Alex Shoenfeld's Blog

I have just finished reading Alex's entire blog, and his project is fascinating. He is focused on the bystander effect: a topic that appears in our lives on a day to day basis. Besides for the common association of a 'bystander' with 'bullying', Alex points out that the bystander effect impacts us in many other different situations. A study he read showed that if one is in a room full of others, he or she is less likely to even stop personal endangerment. Reading Alex's blog made me realize that the bystander effect is way more powerful than I once believed it to be. I always applied it to one being afraid to stand up for others. I never thought that it could prevent one from standing up for themselves. This discovery of mine makes me interested in Alex's project and hopeful that he can teach people to take action. I think it is a good idea for him to give some sort of presentation, being that a long paper may not have as large of an impact on his readers/audience. The aspect that I think he should definitely have in his project is an experiment. The bystander effect is such a simple yet fascinating thing to investigate. Alex could set up some sort of experiment in Frisch or in his community and learn about certain trends in his world. I think he is headed in a good direction and I wish him luck.

Update

What clarity about my project have I achieved? For starters, I have been able to focus in on a specific topic. I started out with countless ideas floating around in my head, but now I am ready to investigate the impact of technology, specifically the negative aspects. I have been able to develop a clear idea of a project because of research, suggestions, comments and resources. These were the four methods that were most helpful in my search for a clear topic. I first researched intriguing topics. Then, I listened to suggestions by friends and teachers. After that, I considered the comments and ideas people had on my progress. I did not think that people's comments on my direction would actually change my direction, but it actually happened when Alex Shoenfeld suggested that I research the negative effects of technology. The final tools I used to help achieve clarity about my project and topic were the resources of the library, the internet, papers, articles, and books. By seeing what I had to work with, I was able to gain a sense of where I would be able to take my project and how I would be able to do so.

Second Thoughts

If I start this project over again, I would make plenty of changes in the way I developed my project so far. I am happy with where I am at so far, but I could have done plenty of things in a better manner. I think that if I could start over, I would try to take more suggestions and advice from classmates. I would ask them for opinions and thoughts on whether or not my project was interesting to them. If my topic was not something they would want to read about, I probably would have steered it in a different direction. I also feel that before I chose a topic I should have done more research into the ones I was considering. I am very interested in my topic, but I think maybe another choice may have intrigued me more if I had investigated it more. In the end of the day though, I am satisfied and excited with where I am at now.

Progress Report

Months into the project, I have actually begun to focus in on concrete sources and ideas. Now, the project is less 'thinking' and more 'doing'. By that I mean that I actually know what I am looking for, and I am researching and discovering my specific interest. Using elibrary and jerseyclicks, I am finding articles, papers, and discussions that shed light on the impact of technology on society.
During this past week, I have officially started to delve into my topic and learn about it. Rather than exploring outside my topic, I have been looking INTO it. I am absorbing opinions and facts about the effects technology has on us. I am learning the pros and the cons of technological advancement.
That's pretty much where I am at right now.

Looking Back

After reading through all 8 posts on my blog, a few things caught my attention.
I remember being skeptical when hearing that the blogs would help us develop, and even change our project. Now that I can see what I have done over the past two months, I realize that plenty of changes occurred through my posts. My project changed directions almost every post. New ideas sprung into my mind as I wrote each post. I was really surprised that the blog helped me develop my project to the extent that it did.
Another thing I noticed was that at the start of this project, I had a vast array of possibilities for what I would do. Now, as the blog posts progress, they each get more and more specific, which is a good and bad thing. It limits me to a specific topic, but it allows me to really focus on it and discover something amazing about it.
Lastly, my project has been lately trending towards articles, books, and papers written about the effects of technology on society. Mrs. Geller provided me with websites that will give me plenty of these writings, but I am trying not to limit my resources just to articles, hopefully incorporating diverse sources of information.

Project Progress

At this point, I believe that I have finished toying with the focus of my topic. Now, I am ready to move on to the second phase of the project, researching and learning. I know that I want to investigate the effect of technology on society, and I believe that books, articles (from magazines and newspapers), and studies will be most useful for my research. I will find articles and studies on Google. I will find books through the web and the library.
Books I am planning on obtaining this week include:
iDisorder: Understanding Our Obsession with Technology and Overcoming Its Hold on Us by Larry D. Rosen
Alone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other by Sherry Turkle
The one aspect of my project that I am still working on is the outside thing I will put together instead of a double sized paper. I still would like to analyze the effect technology has in our school. I wouldn't come to societal conclusions because of my findings, but it would be interesting to see how we have been impacted.

Project/Presentation Ideas

A double size paper doesn't seem very appealing to me, so I have been leaning toward a project. I am hoping I can put together a project that sheds light on the impact of technology on our lives.

The main idea I have right now involves a study about the effects of technology on Frisch. I would explore the ways technology has changed the learning, interactions, studying, and extracurriculars at Frisch. I would compare the Frisch of today to that of ten years ago, when SmartBoards, smartphones, and laptops were not part of everyday life. The main aspect of this project would be polls, surveys, and interviews of students, teachers, and administrators. I would ask questions about the involvement of technology in daily learning, and about the positive or negative impact of that technological integration. This project, if assembled and presented properly, would hopefully assist me in reaching an answer to the debate about the overall effect of technology on humans.

Being that right now I am taking my topic in the direction of learning the pros and cons of technological impacts on society, a project like I discussed would be fit into the paper seamlessly. It would be the microcosm for the technological effect on society. It would allow me to conduct my own research on a local level, not only depending on books and articles written by others. This project might uncover if technology really does bolster learning.

Reaction to Eddie Maza's Blog

I viewed a few of my fellow students' blogs and found Eddie's topic (Educational disparity relative to affluence) very interesting. The topic caught my attention because I feel it is being discussed a lot in the past month. On a local level, a the father of a student in our school recently ran for a position on the Teaneck Board of Education. He noticed that Teaneck taxpayers were paying an extremely high amount of money for public education, but they were getting extremely poor test results from the students. Eddie's project will potentially help solve the problem existent in Teaneck's public school system. Additionally, the Presidential election has brought up topics such as education, government aid, and candidate Mitt Romney's wealth. Eddie's project includes all of these aspects. It will be interesting to follow Eddie's progress as he visits public schools and looks to actually improve the current situation of our educational system. Hopefully he will come up with some solutions and help the less fortunate members of society receive and equal standard of schooling.

Changes to the Topic

This post may be a little late, but it will be a blessing in disguise. Not only have I gotten more time to research and develop my topic, but I have received a comment from Alex Shoenfeld that has given me a whole new direction to my topic that I am hoping to pursue.
My Topic Choice post focused only on the positive impact of technology and social media upon human interaction. After reading Alex's comments on my topic, I realized that I did not even consider the negative aspect of all this advancement, that is the certain disconnect from reality. This idea has opened my eyes to a whole new direction in which I want to take my topic. I really am interested in analyzing the FULL effect that the internet, social media, and texting have on our daily lives, positive and negative. Harmful side effects of all this technological advancement include texting while driving, distractions of computers in the classroom, attention span decrease, disengaged conversations, and supposed "friends" and "followers".
Here are some of the resources I have thought of: Utilizing statistics, data, and studies on information that relays the harmful impact of the digital age. Interviewing people on how much time they spend on the computer and phone. Researching cases that internet connections have directly and clearly had an important impact on the world. The book High Tech/High Touch: Technology and Our Search for Meaning may be of use, but it does not specifically discuss the aspect of connection and interaction through technology. Computers, Phones, and the Internet: Domesticating Information Technology may turn out to be extremely useful if I can get my hands on it.
For now, that is what I am working on, but not nearly all that will go into the project. 

Topic Choice

I have decided on a topic, one that I only thought of this past week. Being that so much of my time is spent online, my topic will be the impact of Internet on human interaction and connection. Social media will be a central part of my research. I want to look at how YouTube allows people to share experiences with the entire world, how Twitter connects celebrity and superstar personalities with average people, how Facebook transfers people's entire lives online.
The scope of my topic may extend further than social media. Google, Wikipedia, and Yahoo! Answers all changed the way we research, learn, and teach. These sites are integral parts of the internet that impacted human behavior. Libraries, professors, and books are becoming foreign to younger generations because of these internet tools.
Three other things I want to touch upon are 1)Websites such as eHarmony that directly impact people's lives 2)Websites such as Amazon and eBay that have changed the way we shop and interact with local stores 3)The limitations of Internet interactions by governments: Good or bad?
There are many questions that I am looking to answer through this topic. To what extent has the Internet changed human behavior? Is this impact worldwide or just concentrated in certain privileged countries? Will this 'revolution' continue at the rate that it has? Has the Internet brought a positive change for us? To what extent must we remove ourselves from it? What are some instances where the Internet has changed people's lives? The list of questions I want to research keeps on going, but I'll stop here for now. Hopefully this topic works out and leads me to many interesting discoveries, debates, and facts.

Decisions...

The due date for a topic is approaching, and I have been thinking about the ideas and suggestions that need to go, and the ones that should stay on or be added to my list. To start off, I have lost interest in the topic of war and its effects of society. I did some research on it and I did not find much that intrigued me. I am not leaning towards corruption either. Good news is that after hearing that I should not give up on a topic because of its lack of appearance in literature, I feel that my choices are much more vast. 

Space exploration is again on my radar. If I chose this topic I would want to not only talk about actual human and robot expeditions, but also scientific discoveries and breakthroughs. I would want to track mankind's gradual increase of knowledge about what lies beyond earth. This would include theories, expeditions, and discoveries.

Nature versus nurture is also a possible topic. It interests me because I could delve into the fields of psych and history to come to a conclusion about this debate. I would also use religious sources regarding man's nature.

I read through a few Blogs, and I saw the topic of dreams mentioned twice. This subject has intrigued me for a long time, and I might want to research it if other people don't claim the topic.

I stumbled upon a topic online about how technology, specifically cell phones other ways of connecting, has changed society. This new topic would be fun because I could track social behavioral patterns, and technological development. I could include reports on Apple's influence on the world, the invention of the internet, and the role of social media in connecting people. For example, Twitter allows fans to actually interact with their heroes and idols.

Unless I think of another topic, it seems to me that my paper will be written on one of these ideas. Next step, the final decision.

Exploring Topics

I have been thinking about many different ideas for my topic. Problem is, some of them may not work with the literature aspect of the project. I was doing research on exploration in space, a topic I mentioned in my first post, when I realized that no literature that I know of discusses space exploration. I decided to combine that topic and the other topic I pondered, revolutionary thinkers and ideas, and maybe use this project to research and discuss exploration and discovery. It is a very broad topic, and I would have to narrow it down, but I am sure that there are plenty of novels written about exploration and discovery. Another topic idea I had is war and its effects on society. Cold Mountain, and The Things They Carried are two novels I read last year that I would probably use.  The debate of nature versus nurture is intriguing, and I can already see Lord of the Flies fitting into that project. For now, the last topic I can think of is corruption, not just in politics but in history and in people. The Great Gatsby would be a great novel to examine, being that he was corrupted as he grew in power. For the next week I will continue thinking of new topics, and exploring the ones I have already come up with.

Beginnings

Intrigue, curiosity, and interest were the feelings I was experiencing when I was introduced to this project. To be able to choose to learn about what I like and want truly got my attention. In all of high school, even elementary and middle school, I have never really had I had the opportunity to research my interests. Sure in 10th Grade I 'chose' my term paper topic. But the topics for that paper were limited to the scope of American History. Frankly, if I saw an essay titled "Whether the Civil War Could Have Been Prevented", I would not pick it up and read it, even if that essay was written by me, which it was. This project may indeed prove to be a pain, but at least it will be a semi-enjoyable pain, unlike all my other academic ventures. I am hoping that the guidelines for this project will be very loose, and that I will really just be able to explore freely and put it into a loosely-formed project. Some general topics that intrigue me are revolutionary thinkers and ideas that changed the world, and exploration in space. Still working on a longer list, but I don't have more at the moment. Looking forwards to making progress.