Blog Reflection

Blog Reflection
I think that the blogging experience for this class was overall a good experience. I have not had a previous blog or live journal or anything of that kind on the internet so this was new to me. I do not usually volunteer my writing for peer comments or often have anyone read it, so this opened up my mind to it and it turned out to be a positive thing. I think I may actually keep up the blog, not with assignments, but with posts about random thoughts.

I also enjoyed reading the other student’s blogs. It was interesting to see the variety of setups of their blogs and their names for them. It helped me with my own assignments sometimes to get an idea about what I was supposed to do. It is nice to be able to go back on the blog and be able to look at my previous assignments because I usually forget about them once I turn them in. But in this case I could look at my progress. I really liked that we got to do a personal blog about anything. That kept it from getting boring or too structured. Blogging our assignments made the whole experience more visual and interesting. It was nice to not have to actually turn in a physical copy of our assignments because on the blog we could edit the font and colors and make it more attractive. I also liked that we did not have to print out our assignments because it saved paper that way.

Extra Credit - Second Life

Second Life Experience – Extra Credit

I created a person in the Second Life community on the internet for extra credit, and it was somewhat of a strange experience. I do not have a lot of experience with video games or computers, let alone an online community like Second Life, so this was a new event for me.

When I went to the Second Life website, I was a little surprised that it wanted your real name in addition to your Second Life name. I do not like giving out my information so I made up a fake name similar to my Second Life name. I chose Ally for my first name because it is similar to my real name. There was a list of choices to pick for your last name, so I chose Hazelnut. Ally Hazelnut is a strange name and I think it almost sounds like a stripper’s name. So right away I felt weird about the situation. I was creating the community alongside of Karra, and when I saw which image of a person she chose, I made sure to choose a different one. I chose a female figure with funky hair and colorful and creative clothes, basically because that is the opposite of what I look like.

When I logged on to Second Life for the first time after creating it, there was a tutorial available in the top left corner of the screen that gave directions and instructions about how to do certain things, which was a helpful tool. The first and most important thing it told was how to make your person simply just walk and move toward different directions, which is done by just using the arrow keys on the keyboard. There is also a way to make the person fly, which I was surprised about. The Second Life world seemed very big, but I found myself just basically moving in circles. I tried to go into the ocean to see my person could swim, but it would not let me.

I did not see many other characters around in my area which I was surprised about also. I suppose that I thought there would be multiple people around me. I even “walked” a fairly far distance and did not see many people. I did see one male character that was sitting on a ledge near the ocean and I walked up to him. He did not move or anything so I kept “moving” and actually stood on top of him which was weird. Then I noticed that next to him it said that he was “away” so that explained why he was not responding. I also randomly saw a group of people flying together, but I could not seem to catch up to them.

I did see a link to click to chat with people but I was not interested in that because I have heard too much about cybersex and creeps on this type of internet tool. I have read about people who join the Second Life community and it actually takes over their real lives and that creeps me out. Overall, creating my character was a decent experience because I had never done anything like it before. At least now I know what communities like Second Life are like and the basis of them.

Podcast Script

Podcast Script

The Allison Show

Complete Show Length in Minutes: 5:05

Episode 1: Topic: The Disappearance of Caylee Anthony

Intro Music Clip: Title: “Where is the Love?” by Black Eyed Peas
Minutes: 25 seconds (chorus)
Intro: Imagining Your Child Being Harmed and Intro to Caylee Anthony Case Minutes: 1:15

Good morning. I’m Allison and welcome to the Allison podcast show. For all you parents out there, do you often get frightened about the thought of your child being abducted or harmed? I’m sure it’s a pretty terrifying thought. I’m also pretty sure that most of us could not imagine harming our own child. Even though having children changes your life and they must become your top priority, could you imagine actually killing your child? Today’s topic is about the tragic and mysterious story of the disappearance of four year old Caylee Anthony and how it affects the public.

This situation is happening near Orlando, Florida. It involves a missing little girl and a suspicious and crazy mother. All the facts and evidence point to the mother, Casey Anthony. She doesn’t show any concern for her missing daughter and just seems to be concerned about herself, which is pretty disturbing. It’s pathetic how people these days can become so self centered and psychotic, especially when they have children they are responsible for.

Segment Music Clip: Title: “Calling all Angels” by Train Minutes: 30 seconds
Segment: Parents Harming Children Minutes: 1:30

Even though it’s horrible to hear about child abductions and murders, it’s even more sickening to hear that the child’s parent is behind it. We hear all the time about parents neglecting their children. Parents do things like leave their kids in cars in the extreme heat and cold, and do not feed them sufficiently. Most of us would agree that we can’t even imagine doing those things to our children, let alone KILL them.

Casey Anthony finally reported her daughter missing about a month after she had actually last been around. This makes many of us angry and we wonder why and how a parent could be so neglectful and careless. Because all the facts and evidence point to Casey being guilty of murder, we all wonder how someone can actually be capable of killing their child. If Casey did kill Caylee like the evidence suggests, what do you think possibly drove her to do it?

End Segment Music Clip: Title: “How to Save a Life” by the Fray
Minutes: 20 seconds
Ending: What Could Have Made Casey Anthony Kill Her Daughter? Minutes: 1:20

Casey Anthony has a narcissistic personality and obviously is detached from others emotionally. She only has the capacity to care about herself. Why would you go through with having a child if you know that you really only care about yourself? Casey openly admitted multiple times that Caylee interfered with her party life, which was her top priority. We all know that having a child changes your life and may interfere with things, but is that any reason to kill your child? I don’t think so. Even though I don’t have a child, I know that someday when I do, the child will become the most important thing in my life, not PARTYING. Even though this case is a tragedy, hopefully it will make us aware that there are parents like that out there. We should do our best to report anything we may think is child abuse or neglect. Even though it may not be your responsibility directly, we should do all we can to make sure this does not happen again. It’s a shame that an innocent little girl with her whole life ahead of her had to suffer because of her mother’s psychotic problems. Thank you for listening.

Casey & Caylee Anthony

Module III Event Essay

The Caylee Anthony Case and How it Affects America

Child abductions are not an uncommon thing in the world today, especially in America. Inconveniently, there are no official exact national statistics concerning the amount of child abductions per year, and kidnapping is not included in the FBI’s yearly national crime report. However, a report issued in October 2002 by the National Incidence Studies of Missing, Abducted, and Runaway Children estimated that 58,200 children are victims of non family abductions per year (10). Though non family abductions are undoubtedly a horrendous thing, most would agree that being abducted and possibly murdered by a family member is even more horrifying and surprising, and many people ponder how someone could do such a thing.

Three year old Caylee Anthony from Florida was reported missing in mid July of 2008 by her mother Casey Anthony, about a month after she actually went missing. Casey’s parents were persistently asking where Caylee was, so Casey finally stated that she did not know. She told police that the last person that was with Caylee was a babysitter named Zenaida Gonzalez. When the woman was confronted by police, she claimed she did not know who Casey Anthony was. Police proceeded to search Casey’s home and vehicle, and found evidence that there may have been human composition in it. She was soon charged with child neglect, not cooperating and fabricating information to investigators, and interfering with a criminal investigation. At first she was denied bond because she showed a total disregard for Caylee. However, later on her bail was posted at $500,000 and a bounty hunter bailed her out. She was released from jail and has since then been put back in jail, and new information is consistently being released about her being a pathological liar, a thief, and using forged checks.

Finally, on October 18th, 2008, Casey was indicted with many things, including 1st degree murder, child abuse, and providing false information. All the evidence seems to point against Casey, and facts like that she was out partying at bars and clubs just days after Caylee went missing, do not help her. Her mother even admitted that Casey originally wanted to put Caylee up for adoption.

It is a frightening thing to imagine that a mother could possibly neglect, let alone murder her own child. Many people are drawn to this case simply because they do not understand it. People want to know what possibly may have gone on in Casey Anthony’s head, because obviously, a sane mother would never do such a thing. According to a doctor named Deborah Schurman, who specializes in these kinds of cases, mothers who kill their children a usually have a narcissistic personality and are obsessed with drama.

Most of the information we learn through the media about Casey Anthony seem to point to the idea that she is narcissistic and obsessed with drama, just as mothers who kill are. She has an amazing ability to lie and deceive, and shows no panic or concern about her daughter, which is shocking and disturbing.

People with narcissistic personalities only care about their own desires and seem to be emotionally cut off from the world. Casey may have committed this murder simply because Caylee got in the way of her own life and desires. Casey’s party life seems to be her first priority, and has admitted that her daughter significantly got in the way of that. Her friends have come forward and stated that she often complained about Caylee and called her a “snot head”. Casey was still a teenager when she had Caylee, so that also may have contributed to her resentment.

Although being a pathological liar and having a narcissistic personality are not excuses for killing anyone, that is most likely what led Casey Anthony to murder Caylee. Although she was probably not kidnapped by a stranger, cases like this one have a great affect on America. They bring up the issue of distrust and make you wonder what people could be capable of. It also reminds us how child abuse and neglect is something that must be taken seriously. It is a shame that an innocent little girl had to suffer because of her own mother’s actions, and that no one interfered if or when they noticed that Caylee was not being taken care of properly.













Works Cited
Crary, David. “Solid Data Scarce for Child Abductions”. Boston.com National News.
19 January 2007. 18 November 2008. http://www.boston.com/news/nation/article
s/2007/01/19/solid_data_scarce_for_child_abductions/
Flores, Robert. “National Estimates of Missing Children”. NISMART. October 2007.
18 November 2008. http://missingkids.com/en_US/documents/nismart2_overview
.pdf
“Casey Anthony-A Criminal Mind?” Momlogic. 14 November 2008. 20 November 2008.
http://www.momlogic.com/2008/11/casey_anthonya_criminal_mind.php
Mitchell, Juliann. “Casey Anthony: Profile of a Sociopath”. Blogcritics Magazine. 19
October 2008. 21 November 2008. http://blogcritics.org/archives/2008/10/19/222
920.php

slide from Activity IV

research essay for project II

Facebook Appropriateness

The online social network of Facebook has undoubtedly changed the internet world and has created a quick new way to communicate with others and a new way to express yourself. People are free to create their own profile with photographs and include any information they wish. However, this freedom to post and share almost anything one wishes is not necessarily a good thing. Many people, mostly younger users, are irresponsible with their internet usage and actually are causing harm to themselves and/or their reputation.

There are many things that people post on Facebook that can be considered inappropriate, from posting questionable photographs on your page, to simply using ill chosen words while posting comments. I have viewed a high number of profiles with racy, sexy pictures that are completely inappropriate, like girls posting photographs of themselves in lingerie, provocative poses, and even pictures of themselves making out with their boyfriends. People also post photos of themselves holding guns or other weapons which can get them into trouble with the law. People post “bumper stickers” on their own as well as other people’s pages that are offensive or insulting to others. It is not smart to use extreme profanity or talk about things like doing drugs on other people’s “walls” because more people than you realize are reading it and will make judgments about you.

Although some people make numerous bad choices on their Facebook, there are ways to express yourself tastefully. I have noticed that many young people choose to put their senior pictures on their Facebook. That is a good choice because it is usually a photograph that the person especially likes, and most of the time are tastefully done. It is not difficult to decide what photographs are appropriate for the internet. It is also important while listing your hobbies and activities to not be too sarcastic, because some people will take it seriously. A main reason why it is important to make sure your Facebook is appropriate is because future employers may be looking at your profile if it is not private. It is doubtful that an employer will want to hire someone who has multiple photographs of them drinking alcohol or partying excessively. I read about a gentleman who updated his “status” and in it stated that he was not going to work because he was still “trashed”. This was not a smart move because one of his coworkers had access to his Facebook page and tattled on him, and he had bad consequences to face. It is also important to not post negative ideas or feelings about your current job or about working in general, even if you are just joking.

I believe that one’s age definitely affects the content and professional aspect of their Facebook. Younger Facebook users, possibly high school aged, are more likely to be less conscious of what they post and are much more naive. They do not always fully think about who may be looking at their profile and what consequences they may face. I believe that younger users are more likely to post provocative photos as an attempt to gain attention. Older users, in later college years or after, are much more conscious of what they post on their Facebook, one reason being because they are aware of the dangers of the internet and consequences. They realize that their current or future employer may be able to view their profile, as well as family members and other people of importance in their life. They realize that what they post does indeed matter, and that people may judge them by the information they see.

Not only can irresponsibility on Facebook hurt your reputation and professional life, it can also just be plain dangerous. An article by Laurie Chanigo has stated that certain studies have revealed that many people feel a “false sense of security” when they use their Facebook, which leads them to reveal too much information about themselves and their lives. This becomes unsafe due to online predators, or people who dislike or want to harm you. People give them the opportunity to do so by posting their contact information, like address and phone number, and even where they work. We live in a time where it is getting difficult to hold onto a lot of our privacy, so it is important that we do not freely give out information that could potentially cause us harm.

An article in the Michigan Journal by Raquel Parks points out that social networking sites like Facebook are not intended to be a place to “expose” yourself. She says they are “meant for self-expression and communication” which I completely agree with. Facebook users today, especially younger people feel much too comfortable putting anything and everything about themselves on their page. They need to tone it down and begin thinking about the consequences of their actions, and learn that there are ways to have a fun, but professional Facebook. How you portray yourself matters, and more people are watching than you may think.

The Dangers of too Much Information in Your Status Updates on Facebook. Computer Weekly. 22 October2008. 4 November 2008. http://www.computerweekly.com/blogs/editors-blog/2008/10/the-dangers-of-too-much-inform.html

Charnigo, Laurie. Checking Out Facebook.com: The Impact of a Digital Trend on Academic Libraries.

Parks, Raquel. “Common Sense is Key to Internet Safety”. The Michigan Journal. 4 November 2008.