Research Analysis

Research Analysis

Technology is a very large topic. There are so many different things that have something to with the technological resources we have. So one would think coming up with one research topic may be hard. However, for me I had a general idea of what I wanted to research about, or at least I thought. I knew I wanted to have my research be on something to do with cell phones since they are so common and that is the one technology that I use all the time. I wanted to know more about them and how dependant we have become of them. I thought of this idea when I really started noticing how many people constanly are using them. They are used everywhere, walking form classes, in stores, and in cars. This concept was proven when I read “The Human Factor” by Kim Vicente. He uses the term “electronic leashes” to describe these everyday electronic devices we attend to.
Once I went to the library to start my researching process I found myself indulged in interesting books that didn’t necessarily flow with my topic. This is where I started to question what I really wanted to research. While I was searching for sources I thought of many different topics I was interested in all across the board. The new topics included: Do technologies make people less stressed, how has the internet changed work areas, and how we have moved from wired to wireless. I soon became swamped with different ideas for every topic and became far from any research on what I originally thought. I found myself stuck in a rut and being very indecisive about my final topic. I decided the best thing for me to do was clear my slate and just concentrate on something that I am really interested. Being a first year college student I have noticed that communicating with my teachers and my peers is very important. In high school communicating with teachers and peers was very different to how it has become for me. During high school it was very easy to talk to a teacher or another student because you were in a building with them for the majority of the day, every day of the week. In college, you go in to a building for an hour every other day with hundreds of students, making communication abilities harder and much more important. I thought it would be interesting to research how college students communicate by means of technology. I found this topic extremely fascinating because it is just so crazy that we are able to communicate with someone who is far away so easily. It boggles my mind that through a computer you are able to send messages at the click of a button to someone who then will receive it in an instant. I think this stuff is incredible and it is insane to think of humans communicating years ago. Technology has come so far and it is amazing to see how it has all changed so much.
Most of the sources I pulled information from came out of our school library. During my entire source searching, there were good times and there were bad. I found the library really helpful because it gives you access to an abundance of text that I would otherwise have to pay for. However, some of my days in the library I became very frustrated and annoyed. Sometimes I wasn’t able to access what sounded like a perfect book because it was already checked out and other times I just couldn’t find anything that resembled what I was looking for. With our classes theme being technology, I had to be careful what types of sources I was using. Technology is always very current and up-to-date, so I had to make sure the sources weren’t too old. I found it easier to search for articles and websites rather than books. I also took advantage of the course texts and tried to pull as much information from them to incorporate in my paper. I thought pulling ideas from previous papers I had written was difficult because most of the time they didn’t correspond with the ideas in my research. After revising my paper a few times I found information from old assignments that I could twist around to fit better into my research paper.
For our class, revising papers was occasionally done in a different manor than I am use to. We used online blogging to communicate with class mates and to comment on papers. This was the first time I have ever done something like that. I had never even “blogged” before this and to be honest at first I wasn’t too crazy about it. On the first day of English 102, when my teacher said you must complete a blog every week by Tuesday at 9:00am I was thinking what is the point of that? It wasn’t until I started getting feedback on my papers that I began liking this new technology. We posted many different types of blogs. Some weeks we would post our assignments for others to comment on and other times we would just blog about a topic and write about how we feel. It was as if it was my own little journal to share my thoughts with classmates and my teacher. Peer editing online is new to me but I think it is very interesting. I think it makes the editor really focus on the context of the writer’s paper instead of the grammar. At least for me, when reading a paper that I can write on, I generally look at grammar. I think it has just always been something I have been “trained” to do in previous English classes. However, online, where you have to type your comments back you are really getting and giving feedback on the context of your paper. I eventually found myself liking blog editing more and more because it allows people to write freely and take time reading a paper. I especially started liking blogging right now. Since I have reflected my thoughts through blogging the whole semester, it has helped me in my research paper and even writing this paper. It is an easy way to go back and look at what we did and how I was feeling about it in the moment. Although I have really enjoyed revision though “blogging”, I still feel it is necessary to have face-to-face interaction with my classmates and teacher. We accomplished this through conferences. I found myself liking face-to-face editing more after doing it because it really allowed me to ask any questions and really understand what my readers had to say. During conferences I was able to ask questions and completely understand what I needed to work on from comments my peers and teacher were making.
I tried to focus the audience of my paper to a general category, that being college students. But looking at it now I feel many people would be interested to see how technology has really creates a bridge in communication for college students as well as the entire population. It has taken everything to the next level making the means of communication more accessible.

blog 10

When I sat down to start my revision I had no idea where to start. At the conferences, I had taken many notes about what I should fix but I just couldn't find anywhere to start. I decided to read over my old papers and see if there was any information I could pull from there. I found sentances and other topics I could bring up in those papers and I highlighted them and then read over my reseach paper again to see where they could go. I also looked for more quotes to back up my thoughts. Also during conferences many found my paper to be very factual and not enough opinion so I tried to throw some more of my thoughts into it.
Doing face-to-face conferences helped me a lot more than online blogging revision. It allowed me to ask feed back and really understand what my readers were trying to say. At first I thought it wasn't going to be that helpful. I really didn't know what we were going to talk about for an hour, but it ended up going by fast and everyone got feedback one their papers.
One thing I took out of the conference and really tried to use in my revision was more information from the course sources. I only had very little info that I pulled from teh sources originally and hopefully now I have used more. I also went back into my old work to pull stuff out of there to help introduce ideas and make them stronger.

Research Paper Rough Draft

This is my first draft of my research paper and it is really rough cause I am still trying to piece it all together.



How has improved technology changed the way college students communicate?

College has always been the place for teen ages to escapes, become more independent people and grow up on their own. During college many forms of communication are used, whether it’s using a cell phone to call your parents or your friends, or catching up with friends on the internet, communication is ideal while being away at school. Twenty years ago people communicated by telephones and letters to people who lived far away. Many had telephones, but mobile phones didn’t emerge until ten years ago in the early 1990’s. This is also when internet and electronic mail became popular. We all know that today many of these things are different. Everything is digital and student have means of communication right at their fingertips, literally. Increased technology is a fascinating topic because it allows people to become so much closer in the click of a button. According to Edward de Bono, author of “Technology Today”, “Technology makes life simpler rather than more complicated. Using a telephone is easier that writing a letter.” (Technology Today, P.21) It has never been as easy as pressing enter to talk to someone, and now that’s one of the main ways college students communicate. The way college students communicate has evolved so much in the past twenty years at an incredible rate due to technology.
While students are away at school they have to communicate all the time. They have many different forms of communication that they are able to pick from as shown below. These communication forms include many things from the computer to cell phones. Michael Hanley, an Assistant Professor of Journalism at Ball State University states "The use of cell phones and instant and text messaging has become ubiquitous on college campuses, overtaking e-mail as the main form of communication,"(Michael Hanley) Many of these tools are easy to get a hold of and easy to use. Typically when going to college you buy a laptop computer or you at least have access to one. I don’t think I know one person at my school that doesn’t have one. Once you have one, you can access just about anything because many schools provide connection to the internet for their students. Abraham Nachbaur states “All campus residences provide an ethernet connection, and in some cases wireless access, for each student.”(Stanford -favorites) Students take advantage of these resources to communicate with many different people, such as parents, friends, professors, classmates, and even relatives.
On the computer there are a lot of programs you can get allowing you to communicate with others. There are numerous amounts of social networking sites that people join just to have communication with their friends. Facebook is one of the major social networks that allow you to chat, upload pictures, and comment on almost anything. “Created in 2004, by 2007 Facebook was reported to have more than 21 million registered members generating 1.6 billion page views each day (Needham & Company, 2007).” (The Benefits of Facebook "Friends:" Social Capital and College Students' Use of Online Social Network Sites) Facebook grows more and more each day, but it is just one of the few; there are also sites such as MySpace, Twitter, CyWorld, and Friendster that are also similar. Other programs on computers are ones that allow you to talk to someone via instant messaging. Instant messaging, also known as AIM is a program that is easily downloaded from a web site onto your computer and then you are able to talk to anyone that is “online”. AIM, or any other instant messaging service, is very popular for college students to use because of the easy access. “College Internet users are twice as likely to use instant messaging on any given day compared to the average Internet user.”(standford.edu). Another big technology that you are able to download right off the internet is Skype. Skype is a program that allows you to use a webcam to see and talk to a person on the other end no matter where they are. “The newest technologies enable students to keep virtually in touch with friends even when they are separated by long distances.” (McDaniel College) Skype is an easy way of communicating with anyone as long as they have a computer with a webcam. McDaniel junior Bethany Bachtel states “Skyping is so much better that e-mail and since calling and texting internationally costs so much, Skype is the best choice because it is free. It is so much more personal than e-mail and it feels like you are in the same room as the other person.” (McDaniel College) E-mail is another major form of communication, especially within college campuses. Professors email students all the time, updating them one their progress, helping with questions and of course letting them know when something is cancelled. In my class the form we communicated through online blogs. This is a way to post papers online for others, such as class mates and teachers to read and comment on. It allows you to get positive or negative feedback on your work. Forms of communication through computers are a fast and easy way to get up to date on the current situation.
We all know that practically everyone these days has a cell phone, some people even have two. However, if you are a college student, having a cell phone is necessary. According to a national survey by Student Monitor, 90% of college students owned their own cell phone in the fall of 2004. (textually.com) Cell phones come in handy when contacting group members, family members or meeting up with friends. It would be difficult to go day to day in college without one seeing how many times you call people throughout a day. A researcher, Jean Elliot, conducted a survey at Virginia Tech studying cell phone use among college students. His research showed that students are in regular communication through their cell phones, participating in an average of 11 calls per day. (Jean Elliot) Calling is just one of the things you can do with a cell phone. Now they are coming out with phones that can do just about as much as a computer can do. Texting and e-mailing are other big technologies that have come into play. Americans send about 2.5 billion text messages per month. (textually.com). A ridiculous amount of our communication is through text because it is an easy way to quickly telling someone something without calling them. It is also convientient because cell phones are portable and easy to use on the go. They are used everywhere. Richard Brookhiser says “Modern cellphone conversations occur on sidewalks, in restaurants, ten inches from your face in the elevator.” (Cellphobjects)
While I am very interested in this topic, others may be too. There are some stake holders about this article that may have a lot to say. Stake holders include:
· College students- College students are major stake holders because they are the ones who are using the devices and forms of communication everyday.
· Parents/ families- Parents may have a say in this because when their kid goes off to school they are somehow staying in touch with them through a computer or a phone. They also might be the ones paying for a communication service just to keep in touch. Glenn Cook states “ a new study says families are using cell phones, e-mail, text messages, and other forms of communication to remain close to each other” (National School Board Association)
· Environmentalists- With us using electronic means of communication that means we no longer have so much paper lying around. No more writing letters and no more printing out hundreds of lecture slides. By having everything available via electronics we are helping in the effort to save the earth.
· Vendors (such as cell phone and computer companies) – These companies obviously have a large part in the going digital idea at college campuses. Companies who sell electronics are definitely benefitting from increased technology. They sell to everyone, the major group being college students and teenagers.
· Colleges- Colleges hold a big stake in this topic because these technologies make everything easier. Professors are able to e-mail their students work, have their students take online quizzes and even get the lecture notes or slides. It takes learning and classes to a whole different level.
With new technologies coming out every day it is hard to think of how we will communicate in 20 years seeing where we were years ago. Author of “Technology Matters”, David Nye, states “It is easy to imagine human beings as pre-literate, but it is difficult to imagine them as pre-technological.” (Technology Matters, p. 5 )We may find it hard because we have come to be so advanced in technology it would be hard to imagine our life without it.

blog #9

Here are three of my sources that I think are going to be the most helpful for researching my topic.

1.) Hanson, Jarice. “How Cell Phones and Internet Change the Way we Live, Work and Play.” Wesport, Connecticut: Praeger Publishing, 2007.

This book talks about the cultural history of cell phones and internet, and what has disappeared and what has developed. It discusses the must haves and the don’t haves that we fit into our everyday lives. And brings up the technologies we use to make our lives easier. It posses the questions people still being stressed out although they have technologies to make everything better. The audience in this book is the whole population because everyone gets stressed and everyone uses technology.
Jarice Hanson is a well-known professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She has a Bachelors Degree, Masters Degree and PhD all from Northwestern University. She has written other books and is co-author of about 15 other books. Currently, along with her UMass Amherst faculty position, she is the Verizon Chair in Telecommunications at the School of Communications and Theater, Temple University, Philadelphia. She has done an extensive amount of research with technology and society and all aspects of humans, cell phones and computers.
This book will be very helpful in my research paper because Hanson has a ton of great facts and ideas about my topic that will be useful to back up my topics. This book is also very interesting and current seeing as it was published in 2007.



2.) Negroponte, Nicholas. “Being Digital.” New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., 1995.

This book talks about the age before there was any technology and how everything was made for everyone to use. Then once technologies started becoming popular the demand for them grew and people would get rid of the old and switch to something new. Then it talks about the currents days and networking to make connections among other users. It also touches on the fun aspects of technology. The purpose of this book is to show how many people think of and use technology differently and how the demand is growing more and more everyday for new items.
Nicholas Negroponte is a famous author of a well-known book called Being Digital, which has now been translated into 40 different languages. He was co-founder and director of the MIT Media Laboratory and also a Professor there along with many other colleges. He was also involved in the creation of a magazine called Wired.
Although this book has a lot of context that wouldn’t fit in my paper, I think I can manage to squeeze some little facts out of it. I think some of the points he makes would pose as interesting arguments.



3.) Moore, Wilbert E. “Technology and Social Change.” Canada: Burns and MacEachern Ltd., 1972

This book talks about how many humans are fascinated with machines and technologies. People have a love-hate relationship with technologies. One minute they love everything about it and then the next they don’t want to have anything to do with it. This book also talks about the meaning of technology and how it means something else to each person. It points out the question who is in charge by discussing the ideas of lifestyle and how it impacts our lives. The author, Wilbert Moore, was the 56th president of the American Social Association. The audience in this book is the population because everyone can relate to this text.
This book is a fundamental book that will be helpful to some key facts in my paper. Some topics he brings up could definitely be essential in helping me prove my points. This book has basic information that helps me remember to be simple.




While I was searching for sources at the library, I found myself wanting to change my research paper topic many times. These are some of the ideas that went through my head:
-do technologies make people less stressed? for this I would discuss how people sometimes get stressed out using the technologies that are suppose to make our lives easier.
-How has the internet changed work areas? (maybe discuss facebook addictions)
-How we have moved from wired to wireless: what is dissapearing because new technologies are coming up.
Now that I have all these new ideas in my head I must find the one that I will be able to find the most info on and the one that intrests me the most.