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I knew getting into a career as a writer was difficult and had a low salary attached to it, but I never knew the degree to which writer’s were being shafted in the entertainment industry. Here’s a documentary written by writer’s in the strike explaining their struggle and why procedures must be changed.
Either I’m incredibly rough on technology, or I just have the worst luck when it comes to computers. During the summer before my freshman year at college, my parents purchased me a decked-out Dell Inspiron 1500 laptop; Dell stopped production of this model as it has been updated by the 1501 and 1520/1521, which happen to look virtually identical to the original. Now, I had several technical issues with a Dell Desktop I used to own, but I was willing to put the past behind me and start anew with this laptop.
The 1500 served me well, and I was able to happily multi-task while doing work for my classes. Sometime in the fall semester, however, my cd-rom had ceased to be functional; while the rest of the computer still worked, it was a pain not being able to burn CDs or rip music to my computer.
After weighing my options, I decided to send my laptop to a local technician who had previously done work on my other computers rather than shipping it back to Dell. The noncompliant cd-rom drive was removed and replaced, and all was well…for a while.
Spring semester was finally winding down, and a week or so before I was due to pack up my things, my laptop decided that breaking the cd-rom did not satisfy it’s taste for mischief; it wouldn’t stop until everything refused to work. And so one day, my laptop decided it was fed up with my antics and chose to crash, producing that blue screen we’ve all come to know and love. On the bright side of things, I had no assignments due and would be heading home in the near future. At his point in time, I believed that my one-year warranty had just expired; it was time for a second visit to the local technician.
This particular trip would prove to be more expensive than the last as my hard drive was deemed irreparable and would need to be replaced. In time, the necessary repair was done, and all was good…for a while.
The laptop survived the summer and about midway through my current semester when, yet again, a blue screen had appeared. Seeing as it was early in the semester, and I needed a computer to do work on, I immediately shipped it back home via FedEx.
For two grueling weeks, I learned the world was like without a personal computer: cold and lonely. I would want to check my email, or watch funny videos, or talk with friends but I simply couldn’t; I never realized how much free time I had without the Internet.
Getting in touch with people became a hassle because no one actually talks on the phone anymore, and text messages are only so efficient when it comes to maintaining a conversation. Since I’ve had a longstanding fall-out with television, books became even more appealing than usual. The worst part of these two weeks, however, was having to drudge back and forth between my dorm and the computer lab in order to type up homework – I don’t even want to get into it, so let’s get back to the story.
While the local technician took a more in-depth look at my laptop, my dad borrowed a laptop from work for me. When the technician called next, I would learn that a cooling fan inside my laptop would refuse to turn on, and the system would overheat and crash. He replaced the fan and once again my laptop was deemed “repaired.” I don’t think it lasted till the weekend.
The fourth visit was free of charge, and he made it a point to state that he spent four or five hours with Dell technical support, which is located in India or the Philippines (outsourcing at its finest). After not being entirely sure what to do, he reinstalled the operating system and was successful in leaving the machine on for three days without any sign of error; if it acted up again, he recommended sending it back to Dell because I apparently had an extended three-year warranty. Who knew?
This past Saturday I installed the necessary software onto the bare-bones machines: anti-virus programs for access to the Rowan network; iTunes; AIM; and so on. I went to sleep that night and unsurprisingly awoke to find the same infuriating error message as before; I hate you, Dell.
Now, when I go home for Thanksgiving break, I intend to raise hell with Dell and have this thing fixed while making a personal vow never to purchase from them again.
Am I too rough on technology? Maybe. Are Dell products poorly constructed and not worth the trouble? Probably. So, I might be in the market for a new laptop, which is where you come in; if you can make some suggestions, I’d be more than willing to listen. I’ve done a little bit of research and have my eye on either a Sony Vaio NR series laptop or a Macbook. I’m not as familiar with the Mac operating system, but that’s not a deciding factor. If you were able to read this far, maybe you could provide me with some needed input.
Thanks in advance.
“Mendel’s concept of the laws of genetics was lost to the world for a generation because his publication did not reach the few who were capable of grasping and extending it; and this sort of catastrophe is undoubtedly being repeated all about us, as truly significant attainments become lost in the mass of the inconsequential.”
In 1945, Vannevar Bush published this statement in The Atlantic Monthly, which made me wonder if there were other concepts that just narrowly escaped oblivion and if there were others that weren’t as fortunate.
In the days prior to the Internet, it becomes clear to me that the necessity of publications; with television in it’s developmental years and radio holding a small, steady following, newspapers and magazines were still an important medium used to communicate with the masses. Therefore, scientific journals were vital to the expansion of ideas and innovations in fields such as medicine and technology. Could it be possible, then, that vaccines and certain equipment were delayed to the inability to effectively reach a knowledgeable audience?
Such concerns seem outlandish with the capabilities of the information superhighway, but it’s interesting to note that there was once a time in which data could have simply been lost or discontinued. Blogs and online newspapers ensure that the people today are fed updated information at a pace that is unprecedented; and the process of saving such information is all but a click away. But what is the next step in the advancement of knowledge sharing and storage?
How much faster will information be able to travel to and from the corners of the world? How much faster do we as a society need information to be able to travel? It seems to me that we are growing towards the implicit need for instant gratification in all forms of life – just look at the rates of text messages; the increased speed and affordability of cable internet; the clock speeds of processors in computers.
When will I be able to eliminate the time it takes for these questions to bridge the gap between my head and the keyboard?
As presented in the article by Bonnie A. Nardi and Vicki L. O’Day, information ecologies take a typically biological or naturalistic perspective and apply it to communities of people and the technologies that they use.
One of the comprising characteristics of an information ecology, coevolution, inspired me to recall my time in high school and their utilization of computers in the classroom, or lack thereof. In the library, there were roughly 20 outdated desktops at the disposal of the student body; eventually, in my senior year, the administration began to invest in laptops. But while there were “ample technological resources” available to the library, classrooms often went neglected.
I can distinctly remember computers being present in a select number of classrooms that were for varied subjects. For each of my four years, however, I cannot remember there ever being lessons specifically geared toward incorporating the technology to advance understanding of concepts; the information ecology of the classrooms remained static. In order to evolve, teachers would had to have implemented technologies and the Internet continuously, rather than every so often; but the task of staying punctually up-to-date in a society where computers become obsolete almost ever year can be daunting to most teachers.
Personally, I believe that this problem arises more often than people realize; academia is not taking advantage of the technological revolution that surrounds us. College is taking stronger strides towards embracing technology with its growth of smart classrooms, computer labs, and courses (such as this) that make it a point to keep ahead of the times.
Therefore, I pose the question: how can secondary education form healthy information ecologies? How long would one expect this process to take? Some things to consider: subjects specialized in both high schools and middle schools; budget; academic and creative benefits; how technology can be classified in a universal manner yet have different meanings in different information ecologies (i.e computers in schools as apposed to computers in a banking system).
I, like most people today, cannot live without the convenience of personal computers and word processors; I practically grew up on AOL and Microsoft Word. Therefore, the computer is my first and foremost writing space. There are undeniable benefits to using a word processor: the speed of typing; the ability to revise without evidence of having done so; legibility; formatting; spell and grammar check; and a wide variety of others. I am positive that I have not written an extensive paper or essay on notebook paper in my academic career, even if I would eventually transfer it onto the computer; the only exception, of course, being essays on in-class tests or the SATs.
In class, however, I use pens and pencils in junction with notebooks; I would not feel comfortable transporting my laptop to and from class, and I feel that a teacher would be inclined to think that a student using a laptop is prone to not pay attention. In some sense, I feel that the physical act of writing embeds concepts and ideas more thoroughly into my memory than just typing them onto a Word document. But when one has hieroglyphics for handwriting such as I do, it becomes slightly difficult when its time to review.
The last writing space I use would be a journal – the most personal form of writing space in my own opinion. I enjoy writing poetry and fiction while out amongst the world, and a journal is easily transported. The prospect of instantly publishing my thoughts, ideas, and creative works is desirable, but there is an incomparable satisfaction in writing these gems onto paper first – full of cross-outs, scribbles, and notes or suggestions to myself. Not only that, but as individuals we all have unique handwriting, which makes everything we produce by hand considerably more personal; anyone could easily sit in front of a keyboard and spew thoughts as they arrive.
With this class, I hope to fall into a regular schedule of writing for myself; I have written on blogs or online journals before, but I have lost interest along the way. As a continuing assignment in the writing arts module concerning the future of writing, I believe that my initial curiosity towards blogging may be rekindled, and that I may one day produce a personal blog that I update on a regular basis.
After all, I intend to make a career out of being a writer.
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