Something extremely important might be announced but the headphones block it out, we have the opportunity to see who is calling and not answer, and we have the opportunity to do whatever we want basically from personal computers. It is a scary fact that we have those liberties. Now I am not saying to ban them all, but we, as individuals need to look beyond our own goals/benefits and ourselves and see what we can do to help each other out and benefit still at the same time. This would be a very interesting matter to look at, because we all are uniform in ways of wanting the same things, but unique in the ways in which we use them.
This just brings it down to the idea of being less secure. In one of my previous works I mentioned the idea of privacy. How do you feel about the issue? Do you feel that you still have the same privacy as you did 10 years ago? Take for example going online, people seem to know what you want. I go online and there are ads that are promoting things, such as shoes, phones, and other accessories that I am interested in. When you search for things, the people at ad companies see this and know how to target you and make you want to buy their products. Where is the privacy in that? We have government officials who listen in on conversations of people because of threats against the United States, but there is no privacy there at all.
In my own opinion, well to narrow it down, there has never been full and complete privacy. Thing leak out from people, documents get into the wrong hands. In regular day activities people always ask what you have been up to, and when we say we don’t want to talk about it, they start to speculate about what might be going on. Why can’t people just stick to what the have and not worry about others? It is who we are, it is what we do, and privacy doesn’t seem to be in out English language.