Writing and Technology

Out of all the articles, I found From Pencils to Pixels to be the most interesting. I think mainly because I like reading about history, and how things are constantly in a state of evolution. On page 22, I found the one sentence that has been proven true throughout many states of history. “Questions of validity came up because writing was indeed being used to perpetrate fraud.” It continues to say how Monks used this to snatch land. I find that interesting that this ‘technology’ has been used for years when dealing with land grabs. We don’t even have to look at European history to see that the written language was used/introduced to a civilization that didn’t understand the concept. Yet even today, this treaties and laws are held as the ‘gospel’ when dealing with reservation entitlement. I guess I just find it interesting that we read about all this stuff, our government knows what happened and how corrupt it was, yet nothing is being done to repeal any of these deals.

Found it interesting to see where the word stylus came from. 

The telephone discussion was pretty cool, also. I have watched my two girls nodded ‘yes’ or shake their head ‘no’, when talking to people on the phone. That part of the reading was pretty funny. While at Boise State University, I did a large research paper on the Enigma Machine (famous coding machine used by Germany during WWII). When the machine was first invented, the owner tried selling it to the phone company as a new telecommunication device. They didn’t want it so he went and sold it to the military. The technology behind that machine if sold to the phone manufacturers could have possibly changed who our phones work today.

I do agree with the side note written on page 212 of Database and the Essay. We live in a world where nothing is free anymore. If there is a buck to be made, somebody is going to exploit it. I understand the intellectual property issue, and agree that if you write something then others shouldn’t be able to copy it and take credit for your work. I still continue to be in classes where students are worried about plagiarism for merely taking an idea that they read and translating in incorrectly. Yet, what I see in the real world is, if you have made a name for yourself as a writer and have a large fan base, or legal time, then its ok. Why is it ok to ‘borrow’ ideas from other books, stories, movies, and make money (if you’re famous), yet get kicked out of college for doing the same thing? I haven’t figured that out yet.

As far as the video, and the Britannica blog, am I actually supposed to be feeling sorry for the students? Call me a jerk or whatever, but I came to school to learn, not party, spend half my time on Facebook, playing video games, then turn around and complain that I don’t have enough time to study. I understand that school is busy, but give me a break. I don’t know how many times in class on the Engineering side here at MSU, classmates came in stoned, or stinking of high heaven of alcohol. I did like the one parent who commented that if she would have seen her daughter on the video stating stuff, and then her daughter would have to pay for her own school. I do feel that maybe schools need to be structured to focus on classes that are more important to the degree. “It will make you more well rounded” is not a answer as to why students have to take classes that have nothing to do with their degree. If schools are worried about student’s not getting by, do away with huge lecture hall filled classes, and the ‘filler’ classes.