Dear Steve,

From writing the two different summaries on open lab i found, yet again difficulties in balancing specific information from the text with generalizations about Nicholas Carr’s points throughout the chapter. However, the peer review helped in various ways. One important piece was taking out a bunch of unnecessary words that might put me to close to the word count. Another, aspect was the emphasis, from both me and my peer review, of declaring a proper thesis in the beginning to make Carr’s points clear. Other things like spelling and grammar we’re also good pointers on both sides.

best,

Dwight

In chapter 5 of “The Shallows” by Nicolas Carr, the subject of technology and its role in society as it grew and evolved comes into question. The chapter starts off by introducing Alan Turing and his role in making the blueprint for the modern computer. Turing, during his time, demonstrated the idea that a perfect system was highly unlikely and that there are general limits to the capacity that computers can operate from.  In essence, the role of technology would be best used as a general interface. The chapter goes on show how technology changed the way people interfaced with and produced media. It also shows how technology became this new medium from which this information could be passed between people but also how began to change psychologically as a result of it. The transition from print to tech changed the dynamic that people would experience of reading as text became more short paced.

In the article “U Can’t Talk to Ur Professor Like This”, author Molly Worthen expresses the need for students to abide by proper communication etiquette between students and professors. She first begins to describe her struggle with easing from traditional formal courtesy, in her own words attempting to pass herself off as a cool professor. However, she soon realized that allowing informal behavior gave birth to a lot of poorly written emails and a general decline in respect for her title. The author then sites the experiences of other professors and describes the level of contention in whether or not to allow certain behavior from students. Finally, she describes that having these boundaries is essential to not only protect the professors, but to prepare students for real world expectations.