Welcome to the "Electronic Campus"

Am I the only one that sees the irony in Northwest being the Electronic Campus, yet the internet being extremely slow? Not really. For a campus that prides itself on being "Green" and "Environmentally Friendly" by going online, the internet sure does suck. You can tell that it sucks when you're sitting in a class ready to turn a project in, yet you can't. This wouldn't be so bad, except for the fact that this is continuously the problem. Maybe it's just the building we're in. Maybe it's the fact that this year's Freshman class is the largest that has ever come through and the internet didn't change at all. Anyways, this has been a crazy week and even though it was a great class, I think I'm ready for this semester to be over. I want to have "Me-Time" again....

Last Project!

It's almost hard to believe that this semester is almost over. I've actually been thinking about my portfolio for a while now. I know that I'm going to have to present my speech in a particular way, just because it is a speech. Recently, I've been toying with the idea of putting my brochure in the portfolio as well, though I'm not quite sure how that will work considering the different media types I used. I have a general idea about how I want to put my project together. I know that all three of my artifacts have been aimed towards mostly students. The thing that is going to tie them together the most is my Programmed Oral Interpretation since I'm using brief sections from both my Prezi and my brochure in the speech itself. I like that all of my projects are connected through the audience and my POI. It's all about change. What is changing, why it's changing and confirming that it is, in fact, changing. I'm really excited for presentations.

Here we go again...

Two down, one to go. Actually, I'm really excited about this upcoming project. It is going to be the easiest, and the hardest for me to put together. Easiest because I know how to put together a really inspiring, awesome competition POI, but the hardest because now I have to come up with all of it on my own. To make matters worse I also have to break the habit of cutting my pieces two days before I have to perform, which is what I typically do for competitions. The good news is, since it's for class instead of competition, I don't have to be as precise, or have it memorized as completely. I mean, I will have it mostly memorized, but a competition ready piece has to be absolutely perfect.
I am really excited for this project because I knew that I was going to do it all semester. I'm also really excited to show the class what Forensics is all about. I know that a few people have a general idea, but I kind of want to wow them. I just have to stay on top of things and keep focused on the task at hand. It shouldn't be to hard, right?

Breakdown of Communication in the Communication Department

I'm not going to lie, this was supposed to be the best Spring Break ever. Emphasis on the supposed. Wednesday I was supposed to get on a flight, with some of my best friends, to Portland, OR to compete at my first ever Pi Kappa Delta nationals tournament. Unfourtunately, the day before we are scheduled to take off, the coach calls me and tells me I can't go. Not because of grades, not because I'm not good enough. No, because he can't tell the two Samanthas in my class apart and put my best friend's last name on my ticket. So here I am... Sitting at home after working my butt off for two days so I could eat while we were on this trip that I'd been waiting for all year. Yeah, life and reality have a way of rearing their ugly heads sometimes.

Though all is not lost, the money I made over the weekend went to something that I had been wanting for a really long time, a 32GB iPod Touch. It's not as great as going to Portland, but an iPod is more useful and will last me longer than that trip. Even if I did miss out on some very valuable experience and networking opportunities. I had planned to introduce myself to the coaches of the schools I plan on applying to next year, but now I'll have to find another way.

Let's Talk About Show and Tell!

So I originally thought about presenting my Prezi to the class, but after thinking it over, and finding out that I would need to present it a second time, I've decided to leave all my presenting for the last date. I feel like this would be the best way to go about it considering the types of all of my projects. There is a slight disadvantage of not presenting this time because I think it couldn’t hurt my project any.

However, the advantage of not presenting this time around is that the class won't have to sit through my Prezi twice. I know that my portfolio presentation will be fairly long though. My first artifact could use a little presentation, my second can stand fairly on it's own, but my third artifact has to be presented to the class. There is no way around it since my third artifact is a speech.

I may end up slightly adapting my Prezi to make it a little easier to present since I hate it when people read directly from a screen and I want the class to stay involved. To present my second artifact I'm going to have to get creative as a brochure is one of those projects that it's hard to actually present. I think, I'll introduce the brochure, explain what it is about, where I would put it and the purpose of the brochure, but actually do most of the presenting through my third artifact.

At this point, I think my plan fits my artifacts very well and I am definitely looking forward to completing artifacts two and three and then presenting them all.

One Down, Two to Go

If I thought coming up with an idea for Artifact 1 was difficult, I hit a brick wall for Artifact #2. I know that I want something with a little more writing than my Prezi, but not as much straight writing as my third artifact. I really liked the idea of a brochure, but I'm not exactly sure what information I would want to put on that. I think I'm going to take a more scientific approach to this artifact. I want to look at how the scientists are saying that social networking is affecting our society. I think the brochure would be a great way to break up the larger chunks of information into readable and interesting sections. I'm leaning more towards creating more than one brochure. Possibly one aimed at school counselors and one aimed at their students. The one aimed towards counselors could have more of a technical feel because the counselors would be more education in that specific field. The second brochure will need to be interesting enough to engage a high school teenager and inform them of what social networking is doing. I’ve thought about briefly mentioning the fairly new idea of being addicted to the internet or video games as well as the new type of arthritis that is nicknamed Gamer’s Thumb. Doing this would inform the student that the decisions they are making now could ultimately affect the way they live in the future. The goal of the brochures won’t be to encourage students to delete their Facebook accounts, but more to monitor how much they are using these services.

The Library is A-Calling...

The library visit on Thursday was very interesting. I've always been a big fan of Academic OneFile because my Comp I teacher pushed the site, but I could never really find what I wanted with EbscoHost. It's a little ridiculous, I know, considering I've had access to EbscoHost since I started research projects in 4th grade, but the search engine always seemed too complicated for me to sit and figure out. The librarian did a good job of explaining the site, and making it seem a little more accessible. I was a little frustrated at the fact that I couldn't find a way to put the books I wanted on my eReader. It's a little hard to read a computer while your in a van with no power outlets, but it's much easier to read my little eReader.

Before I made it to the Library today I was a little unfocused in my research. I had an idea for a broad topic, but was sort of floundering to narrow it down. But between the library meeting and my discussion with Ms. Lieske, I believe I've narrowed my search down to specifically social networking, and how it has, and will continue, to change our lives. I'm in an entirely different place now than when we went to the Library on Thursday, and I feel more focused. 

Free Write

What struggles are you encountering so far with your major writing assignment? what have you done to try to overcome these struggles? Is there anything yet on the horizon (something you have not yet had to deal with) that you are worried about in regards to this project?

The biggest obstacle that I've face so far is lack of motivation and a lack of time. Of course, I will not let these get to me further into the week and into the month. Right now, I've been focusing on what needs to be done, when it needs to be done. So far, this hasn't been a problem, but I fear it soon will become one. What I really need to do is sit down, away from distractions and really dive into this project head  first. I don't see finding sources as a problem, so much as figuring out ways to accurately represent these sources in my writing. I also want to find a way to present my information in a creative manner. I would hate to bore my fellow classmates with something so plain as a simple research paper, even though I know that one of my artifacts will probably come to that. My biggest fear about this project, is that I am going to feel like I have it under control, put it on the back burner in my mind, and let the due date sneak up on me. I've had that happen in the past, and I really feel like this would not be a great time to let history repeat itself. Maybe, the way to amend this problem is to schedule time out to just work on my artifacts. I want to give my undivided attention to this project, so that I can assure that the result is the best I can produce.

Reflecting on the Message

Reading Dr. King's letter was a very moving experience. His words flowed in a way that sounded intelligent and eloquent without the degrading tone normally accompanied in such letters. I felt like if he and I were having a conversation, he would be very calm in explaining his opinions and the reasons behind them. I know that the time period that this letter was written was in the middle of the rising action in the Civil Rights movement. Many more battles were fought, not with guns or violence, but with boycotts, marches and words. What Dr. King did was start a revolution towards equality. One that some people say we're still fighting.

Ideally, I would like to make a major contribution through my research. Though, the question of how to define major still exists. At this stage, if I can get my group to just think about technology and the way their lives are changed because of it I would consider myself to have made a contribution. Many people have begun to argue the effects of technology on today's generation, some claiming that technology is making us stupid, lazy and with dependent, while still others view technology as a way for our generation to grow and expand in a way that theirs never could. The subject is something that is fairly new, yet still old enough to have quite a bit of relevant information. For instance, psychologists are looking into the fairly new phenomenon of Internet addiction. Of course, my research will focus more on how society is changing. I mostly hope that my generation will begin to see the way that technology really does impact us everyday.

Blog #1: The Idea

   A few months ago I went through the process of researching for a POI (Programmed Oral Interpretation) for Forensics. My topic started as Music and how Music effects the world, but as I continued the research process my topic evolved slowly to Popular Culture and finally to Social Networking. Along the way I stumbled upon some interesting pieces of information involving how Technology has changed the way we live.

   I know that Technology is kind of a redundant topic, but I feel like I bring new perspective since most of the things I've read are from the point of view of an older generation; one that didn't necessarily grow up with the same technology or ideals of someone in my generation. I was interested in this topic because technology is a major part of our lives, especially since we live on an electronic campus. I'd like to examine the Pros and Cons of technology.

   I’m debating over which Artifacts I’d like to use over the semester, but one that I keep toying with is writing a POI. Normally a POI is cut together from many different sources that share are underlying theme. Actually, a POI is a compilation of multiple sections from at least two of the three categories of forensics: Prose, Poetry and Drama. However, a competitor isn’t allowed to write a section for their Prose. My idea would be to put a POI together from my own work. I think that it would be an interesting way to present my topic, and one that very few people in the class would be accustomed too. Other than that, I was thinking about doing something very conventional such as a simple research paper or possibly a persuasive speech. I want to bring some creativity to this project, but I understand that limits may prevent this.

'Till next time,

Samantha Compton