Peer Review

When looking at the peer reviews papers that I have previously edited, I have noticed a few key concepts that I tend to lean towards when editing the papers. I am not good at english, specifically grammar. I feel that when editing you should place your input on your strong characteristics instead of your weak one. For example, if I am editing a paper, I am going to correct more on the the general flow and concepts of the paper, rather than the grammar. Simply because those are my strong points. I do not feel that I should be correcting on a grammar rule that I have no clue about. As I look back on my previous reviews, I feel that I did a good job trying to get the main point across. I tried to leave my comments and make them completely understandable. Throughout most of my peer reviews, i feel that my comments speak t different things. One paper i graded, the writer hd geared it towards many audiences. I felt like to make the paper stronger, they should limit the about of audience and really focus to appeal to just one audience. This year as a writer, I have learned many things about what I focus on. As previously stated, I feel that when I write a paper, I lean towards the over all general idea of the paper. Seeing this throughout my editing has aloud me to realize and grow as a writer. in recent papers I start off focusing on the general flow, but then i transition into focusing on each paragraph; and sometimes I even focus on a single flow of a sentence. This technique has made my editing skills stronger and also had aloud me to grow not only as a editor but also llet me focus on the small things when I am writing my own papers.

NETFLIX ANALYSIS

I decided to analyze the website Netflix. This website is used to see movies and catch up on my most resent shows. In this website, they have used a very good type of navigation. I can successfully move around the website without trying to figure out where to go. Also they do a quiz that is just for you so that they can match movies that you might not have seen in the past. A part about netflix that they could improve is moving the entire program online. It is very frustrating if you want to watch a movie on Netflix but you have to order it; where as other movies you don't have to order. Also when you get to the main website, it is very good that the website gives you different options of different genres base on your previous views of those genres. Also when you go to the top of the left hand screen and click down on the scroll bar; it will give you different genres to click on depending on what you are searching for. THe best thing about Netflix is that when you are watching a movie,  and you have to stop that movie and even close out the web sights; the next time that you log onto that website, it will have the movie exactly where you left it. This is very useful especially when watching T.V. shows because it will help you remember what episode your on. The last great thing about Netflix is that before watching the show, it will give you a summary about what the show or movie is on. This is great because I have avoided a lot of bad movies due to the summary. I know that when critiquing a website it's supposed be critical and have a good intake on the website. I am still critical but I believe that if there is not much to critique then you can analyze the positive aspects of that site.

www.netflix.com

First off, this is the weirdest thing I have ever seen when it comes to online websites. You possibly can't grasp the full effect of the religion without being in the physical place. Nevertheless, I feel that if there was websites on this, this website was set up properly. I viewed a temple through a website. I feel that in this website there if an effective use of space. When clicking around on the website, it seemed to effectively get me from space to space. The online temple is geared towards Hindu believers or anyone that is interested in joining and wanted to learn more about it. I think that this website is useful for first time viewers on this particular religion. However, I do not feel that this should be a place that people believing in Hindu should only go to practice their religion. If you have questions about a certain subject, it is almost impossible to grasp the full answer without being in person. I like how on this website, they draw a picture of the temple and point to the places where in a temple the areas are. This is very effective toward visual learners. Also, I like how in the meditation room, music of the temple comes on. However, if you are a first time learner, this is hard because it does not tell you what you are supposed to be doing while meditating. As you move over to the shrine, it says that this is the shrine room, however, again it does not explain the purpose of this room. This is not effective towards first time users. The Puja room caught was the most successful part about this website. I feel that when you go to a temple or church, you should be engaged into the process of whatever the church or temple is doing. When the choir sings in church, you pull out your hymns and sing along with them. In the Puja room, you are successfully aloud to place certain objects into the ganesh. This engaged me in the activity and also made me remember this more than most the other web pages on this site. Although this website is an efficient tool in this religion, it should replace the physical place of the temple.
This is the website below that I visited:
http://www2.uic.edu/stud_orgs/religion/hindu/vtemple.html

Blogging about Blogging

When I think of the word blogging, I think about intense artsy writers that spend their days in coffee shops writing down stuff on a web sight that no one is ever going to read. I was very closed minded about  blogging and decided it was only for a specific group of people. What I came to realize, was that I was totally wrong. It has expanded and improved my writing drastically. I was never good at writing, mainly because I never wrote about things that I like. The only time I wrote was on papers that I had to write about. I never gave myself the time to express myself in the literary way. Having this blog has helped me open my views on different ways of expressing myself. I like how we can have the option on free writes every once in awhile, because I can really express what's on my mind. I also like how we have to comment on other blogs because that way I feel that what I'm writing down isn't just to write down but people are reading it. We can get to know more about our peers and it's an outside way to kind of get to know the real person because what they write in their blogs are their true feelings. That way I feel that I am being heard. I also like when we are given prompts to write about because it makes me think about new things and ideas that I normally wouldn't think about. It allows me to push my boundaries and go out side my comfort zone and explained my horizon.

Editing Can Be Fun

I feel that many people have trouble focusing on the big picture when editing a paper, because they get wrapped up in all the little grammatical errors. I do not have that problem, mainly because I suck at fixing grammatical errors. I am terrible when it comes to spelling and proper punctuation. Growing up, it has always been hard editing papers in class because I would always miss the punctuation marks and the teacher would always mark me off. Being introduced to this new concept of focusing on the big picture in peers reviews has been a relief. I also really like how we comment positive things on each others papers because it reinforces that we are doing something right. It's really hard when revising a second draft and all there is marked is errors. When I get a paper back that has all negative feed back on it, I feel that the paper is not strong. Therefor I am not exciting about correcting it, because I felt that the total paper was a waist of time. I also liked the way that we corrected the papers on the peer review. We did not receive just one opinion but three. That way, it feels more like suggestions rather then one person editing it saying its just wrong. Also by having three people read it, the last two readers may catch something that the first reader did not. Lastly, I liked how the editing style was set up on the computers so that a bunch of stuff on your paper isn't crossed out, and you can read the typed words better than people's handwriting.  I didn't really dislike anything; I really liked this way of editing and I think this is the way that a paper should be edited.

Connection is not always productive

My view point on smart phones is not in the norm. Although I have one, I absolutely hate it. In society we are pressured to have the next and up coming thing. We are always connected. I personally don't think that it's not healthy to always stay connected. That means that your brain is always being distracted. I know that I am always glancing at my phone to see if someone texted me back or if I received an email. Currently, while I am typing this blog, I have checked my phone six times; to either reply to text or to answer the phone. It's not always healthy to multitask like that. If we constantly multitask then we are always distracted. This feeds into distractions in things that we need to be focused on. Today, people in school are not doing as well on test, because they don't know how to relax and focus on one thing. I know that when I take a test, I am think about everything from where I am going this weekend, to what guy I think is cute, to how much I need to start working out again. My mind is all over the place because of the constant connection we have to all the different varieties of communication. I mean think about it. We are not only connected by phone but then we have Facebook, Twitter, text messages, computers, emails and Skype. We are constantly connected and have absolutely no time to rest.This also makes problems when going to sleep because your mind is constantly churning. I honestly think that society is going to come to a point that we are going to have major focusing and sleeping problem if not already.

Taking risk and sticking to it.

Life is all about choices.  We make choices every minute of everyday. From what you want to wear in the morning all the way to what you want to do with your life. My problem that I have, is allowing myself to have too many choices. I don't like commitment in anything, so therefor I do everything.  I'm so scared that once I get tied down, Ill look back on my life and regret the decisions I've made. The past two years of my life I have tried to decide what I want to be when I grow up. I've gone from neuro- oncology, to nutrition, to photography. While everything interest me, I have always had a love for the arts. However, photography is a type of art that you either make it or break it. Recently, I applied to NYC internship for photography. I was nervous about getting the job. Only about ten percent of all applicants receive an invitation to join. I received my invitation yesterday. I was beyond thrilled. But once again, I got the fear of just sticking to one thing. This is a large opportunity but I only need to take it if this is what I want to do. I have finally decided to take the risk. Yes, there is a fifty percent chance that I am going to regret it. But there is also another fifty percent chance that I could be really happy. And when you think about it, that's what all the photographers have to do in order to make it. For once in my life I am going after what I really want. And who cares if it doesn't work out, at least I tried.