June 5, 2009

Dear Marc,

English 138 was a very important learning experience for me. What really facilitated my learning were the opportunities to share my hypertext and then revise it based on the suggestions that were given by you and the rest of the class. Having to create three different hypertexts also facilitated my learning because it gave me an opportunity to demonstrate progress to both you and other viewers throughout each hypertext.

My site comprises twelve web pages, averaging three internal links per page, plus a navigation bar of six standard links. There are six external links on the site. It includes 2110 words of my own writing, plus a 1650-word printable research essay based on the site, and an 10-item annotated bibliography with descriptions of six library-based resources. The nature of my video is a series of interviews in which I ask the students whether they have experienced different treatment because of a perceived racial stereotype and if they think anything can be done to change this issue.

Composing the hypertext and doing other elements of the assignment has affected my creation of the printable version to make it easier to do. When I created the website first, then came back and made a printable version, it was easier to refine my ideas than if I had just done a hypertext. It also helped me identify areas where I could add more pages or more text.

I have many civic engagement ambitions for my project. My topic is black stereotypes at Santa Clara. Correlating to Castels, my civic engagement project has a relationship between technological innovation and social values. Through my website I am presenting my view of the harm of black stereotypes and possible solutions. Castel believes that technology marks a change in social values and through my website I am reaching a much larger audience than I would if I were to present a speech or hold a rally. As Castels says, my website is may not be a solution to black stereotypes, but at least it will present an interesting and hopefully new outlook on stereotypes that might spark an overall change in how people look and deal with stereotypes, especially on college campuses.
From this, perhaps policy changes will emerge that will impact college campuses, maybe Santa Clara as well. Issues such as how people profile others according to stereotypes may possibly change. These policy changes may have an impact on how people get selected for jobs or what schools they get into. It may resemble affirmative action but have more of a modernized social motivation. It may also get trickled down into how people are stereotyped based on where they live or their educational background.

Like Juris, I believe that stereotypes are perpetuated by the people who are at the top positions of power. As a result, the stereotypes have trickled down to the very meccas of education and society—college campuses. With stereotypes in mind, the idea of cognitive dissonance easily comes to play, concerning the easily influenced minds of young, impressionable college students. They find it hard to reconcile images of the intelligent black students they see with the ones that are plastered all over the media. Images of gang violence, unintelligence and sexual promiscuity are some black stereotypes that easily come to mind. By having the people at the top changes these ideas, we can only hope that eventually it will have an impact on students who will eventually be the new people in charge of the US. Basically, Juris believes that the actors at the top have a direct influence on changing the stereotypes.

My research will also have the impact of horizontal expansion because as more and more people become interested in the cause of ending stereotypes, then the movement will spread to other races, ages, genders, until it becomes a nationwide phenomenon. From joining these movements, people will become more informed about the harmful nature of stereotypes and take action to prevent them.

I hope to achieve some of the policy changes as described by Castels. By spreading the idea of the injurious nature of stereotypes then it may pick up nationwide action and then eventually trickle down to the college level. I am also hoping to take advantage of grass roots organizations, such as the ones advocated by Juris to help promote and keep the movement going nationwide. I can also relate this to Shirky’s organizing without organizations because I am not creating a big structured movement, I am simply doing this with my website and simply beginning a movement. Concerning the Korean netizens’ strategy of organizing with organizations, through my website I hope new movements will begin that will spur on a larger movement that will work toward changing organizations. It also relates to Moore because I am starting the movement from the ground up that will eventually work its way to the hierarchical system above.

The critical thinking rubric that best applies to my hypertext is the one about reasoning and reflecting on what I decide to do. This applies because I am focusing on a specific problem or aspect that I want to address, then moving forward and refining it in the process.
I made decisions regarding my design concerning the subject matter. For my personal website, I made the design more informal and relaxed. For my third hypertext, which was a serious essay about racism, I made the design very serious and formal.

This is the link to my First Hypertext.
This is the link to my Second Hypertext.
This is the link to my Third Hypertext.

I greatly enjoyed taking this course with you, and it helped raise my technological awareness. I hope to take another class with you in the near future.

Thank you,

Jennifer Hinds