Robin Lindeen-Blakeley

So here I am blogging like a “pro” and three months ago all I had ever done was read other peoples blogs.  I am feeling rather accomplished at all the technical skills I have learned this quarter in Gender and Technology.

I find it exciting to know the difference between a post and a page.  Concepts like these were “Greek” to me in week one of spring quarter 2014.  I learned so much more technology than I have ever before and the fun part was combining it with gender studies.  This is a topic I am becoming more passionate about as the second OSU WGSS class I have taken, and the third class in my Ecampus career.

The knowledge I learned in this class will take me further in my job skills, and in my personal life.  It has given me the confidence to know that I can learn new things and that persistence pays off, even as an older student going back to school as a junior.  This course was challenging in all kinds of ways, especially when I wanted so badly to have someone show me physically how to do something.  But the written directions were valuable for me to hone my detail skills even further.

I will use screenshots and spreadsheets to communicate online in the future.  Embedded hyperlinks are like taking a “cake walk” now, and I struggled with it at first.  However, I’ve learned a lot about the nuances of different internet browsers and how to accomplish more success with Blackboard with the right system compatibility.

All in all my classmates were wonderful partners in learning and critiquing and the class was structured very well.  Thanks to Professor Van Londen for being a very honest and helpful teacher.  This is by far the most work I’ve put into a three credit class yet, but it was well worth the effort.

I know it might be a little late, but I like the motto ” better late than never.”  So I added an RSS feed to my blog today.  I can see current technology news and hopefully will receive some extra credit points.

It feels like I’ve accomplished something more in my WGSS 320 Gender and Technology class, yet again.  I used Google News and was able to follow instructions for adding my feed and saving it.  I did name it technology as opposed to “Technology and Gender News”.  I hope that still works.  I think I became a little too excited about my progress without being succinct with the directions.  So I also decided to try to update the name.

And I’m not done recapping the course yet M. VanLonden!  Presently enjoying my first day of vacation in beautiful Central Oregon.  Life is good, albeit busy.

A list of my greatest dreams:

Retire by age 67+

Travel the globe

Promote world peace, maybe with activism to help establish the U.S. Department of Peace or policy to ignite the United States Institute of Peace

Build my cottage at the coast – has to have a porch, big area for sewing projects, be made of environmentally friendly construction and utility operations

Advocate for family friendly social policies

This new post will address whether the subject of my Gender Lens Project warrants further activism.  I chose the urinalysis test strip for my subject.  My research has found that it is a gender neutral medical product, so I do not believe further activism on that front is necessary.

Marketing is not an issue with this product.  It is widely distributed and known about in the medical community.  The household consumer might be better educated about it and then over the counter retail marketing would be more widespread.

Better recycling options are one area that could warrant further activism.  If the test strips could be made of something other than plastic, like recyclable plastics and the human urine on them could be disposed of so as not to be hazardous, the product would be a candidate for recycling.

There are many manufacturers of this product as well as many levels of specification and design.  With the high amount of emphasis on reuse, reduce and recycle of products for our ecosystems, it will be a matter of time before someone invents or introduces a more ecology-friendly urinalysis test strip that doesn’t go to the landfill.