Bob Whalen SLM 521 MC Elective Assignment – Silicon Snake

After reading selections and excerpts from the Silicon Snake, here are five excerpts that I pulled.

"Access to a universe of information cannot solve our problems; we will forever struggle to understand one another". I agree with Stoll’s quote, but we have been doing this throughout history. I teach American History, and that is one-reason students study the past. Hopefully, sometimes we learn from past mistakes, and many times we repeat the past – which raises even more questions as to why? You would think that we would know all of the answers by now, but as the cliché goes, the more we know, the more we find out what we don’t know. We will continue to try and understand each other, as we have for thousands of years.

“The common claim is that networks, like computers, are tools - utensils to get work done. I've heard this so often that I'm beginning to doubt it" (pg. 44). I really do believe that computers are tools to get information. The more adept one is at using the computer, the more choices the operator has to solve a problem. The computer is as only good as the operator. One has to know the goal of using the computer for a various activity. Is the computer one-way to search out your information? Is it the best way? What specifically are you searching for? What is the best way to go about to achieve your results? How will you accomplish what you want?

"Computer networks isolate us from one another, rather than bring us together." This can be a problem, but people who use it in isolation, most likely would be isolated anyway. I have students work on problems in American History who use various Internet sources. I see students come together by problem solving and deciding how to tackle a problem, rather than work in isolation. I also see students following directions and paying attention to detail when searching Internet sites. It seems as when they use the computer, it is one on one instruction. In using computer networks, it is the design of what you want, whether you have people work together or by themselves.

"The Internet is a great place to meet people". I would agree with this, that it allows much opportunity for contact, as long as you are aware of the risks. One could say the same thing about New York City. What an opportunity to meet people in New York City, but how do you go about it? Who do you want to meet? Why? How do you establish working relationships? The same applies to meeting people on the Internet. You work with a purpose in mind no matter who you contact developing relationships – business, personal, or for pleasure.

“Someone stole the card catalog. A quick inquiry told me that the librarians had conspired to steal my catalog. They’d replaced it with an invisible database. Instead of fifty beautiful wooden cabinets, I now find two dozen computer terminals." With the computer terminals, databases and information is much easier to access once you have learned the best search engines for your needs. The key is how you go about your search. When using the card catalog, you had to go about the same process, but go from card to card – many times through trial and error. Once I find information that I can use, I prefer reading paper instead of reading the computer screen. I usually end up printing out information that I want to process. But I guess I could highlight it just as easily with a mouse as a read, as I do with a yellow marker. It is a matter of reprogramming and learning another way to use and decipher data. This is the same thing that people have had to do with the card catalog. The same information is there, just in a different format – depending on your search engine.