Schwegman Blog Post #1

1.When I try to think back to my first defining moment in which I used technology, I think back to grade school computer class. I remember playing the game "Typer Shark" over and over again. The objective of this game was to type the word that was on the shark and if you typed the word too slow the shark would attack you, causing you to loose the game.  I was so obsessed with this game I would go home and play it on my home computer. Typer Shark wasn’t as fast on my home computer because we had dial up. Because of the slow Internet connection from dial up, I had a chance to learn the keyboard better. The sharks would move slower allowing me to look at the keyboard more often, giving me a better visual of the keyboard in my photographic memory. This ultimately allowed me to become more accurate in predicting where the keys on a keyboard were.  My out of school practice with Typer Shark made me look more impressive to fellow classmates and my teachers, I had the highest score in my class! I remember being so fast at typing and thinking to myself, "wow, I must be really good with computers!" Little did I know, there was a lot more to computers than just typing…


2. The reoccuring theme in the articles we were assigned to read is that technology is constantly changing. We discussed this in class also, that we are constantly having to adapt to changes in technology and learn these changes. After learning how to be typing efficient in "Typer Shark," I was quickly taught how to use software like PowerPoint, Excel, and Word. My level of fluency in computers continued to grow till I was making websites and learning how to use Photoshop. New technologies came out like Smart Phones and iPods, I had to learn how to use those too. It is quite obvious that as consumers in this age, we all feel the same way, we have to keep learning how to use technology to keep up with the world around us. Although we all might feel that we need to keep up, some of us choose not to. This was a difference in a lot of the articles, some of us just like to be "old fashioned" and use pen and paper. 


3. In comparing myself with other students' digital literacy narratives I notice that we all grew up kind of the same way. We all had computer classes, played video games, used an iPod, and have used a computer a lot. We all have ran into technological problems and have dealt with them, this is what makes somoene who is digitally literate. Someone who is digitally literate knows how to use technology well whether they like it or not. A digital native is someone who has grown up using a computer.


4. My generalization is that if you have dealt with a technological problem you are digitally literate. I consider this a valid argument, simply because if you have used technology enough in your lifetime you have ran into a problem. After running into those problems you could give up on technology but people recgonize that technology is valuable enough to work through. Those who stuck through it became digitally literate.