Late Intro.

Hi everyone.  I know this post is very late, but I am still getting used to the idea of blogging for a class – it’s something I’ve never done before.  So I’ll try to keep this intro post short so we can get back to the regular discussion!

My name is Sarah.  I’m a Bryn Mawr freshman all the way from Kailua, Hawaii, and still trying to adjust to this weather!!!  I am fairly certain I want to major in either English and/or Psychology, and I plan on minoring in Film Studies…of couse, nothing is certain, and so far this class has rekindled my interest in computer science.  When I was younger, all of my future career paths had to do with technology or science – mostly astronaut (I was quite serious about this, I went to space camp and interviewed real astronauts and wrote all 2nd through 6th grade projects about NASA), but I was open to anything (science teacher, researcher, entomologist, etc).  I gave up most of these dreams when I discovered in high school that math didn’t come as a second nature; and as a student at a highly competitive prep school, I always felt the pressure to be the best or not try at all.  I realize now that I am out of that environment that this philosophy is a false and harmful one.  When I look back on my math “failures”, I see now that it was more of a lack of effort on my part, and I think it may have been partially motivated by the mentality of “girls aren’t good at math”.  This is definitely an experience I will be able to use later in the course when we explore further the social norms that sometimes prevent women from accessing or accepting technology.  I also worked for a website throughout most of high school, and I have some interesting stories about the different ways that the male and female members of the staff were treated (interesting not in a bad way, but in that we were clearly treated differently according to our gender).

I was interested in this course because I have never really had a chance to clearly articulate what my thoughts on technology’s role in today’s society are.  I always hear talk about what different forms of technology can be used for and are used for, but I have never really thought about it through the lens of gender.  As someone who loves technology/media in all forms (TV shows are a particular expertise of mine), I think it is important to think about what the implications of these technologies are and how they can affect what our perceptions of social norms can become.  I am excited to see where our class goes with our discussions, and I can’t wait to see what my thoughts by the end of the course will be!