The End. March 16, 2009

To be honest, I was fairly intimidated by the assignments that were part of this course. Discussion groups? Blogging? What IS this business? Fortunately (for my nerves, and my grade…) I was able to face my fears and enter the online world…and even come away with a better understanding, and in some cases, some appreciation for this form of communication. To begin with, the assignments I struggled the most with. These were definitely the “Abstinence” exercise and the Internet Group exercise. In all honesty, I was somewhat irked by the abstinence assignment, as this is not my only online class and I was not excited about the feeling of falling behind in my other classes for the sake of only one class. However, it was very interesting to see how intertwined of role the Internet plays in my life. I’m interested to see how this will increase (or decrease- but I doubt it) while in grad school next fall…If my analysis of my use as is, is any prediction to the next two years- I will likely be chained to my computer. Also, in combination with my HDFS Families and Poverty class, the idea of being a person who had absolutely no access to the Internet became a tangible (and terrifying) idea. I now wonder how/if it is even possible to succeed in our society without having a least limited, if not complete, access to a computer and the internet. The second assignment that was difficult for me was the discussion group. While I am now have a clearer idea of how these groups function, and – to an extent- understand the point of even being part of one, I am still thoroughly amazed that for some this style of communicating can actually match or replace face-to-face relationships and communicating. My brief involvement was interesting, and at times fun- but I still have a lot to learn about the process. I currently am a research intern for Eloquence Communication, and when I mentioned this particular assignment to my boss, she immediately was inspired to assign me to familiarizing the company with the ways of the online world- through discussion/support groups, Twitter, Linked In…you name it. It has been grueling and at times, satisfying. I think that why I have such a difficult time “understanding” the online communication world (e-mail and Myspace aside) is because it isn’t a mapped out, definite process- at least not yet, for me. I say this because I realized how I am comfortable with face-to-face because I already have a predetermined layout of the interaction based on cultural assumptions. When entering a different community, in this case online, I find that these cultural assumptions are not so easily applied. Hence, I feel like I’m trying to speak a different language to a wall…and expecting it to communicate back to me. The assignments I enjoyed the most were the interviews and the letters. The interviews because I learned a lot about the various ways in which a range of ages makes use of the internet. I think the assignment was beneficial because (in my case) it challenged my preconceived notions regarding who used the internet for what. That, and the 78 year old Claudia, who I interviewed, has made it her responsibility to update me on all things “webby”. At least once a week, she sends me an invite to some online ‘resource’, group or site. Even after this class, I had no idea soooo many were out there! The letter writing/e-mail composing (?) was also another eye-opener for me. The differences in communication styles, as well as the unanticipated adaption to the ways of the Internet (in the case of my dad)- were striking in that they demonstrated just how a part of our lives, how engrained in our societal norms, the internet has become. And to think that when I was in 2nd grade we were playing Oregon Trail on computers that were, like, six times the size of my laptop…not to mention 40 times SLOWER! Also beneficial to our learning outcomes was the Sources assignment, because so often people overlook the need to verify their facts, and make certain they are using credible sources. I am obviously a huge fan of the library…and the e-journals service (wonderful!!). Clearly, even though I list two that I found difficult- the assignments I referenced made considerable impact on what I learned in, and took away from, the class. This is not to say that the other assignments are ones I would do away with, as they carried equal weight, I just wanted to emphasize on the assignments that really defined the course for me! Thank you class, for an interesting term!

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