Reflections on Information Technology, IRLS 571
Introduction to Information Technology is one of those classes that I was weary of taking--but I knew I needed to take it. I feel lucky that the class I registered for was a section that was taught and guided by Trevor Smith. Trevor himself is a techy, but he has an uncanny ability to understand things from the point of view of someone who is decidedly not a techy. He explained things in a way that was understandable to me, and as a medieval history major and someone who is unsure of her technological abilites, this was important. He put me at my ease and made the technological studies part of the course something that was interesting and exciting, rather than something to fear. I should probably explain that I was not completely without knowledge of computers and their possibilities, but I was no expert.
This course taught me and gave me an understanding of technology that is more expansive than it was before (it had been rather narrow). Trevor taught us the history and development of computers and I found this fascinating, especially the article on "The Hacker Ethic," the opening reading of the course. I also became enamored of blogs, and these opened up a whole new world of information for me. I had, of course, encountered, read, and used blogs before, but usually they were on such serious subjects (mainly political or cultual based) It is wonderful the things people can make interesting just by their own enthusiasm for them (like mustaches--who knew?!)!
The most challenging thing for me in the course was putting together the website for a group project on Datamining. I was surprised to learn that, of the three of us, I had the most experience with webpages. I became the webmaster. The webpage we formed does its job well, I think, though there are many out there that are more distinct, creative and technologically detailed. I never did get the color right, but I think each page is informative and dynamic. In the end, I am pleased with what we accomplished.
See the link below to view the website:
http://www.u.arizona.edu/~lfaatz/DataMiningPresentation/DMhomepage.html