Madison's Comm 211 Blog

  According to Prensky, what is the immigrant/native divide, and how has it affected how students learn? Prensky posits that those who grew up in the presence of technology are adapted to technology and therefore can easily integrate new technologies into their lives. This group he labels the digital natives. The second group is the digital immigrants, these people were raised before the dawn of the digital era, they have to learn to integrate technology into their daily lives. Digital natives vs. immigrants have different learning styles due to the amount and way they receive information. Digital natives prefer an interactives approach to learning that utilizes media tools to make their experience more engaging while digital immigrants prefer a more traditional approach to learning. Another way in which Prensky highlights the differences between the two groups is media/online literacy. Prensky theorizes that due the vast amount of information that digital ...

       The relationship I will be analyzing is a friendship. Over the past 10 or so months I have become closer with one of my coworkers. According to Knapp's relational model I would say our friendship is either at the bonding or integration stage, if these stages are interpreted can be interpreted in a more platonic sense. We often call each other friends and hang out outside of work, and my friend is going to spend thanksgiving with my family. I think online communication has been a clear marker of when our friendship progresses to the next stage. Although exchanging social media can be something done among people who are merely acquaintance, I usually reserve sharing my social media with coworkers until I consider us to be relatively close. And when we start messaging each other on it to be another stepping stone towards closeness. 

Is there an ideal number of “friends” or connections individuals have on Facebook that can improve their mental health? Social media can be a useful tool for improving ones mental health. The main benefits social media platforms off is a way to maintain connection with real-life friends. Websites like Facebook have even created a secondary application, Facebook messenger, to do so. However, the main use of all social media apps is not communication. It is content consumption, because of this I don't think that the amount of friends one has on the app is the confounding factor in whether or not Facebook negatively affects mental health. In my personal experience, the more important factor is time spent on social media.  Do social networking sites have any responsibility in promoting mental health in their users? If so, how might they go about doing so? I don't think that responsibility relies with social networking sites. Many companies create products which nega...

Where are you from? Where are you living now? I'm from Portland, Oregon. Currently I live in Corvallis, Oregon.  Which degree are you working towards? Fisheries , wildlife and conservation science. What do you hope to do with your degree? What are your career ambitions? I hope to do a lot of fieldwork or in science communication. I would like to work for governments or nonprofits.  What are your hobbies- what do you like to do in your free time? In my free time I like to paint, read and make jewelry.  I have also recently taken up birdwatching.   Tell us an interesting fact about yourself. An interesting fact about me is that I've never broken a bone. What would you like to learn/discuss in this term related to online communication? Use what you learned in the weekly lecture and your weekly readings to discuss your interests. I would like to discuss more how to communicate with employers/ communicate qualifications for jobs online. How do you...