Week 16: Post #3

3). What was it about this class that you liked? What do you think needs improvement?

I really enjoyed this class and the entire experience.  I have taken online classes before, but I do not think that I have ever experienced a class that felt so natural.  The class was explained in the first week with a lot of information and completely thoroughly.  This is often where many other online classes fail.  I have wished for more information or have been confused about what the requirements are for the class.  This class had a lot of information and a lot of availability from the professor, which I am sure is a lot to ask of them.  If I ever had a question, I got a response in a prompt and complete way.  I think that the course material that was covered was completely reasonable.  I think that the blogs were an interesting way of creating a dialog. I am very grateful that the workload was so reasonable, meaning not too much work, not too little where I felt like it was a waste of my time and everyone else's in the class.  

Week 16: Post #2

2). Pick on other concept from the book that you feel needs further discussion?

While I know that many of my other classmates have already pointed this out, I think we have covered some really important facets of communication studies.  However, I do think that this class could have been even more beneficial if we could have explored the impact of cross cultural communication.  I think that we could have taken a harder look at what goes on within our own country to help improve the way we communicate with each other.  I know that ethnocentrism is still a huge issue within this society and while there are people who are still ignorant to differences within cultures, we are still going to face obstructions in maximizing our potential for effective communication.  I know that exploring these concepts would be very a very extensive process, and some might eve say that this might even cross over into sociological concepts, but I think that we could benefit from the increased knowledge.  

Week 16: Post #1

1). What concept/s in this class have you found most interesting? What was it about the concept/s that you found interesting.

I think one of my favorite concepts that we discussed was when we covered the relationships developed online.  I found it very interesting to revisit the beginning of my cyberspace life.  I started exploring the internet when I was in Junior High School, along with many of my other classmates.  I however seemed to feel pretty different that many others did about my new channel of communication with the outside world.  Many of my classmates expressed much more interest in developing relationships with strangers online and developing relationships with people that they went to school with.  I never thought much about how "technically opposed" I was until I was observing it 10 years later.  I know that my parents took a very active approach in keeping me and my sister out of the house and active as possible, but I did not realize just how different that was from other kids my age.  

Week 13: Post #3

3). Pick one concept from the assigned reading, that we have not already discussed, that you found useful or interesting and discuss it.

One concept that I found particularly amazing in this chapter was the Television portion.  I could not believe that the book said that the average American household tuned in to watch about eight hours of television a day.  Not only that, but the typical individual viewing a little less than four and half hours of programming daily.  This completely shocked me when I read it.  I am a student, who also works 30 hours a week, so I might be a little biased, but I can not imagine having eight hours a day dedicated to watching television.  I do not have that kind of time.  I also cannot even begin to imagine why watching eight hours of television a day would do to/for me.  As the book stated, it is a way to provide news, companionship, teaching and socialization, relaxation and escapist entertainment.  But there are so many other ways to achieve all of those things, that it it hard to imagine wanting to receive it all from television.  

Week 13: Post #2

2). Do you agree with Marshall McLuhan that the medium is the message, i.e. that the format or logic of a medium is as important as its content and, in fact, determines what content will be broadcast through that channel? Evaluate his idea that television is a cool medium.

I completely and absolutely agree with Marshal McLuhan's idea that the medium is the message.  I believe that not only does the format matter as far as what is received and what is ignored, but I also believe that it also reveals more about the meaning of the message and the message sender.  For example, If I want to wish my best friend a happy birthday, I would call her, give her a present, take her out to dinner, or something else equally kind.  If I were to just send her a message on facebook, it wouldn't really seem very sufficient.  If I were to wish a distant acquaintance a happy birthday of facebook, it might seem like a nice gesture.  I believe that the format and the content of the message are equally as important as the relationship between the communicators.  I am not sure that I follow the idea of the cool medium vs. the hot medium, but as the book says, it is not embraced by everyone.  

Week 13: Post #1

1). Have you made friendships that exist exclusively in cyberspace? If so, how are they different from f2f relationships? If you have not formed cyber relationships, why not?

After reading this question, I was a little bit surprised with myself.  I have grown up in a generation that is surrounded by constant communication, most of which is online.  I have known of websites, chat rooms, and instant messaging as second nature.  As one of the children in this generation, I have never formed a relationship online.  I am kind of surprised.  Not that this is new information to me, but it is interesting that for something to be so common of people my age, I had no part in it.  I was never really interested in chat rooms or surfing the internet.  I haven't ever really gotten into the instant messaging thing or the social networking sites.  I don't think that it is for any particular reason other than I just don't enjoy sitting at a computer that much.  I have always had very accessible access to computers and the internet, but it just isn't really my thing.  I use computers for school and work and that is pretty much it.  

Week 11: Post #3

3). Pick one concept from the assigned reading, that we have no already discussed, that you found useful or interesting, and discuss it.

I found the idea of the “looking-glass self” as an interesting concept within this chapter.  As our textbook says, Charles Horton Cooley’s metaphor describes the looking-glass self as a product of our own sense of self based on the approval and disapproval of those around us.  It is formed by the ones closest to us and shapes the way we see ourselves according to how we fit in and how we are viewed with others.  The book also explains that this view of self is a cycle that is regular and happens without any initiation of the person themselves.  “Someone we care about responds to us.  Our perception of this response affects our sense of who we are, and we behave in ways consistent with that self.  This behavior then draws forth additional responses, and the cycle repeats itself,” (p. 144).  When considering myself with this idea, I can completely relate to this kind of cycle.  I like to have the approval of my friends and family, even if I am attempting to get it unknowingly.