Virtual Contribution

Here is the link to the full text version of this years first class essay for Hon Engl 105-07. To view in word once you click on the hyper-link go to file then download as then click word. If you do any changes please use a different font color.

Hyperlink

While in my English class today I learned how to do a hyper link. I found an article that I think will relate to my paper very well. Here is the link

Musing

In this world of constant acceleration we people fail to always review the results of our hard work. On the rare occasion that we do we often realize all that we have accomplished and feel much more satisfied following the reflection. I may not be able to speak for everyone but I can see how my internet habits and perhaps even my critical thinking has changed thanks to the work I have put into this Honors English class thus far.

I began this class extremely worried about how I would do and if I would even learn anything I didn't already know. Thankfully my anxiety has settled for I have learned much about this new age of writing. From the readings and the required blog post I have learned to better adapt to the type of literacy that is required now days. For one example I am now able to process virtual readings better; instead of just reading the words I now read between the lines just like I would do in a book. Another is that I have been able to write down my thoughts into a nice steady flow of words because I have read so many articles from the internet their writing techniques have been transposed into mine now.

I guess though what I am really trying to say through all these words is that I have matured as a reader and writer thanks to the analysis of the readings such as the ones from Sullivan, Hedges, and Thompson. I think the reason for this is because they brought several questions to my attention. The major ones being: "How is literacy defined?"; “What is the internet doing to us?"; "How could this change effect us?" I still have no answer to these questions but I do have a better understanding of how the internet may negatively or positively affect me. I believe this makes me more aware and less likely to suffer negative effects and continue to use the internet and everything it has to offer to my advantage.

Finally: Somebody Gets It.

In the most unfortunate event I was required to read Chris Hedges's literary piece, "Bad Day for Newsrooms-and Democracy." I am pleased to say, though, it was not nearly the rant that his other article, "America the Illiterate", was. I do find it disturbing if there really are 6,000 journalists losing their jobs but I cannot be certain to say that because he did not provide a source for this statistic. Once again I hardly stood beside Hedges's views because I believe the corrupt news reports began with the newspapers themselves and have since then traveled to all other news sources if that corruption really has occurred. Sadly I do not have many thoughts on this article simply because it was very short and did not cover very much at all and I would prefer to discuss the other author I read.

Clive Thompson was this new author in a piece called, "Clive Thompson on New Literacy." I loved this piece because it was short, simple, and right to the point. He also had valid evidence to support his thoughts unlike Hedges. This form of writing is very opposite to Hedges's and this piece is in direct conflict with the first piece of Hedges's that I had read. As for the second work its’ topic does not directly relate to Clive Thompson's piece very well.

Thompson finally is the one who gets it. We (meaning my generation) do use slang and do not always write with proper English when we are texting or using the internet but we sure do write a lot in whatever form we choose and we read tons. I am slightly afraid to say this considering this blog will be put on the wall of forever, that is the internet, but I have what I think to be this weird habit. Whenever there are signs or anything with writing I have to read it (that is if I am not already occupied). If other people share this habit with me that in itself just proves Thompson is right and Hedges is wrong because that means literacy is ingrained into the vast majority of us.

I can strongly prove as evidence to Thompson’s reports because I myself carry most all of the habits mentioned in his piece, “Clive Thompson on New Literacy.”

The All-American Hobbes

I try to not judge a piece until I have read through it completely but I could not help myself in Chris Hedges's article, "America the Illiterate." I thought his views were very radical. I am not to say they are completely in accurate but they were extreme. This article really did feel like a rant instead of an argument or statement. As I read I felt there was very little support to what he said. The statistics he gave without citing a source in particular. He also did not seem to have much of an audience that he was writing for because he never incorporated the audience unless you count him basically calling the general American population superficial and illiterate. This in itself is contradictory because the illiterate American population would not be able to read his article. As a side note I did enjoy the picture he supplied that had nothing to do with his article which may have purposely been placed there.

In the building of skeptics Nicholas Carr's room (with his article, "Is Google Making Us Stupid?") would be on the middle floor and be the sunroom. Chris Hedges's room would be the basement with broken lights. Although both authors have the same general topic of the lack of literacy Carr toys with the question of how much we American's have been harmfully effected by technology possibly answering with a 'yes, no, maybe so' where as Hedges takes the question and runs with it stating that the general population has become ignorant, indulging, and illiterate. Hedges also claims that in the past speeches giving by political icons they were given at higher comprehension levels (i.e. grade 10 or 11 and etc). Perhaps Hedges is correct that Abraham Lincoln may have given a speech for grade level 12 but we must take into consideration what percent of the population actually understood the speech verses the percent that understands at a lower graded speech.

Perhaps Hedges unsupported statistic that nearly one third of the American population is correct but what is important is that our society is moving forward because I can guarantee that statistic has lowered significantly since the establishment of America.


Call me a bit of a Locke but I fail to believe Americans are as stupidly ignorant as Mr. Hedges would like us to believe.

Ten Percent

Nicholas Carr writes an article titled, "Is Google Making Us Stupid?" I read this in the most unbiased way possible for me so that I would not make any judgments about his thoughts until I had read the work through completely. After this I made my judgment and for the most I disagreed with his views and I think the generation gap we share is the cause of this. Non-surprisingly I Google searched what year he was born and with a consensus of several sites I concluded 1959 had to the correct. Finding this out did not surprise me at all considering his attitude toward Google and the web in general. One clue that set me off he must be older was him saying the "Net" for the internet for me that is old fashioned and it's just referred to as the "web". Another thing was how he said his reading patterns have been affected through the years with the pros and cons the internet has created.

In my opinion it is safe to say that he does think Google along with the web as a whole is making us stupid because he thinks we store information gained through the web in our short-term memory and that we are less able to read deeply and thus think deeply. I actually can see from his point of view but I have to argue with it because I feel opposite about it. Using myself as an example I have grown up with the internet since it becoming big unlike him with it starting out. Because of this I think I have developed a different way of thinking than he has because I have always had the convenience of the internet. For me I have learned how to incorporate deep thought with the use of the internet. This may be the result of my ability and perhaps my generations’ ability to multi-task with great efficiency. Since my adulthood has begun I have learned a few things about my thinking habits and those of others too. For me I actually cannot concentrate unless there is noise around me. In fact as I sat in my dorm room reading the article and then commenting on it via this blog I had been listening music this entire time. This sort of example can be identified with any group of students.

I cannot really explain why I have to be doing something else with my brain (i.e. listening to music while doing homework) but I do know that this has not made it harder for me to store information in my long-term memory nor do I think I have gained less knowledge. On the whole I think this way of functioning is a new step for human brain development. Now I do not want to say this with absolute declaration but I propose that over a long period of time the interaction of humans with the internet may initiate a higher percent of brain usage than the current ten percent because we humans may learn how to process and categorize information like that of a computer thus being able to comprehend and store greater amounts of information.

Monkey See; Monkey Do

Harris has a very interesting view point on writing. The irony of that previous sentence is eminent. I say this because I have incorporated his words into my own already. What I am specifically referring to is 'interesting'. He says that there are three main referrals when the word interest comes into play. I too am using all three "definitions" with this term. I find this to be the best way to describe his writing because he himself incorporates all his meanings of interest into his work. This along with the book format is key to getting his thoughts across the page and into his readers' own thoughts simply by practicing what he is preaching

In his work Harris also places an emphasis on the tediousness of writing this was originally very contradictory to my view on blogging. When it comes to the blog I see it as a form of saying exactly what you think as you think it and rushing to finish it, as I am now in hopes to meet my time requirement. This was until I made the connection from Harris's work to blogging. He says it’s a way of forwarding thoughts by incorporating others' thoughts too. This directly relates to the internet for two reasons: One by using the word 'forwarding' as would be used in email and two because the application of that idea into non-virtual text. Although there are various differences in the since of virtual and non-virtual text they all have a certain degree of tediousness and other textual incorporations. In non-virtual text it may take weeks, months, or year to get a piece published because of rigorous research and other textual incorporations. In blogging publication is immediate and does not allow for rigorous research incorporation but it does allow for hyperlinks allowing for the reader to directly look at your source just by a click of a button. This in itself is what makes the difference of writing mediums equal because one my not have what the other haves but they do both have different forms completing the same goal.