ENG 314-001

My name is Ben Drake and I am a senior at UNCW majoring in English with a certificate in Professional Writing. My interests are going to see live music, reading and traveling. I decided to take this class, for one, because it was required, but also to expand my knowledge on media communication through the internet. I am not much for technology but I figured to work in an age of advanced technology, one should be savvy with computers.

All in all, I am looking forward to this class and have only one question: Will we need Facebook?

Hopefully not.

My name is Sarah Nolie Brown and I'm a junior majoring in English. In my time apart from school I enjoy tennis and fashion. When I was younger and still able to take advantage of my parents funding for "educational trips", I went to a rural village in Thailand for a month. It was one of the best experiences of my life and has encouraged me to travel ever since. I also watch The Office religiously.

I chose ENG 314 because I enjoy writing and am curious to know how it ties into technology. I am specifically interested in the way the internet has positively and negatively transformed our generation and would like to know more. I use social sites that are helpful, like craigslist, and I'll even admit that Facebook can have its benefits. But when I see people who are more connected to their social sites than their present environment, I feel like technology is hurting instead of helping our society. I hope that if I learn more about technology I will have more understanding of why it is important.

If I were to ask one question, it would be: What are some potential jobs in which I can apply my writing skills with the latest technology? I chose this course because I am exploring my interests and attempting to broaden my horizons and career goals. I look forward to the course.

My name is Brandy Swart. I am originally from Alpharetta, Georgia and I have four brothers and two sisters. (I am the youngest) I am an English major, journalism minor and hope to pursue a career in political journalism. Im an interested in politics and world issues. In my free time I like to run, hang out with friends, and write.

Upon completion of the class I hope to have broadened my skills with different types of technology and technology programs that may be of help to me in my career. I enrolled in this class because it was required for my major. It looks different from many of my other English courses and I am excited to learn something new.

Mr. Tirrell, did teaching at UNCW bring you to Wilmington or was the move for another reason?

I'm Deanna Murphy. I'm an English major (Professional Writing Option) and I graduate in the spring. I have a lot of interests, but I spend most of my time reading, writing, running, and trying to think of things to do in the boring town of Jacksonville. At the moment, I want to pursue journalism as a career, but I like to keep my options open -- anything that involves writing and editing will do.

I enrolled in Writing and Technology because I needed another English course, and I thought this one would be different from the typical English course. I hope to learn more about how to use some of the technology that is used by journalists. I know absolutely nothing about manipulating video and audio, so I would love to learn!

Which software will we be using for the course?

I'm Justin Davis. I was born in fairfax VA. I have an older and younger brother. My father was in the marines for 28 years so i have moved around a lot and been out of the country 4 times. I am a senior and a chemistry major with an english minor. I like to hang out with friends, go to bars, and enjoy life.

As for the class, I just picked it because it sounded interesting and it can't hurt to learn more about technology. I needed another english class to fulfill my minor requirement and this one fit into my schedule the best.

Ummm.... I don't really have any questions about the course at the moment, it seems like it's going to be a fun course and very interesting.

My name is Valerie Scialabba and I am also an English major. I'm from the Pittsburgh area, the youngest of five girls, and I have a twin. (We look nothing alike.) I enjoy reading, soccer and dance.

I expect to become well-informed of the relationship between writing and the way we use it to communicate. Not only is this class a requirment, it sounded the most interesting. I often wonder where technology is going to take the literary world, and I was hoping this class has the answer.

Do you think it's possible that one day we will live in a bookless world?

My name is Jeremy Parker and I am an English major with an emphasis in Professional Writing as well as a minor in Computer Science. My interest lies in Digital Multimedia and more specifically the altering of images. I also like water-sports such as Wake-boarding and Skiing.

I choose to take this class because I'm interested in technology. I also needed 3 more credit hours to complete my requirements for my English degree. I hope that I learn more about online technologies in this class. What motivated to enroll in this class was the title. Writing and Technology, it's catchy.

Question: What online technologies will be exploring?

My name is Lindsay Mulligan and I am a senior this year at UNCW. I am majoring in English with the Professional Writing option, and as a surprise to most, I love writing essays and such for school. I also like writing in my free time, and hope to have some stuff published one day (probably very far into the future at this rate).

I have no extraordinary traveling stories, but I do love the thrill of picking up and traveling as a spur-of-the-moment thing. I think spontaneity is extremely refreshing and liberating. I also am a huge sucker for horror movies, which is in no way helpful to my insomnia.

I primarily signed up for this course for my major requirements, but after going over the syllabus, it seems like it will be really interesting. I'm not that great with technology, but I am definitely big on facebook. What types of things will we be doing on facebook?

I'm Jeremy Smyczek, originally from Cleveland, Ohio (it's dark and cold). I know way too much about beer and wine, I like old European convertibles (Austin-Healey, Triumph, Fiat, Alpha, etc.) and baseball (go Indians), and I'm interested in science, secularism, and religion. I already have an MA in English, and am pursuing the PW certificate to go with a PAR major and Science, Humanities and Society minor. This course works toward both the certificate and the minor, so it's a sweet twofer. Practical reasons aside, I badly want to branch out a bit from the "academic" writing world with which I've the most familiarity (mainly lit and rhetoric) and explore some opportunities for working with language in emerging "new media" contexts--the stuff the course is about, I hope.

My question is: Does the internet make us, on average, more or less literate? Explain in a detailed essay of no more than 500 words.

Hey guys.. what's up? My name is Alex Pompliano and I'm from Pinehurst, NC - which really isn't that exciting unless you are a golf enthusiast. I have several interests that include: biking and traveling, and others that probably won't seem that interesting...

My only expectations, really, for this course is just to become more familiar and aware of modern technology moreover just the stuff I use daily (Facebook, iPod, etc.) I've always been really interested in science/technology and read a lot of WIRED and SEED magazines, which view modern technology from a scientific/literal standpoint, so I hope to get something similar out of this class - which was my main motivation for enrolling.

My question: will we be talking about more mainstream technologies like iPhone or google-phone, etc.?

My name is Meghan Solomon. I am a senior this year. My major is English with a concentration in Professional Writing. I'm from Roxboro, NC. And I'm a huge UNC basket ball fan. I hope to know how to use technology better once this class is over because I'm really bad with computers and things like that. Honestly, I enrolled because I needed this class credit and it fit into my schedule. I'm still very excited about the class. My question for Dr. Tirrell is who is your favorite basket ball team?

Hey, I'm Maggie and I am from a town called Manteo on the Outer Banks of NC. I am a English major (Professional Writing Option), and I am planning on graduating in December. I like to read, paint, exercise, go the beach, see live music/festivals, travel, hang out with friends, go out dancing, etc, etc.

I decided to take this class because I am planning on going into the journalism field, hopefully writing for a magazine (or go to grad school for International Social Work), i am trying to decide that right now. But anyway, all of my family are journalists, and my aunts and uncles and my grandma all told me that i need to take a class on writing and technology since technology is becoming so integral in the world of journalism. Also, i am interested in how all of these new social networks, like facebook, are now affecting our society (even my 84 year old grandma is now addicted to facebook!).

Im really excited about the community advocacy project, could the things that we create be effective outside of the classroom?

Hi there, my name is Temple Mullis. I am a senior here at UNCW working towards an English major and concentration in Professional Writing. I am from Nags Head, NC. I enjoy doing things like, traveling, sport fishing, playing sports, relaxing on the beach, and hanging out with friends. I took English 204 this summer and was really interested in it, so I figured I would check this class out to get a little further into the technical field of writing. One question I have for you, Dr. Tirrell, do you love Carolina basketball as much as I do?

My name is Gabe. I am from Virginia Beach, VA. I grew up surfing. I have no idea what to expect in this class. I enrolled into this class to see how the abstract concept of writing relates to modern technology. Just kidding, it was required.

Is there extra credit?