July 2012
4 posts
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Reflections on Project 3
Project 3 was defiantly the most enjoyable of the three projects so far for me. In project three from the start I had a vision of how to outline it(very different from projects 1 and 2). I could build up a narrative of how I became literate in computerized technology. In order to do this I would need to think back to early days. After lots of brainstorming I came up with three main instances of...
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Responce to Essays Five and Six
Essay Five by Erica Wright did a great job of responding to the essay prompt. She takes her time to develop a story of how she evolved into using Facebook to influence her opinions on to others. She did an alright job with MLA except it seems she has two spaces between her name and page number, she wrote the date in the Americanized format and used a comma in the date. This can also be seen in the...
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Revision Plan for Project 3
From the review I got on Eli I know the second and third paragraphs of my essay are areas to focus on additions. The reader said he would like to have heard more in those sections about the story portion. I also need to take a closer look at what it really means to be writing a narrative, possibly by looking at the sample essays to be released. Nevertheless after reviewing these sample essays I...
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Response to the Arola Piece
In Arola’s piece she gives a survey of her early technological experiences and demonstrates the effects of her lack of at such a young age. A few things that support this accusation can be found all over the piece. First she takes time in multiple parts to defend her lack of technological literacy. She shows how over time she noticed these short comings and adapted to such. Lastly she gives...
June 2012
16 posts
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Reflections over Project 2
Project 2 flew by way faster than project 1 did, despite having more weight on my final grade. Nevertheless it was an informing project that really helped me in evaluating which skills I would need upon entering Medical School. My revision process is vivid due to having the stomach flu during it but most of my changes we’re based on the review given by Ms. Platt and little from other...
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Top 5 Moments of Technological Literacy
My top five moments of technological literacy:
1. First time I repair a major problem on a computer.
2. First time I overclocked an older computer.
3. First time I learned how to repair a Xbox.
4. Being able to put pictures from my phone onto the internet when phone cameras were in their infancy.
5. When I explored and self-taught myself about disc imaging and how to modify files into...
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Scribner's Perspective
Scribner takes a different perspective on literacy; relating it to a more social aspect. She explains that literacy is more than reading but more of a social aspect of everyone’s everyday lives. Her argument can be broken down to simply: wholesome literacy consist of the ability to deal with every day life. This brings up the question are illiterate people unable to handle life’s...
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On the Ramsdell Piece
Ramsdell’s work on narratives and stories gave me introduced an expert perspective on stories and narratives to me and helped prepare me for my upcoming third project where I will need to write a narrative. It gave a good descriptions of the differences between the two such as in the length and focus. By the use of the story “Who I am” she shows how narratives differ from stories...
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First Digital Experience
My first experience with digital technologies was with computers at a young age, there for I am affluent with hardware and software on most systems. At a very young age my parents introduced me to computers, having a windows 95 system in the home. Coming from a family of immigrants I had very limited family. All my family members that I had contact with were involved in these at the time...
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Project 3 inquiry
Upon reading the Project 3 syllabus I though “Ugh, another essay about technology and literacy”. Nevertheless on the last essay which was very similar it seems that the biggest benefit I had was when the example essays where released. I can better understand the idea behind the project better when I see well done example. I guess my true problem is taking the goal of the paper into...
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Essay 3 and Essay 4 Assessment
Essay 3 did a great job of responding to the prompt. It focused with a perspective of how writing is needed in veterinary medicine giving applications of where writing is necessary such as applying to veterinary school. I found this particularly useful for another place to possibly analyze on my paper. The writer also goes on to talk about examples where veterinarians saw unexpected writing styles...
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Revision Plan for Project 2
So far my rough draft appears to only be a start to the final piece. Upon release of two example essays I realized the intent of this project and made me realize what needs to be done. I am going to start by simply doing more; learning more about the expectations of medical students, possibly talking with my professor about the real focus of this project relative to my interest. Nevertheless...
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Intrinsic Benefits of Project 2
In writing Project 2 I realized this essay has more use than just a grade from my instructor. This essay provided me with information on what will be expected from me applying and attending a medical school in the future. It made me realize that for my generation they are trying to make writing and rhetorical reasoning more essential to the doctoral initiation process. I also learned that for my...
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Annotated Bibliography on Human Medicine
Here are three sources I am considering for my second project in my writing class:
Taylor, Robert B. “Medical writing: A guide for clinicians, educators, and researchers” Michigan State University Library. Springer. c2011. Web. 10 June 2012.
This is a guide for writing in the medical profession. An electronic source at the MSU library giving it a quick skim will provide the reader...
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The Library and You
Regardless of your major here at MSU, you will most definitely need to be able to use the library’s resources in order to prosper. More specifically if you are a social sciences or arts and letters major taking a writing class your first semester is necessary; for all other majors you will need writing skills for your more disciplined classes later in your academic year. Nevertheless I will...
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Reflections on Project 1
When I started project 1 I had no idea what I was going to do, but I knew that it would deal with piracy. After large amounts of deduction and analyzing what an artifact really is, I decided upon file sharing. After that I just took a crack at it, doing research on the side and building up to the pirate bay after visiting Napster. Discussing how its influence has derived from Scandinavian culture....
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Learning to Read to Write
In Mike Bunn’s piece “How to read like a writer” he teaches how to read to write which he abbreviates as RTW. RTW means that when you’re reading to think in the place of the author, to understand that each word was chosen and ran through the head of the artist during its conduction. Mike’s teachings brought the main point to me that when reading I need to notice, analyze and then lastly appreciate...
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Writing as a Human Biology Major
As a Human Biology major, I have read primarily scientific writings in the style it’s typically presented to college students in the 21st century; that is off presenting ideas then relating them to real life. As for writing myself the only things I’ve ever written are an extra point explanation of molecular development on an Astronomy Final and a few displays of competency in my...
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Questions Regarding Project Two
On project Two the main problems I’m running into are picking a project focus and finding data on that focus. Unlike most professions, my two primary topics in consideration are relating to Medical School and Army Officer School. Both of these professions are not heavily writing-oriented which leaves me at a bit of a downturn for finding information. To fix these problems I’ll...
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Revision Plan for Project 1
The reviews I got were fairly positive and gave decent advice on how to revise. One reviewer told me to be more clear on the artifact stating while I brought the topic to a firm and determined explanation later on, I did not state it clearly enough in the thesis for all to understand. Besides that I will possibly add some other modern applications of culture and rework the thesis to taste.
May 2012
10 posts
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Possible Ideas for Project 2
What types of writing will be expected as a Doctor?
As an officer in the US army, what standards of writing would be expected of me?
What level of writing will be expected of me as a Doctor?
As a medical researcher what format of writing will I need to develop skills in?
What types of technology must I be literate in as an officer in the US army?
What level of writing is expected as an...
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A Working Thesis
Though considered by the US government a system of interconnected thieves and crooks, at the base of peer-to-peer filesharing community there is a system of interconnectedness has been created has and continues to create more cosmopolitan world that ushers us into the age of globalization.
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Memeing as an Artifact
In the article Are LOLCats Making Us Smart? Rebecca Rosen critiques the cultural artifacts of memes. She proposes that memes are a new form of communication that bring groups together by a laughter. She analyzes a particular group of meme fans called casual users and the effects of their meme watching. She proposes that for each meme there is a group affected. She uses examples such as the Antoine...
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The Culture behind the Instagram Effect
In Clive Thompson’s article on the Instagram Effect Clive gives a survey of how the Instagram application has contributed to this new photo-communication culture that has been seen over the last two decades. This culture can be seen all over the place; Facebook, Twitter and even here on tumblr. It really puts the phrase “a picture’s worth a 1000 words” to the test. This...
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Revisiting Culture
When you think about culture, you think about yourself and where you come from. Though this has become the more modernly accepted definition of culture as seen in much of today’s music, with anthropology we realize a more cosmopolitan viewpoint. Instead of seeing culture as well-defined subgroups within the United States itself, we observe the cultural as the beliefs, artifacts, language and...
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My Question
When I first read about this project, something that instantly stuck out to me was the provided definition of Artifact. The definition posed an artifact as something simply created by man, something unnatural. While this sat parallel to my definition of an artifact I as an ancient history enthusiast; being something of historical significance. This brings my question to which should I pick, what...
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Introduction
My name is Thomas Matthew Davis, but you can call me Tom. My major is Human Biology and I am from Adrian, Michigan. When I think about writing I think about communication through utilization of the Latin alphabet. A formation of lines and curves that mean so much more to the human mind. A type of communication that is silent and forever standing, that does not require use of vibrations nor vocal...
