Describe the first time you used a computer. What are your earliest memories of using the Internet? How old were you? Where were you, who was with you, what was the occasion? How did you use the Internet when you were younger? When did you first have access to a computer and the Internet at home? What about at school?
The earliest memory I have of using the computer was for some simple art game, where I’d use computer markers to color in between the lines, then later print out the poorly done pieces for friends and family members. My little presents. I must’ve been about 7 at the time, using the computer by myself in my old home, with no reason except the desire for some fun. The internet really didn’t come in to my knowledge and general use until around 13, when it was mainly accessed for library research. It was about the same time it came into use at my household, for strictly library research, as it had extremely little appeal to me at the time.
What Websites do you remember visiting at 10? At 15? Did you regularly use the computers or the Internet as part of your schoolwork?
The internet had not yet come into popular use, as I recall, by age ten. By age 15, it was mostly accessed to look up research for homework, guides to video games, funny videos or stories, and women, generally naked and objectified. By then, computers and internet became a critical part of the education experience.
How has your use of computers changes since that first time? Describe your current computer uses. How much time do you spend using a computer and what are you doing with it (them)?
The only way I’d say it has changed is that I also use the internet for news, regular email, Facebook, and, as of now, blogging. I still use it for all that I have in the past, perhaps to an even greater extent and most definitely at a larger time: I’d say I spend at least three hours a day with some kind of computer usage, either to write up essays, articles, research, do some kind of homework or online class activity, or just for personal amusement. This time spendage never has exceeded five straight hours, to my knowledge.
What do you like best/least about the World Wide Web?
The best always comes in the form of Facebook/Worthy entertainment of some sort. The worst comes whenever one crosses into that dirty corners of cyberspace where only the desensitized can truly push themselves to. It’s almost inevitable to end up touching that dark spot every once and while.
Do you read from the Web? What do you read? Do you read traditional, paper-based texts? What sorts and why? Who is your favorite author and why? How is reading a paper text different from reading on the Web? Do you have different expectations, are you a different reader, etc.?
I still enjoy my funny stories and articles (websites like http://www.somethingawful.com/) and the authors who write for them, usually are the only writers that I find enjoyable and actually funny. Paper-based texts, from time to time, are easy to access, but generally contain boring material, so they are often avoided when possible. My favorite internet author would be Zach Parsons, one of the writers from Something Awful who obviously spends as much time as possible behind a laptop, churning out often hilarious and sometimes insightful pieces of writing that is always makes for quality reading, regardless of how hard I might (or might not) laugh.
Do you have websites that you visit on a regular basis? What are they and why do you keep going back? What influence have these sites had on your life?
I visit Facebook, Something Awful, New York Times, and my online subscription to The Rocky Mountain Times almost every day possible. I keep going back to them generally because they are interesting, or funny, but they’ve had little impact on my life rather than acting as entertainment or sometimes thought material that never really drives me into action. The internet is still the internet; it just doesn’t stack up to the real world, for me at least.
How is your use of your computer different than that of other technologies?
I’d say it only does in the amount of time I spend using it, as it is the only piece of “newer” technology (besides a cell phone) that is critical to my piece of life. It’s the main source of my entertainment.
What do you do when you have a problem with your computer?
Unless it’s something simple that can be figured out, my computer will be taken to the nearest computer repair station in the hopes that they can drive out the evil hidden within the silicon and wiring.
Describe your attitudes about writing in general and your attitudes about writing with computers in particular. Do you enjoy writing?
I love to write! Be it in newspaper articles or short stories or even, surprisingly, these blogs. Writing on the computer is enjoyable and easy, and it can triple the experience when there is so much information to draw upon when writing out something. When I write a news article, I always am required to search for names, phone numbers, old stories, things I never knew about before, what ever I may need to make my piece of journalism make sense and not be labeled ignorant by whoever will be reading the article. But I’m sure that can’t be avoided every now and then.
Do you prefer to write by hand, or are you equally comfortable--or more so--writing with computers? Is the writing you do with computers different than the kind you do by hand? How are they different? Who reads this writing?
This is a dependable situation. When journaling (which I highly prefer to blogging and try to do as often as I can) or writing short fiction, doing it with the strokes of a pen seems to make my mind function much more easily than throguh the clickty-clack strokes of a keyboard, so in that case, I suppose it’s all about perspective and style. Maybe the fact that, usually, no one reads the written writing while it seems that the typed writing gets read oh so much more is the reason why it’s easier for me to go by the pen.
What is the one thing that you really want to learn about in this class? What is the one thing you are worried about?
More than anything, I suppose I’d like to understand and maybe even discover something out of the blog culture. I’ve never be very receptive of the blog culture, never really giving too much thought or care to the individuals who I don’t know in real life, and I don’t expect them to care what I think either, because I’m much more likely to become bored with their bluntness or lack of originality or even abundance of originality that overwhelms my simple mind. The one thing that I worry about this class is finding the blog culture to be just the boring landscape that I so terribly fear it to be. The coding sounds like a rather intimidating aspect as well.
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