Author Archives: ulams

Contacting the Librarians

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I choose to play around on the online OSU Reference Library, I figured that since it is on campus and if I needed help further down the road this was going to be my safest bet this week since I currently am still in the beginning research phase of my project.

The first method was the online chat. This was my favorite form of contact, it was easy to use and even with set hours I found time within my week to ask what I needed. The librarian was quick to respond to my first chat call and gave me useful information all within 15 minutes. I liked using an online chat because it allowed me to think thoroughly about my question prior to sending it, which is helpful versus in face where you may have a question but forget or they run out of time to answer you.

The second method I choose was Library DIY, which is pretty much an online tutorial of how to use the OSU library data base. But they also have links on everything from your not sure where to start on a research project to you need help finding scholarly articles. I found this helpful in a simple way. I would not use this if I were actually looking up information about Samantha Cristoforetti but if I were stuck on where to go I think this could be useful. I did not end up using it to help find any new research information but rather just explored.

I chose to not email a librarian for information only because I am usually someone who needs information on the spot and forgets to check my email frequently enough. I would rather walk to the library and ask for help in person then wait for someone who may be as slow at replying to emails as I am.

Juliana Rotich: Ushahidi founder

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To bringing my cultural research project there are some terms that need to be defined that will help throughout the whole project.

Culture: 
according to Merriam-Webster dictionary culture is the act of developing the intellectual and moral faculties especially by education, or for a more brief definition the beliefs, customs, arts, etc., of a particular society, group, place, or time. While watching the Ted Talk: Globalizing the local, localizing the global, it is said that culture is meeting the challenges of expectations of those around you to keep your individual identity as well as keeping true to traditions. People today are wanting to be individuals and be different, but it is necessary to have a local identity.

Technology: 
According to Merriam-Webster dictionary the use of science in industry, engineering, etc., to invent useful things or to solve problems. In the Ted talk; The magic washing machine, Hans Rosling talks about how todays society lives mainly without technology even as simple as a washing machine. However he predicts by 2050 a majority of families will be at the top producing energy, they will though have to reduce unnecessary energy waste and turn into green energy.

Gender 
According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary gender is the state of being male or female. in Helen Fishers ted talk, Why we love, why we cheat,she starts with love. Love is when you take on special meaning, a center, a consist of loving one person over another. She states that gender can be seen from the differences in the brain activity between the two different genders (men and women.)

 

With terms that can be helpful defined to the best of my ability, the start of my research can now begin with topic choosing. I am interesting in seeing African women working with technology. I have decided to do my research on Juliana Rotich. She is the Co-founder of Ushahidi and BRCK inc. She was born in Kenya, after high school she moved to the United States to continue in her education and follow her passion of computer science. Juliana was born in 1977 and is currently still alive. Her culture is different then mine because first I grew up in the United States and she was raised in Africa. She also had to up and move her life to the United States where she knew nobody, whereas I moved myself two hours from home and where a good portion of students from my high school were also attending. rotich

Useahidi was developed in 2008 to map reports of violence in Kenya. The goal of the company is to serve people with limited resources. BRNK inc. is also located in Africa, the device created is able to connect to networks, local devices, have a backup power source, it is a mobile WiFI device, that has the ability to connect to internet in areas that have very little WIFI abilities.

My difficulty with interviewing her is that even though she is alive and able to be found she is a sought after Keynote speaker and on the head boards of her companies mentioned. There is a possibility to connect with her through Twitter, Linkedin, Facebook, but from initial research it seems to be that contact may be difficult. I found Juliana from the Women Role Models Project site.

Customizing the Blog Experience.

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This week I thought that customizing the blog was harder than creating the blog. Creating a WordPress blog is a new thing that I have never experienced. I figured that there would be a lot more freedom on the display of my blog but it was more restrictive than I thought it was going to be. I went through multiple different themes and even though it specifies no black and white writing I choose the blog that the pages were in black and white strictly because I felt as though it gave organization to the blog. I however for convenience added on the sidebar a pages link so people do not have to strain their eyes to read the page names. I was a little confused on the organization of the categories with the initial ideas of each topic, so to be more straight forward I added those to both the set up category and the category that they are attained to. I’m excited to see how next weeks addition to the blog will play out because writing post so far have not been extremely difficult but once we get into projects I want to see how much more difficult it will be.

Adding the RSS: I have always seen this but never actually knew what it was about. I figured that out today when I was beginning this project. I displayed two and did gender equality. I choose this topic strictly because I feel like even though the class is a focus on gender and technology many people in the world care more about gender equality and how our world is treating each sex. I find it interesting and always wanted to know how blogs added those, so this was a fun opportunity to figure that out and understand what it was all about.

Financial Analysis idea project.

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This is my Junior year of school so i’m coming near to an end of my college career. One thing that I always thought about in high school was a trip with my friends. So I want to do my Financial Analysis on a spring break trip to a tropical place and how I would have to save, plan, and get all my friends to a place off the mainland of the United States.

Gender Lens Ideas

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I want to continue my research on Lammily the new and improved barbie doll. I find it interesting because I grew up playing with Barbies and Bratz dolls, so it interest me in learning about a doll that is more realistic rather than giving girls and boys these ideas of how girls should be portrayed in the form of a doll. As I explored lammily.com I noticed that on the about page it is created by a male. So I want to further the research in finding how women are reacting to this new doll.

Cultural Research Idea.

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I plan on doing research on how women in Africa are currently using technology. With initial research on what country that I want to do my research on I found that there is a program called Women in Tech Africa, which is a project in supporting women in their leadership roles done with different sources of technology. “I ADMIRE WOMEN WHO HAVE INFLUENCED A CHANGE IN THE TECHNOLOGY WORLD FROM AFAR. I DREAM OF BEING THERE TOO SOMEDAY. THE WORLD IS CRYING OUT FOR MORE WOMEN WHO CAN VENTURE IN TECHNOLOGY, AND I WANT TO BE ONE OF THE WOMEN WHO CAN ELBOW THEIR WAY OUT OF PATRIARCHY TO SILENCE THE CRY,” states one of the girls written about on the projects homepage. I am excited to look further into the research and find out how Africa is being influenced by technology. If for now you want to look further into the project feel free to explore womenintechafrica.com.

Experience With Blogging.

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Today is the first day that i’ve ever attempted a blog. I have to say that creating the blog was not a difficult task by any means. I however, had a difficult time realizing what I should be titling my blog and in the future my title of Gender and Technology will most likely change as we get further into the course and my blog has a set view of what my topic post will be about. I am excited though to keep this updated and use the skills we learn from this blog to maybe one day start my own blog because I have always wanted to start a lifestyle blog just never had the motivation and with the structure of this course I believe I will soon be able to have the experience under my belt.

Setting up the email signature. This is a funny topic because prior to being an HDFS student I was in the school of Design and Human Environment with a focus on Apparel Design. In the program many of the teachers required us to have a signature so mine was already almost fully set up just had to add in the blog link. I think that signatures are a good thing for every person who is emailing professionally to have because it makes the email look more professional and complete before sending it.

Finally, being asked if I like listening to my computers text reading I have to say no, I sometimes find it helpful while studying because I can focus on note taking while listening rather than reading and pausing for notes. I however do not like listening to it because I tend to find the computer monotone and get bored as I listen to the computer read webpages.