Emerging Technology Poster and Class Wrap Up

The emerging technology posters were great! It was neat to see all of the different and emerging technologies that are on the market and some that are still being developed. Overall, the technologies represented were really fascinating, and an even better part of the poster presentations was the twitter comments. It was neat to look and see the twitter remarks for each technology that was being presented.

For my personal technology, I will be showing the da Vinci. This is a robot that helps surgeons perform surgeries. It has only been implemented in several hospitals but there are people who have already had surgeries does and who have positive testimonies about their experiences. The da Vinci help doctors be more precise and exact. It is an amazing robot and it is awesome to think of the effects it could have on surgery in the future.

Red Balloon Challenge

#mitredballoon MIT Red Balloon Challenge : http://balloon.mit.edu/harrisnr/

Check out this competition... Win prize money, support charity, and have fun helping MIT track these red balloons that are all over the U.S.

Residence Hall's Got Talent

I am an RA for one of the Residence Halls on Purdue's campus. Currently I am on a team with 5 other indivuduals and we are working to put on a campus wide program called Residence Halls Got Talent. We are starting from the ground up, as this has never been done before, and we are realizing how technology is playing a huge part in making this big idea a reality. We are using BTV, twitter, facebook, emails, etc. to keep our volunteers and participants up to date and to get the word out. It is really amazing to see this transformation happening!

Facebook Family

This Thanksgiving I drove to meet my family in Northern Indiana. While I was there, visiting with my family, the topic of facebook came up. These days my parents, aunts, uncles, and cousins all have Facebook and even my grandparents are familar with it. As we chatted, several of my relatives brought up information that they had seen on Facebook and wanted to know about friends, relationships, class and my socail life. It was cool that they can keep up with me from my Facebook infomation and updates. It makes this long distance family even closer!

Greeting Cards

I have come from a family where you hand write cards and make things a personal as they can be. My mom had tupperware bins that were labeled with different occasions, for example "birthday," "anniversary," "congratulations," etc. I have been writing cards to people since I was little and I think that the world could use a little more encouragement, thanks, and acknowledgment through greeting cards. However, I am aware of things like e-cards and such. But, in my opinion, it takes away the personalization of a hand written greeting card. For Christmas, my family and I send out Christmas cards to keep people up to date on what our family is doing and how life has been treating us. One of my friends families has a blog that they invite people to and they decorate the page for Christmas and tell the same kind of family information that would be in my families mailed card. I guess that this would allow people to be interactive with you and the information that they read in your Christmas card/blog but I just can't get over the fact that handwritten-personal cards are being replaced with internet greetings.

Online Church

Sunday, at my church, the pastor talked about online church. He said as technologies advance and people spend more and more time online, there has been a rise in online churches. My understanding is that people can simply log on to the web, pull up a live cast of the pastor, wherever he maybe. They have their worship and lesson all online, while they choose to be where they may. People logged on to the same church can chat and fellowship. If you think about it, you could be "sitting next to/socializing" with someone in a different state. In my personal opinion, aside from individuals that my have specific reasons to be shut in, online churches are a horrible idea! The idea of church is to build a church body, to fellowship, encourage each other, and learn about God. Church was never meant to be simplified or watered down. Being too lazy to get out of bed on a Sunday morning, is not justified by logging on to the web and engaging in online church. If you'd like to read more about opinions surrounding the online church...check out this link.

http://online-churches.net/

Twitter Love

Today in Com 435 Rec, we explored twitter! To be honest, I don't really like it. I know that this is probably because I am not too familiar with it yet. But, there are so many different facets and options. I believe that options are a quatilty that help define a great technology. But, I have not have enough practice. Right now I am in the lost and confused faze. Time will tell if I am capable of growing a love for twitter or if our relationship fizzles out.

My dad's birthday

So, in the past, I talked about dad who is not such a 'computer savvy daddy' but in an effort to broaden his horizons, I am creating a facebook account for him for his birthday! My mom has facebook and so do all of my brothers and I. It would be a great way for him to keep intouch. Since he is finally comfortable with his e-mails, it is time to move up! I am going to wrap a box and inside will be a piece of paper with a user name and passord! I can't wait!

Com 435: Shark Tank Episode

Today in class we watched part of an episode for a new show, that has been out for 7 weeks now, called Shark Tank. This new show gives entrepreneurs the opportunity to bring their big ideas before wealthy individuals who may be interested in supporting them financially and investing in their work. On this particular show, a Purdue student, who participated in the Soy Bean Contest, was asking for 125K to support his Soy-dough (a gluten free play dough). I was really impressed by Sawyer's (inventor) negotiation skills. At first glance, he seems like a regular guy and his pitch wasn't that powerful. However, he had the facts to back him up and his hard work had paid off. He negotiated with these wealthy individuals. Ultimately, he walked away with 300K and 3 supporters. He had to give up 51% of is company...but I believe that he will go very far. How exciting to see his success!

Gamers

Today in Rec we looked at computer games. There are different types of games; such as games for recreation, games with a message, and serious (educational) games. I understand the severity of games becuase my brother once played his X box for so many hours that he passed out and had to go to the emergency room. Games have the power and ability to take control of people. They can be fun and relieve stress but they can also control people.

Exam Reflection

As I reflect on the Exam, it is clear that we have covered a vast amount of information through the first half of this semester. Some of the more interesting topics, for me, were the history and future of the internet and digital literacy. Over the years, from the creation to the internet to where it is today, there has been an incredible change in how we synthesize, evaluate, and use information today. Digital literacy has become a more critical skill as history has taken place and developed the technologies we have today. I am overwhelmed by the thought that the information I know about technologies and the world wide web will be far behind what my children learn someday.

Computer Savy Daddy

In my blog today, I want to take a second and think about my dear dad. He is a great guy, but when it comes to compters...he certainly shows his age. He just got an email accout, so this may put in perspective his abilities and where he stands with the newest technologies. There was a time when he thought his computer had a 'virus.' But, in reality, he was not double clicking on his icons and therefore they wouldn't pull up. I have three brothers and the four of us are working on him, a little at a time, to bring him out of the dark age and into this technological haven. Now, I must confess, I am not amazing with technologies. However, becuase I have grown up in this generation, I am much more familar and comfortalbe using them. I can see that in my generation and peer group, it is a necesity to be digitally literate.

Life without facebook

Today I was thinking about how life would be without facebook. To be honest, I don't really like the idea. I have over 1000 friends, and even though I am not close with them all, I get to keep intouch and see feeds about lots of lives. It is not only exciting but I feel well informed as a result of the easy to access information. Facebook has been such a valueable asset to my life as I have made friends all over the world (either through travel or ministry) and have the privdlege to keep up with them.

Wiki's

After our class on Monday, I was thinking more about a Wiki. This is a new technology for me and I was interested to see what it could do. I found an interesting and helpful video called, Wiki's in Plain English. It is entertaining and educational. I enjoyed it...checkout this video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dnL00TdmLY

Rec. Discussion from (Donath 1999)--Brad Paisley's Song:Online

As I was reading the Identity and deception in the virtual community, article, by Judith S. Donath, I was reminded of a popular country song. This song is titled 'Online' by Brad Paisley. This article reminded me of this song because both emphasize the vital role that identity plays in virtual communication. In online communication, (though not fool proof) it is easier to trick others and be tricked because there aren't as many cues to verify things such as gender, socio-economic status, beauty, etc. As you read through the lyrics of this song, you will be not only entertained by the humor that is expressed in this individuals virtual persona, but you will see a direct correlation between the character in this song and how he expresses his conventional signals compared to his actual assessment signals.

"Online"

I work down at the pizza pit
And I drive an old Hyundai
I still live with my mom and dad
I'm 5'3 and overweight

I'm a Sci-Fi fanatic
Mild asthmatic
Never been to 2nd base
But there's a whole nother me
That you need to see
Go check out MySpace

'cause online I'm out in Hollywood
I'm 6'5 and I look damn good
I drive a Maserati
I'm a black belt in Karate
And I love a good glass of wine

It turns girls on that I'm mysterious
I tell 'em I don't want nothing serious
'cause even on a slow day I can have a three way
Chat with two women at one time

I'm so much cooler online
So much cooler online

I get home, I kiss my mom
And she fixes me a snack
I head down to my basement bedroom
And fire up my Mac

In real life the only time I
Ever even been to L.A.
Was when I got the chance with the marching band
To play tuba in the Rose Parade.

Online I live in Malibu
I posed for Calvin Kline, I've been in GQ
I'm single and I'm rich
And I got a set of six pack abs that'll blow your mind

It turns girls on that I'm mysterious
I tell 'em I don't want nothing serious
'cause even on a slow day I can have a three way
Chat with two women at one time

I'm so much cooler online
Yeah I'm cooler online

When you got my kinda stats, it's hard to get a date
Let alone a real girlfriend
But I grow another foot
And I lose a bunch of weight everytime I log in

Online I'm out in Hollywood
I'm 6'5 and I look damn good
Even on a slow day, I can have a three way
Chat with two women at one time

I'm so much cooler online
Yeah I'm cooler online
I'm so much cooler online
Yeah I'm cooler online

http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/bradpaisley/online.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7GcVnhNjWV0

Com 435

This morning i went to com 435 at 8:30am

Nikki Harris Com 435 Blog

Today I am in Com 435 and posting my first blog. Blogs are user friendly but a new technolgy for me.