Final Project

The Virtual Period

The world today has reached a time period where people have drowned themselves in a high tech society that life itself has become almost artificial. In a quote from The Observer, “ These people are so locked into the world, by default some sort of transcendence is located elsewhere, and obviously machines become the totem they imbue with sacred properties, wishes, hopes, goals, desires, dreams.” People are no longer communicating in a way that their actual bodies are present at a time and place physically, but rather virtually. Some people believe that computers are the greatest inventions of all time. I do believe there are many positive outcomes that have come from the world of computers, but I also believe that there are many negatives too. The Millennium generation is the preceding generation that has e-mail, news group, web forums, and online chats as the word of mouth phenomenon. This is the generation of growing up with the internet, providing a number of resources from online music to blogging. These human-computer relationships have gone beyond what anyone could imagine. From a US census on internet access and computing, “ Sixty-two million U.S. households, or 55 percent of American homes, had a web-connected computer in 2003. That’s up from 50 percent in 2001, and more than triple 1997’s 18 percent figure.”

As I begin to observe my life in a human-computer relationship perspective, I find that I also require the need for this technology on a day to day basis. Everything I do in my life, requires the need for this “machine”. School courses demand students to check their e-mail on a daily basis. These e-mails which inform students of countless events, alerts, and assignments. Assignments which now can even be submitted online. University courses which can be taken online making it efficient for students that have children or other responsibilities which make it tough for them to appear in an actual class. Also work areas which require the need for computer skills. My job absolutely requires me to work a computer. I am positive that if I was unable to understand the programs and how to access them, they would no longer need me as an employee for the company. At the end of the day I finally realize that I do need this machine for almost everything that I do in my life. It’s a requirement from society nowadays to access the world net, throwing every single person in this pool of virtual vitality.

Though computers have helped me tremendously in everything that I do, it has also changed me in a way. This “machine” has facilitated everything that I do. That can be an amazing thing but what about the living part in all of this? Am I always going to be dependent on this “machine” for everything that I do? These are questions that I ask myself when I think of how far the world of computers has taken all of us. For years I was stuck in my room in front of my computer on a popular web forum called “myspace”, missing out on beautiful days that I could have spent doing something different. This new virtual period is a period where people of all age groups meet friends online and take in virtual relationships. What happened to meeting people physically and communicating through eyes and mouth? People are losing traditional ways of communication and taking in the new way of typing and texting on a daily basis to express a feeling or emotion. It’s impossible to know what a person is really feeling through one or two words on a screen. Nothing can have a greater affect on a person than to be able to see a tear drop on someone’s face to know that they are sad or an amazing smile to know that they’re happy. Children nowadays have access to horrifying things on the internet which can be traumatizing. They are easily able to access chat rooms with strangers from all over the globe which the majority of the time can be a hunting ground for online predators. From a Times Daily report, “89 percent of all sexual solicitations are made in either chat rooms or other social networking systems and one out of 7 children, ages 10-17, will experience unwanted sexual solicitation online.”

The dependency on a computer to me has more various negative affects than positives. It can push friends and families away from spending too much time on it. As a person begins to excessively use the computer he/she gradually enters an artificial world. The excessive visualization of pornography on the internet can twist a person’s idea of sexuality. People that are dependent on a computer 24 hrs a day, push themselves away from a real life social environment as they spend increasing amounts of time on the computer. In a quote from Coupland’s Microserfs, “ One's perception of time's flow is directly linked to the number of connections one has to the outer world. Technology increases the number of connections thus it alters the perception of having experienced time.” Anyone can read this and understand it in a variety of ways but to me it signifies what technology won’t ever be able to do for us and that is the “experienced time”. So much time is lost online. The time that people could spend with friends and family and making memories. Computers are essential in many people’s lives. It has turned into a principal “machine” for work, substituting man. It is necessary though, for us to know our limit. These “machines” are killing the real way of life. People are becoming addicted to games, chat rooms, forums, and are forgetting to participate in real life events. People are exposed to horrific images and videos online that are affecting them in a way where nothing is no longer shocking and the things that were at one time unacceptable are becoming normal.

WORKS CITED :

US Census. “Internet Access and Computing.” January 16, 2006. http://maisonbisson.com/blog/post/11088/us-census-on-internet-access-and-computing/

Times Daily. “ Hidden Predators.” April 27, 2008
http://www.timesdaily.com/article/20080427/NEWS/804270353/1011

Douglas Coupland. Microserfs. Harper Collins, 1995.

Facebook Quiz

Quiz: Which superhero are you?

Question 1

Which costume suites you??

a) A black cape and mask
b) An insect like appearance costume…
c) Tights and cape!


Question 2

What super powers would you want?

a) Just a normal human with tactics and strategies
b) Super human strength and reflexes
c) Super strength and the ability to fly


Question 3

Which personality traits fit you?

a) Very watchful and careful
b) Nerdy but dangerous
c) Rough and destructive


Question 4

Which describes your physical appearance?

a) Tall, dark, and handsome?
b) Nerdy looking
c) Very muscular, in shape

Results:


If you chose (a) then you are the superhero BATMAN! Batman is considered by many to be the greatest detective in the world. With his mind, and supercomputer in the Batcave, he has been able to solve many problems, from seemingly random attacks by the Joker to the toughest riddles of The Riddler.

If you chose (b) then you are the superhero SPIDERMAN! Spiderman has spider like abilities including superhuman strength and the ability to cling to most surfaces. He is also extremely agile and has amazing reflexes. Spider-Man also has a, “spider sense,” that warns him of impending danger.

If you chose (c) then you are the superhero SUPERMAN! Superman has super strength, being able to lift a car over his head. He also has the ability to run extremely fast and to jump as much as an eighth of a mile into the air.

Podcast Script

Podcast Script
Crisis at Ford Motor Company
Complete Show Length in Minutes: 5 mins




Episode 1: Topic: Financial Crisis at Ford Motor Company
Intro Music Clip: Title: none
Intro: Crisis at Ford Motor Company: Time: 1 min


Welcome! I am Vanessa Sember, and this is my podcast, “Crisis at Ford Motor Company”, where I discuss the financial undergoing of the company and the struggle of its workers. In this specific segment I will be discussing the most recent financial situation of this huge American company as it stands today. For the past year there have been critical issues that confront the domestic automotive industry in the current economic environment. The recession has had very negative impacts for the U.S. auto industry, which supports millions of jobs in all 50 states. The impact of the credit crisis has been felt in the domestic automotive industry. A quote from one testimony, “The recession and financial crisis has resulted in automotive industry sales volumes at the lowest annualized level in 25 years.” The struggle continues and the situation is only getting worse. The credit environment has severely limited the ability of Ford Motor Credit Company to support dealer and consumer financing needs. This is clearly affecting our economy.



Segment Music Clip: Title: What I’ve Done (Linkin Park) 20sec
Segment: Sacrificed Workers: Time: 2mins

I had recently interviewed one of the workers from Ford Motor Company Eduardo Goncalves. Ed has participated in some local events that pertained to the financial situations of the company. His more recent participation was one for a local agreement (UAW Local 600) asking for votes towards a proposal to help Ford through these hard times. From a quote from the UAW 600, “Ford closed at $2 and GM at $4 November 24, 2008 and their market caps are at $4 billion and $2 billion”. Ford and other American companies provide millions to the American Red Cross matching employee contributions of the same number while foreign auto companies have zero contributions. Congress is slamming the American Automotive Industry and protecting transplants that give nothing back in America’s time of need. Ford workers are extremely furious with the ongoing situation at Ford and they are demanding help. Sacrifices have been made for years by Ford workers and the concessions they gave up went into the pockets of the Ford family, the banks, and the big stockholders and company executives. “If the auto companies are really hurting, then the people with money need to go into their own pockets to pay for it”, a quote from Goncalves. Wages have been cut down tremendously and many have been laid off. The workers are paying the tough price for the mistakes of others.



End Segment Music Clip: Title: Stronger (Kanye West) 20sec
Ending: A Competitive Company: Time: 2 mins

We have to protect American jobs! Ford has begun a fundamental restructuring in the way they do business, a restructuring that affects every part of the business, including product innovation, fuel efficiency, labor relations, suppliers, and dealers. The most important thing is that people realize that buying foreign cars is having a big affect on our economy and the American auto industry. Foreign companies such as Toyota, Honda, etc… have no union, which means they are paying their workers on a lower wage, therefore making it easier on those companies. What the government needs to do is impose higher taxes on foreign vehicles to make it fair to the American companies. Action must be taken immediately in order to make it a fair trade. The government needs to stop being too easy on foreign companies because foreign countries impose high taxes on American cars in their country but the United States is not doing the same here and letting everything go easy to these companies. If you want to see positive changes in our declining economy… BUY AMERICAN!



(The Ford Rouge where Eduardo Goncalves works)

( All the awards Ford received for their achievements)

( Truck Trend magazine chose the F150 as the best truck of the year as far as redesign and performance.)

Shape Poem

I chose the lyrics from the song “Amazing Grace” because it has a big affect on me and the way I lead my life on a day to day basis. My faith is very important to me and the way I lead my life. I feel that God plays a huge role in my life and everything that I do. I’m not extremely religious but I do go to church and attend some religious events which are very important . This song is one of the main songs that have a very good affect in my soul. The words are very beautiful and inspire me to only do good in life. I chose the symbol of the cross for the shape of the poem because it symbolizes my faith and what the song represents to me. Jesus Christ and God are my faith and the lyrics to this song are what brings me close to them in my times of need and peace.

Revised

For the second project I didn’t revise much. When I wrote my rough draft I made sure I wrote it to the best of my ability. I took some of the advices from the comments posted on the blog. Help from the audience is always useful when writing about something. Punctuation and grammar is always important in a paper. Also I made sure I had the five W’s. I read my paper several times to make sure that they were all there somewhere. I was happy to see that the people that read my article understood the theme. It is very important to me to get my point across to the reader. When the reader comprehends what I was trying to achieve with my paper that’s how I know that I wrote it well. I know I didn’t revise much at all, and maybe I’m being too positive about this second project but I just hope my point was understood by my audience. Another small thing that I revised was the titles of the articles that I cited from. I know it is very important to include where exactly your information was taken from. Though I did give the name of the authors, I forgot to include the titles and I’m very glad someone pointed that out in one of the comments. A writer can always use help from the reader.

Project #2 (draft)

I am currently majoring in communications and the topic that I decided to choose has a lot to do with what actually interests me and what I want to base my career on. Since I was little I have always wanted to become a journalist. I love writing about topics that are of great interest to me. To keep people informed of what is happening on a daily basis in the world is very important and if I can grab someone’s attention with an article that can perhaps make a difference, then my goal will be achieved. For this project I chose to write about three articles that captured my attention and inspired me to spread the word. The keyword to these three articles is “Freedom”. All three articles have different touching stories but at the same time they all have one thing in common. They all represent different types of freedom throughout the world.

The first article is by Tom O’Neil and it talks about refugees from North Korea. The article tells the story of different refugees and their struggle for freedom. I was shocked to learn how many North Koreans have fled to China and how many of them are caught and sent back to their country to face a terrifying penalty. The article begins with the story of two Korean women that had been mislead to a better living than that of their homeland. The two women (referred as Red and White) had been lied to by people that had promised them an escape to China. Turned out they became victims of an Internet sex operation. With the help of a Christian organization that devotes to helping refugees, “Red” and “White” were eventually able to escape the fraud they had gotten into and achieved what thousands are unable to. Around mid-1990s a devastating famine broke out across North Korea. People became very limited to food. People everyday try to escape but the border patrol is highly strict and shoots anyone who tries to flee. China being the neighbor does not honor its international agreements by treating North Koreans as refugees. Instead they keep their guards up and deport any North Korean despite the punishment that awaits them. To me it’s extremely sad how these people are so desperate for help and yet everywhere they look for it they only come across devastation. It’s impossible for them to escape and live free.

The second article I chose was titled Freedom First in an edition in Time magazine. This article talks about different types of freedom in the United States. It begins by mentioning how much the country has accomplished throughout the years and how much it has improved. It is believed that if there is truly real freedom out there, then the United Sates is most likely the closest to it. Out of all the countries in the world this one has gone far in creating changes so that all people can be free and treated equally. Americans have fought hard for the kind of country that we have today. Since the starting point of the American Revolution to the writing of the constitution, Americans have and continue to fight for full freedom. I chose this second article to make a comparison between types of freedom throughout the world. I wanted to compare it to the first article that discusses the types of freedom that are being fought today in other parts of the world as opposed to the kind that we have already achieved. As discussed in the first article, North Koreans are still struggling to break free from the cruelties bestowed on them by dictators and communism. Nowadays while some people in the US fight to get same sex marriages or elect an African American as president as what we see as freedom, others in countries such as North Korea, fight for freedom to live. Different types of freedom are out there and each has different meanings to people. What some have already achieved others are continuously striving to get.

The third article is titled A Personal Loss by Jyoti Thottam. This article talks about the freedom to exposing your own opinion to the world. A journalist named Lasantha Wickrematunge had for many years’ written articles about corruption and politicians. Many journalists including Wickremantuge have been killed for exposing the government. Unfortunately the media has been silenced and nothing has been done about it in Sri Lanka. For many years countries like this one have been keeping people from speaking their minds. In this article freedom of speech is the battle. Many have been silenced for their choice of words against the government. This is one of the many countries that faces this problem. This article can also relate to the people of North Korea that are also killed for going against the government.

Many Americans still continue their own battle for freedom. Freedom to do almost anything we feel we should be able to do. I think our country itself has had its worse years ago. I believe that our ancestors have fought bravely for what we have today and I’m very content with the fact that I feel free. It’s unfortunate that I can’t say the same for the many other countries. I do believe though that something should be done to help others such as the North Koreans so that they can live a life like ours and taste what freedom really is.

On Campus Housing Proposal

(A study shows that the proximity of classes, the availability of learning groups, and the total involvement in college contributes to the academic success of students living on campus.)


As a University of Michigan student I believe that a proposal for an on campus housing should be taken into consideration. College is very important and a big step to many people. I believe those years should be lived to the fullest in the best possible way. In doing so, what better way than to have the on campus housing experience? Not only would students share this great experience but they would also benefit from it in many ways. The University of Michigan in Dearborn is already known as a great school throughout the nation, but I’m sure that if this proposal comes to life its popularity would only increase and eventually attract more students.
There are many positives to creating on campus housing. The dormitories are much closer to the classrooms. Students can simply walk to their classes without having to deal with our school’s parking problem. Most of the time I encounter the problem of being late for class due to this problem. So much time is wasted with trying to find a parking space that more than half of the time students are late for their class. This problem would be solved if we could just walk to class. Also students would be able to interact with each other a whole lot more. This would be a great way for people to make new friends. It would bring about the point for the whole college experience. By living on campus students will be exposed to more events and gatherings that bring people close and create friendships.
As I mentioned in the first paragraph, I am positive that the on campus housing would only increase the school’s popularity. I am most certain that it would only attract more students to our facility. This can be a benefit to the school because we would have more out of state students, therefore making more money for the school. Rent is extremely expensive nowadays and very hard to afford for college students that are already investing so much money in their education. By building the on campus housing, out of state students would have the choice of living without the high monthly costs and attend our great university.
Nowadays with our economical crisis, it is hard to spare money on almost anything. I live about forty minutes away from the university and the trip to the school and back uses up a lot of gas. With the ridiculous gasoline prices constantly moving up, it is tough to make such long trips everyday to class. I know I’m one of the many that encounter the same problem. This is another reason why the on campus housing would be beneficial to students.
I believe this would be a great investment on behalf of the school and the state of Michigan. If we do invest in this we will only benefit from it in every way. Students at the University can finally have the real college experience and feel the fantastic feeling of independent living. Our facility will overflow with students from all over the country and making our school more popular than ever before. If students start gathering together with clubs pertaining to the university and forming petitions to spread the word, perhaps we will have a chance to make this proposal work. Everyone needs to come together to achieve what is best for our education and needs as college students.

( Another reason why on campus housing would be a benefit to students. The parking problem would be less because students could simply walk to class and not have to worry about being late for their classes.)