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Where We've Been:

I'm not sure what exactly I expected from this course at the start of the semester, but we've definitely explored concepts and ideas that hadn't yet occurred to me. My thinking about gender, technology, information, and the relationship between them is rapidly expanding. The readings have been complex but useful, although I've especially enjoyed the way we used the panel and discussion about the film to learn from each other in class.  I also think it's great to see the interaction on Serendip as people read and comment on the work of their classmates, although more of that is always better- and a goal is to contribute more, myself.

Forward Thinking:

I'm interested in ways to use this site as more of an extension of the classroom than we currently do, and interacting more online is definitely something I want to work on personally! As a group, there seems to be a missing link between what we think and say in small discussion groups or when prodded and what we volunteer in discussions. I think the quality of the regular class discussion could be much improved with more willingness to volunteer thoughts and ideas to the group. Perhaps there is something intimidating about this structure that could be adapted to make students more comfortable and increase the volume of ideas that we are able to share. I hope that on the next panel, I'll be able to share more about what I'm bringing to the table, since I felt like the last discussion was more focused on specific experiences and I didn't get asked many questions.

Edges of Learning:

Individually, I'm learning to get comfortable in a larger classroom and how to think and talk about topics like science, technology, and information that are unfamiliar and out of my comfort zone. Collectively, I think we're learning about the give and take dynamics of larger group discussion and about the limits (or lack thereof) of web papers vs traditional papers that we may be more accustomed to. 

It's been a long time since I thought about anything related to science or technology, and the study of information and gender were new to me this semester as well. My "edges of learning" have expanded through this course to include these new topics, but I often feel very bogged down in minor details and endless debates over small definitions. I hope that as the semester goes on, I'll be able to see a clearer big picture that will help me get from point A to point B eventually, even if the meaning is in the journey. 

Where We're Going:

We've covered very interesting aspects of gender, information and technology and how they shape and change our world, but I think the interaction of gender with science/information/technology remain unexplored. How does gender, in whatever way we define it, affect the science, information and technology of our world? Do we relate differently to these topics based on gender? Also, in our discussion of technology and information in our world, I think we should look to the future and think about where we're headed as these topics rapidly evolve. 

In a previous post, I suggested Mike Chorost's recent book, World Wide Mind, and I still think that would be a very interesting and relevant book for our class, as it would provide both a looking back and a moving forward glance at information, science and technology. Predictably, what's left out of many of the texts I've come across is gender, and I haven't come across any material that brings gender into conversation with the other topics in our course. The book I read for my first project, Cinderella Ate My Daughter, was a very interesting exploration of girlhood, marketing, and nature vs nuture, and I think parts of that could be enlightening and relevant as well.