Thursday, December 11, 2008

requested YOUTUBE login info

I copied and pasted the original post below:

-adrienne



I made us a class wide email account at gmail. This gmail is the email i used to set up our youtube page. Here is the info...


Gmail:

Email: politics.internet@gmail.com
Password: blogging
Security question: What is the name of your Professor?
Answer: Jodi Dean

Youtube:
Account name: JodisClass
Password: blogging363

Class Presentations: Day 2

I enjoyed the presentations for the most part today. It was unfortunate that computer was not working right away. It really took away from time we could have asked the presenters questions or provide them with any comments. Also, it made the transition from one project to another rushed.

I enjoyed Brandon and John’s presentation about surveillance on the campus of HWS. The video was very well put together from the music and editing options. The beginning and end were pretty neat. I liked how the films you used presented your project and ended the project. The interviews with students seemed professional and serious. It was good to get a vocal viewpoint of people about how safe they feel on campus. I also thought it was great how you went to the security department and got an interview with Bob Cowles. The interview was interesting, I felt like he may have contradicted himself. Regardless, like Jodi’s Favorite Group, the interviews were very beneficial and really gave the presentation a real and serious feeling. It was evident that Brandon and John put in a lot of time, between filming and gathering information.

Jodi’s Favorite Group, minus myself, plus Anna did a good job and I thought their information was interesting. I thought the purpose of the project was appealing as well. The video the group put together had good aspects and bad aspects I felt. For example, the scenes that had another member in the background seemed immature and it was a joke. That took away from the serious aspect of the film. The topic you discussed is important and controversial. Why take away from that with unneeded humor? I can’t help but think of Max’s presentation. His topic was serious yet had mysterious implications. His voice in the film fit the concept and helped strengthen the intention of his topic. I also thought that the interview within the group could have been more serious. It seemed that it was unplanned. I really like the fact that you did personal interview. It is always nice to hear a filmmakers view on the subject. Also, it was very distracting to hear the laughing from the group while the presentation was going on. It distracted me from watching the movie and reading the screen.

On a positive note, it was really interesting to have an interview with someone from the Human Resources Dept. This really helped strengthen your focus on the project. I also liked the statistics you used from polling members of the Hobart and William Smith Community. I think you brought awareness to the community at the Colleges and you revealed some pretty interesting information about the topic of security at school. Your whole group put in a lot of effort to produce the video. It was obvious you spent time to gather information and draw your conclusions.

I had mixed feelings about Yanina, Jessica and Dave’s project. At times, the movie was overwhelming. There was a lot going on and it was hard to read (may have been the screen in the room). It also had a lot going on at all times between images, content and music. Don’t get me wrong; I commend your editing skills. It was impressive, however I was overwhelmed because I felt like the information could have been presented in a more clear and concise way. At points, the amount of editing and features took away from your focus. I knew you were talking about the millennial generation and I realized towards the end how the mash up and presidential election points are influenced by the millennial generation. Or, I think I did? It was clear that you put in a lot of work and your effort should not go overlooked. It was a very intellectual project that had a strong viewpoint.

One thing that bothered me was that some people did not present. More so, some people did not even show up to class at all this week. I apologize if there is a personal reason. However, if you did a project, I felt like you should have at least told the class what you did. I know my group worked hard and it was pretty obvious other groups did as well, so to me, it was disrespectful that some students did not even stand up and say what they did. Have pride in your project. You could have been as simple and straightforward as Corey. He did not have a presentation planned; yet he talked about what he did and his goals. I thought it was great and I got to hear about what he was working on all semester.

I was hoping more people would comment on presentations. I think they are a pretty important part of our class. I know some people probably will not like my comments. I am not saying that anyone’s presentation was bad. I think everyone should be applauded for the effort. I respect everyone’s efforts and think their presentations turned out well. I am not a film critic, nor am I the most talented presenter, so do not take my opinion or view seriously. I am simply just saying what I thought. Plus, I thought that was the point of our class blogs. I know some people will disagree with me. That is fine. I know this may influence your peer evaluation. I understand. That is a risk I will take…ah!

Sam

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Class Presentations: Day 1

I enjoyed the presentations in class yesterday. I especially enjoyed the first groups. Man, they were great. Right?!

I thought Max's presentation was very interesting. I learned a lot. At first, I had no idea what he was talking about. The definitions and terms he had on one of his first slides baffled me. However, as the presentation progressed I really began to understand what he was talking about. First, I thought Max did a great job explaining the definitions of terms he was using. I am not very tech savvy, so it was something new to me to learn about how people can hack or work there way around a system to watch DVD's, listen to CD's and play video games for free. At times, Max presented a lot of information that took mw a few minutes to comprehend. Again, the terminology was confusing to me, but that may just be because it is new.

I liked how he incorporated case studies. This brought a different component to the presentation that gave his information a lot of credibility. Also the examples of how a person can get around a secure system was interesting. Max defiantly knows how to break the system. Be careful!

It was clear Max did a lot of work on his project. His presentation technique was different, but I liked it. When Max explained why he decided to record his voice in the slide show, I could defiantly understand where he is coming from. I get nervous when I speak in front of a large group of people because I do mumble and talk to quickly. I thought that recording the voice added a certain feeling to the presentation. A feeling of mystery I guess. Overall, I really enjoyed his project and I learned a lot.

I thought Pat's presentation was very good as well. I was hoping someone would do a project on the Election. I thought Pat put in a lot of time to obtain the information and facts. It was nice to see some logistics about the election once it has ended.I feel like sometimes people do not take time to look at different statistics once the election ends. It was interesting to see the different numbers, whether it was how much money one candidate spent compared to the other. It is evident that Pat could have multiple arguments for why Obama won. He could pull information relating to specific numbers, the candidate's websites or their campaign policy. Pat had a laundry list of differences among the campaigns and many reasons why Obama pulled away with the victory. Pat had examples for nearly every aspect of each candidates campaign! I think having a strong argument with multiple examples really helped Pat produce a noteworthy project. I kept thinking he could not find more information to persuade the class about why Obama won, but he kept coming out with more! It was nice that Pat dissected the election like he did. I learned a great deal about each candidates campaign.

I thought Pat's presentation technique was strong. His PowerPoint displayed clear and accurate information. It was clean and easy to read. It was nice also because Pat rarely read right from the slides. He knew what to say. Overall, it was a strong presentation that presented great information.

Excited for Thursday.

Sam

Friday, December 5, 2008

HELL YEAH I'M AFRAID

I would like to respond to yesterdays class. According to Professor Dean we are afraid to take risks and we should do more exiting stuff in class. Apparently, this is the class to take risks and apparently we have done it before. We have been making PowerPoint presentations in 5 minutes and we have been making videos.

However I do not view this as a risk at all. Every time we have done something other than just talking, we have been told to do it by the Professor. Even in class (when the last group presented videos) it was after Professor Dean had told us that she expected more. I cannot remember one time where a student came up (in class) with a new way of presenting. We have been told to do those presentations EVERY time we have been doing it. We have never taken risks in this class and I am sorry, but I do not want to.

I do not want to take risks in this class because every time we do something other than a normal report of what the book says we get a (beep) load of critique. When we made a PowerPoint presentation we had done nothing right. Well, I am sorry but I cannot make a PowerPoint presentation that fast. We might be millennials but that does not mean we can do everything in 5 minutes. I understand that we cannot be cuddled every time we do something, you do not have to give us compliments. But you cannot blame us for never taking risks if the only option after that is getting bombarded with critique. I am afraid to take risks in this class, I AM PLAYING IT SAFE.

By
Merel van Helden

Thursday, December 4, 2008

Class 12.4.08

I liked that we went back into the same groups we were in last time we met as a class. I think that was important because the group could continue their thoughts from the previous class and continue their discussion. Our group worked on developing some bullet points from each chapter to discuss as a whole class. (They may be scattered because I was typing them as we went along.) Some of the important concepts and questions we discussed included the ideas about the most powerful components of the Internet and how did business interact with the Internet in the past when they first encountered it? Invisibility is one. We then discussed how corporations implement the Internet during this time period? We then moved on to talk about the way people acted at work or the way employees have gone about their work. Has it changed or stayed the same? Is the way a person should conduct himself or herself in the workplace embedded in human nature? We also discussed the importance of the Internet on businesses. Is the Internet a good influence? What ways can is it a bad influence? Another topic we talked about in our group focused on people’s view of their boss or another authoritative figure. A person’s voice is essential on the Internet because the Internet allows people to speak without interruption. Our group conversed of the issue of a person breaking free from the typical, the usual. The way a business works is tough and will suck you in, however if you can set yourself aside of the standard, you will succeed. We talked about making mistakes and learning from them. We thought about how do business leaders feel about this? The CTM talks about Fort Business. When a person enters the real world, there is a lot of interaction with outside resources, compared to a number of years ago when business leaders attempted to teach a new employee to stay within the realm of their own office. The importance of networking is huge. A business succeeds with networking.

When we broke from our individual groups into a class discussion, I was very surprised with Prof. Dean’s response to the group work. I guess I did not realize that she was expecting us to make a power point, a new set of thesis, etc. CTM talks about employees voicing their opinion and not being afraid of asking questions. I was experiencing those same thoughts and feelings in class. I was too afraid to say something because I did not want to say something dumb or irrelevant. That is something I need to work on because I do it a lot in other classes as well. I need to voice my opinion and not care about whether it is a dumb comment or not.

Moving on, I give Yanina a lot of credit for her response to the CTM reading. It was thoughtful and intriguing. She definitely helped stir more discussion and move the class in the right direction. I like how she thinks outside the box. It allows me, maybe others, to think differently about the subject as well, stirring other feelings and opinions, which lead to a prolonged discussion. I understand where Prof. Dean was coming from when she explained her reasoning about her unhappiness with our group work. We are in the last few weeks of class and we should have known better to make a better presentation. That is our faults. I apologize.

Excited for next week and final projects!

Sam

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Clue Train Thoughts

I have really enjoyed the book so far. Many statements and claims by the author’s have made me think more about life. I knew that the discussion about authoritative figures and employees would come up in class and I am glad it did. I was interested to hear what people thought on that topic. I am not sure how I stand on business firms wanting young people to think highly of them or having their firm being appealing to our generation. That whole discussion is interesting. I feel like some companies put in an intimating act and some companies do not. Regardless, any success a firm has depends heavily on communication. Communication is important in any line of work.

I thought the first chapter was very thought provoking. The advertising world is making people think they need things and the convenience of obtaining such materialistic things is easy. I believe that people’s hobbies are one way to initiate a conversation that may not occur otherwise. This is one way people can learn from one another and this spreads the knowledge of a hobby to one person and eventually they will tell someone else.

Chapter 2 was interesting. The Internet is a place that is so magnificent that it entices people into the cyber world. People become engrossed in what is on the Internet. Anyone can find something they like or enjoy. This shows how anyone can express his or her passion or feelings online. This is a gateway for others to join them and share their passion for something. I also thought the second chapter was interesting because the author made a claim that the Internet allows people to control their lives more efficiently. Since the Internet has the capability to hold so much information, someone at the cluck of a button can research what he or she would like and surely come up with what they are looking for. It allows people to become more knowledgeable and learn how to think and figure problems out.

Chapter 3 continued a discussion that was intriguing. I agree that silence is the death of anything. When something becomes dead, it is because there is no more discussion about it. Silence is the slow killer of many arguments or discussion. A person who does not do anything does not progress anywhere, whether it is in their work or social life. If you work hard, good things will happen and you will make progress. I believe you will take steps in the right direction.

I am excited to continue reading. After the first chapter, the author presented very upbeat, positive thoughts, which was nice. Sometimes you read books or articles and some author’s can be cynical. The first couple of chapters were great and they were helpful. I learned a lot about how the Internet began and how it works logistically. The focus on our age generation is also beneficial.

Sam

Class 12.2.

I really thought class today was helpful. I liked that we went right into group work after we read the Wall Street article. I thought the article was very interesting because it involved our generation and this stimulated a lot of people in different ways. The Wall Street article sparked a great discussion latter in the class. Before we get to that though, I think the group work was beneficial. I thought our group did a good job discussing the Clue Train author’s opinions about voice, authenticity and play and the post on Prof. Dean’s blog. We all thought that business needs rules to keep their employees in line. I personally think a business should implement rules because it will help the business run smoothly and efficiently. This helped move the discussion back to the Wall Street article and tie it together with the reading from class. In our group, Anna made very interesting remarks that she shared with the class about people our age needing that authoritative figure and having that person telling us we are doing well. She went on to say that an authoritative figure is necessary for many important reasons to help support the business or corporation and help keep younger employees in line. I really liked her comments on this subject.

Another part of class I enjoyed was Corey’s comments. Corey's statement about a more black and white world rather than a world where people could cut slack was interesting and I agree more with him on his argument pertaining to the black and white world. I think a person’s opinion can vary depending on their work ethic, commitment and competitiveness. I think people should take responsibility for their actions and that includes turning in something late or not showing up for a meeting. That doesn’t cut it in my mind.

I liked how Prof Dean brought the class back together after the groups had time finish their discussion. It was nice to hear her opinions about the Wall Street article she handed out and also the reading. It was interesting to hear that Prof. Dean thought all people in the work force should be on an equal level. I never have though about that but the more I do; it has a lot of positive aspects. At first glance, one may not see them, but when you take a step back and think about the pro’s and con’s, I think they are more pro’s. Overall, I was pleased with class and I thought it was great that the article stimulated people and got everyone thinking.

Sam