Then and Now Reflection

Think back a few years to how you used to use your computer. Describe any changes you've noticed over that time. Finally, make some predictions about your computer use in 2013.

When I first started using a computer actively, I was probably in grade 11, which means I was about 16, which makes it school year 1996/1997. At that time, a computer for me was nothing more than a fancy typewriter because it was primarily used for typing essays, which I, by the way, first wrote out on a piece of paper and typing it out was just the final act before handing it in.

Oh, and I should mention that a couple of summers before that school year my dad had decided that it would be very beneficial for me to learn to type, so I spent the summer of probably 1994 or 1995 hating the fact that I had to spend an hour a day doing "fff space jjj, ddd space kkk, etc.". :) Later on (SY 1995/1996), I also had to take a typing class as one of my electives in grade 10 and we used to spend almost the whole class in the computer lab with a blank piece of paper taped over the monitor and a piece of paper with a story on it beside the computer. The assignment was to retype the story without looking at the monitor and going back and correcting possible mistakes, and do it all by the end of the class. How crazy is that?

So, as I mentioned, grade 11, Burnaby Central Secondary School, and I'm using a computer as a typewriter. The following year I began using a fax machine to fax over physics notes to friends, share test questions, etc., and by the end of grade 12 I started using my computer for more personal things. I think I still have a floppy disk somewhere with a "What's my life like at the moment (June 1998)" MicrosoftWord document on it that contains what can best be described as a reflection on my teenage life in Vancouver. Unfortunately I don't know anyone anymore who has a floppy disk drive, so I may never be able to go back and see what I wrote. :(

Obviously, all of that seems crazy right now, but that's how it was, which means that 3 years from now it will seem even crazier. I imagine I won't even need to have any programs on my computer because all my stuff will be available online and I'll be using open source software. I probably won't even need to bring my computer anywhere with me, because I'll be able to use any computer to access my documents. Of course, since I can still remember using a dial-up connection and hoping that no one will pick up the phone in the other room while "receiving mail" is flashing, it sometimes makes me wonder what I'd do if all my "stuff" was online and my internet is not working. Things that make you go hmmm... ;)

Being in the Public Domain Reflection

Some people have strong feelings about being in the public domain (meaning their pictures, thoughts, interests... can be potentially accessed by people they don't know). Explain your feelings? How do we address these concerns as teachers and role models? How do we teach this?

I guess I'm one of those people who see the use of the internet as a visit to an amusement park. There are various interesting things for you to see and experience, you can have a lot of fun, but there are also opportunities for unpleasant experiences (getting your wallet stolen, going on a ride that looks like fun but you end up feeling sick during or after, getting separated from your friends, etc. :) ) It's all about how you behave in certain situations, how you protect yourself from possible unpleasant experiences and how you go about solving a problem that comes up.

I guess I would try to teach my students to be informed, prepared, and take precautions to ensure the information that is out there about them is the information they wouldn't mind sharing with the rest of the world. Providing information about possible negative outcomes of sharing too much personal information and ways they could be remedied (if possible) would also be a good idea.