Final Draft of Website

Social Network Responses
The course outcome that social networking relates to is "Diversity, Identity, and Differing Perspectives." There is a relationship there that allows the individuals to express their personal identity and observe diversity among others. There are many course outcomes to this class, and the project that we picked (Social Networking) combines many of these together. Academic skills is something that is important in social networking because there is a lot of work that goes behind the scenes that people don’t know about. The diversity is important because people can express themselves through social networks.
We all decided that we wanted to do social networking as the focus for our group because social networking are part of our every day lives, and we wanted to learn more about them and how they help or take away from us. We all (Brooke, Julia and Laura) use facebook on a daily basis, which is a very popular social network.
OUR definition of a community is: People who live close or together and work together to make the place that they live a better place to be.
A social network can also be an academic community. It is a group of people all doing the same thing and working with the same goals and ideas.
On Merriam-Webster Dictionary online, it defines a community as a unified body of individuals. When you combine that with the word "academic" you get a group of people working together in an academic way.
Hamman’s Definion : (1) a group of people (2) who share social interaction (3) and some common ties between themselves and the other members of the group (4) and who share an area for at least some of the time.
Summary of Social Network Theory:
“A social network is a social structure made of individuals (“nodes”), which are tied by one or more specific types of interdependency such as friendship, kinship, sexual relationships, beliefs, knowledge or prestige,” (diigo.com). “Nodes” are the individual actors within the networks and “ties” are the relationships between the actors. So basically, the nodes are the people who are participating in the social network and the ties are the reasons that they are involved. In the 1930’s, social networks began to really take off. J.L. Moreno studied small social networks like classrooms and work groups while a group of Harvard students studied a group of interpersonal relations at work. There is a program called Social Network Analysis (SNA) and it is used for mass surveillance. They used it to examine whether or not US citizens were political threats and to study patterns of how HIV and AIDS are spread through social networks. The power of social networks is very great and can be useful with many different aspects of our world today.
Social Networks and Group Formation:
Social networks are one of the most crucial things in internet and design. They are used in society, the workplace, and for technology. The first social networks were researched in the late 1940s. Mark Granovetter and Linton C. Freeman were two people that published two important articles before the big internet boom. They wrote about social networking and how they believed whether it was based on weak or strong ties. Centralization in a network is something that is also very important. Degree of a point, control and independence are three very crucial things to have in a network. Knowing these things is very important in modern WebPages and sites. Researchers recognize that humans becoming able to make individual choices and ideas affect the progress and changes of a network. Keeping this in mind, a person could apply social networking towards a web creation, but since it is based on human systems it would be hard to predict the outcome of the network itself.
Physical Place and Cyber Place:
“Computer networks are social networks.” Computer supported social networks bringing more people together. Our world functions in networks, whether it is simply one person to another or even in the larger business companies. Social networks are giving people an opportunity to communicate with a larger range of peers. Communities now have less boundaries and more people involved. People and companies are also able to connect with more than one group, which allows our networks to grow. E.M. Foster examined the opportunities and transformations afforded by communication networks that are computerized. There are many positives to computerized communication networks such as, broader bandwidth, wireless portability, globalized connectivity, and personalization. Yet, there are also negative aspects to it such as, increased surveillance and less privacy. Through computers, our local communities are going beyond the neighborhood. People are now able to communicate with one another no matter where they are at.
The Machine Stops by F.M. Forster discussion and our academic community with no "Machine":
The Machine Stops by F.M. Forster is a story about a mother, Vashti, and son, Kuno, who live on the opposite sides of the world due to almost the entire human population living underground in cells. Each person lives in a small cell where their whole life is lived through a machine. There is not very much face-to-face interaction because they communicate through the technological world. Very few people live on the surface of the earth because they have adapted to living with dependence upon this "Machine." The biggest conflict through out the story was that people became so dependent on this "Machine" that they lost their technology knowledge and began to ignore all flaws of the "Machine." Soon, the machine begins to crash and nobody has the knowledge to fix it. If we lived our world with no machine, our academic community would slowly crash. As new generations came along, we would lose all knowledge in the technological sense. We would also lose our common sense of how to greet one another face-to-face and family traditions would soon deteriorate due to dependence on this "Machine." Our world would simply become a place where people do not live through their hearts, but through a machine.

LINK to Personal Pages and Blogs:
Julia Matthews
https://sites.google.com/a/csumb.edu/julia-matthews/about-me
http://jmatthews91.blogspot.com/
Brooke Keith
https://sites.google.com/a/csumb.edu/brookemarie/
http://brooke-keith.blogspot.com/
Laura Bockman
https://sites.google.com/a/csumb.edu/laura-bockman-s-site/
http://lbockman.blogspot.com/
CITATIONS:
Singh, Shiv. September 9, 2007. Social Networks And Group Formation. http://www.boxesandarrows.com/view/social-networks

Definition of "community" found on Merriam Webster's Dictionary Website
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/COMMUNITY
Forster, E.M.. 1909. The Machine Stops.
Wellman, Berry. Febuary 2001. "Physical Place and Cyber Place: The Rise of Personalized Networking."
http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/%7Ewellman/publications/individualism/ijurr3a1.htm

First Draft

Social Network Responses
The course outcome that social networking relates to is "Diversity, Identity, and Differing Perspectives." There is a relationship there that allows the individuals to express their personal identity and observe diversity among others. There are many course outcomes to this class, and the project that we picked (Social Networking) combines many of these together. Academic skills is something that is important in social networking because there is a lot of work that goes behind the scenes that people don’t know about. The diversity is important because people can express themselves through social networks.
We all decided that we wanted to do social networking as the focus for our group because social networking are part of our every day lives, and we wanted to learn more about them and how they help or take away from us. We all (Brooke, Julia and Laura) use facebook on a daily basis, which is a very popular social network.
OUR definition of a community is: People who live close or together and work together to make the place that they live a better place to be.
A social network can also be an academic community. It is a group of people all doing the same thing and working with the same goals and ideas.
On Merriam-Webster Dictionary online, it defines a community as a unified body of individuals. When you combine that with the word "academic" you get a group of people working together in an academic way.
Hamman’s Definion : (1) a group of people (2) who share social interaction (3) and some common ties between themselves and the other members of the group (4) and who share an area for at least some of the time.
Summary of Social Network Theory:
“A social network is a social structure made of individuals (“nodes”), which are tied by one or more specific types of interdependency such as friendship, kinship, sexual relationships, beliefs, knowledge or prestige,” (diigo.com). “Nodes” are the individual actors within the networks and “ties” are the relationships between the actors. So basically, the nodes are the people who are participating in the social network and the ties are the reasons that they are involved. In the 1930’s, social networks began to really take off. J.L. Moreno studied small social networks like classrooms and work groups while a group of Harvard students studied a group of interpersonal relations at work. There is a program called Social Network Analysis (SNA) and it is used for mass surveillance. They used it to examine whether or not US citizens were political threats and to study patterns of how HIV and AIDS are spread through social networks. The power of social networks is very great and can be useful with many different aspects of our world today.
Social Networks and Group Formation:
Social networks are one of the most crucial things in internet and design. They are used in society, the workplace, and for technology. The first social networks were researched in the late 1940s. Mark Granovetter and Linton C. Freeman were two people that published two important articles before the big internet boom. They wrote about social networking and how they believed whether it was based on weak or strong ties. Centralization in a network is something that is also very important. Degree of a point, control and independence are three very crucial things to have in a network. Knowing these things is very important in modern WebPages and sites. Researchers recognize that humans becoming able to make individual choices and ideas affect the progress and changes of a network. Keeping this in mind, a person could apply social networking towards a web creation, but since it is based on human systems it would be hard to predict the outcome of the network itself.
Physical Place and Cyber Place:
“Computer networks are social networks.” Computer supported social networks bringing more people together. Our world functions in networks, whether it is simply one person to another or even in the larger business companies. Social networks are giving people an opportunity to communicate with a larger range of peers. Communities now have less boundaries and more people involved. People and companies are also able to connect with more than one group, which allows our networks to grow. E.M. Foster examined the opportunities and transformations afforded by communication networks that are computerized. There are many positives to computerized communication networks such as, broader bandwidth, wireless portability, globalized connectivity, and personalization. Yet, there are also negative aspects to it such as, increased surveillance and less privacy. Through computers, our local communities are going beyond the neighborhood. People are now able to communicate with one another no matter where they are at.

LINK to Personal Pages and Blogs:
Julia Matthews
https://sites.google.com/a/csumb.edu/julia-matthews/about-me
http://jmatthews91.blogspot.com/
Brooke Keith
https://sites.google.com/a/csumb.edu/brookemarie/
http://brooke-keith.blogspot.com/
Laura Bockman
https://sites.google.com/a/csumb.edu/laura-bockman-s-site/
http://lbockman.blogspot.com/
CITATIONS:
Singh, Shiv. September 9, 2007. Social Networks And Group Formation. http://www.boxesandarrows.com/view/social-networks

Definition of "community" found on Merriam Webster's Dictionary Website
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/COMMUNITY

Wellman, Berry. Febuary 2001. "Physical Place and Cyber Place: The Rise of Personalized Networking."
http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/%7Ewellman/publications/individualism/ijurr3a1.htm

I Already Miss It

Going home for Thanksgiving break was nice. I was excited to have a full week off. But to my dismay, the week went by so fast. It was such a blur when I look back at it. I was so upset having to leave for school yesterday. I had such a blast being home and seeing my friends. I loved being with my family at home and helping cook Thanksgiving dinner and helping my mom decorate for Christmas. It’s tradition in our family that we all decorate together. I saw my best friend Katie a lot over the week, went to school with her one day, and hung out at her house with her family. It was just like old times and I absolutely loved it. My sister has finally gotten over Mono so it was fun getting to spend some time with her instead of her just being stuck in bed. I missed the old, hyper Shelly!
I did not do any school work over the break. I probably should have but I ended up just forgetting about it and taking a break. Not much has changed by the way I felt when I left home in August than now. I actually don’t really enjoy going to school here so it’s a struggle every time I leave. I am looking forward to getting a month off for Christmas. That is going to be nice, but I have a feeling that it’s going to fly by just as fast as this break did.

Rather Detailed Review_Jessica Mendoza's Group

Jessica Mendoza’s group met all of the requirements of the assignment as well. They were all present in the video and took the role of interesting characters. Jessica was the interviewer and the other teammates were the characters of Clarisse, Mildred, and Guy Montag. The interview is set up like a talk show with Jessica as the host. She asks questions about the relationships between Guy and his two women. The questions are very basic but the atmosphere the talk show has makes them interesting. I thought that the video was very well done. The talk show was an excellent idea. My group did the same thing. It was an easy way to interview someone and have a story or background as to why they were being interviewed. It was a good setting. The only thing that I thought this group could have done better was the energy that the interviewees had on the video. They just answered the questions that they were given but did not have any personality or liveliness in their answers or characters. Overall the video that this group made met all the requirements and it was very well put together.

Rather Detailed Review_Lila Bushnell's Group

This group put together a video that met all of the requirements of the assignment. All of the members of the group were present and they each played an important role. Lila was the interviewer and her three other teammates played the roles of the characters. At the beginning of the video there was no introduction so it was hard for the audience to tell what was going on. We were not introduced in an obvious or simple way to whom was playing what role in the video. It was a bit chaotic at the beginning because of this. On the other hand, once you figured out what characters were being portrayed, it was excellent! The interviews were entertaining and her questions were good. There were many questions that their team thought of that many others did not. Their team came up with many more questions than ours did. We came up with general questions in our video, but theirs were much more in depth. I found it entertaining that Lila was “on the chase” to find the characters and interview them. That made it much more entertaining. Overall it was a good video. Could have made the beginning more clear but other than that it was good :]

Where the Sidewalk Ends

If I were to save one book in the world, it would be "Where the Sidewalk Ends" by Shel Silverstein. It is a book that really hits home for me. My mom, sister, and I used to read it every night before bed. My favorite poem was the one about the girl who wouldn't take out the trash. I find the book very interesting and would have to save it if I had to make the choice.
Silverstein is an excellent writer and the way she writes makes it easy for children and people of any age to understand. The stories and poems she tells are easy reads and catch the attention of her audience.
In the world of Fahrenheit 451, this book would be banned because, well, it's a book of course! But other than that, it is entertaining and can speak to all audiences of all ages. The poems can have many different meanings and I think that the firemen would find that intimidating.
Once books are available again in a new society after Fahrenheit 451, "Where the Sidewalk Ends" will be good to have around because of the variety of poems and stories that it brings to the table.
It is an excellent book and I have loved it since a child. "Where the Sidewalk Ends" is the book that I would choose to save.

My "Majors" Activity

Last week in my FYS 100 class we were given an assignment that was based on majors. My group members were Michael Kwasny, Brooke Keith, and Jessica Mendoza. We were asked to present our information to the class as a group and the deadline was Friday. The assignment required that we talk as a group and decide what major we wanted to make our presentation on. Everyone in my group, besides me, was a Liberal Studies major so we agreed on that major fairly easily. And so the work began…
For this power point, we did not find it necessary to meet outside of class to do the work. It was fairly easy to finish quickly and did not require much research. We all sat down together and I took the role of group “manager”, I guess you could say. I assigned each person what information they needed to research and put together. Each of the teammates got 2 different categories to work on. Once they finished their research and re-wording the information, they each sent it to me on my CSUMB email. I copy and pasted the writing on to a power point that I created. In the end it turned out to be a long power point with many slides.
The reason I took the role as the group manager was because I knew that I wouldn’t be there to present on Friday so I figured I’d do as much work as I possibly could so as to be fair. On presentation day I was not in class so I do not know exactly what happened. I do know that my group is good at speaking in front of people, and they all did their own work so they knew what was on their slides. Because of this they were probably able to present their information easily and clearly for the rest of the class to learn well. Hopefully we will receive a grade that is worthy of the amount of time and work that we put in to the assignment.
Personally I have never really known much about the Liberal Studies major. I had heard the word before but never learned about it or even bothered to ask questions. I figured it had something to do with government to tell you the truth! But after completing this assignment I actually learned a lot. The three other members in my group were very knowledgeable about it because that is what they are interested in.
This assignment was pretty easy to do. I enjoyed learning about the different majors and I have found that I love using power point!

Grace

"Grace" is the name that the tropical storm in the northeastern Atlantic was given. The winds are at 65 mph and the storm was about 420 miles northeast of Azores on Sunday. It is moving towards land at about 25 mph and according to forecasters with the National Hurricane Center, the storm is expected to weaken within the next day. It is not a big threat. "It should be absorbed by a non-tropical low pressure area over the northeastern Atlantic on Monday night or Tuesday," says forecasters.
Thank goodness for that, right?! We definitely don't need another Catrina. I saw the title of the article and automatically thought the worst. Ever since Catrina, we all panic at the thought of another disaster like that! We are in luck with this one :]

Another Act of Vandalism

In the Monterey Herald today, I found a story about a monumental cross that had been cut down. It stood at 20 feet tall and was a historical landmark for about 40 years. This wooden cross was erected in 1969 representing one that was from 1769. The earlier one was built by Spanish explorer, Don Gaspar de Portola. He was exploring the coast in search for Monterey Bay and used the cross as a landmark to find it again. There was a plaque next to it that explained all of this history.
According to Monterey Policeman, Lt. Randy Roach, it was cut down Friday night or early Saturday morning. It was taken down at the base by what seems was a powerful saw. So far, no one has owned up to the act and people are truly upset. It was used for so many different ways; landmark for lifeguards, runners, and surfers out in the water. The damage is estimated around $1,000 and the investigation will be held by state park authorities.
Once again our beautiful history in the town of Monterey was vandalized. Why people want to destroy it, we will never know. But what I do know is that the vandalism of state property and our history here in Monterey is becoming oddly popular.

Technology in My World

In class on Monday morning we watched a video on technology and what would happen to us if it disappeared. Man, we sure are reliant on it, that's for sure! The video was a bit outdated and we all came to the conclusion that the narrator was "creepy" but overall it was had a good source of information and made a good point.
In my dorm room I rely on my clock in many ways. It helps me wake up on time and keeps me punctual with class and friends, and especially keeping up with my laundry. In the movie, James Burke talks about how much we rely on technology a lot!
He also talks about "technology traps" and refers to an elevator as one of them. How scary would it be to have the technology go out while you are stuck in an elevator?! Let's hope nobody has clostraphobia issues! Another "technology trap" would be the subway systems. They are run on technology and if the power were to go out while you were in one, you would be stuck in a tunnel underground!
To be honest I think that our world relies on technology way too much! I am not accusing people, because I am most definitely one of them, but it is just something that I have noticed. We all emerse ourselves so much into TV, iPod's, computers, cellphones (texting), etc., that we end up blocking out the rest of the world! We have all become lazy and would rather text someone than walk over to their house and visit with them face to face. Technology is bery helpful, don't get me wrong, but it is also a burden on our society.
I think that we were better off in 1965, when the blackout occured, because now we have invented even more types of technology that help us through the day. We have automatic sinks, toilets, towel dispensers, laptops, banks, security systems, etc. We rely on it more and so I think that we would be more prone to fail. It's like releasing a tiger that has been in captivity its whole life into the wild. It relies on a scheduled meal and water and care throughout the day and all of a sudden it is stripped of those luxuries and probably wouldn't survive.
If CSUMB's power went out, in my opinion, all hell would break loose! There is absolutely no way that the Dining Commons could feed all of the students successfully. We go for seconds all the time and the kitchen staff is constantly having to cook more and refill the food trays. The emergency power can only last for so long so after awhile, we would have no power to run off of and our school would be useless.
Our world revolves around technology. We even have technology (satellites) orbitting around us! Hopefully these scenarios won't actually happen, because if they do, we are most definitely in trouble.

$30 Million Bail

Can you believe it?! This couple's bail has been set at 30 million dollars! Phillip and Nancy Garrido have pleaded not guilty to the charges of kidnap, rape, and false imprisonment. The amount was set on Monday by Judge Douglas Phimister.
As the story goes, the couple kidnapped 11-year old Jaycee Duggard from her home in 1991. She was then raped and held captive in the Garrido's backyard shed for 18 years! Even worse, the authorities have also said that Phillip Garrido fathers 2 daughters with Jaycee Duggard.
How awful must that be? You are just a normal 11-year old girl enjoying life when all of a sudden your world is turned completely upside-down. She was isolated into a world of rape and imprisonment for the basis of her life. Some would say that she's lucky she even survived, but in my opinion her life is going to be very difficult from now on. She is going to be living in fear and is going to need a lot of professional help!
All I can say is, Lord, please help this girl...

Multi-tasking...good or bad?

So I can definitely say I'm a multi-tasker, but I guess it all depends on the situation. When I'm doing something simple like floating around on the internet, I almost always multi-task. I'm usually either texting or doing simple like homework. But when it comes to something important like driving or working I try to avoid distractions. I like to stay focused on the task at hand. It all depends on how difficult I feel the it is, and depending on that I will decide whether or not to do other things at the same time. This usually works for me pretty well; I get a lot more done in a shorter amount of time.
In Charles J. Abate's article on multi-tasking he talks about how the younger students are very big on muti-tasking. It is a common part of our society now and it is found that students that do this excel in their environment. Some of our elders have not been able to master this technique because they were never raised that way. He also states that, "For certain kinds of behavior, brains (like microprocessors) are essentially linear devices that are incapable of performing two seperate tasks simultaneously.
He goes through and explains three of the myths about multi-tasking. The first myth is "Multi-tasking saves time." Some people say that it saves time and works well to multi-task, but Charles says otherwise. He compares the brain to a microprocessor in a computer. Since the human mind is incapable of doing to things literally at once, it must remember where we left off with one task when we move on to the other..and vica versa. Computers are much better at doing this than our brains because we become so involved in the task at hand that we tend to forget where we left off on the other one. This is proof that multi-tasking actually slows us down in our work.
The second myth that Abate comments on is, "Multi-tasked learning is as good as single-tasked learning." Multi-tasking actually changes the way our brains learn and retain information. This is due to the different parts of the brain that deal with multi-tasking and single-tasking.
And finally, the third myth is on, "Multi-tasking is the forte of the young." An experiment was done with people ages 18-21 and 35-39 and when tested, the younger group processed the information they were given faster. But when there was and interrupting phone call, the older group was much more efficient. They are much more capable of blocking out interruptions and deciding what to focus on.
The information was all very interesting to me and I think that it is right! I could have completed this blog 3-times faster if I hadn't been multi-tasking the entire time!!

Jazz Gallery Walk

Hello again everyone! So this last Friday my class did a Jazz Walk on the upper floor of the library. There was so much information on the time and children's books were covering the tables. You could tell that it really took time and effort to set up. It was nicely done.
There wasn't anything there that I truly connected to, but if I had to choose something it would have to be the quotes on the walls. There were a couple that I really liked but I'll just post one...,"When we have knowledge of great innovators and understand their creativity, it can clear many roadblocks we believe effect only us. Their achievements educate, inspire, and delight,"(Marsalis). This quote is so true! A lot of times we become discouraged by all of the "roadblocks" we run into, but when we look at all the great innovators out there, it makes us see that we are capable of being great too. We just have to try harder. These people motivate us to do our best and that's the reason most of us succeed.
Okay now the next topic I'm supposed to comment on is about how Jazz and Democracy seem to be connected, but to be honest I am not really too sure. I have looked around online and found another quote by Marsalis. He says,"Jazz is democracy in action." Through jazz, cultures can express their ideas to eachother through music.
One of the more famous songs of this time was called "Summertime" by George Gershwin. It has been redone by many different artists and is very popular.
Overall, the Jazz Walk was a good experience. I don't relate to it very well but I know that a lot of people do. I recommend that everyone listen to a little jazz every now and then...I've found that i actually like it!

Cannery Row Signs Stolen!!!

Cannery Row is a part of our history here in Monterey Bay. There is a self-guided tour that goes around Cannery Row and recently four of the historical signs were stolen!! One of the signs was recovered and has been reinstalled. Vandalism has been a big problem as well.
Now I don't know about you, but who the heck steals a sign?!? ...Granted, they are worth about $250 but come on, have some respect! The signs were installed last year and the thefts began shortly after. Originally attached with strong epoxy glue, they are now considering bolting them down so as to avoid anymore theft. Surveillance cameras are also being installed in order to try and capture the culprit in action!!
In my opinion, this is all a big ordeal for such a stupid thing! It's a historical sign...leave it alone.

http://www.montereyherald.com/local/ci_13234423?nclick_check=1

Growth or Fixed?

From reading up on different mindsets, I've found that there are two main types; growth and fixed. The growth mindset is what most people have. It helps you to learn from your mistakes, leading to success. The fixed mindset is one where a person is stuck in their ways as either a good person or bad. But according to Guy Kawasaki, the reason these "fixed" people fail more often is because the "good ones" think they don't need to do anything, and the "bad ones" think there's nothing they can do to be better.
My mindset over this first week at CSUMB was mostly growth, and I'm sure that it will stay that way over the next couple of weeks. I've learned a lot from my classes and will do my best to continue to do so, so that I can succeed. I learned many things; directions, buildings, meeting people, making friends, classes, etc. A specific time I was in this growth mindset was in my technology class. I had never used or even heard of the websites my professor was taking us to but I picked it up quickly and now am fairly good at using them.
A time this week that I was in the fixed mindset was when I wanted to do my laundry. I was so irritated that the laundry machines were not as good as the ones I have at home and I gave up and just said I'd just do it later. Instead, I should have stayed and tried harder to learn a different way of doing my laundry to make the machines I have useful to me.
I'm excited to see where my growth mindset will take me over the next few weeks here at CSUMB!!!

A Woman of Jazz: Sarah Vaughan

Sarah Vaughan "Sassy" was a vocalist. She was born in Newark, NJ on March 27, 1924 and according to Dizzy Gillespie, she "could sing notes other people can't even hear." As well as singing, she also played piano.

Sassy soon began singing in Newark at the "Amateur Nights" in Apollo Theater. Only 18 years later she was invited to join Earl Hines' band! She began performing every night with Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie and eventually became know as "the ageless voice of modern jazz."

This woman was a sensation to the jazz community and became very successful in such a short period of time. She lived a wonderful life and passed away in Los Angeles, CA on April 3, 1990.

http://www.neajazzintheschools.org/artists/vaughan.html