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.
