I really enjoyed visiting this blog. It is so nice to hear about what is going on from a soldier's perspective.
One of the posts that I read described a few humorous moments that he encountered, such as one where a senior officer that had driven the humvee he was to be driving next thought he hit a tree, and also where one of the other soldiers thought there was an explosion near him. Naturally, he could only ask the officer if he thought or he knew that he hit a tree, since usually one would know if they did that. It is nice to see that he can still find humor in his surroundings in such a bleak situation.
Sunday, August 26, 2007
The Read-Write Web
As a user of MySpace, Facebook, and Xanga, it seems to me that the whole controversy over the safety and privacy of these sites should be of little or no concern to people – if they use them wisely and are careful about the content that is displayed.
People looking for attention often find ways to exploit themselves, even if the information is not accurate. This leads to problems when employers and college recruiters and admissions offices begin searching these sites. Users need to begin using common sense about how they set up their profiles. If explicit content is going to be posted, they should set their privacy up so that only accepted friends can see their profile.
Nevertheless, companies and colleges should not base their decisions on what they find on sites like MySpace and Facebook. As Maureen Crawford Hentz said, what is posted on these sites does not necessarily give an accurate description of their work ethics. For example, one of my coworkers likes to post pictures of and leave comments while at parties, giving them a seemingly wild personality. In reality, this person is a diligent employee that is looked up to by all of his peers.
If there is any reason that companies and colleges should be monitoring blogs, it is to monitor misuse. American Eagle store 721 had a problem with some of its employees spreading rumors about the store managers and the company itself. In this case, using Facebook to monitor activity is justified. Until this becomes the issue, blog sites should be kept a place where people can feel unrestricted to portray themselves however they want.
People looking for attention often find ways to exploit themselves, even if the information is not accurate. This leads to problems when employers and college recruiters and admissions offices begin searching these sites. Users need to begin using common sense about how they set up their profiles. If explicit content is going to be posted, they should set their privacy up so that only accepted friends can see their profile.
Nevertheless, companies and colleges should not base their decisions on what they find on sites like MySpace and Facebook. As Maureen Crawford Hentz said, what is posted on these sites does not necessarily give an accurate description of their work ethics. For example, one of my coworkers likes to post pictures of and leave comments while at parties, giving them a seemingly wild personality. In reality, this person is a diligent employee that is looked up to by all of his peers.
If there is any reason that companies and colleges should be monitoring blogs, it is to monitor misuse. American Eagle store 721 had a problem with some of its employees spreading rumors about the store managers and the company itself. In this case, using Facebook to monitor activity is justified. Until this becomes the issue, blog sites should be kept a place where people can feel unrestricted to portray themselves however they want.
Sosnoski Reading
The Sosnoski reading implied to me that hyper-reading is in many ways equivalent to text reading, only with a different structure. Each process involves the same characteristics, such as the filtering, skimming, etc. that Sosnoski describes in his essay.
Virtually, these two methods are identical in purpose and usefulness. As Sosnoski points out, an encyclopedia is much like an internet search engine. Encyclopedias require for one to physically search literature through keywords in an index. Similarly, search engines use keywords, except it does the searching. Another similarity is that of the methods of using the information, as I mentioned previously. Regardless of whether the text is on paper or on a computer screen, the reader will still use the same method of extracting information, whether reading every word or skimming, picking up phrases and keywords to piece together the meaning of the work.
After reading the essay, I feel that neither hyper-reading nor text reading is universally a better method for readers – as they say, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. For some, reading a hard copy will be more beneficial, yet others will nearly always choose to read their text on a screen. It varies from person to person, but the system still has the same purposes and processes involved.
Virtually, these two methods are identical in purpose and usefulness. As Sosnoski points out, an encyclopedia is much like an internet search engine. Encyclopedias require for one to physically search literature through keywords in an index. Similarly, search engines use keywords, except it does the searching. Another similarity is that of the methods of using the information, as I mentioned previously. Regardless of whether the text is on paper or on a computer screen, the reader will still use the same method of extracting information, whether reading every word or skimming, picking up phrases and keywords to piece together the meaning of the work.
After reading the essay, I feel that neither hyper-reading nor text reading is universally a better method for readers – as they say, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. For some, reading a hard copy will be more beneficial, yet others will nearly always choose to read their text on a screen. It varies from person to person, but the system still has the same purposes and processes involved.
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