Unit 1 Portfolio

 Unit 1 Portfolio 

Source 1: "A Pencil Shop, for Texting the Old-Fashioned Way" Source Analysis

This article highlights a small business in Lower Manhattan that sells almost solely pencils. The author

discusses the store owner, Caroline Weaver, and her love for pencils. She also addresses the inventory of the

store, which as previously mentioned is mostly pencils at very inexpensive prices but all with unique characteristics.

The article was posted to the New York Times, and I think it was engineered to interest inhabitants of New York City

looking for somewhere to stop by in their free time or maybe tourists that pass through looking for a souvenir

from their trip. It is an artistic and wordy piece, and I think it was also meant to be an enjoyable read to evoke

humor and curiosity. This fits into my topic of how technology has changed our modes of communication because at one point

in time, the only way to communicate with others not standing directly in front of you was to put pencil or

pen to paper and write them a letter. It could take days to weeks to months for people to get

your message. Obviously now we can send a message to a friend, and they will receive it almost

immediately, but people did not always have this luxury. There is a lost art in writing on paper, scribbling

notes, and sharpening a pencil. Today, we have iPads and touch-screen computers to write on, so we no

longer get a small boost of serotonin picking out a fun and colorful pencil to use until it is only an inch

long or clicking a fresh pen for the first time. Even the pencils one might buy in Caroline Weaver's store

would likely just sit in a desk after their purchase. Has the convenience of technology taken the joy out of

writing a note to a friend or loved one?

Young, Molly. “A Pencil Shop, for Texting the Old-Fashioned Way.” The New York Time,

The New York Times, 19 May 2015, https://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/21/fashion/a-pencil-shop-for-

texting-the-old-fashioned-way.html

Source 2: "How Digital Media Has Changed Communications" 

This article is a university-published blog that discusses the ways that technology and the media have changed the way that we communicate locally and internationally. It has impacted marketing and advertising, business operations, and news distribution. The article gives the example that, "For businesses, technology has improved collaboration, costs and co-worker communication. Today, work teams have several options to communicate without being face to face, including by email, instant and direct messaging and group collaboration software". Technology has improved staff communication, employee productivity, thus expediting business efficiency. Technology is a blessing, it has allowed for advancements in manufacturing and medicine and travel on top of labor efficiency. However, with the large section of technology that is media, information travels fast, sometimes even too fast. Additionally, once something is written and posted on the internet, it never goes away. The media also contains an abundance of false information, and sometimes it can be hard to determine what is true and what isn't. It has also been blamed for rising cases of depression and isolation and has been deemed the main problem for lacking human connection. These beliefs are how this source fits into my inquiry. The rise of technology has done so much good for our world like allowing for world-wide communication and connection, but it has also haddetrimental effects on peoples' mental healths and the health of the planet due to research and productions. This leads me to wonder, has technology done more good than harm for our world?

“How Digital Media Has Changed Communications: Carlow Today & Tomorrow.” Carlow Today & Tomorrow |

Creating a More Just and Merciful World, 10 Dec. 2021, https://blog.carlow.edu/2021/12/16/how-digital-media

has-changed-communication/.

Source 3: "From Knowledgeable to Knowledge-Able" - Michael Wesch - TedxKC 

This source is different from my others because it is a video and not a piece of text. It is one of the most

credible and professional sources that I used for my inquiry. The video is an 18 minute long Ted Talk by

Michael Wesch, a professor at Kansas State University. He talks about many different topics in the video,

but there were several that stood out to me. Firstly, relating ack to my previous source talking about the

effect of the media on our society, Wesch discussed how in his lectures, students are often preoccupied in

his classes with social medias and not really paying attention. Students admitted that they were

consistently scrolling on Facebook in class, or weren't motivated to do the required readings, or even

bought the $100 textbook for class that they never ended up opening. Social media has taken over so many

realms of our lives and provides more entertainment for impressionable people than important yet maybe

dull topics, especially in school. The media affects a person the minute that they are exposed; Wesch used

the example of a Dove commercial of a little girl getting bombarded by the media about the "correct" hair

color, waist size, skin texture, diet and exercise. Like previously stated, technology has had a positive

effect on the world, like another example in the video of a software developed by four Kenyans that has

saved hundreds of thousands of lives in wars and destruction. However, we cannot neglect that though

seemingly a minute disturbance, the distraction of the media in a setting like college, which is intended for

education, growth and discovery, has a serious and lasting impact. It distracts from the true purpose of an

educational which is to become impactful and positive members of society. Was school a more well-worth

investment when teachers wrote life-lessons on chalkboards and students wrote their ambitions on paper?

Wesch, Michael, and TedxTalks. “TEDxKC - Michael Wesch - From Knowledgeable to Knowledge-Able.” YouTube

, YouTube, 12 Oct. 2010, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LeaAHv4UTI8.

Source 4: "Grammarly as Assistive Technology for Writing"

As students in college, we are constantly writing. Whether that be emails to professors or essays for classes, it is

important to be conscious of our grammar, spelling and punctuation. With modern technology, new platforms have been

created to assist students in any writing they do; Grammarly is a very popular example of one of these platforms. This

source is a post by an occupational therapy company commenting on Grammarly as a platform. it highlights Grammarly's

many functions like its ability to check grammar, spelling, sentence structure, vocabulary enhancement, detect plagiarism,

get performance statistics via email, and see definitions and synonyms via double-click. The platofrm not only acts as

a second set of eyes to proof-read your writing before sharing it with others, it also acts as a dictionary and thesaurus and

can be a learning tool to help students refresh their knowledge on writing rules. One of the few setbacks to a platform like

Grammarly is that it would only do the work for you and not teach you anything, however this one in specific contains

several educational features. Another small setback with this platform might be the opportunity to rely on it too heavily and

not utilize the years of knowledge we've gained in ELA and writing intensive classes about grammar and writing rules.

This is a general theme for technology and its modern "shortcuts"; it can be easy to rely on it too heavily. A previous

example in this blog was social media getting in the way of school because it is addicting and can easily be over-consumed

as a form of entertainment. This is similar in that it can be tempting to write a poor piece of text knowing that a platform

like Grammarly will fix all of your mistakes. This leads me to wonder, is it possible for us as a society to become worse

writers because of assistive-writing technologies?

Ford-Lanza, Alescia. “Grammarly as Assistive Technology for Writing.” Adapt, Adapt-and-Learn, 17 Nov. 2017, https://www.adaptandlearn.com/post/grammarly-as-assistive-technology-for-writing.