Hello Blog, I Remember You. And a Few Thoughts on Goals.

Yes, it's been a while since I wrote a blog post. I had to remember my way back.

So what's happening in my life? What am I learning?

Lately, my time has been occupied by two big goals:

1) Run a half marathon - to be accomplished October 21
2) Finish graduate school - to be accomplished December 12

Both are proving to be quite time consuming, especially as I tackle them at the same time.

Goals are a good thing. When you know what you want to accomplish, and set measurable parameters around it, you're more likely to be successful. It makes sense. You can't run a good race if you don't know the location of the finish line. So why do so many of us run our lives without an end in mind? With a lack of purpose?

I recently read "The Circle Maker" by Mark Batterson. His book is about the power of prayer, and he shares stories of prayer at work in his life and his ministry. Overall, the book is a  great reminder of the importance of setting time aside every day to be in prayer and fellowship with God.

He also talks about goals. He says that "goals are dreams with deadlines," and it often starts with prayer. God can give you some of your biggest, most exciting goals, Batterson claims, when you're closely connected to Him.

The two goals above are short term goals. In a few weeks, they'll both be crossed off my list.

What's next?

I'm hoping God will help me figure that out.

Learn more about this book.

Grad School: Why Am I Doing This?

I’m currently in my third semester of graduate school at Grand Valley State University, and I frequently find myself questioning my rationale for going back to school. 

Like when I’m on my computer for three hours in the evening writing papers.
Or spending hours on a weekend going through piles of assigned reading.

Or sitting in class for three hours after a full day of work.
Or missing out on time with my friends because I have to study.

Graduate school is rough, so I am constantly reminding myself that it’s a short term sacrifice for long term gain. With my degree, I hope to advance my career and open up new opportunities. It can be fun at times, too. I’ve become friends with people who I may otherwise have never met, the topics are interesting, and I can find humor in drawn out class discussions.

Plus, these days I don’t hesitate to do my homework with a glass of wine by my side.

More importantly, I've realized that going back to school is a character builder. I’m learning to practice patience, kindness, and respect in moments when I don’t feel them. I’m trying to send vibes of Godly love towards classmates who drive me absolutely bonkers. I’m living in the moment - even if that moment is currently inside a cement block classroom.

Grad school is a challenge, but I know it will be worth it in the long run. Receiving my degree will be a sign of my growth both personally, professionally, and even spiritually. As Paul wrote to the Romans, perseverance pays off: 

"We rejoice in our suffering, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us." Romans 5:3-5 (NIV).

It may be a tad extreme to liken grad school to "suffering," but it gets my point across. Oftentimes, we must do things we don't like to do in order to grow.

So I will continue on with my degree, and in approximately 15 months I will have a small piece of calligraphy to show for my suffering. But I'll have a lot of hope for my future, too.

The Treacherous and Exciting Adventures of Winter Running

Running outside in Michigan winters reminds me a lot of a Barbie Nintendo game I had as a kid. Laugh all you want, but it was the hardest game in our family’s collection. Not even my older brother and his video game savvy best friend couldn’t beat it.

The object of the game was to navigate Barbie through various scenes on several different kinds of transportation: in a convertible, on roller skates, or riding a bike. One of the levels took place at a ski resort. Barbie was on foot – wearing a pair of stylish boots, naturally – but her path was full of obstacles. She had to avoid patches of ice and snow, out of control skiers, and kids throwing snowballs at her face.

 

Running outside during a Michigan winter is a lot like that level from the game. You have to carefully navigate your feet around patches of ice, through slick patches of snow, and dodge the slush that passing cars throw in your direction.

It can be scary. Today when I was running, I couldn’t help but envision myself slipping while running on the shoulder of the road and falling on my face. That would be a bad day. But the snow on that part of the road is tricky and a fall isn’t that out of the question. It’s as difficult as running in sand but with an icy factor added. Just for fun. 

But even though the winter cold can intimidate me from venturing outside, I love these running days.

The world is so much quieter when it’s cold outside. I can go for miles and feel like the only person in the world. There are fewer people outside in their yards, fewer cars driving by, and less noise. I can completely lose myself in my breathing, the pace of my feet, and the music on my iPod. Today it was a shuffle mix of Switchfoot songs.

Plus it’s kind of fun to be the star of a Nintendo game.

Social Media and the Mainstream Media

Class discussion on McQuail’s media policy paradigm shifts brought up important questions we should ask of the mainstream media today. One of the questions that interests me the most is what role does social media have in determining what the media thinks is important?

I think it’s evident that the mainstream media pays attention and responds to social media trends. A few examples:

-         Iranian election protests in June 2009

-         Citizen coverage of the 2008  President election

-         The mainstream media has created social network pages to engage with audiences

-         News stations report on popular YouTube videos, for example Fox 17 WXMI shared a YouTube video of a flashmob in Rosa Parks Circle

Certainly, social media meets McQuail’s concept of freedom of communication, a concept he feels is central to a communications policy model. However, I feel social media communication can easily fall victim to the spiral of silence. While social media provides an avenue for individuals to connect with niche groups, it is such a public forum that individuals can be harshly rebuked for posted opinions. For instance, if you search “Willow Palin Facebook,” you find 2,390,000 results in Google.

The mainstream news media certainly listens to social media because they report on what happens on the social networks. While this can be a powerful and useful tool for spreading information that otherwise would not be broadcast, it can also cause public relations and image nightmares for individuals, especially celebrities and public figures. 

Online Religion

Last week’s discuss of Joshua Meyrowitz’s “No Sense of Place” provoked thoughts and questions about the influence of social media on religion. While my church actively uses social media – sharing links to content via Twitter, connecting people on Facebook, and providing studies on blogs – many churches have yet to embrace the technology.

Meyrowitz tells us that “we cannot have some of the forces for social change brought about by electronic media without having all, or most, of the forces.” I interpret this statement to mean that we can’t have the advantages our new technology brings us without the disadvantages, too. We discussed this earlier in the semester in regards to Postman’s evaluation of technology allowing us to gain something, but at the same time, lose something.

Four years ago, I examined the topic of online religion in my senior thesis in Sociology at Alma College. In light of our discussion last week, I thought it would be pertinent to share some of my findings.

I conducted interviews with 12 undergraduate students at Alma College who were active participants in religious campus organizations. I asked students about their use of the Internet to further their faith. In my research, I discovered three primary themes. The following are excerpts from my senior thesis:

• Information. First off, undergraduate students’ use of religious resources online supports the Pew Internet and American Life Project’s approach to the Internet as a vast ecclesiastical library. Religion Online is the provision of information regarding doctrine, political organization, and belief. This is clearly a main appeal for undergraduate students

• Spiritual Practices. Many students used online materials as spiritual practices. This was discussed in the literature review as online religion when an invitation is given to visitors of religious websites to engage in some dimension of religious life. The students who use online religion apply it as a supplemental tool to enhance their commitment to their beliefs and campus religious organizations.

• Online vs. Face-to-Face Community. The last theme which emerged from the data depicted a tension between online community and face-to-face community. This tension revolved around the belief that face-to-face community was much more authentic than online community. The subjects each seemed to possess a personal standard of acceptable and unacceptable online religious interaction, while at the same time becoming personally involved in online religious resources themselves.

I feel these themes remain applicable to online religion today, but I believe the Internet and Web 2.0 have evolved since I completed by research in 2007. This could possibly be a continued focus of study in my graduate work.

If you are interested in reading more of my thesis, I would be happy to share it with you – all 42 pages of it. J

Internet a Communication Tool We Can’t Ignore

Jaron Lanier encourages Internet users to fight the deterministic and anonymous nature of the Internet. He recommends we “create a website that expresses something about who you are that won’t fit into the template available to you on a social networking site” (p21).

Jaron follows his own advice.

After reading the first chapter of his book, I turned to Google to tell me more about the author who has such strong philosophical beliefs about the Internet.

One of the first things I learned is his name is spelled incorrectly on our handout.

While Jaron’s website was certainly unique and creative, it didn’t tell me very much about the man other than present a list of articles. I didn’t find his website informative or helpful.

I agree that the use of social networking needs to be limited (everything in moderation, right?), and that we should think critically about our frequent use of technology. It undoubtedly does have an effect on individuals and our relationships.

However, the Internet is one of the most powerful and helpful communication tools known to man. If we don’t take advantage of the opportunity to further express our entrepreneurial spirit or educate the world about a cause near to our heart, we’re failing. We should use the Internet as a tool to share messages we’re passionate about and connect with people regardless of time or space.

And it starts with a well designed web site…even one created from a template.

Is the Internet Hindering Education?

Carr raises many questions about how the Internet and new media affect the way we think. Several of his points interest me:

•            The amount of time we spend on a web page – discouraging for someone like me who maintains a corporate blog!
•           Different thinking fostered by Internet use
•           Linear reading vs. online reading
•           Multitasking

Throughout this class, our readings have hinted toward the use of technology and web 2.0 media in classroom settings. Carr led me to ask, if the Internet overflows our cognitive load, and our ability to retain information is hindered, then should Internet use of children be limited?

We may be better off giving our kids books instead of computers.

Carr hints that our obsessive use of the Internet may even change our brains to the point that we develop ADD when “we find distractions more distracting.” Furthermore, he references a study that found “the multimedia technologies so common to the Web…seemed to limit, rather than enhance, information acquisition.”

This is especially interesting in a time when electronic text books are proposed and laptops given to students at young ages. Are we helping or hurting our youth?

Are any members of the COM641 class doing their final paper on the topic of education and new media?