SELF ASSESMENT: JORIE RAO

“The only thing you have to fear is fear itself…and

technology.”-Me
In the beginning of this module I feel as though I was uncritically resistant to certain
technologies such as blogging and Twitter. I had no specific reason to dislike them or have any
aversion to them, however, I did. I would not read blogs or sign up for Twitter, in fact I found
Twitter to be a less useful version of Facebook.

(Not sure if this is so true anymore, Facebook is still good but I like Twitter a lot now.)

When it came to computer use, I was limited. I could open up email, send them and use my
Facebook account, which was all. This left me more on the side of computer incompetency than
literacy. According to Nardi and O’Day, I saw technology as a tool, simply to use for practical
things, unaware of all of the other uses for technology. “Some of a tool's affordances emerge
during use, unanticipated by designers. Refrigerators are designed to keep things cool, but they
also have a well-known affordance of providing a magnetic surface for hanging up notes,
children's artwork, cartoons, and other family information.” (Nardi, O’Day). I was unaware of
many things that make up the web such as HTML or RSS feeds, even the uses of blogging. I
simply used it for email and word processing but if I had looked more closely I could have
realized that it can be a great way to network, learn and “hang up” pictures.
(That’s me, a cave man with a computer, can’t you see the resemblance?)

However, after this module I feel as though I have slowly climbed up the scale from uncritically
resistant to receptive to and can articulate affordances and constraints. I believe I am at this point
because I have adopted many new forms of using the web and I feel more informed about the
inner workings of it. I can now define and use an RSS feed in my Google reader, I can also go
into blackboard and create an eportfolio and change things using the html codes. No longer is
technology simply a tool I use for practical reasons, I am now the person who hangs things on
my fridge with magnets.

I have gone from the plain old boring fridge to the decorated fun fridge whose functions are not
limited by a definition or a function.

As for my Google reader, I use it daily to keep up with all the websites I am following. It is an
easy way to compile everything into one website, instead of logging on here, then going to this
site and logging on again. It is real simple, hence the RSS feed or real simple syndication.
Thanks to this module I now actually know why that RSS is in the top of the websites I use and I
even know what it stands for. This is why I believe I have moved from a computer illiterate
person to a person gaining knowledge on their way to being literate.
(Yeah that’s my Google reader, I took a screenshot of it…go me!! One more thing I learned from
this class is how to hit the Print Scrn button and capture a picture of a live page. It’s great stuff.)

Another reason why I believe I have become more receptive to the internet is because I plan on
keeping my Twitter account, I find it a useful way to gather information and get my own out into
the cyber world. Twitter was foreign to me, the whole practice of only updating 140 character
statuses seemed pointless, but once I began going on once a day I realized people use their
statuses to transfer information using URLs for articles or other blogs. I now use it as a way to
read upcoming news, to hear what people have to say about certain topics and a way to network.
Twitter’s value to me has surpassed the simple “social networking” of Facebook and turned me
into a loyal follower. Twitter is an informational ecology according to Nardi and O’Day’s
definition.
(THAT’S MY TWITTER. I took a screenshot of it using my new knowledge about computers…
go me!! I use it at least once a day to catch up on the world. I am using the technology to conduct
human activities, such as communication.)

Before this module I would never have even known that you could take a screenshot of a live
page, to be honest I didn’t even know what a screenshot was. However, now that I have opened
my mind to technology I am able to take a screenshot and apply it to my self assessment.
One other technology that I feel I have become accustom to is the practice of blogging. I enjoy it
and the creativeness you must put forth into it. Obviously in the beginning I wrote essay type
blogs because I didn’t understand that it was more of a short simple way of saying something.
Also it is important to realize that you can add hyperlinks to article that go along with your topic.
I have also found that pictures help spark peoples interest in blogs. I have even made myself a
Tumblr account and hope to continue the practice of blogging. I have begun following some
peoples accounts and I am reading them to get more of an idea on how they work.

(That’s my Tumblr account, it’s new and well, empty, but I sure hope to fill it up soon. I have
two followers at this time and I am following at least 15 people. I read up on politics, check out
interesting pictures and even read about a boy’s bad experience as a child. It is amazing the
information people share via the web. Finding this site has given me a new outlook on
technology, it seems more personal now than it had previously.)

My attitude towards computers has completely shifted; I now understand more of how they work
and how to do things on them. I am no longer Uncritically resistant. This module has helped me
shift my thinking into a more technologically open world. I am ready to find out more websites,
different ways of sharing information and new ways to store information. I feel like I am no
longer afraid of the big bad bully technology. No more wedgies for me, because we are now well
acquainted.