Ergonomics

Recently we did a small activity in class investigating the ergonomics of working on a computer. First of all, according to Jonathan Bailin, Ph.D, ergonomics is "the science of adjusting your work environment to fit your body and make it more comfortable". Most of the stuff we learned was relatively simple, straightforward stuff like how close to sit to your computer screen(about 25in away), the best and most comfortable position for your feet and arms while typing for extended periods of time. However, i was a little surprised to hear that extras like wrist rests for working with a keyboard or mouse are not truly necessary and can, in some cases be more harmful or tedious. The whole lesson made me much more conscious of how i sit and type and how long i sit at a computer without resting my eyes. It was, over all, very interesting.

Social Networking Sites

Along with the Social Bookmarking, we've also been looking at social networking sites in class. Amazingly, these have gone from a fun way to keep in touch with friends, and look at pictures, to a major topic of debate for students, teachers, and even suddenly government officials. We are doing a debate in class about whether Lincoln should allow facebook to be accessed through the school computers, and in doing the research for this debate, i discovered that a Resolution has been PASSED in the U.S. House to force public schools and libraries to ban social networking sites. Crazy! i mean, i can see individual schools banning them but to make it a federal offense to let kids use them at school? a little much, in my opinion. And possibly, not really their business? anyways, more later on that.

Social Bookmarking

So. Over the past few weeks, we have been working on another ongoing activity in ITGS: Social bookmarking. Honestly, i had never even heard of this until we started using it in class. After a few weeks of using it, i can say that I'm dissapointed that i didnt know about it sooner. Ive really enjoyed this incredibly easy way of saving important articles. It makes it so much easier when doing research for a big project to be able to go back and find a whole archive of self-chosen articles without having to sift through the thousands of search results on google. Also, the whole tagging aspect of social bookmarking makes the organisation of these articles so much more convenient. AND it allows you to find other related articles that people have tagged using the same key-words. So basically, im really enjoying this new activity and finding it VERY helpful.