Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Bitstrips

I used Bitstrips to make a funny cartoon which I'm sure alot of us can relate too.  I really like this site.  It offered  really cool and helpful tools to create and edit cartoons and strips and it was really easy!  I'm not gonna lie, I can see myself spending alot of hours on this site.  The layout was good and how to create a comic strip was really easy.  Some sites out there make it so that it is alot more difficult to create a comic, no Bitstrips!  Another greate advantage is that, all you have to do is make a really quick account for FREE and then you can just get started.  Bitstrips also offeres a lot of other cool features.  You can create you own characters and evenlook at other comic strips that others have created.  It also offers a wide varity of props and tools to place in your comic strip.  I would totally recomend this site for people who would like to make and create comic strips for a career or even just for fun!
The image below is comic strip that I created.  Enjoy!

Friday, December 17, 2010

Mobile Technology

Technology in Society
One hundred years ago the fastest way to get a hold of a family member or a friend was by
either walking over to go and talk to them, or if they we’re too far away, by sending them a letter
which would take weeks, sometimes months to reach the person. Now, friends and family are just a
phone call or text message away. When the phone first became available, it was the newest and
greatest thing, and now, that we have text messaging, it seems that it is starting to take over the
aspect of calling and talking to people . Now, a simple text saying, “Hey what’s up?” has taken over
phone calls. But now, there are other new add-ons to just cell phones and texting.  We have
picture messaging, games, and instant internet access to our favorite websites like Facebook,
Twitter, Youtube, etc. Now, instead of using a computer and emails, we can have that access right
in the palm of our hands. Not only have our everyday lives been affected by new mobile
technology, but it has also affected how things work in the business world too. The most common uses of mobile technology by NGO workers are voice calls (90%) and text messaging (83%).  Instead of calling conferences with other employee members, project leaders can call or send out a
quick text to their co-worker and chat about the project they are working on.

There are a lot of positives to this new world of technology. Now by just a click of a button,
or a swipe of a screen, we can get a hold of the people who we need to get a hold of. Sure it’s got a
lot of good things going for it, but is this also making it so we’ve lost track and forgotten about the
important things and values which we were once taught . Now that we can just text, it seems that
sometimes it has taken away the aspect of socializing. Although we are talking and communicating
with other people, we have sort of lost the actual face-to-face communication. Instead of walking
across the street to go and ask your friend if you want to go out and play, now all you need to do is
text your friend and ask, “Hey, wanna go out and play?” Has this new form of technology, made our
generation, lazy? In some ways yes, but in some ways no it has not. As teenagers, we’ve used the
excuse of new technology to “cheat” our way through life. We don’t always need to cram right
before a test when we have a cell phone with internet access or even just access to text a mobile
search engine like ChaCha for the answer during or right before a test. Although it’s sad to admit, a
lot of us teens do it. Sure it’s convenient, but is it right; defiantly not . What’s next? Is there going
to be a new phone that does all our homework for us; it’s very possible. But hey, I’m not saying that
mobile technology is bad, don’t get me wrong, but it does have its cons. On the plus side though,
there are a lot of pros. Texting and accessing the internet from your phone can help you keep in
touch with family members who live far away. It can also allow you to let your boss know you’ll be
late for work, or even to just check the traffic on your way to work or school. Mobile technology
HAS changed how we live our everyday lives. If this is how we work and live now, who knows what
things will be like in 20, 50, or 100 years from now. More than likely all of the technologies we have
now will be a thing of the past. I look forward to seeing what new things are in store for us over the
rest of our lifetimes.

Reference:
http://mobileactive.org/wireless-technology-social-change-trends-ngo-mobile-use