Technology in the Classroom

A drowsy twenty something University of Arizona student shuffles his lazily laced loose feet through the rear of the lecture hall and makes his way to the fourth row from the back, trying not to spill his coffee as he forces down his ill-functioning flip-up seat with the corner of his laptop. His entry, without consequence—for the professor continues seamlessly through an orderly historiographic review of twentieth century Central America. He opens his laptop, taps the mute button (so the whole lecture hall doesn't hear Windows start up) and from the moment the blue internet icon illuminates, not another single word of significance enters his conscience. Between Facebook and Catmail messenger on his laptop and the two unread messages on his Blackberry, a three-decade long civil war in Guatemala  loses out to social priorities.

Though the scholastic ambience has changed little in the last two decades, the technologies students have at their disposal certainly has. Students are not unmotivated now, students are not less intelligent than in the past, students are distracted—by everything newer technologies offer. Frontline’s Digital Nation: Life on the Virtual Frontier has shed some light on the ways in which new technologies have affected life in the classroom.

MIT professor Sherry Turkle admits students are “doing themselves a disservice by thinking that a multi-tasking environment will serve their best purposes.” She further explains that students have now placed new pressures on professors who have to compete with technology for their attention (although it is noted that at MIT, use of laptops and internet enabled devices are allowed at the professor’s discretion). Professor Turkle suggests that with new technologies come new problems, and now, professors need to find new ways to ensure they’re effectively communicating and providing meaningful instruction for students.

A second faculty member, Associate Professor David Jones asserts that students cannot possibly be working to their potential because they’re “too distracted by everything else.”

Frontline’s Digital_Nation: Life on the Virtual Frontier

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/digitalnation/

Wikileaks: Assange Off-Stage, Materials Center-Stage

In an April BBC news report, it is curious to find not Julian Assange the topic of discussion, rather the content surfacing through the founder's website.

The controversial founder of Wikileaks, awaits trial in Sweden after having been extradited from the United Kingdom on sexual assault charges while data not intended to be released by the U.S. government continues to capture public attention.

As embers still fuel the frequent but erratic debates over the Guatanamo Bay prison camp, reports of confessions to terrorist plots and participation in terrorist activities from detainees emerge to once again stoke the slow burning fire. In this article, the author, Nuala McGovern argues that these recently leaked documents provide proof that legitimate, self-proclaimed terrorists are held in Guantanamo. McGovern goes on to explain that the documents are significant because it gives proponents of maintaining this camp located on the U.S. Naval base  in southwestern Cuba.

As Assange inertly awaits his July 12th trial in a ten-acre English estate, his website, which leaks confidential documents to an information-devouring public, continues to play an active role in recent polemics.


 http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/worldhaveyoursay/2011/04/on_air_1700gmt_does_wikileaks.html

Guatemalan Indigenous Find New Markets

Terra Experience is an organization which
sells quality, Guatemalan indigenous hand-
made products online. So what? you might
say. You can ask your cousin in San
Antonio or Tucson to go downtown to
the artisan markets and get one for you at
half the price. Or, you could buy a similar
product at WalMart or Target.

The reasons are many why this organization is significant. In Guatemala, over one half of the population lives in a rural setting and belongs to one of the twenty-two ethnically and linguistically distinct indigenous communities. Guatemala just fifteen years ago, ended a thirty-five year civil war which divided the nation along ethnic lines and left its population in economic and social crisis. Indigenous communities are isolated by both linguistic and geographic barriers as the state offers no educational or infrastructural relief to communities in desperate need of basic necessities.

Oftentimes, the indigenous sell or trade on a local scale, limited to an extremely local market, or if they're particularly lucky--with access to one or two small tourist sites. Otherwise, the products such as traditional blouses (huipiles), wooden furniture (muebles tradicionales), or paintings (pinturas) are brought to a retailer in a city by bus and sold to a retailer at a reduced profit. Unable to communicate well in Spanish, pay transportation costs, or dedicate time away from their corn plots (milpas), the indigenous of Guatemala are at a great loss.

Through forceful integration into commercial practices, the indigenous of Guatemala are faced with a decision to migrate to the city and adopt the Spanish language or remain in their communities without a means to provide for their families.

Terra Experience is a non-profit organization which promotes indigenous products as well as respect for identity. It gives clients access to who are producing the goods they purchase, where they live, what langauge they speak, and provides an online medium through which one-hundred percent of the profits are returned to economically disadvantaged producers. It allows for the indigenous to remain in their respective communities, speak their native language, and at the same time, sell their products. The organization provides an opportunity to keep communities together and strong by promoting products online.

http://terraexperience.com/

Multi-Tasking and New Media

Bottle of water by my side, two carrots to my side, and a pear within

arm's length. Let's get some work done. Feet

up, shoulders relaxed, my wrists rest firmly on

the edge of my laptop. I log in to my email,

and I empty the junk mail. Email one--I

address the issue, and I send a short response.

Done. I think "well, I should probably charge

my Ipod since I'll be working for the next

couple hours." I get up, grab the ipod, the

cable, sit back down, put my feet back up, and I take care of the next

email. I think "wait, I think my friend said he'd text me about meeting up

for my presentation, I better grab my phone." So I get up, grab the

phone and with each e-mail I check, I find myself logging into an

additional site or answering a text message. This goes on for the next

two hours.

How much work do we actually get done with so many distractions? How many social networking sites do we manage daily? How about email accounts? How many times do we find ourselves fiddling with our "Crackberries" (Blackberry devices)? We have fifteen minutes committed to current events and online news each morning. Another fifteen for language review. But are we focusing?

Patricia Greensfield, a distinguished psychology professor of UCLA reports via Science Daily, that with an ever-increasing amount of technology at our disposal, our critical thinking and analysis skills have declined.

But is it all bad?

Not necessarily, according to Dr. Greensfield's research. Although she admits that reading is steadily in decline as a common activity amongst the younger generations, the capacity amongst users of new technologies to process the meanings of visual stimuli is enhanced through the use of new technologies.

Also, her studies suggest that although there are many downfalls to multi-tasking (such as decline in mental capacities to think critically), the exposure to so many technologies may develop valuable skills for certain professions. Pilots need to effectively monitor various gauges and environmental conditions, for example. She provides another example relating to laparoscopic surgeons and their use of particular video-oriented tools.

So, sure we are distracted easily unless we shut off everything everytime we log onto our laptops. Is that a good thing? Well, in the field of academia, perhaps not. But maybe yes if we want to become pilots or laparoscopic surgeons!

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/01/090128092341.htm

Troops in Afghanistan

Cameras and Combat.

I often wonder whether combat is a suitable place for Marines and soldiers with cameras. Do professional journalists do a better job photographing the reality of combat? Is it safe for troops to be focused on captuiring the action of a firefight?

I don't think journalists necessarily do a better job capturing the reality of combat--if he or she has a camera, and he or she is present when rounds come from down range, then it's real. But I feel like it's unneccessary for journalists to be attached to units when individual troops are fully capable of filming events themselves as events unfold.

There are risks of course for the troops recording (as they should probably be better focused on carrying out the mission). But I feel with the facility of taking a chip from a camera, posting the video on YouTube and allowing the world to see is a way to see how policies play on the ground in far away places from young men and women who would be there in the first place.

I feel like the world needs professional journalists, I just feel like it is an unneccesary risk in combat situations. The public is often anxious to seek out evidence (positive or negative) of how policies are playing out in Afghanistan or Iraq, but I feel like the coverage troops provide themselves is adequate.

What's the Deal with Orkut?

Perhaps not a common question, but who's made Brazilian friends or Brazilian contacts? And those of you who have never traveled, studied, or worked in Brazil--do you know any Brazilians of the university age? Well, chances are, if you know him or her well, he or she has sent you an Orkut invite. Never heard of it? Join the club.

Orkut is an extremely popular social networking site in this luso-hispanic South American giant of a country (and other countries including India). Orkut is maintained by Google Brazil out of Belo Horizonte although it began in the United States. Orkut is unique in that it began on an invite only registration system--not just anyone could join. As Orkut users, many of them from the beginning Brazilians, communicated in their native tongue, many Anglophones began to leave until it became the Portuguese dominated networking service that it is today. Okut offers basic features such as a chatting tool, photo storage, and comment boxes on profiles. It offers a rating system for various positive personality traits as well as a list on which one places his or her "crushes." Unlike Myspace or Facebook, any profile can be viewed by an Orkut member.

So why is Orkut is so popular in Brazil? I've heard simple explanations such as "it's easy to say in Portuguese, unlike friendster, myspace, or facebook." True, it is easier understood (sounds like horkooch in Portuguese). I've read an explanation that the color scheme of Orkut is that of the national soccer team's jerseys. I wasn't convinced. Some blogs reason that "Brazilians have a strong sense of community" or that they "love to talk with friends." But that doesn't explain why Orkut specifically is the preferred networking service.

I don't think one specific explanation or reason can be attributed to the success of a social networking site in a given country. Surely, reasons exist, but oftentimes, chance is the best explanation.

Additional notes:
In attempt to tie in a discussion with various other bloggers' comments (Ivana, Renskej, Sandra, and Tamara) concerning facebook's recent contributions to revolutionary activities in North Africa, I've discovered Orkut is either non-existant or blocked in the region. Tunisia (as well as Iran, Saudi Arabia, and United Emirates) have blocked Orkut users, and I've yet to find any evidence that of the existence of usage in Algeria, Libya or Egypt.

Hello, New Media and Society

Hello people,

My name is Jordan and I am a last-semester MA student in History through the University of Arizona. I have just come from Guatemala where I conducted my research, and before that, I was studying in Brazil. Ljubljana will be my new, temporary, overcast home.

As I sort through the abundance of electronic data this first week of class, I would admit that I am not particularly technology savvy. For that reason, I decided to follow this course--as I write my thesis, I'd like to be distracted by new ideas and topics.

As I find myself in the profession of arms, I am particulary interested in how new media may negatively portray American troops abroad. Not all videos I've located on youtube have captured our Marines and soldiers in their proudest moments.

Possibly the most technologically ignorant student in the class (insert smiley face), I look forward to confronting academic obstacles while considering surely different points of view from others. Let's learn some new stuff!