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Time management is the key to any project or assignment. I think it is important to keep in my mind the due date of the given task because you do not want to put it off to the last minute. In the advertisement assignment, I feel the time managemet is a little more difficult. The project would be easier for me to manage if I had the photoshop on my computer at home. I think it would have been easier to manage if we could have chosen the program to use. Overall, I have enjoyed getting to know how to use Adobe Photoshop because it is very different. It is a mixture between the paint program, photo studio, and microsoft word. I really enjoyed using the different elements photoshop offered like the different textures you could use on the photo. The advertiisement I created was for a fragance called Pure Beauty. I feel that with the help of photoshop it is progressing well. I used a flower for the background but used a different texture to make it look more of oil pastels, but also used some constrasting to make the picture stand out more. As Faigly said in the reading, it is important to have constrast and consistency in the advertisement. This kinda goes along with time management because if you wait til the last minute to finish up the ad, you will have no time to go back and make sure that everything is consistent in the ad; especially the font, font size, and color.


It has been a relief that we have had time to work on the project in class because it is hard to find time to go to campus and work on the ad at either the tech building or library.

Reflection of Technology

The status of technology is ever changing. Every year the computers we use, cell phones we talk on, and the televisions we watch our favorite programs on are constantly updating their status. Their statuses change by either making them more efficient and quick, the way it looks, or even the quality of the picture it omits. The techno-biography assignment has helped me show down and look back on how technology in my life has changed over years. Technology was in my life before I even knew what the word meant and it amazes me how inventions of 23 years ago have advanced or do not even exist anymore due to new and improved innovations. The world is so fast paced we do not even realize or appreciate the innovations that come in and out of our lives. For example, in my technology narrative I mention three different pieces of technology that have ultimately affected the way I think about technology. They are a hand held computer, my family's first computer with dial-up Internet, and the cell phone. These innovations have been very important factors in my life with technology.

The peer reviews workshop last Friday, has helped me not only with some positive criticism, but also in remembering other technologies of the past. I enjoyed reading what others wrote and giving them feedback about their papers. One item of technology that I have not thought about in years, Sarah had wrote about it in hers, was the "Dear Diary." I was so excited to read about it because I had one too and we were able to discuss what we wrote in them and the secrets we kept in them, but also how we loved the personal touch of written diaries.

The bio-technology reflection has been beneficial to me because I can now look at all the technology in my life right now and say wow technology has seriously evolved!

Discourse Communities

Discourse communities are groups of people with goals and shared interests that communicate through various channels like language or writing. The groups of people may share similar beliefs, religion, political views, music taste, or an interest in basketball. The term discourse community is not limited to just one group of people. In Russell's essay he discusses how a modern university exists because of each discourse community that exists within the university. Each community overlaps with each and in a way share a common goal of receiving an education from the university. Although Russells' example was good, I really like how Klass explained discourse communities in her essay. In her essay, she talks about being in the medical profession and all of the abbreviations they use for long medical terms. I found it very interesting that LOL means "little old lady." If I was in the hospital and heard this I would have interpreted it as "laughing out loud" because I am part of the discourse community online AIM (instant messaging). In each community could have different meanings for words and abbreviations. Also, the language of discourse communities is not just limited to professions and internet terms. The business world, education, and religions all have different meaning for different words.
I do believe that dicouse community is a loosely defined term, but I can say that I am part of the university community, and myspace/thefacebook communities. I am also part of many more to be named in the future.