Yay!

Dr. Reid's post on the course blog made me smile, for I have successfully completed all of those tasks.

Last night, a good friend of mine who attends Sarah Lawrence College was perusing my blog. "Wow, you guys do podcasts? What do you do with them after they're recorded?" she wanted to know immediately. "Where are the blogs of other people in your class?"

I directied her to the course blog and explained all of the tenets of the course -- the various blogs, the podcasting, the Wiki, etc. "That's so cool," she said. "I wish we had something like that here."

She's got a point. Not only have we done a substantial amount of work in various forms, but it's all available on the Internet for anyone to view. I think we can be proud of our class's accomplishments, especially as the first group to take this strictly-online version of Writing in Cyberspace. Cortland is in the midst of the cyber evolution of education.

Good work, everyone, and if I don't catch you online, perhaps I'll, I don't know, see you in person or something. :-)

Wikipedia

I've been keeping up with the course Wiki throughout the semester, as evidenced by my angry blog entries in which I wished to battle the website because...I was dumb and forgot to log in, hence not having some work acknowledged.

That said, I was working on a couple of entries yesterday when it dawned on me: This really isn't that bad. Or hard. It's neither, actually. The most difficult part about the Wiki, in fact, is remembering to do it. But other than that, it has not destroyed my soul in any manner. I enjoy having the power to correct other's entries and figure out how to provide the most "accurate" definition. Actually using the Wiki has made me more skeptical about the information I search for on Wikipedia. After all, if hacks like me can post on there, who knows what other information people are posting.

I think a particularly interesting assignment would be for Dr. Reid to ask us to define one term -- the same term -- in our personal blogs. The variance, I'm sure, would be great. Such an exercise would show just how difficult it is to have one authoritative source of information. Wikipedia may not have the final say, but with the evolution of history and science, neither do the academics.

NeoVox Articles

The NeoVox assignment was probably one the most obvious examples of "writing in cyberspace" (besides the blogs). I really enjoyed the informality of the articles. We were not restricted to any particular topic besides that our article should pertain in some way to what we've been discussing. There was a good variety in the topics that my classmates chose to write about, and an interesting mix between the technical and the personal.

While I would have liked more feedback on my pieces, I recognize that much of the class is already working hard to stay on task with other online postings. I'm also quite used to the workshop atmosphere of other writing classes, in which everyone is graded on how they respond to their peers. In a way, then, this makes the more informal workshop relaxing -- we can make comments without feeling that we need to overhaul the piece or make up things to correct.

I'm a fan of the "magazine style" of writing -- information mixed with a bit of narrative and perhaps some humor, too. Overall, I'd say that this assignment nicely complemented our other tasks. It's helped me try to synthesize what I feel to be two major questions of the class:

1) What is the meaning of these technological changes on society?

2) How do we adapt and benefit from them to move forward?

Final Podcast

Rachel and I convened in G-17, as always, for our final podcast. We've come quite a long way from that first experience. Instead of plotting what we plan to discuss beforehand, one person starts with a statement and the rest of the podcast follows from there. However, we've never scripted our recordings, and I feel that's important; spontaneity is interesting and can actually allow us to come up with connections that we hadn't thought of previously.

The first podcast took several days. We began with a lunch session of planning topics to discuss. Then we had other sessions of figuring out GarageBand, doing the podcast, editing and checking over it, and finally uploading it (and praying that it would safely find a home on iTunesU). Our final podcast took perhaps half of an hour. We said what we wanted to say, cut out the awkward pauses at the beginning and end of the sound clips, added some sweet jingles, and that was that.

The podcasts should definitely remain in this class. Honestly, I enjoyed that we were essentially free to talk about what we wished. I think that Rachel and I did a good job of staying "on task" in relating our discussions to the class. The time limit was the most difficult aspect; we found that we had a good deal to say, but had to limit it. However, the time limit steers the recording from meandering too far. As some classmates have suggested on the course blog, creating a system in which the class has to listen and provide feedback to the podcasts would be useful. This would ensure that everyone listens to each other, and allow people to learn from other's opinions of their podcast.

Is there any sort of career that utilizes podcasting? While I can't exactly imagine corporations throwing money at me so I can produce their podcasts, it sure is fun to do.

Home and Work

If the line between work and play has become blurred, so has the line between work and home. Although Dibbell states that the downfall of his marriage was not due to his work with Play Money, he mentions how some especially hardcore players have ruined their relationships by exerting so much effort into their games. One would imagine that many of these players are using computers in their homes. The wife (speaking generally -- I'm sure there are exceptions) can physically see her husband. She can glance over his shoulder and look at what he's doing. But this "home within a home" for a husband is a world that she cannot enter. It's easy to imagine her frustrations. Her husband is tangible, yet gone into a virtual realm that she cannot access.

Traditionally, workers can "leave business at the office" and return to home as a place of refuge and relaxation. Now the computer screen glows as a constant reminder that "there is always more to be done." For those who work at home, the only time they close business is when they turn off the computer and walk away from the desk. Yet instead of a commute, their office is a button and a few keystrokes away.

Dibbell enjoys working out of various Flying J rest stops, taking the time to pause and look around him in his quest to meet his April goal. And indeed, computer-based work does allow for mobility. Yet one can easily imagine family vacations interrupted by clacking on the keyboard, "just to read this one e-mail really quickly." I took an online class over the summer and brought my laptop with me on a family vacation to Colorado. While I wouldn't say that having the computer with me detracted from the "vacation" experience, I felt obligated to do work and communicate with friends from home (not that I DIDN'T want to communicate with them, mind you) just because I had access to do so.

My future career will involve writing in some (hopefully great) capacity. But if the majority of my work took place at home, I wonder if I'd begin to resent people who traveled to and from their jobs. I'd want the change in scenery. The people surrounding me. The ability to say, "I am DONE for the day!" and go...home.

Question for Dr. Reid!!!

If you can help me with this burning question, that would be glorious. It relates to another class -- Evolution of Writing -- but it's still "writing in cyberspace," no? :-)

I am currently making a webpage on Dreamweaver, and I want to insert a movie clip from YouTube and have it play right there on the page. I have seen you do this on several occasions. I embedded the link that YouTube gave, and a box shows up, but the box turns white when I press Play. I think I'm supposed to upload some applications and the like, but my experimenting has so far proved fruitless. So therefore...what do I do?

THANK YOU!

As the semester winds down,

I realize that one of the positive aspects of this class is that our accomplishments are posted on the Internet, easily accessible and difficult to lose. We can see who has been posting and who hasn't, listen to the podcasts, watch the movies, and perhaps read the articles if more get published on NeoVox. As someone who is very intent on getting all assignments finished at the proper time, I like being able to keep track of what I've done. (Besides, of course, in the cases where I couldn't find my Wiki entries, but I'm trying to be strong.)

Online education encourages self-discipline. The student has to remember to check the particular pages and complete the necessary tasks without verbal reminders in class. This class has also created a sort of bond for those of us who have found each other in person and asked, "You're in Cyberspace, right?" Heck, I've talked to some of these people more than I've communicated with classmates in face-to-face classes, like History 101.

On that note of self-discipline, the amount of fresh topics on the course blog has dwindled. I'm wondering if it's from a lack of posting, or perhaps a lack of new things to share. Although it's not my group's week to post, I followed Philip's lead and posted anyway. I was really intrigued by Play Money and may write my NeoVox article based on the conundrum of work and play.

Let's keep truckin'!