Blog: Evaluation of Software Resources List

"Bringing the Gun to a Knife Fight"  - Electronic Communication and Politeness We are in an age of great innovation and bounding evolution of societal vulgarity. Yes, that may be a debatable point, but we’ve all likely had some discussions about how mobile devices have created a whole new world of less-than-desirable social niceties. Need we mention the tens of thousands of zit-popping Youtube videos? Shall we harken the sloppiness of spelling and grammar our texting troupes have degenerated their writing into? Would we even want to mention the fact that many good folks out there are now choosing to direct their romantic energies into “Camgirls” in some far-off country rather than their soul mate sitting in the room next to them? In Carrie James book, Disconnected: youth, new media and the ethics gap she takes aim at such topics, pointing to those most affected, the youth. She refers to the lack of couth as a kind of “ethical and moral blindness”. That just because t...

Teens, Technology, & Education: Parallels throughout the ages   After reading through some chapters in  It's Complicated,   Boyd's seminal work concerning teens and their relationship with technology, I naturally thought back to my own Gen Y teenage years in high school. I drew personal parallels and anecdotes to those used by Boyd to explain and exemplify the trials, successes, counter-cultures, and issues that mixing teens and technology create. While pinging and ponging my own experiences with those in the book, I came across a reference to Pump Up the Volume  (1990) and decided to watch a few clips. The film, which was about as Gen X as you can get, is about as early 90s as you can get, too... and there is no question, that even though only 0.001% of teens had mobile phones and/or internet during the time of this movie, they were doing the same things teens do today - They were hacking, chatting, flirting, protesting, gaming, cheating, socializ...