Major Assignment 2 FINAL

Introduction to Digital Media (FINAL)

 

– Major Assignment 2 – Julia Weiss

Houghton is a small town ranked as one of the best 100 places to live by the League of American Bicyclists, it is home to international powerhouse firms like GE aviation and Demantic.  Houghton has local restaurants and chains alike, along with small town pubs and breweries.  A beautiful location along the Portage with a smaller population of around 14,000 residences (“Life in Houghton.”).  What makes Houghton special is the presence of Michigan Technological University. It creates paths of diversity and community liveliness in the neighborhood.  According to Michigan Tech’s profile, its current resident population is 4,579, non-resident population is 1,429, and international population is 1,023 (“Fast Facts.”).  What does this mean? Here are some of the many wonderful benefits of being a ‘Husky’ student.  You have the opportunity to access dining halls, eat at the many campus food courts/cafés, use the university gym or have a private residence-hall membership, sleep in a secured dormitory, access online websites of content applicable to your account alone, you can use, store or obtain portable financial credit, you can enter major-orientated buildings, use printers, copiers, fax machines and access labs that allow you to rent out varieties of different items. In order to pull off all these benefits with such a vast population, its goes unsaid that Michigan Tech obviously has a system of organization and access.  The campus life is systematically organized by something all first years receive on the first day they arrive, a TechExpress I.D.. So, the question is, is it efficient and how does it work that makes it efficient?

         All Michigan Tech students are required to have a Tech Express I.D. card, because it grants access to a vast majority of features Michigan Tech offers. The ID card works very similar to a credit card. Each user submits a photo—all with the same requirements as to make a sort of standard identification look. The I.D. is about the same size as a credit card, and in part acts as one too. It has a black magnetic strip known as a magstripe on the back side that encrypts specific information about the card holder ("HowCredit Cards Work."). The card either authorizes or denies access to certain features like location or virtual money. This creates efficiency when dealing with who has money/access VS who does not. Instead of having to manually look up who is acceptable filters or people regulating access (i.e. to the dining hall) can have an immediate recognition of who they can let through or keep out. This saves time, money, and eliminates frustration. What’s interesting is that without a full knowledge of how the ID works, students are perhaps unconsciously able to use literacy as a technical skill. By merely owning the ID they are becoming literate in a digital sphere, students, by owning the ID obtain the ability to access and use certain hardware and software to accomplish tasks – which is considered being literate in a technical skill. Tasks like accessing a major specific lab by merely swiping their ID, or entering the cafeteria in-between classes are made simple by using Tech Express Identification.

           The Tech Express IDs allow a bridge between points (a) and (b) as a college student. They are merely a means of access as a stepping stone. So, we now recognize that the IDs grant access to location and other similar features, but what happens if a student loses their ID. Can they still get access? What is access?

According to the online dictionary: “access is a means of approaching, entering, exiting, communicating with, or making use of.”

Applying this to campus life it would mean having the ability to approach/exit personal information. Being able to communicate with others your right to be accepted into a certain location, being allowed to view certain information, or eligibility to use/view financial card balances, and all of this is possible with the system of ID Michigan Tech has set up; every student obtains an ID ultimately making Michigan Technological University accessible by means of Tech Express ID.

Tech Express ID cards are a student’s form of accessibility in campus life, and if they lose their means of access there is a protocol to follow. Having a protocol and direction to go establishes a sense of comfort and ease of anxiety in the student population in case something does go wrong. In case of lost identity, there is a replacement protocol and a website for the cardholder to access. When the cardholder accesses this page there is a protocol to follow in order to create a new card, thereafter they will go pick it up from IT located at the J.R. Van Pelt Library on campus. The moment a user/student enters the Tech Express ID Website they begin an immediate understanding of the literacy behind the card. Knowing the literacy and concept behind the card is important in understanding its level of efficiency in use.

Understanding the foundational concepts of a Tech Express ID comes with one look at it. It looks like a credit card, it is registered like a credit card.  It functions by swiping it and clearly transmits digitized data on the magstripe. Literacy is conceptual, and understanding the concept of an ID is done by visually viewing one. Tech Express ID is used by the means of individual student interests, making it a social literacy, and when someone uses something, they establish a purpose. Once someone understands purpose they then put to practice the use according to their own needs, interests and goals. This is beginning the process of fluency through literacy. Once someone begins using their ID, according to how they use it and with what level of responsibility they can either fall into debt, or keeps a good balance, just like credit on a credit card; thus establishing a sense of power within literacy. Using this power responsibly might suggest an individual’s level of fluency and understanding of their power in this digital sphere. Because this is a school environment, there is no divide between school and home. Time constraints do not affect access other than if you get to the dining hall in time for dinner, so this is one aspect of literacy that is not in affect, the divide between school and home. (Kate Williams). Because there is a website with FAQS, information, and an IT help location students are not in any way limited in fluency. They have every right to protest an unfair claim and  equal opportunity to become fluent in the subject matter of Tech Express ID’s because they all share equal opportunity access.

Collectively, Tech Express ID’s are required of all students, accessible by all students, and the moment you receive one there is an immediate understanding of purpose, action and result creating basic conceptual knowledge understood through intellectual capabilities. Informative technological skills are applied in practice when using the card, and deeper concepts, questions and any concerns can be addressed when accessing the website provided by the school. The concern: does this system of organization work for a population of several thousand students, and if it does is it efficient? Yes, and yes, any problems with Tech Express I.D. are addressed to IT and handled accordingly. It is a system that gets you from point (a) to point (b), from problem to solution. It is simple and efficient. Ultimately, the way our culture works, the way our society runs is now based off of technology. The “Age of Anxiety” says Jerome Agel, where our cultural transitions are directly influenced by our technological innovations (McLuhan, Marshall, Quentin Fliore, and Jerome Agel. Pg 8.). As long as our cultural transitions and environment is met with an efficient form of technology to organize and make things run smoothly, there should be no problem, and that is exactly what the Tech Express ID does. There is mention of redirecting the route as to which the campus orchestrates itself, but I see no reason in creating chaos and switching methods of university organization when Michigan Tech already has a system that works efficiently and effectively.

 

Works Cited

McLuhan, Marshall, Quentin Fiore, and Jerome Agel. The Medium Is the Massage: An Inventory of Effects. Corte Madera, CA: Gingko, 2001. Print.

"Fast Facts." Michigan Technological University. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Oct. 2012. <http://www.mtu.edu/admissions/future/facts/>.

"How Credit Cards Work." HowStuffWorks. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Oct. 2012. <http://money.howstuffworks.com/personal-finance/debt-management/credit-card3.htm>.

"Life in Houghton." Michigan Technological University. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Oct. 2012. <http://www.mtu.edu/admissions/life/houghton/>.

Kate Williams, “Literacy and computer literacy: Analyzing the NRC’s ‘Being Fluent with Information Technology’.” Journal of Literacy and Technology, volume 3, number 1, Spring 2003.