Consumption of New Media and it's Effects on the Study Abroad Experience

     My first communications professor at UIC was Adrienne Stoner in the fall of 2009. I can recall her emphasizing about her study abroad experience. To learn that she is now a doctoral candidate is wonderful and I find her research to be extremely fascinating.
     Adrienne studies the relationship between two variables: the study abroad experience and the consumption of new media. She defines new media as cell phones, Ipads, mobile technology, Skype, and the Internet. Adrienne is curious to study how often do people use new media while studying abroad and how does it effect their comfort zone? How much harder is it for an individual to adapt to the new culture abroad with new media? 
     She presented the class a model which represents different phases that an individual encounters based off the duration of time spent abroad (measured in months). It begins with the honeymoon phase, in which an individual is happy and excited for a new experience. It then transitions to a culture shock, in which an individual is completely thrown off from their personal "norm". It is followed by adjustment, which finalizes into mastery. 
     From my personal experiences, I have not studied abroad, but I have traveled across and throughout the country. Although it was a short trip that lasted a couple weeks, my experience was phenomenal. It just so happened that the day before I had planned to leave for my trip, I broke my smartphone. I was extremely upset. My phone provider could only lend me a "temp" phone that was probably from 1992 that still had the classic "snake game". There was no internet connection to my phone, no gps, no Facebook, Twitter, nothing. I would call myself a frequent user of social media, so this was very troubling. However, now I am grateful that things played out that way. I was completely isolated from the internet. I didn't bring my laptop along the way either. The only way people could contact me, was if they called. Because my phone was broken, I got to experience my adventure first hand. I wasn't checking my email, my tweets, or my Facebook. I had full focus on my journey and adventure, in which I could learn more about different cultures. 
     Once I got to the west coast after 2 weeks of exploring the southwest, I gave in and used a pay per minute to check any emails or updates I've received on Facebook. Because I was paying to use the Internet, I didn't spend much time because I didn't want to spend much money. 
     I agree with Adrienne's study in which new media does in fact impact our abroad or traveling experiences. Technology is great, but sometimes we need to set aside our Internet and smartphones and really engage ourselves in the new culture that is presented in front of us. 

The Structure of Storytelling by Barnhurst

                Professor Barnhurst begins his lecture by asking the students to participate in a story-telling activity that lasts one minute long about a recent story in their life that the individual cares about. The students were looking for patterns that their stories shared.
                Barnhurt explains that communication researchers have spent years analyzing this specific kind of communication. He also goes through the elements of storytelling. Barnhurst belives that there is an announcement before the story occurs. The next is complicating action, in which the story is founded by a problem. The following element is the response. There is in fact a specific structure that story-telling follows. A specific structure reminded me of the lesson in which we learned how to analyze a research paper, in which we follow a specific structure and decode the information. (Abstract, literature review, discussion, etc)
                I think Barnhurt would agree to framing, in which the way we tell a story will shape the perceptions of our audience. Whatever information we choose to include will set a specific tone for our story. Framing may be intentional or non intentional when we tell stories. We might "forget" to include a part in the story, for example, if I told my boss I was late because I missed the bus. Well, I also "forgot" to include that I hit the snooze button a couple times too many. Barnhurt continued to elaborate on the structure of story-telling when the video was cut to an end.
                 

How Do We Know What We Know About Other People

                Professor Bui researches the value of Vietnamese Women and their overall image of their body by examining popular culture, foreign and domestic policy, as well as daily communications. Bui states that she is curious to learn "how we know what we know about other people."

                Representations of Asian women can be based off of individual's cultural memory representation, in other words, how do we remember our past? If someone were to ask me what comes first to mind about the Vietnam War, I am guilty of remembering common items that Bui listed. This includes American soldiers, war, fighting. I admit that Vietnamese women do not come to m mind. Vietnamese woman are not a part of typical American's memory when thinking about the Vietnamese War, yet women of Vietnamese descent were a crucial part of that history. It is fair to state that Asian women are mis and under represented. This can be due to popular culture, movies, and novels.

                Society values racial bodies differently as well as gender bodies. Certain individuals in this country seem to appreciate other bodies more than others. Creating this judgment, how do we know what we know about Asian women, specifically Vietnamese women? Bui is interested in researching how we communicate this knowledge to other individuals. Through film and research, she comes to the conclusion that Vietnamese women represent an "idealized past". Typically, Asian women are represented as prostitutes, or dead bodies in popular culture. It is simply how we are exposed to Asian women bodies that determine our perceptions.

                One specific term that came to mind when viewing Bui's lecture was framing. The perception in which Asian women are framed in American society closely focuses on the body and the sexual aspect. Framing can be extremely effective because it is considered to be a "mental shortcut". Framing defines how popular culture shapes Asian women's identities to the public which reflects our behavioral and attitudes towards women as well as minority women. As defined in class, framing is "selecting some aspects of a perceived reality and making them more salient in a communicating text". (Slide 11 in Perception Ppt)  When films make one piece of information more noticeable, the viewer's are focused and determine their perceptions. I feel that the stereotypes held in films Bui mentioned with Vietnamese women are effective negatively. I would also argue that the media plays a role in how it socializes the Asian Women's identity and culture. 

Incredible Shrinking Pipeline and the Decreasing Percentages of Women in the Computer Science Field: Perception, Schemas, & Nature vs. Nurture

    
     When you think of the computer science field, the first image to pop inside your mind may not be a woman. Professor Meraz focuses her lecture on discrimination of women in the computer science field. She argues that society views the computer as a “boy toy”. In reference to the Incredible Shrinking Pipeline, the percentages of women in the field are decreasing. As I relate to class discussion, perception is a three step process: selection, organization, and interpretation. Let’s go through each step in relation to women in the computer science field. Selection- our individual subconscious decisions of importance. Are woman subconsciously deciding to avoid this specific field? Organization- mind categories, language as a tool, detail signals importance. Were women told to avoid this field? Interpretation- attaining meaning, cultural difference – are women in different cultures viewed differently? Do gender roles vary across cultures? I would argue so. In many cultures, women are viewed to multitask, not to partake in true leisure activities- rather clean, prepare food, and help raise a family. Meraz comes from a culture in which she learned that women can be successful in whichever field they partake in, which is also why she studies computer science. So I believe that it is obvious that the culture a woman is grown into has an impact on her decision to partake in the computer science industry.
      In addition, is it society’s schemas that mold women to avoid the computer science industry? Schemas guide behavior which predicts the habits of others. Is it possible that what society believes inside their mind regarding females working inside technology set a schema? How do these schemas exist? I argue that this problem could be due to the nurture of society. Nurture allows human beings to acquire their behavioral traits through learning. It is very possible that many women were taught that computer science is typically a male dominated field.
     Automatic activation is unintentional associations developed over time. It is very likely that our perceptions of women in the computer science field are an example of automatic activation in which we believe that girls cannot work in stem fields: mathematics, biology, engineering, etc. Although, as Meraz stated in her lecture, today, women are successful in the blogging world because of sexual appeal. Yet, according to men’s opinion’s, a woman’s word is less respected. It is possible that these men fall under stereotype prejudice, in which they behold a set schema of women's expectanies in computer science. I won't say that all men believe women can't work in a computer science field, because that would mean I am sterotyping right back! However, it is apparent that women are percieved differently to men in the computer science industry.
     I believe my first computer class was as early as elementary school. Personally, I never recieved any predjudice from my teachers. As long as we were capable of completing our tasks, we were viewed as good students, regardless if we were male or female. However, I admit that today I am not the most "tech savvy" individual regarding computers, blogs, gadgets, etc. Sometimes I recieve jokes that I don't know how to work a computer because I'm a woman amongst my male friends, yet it's all in good humor.