kshambro
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Kate’s Reflection
0In preparation for the Information Commons retreat, I read iBrain which focusses on technology and how it affects the brain.
While it was interesting to learn about the brain and technology, I found the comparisons between “Digital Immigrants” and “Digital Natives” to be the most fascinating part of the book. The chapter that focusses most on these two types of technology users is Chapter 2: Technology Dividing Generations. This chapter discusses how society can be divided into two different categories: Digital Immigrants and Digital Natives. Digital Immigrants are classified as individuals who were introduced to computer technology as adults and Digital Natives are those who were born into a world of computer technology.
I found this particular chapter very interesting because I see our generation of students as falling somewhere in the middle of these two categories. For me personally, I was introduced to computer technology somewhere around 3rd grade. I vividly remember that is when my family got our first family computer and I already knew how to use it better than my parents did. iBrain would say that based upon my prior knowledge at age 9, I am a Digital Native and my parents would therefore be placed in the Digital Immigrant category. Recently, I have noticed small things that differentiate me from my parents in terms of social media usage. For instance, I grew up in a time when social media was a part of my homework completion. iBrain talks about how students today multi-task with multiple things going on at once. For instance, a student could be on Facebook, listening to an iPod, on Wikipedia, and doing homework all at the same time. While some believe that this is not an appropriate way to focus, I think that it is simply a barrier that confuses Digital Immigrants.
Learning about the age barriers between those who have been around computer technology all of their lives and those who have not is an interesting way to learn how to better serve people of all ages. This will be especially helpful in the Library when a student asks a computer technology question versus if a parent has a similar computer technology question.
Kate Shambrook Reflection 2
0Reflection #2
- Completely unplugging from social media would greatly affect my daily routine because I would instantly begin to feel withdrawal. During a typical day, I utilize my iPhone, Facebook, and Twitter as a way to communicate with friends and combat boredom. I would say that I use my iPhone the most for texting and making plans as well as checking up on my Facebook page and managing tweets on Twitter. In between classes, I would feel slightly lost because I typically spend the time surfing the Internet to check up on my social media accounts. I typically have Facebook up on my computer while I’m doing homework so that if someone needs to talk to me they can chat me or I can scroll through the news feed and get updates from what people are doing.
- For the unplugging experiment, I chose to “unplug” from Facebook for a day to see what it felt like and what I would miss. I decided upon Facebook because I typically use that the most out of all the social media that I communicate with. The day started out as any normal day would but with a small exception. Instead of checking my news feed at the start of the day, I had about 10 minutes to kill before class that I filled with chatting with my roommates. Since I was unable to use Facebook, I felt oddly un-connected as I was walking to classes and I did not check my Facebook on my iPhone in between classes. When it came to homework time, I did not have my Facebook up on my computer screen so while I felt slightly lost, I also got a lot more accomplished than I regularly do. I was able to stay unplugged for the entire day but I was pretty thrilled to get it back the next day and catch up on what I missed. One of the biggest lessons I learned from this process is that I can survive without my Facebook and it does actually make me more productive. The hardest part about being unplugged from Facebook was that the pull to get on Facebook became much stronger. I felt tempted to break the challenge at least 5 times during the day because I felt strangely unconnected and bored some of the time.
- One suggestion that I would make and that I will start to live by as well is that homework is a time for getting stuff done and does not need to be paired with social media. Through my experiment of unplugging completely, I found that I got a lot more homework done in a shorter amount of time when I wasn’t distracted with Facebook. I think that Facebook has a time, place, and purpose but during homework time it is often better to focus.
Kate Shambrook reflection #1
0For this year, my goal is to become even more familiar with all of the new technology in the Center for Academic Technology. Since I have mostly worked in the library for the past two years, I would love to re-adjust back to the ways of the CAT. I work an hour a week this semester in the CAT and have already been informed that most of that time will be spent learning and talking about the new and exciting programs this year. That being said, I would also love to continue to better my research and database knowledge in the library so that I am able to answer most database questions off the top of my head. I feel that this would not only benefit Information Commons, but it would also help myself in future research needs.
My goal to help make Information Commons better as a whole would be to get our name out around campus and increase the public relations effort. Being a PR major, I feel that Information Commons has come a long way since it began around the time I was a freshman. However, it continues to stun me that some students (mostly older students) still have not heard of what we do and what we can offer. My goal for the year would be that I would like to personally tell as many people about what we do as I can. For instance, I have informed most of my teachers and fellow classmates that if they ever need research assistance or help in the library to head to the Information Commons table and someone there can assist them.
Unfortunately, I was unable to attend the life values and experience session during the retreat.