Semester Memoir

Final 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.

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:

https://sites.google.com/a/csumb.edu/julia-matthews/about-me

https://sites.google.com/a/csumb.edu/brookemarie/

https://sites.google.com/a/csumb.edu/laura-bockman-s-site/

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

Fall Break Reflection

My fall break was definitely a trip. It started on Wednesday night, because I had to head back home for a doctors appointment. I was pretty much sick throughout the whole break and stayed in bed. I wasn't able to have a more exciting break like I wish I could have. On the bright side, I was able to spend a lot of time with my siblings, and it allowed me to reconnect with them all. Thanksgiving was good; I love cooking in the kitchen even if I don't like all of the food! Although it is not one of my favorite holidays, it was nice to see everyone again and to have that feeling of accomplishment, because a lot of them said I would never make it to college.

I have changed a lot since I first moved here in August. My whole outlook on life is quite different. In spite of living in the same place my whole life, before college, I realized that I am a well-rounded person. I have always been open to meeting new people, and learning about where they come from. I have improved in managing my time with all of the things I have to do; I have become more responsible and even more independent. Living on my own throughout high school was hard, so going to college and living on campus definitely made everything easier. Coming to CSUMB has helped me find myself, and has allowed me to work towards my dream and my future.

Tuesdays with Morrie

If I were to save any book, it would be Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom. This book was written in 1997 and is a true story about a sociologist named Morrie Schwartz and his relationships with his students; one in particular Mitch Albom. Morrie was a professor who was dying from Lou Gehrig's disease. Once Albom graduated from college, he became a columnist for the Detroit Free Press. He didn't see Morrie for 16 years before reuniting with him, because he saw his face on T.V.. Morrie Schwartz and Mitch Albom end up meeting every Tuesday to discuss lifes greatest lessons and treasures. This book is about an old man and a young man finding what the have in common. Every Tuesday, Morrie teached Mitch lessons that involve happiness, love, communication, acceptance, communication, values, and the importance of openness. I personally have read this book a few times and with each read, I learn another important lesson. This book is an eye opener that will never stop grabbing my attention, and holds my heart in it's hand because nothing in between the cover and the back cover is made up. It is a book that doesn't hide reality.

Fahrenheit 451 video project reviews (group 5)

The fifth group that presented consisted of Julia Matthews, Christine Moreno, Cassandra Pauley, and Johanna Stanley. This group worked great together, and they put together a video that would grab the audiences attention. Each group member also worked good individually; you could tell that each one of them knew who and what their character was about, even if they didn't analyze their character consistently through out the film. This presentation was quite entertaining. It was another presentation with a talk show theme, but the talk show was a reenactment of The Jerry Springer Show. Julia Matthews was the host/interviewer while Christine, Cassandra, and Johanna played Fahrenheit 451 characters. Each person in this group represented their character and dressed the part, but it could have been a little better regarding character analysis. Either way, I was still able to learn from each character and know what they were about.

This groups theme grabbed the audiences attention, because it was something that each of us could have easily found and watched on T.V.. I feel like this group really analyzed who their audience was so they could keep attention at all times. It's sad, but true: people arguing and violence grab attention; which is why their presentation stood out. The were smart with their role play, and their use of technology. The sound quality on this presentation was great, but the filming could have been better. It was, at times, shaky and the tops of peoples head were cut out of the frame. Overall, this group did a great job and met all of the requirements.

Fahrenheit 451 video project reviews (group 2)

The second group that presented consisted of Jessica Mendoza-Rivera, Jenifer Morrison, Diana Silva, and Jessica Trainor. This group seemed to work very hard on their project. For their introduction, they chose to have it as a talk show. The introduction played music and was very catchy. All of the members were shown in the video and each character acted well. The interviewer was the only one who didn't act as a character, but did a very good job interviewing each character effectively. The presentation showed a lot about the characters relationships; especially between Mildred and Montag. Clarisse was also a good character to interview, because she was a huge part in Montag's life. Each person in this group dressed up as a character which was a plus. Although they were dressed in character, they were each introduced in the beginning of their interview which added more clarification. I learned quite a bit from this presentation, and the things I already knew, I received further knowledge into the event.

This group had some similarities to my group, but not many. This group did a whole talk show, interviewing all of the characters, while my group did more of scene acting and then went into interviews as a news report. I really liked the talk show idea and I wish my group would of thought of something to this affect. Also, I wanted to incorporate music into my groups presentation, because I know it helps grab a lot of attention as well. This group did a great job and met all of the requirements.