Reflection of My Semester in JOUR289I

During the first week of class, I described myself as someone who sees technology as a friend or a foe. As the semester draws to a close, I still firmly believe that technology can take its toll on people. It can be controlling as well as daunting, and yet, everyone will never be able to live without it again.

I don’t think I have changed as a person over the last semester. I still stand by the interests that I have and my major is still the same. If anything, I think I have incorporated technology more into my life after taking this class. Instead of one iPod touch, I have two iPod touch’s that I got to use on a daily basis. I also discovered new apps on the iPod that I had never played around with before, including one of my favorites now, audioboo. This app allows you to record and upload voice recordings of anything and share it on Twitter, Facebook, or any other site. It is useful for conducting interviews or even recording your professors in class so that you can listen to it later and take notes on it.

Based on my experiences this semester, some of the positive aspects of digital information are that it is always innovating. Technology keeps the world moving, and it keeps the people moving. We are constantly taking advantage of all the discoveries that are taking place in the technological world, showing everyone that we are the future; that technology is the future of this world. Without it, the people would become immobile, and have a hard time adapting to a world without technology. This is where the negative aspect of digital information comes in. People are so dependent upon technologies nowadays that I personally think that no one on a college campus would be able to go without technology for one day. It becomes a frightening thought that people think that they need technology to function. Every month the market comes out with some kind of new gadget, and most people who are really technology savvy think that they need the new gadget. And so every month, they buy what’s new on the market. I wonder what they do with all of their old technology gadgets.

After this class, I know now that technology has much more uses that I thought it once did, and to my peers I would like to say to them that the digital information is a huge cyber world. Once something is uploaded to the internet, it can never go away and it is there for the whole world to see. Be careful with what you post in the internet and what pictures are uploaded. I would also recommend taking this class if they wish to enjoy talking about new technological advancements in the world, current events, as well as photography. I think photography was one of the best things I learned about in this class. It gave it a new edge, and for a while there I thought I was in a digital arts class, something I’ve wanted to take for a while. All in all, I can say that I am definitely going to miss this class at the end of the semester. For me, it was my escape class because I actually looked forward to coming to JOUR289I compared to the rest of my classes. 

Future of Technology and Greek Life

The role of technology serves a great deal of attribute in Greek life. Without it, people in Greek life would not be able to communicate as much and stay in touch with graduated brothers and sisters and potential recruits. In my previous blog entries on this site, I exemplified mostly how we use social networking sites to stay in touch and recruit potential new members in various ways. Now, I see a different purpose that the role of technology plays: staying and connecting with alums who laid the foundations for these brotherhoods and sisterhoods by which means continue to prosper every day and will continue to do so as long as the sole and purpose of each individual fraternity and sorority beat in the heart of every brother and sister alive or dead.

In my audioboo interview, I interviewed Kiran Najeeb, my line sister in my sorority. She is 20 years old and a Criminal Justice major. Her opinion about what role technology plays in Greek life was similar to mine. Her thoughts summarized were that it played the biggest role in recruiting new members into the various organizations as well as helped advertise the organizations whenever events were being held and we wanted to whole campus to know about. Other Greek and non-Greek supporters would come out to these events to help support us and show their love and support for these organizations. Her audioboo interview can be listened here: http://audioboo.fm/boos/231360-audioboo-interview-2. 

Technology plays a deeper role than just communication through social networking sites. The websites that these organizations have that present their organizations help notify anyone who is interested in researching them of the purpose, history, and brothers and sisters of the organization all across the nation. These websites are designed very creatively by brothers and sisters themselves. They put all their hard work into these websites because they want to present their organization in the best light possible.  And to have the honor of designing your colony’s website is an accomplishment just in itself.

Further development of the role of technology in Greek life involves looking at how technology can help Greeks stay in touch with graduated brothers and sisters and brothers and sisters across the nation. I crossed the spring semester of my freshman year, and I remember meeting my national line sisters. Just standing up there, with all my sisters, gave me the feeling that I wasn’t doing this alone, I have all these people next to me going through the same thing I am going through, we are all going to go through it together, and we will get it done together. After we all had crossed, we all went back to our schools and missed each other dearly. Facebook allows me to stay in touch with my national line sisters. I can comment on their walls and see how they are doing at school and how our sorority is progressing at that colony. Furthermore, it allows me to get to know them more and more. I don’t feel disconnected from them and whenever I miss them, I know they are only a Facebook post away. Staying in touch with alums is also another aspect I explore about the role of technology. Hundreds of sisters that I never met before all friend requested me on my crossing date. You feel like the person loved most in the entire world and it is truly a wondrous feeling. My big sister is an alum of this school, and although I have never been able to meet her, I decided to join my sorority because of her due to numerous reasons. She was one of the first people who introduced me to Greek life and serves a role model to me because she is one of the founders of my sorority in this colony. I get to stay in touch with her through Facebook. I ask her about her life and she asks about mine. She lives all the way across the nation, but I know that although I have never met her, she is there for me no matter what. She is my big sister and I know that she is only a phone call away if I ever need her.

If anything, I think the role of technology will only further enhance what it already does for people in Greek life. Some trends that I see developing in the next 1-2 years are that we will be more dependent on technology than ever before. Due to our large numbers, the biggest advancement of technology is communication. Communication is the key role in everything that a brotherhood and sisterhood look for in. We want to network with as many people as possible, and we would all like to thank technology for making that happen. 

Reflection of JOUR289I Class 10/28/2010

     On October 28th, 2010, in my JOUR289I class, we had 11 foreign journalists come visit the students. They were from a variety of countries across the Middle Eastern and Asia. Ranging from Saudi Arabia to Morocco, these 11 individuals showed us students what it meant to be journalists in countries where war zones are highly active, when freedom of speech is revoked and disregarded, and where women have to fight to just go to school and have a profession in journalism.
     As the students asked various questions about privacy and security in these countries, regarding the internet, and social networking sites like Facebook, Myspace, and Twitter, there was only one particular answer that really stuck out in my mind throughout the entire Q&A session. When asked about the privacy in Egypt particularly, and in some of the other countries as well, almost all of the 11 journalists said that they were not allowed to talk about their president, their governments, their politics, or any of the corruption that is bestowed in their beloved countries. After they all agreed to this statement, my mind was full of questions waiting to be answwered, however, I only chose to ask one question in particular. I asked them how do contain the right of freedom of speech when they are restricted in so many ways? What responsibility did they have as journalists to their people and the rest of society?
     Translating for the journalist from Oman, the man said some courageous things to answer my question. From what I could understand he explained that the difference between Oman and America was that America was built on the foundations for freedom; since that was our goal from the beginning, our forefathers laid the foundation for us and that is why we are able to build up on it today. While in Oman, an authoritarian government was installed when the country rose, it prospered, but not making its people happy along the way. This is why there is so much opposition, so much fear in these middle eastern countries; dictatorship ensued all of the chaos in these countries that fear and opposition became the foundations instead of hope and freedom.
    Seeing these 11 journalists from so many different countries reminded me of what freedom actually upholds and how it can make a difference in society and its people. Discussing with these individuals also made me realize that journalism is a unique field where it can bring you fame or destruction if you speak the truth.

Can You Find the Greek Meaning in these Graphics?

This is a "Go Greek" lanyard that a lot of students carry their keys on. It perceptualizes that people have different ways of portraying how they are related to Greek Life. All Greeks wear their letters, some have paddles, some have photo frames hung on their ways, some decorate their rooms with their organization's colors, and some just might hang their keys on a Greek lanyard. This picture was taken so that people could see the advertisement of Greeks on the University of Maryland campus and what kind of information potential members could find out by visiting the website. 

This graphic delineates the letters in the Greek alphabet. These letters represent my line information: zeta lambda beta gamma, corresponding to my chapter, my line, my position in the line, and my sorority. Taking the graphic from this angle, provided more of an emphasis on the letters that signified each individual rather than the paddle that is given to one when they cross into a fraternity or sorority.   

This graphic visualizes some of the perceptions sisters have in a sorority. The emphasis in the picture is not placed on the words "Sister", but rather the empty frame that signifies that you don't only have one sister in a sorority, you have many. You can have some closer sisters than others, but in the end, they are all your sisters, and you love them with all your heart. 

What is Really Greek?

In Greek life, people value the letters they pridefully wear on their chest. It is earned as a right and when people achieve their goals and cross into the brotherhood or sisterhood, they feel as if they are always representing their letters, whether wearing them on clothing or not. The Greek alphabet reminds us that we are individually unique, but together complete because under these letters, Greeks will always be unified when representing their individual letters. 

This visual representation represents college Greek life in a negative way. From the ABC hit network television series, Greek, is an American dramedy television series, which follows students of the fictional Cyprus-Rhodes University (CRU) who participate in the school's Greek system. The show's plots often take place within the confines of the fictional fraternities, Kappa Tau Gamma (ΚΤΓ) and Omega Chi Delta (ΩΧΔ), or the fictional sorority, Zeta Beta Zeta (ΖΒZ). This visual representation of the Greek system with a "red cup" simply asks for the audience's ridicule and mockery. This show confirms what all the stereotypes about Greek life are; that they are a bunch of kids just looking for a way to party harder and consume more alcohol than more, when in fact Greek Life is so much more.