Reflective Blog Post

My journey to the Learning Outcomes in my Digital Civilization class has been an interesting one, marked with hiccups. I will discuss each of the five criteria in the order they are listed in the above link.

Students intelligently and accurately represent periods of western civilization:

I will admit, I was lucky with this objective to be assigned the 20th Century as my period. My major is Computer Science, and as such I found several ways to connect my interests back to that period, which would not have been possible with any other time period. During this class I did research on where the theoretical foundations of computing came from, by starting with Alan Turing and working backward through time. As I progressed into the book writing phase of the class, I took my interest in technology and developed a history of film making. That history was my biggest contribution to the chapter I worked on.

Students understand the core digital concepts for the course and can relate these to history and contemporary society.


Here I have more blogs to back me up than for the previous point:
Fair Use Explained is a blog linking a video that explains the concept of fair use (related to openness) by meshing together Disney movie clips. The irony here is that Disney is very touchy about their copyrights and if this video were not what it claimed, it would have been pulled off the web quickly.

Forums as Connecting Points is another blog about openness, but from the perspective of interpersonal communication. It touts the trust inherent in a forum both in letting others see your answers to questions, and how you don't always have answers to questions. This open environment spurs on participation in a way that has gone viral across the internet in countless fields.

Students demonstrate competence in Digital Literacy (create, consume, connect).

Microcosms of Intelligence is a post detailing my opinion that connection is the most important function of social networking, while creating and consuming are important only in how they push connecting forward.

I think I can reasonably say that I am capable in all three aspects, but that I do not enjoy creating things without reason. My opinion is that the internet is too crowded and it will only become useful if people stop tweeting useless information.

Networking Around Class Project

For anyone who didn't hear about my Civ Class's presentation last Tuesday we posted a video online at http://www.ustream.tv/channel/digiciv1. This post is in reference to that function, how I invited stake-holders in our subject matter, and what my involvement was during the event.

Prior to the event itself, I worked with Fred Mcinnis, the Marching Band Director at BYU, seeing if he were interested in a book about our Digital Society. The chapter I was working on was titled Technology and the Arts. He voiced some interest, and so when it came time to extend invitations to the event, He was one of the people I made sure to invite. Unfortunately, he also was busy the night of the event and was unable to make it. Other people I invited were several members of BYU's University Bands, including at least two Music Education majors, and several friends including both a History major and a Film major. Unfortunately, again none of these people chose to come, because the time we chose to have our event overlapped the last day to turn in assignments, and my friends had to choose their school work.

As for my involvement during the presentation, I had a role, playing my trumpet to emphasise how live music can still be a part of modern presentations. I also asked, and answered questions regarding the topics being discussed on both UStream and Twitter. Finally, I was also part of the group asked to help move the refreshments from the Talmadge to the Tanner, and in that regard feel that I completed my responsibilities admirably.