Week 2- Educational Technology

This week in class we learned about the development of the internet and Macintosh computers.

The mililtary began testing out the ARP Anet to link different military bases at differnt locations and still be able to communicate. Gradually this connection moved into universities, and eventually in 1989, the World Wide Web was introduce by Tim Berners-Lee. We also learned some internet vocabulary such as the URL, Web Browsers, etc. In addition to that, different communication types were discussed, such as, Asynchronous Communication, which sends and receives information not in real time (ex. list-serves, and bulletin boards) versus Synchronous Communication which allows two or more people to connect in real time(ex. chat rooms and instant messaging).

Being a PC user all my life, it was interesting to learn the Mac computer created by Apple. It was (I'm not going to lie) a little difficult as well with having things in different places, such as having the dock at the bottom of the screen and using the finder window. We also were asked to watch Frontline: Growing up Online a video from PBS. It was interesting to see how the internet has changed the way people communicate. With facebook, e-mail, and instant messaging, we no longer need face-to-face interaction anymore. The internet has also become a place for kids to express themselves in video blogs (Vlogs), photos of themselves, etc. However, with all the good that the internet brings, the video does a good job of showing the negative side effects. These range from cyber bullying to sites that show how to commit suicide.

Well, in terms of my major of telecommunication the internet is essential. It is a place to publish any videos that you have created and allows others to see them. This can be extremely helpful in terms of possible getting your work out there for the right people to see. We also use Final cut Pro in editing out videos for school. This program can only be done on a Macintosh so it is essential that I learn as much as I can about them.

I choose this video because I think it explains one of the new problems with kids on the internet. People forget that a lot of the time what they post on the internet can be seen by others all over the world. Even on sites that are popular, such as Facebook, people are looking at photos of the users. While some people looking at the photos may be predators, now some companies look at their job applicants facebook to see what kind of person they are. Do they like to party? Are there a lot of photos of the person drinking? Is this the kind of person they want to represent their company?