Ellis 13a

OK, let me start of by saying...Um, well, I can't really say that, but this assignment reduced me to tears. Not since high school has an assignment made me cry. Mean old English class. OK, not really, but I did cry. This assignment was so difficult for me because I am very much follow by example, and for the life of me, I could not find a MLA formatted example of a lit review, I found tons of APA, and I know all I have to do is change the format, but that doesn't help me when I'm trying to make sure I have the format right.
So, now it's Tuesday, and I've submitted the assignment for two reasons. The first one is we are leaving for Pismo Beach tomorrow and our family reunion, so I won't have Internet access while I'm there (camping on the beach), and we won't return until Sunday night. So it was submit now or lose the final essay points (never even considered that option). The second reason is because I feel my first revision coming up. Granted I can't do it until I return, but hey, at least Mrs. Record can get it out of the way. :)

Ellis12a

Well, this weeks assignment of creating a hypothesis and outline seemed easy enough from the start. In fact, it seemed too easy. So, of course with me being the second guesser that I am, I couldn't just let it go at easy. Noo, of course I had to stop because I was convinced I was missing something. I wasn't. Well, I might have been, since it has not been graded yet. Oh yes, and I officially hate my laptop. I was trying to download Microsoft Office because all my free trials are almost used up and it won't download, so I tried entering the product key and that wasn't getting me anywhere either, now here I am waiting for the physical disk. Just wanted to vent a little about that. :)

Ellis11a

OK, I'll admit that coming into this assignment I had no clue as to what an "Annotated Bibliography" even was. I will even admit that I thought it was like an "About the Author" section of a book. Boy, was I way off. This weeks assignment was so tedious. And I like that kind of work, but I did find it a bit overwhelming. However, I can see how doing that part first will possibly be a big help in the weeks to come. Because now that I have read these articles and even wrote a bit about a few of them, I will (hopefully) know where to look for certain tidbits of information. I can honestly say I am very glad it's over and done with, even though in the weeks to come I may be hoping for this assignment again!

Ellis 10a

I know, I know, here I am on 10a, when my last post was 8b. Yeah, it doesn't set right with me either but that is what I get for being lazy last week. So, in class we have moved on to setting up our website that is based on a research question. The hardest part of which was deciding upon a question. After some discussion and searching I settled upon "Should Internet Addiction be taken more seriously?"
I find this topic very interesting, I find anything about addictions interesting actually, but this a little more so than normal. Maybe just because I have the chance to learn about it. Following along the guidelines of the assignment I got my website set up, which was a bit confusing. I kept getting lost when I was trying to change something but I'm sure I'll get the hang of it. Hopefully sooner, rather than later. Here is the link to the site I am working on if any of you out there are interested.

Ellis 8b

I feel as though this class has been a huge eye opener for me. Until I started reading this book, Born Digital, and discussing it with the class, I really don't feel that I ever paid this much attention to what living digital is doing to our lives. As I was watching 20/20 last night, an episode called "Catfish", which involved a young man from New York, meeting a young girl online and then falling in love with her older sister, becoming involved online with her and her family, only to discover that it was all fake. Wow, this can not be the only women out there who does stuff like this. Can you imagine out of the number of people on Facebook, how many of them might be figments of someone else's imagination? I think every chapter heading out of the book was covered in this story.
Here is the link to the episode if your interested:
 http://abc.go.com/watch/2020/SH559026/VD5590996/catfish-a-cyber-romance

Ellis7b

I found this weeks discussion forum to be a little controversial. All the talk about video games leading to violence is just not something that I believe in. And I feel the need to tell EVERYBODY my opinion on it. But, that's all it is, my opinion, which I am not going to force on anyone, especially in an online discussion. I understand where other people are coming from and I can accept their point of view as an option, but probably not as one I would ever use. If a child is violent I don't believe it was caused by them playing video games, or watching movies, or the news. I think it is because they are drawn to violence whether it is because they have a bad home life or just because. If video games were to blame, there would be a lot more violence in the world. After all, these games are very popular with people from all walks and races. How can you blame an inanimate object for choices that we make? Just because it's an easy out, does not make it right.

Ellis6b

All the issues of digital quality and information overload that we have been reading about amazes me. I don't find surprise in very many issues, but just the fact that there are so many issues people have about the Internet yet these issues are very rarely brought to light in day to day conversation. Until I started reading "Born Digital," I had no clue about some of the things that are happening involving the Internet all around the world. Such as when the book states "A South Korean game addict died after playing nonstop for 86 hours" (pg. 187). Who plays a game for 3 1/2 days straight? Why would you want to? Do you have no other responsibilities? Like I said in my first sentence, amazed!