Corinne's IST 110H Blog

Our team decided to build a museum of sorts in ISTania which actually serves as a walk through the history of the College of Information Sciences and Technologies here at Penn State University. Each member of the team took on separate roles and I personally built the walls and the roof. Building in Second Life can often times be frustrating and time consuming but it is something that becomes easier with practice. I didn't mind this project as much as I thought I would. I was very frustrated at times, because Second Life just does that to me, but my team is pretty good so whenever I came across a problem I had three very skilled people to turn to with my questions.

The library that I explored on Second Life was the State Library of Kansas.

The first thing that you notice about this library is its crazy landscaping and you almost wonder what is in store for you when you wander inside.

Once inside the library however, it is reminiscent of the public libraries that we are all used to. There is a help desk on the first floor where you can click for a link to the library’s website which has a listing of books and other useful information.

Throughout the library are posters for featured books that you can click on. Once you click on these books, a menu pops up giving you options, such as with this one where you can go to the Wizard of Oz website, read the book online, go to a wikipedia article on the book, or go to a biography of the article.

I chose to read the book online and I was pleasantly surprised to find the full version of the book conveniently linked through Second Life. I was originally doubtful of the functionality of a library on Second Life, however, once I discovered this feature I was almost instantly sold on the idea.

So today is our last class of IST100H and i'm actually kinda sad. Well sad might not be the right word, but i'm feeling something, haha. I have thoroughly enjoyed this class and appreciated the opportunity to be in a class that was "honors" even though as Garrett and the SRTEs pointed out I am not a scholar. I don't hesitate to say that this class was by far my favorite class this semester and therefore my favorite class of my college career... so far :) I enjoyed the smalller numbers in the class, as opposed to my SRA class which is over one hundred people and the sheer number is intimidating and makes it nearly impossible to interact with your peers. I find this particularly inconvenient in a major where they put a specific emphasis on networking and making connections.

I was very fortunate to get an amazing group in this class as well. Being in a group for every single class I became very agitated a lot of the time, what with constant meetings and such, but with my IST group I can honestly say that I never "dreaded" a meeting or was even tempted to "skip". I enjoyed working with Garrett and Steve and I even liked spending time with them in during out Monday/Wednesday meetings that became the norm when working on our assignments. I am happy to have gained a "BFF" in Garrett and I am sure that Steve will be very useful in the future seeing as how I am very convinced that not only is he one of the smartest kids i've come across here at Penn State but he is also by far the nicest, and that is if anything an understatement.

I almost forgot D.J. ;) D.J. was a necessary part of this group because helped the group bond as a whole because we all collectively hated D.J. I am kidding of course. Although most of the time he was preoccupied with being a sexist bastard and just a jackass to me in general, I enjoyed our banter... it kept things interesting and I could always laugh his comments off.

This is not an attempt just to kiss ass, but I was very appreciative of Andrea as a professor. Even before school started she made me very comfortable with my decision to move from the IST110 class and into her section. I was initially doubtful of my abilities but she assured me that I would be better off in her class and she was right. I felt comfortable expressing my doubts and questions from the very beginning. I also loved that I felt like I knew my instructor on a somewhat personal level instead of her just being the person who stands in front of me and talks for an hour, twice a week.

I have honestly learned so much throughout this semester. It has helped me so much to learn about things like RSS feeds and even Second Life because whether or not I appreciate these things I must admit that they are the future of the industry that I would like to involve myself with and I should just accept it.

:) That's all for now... expect a lot more blogging over the next week or so because I admit that I am the biggest procrastinator on the face of the earth...

This week is going to be so hard for me and it really shouldn't be. One of the lessons that I have learned from this first semester at college is to do things when you are supposed to and to budget your time more responsibly. I made the mistake of assuming that as long as I wasn't drinking all the time that I was being responsible but even doing things like going to the movies or just hanging out with friends before you do your work is just as irresponsible. I have the worst work ethic on the face of the earth sometimes. I like to think that I can hunker down and get done what needs to be done but so far I have yet to see any evidence of this in myself and that kinda worries me. Next semester will be a real challenge. I need to rework my outlook on college and I need to stop accepting my grades as they are because they are "good enough" and start to work to my full potential.

Today I have to figure out all the problems facing NASA and come up with solutions for those problems. I don't really know how i'm supposed to do this and then make a 20 minute speech about it and since my group is supposed to be doing an equal share I am wondering what the hell they've been working on while i'm racking my brain for ways to fix a government agency that not even the government can fix.

Also today I have to find a book and write a paper on it for my religious studies class. The thing is I was supposed to have been working on this paper all semester and now that it's due on Friday and I don't even have a book selected yet I am starting to feel a little pressure. Ahh the stresses of procrastination...

So my first semester of college is pretty much over now. I have one final to take on Friday and I am completely finished. Well I also have to complete an assignment for comp sci that I dont think is going to go very well because it is a group project but I do not have a group... so I guess we will see. In order to get a C for the course, which is what I need to have it counted for the SRA major, I only need a 35% on my final exam. Part of my just wants to shoot for a 35 and the other part of my wants to get 100% but knows that this is impossible because programming is my natural enemy.

I have some days when I really really care about my grades and others I feel like that I should just let good enough be good enough. I don't know if any one else feels this way but I do. I really hope that next semester I will care more and be less lazy and work to my full potential but you never know.

I think that it's really cool that I can add these little heart with all my favorite songs haha I didn't know I could do that... so here they are