Digital Story Proposal

I am very good with computers and usually do not have problems getting things done. However many of my friends and classmates do not know a whole lot about technology and how to use it correctly. In this case, it is only is a small problem, but for many people the issue is huge. In my digital story, I plan to talk how many experiences helping people in and out of school with computers relates to the much larger problem of the digital divide. Many people have the misconception that the digital divide is only a problem about people having access to computers, but it much bigger than that. It is not enough to just given some one new technology, but you must also show them how to use it. I have seen firsthand how a computer is useless to someone who does not know how to use it.

            I think the digital divide should be expanded to include the concepts of education and digital literacy. Everyone deserves access to a computers and a high speed internet connection, but they also need the knowledge to use it. I will provide specific instants when just giving people access was not enough. It has been shown that people must be taught how to use technology for them to get all they can out of it. I believe for my main theme in my story I will discuss how many of my classmates got new laptops for college but do not have the knowledge to use them in all the ways they need. For example, most students in my chemistry lab class did not know how to use Excel well enough to do a project. I think high schools should offer more classes in computers and software. My high school only offered one, and it was not very detailed. Besides students the elderly also lack many skills in technology. My family recently got my grandmother a computer for Christmas, and I have been teaching her how to use it. There are no library or community center classes available to help her learn. I plan to relate my friend’s and family’s problems to those on a much bigger scale. The digital divide is a large problem in the United States and all over the world.

I have only experienced a very small side of this problem. I plan to explore and present how this issue is affecting the lives of so many people. I think this topic fits in with our class because there are minority groups that are mainly affected by this issue. The same groups such as blacks and Latinos are the most impacted. That is just in this country alone, and there are many other countries affected much worse. Computers and skills have the potential to help people greatly improve their lives. They can help provide an education, employment, and many other goods and services. I believe that this a social justice issue because it is a way that people of minority race and status, among other reasons, are missing out on everything today’s world has to offer.

I have not completely decided on the exact format and programs I would like to use to tell my digital story, but I believe I will be using Animoto, Atranormal, and Prezi. I found these programs on the Cogdogroo site. I plan to use Prezi as my main format and import in pictures and videos from the other two. I think Prezi looked like the best way to tie everything together and to provide the text. I like that you can make like a moving power point that keeps everything more exciting. I have never seen a program that allows you so much freedom in making a presentation.  I would like to make a short movie in Xtranormal. It allows you to make an animated movie. I would like to write a short script and create short films of the situations I will be discussing. This should keep the presentation entertaining and enforce the ideas. I really like the photo editing and affects in the Animoto program. You can make really cool slideshows and make dynamic displays.

            I have been playing with these three sites and learning how to use them. Presi has very helpful tutorial videos on their website. I have also been watching videos and projects that people have made to show me the different features I could use. I have worked with video making software before, but none of these programs. They do not seem too complicated and I have learned a lot from playing around with them. My only concern right now is that I have not tried to put videos from Animoto and Extranormal into Presi. I believe the file types will be supported and it should work. I would like to use the other two to add some extra to the project. I plan on trying to put together a short one just using files already on my computer to make sure it works before I begin my project. I plan on continuing to practice with the different programs so I can get used to them before I need to make my digital story.

Annotated Bibliography

Warschauer, Mark. "Reconceptializing the Digital Divide." First Monday 7.7-1 (2002). First Monday. July 2002. Web. 29 Sept. 2011. <http://firstmonday.org/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/967/888>.

This article describes many specific situations in which social justice projects were done in various cities. It proves my point that access to technology is not enough.

Jenkins, Henry, Ravi Purushotma, Katherine Clinton, Margaret Weigel, and Alice Robison. "Confronting the Challenges of Participatory Culture:Media Education for the 21st Century." New Media Literacies. MacAurthur Foundation. Web. 29 Sept. 2011. <http://www.newmedialiteracies.org/files/working/NMLWhitePaper.pdf>.

This article discusses digital literacy and education. It shows the need for new skills and ways to obtain them.

WebLog 6

I am a very big internet user. I use the internet for basically everything from homework to communication to entertainment. I am on my computer all the time, probably too much. I am mostly a consumer in my use of the internet, but I have posted some things. I would not consider myself a creator of internet content. I have a made a YouTube video, written some fan fiction, and various posts/comments but not a lot. My biggest internet content creation is probably the fan fiction I wrote over the summer. I was really surprised that people actually read it. This helped me to improve my productive skills of writing which tied in literary and ITC skills. The internet also helps to improve communication skills, because I use many social networking sites. My internet use also includes receptive skills because I read a lot to learn and do homework. The internet is the first place I turn to get help on homework . I use the internet a lot for information and entertainment. I watch a lot of videos and television on the computer. The internet allows me to have access things that I would not be able to any other way.
Literacy and ITC skills are linked to each other. Using the internet allows you to gain and improve literary skills. All of the skills that I mentioned above are also literacy skills as well their ITC components. Computers teach new ways to use skills outside of normal context. Literacy and ITC work together. They add to each other but without literacy abilities ITC could not be used properly. The internet can use many types of literacy and communication skills to get a message across. Because ITC helps people spread these messages in a social context it is very similar to literacy.

The website "Where Race Lives" ties many different events and theories in to the concept of social justice. It shows how much race really did and still does affect people's lives. Many people believe that the government has taken actions to help lower class people, but in reality the help never reached the people that truly needed it. When the government started social security and programs to help people on homes it excluded many lower class people. Non-whites were not eligible to benefit from many programs. These people are the ones that really needed it. So even though the government appeared to be adding social justice agendas, they really did not. It cannot be just if it excluded people due to race.
In the past people had very negative views towards non-whites. People even excluded them from work and housing when the law prohibited it. However, law enforcement agencies were often racist and did not stop them. It was very difficult for minority people to find a place to live and work. It has been found that neighborhoods can decline just because of people's deceptions of having African Americans and Latinos move in despite the fact they have not caused any trouble. People just had the mindset that these people were bad for the area. This idea is the exact opposite of social justice. These prejudices are completely unfair. Today many aspects of life has improved for non-whites, and they are included in the government's programs. However, people still experience racial acts, and the world still has a long way to go before it can be socially just.

Photo:Unitarian Universalists for Social Justice

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Weblog 3: Miller Analysis

            Social Justice has been debated for centuries by many different philosophers and scholars. This is because social justice is a hard concept to define. Many people have different ideas and moral beliefs. David Miller feels that social justice is about distribution in society. One of the main issues is how should the "goods" and "bads" be shared among the people in a group. Many ideas of social justice debate whether things should be done that benefit one person or society as a whole. In Miller's piece both ideas are explained in depth as well as other theories. These ideas are similar to the concepts in Le Guin's "The Ones that Walk Away from Omelas".

            Miller writes of social justice in the society as a whole. For example when people pay for social services that will benefit others. These people are providing opportunities to others that never would have them. They are giving up some individual freedom to increase the freedoms of the whole society. This was shown in "The Ones that Walk Away from Omelas", by the child being forced to suffer so that the other children could live happily. Unlike the life in Omelas, this theory of social justice states that everyone should give a little to help the community as a whole. This brings up the point of how to justly distribute goods and services. What should people give up, and how should people benefit? There are many issue on this topic because everyone has a different opinion of justice. Should skilled people be given better jobs and more income than unskilled people? Should men and women be given different benefits? These questions have to answered for the society to function in a fair way. Miller writes of many difficulties society must face to bring social justice to everyone.

            British social philosopher L. T. Hobhouse believed that every person is a vital member of society. A society cannot function properly or be truly happy with out every member. This theory applies to the theory that Le Guin implied in "The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas". Hobhouse wrote that social justice depends on every individual being able to contribute equally to society. John Locke also felt that social justice is dependent on individual rights. He believed that everyone should have privileges. These concepts require an organized society in which a government can make decisions to enforce fairness and justice. The people that chose to leave Omelas did their part to help give the child freedom, but because everyone did not the child was not released. The policies of social justice will not be effective if there is not a force to carry them out. In Omelas, there was no government to enforce any reforms. However it is the citizens' responsibility to carry out the reforms. It takes an entire society to have social justice.

            There are many concepts of social justice in the world today. Miller's ideas focus on how benefits should be distributed in society. There is a balance that must be found to keep individuals happy while still helping the civilization as a whole. The concept of taking from individuals is present while at the same time the society must help persons in need. However, it is important to recognize that no matter what there is no way to guarantee people's happiness. The goal of social justice is to provide a fair life for everyone in society, but that may not be possible. There are too many issues and different opinions to consider.