Week Eight

In this week i have a group presentation to do, and have prepared a presentation about thermos flasks, this will be a product that has had a significant impact on society, I will present this to the class during Week Twelve. Here is the presentation and notes.
In this slide i will talk about Sir James Dewar and why he wanted to make the dewar flaskIn this slide I will talk about how the thermos flask conquers its battle against heat transfer, convection, conduction and infra red radiation.Some trivia facts about the company Thermos.And Some Interesting Sales Info.Now to wait for the Presentation.

Week Seven

In this post i am asked to publish my Abstract, Introduction and Conclusion for my report.


Abstract
This essay will cover the use of mobile phones within our society, from their possible health risks to the dangers mobile phones bring to children. The mobile phone is still ‘young’ in our technological age and there are many issues that concern us that must be dealt with before mobiles are truly a safe tool in our communication.

Introduction
Mobile phones came out in the 1980’s and have become more and more popular since then, what was first thought of as a luxury is now a necessity, in the 1980’s less then 1% of the population had a mobile phone but by April 2000 there were approximately 25 million mobile phone subscribers in the UK. Stewart, (2000). Today it is estimated that there are over 70 million phone subscribers in the UK although the UK’s population stands around 60 million. Ofcom, (2008). It seems that everyone has a mobile phone, it could be assumed that this is likely to continue based on the growing number of sales mobile companies have had in the last year, for instance with the launch of the new I Phone from Apple or Smartphone as they call it, which has the functionality of a computer and applications that turn it into a spirit level or navigational equipment the use of a mobile phone now has become endless and has set the standards for mobile phones in the future; Microsoft is releasing their Smartphone very soon too. But with all this mobile functionality and the very latest in technology at our fingertips; Are mobile phones becoming the bane of our society?

Conclusion
Mobile phones are a communication tool for the technological age where we live, their uses are endless, and they save lives, they are more convenient way of communication than any other means of communication that we had before the mobile phone, they are a vital part of any business today, however because mobile phones have been around for only twenty years or so the possible health risks that are caused by them are uncertain and not enough research has gone into their effects. Children and mobile phones should be supervised at all times, parental controls should be set and monitored with their use, and companies who make mobile phones should make them safe for the young people that use them as this is their primary sales target. Mobile phones are here to stay and the issues that have been uncovered here must be more clearly identified to everyone who uses a mobile phone for their enjoyment.

Week Six

To gather all the relevant information i need for my report my method will be to use a qualitative approach rather then the quantative one; it would be impossible to try to collect data on the dangers of mobile phones and their effect on such topics, as the manpower, resources and time available are just unavailable. Books, journals and the internet will be used to collect all the research data and sources needed to back up the arguments and statements that will be written in the report. Some statistics were found, recent ones, and these will help link the dangers of mobile phones with driving, so these will be used too.

Some academics have problems with secondary sources of information being used as primary soruces in academic papers, so i would like to quote Glaser and Strauss two of the leaders in the area of research methodology by stating 'Some sociologists undoubtedly have never seriously considered the library as a source of real data for their work. Others distrust the competencies in discovering and working with library materials as primary data... These materials are as potentially valuable for generating theory as our observations and interviews'. Glaser, B. G. and Strauss, A. L. 1967. The Discovery of Grounded Theory: Strategies for Qualitative Research, Hawthorn, New York: Aldine de Gruyter.

Week Four

In this post I must use the Universities Library Facilities to conduct a literature review for week five. This week will be the information gathering week, where i will search the internet and university's facilities and try to gather as much relevant sources of published work that will back up my research paper with valid arguments. so lets get started!

In a Google search I found a couple of websites devoted to the impact mobile phones have on our health, and a report from the Institute of Science in Society complete with references that claims that mobile phones could promote the growth of cancer.

http://www.i-sis.org.uk/FOI2.php

The other site was the American Cancer Society that has printed it own report into the effects of Mobile phones and their impact on our health. These may prove quite useful to me if I want to add health risks in my research paper.

http://www.cancer.org/docroot/home/index.asp?level=0

While conducting another search this time for newspapers and their articles on the effect of mobile phones I stumbled upon a couple or relevant sources, one from the Daily Telegraph commenting on the latest applications for mobile phones, this may prove a reliable source if I want to explain what types of software one could find on their mobile phone in the next few years.

Title: Time for a reality check The best augmented reality applications The next generation of software heading our way, augmented reality, has the potential to transform our lives, says Claudine Beaumont.(Features)
Citation: Daily Telegraph (London, England) Year2009

Another valid point comes from the Archbishop Vincent Nichols who said the sites encouraged teenagers to build "transient relationships'' that left them unable to cope when their social networks collapsed. He said the internet and mobile phones were "dehumanising'' community life. This should provide me with a good point to back up one of my arguments that mobile phones are causing teenagers problems.

Title: Archbishop: Facebook a suicide risk. (News)
Citation: Sunday Telegraph (London, England) Year2009

There were some more ones I started to unearth:

One from the Times reporting on the statistics of the amount of people with mobile phones, Happy Slapping, and crime statistics which will prove very useful in my research paper.

Title: Parents happier for children to have mobile phones as health fears diminish.(News) Citation: The Times (London, England) Year2009

When I started the search for books and journals the list of valid sources started to grow there was literally thousands to search through here are just some of the viable sources I had on offer:

Computers, Phones and the internet: Domesticating information technology, by Robert Kraut et al. a journal dedicated to the effects of technology at home, with family and in the community. This journal will prove most interesting when I wish to prove that the effects of mobile phones can have a detrimental effect on parents and their children.

http://site.ebrary.com/lib/anglia/docDetail.action?docID=10160630

Another Useful source is a book called; The mobile connection: the cell phone’s impact on society by Rich Lang. This book covers almost all the issues I want to cover in my research paper it will provide a most valuable source of information.

There are a lot of relevant literature publications on this topic almost too many to count.

Title: Mobile phones and children: an Australian perspective.(Report) Source: Issues in informing science & information technology education This journal gives an insight into just how many children have mobile phones in Australia which is just staggering, unbelievable in fact, while this may be a bit off the beaten track this journal does however provide extensive research data into the effects of mobile phones both optimistic and both pessimistic data has been extensively collaborated. And will no doubt provide some unbelievable statistics.

I think I will leave the source collecting for the moment as I have a lot of information to get through.

Week Three

For this post I must come up with some ideas for my research paper and I must post a mind map on this blog to cover all the different ideas and subjects to be covered by my paper; and then from this mind map i must come up with an hypothesis or question to be answered by my paper.

I have decided to tackle the 'Mobile phones and their effect on society' subject area as i feel that this is a topic I can get my teeth into. Everybody has a mobile phone and there are more negatives then positives concerning their use. So I would like to come up with a bold question or statement on their impact on society and then argue my case for it.

Here is my Mind Map:


As you can see i have had a few ideas on what i can include in my research paper, now i must come up with a question or hypothesis for this paper and i think that would be something like 'Moblie phones are the bane of our society'. and then i would like to argue my case why they are.

My next post will include my literature review.

Week Two

This week the Vark questionnaire had to be filled in, anyone can participate and it is used to provide users with a profile of their learning preferences. These preferences are about the ways that they want to take-in and give-out information.

Here’s the link.

http://www.vark-learn.com/english/page.asp?p=faq


The VARK Questionnaire Results:

Your scores were:

• Visual: 9
• Aural: 14
• Read/Write: 15
• Kinesthetic: 12

You have a multimodal (VARK) learning preference.

This has been quite an interesting read for me, and has confirmed what I already new, I adapt at learning methods which is very handy at the moment as some lecturers bombard you with numerous handouts and texts and others sit down with you and verbally go through the process, being good in one and not so good at another would limit my ability to learn and take note of what is being taught. As you can see from my results my visual needs some work. I do know that looking at charts and graphs and such all gets quite uninteresting after a while and getting the information from them can be quite an effort, I would much rather be told the statistics or have a written report so I could work it out for myself. Maybe there is a way to hone these dormant skills so I can end up with all round better learning, this will require further reading.

Week One

My task for this module is to produce an academic paper (2000 Words) based on one of the following subjects;

• Mobile phones and their effect on society
• Video games and violence
• The effect of CGI (Computer Generated Imagery) on the film and animation industry

The academic paper must reflect the research methodology, which will be explained to me in my lectures.

I must also produce a presentation (500 Words) based on one of the following areas;

• A discussion of three iconic CD/LP covers
• A discussion about three important product designs that have made a significant impact on society
• A discussion about three important games, which have influenced gaming design.

I must develop and maintain a reflective learning log/blog to be used as the basis of tutorial work and formative assessment. This will also provide evidence to provide the beginning of a Personal Development Planning Portfolio that will be built upon by me.

I’m going to start this blog with a picture of my learning line; this shows us ways of deepening our understanding of our learning processes and to reflect back on our achievements to date. I am asked to reflect back on my learning experiences. What have been my key achievements and experiences? When was I happiest and what aspects have I enjoyed the most? What have been the negative events? Most importantly, how have these experiences helped me develop? What have I learned about my own capacity to learn?