Sunday, December 14, 2008

Microserfs Reading Response

Amanda Bills
Comp 106
Microserfs Reading Response
December 14, 2008
5. Karla says, "computers will continue to be developed . . . an 'entity is going to be created that has its own intelligence." What is Karla saying about artificial intelligence (AI)? What are your perspectives on AI?
Karla was predicting an advancement technology that would occur in the coming years and, working at Microsoft, her foreshadowing sounded respectable to Daniel and turned out to be accurate. She saw the advancements that had happened already and thought that artificial intelligence would continue to get “smarter.” No surprise: it has, and isn’t stopping anytime soon. Karla seems to mostly enjoy her job, at least enough to want to spend a considerable amount of time at Microsoft doing it. She was obviously hoping that her code writing, along with that of her coworkers, would benefit the company in the long-term, which makes me think that she was actually relying on the progress of artificial intelligence not only for her job future but also for all the other Microsofters. The advancement of artificial intelligence and technology of computers scares me. I recognize that there are many advantages to it but in my opinion there are many disadvantages as well. I think I connect the “good ol’ days” to when everything was done in hard copy, which provided more clerical jobs for people. Of course, having machines do basic things that people used to do is economically and environmentally friendly, which I can appreciate. However, I think I will be torn between my opposing feelings of the ‘improvement’ of technology until it proves that it actually does help the economy and the environment.

7. What perspectives does Coupland have on big corporations, the workplace, and the towns in which they are situated? How does this compare to your own experiences and perspectives?
It’s clear to me that Coupland doesn’t care much for big corporations. He makes working at Microsoft sound very dull and monotonous. The workplace is overall unfriendly and also dull; with little interaction between employees. As unpleasant as he makes it out to be, it also kind of seems like a party. I was reminded of the show The Office while I was reading Microserfs—in which the employees participate in more play than they do work. Maybe not so much in Microserfs, but no doubt, Coupland makes sure to point out the Microsofters’ fooling around, despite the fact that they spend most of their lives working at the office writing codes as well. For example, when Daniel ran into Karla walking on campus and they both lied down on the ground and began discussing technology, how humans were the every animal and that computers were soon to take that title away, and even bugs, when a bumblebee flew above the two, abruptly causing a change in subject. I agree that it can get old working the same shift every day, and admit that I don’t think I could handle it. I have had the opportunity to work at a law office, which Microserfs reminds me of a bit. Beside the fact that my coworkers took their jobs quite seriously, I never felt bored or anti-social. However, I was only part-time and also attended high school so I obviously didn’t experience the full effect of such a repetitive lifestyle.

9. Daniel Underwood has been described as an "anti-hero" who is a "dull nobody." In what ways is this statement true? Why has Coupland used this form of an anti-hero?
I can see how Daniel could be seen as an anti-hero and a dull nobody in Microserfs. He doesn’t initially do anything spectacular that stands out in the reader’s mind, or any of his coworkers’ or housemates’ minds for that matter. He woke up and did almost the same things every day with little variation--the same, boring things. Daniel did get to know Karla, who he had never talked to before an unexpected meeting on campus when they both should have been working but were walking around instead, which was a step in the right direction if he was planning to stop being a “dull nobody.” I think Coupland used this form of an anti-hero because a lot of people can relate to it. Many employees of big corporations who work nine-to-fives wake up in the morning, go to work, then return home and go to sleep to do it all over again. They also have little variation in their lives and sometimes it can get boring and maybe even depressing. I think this story can provide some inspiration for people who work in similar situations; and may be either a good reason to get out or to accept their jobs for what they are and perhaps alter their lives to make them more enjoyable. Maybe also Coupland sees aspects of himself and his previous experiences in one or more of his characters; although, I believe that as a writer, he’s sort of his own boss and doesn’t lead the same lifestyle as the people in his book.



Works Cited
Coupland, Douglas. Microserfs. New York: Harper Collins, 1995.

Reflection on the class

During the course of this semester, one thing I have learned is how visuals can relate and add dimensions to literature but also take away from its effectiveness on a reader. As a loose example, when I hear a song I listen to the lyrics and develop visuals in my mind that match the lyrics and how I interpret and relate them to my life and experiences. Then, if and when I watch the music video for the song, which is rare, the images in my head are distorted because of those in the video, and usually ends up taking away from the connection I felt with the song. On the other hand, visuals can support claims, strengthen arguments, and provide a basis of understanding for a reader/viewer. As an example of that, I was watching Forensic Files tonight and thought about how it was making me cringe. It would not have had the same effect on me had they not shown pictures of the perpetrator and victim(s).
If I had the chance to revise a piece of my work, I would definitely choose the summaries I wrote of the academic articles. Although I was happy with the actual summaries, I was disappointed with the lack of an introduction and a conclusion. Not only would I have gotten a better grade had I included those; the person reading my document would have finished with a better understanding of how the three articles were correlated with each other. Also, while I was mostly satisfied with my Activity II project, the redesigned song lyrics, I think I could have done a lot more to the words and used different, more expressive fonts to convey their meanings in a broader way. I started the project by changing the font of each word to match the meaning of that word, but then realized that my design would have a greater affect if I gave credit to the significance of the lyrics in a larger sense. It certainly improved between the first draft and the final, but I think I could have done an even better job.
As for my blog: I hadn’t really thought about what I was going to do with it following this course. Undoubtedly I will look back at it and either admire my work or decide what I could have done differently/better, as I already have. Whether I’ll continue to post blogs there, I don’t know; I guess its possible future content would depend on who could see it. I’m not one to post things on the internet such as updates about my life or other stories like that, so other than using the blog for school, I’m not sure how it would be of use to me after this semester.

Friday, December 12, 2008

1000 word essay from Module II

Amanda Bills
Comp 106

3. What are some of the traditional ways of forming identities that are practiced on social networking sites?

Traditionally, women based their thoughts and actions on what they thought would please the men they came in contact with. Their emotions were strongly related to those of their male siblings and fathers and, later, their husbands because their main goal was to make sure men, even strange men, were happy. If women didn’t do everything they could to please men, they were failing their basic duties.
Today things are much different. Men and women are independent and responsible for their own happiness. However, it seems women still depend on men for some things that may affect their overall satisfaction. For example, women mention their significant others more on social networking sites than men do. A study done by Margaret J. Brackstone and Harvey W. Zingle suggests that women look to the people closest to them for emotional and social support. The study “was intended to learn on whom women typically rely for various kinds of support, how adequate they perceive this support to be, and what changes they would like to see.” When asked to analyze the support women felt who were not in relationships with men, they gave general statements about how men (paraphrased) “show personal interest and give encouragement. On the other hand; women who were in relationships, mostly married relationships, with men reported that they felt better support from their female acquaintances and friends than they did from their male significant others. Most of those women expressed discontent with their significant others’ support based on lack of understanding and appreciation of their role at home. This makes me think of how things used to be a few decades ago. A woman’s role was to stay at home and take care of the children and the house, doing anything and everything she could in order to keep the house in order and get dinner on the table in time for when her husband came home from his full-time, bread-winning job. More recently, women have also held full-time jobs and possibly their husbands still expect them to take care of the responsibilities that arise with the children and house by themselves.
Times are changing and husband-wife relationships aren’t as conventional as they once were, but it seems that some men still rely heavily on their wives to complete “traditional tasks,” but women’s mindset have changed with the times. They work full time jobs too and don’t have an excessive amount of time on their hands to do the dishes and clean the house; they expect to be treated fairly by their husbands and receive help in doing these things. When women get promoted and are required to stay later at work, their husbands sometimes aren’t as supportive as they would like them to be; they should be proud, right? On the other hand, their friends are thrilled; this one example of why women are discontent with the level of support from their husbands. According to an article entitled “Women, Divorce, and Domestic Violence,” professor Sanford Braver at Arizona State University showed that “at least two-thirds of American divorces are initiated by women” and “[one of the] reasons most often given [is] ‘not feeling loved or appreciated.’”
Although women have come along way with regards to gaining freedom and independence, they lack some confidence in maintaining them. Due to the high value they place on social support and also the nature of women in general, they find themselves getting their emotions involved in relationships a lot more than men do. They show this, for example, on social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook. In the article, “Gender Differences in “Social Portraits” Reflected in MySpace Profiles” written by Melissa Joy Magnuson, B.A. and Lauren Dundes, Sc.D., the issue of women mentioning their significant others more than men do on these social networking sites is explored. Their findings prove that women who are in relationships have profiles that mention their significant others’ names one or more times, while some men don’t even mention theirs. Magnuson and Dundes link men’s lack of information of their significant others to their independence, which they learned and adapted to as a result of their raising. Boys are taught to keep their emotions separate from one another instead of mixing them (job and love life, for example) like women have learned. For women, each is dependent on the other, which is key to realizing why women get so torn up when things go wrong. If they lose their job or a romance, it affects all other aspects of her life; some women can’t let them exist independently, which has an impact on how they feel about and react to everything that exists and occurs in their lives.











Works Cited
Brackstone, Margaret J. and Harvey W. Zingle. “Women's Perceptions of the Nature and Adequacy of Their Present Support Relationships.” International Journal for the Advancement of Counseling 16.2 (1993): 119-134.
Magnuson, B.A., Melissa Joy and Lauren Dundes, Sc.D. “Gender Differences in “Social Portraits” Reflected in MySpace Profiles.” CyberPsychology & Behavior 11.2 (2008): 239-241.
Wiseman. “Women, Divorce, and Domestic Violence.” 12 Sept. 2003. .

Academic article summaries from Module III

Amanda Bills
Comp 106
November 16, 2008
Module III
Effects of Headaches on Children and Adults

The first article I read, entitled “Temperament and haracter Profiles of Patients with Tension-Type Headache and Migraine,” was regarding whether temperaments and character profiles differed between people who experience headaches (migraines and tension type headaches, or TTH) and those who don’t. The article supports the idea that these types of headaches are related to depression and some personality disorders. Some researchers of this topic have used the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) to study the personalities of people who experience these headache types. Some have found that MMPI scores of migraine sufferers were within normal limits, according to the results of the healthy controls, but those of TTH sufferers were not. Mentioned in the article are Cloninger et al, who developed the Psychobiological Model of Personality approach. This approach examines seven personality traits, four of which considered dimensions of temperament; the other three dimensions of character. These dimensions reflected various responses depending on sex, age, level of education, and BDI (Beck Depression Inventory, which verified validity and reliability of depressive symptomatology) in relation to both types of headache. At the end of the article, the authors inform the reader that their presumptions about the effect serotonin levels have on tension type headaches, if any, were indirect interpretations because they were based on self-administered questions and no physiological variables were actually assessed.
The second article, “Sleep, Sleepiness, and Behavior Problems in Children with Headache,” also looks into migraine and tension-type headaches. Like in the first article, the authors found that headaches affect temperament and behavior and, not surprisingly, temperament and behavior can be indicators of headaches in young children. For example, changes in sleep patterns and difficulty sleeping are correlated with headaches in children, in that children who suffer from headache have a high rate of sleep difficulties. In addition, headaches have been linked to specific sleep disorders and snoring. Also, sleep problems in early childhood predict headaches in children who are of school entry age. Bruni et al conducted a study of frequency, duration, and intensity of headaches and found no differences in children with sleep difficulties versus those without. On the other hand, they did find that children with headaches had higher rates of sleep difficulties. Bruni and colleagues also found that migraines were associated with less sleep, fear of falling asleep, and bedtime refusal in children aged two years to twelve years. Related too are headaches and psychopathology, with some gender differences. For instance, girls who were found to have anxiety and depression showed higher rates of headaches than girls without these internalizing disorders, and boys’ behaviors were connected to externalizing disorders such as Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Furthermore, sleep disorders and headaches have been associated with stress in children. In terms of sleep and sleepiness, to paraphrase the article: boys with headaches fell asleep earlier than boys without headaches, while girls with headaches fell asleep later than girls without headaches. Also, to paraphrase again: boys with headaches slept more and spent more time in true sleep, while girls with headaches slept less and spent less time in true sleep than the children in the control group. Earlier (morning) rise time was proven to have a correlation to the severity of headaches. One factor that is not considered in this article is the children’s sleep needs, which in some cases could have been high.
Lastly, in the third article, “Serial Headache Drawings by Children with Migraine: Correlation with Clinical Headache Status,” a previous study, done by the authors, was described in which children were asked to draw a picture of what their headaches felt like. Because children aren’t always able to report headache pain and auras, the authors of this article studied the pictures drawn by children suffering from headaches, and whether those pictures could be used to diagnose migraines. In 90% of the cases, drawings predicted the diagnosis of migraine versus non-migraine headaches. Their next study is discussed in this article. Its purpose was to analyze the drawings made by children who received treatment for migraine headaches. The drawings made after treatment were compared to those made before treatment and evaluated to see if they showed improvement. Out of 111 children in the study, only 12 of the patients’ drawings were considered not to show improvement due to disagreement among the raters.

Hypothetical experiment from Module II

Amanda Bills

Comp 106

My experiment will include 20 college students; 10 males and 10 females ranging from ages 18 to 25. To choose my interviewees, I will survey enough students in order to find 10 males and 10 females who have significant others. Once selected, they will sit down in a computer lab and each create Facebook page from scratch; then I will analyze their profiles, counting how many of the males versus how many of the females mention their significant others in their “Interests” section, and how many of their profiles show them listed as “In a relationship.” They will complete a pre-designed survey which asks them how they would react if their significant other were to leave them, and why they would react that way. This should give some explanation as to why and how women seem to depend on men for their own emotional stability more than men depend on women for the same thing.

Screenshot from Week 1



I’ve never been good at doing my work without any distractions. I almost always have something else going on while I’m trying to study, do assignments, etc. However, having online classes has taught me how to keep the distractions to a minimum, because I’ve had to deal with the challenge of always being able to go to Myspace, Facebook, emails, and other websites. I tell myself that I can still listen to music as long as it’s quiet enough that I can still think and focus on what I’m doing. In this screenshot, I had just finished setting up my blog and as you can see I gave in to the temptation of Myspace. Perhaps if I had been doing a more difficult or thought-provoking assignment, you wouldn’t see the Myspace tab there. I think of Kelley’s “The Next 5,000 Days of the Web.” Technology has come a long way in just the past 5,000 days and some people think that it’s been for the better. They think it frees more time for us to do more things. I can see why they think that, but I disagree. The web and other technologies such as television and video games actually occupy our time more than ever before, leaving us with less. Some think that since we can download forms and order clothes on the internet that it saves us the time it takes to go to the store or an office to speak with someone in person. The problem these conveniences pose is that we think we have more time in the day to do more things, and we overwhelm ourselves. Life was simple before the internet, but now there’s so much more at our fingertips and so much more to do and people want to do it all.

Thursday, November 6, 2008

Module III Draft

Annotated Bibliography

Boz, Cavit; Sibel Velioglu; Mehmet Ozmenoglu; Kemal Sayar; Zekeriya Alioglu; Bulent Yalman; Murat Topbas. “Temperament and Character Profiles of Patients with Tension-Type Headache and Migraine.” Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences 58.5 (2004): 536–543.

This article explains a study that evaluated the attitudes of people who have tension type headaches and compared them to those of healthy controls.


Bursztein, Cendrine; Tamar Steinberg; Avi Sadeh. “Sleep, Sleepiness, and Behavior Problems in Children with Headache.” Journal of Child Neurology. 21.12 (2006): 1012-1019.

This article discusses a study that assessed the sleep patterns and behaviors in children who experienced headaches and compared them to the sleep patterns and behaviors in the healthy controls; focus on gender.


Stafstrom, Carl E.; Shira R. Goldenholz; Douglas A. Dulli. “Serial Headache Drawings by Children with Migraine: Correlation with Clinical Headache Status.” Journal of Child Neurology. 20.10 (2005): 809-813.

This article explores a study in which children who experience headaches provided self-depictions of their headaches by showing what the pain feels like using drawings. It also tests the assumption that treatments and diagnoses of different types of headaches can be discovered by and correlated with the drawings.