Circa 1984. That was the year my life changed. Alright, it didn't completely change my life but that was that year where technology entered my life. Yes, the processing power of our new "computer" was only 8 bit. However, it provided hours and hours of fun with my two brothers! The game was Duck Hunt.
I was fascinated with this game because it was the first time where I could interact with what was shown on a "TV" screen. The sense of power and control was nothing I had ever experienced before. In true autobiographical form, I became a video game addict! Justifying my addiction, Joseph Kerr writes in Kist's book that, "Kids expect to interact with their media. While they have not abandoned television completely, they are savvy prosumers who want to take part" (Kist, 113). Over the years, I moved from console to console playing many different and wonderful games. However, it took awhile to acquire our first family computer. Having poor immigrant parents who struggled to make ends meet, we finally received an IBM PC DOS. Later when Microsoft took over, that was when computers became essential to me. Typing up assignments in Word meant I did not have to write them. Almost all my peers were handing in their Dot Matrix papers.
The realization of the shift from the written word to computer printed words in my life and society in general was profound. Interesting, just last week my husband and I were discussing about receiving written carbon copies of report cards. Happily, we were both thankful that we never had to hand-write reports because of computers!
The realization of the shift from the written word to computer printed words in my life and society in general was profound. Interesting, just last week my husband and I were discussing about receiving written carbon copies of report cards. Happily, we were both thankful that we never had to hand-write reports because of computers!
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| My bros and I at Peace Arch. |
Unfortunately, I could not locate the photo where my younger brothers and I were playing video games. One brother is only a year younger and the other one is six years younger. Their expertise in computers definitely made me want to be just as knowledgeable. The brother in the middle of the picture works at BCIT in the IT department and the younger one works at TD bank. They are both computer geeks. When I designed my school library website. I constantly asked for their feedback and know-how. I believe it was my brothers who first introduced me to hotmail (Internet). Instead of asking for phone numbers of new friends I made, I would ask for their email addresses.
Circa 1999, I suspect that was the year when the Internet changed my life! In the beginning, the main purpose of using the Internet was to check emails. Albeit, I still check my emails everyday but my emails come to me via my smartphone now. I wonder if smartphones will eventually phase out laptop computers?! Recently, we cancelled cable because we just did not have the time to watch TV and we signed up for Netflix instead. Here is a list of some of the things I use the Internet for:
Author Richardson reminded that British "Berners-Lee's dream came to fruition in 1993, with the development of the Mosaic Web browser...and as access spread, connections became faster, and more and more Web designers and authors set up shop, the twentieth century ended with the Internet taking its place as an essential communication and research network connecting people around the globe" (Richardson, 1). Incredibly, his statement verifies that it was in my life-time when the Internet took off and became a significant part in my and life and job.
Lastly, here is a video clip of my children's future and how technology might play into their lives. One of the reasons why I choose to leave Kindergarten and work in the library is because as my children age I need to be up-to-date in technology in order to help them with research and Internet skills. Even if most teenagers believe their parents do not know "anything" about technology I would like to prove my kids wrong!
Circa 1999, I suspect that was the year when the Internet changed my life! In the beginning, the main purpose of using the Internet was to check emails. Albeit, I still check my emails everyday but my emails come to me via my smartphone now. I wonder if smartphones will eventually phase out laptop computers?! Recently, we cancelled cable because we just did not have the time to watch TV and we signed up for Netflix instead. Here is a list of some of the things I use the Internet for:
- watch movies, TV show, Youtube, etc.
- comparison shopping
- shop online for books, clothes, apps, etc. (ebay, craigslist, amazon, altrec, apple store)
- book travel (priceline, kayak, vrbo, allegiant, travel deals for vancouverites, etc) booked a trip for March to Hawaii. (Tip: When booking a car reserve with Dollar.com, they do not require a credit card reservation so no cancellation fees or no refunds like priceline. Closer to your travel date, check priceline and make a bid for a car and see if you get a good price. You can also go back to Dollar.com and cancel and re-reserve if a lower price shows up.)
- banking
- blogging
- making movies of my kids
- publishing (Animoto, Glogster, Prezi, etc.)
- photo sharing (Smilebox, Picasa, photobook)
- document sharing (Google docs)
- cloud storage (dropbox, google)
- bookmarking (delicious)
- planning parties (evite, ecards, perfectpotluck,)
- social networking (Linked In, Twitter)
- gaming (I love Angry Birds)
- recipes
- charity donation (JDRF Canada, World Vision, etc.)
- lesson planning
- reading (Kobo)
- Skype, google hangout
- all things pertaining to library (snappages, zohosheets, etc.)
- best of all...found my brother-in-law his wife via eHarmony
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| Thinking about the future on Gabriola Island... |
Author Richardson reminded that British "Berners-Lee's dream came to fruition in 1993, with the development of the Mosaic Web browser...and as access spread, connections became faster, and more and more Web designers and authors set up shop, the twentieth century ended with the Internet taking its place as an essential communication and research network connecting people around the globe" (Richardson, 1). Incredibly, his statement verifies that it was in my life-time when the Internet took off and became a significant part in my and life and job.
Lastly, here is a video clip of my children's future and how technology might play into their lives. One of the reasons why I choose to leave Kindergarten and work in the library is because as my children age I need to be up-to-date in technology in order to help them with research and Internet skills. Even if most teenagers believe their parents do not know "anything" about technology I would like to prove my kids wrong!
Pretty incredible to consider how many advances in technology have occurred since we were kids! How many more will our children experience? Thanks for sharing, Karen.
ReplyDeleteYour clip from Microsoft certainly provided food for thought.Your autobiography as a tech user is quite insightful.Thanks for highlighting the fact that kids "expect to interact" and it is something that cannot be ignored. We have to keep up for their sake as you have demonstrated in your own career path.
ReplyDelete