Technology

I am happy that I found this place. It is the first all digital library that incorporates technology for kids. There is a vast amount of ebooks for rental. They even have devices that you can rent including nooks. This is totally free to the public. Their institution has a few meeting rooms and free wifi. The place is called Bibliotech. You can get a library card just as you can in any library.

Audacity

http://audacity.sourceforge.net/download/
I'm not sure if Audacity has an online feature, but this program available for download has helped out on various occasions. Mainly to complete class projects. I have ProTools, that has recently changed due to the vast production of music that is both CD quality and cheap. It is now harder to produce such material. I still have the equipment to produce this, but it is hard to power up and get the results that I want where Audacity lets me edit audio quickly. I would highly recommend using Audacity, if you can tackle the learning curve of audio editing, get it.

AEM

Every year my organization holds a corporate meeting. This is a way that the CEO uses to have everyone in the company to get together in the same place at the same time. My company has locations in California (Human Resources), Virginia (Headquarters), San Antonio (Home of the Department of Education development), and numerous remote locations throughout the United States. Every year, hints are given as to the whereabouts of the corporate meeting. This year, we will be without an essential part of the company, the face of the company. Lorie Koch was diagnosed with a disease that proved to be deadly. A lot of employees donated PTO so that she would not miss her paycheck. Over a year of PTO was accumulated. I was not able to donate PTO until I had completed a year. This year, I was planning on donating PTO. Laurie lost her fight today. I am very grateful that she was there to guide me through my first months at AEM. I wouldn't have made it this far without her. I was able to meet her during the last corporate meeting. I have no idea what she looked like, but I know she was one of the first to greet me as it was an overwhelming experience. So, she helped me through that as well. Someone is going to have to fill some big shoes at HR in California. By the way, her story was featured in this issue of the corporate newsletter, which came out just before her death. She will be missed this May.

Multiplicity

As I walk through life, I try not to limit myself. I've tried many different things and have accomplished many talents. In music, I didn't limit myself to one instrument; in cooking, I didn't limit myself to the kitchen; in design, I didn't limit myself to Photoshop. In fact, I went into photography and programming. I cooked indoor dinners on the grill, and I picked up instruments from different parts of the world. I want to continue to grow, and I am grateful that I can see myself through different lenses and in different ways.

Exploring Online Content of Sociological Relevance

The topics in the list of sociology topics range from the basic concepts of sociology to particular and very specific topics such as racism and family inequality. The topics varied into feminist argument for women in the family to racist ads that portray Harriet Tubman on a Google Doodle. There was a Native American ad that was to run during the Super Bowl that was criticized. This ad symbolized what many of my Native American friends (who prefer to be called indigenous) fight against in search of respect of their identity. So, I do believe that the study of sociology reaches many areas of life, if not all. I did, however, see a lot of topics in the list that had to do with culture and finding identity, another one of the topics that I am very interested in my research area.

I was particularly interested in Teaching with Data. I found it fascinating how the issues that were portrayed on this Facebook page are closely related to the issues that we find in offline life: Right-wing politics and argumentation, Obama’s State of the Union address, Economics, and inequality. The subject matter was very vast, but I did see it all relevant to teaching with and through digital media. I’m glad that I stumbled on this page that is essentially a support group for learning how to teach through multimedia.

Blogger Static Home Page and Menu Navigation

http://www.bloggertipspro.com/2012/06/creating-blogger-static-home-page.html
Here is a link that shows how you can set up a static home page and a navigation bar on Blogger so that your posts can be categorized like a website. By the way, I would reserve those labels used for each page to categorize the pages. A similar label could be used to emphasize the post.

Online Multimedia System

My primary reaction to collecting information online is to search key terms and remember what the website looks like so that I can search the exact terms and fins the information again. After reading through Miller (2011), I think that I will be using social bookmarking to keep websites at hand and on the cloud. I think the many tools available make it easier on student collaboration because everything is located on the cloud. It’s interesting how students are capable of engaging various types of media, but seldom do use them, utilizing only Facebook and texting. I believe that Miller had many good ideas as to coherently devise a system of information management.

It is important devise such a strategy to manage information gained online. In order for students to get the most out of multimedia, they need to be immersed in multimedia; they need to know how to use multimedia, and this only comes with using it. The old adage “Practice makes perfect” is applicable in this case. To devise a strategy, it is important to know media and especially how to use it in order to be effective. Social bookmarking is by far a good way of linking to websites where information has been found. Having all of the information in one location where all that needs to be done is click a link makes things faster and more efficient. Also, the links are located online, so there is no danger in losing them and they can be accessed through multiple media devices. I enjoyed the idea of concept-mapping; I’ve used similar software and these software help in decision making as well as thought stimulation. It is indeed essential to conceptualize how all of this raw information gathered through social bookmarking is to be used. Without this step, the information within the bookmarked URLs is essentially useless.

I would definitely use short videos from YouTube for demonstration purposes. These short videos are a great way to demonstrate how something works or, especially in my line of work, how something should proceed and the process associated with certain tasks. Documentaries are a great source of information about specialized topics. For instructional use, I would use something like having information on a topic socially bookmarked, show to students a video that is in the form of a documentary, and have the student’s view short videos out of class. This is indeed a rich-media mix. In addition, I might use interactive slide shows or a sophisticated digital story.

Caffeine

Everyday, I actually grab a couple of Dr. Peppers every morning. They keep me going throughout the day and keep me relaxed and refreshed. I am grateful that my office actually has a fridge of sodas that we can have at any time. I know I have free cokes all day, but I'd rather keep that privilege and not waist them all in one week, So I buy my Dr. Peppers and if I ever need another, I can be rest assured that I can get one more if I need it. Thanks for amenities.

Apple Butter

I really appreciate cooking from scratch. I enjoy creative ideas in the kitchen. These apples are going to be applesauce when they finish cooking. After that, they are going to simmer in a crock pot over night. Once they become apple butter, they are going into honey barbecue sauce to make sweet and sassy barbecue sauce. I love being able to go through the entire process.

My Vehicle

I had to pay a considerable amount of money to get my truck working after my tires went bad. The truck started shaking so much that it messed up pulleys in the core. I am grateful that this time around my truck lasted long enough for me to fix the other two front tires and get the alignment fixed. I'm also grateful that I had the finances to make this fix. This way, I can make it to work and school for the distance that I drive.

Long-time Friendships

I don't have many friends, but, today, I am grateful for long-time friendships. Over 15 years ago, these guys came up to me and had faith in me. I was just learning how to play, but they taught me the ropes week-by-week, month-by-month, and year-by-year. I have been playing with this group for over 15 years, and I do not plan on going anywhere soon.

SPURS

I'm grateful for living in a city that has one of the best franchises in NBA history. I used to collect NBA cards in the 80's when the Spurs were hard workers and not really a winning team. The players were great to the community, and would always teach loyalty and poise. At the verge of change, the twin towers began dominating. Once the big three arrived, history was changed and I continued to follow a winning team. Thank you San Antonio Spurs family.

End Of Day

I am grateful for the time at work when everyone else leaves and My light is the only one on. The office is peacefully quiet. I can relax, get all loose ends tided up, and relax since I can leave at anytime I want to.

Entity Framework

Today, I am grateful that I know, at least somewhat, how this thing works. I probably went a few months without knowing what this thing was. I knew its name, and I knew what it looked like, but I didn't want to touch it. Today, I am grateful that I can try things with it, and I can actually get it to work for me. It makes my job just that much easier.

Google+

I am grateful for our Google TV. It allows us to view my SOC 6903 community on my 52 inch screen. Maybe this way I can continue to stay in touch with the community, especially when I turn myself off by mindlessly watching television at the end of the day.

The Mall

I am very grateful that we have these things all over San Antonio. It's a great place to find things, and the mall is an extraordinary location to get away for a bit on a holiday while spending money on bargains that you would otherwise have to attain at a later date for the regular or inflated price. Plus, it's family time!

Smoking BBQ

I am grateful for weekends and living in Texas. I can relax and slow-cook a brisket in the wonderful weather in January. The family has come over, and everyone is having a nice and relaxing day. I'm glad that my father decided to join me in cooking everything else. In my family, this is just another weekend.

Tye Red

My daughter and I buried her fish today. Tye Red was given to her as a birthday gift on her 5th birthday in 2012 in Allende, Mexico. He stayed in a small container that was very cloudy until I managed to get a 10 gallon fish tank with a filter treated for Beta fish. My daughter picked out a castle for him and he was very comfortable and a good fish. He lived over a year and four months when we thought he would only last those two weeks in the container. Ironically, he was laid to rest in a coffin-like box given to my daughter from her uncle's wedding that she insisted we use. She left a few glued pennies in the box for him. I am grateful for Tye and going through this with my daughter. R.I.P. Tye Red

My Online Life

There are many ways that technology and the Internet have affected my life. One of these major ways is that I always have a sense of connectedness. I feel especially connected with my family and friends; at a moment’s notice, I can relay information to a number of people and gain information about what they are doing or feeling through the use of social media. I also feel more connected to the world, and this aids me in finding solutions to problems, in finding information that I need or want, and in finding anything and everything that is asked of me. I argue that digital technologies have changed who I am over the course of its existence with me. I do find myself checking multiple things on my phone. I also have multiple devices that I check at the same time. I learned these new forms of digital media as they were introduced into society. For these reasons, I would consider myself Marc Prensky’s digital native. I used to program on an apple computer possibly before the Macintosh was introduced. I learned how to use a typewriter simultaneously to learning how to write with a pencil. I still remember the day that computers were introduced to my fourth-grade class.

The two documentaries, Rachel Dretzin’s Growing Up Online and Douglas Rushkoff and Rachel Dretzin’s Digital Nation, raise a lot of questions, especially some pertaining to those growing up as a digital native. I especially liked the idea that, somewhere along the way, there was a shift in ownership of the Internet from adults to teenagers. Teenagers have changed digital media to something that is a part of our everyday lives. In today’s society, you need to have the Internet on to talk to friends or else you cease to be in the loop; Digital Nation alludes to this theme with the idea that we have to keep up or we get left behind.

The education system has to be interactive in order for these new “humans” to learn; I honestly don’t believe that the traditional method of teaching will work, especially if digital media is taken out of the classroom. Yes, the educators need to cut through media and get their students’ attention to be a successful educator. Even there are more students who struggle with the ability to focus than there were thirty years ago, these students can accomplish working tasks that would take workers with years of experience twice as long to accomplish; in this sense, teaching students to multitask is important for their future jobs. I can sympathize with the motion to teach children how to use digital media; then, may be instant gratification would not be seen as negative. Teachers need to know how to use digital media and navigate the attention span of the student towards that digital media.

Digital media sites are what we think of as adolescent’s identities. It is a place for them to try things out. It’s harder to get into their personal belongings online than they were to get them offline. Another idea that resonated with me was the fact that teenagers ask, “Why tell my parents when I have the whole world to talk to?” With teenagers thinking this way, I don’t believe that neuroscience is the best way to figure out what is going on with individuals who multitask and digital media users. Figuring this out would also require scholars to determine the definitions of both multitask and distraction. However, I do agree that we should all be asking, “What is technology doing to us?”

Los Tovares

I am grateful for having the opportunity to play in a Tejano group that had a #1 hit song on a local radio station. This was a semi-professional group, but I was able to go to a radio station, do events, sell CDs, and try out all of the amenities of a recoding artist on a smaller scale.To top things off, I recorded the song and helped throughout the song creation process.

The Internet

I forget that most of my everyday tasks could not get accomplished without this invention. I believe that we take for granted the Internet. I have nothing more to do than wait during Internet blackouts from my service provider. Not only is the Internet a way to express one's self, it provides to us essentials that would otherwise take time away from our busy lives. Not only am I grateful for the Internet, but I don't think that I could live very long without it.

Digital Media and Boundaries

RESEARCHABLE INTERESTS for Richard M. Cano

My research interests are both broad and specific. I would like to inquire into how media reacts in its own right. It would be interesting to see how we are changed by media. In turn, I’d like to see how media changes traditional methods of accomplishing tasks, that is, the ways that we have done things in the past. I’d also like to see how media affects communication ideology. Even another area of research is to inquire into how research methodology can be enhanced by media. These research interests have many benefits as to the inquiry of digital media.

I will make every effort to focus on how digital media is alive and grows organically like a rhizome. This concept is something that I have wanted to explore many times over, and I believe that this course gives me the perfect opportunity to do so. I have a lot of literature that has lead me to this topic, and many unanswered questions that cannot be resolved without delving into the act of actual utilization.

I will also focus my research interests on studying the fact that we have multiple identities because of social media, both online and offline. Our identities are split due to the fact that we create and maintain an online identity separate yet in conjunction to our offline identities. I plan on depicting this concept through the various digital mediums available to us (i.e. blogs, images, video, social media, etc.).

As an added interest, I’d like to show how digital media has changed traditional and even classical vocations. As a musician in a mariachi group, I’d like to depict how media has changed the way things have been accomplished for years. This is true in other areas as well, including education.

Another aspect of my research interests is the full-circle of communication (from communication with the self (i.e. the role of psychology in communication) to communication with the masses (i.e. social media)). I have a graphic that shows what I ascertain to be the warmth and coldness of media as it flows through this circle. Communication studies do not concern themselves with the psychological aspects of this circle and have only yet grasped the social media aspects.

I have often pondered as to how media would change methodology, how using social media to research areas of social media would affect academia. I have tried gaining data through a website that was in the form of a forum. I would like to explore how other types of digital media can be used to ascertain data that would be relevant in academia.

I argue that these research interests are both intriguing and justified. If digital media is alive, it lives, grows, and dies with us. As a result, we live with digital media, often times creating different identities because of it. Some traditional methods of accomplishing tasks are changed because of digital media. Both our internal and external communication is affected by the use of digital media. As a result, digital media itself might be the best way to analyze digital media in its natural habitat.

My research interests are both broad and specific. Digital media seems to lend itself to this type on inquiry. In hopes of answering some of these sectors, I will look towards digital media to fill in the gaps missing in my research endeavors.

My Daughter

Everyday, I am grateful to have a wonderfully talented, intellectual, and extroverted daughter. She loves doing her Kindergarten homework, and is ready for the 1st Grade Math test tomorrow. Her hobbies include art, dance, music, and acting. This is quite a lot for a six-year-old, but she handles it like a champ. I am so grateful for her that she gets treated like the queen in our family. Thank you Nadiyah E. Ledesma for taking life with a more eccentric view than mine.

Word Cloud

This word cloud is a visual picture of who I am. Starting from the most frequently stated term, I feel that I am intellectual. I believe that this term is present in every other term listed within the word cloud. I am a proud dad of a daughter whom I wish to have this same quality of intellect. I consider myself a Tejano, heritage in the state of Texas and developed with all of the qualities of Texas. I believe that I am a strong problem solver. I am creative and very sarcastic. I love playing Devil’s Advocate. Some of my qualities include graphic design and music. I play accordion as well as other instruments. I am also a musician in a Mariachi group. The fact that I play accordion and Mariachi music, I would say, makes me an old soul. I am introverted. This makes me intuitive and a logical thinker. I am a strong advocate of interdisciplinary studies; I believe that we all have something to offer in the whole of the world. For this reason, I find myself to be both a qualitative and quantitative thinker. This really means that I spend long nights re-thinking and over-thinking situations and problems. Yes, I am up late at night and would classify myself as a night owl. To relieve stress, I turn to sports as a diversion from and sometimes a distraction that leads to problem solving.

Employment

Since I graduated high school, I have not gone a year without being employed, so I am grateful for being employed. However, just like twins can be born in separate years, I was unemployed for eight months between April 2012 and February 2013. I used to work as a security guard. I never thought that there would be a prettier sight at work than looking over downtown from the top of a high-rise building at 3 am. This is a picture of the view out of my window at my office. A year ago, I landed a great job that I only thought I might get after five years in my field. I think this tops the many sleepless nights I’ve had working in the past.