Digital Story

http://www.wix.com/mmcnichola2/fys-2

What's in Your Computer

Brominated Flame Retardants

1. They are not mined; they are synthetically made.
2.Some countries regulate the production of it. (European Union in 2006)
3. Accumulates in fatty tissues and travels throughout the body. Affect the neurological and endocrine systems. Most harmful effects are on children and pregnant women.
4. Demanufacturing produces toxic chemicals such as hydrogen bromide. It is released into the atmosphere and is consumed by animals and humans. This causes neurological effects in humans, and some animals have died from it.

Ewaste: Letter to Congress

Thanks for sending your letter to Congress


Thanks for taking the time to send a letter to Congress on the e-waste export bill. They need to hear from their constituents on this issue. Passing this bill is the most important action Congress can take on the e-waste issue.

Can you tell your friends to do the same - to send a message to their Representative? It only takes a minute.

Use our tool below to let them know about this important bill, and ask them to send a message to Congress. You can either paste email addresses into our tool (towards the bottom of this page) or just click "send from your own address book" to open an email message with our suggested message. Feel free to edit the message or completely rewrite it.

Thanks for your help!

The Electronics TakeBack Coalition

A Comic Rendition: Comparative Revolutions and Social Media
Meagan McNicholas, Brianna Ruth, Alex Messina,and Hailey Meinen


Question 1: Why suddenly are we witnessing real social and political change in some Middle Eastern Countries and not in others?



Source: "Arab Spring." www.sourcewatch.org. N.p., 25 Oct 2011. Web. 14 Nov 2011.


Question 2:In this context, has the role of social media and/or the Internet been fairly represented by traditional news sources and/or politicians? Why? Why not?



Source:Hilleary, Cecily. "Can Social Media Bring Democracy to Middle East? | Middle East | English." News | English. Voice of America, 17 Aug. 2010. Web. 14 Nov. 2011. http://www.voanews.com/english/news/middle-east/Will-New-Media-Bring-Democracy-to-Middle-East-100898544.html.

Villarreal, Alex. "Social Media a Critical Tool for Middle East Protesters | Middle East | English." News | English. Voice of America, 1 Mar. 2011. Web. 14 Nov. 2011. .


Question 3: Is the social and political change in some Middle Eastern Countries due to social media such as Twitter and Facebook?



Source:Tsotisis, Alexia. "Twitter, Facebook and YouTube’s Role in Middle East Uprisings [UPDATED 4/25/11] | Social Capital Blog." Social Capital Blog | Wisdom on Social Capital, Human Interaction, Civic Engagement and Community through Research, News Stories and Life. AOL Inc, 11 Feb. 2011. Web. 14 Nov. 2011.

Question 4:Based on your research, what has been the role of social media in the popular uprisings described as the Arab Spring?




Source:Pontin, Jason. "What Actually Happened." Technology Review: The Authority on the Future of Technology. MIT, Sept.-Oct. 2011. Web. 10 Nov. 2011. ;.

Blog 11 Ants

My Twitter name is Meagan228
These are all my tweets about the class:


All the numbers are 1 except for the box above the M is 150. This is how it turns out after about 10 min #fysswarmhttp://pic.twitter.com/C3deleaU

Got 129 across, thanks to@BrandonCobbins your plan works really well. #FysswarmHere's how I used ithttp://pic.twitter.com/u4VWClnH

@CassStadnik That's what I'm trying to figure out too, I've been playing with the edge sensor but it doesn't seem to do anything #fysswarm

Here is the set up I used. It's pretty random, but it worked a little #fysswarmhttp://pic.twitter.com/sBmuVdRF

I can get them to start making bridges, but they are too spread out along the river. Any ideas? #fysswarmhttp://pic.twitter.com/KM0BJiew

Haven't made any good discoveries, but it does seem to be less confusing if you use less ants. #fysswarm


I was able to get 129 ants across

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 two specific situations in which social justice projects were done in various cities. It proves my point that access to technology is not enough. In 1997, a contest was held in Ireland in which the winning cities received a great deal of money to use for technological advances. The town that was given the most money splurged on a lot of expensive equipment and spent very little on training for the people. They computerized many systems, but even through every person was given a computer they were not able to use them because they were not educated. Most of the programs fell through and the town had very little to show for their money. The other towns, that were given less money carefully spent it on training and sustaining the system rather than equipment. This program showed much greater success. This article also discuss a program in India were children were given access to a community set of computers, but not shown how to use them. It shows that the children could not use the computers the right way only used them to play games, not for school work. They were forced to learn to use them on their own and only made small discoveries.  

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 in technology and the use the of internet. The articles really shows the importance of a participatory culture and the benefits it can bring. If people do not have the skills to do get involved they will miss out of the chance to collaborate with many other people. Most of the people mentioned in this article have access to the technology necessary, but do not know how to use it. This demonstrates the importance of education so that people can use all the resources the internet offers. It also talks about the importance of the internet as a creative outlet for people to share ideas and projects they have developed. The internet is not just about learning and school work; it can provide many social and entertainment environments that provide fun while still developing  skills. Some examples are social media sites, art and video cites, and fan fiction and blog sites. These can improve communication, creativity, and literary skills. There is a large section about why computer skills should be taught in schools including preparation to live and work in a global community. There are many benefits to the use the technology and this presents reasons to teach young people.

Edutopia Staff. "Why Integrate Technology into the Curriculum?: The Reasons Are Many."Edutopia. The George Lucas Educational Foundation, 17 Mar. 2008. Web. 27 Oct. 2011. <http://www.edutopia.org/technology-integration-introduction>.

This article stresses the need to use technology in class rooms. Technology skills will help students thrive in the current society, college, and the job market. These skills do not have to be taught in just a certain class because there is a much bigger concept than just software and usage skills. Computers can be used to teach problem solving and enhance learning in all areas. Technology can provide opportunities that students would not have otherwise. Making lessons more interactive and exciting for students is a benefit computers can bring to classes in every subject. This demonstrates that a specific class in technology is not necessary to prepare students for their futures, and gives schools all the more reason to incorporate technology. At the same time, students are learning technological skills that will help them in college and life.

"Benefits." Senior Surf. Senior Surf - Computer Education for Lifelong Learners, 2004-2008. Web. 26 Oct. 2011. <http://www.senior-surf.org/benefits/index.php>.

This article describes the demand and benefits for elderly people to use computers. Senior citizens are the largest growing group of new internet users, but there is still a huge generational gap in usage. This articles shows the numerous benefits for the elderly on the computer such as healthcare, aid in loneliness, increased independence, improvement in cognitive ability, and even depression. However, they must have access and be properly educated to have these benefits.  It stresses the importance of education and I will tie in my knowledge of ways to make technology easier for senior citizens to use. I will relate this article to my grandmother's use of the internet and the new things she has been able to do since getting a computer. 

Swearingen, Joy. "Bridging the Rural Digital Divide; Library Gets Funding to Offer Classes, Buy More Equipment 26." Journal-Pilot Online. 26 Oct. 2011. Web. 27 Oct. 2011. <http://www.journalpilot.com/articles/2011/10/26/news/news1.txt>.

This is a local newspaper from a rural county in Illinois. It shows that the digital divide is very much present in the United States. It will correspond with the other article about the digital divide in other countries. The Carthage public library received a grant to improve their technology. They plan to use it to buy new equipment but also stress the importance of education. They plan to offer many classes and training opportunities.  These include basic computer skills, information about resume making and government job posting sites, and educational sites. It will free, public access and education. This articles shows how current this problem is and that the issue hit close to home.

Weblog 10: Facebook as a Superorganism

A superorganism is not a single organism as the name may imply but it is really a group of many organisms working together. All of the organisms are intelligent and are capable of completing tasks. However, sometimes a task is too big or too challenging for the individual to complete on its own. The task can only be when a group comes together. Now the amazing thing is that each individual may not even realize what they are doing, and everyone does not need to be present to accomplish the goal. A superorganism does not have a leader or strong communication between the parties involved, but the task is still accomplished. Examples a superorganism or swarm  in nature are ants and bee hives, but people use this technique to. Many times this occurs without people even realizing it.

                Facebook is one of the most popular and well-known websites on the internet. People use it to share all kinds of information and to communicate. The users of Facebook are an example of a superorganism. There are two main reasons for this. The first is the use of Facebook is basically a fad; a few years ago no one even knew what it was. As it grew more popular, more and more people started using it. To an individual, Facebook does not seem as large as it truly is. They may only have a specific group of "friends" that they interact with but there are really thousands of similar networks of people. As more people joined, they brought along more friends and the amount of people grew. One person using Facebook for their personal use actually lead to more and more people joining. The second is the rapid spread of information. Each person may post something and then it spreads to many other. Soon more and more people are sending the messages. This huge flow of information is only possible with people all working together. However, if one person did not send something on it would not have an effect on the over message being distributed.