· Do you agree with Marshall McLuhan that the medium is the message, i.e. that the format or logic of a medium is as important as its content and, in fact, determines what content will be broadcast through that channel? Evaluate his idea that television is a cool medium.

I agree that with McLuhan that the medium is the message. Medium is exremely important to it's message. The meaning of many messages often do come from their delivery.
Television is definitely a "cool medium". It forces us to use more than our minds as we are decoding a message. Involving more than one our our senses in decoding is something that stimulates us in ways more than just thought. We generate impulses as our eyes follow messages and as the data changes so rapidly in front of our eyes that we have to pay close attention. The message is not necessarily fixed as it would be in more traditional forms of media like print. As McLuhan points out, "mosaic logic" forces us to "cognitively reassemble bits of information."

· Have you made friendships that exist exclusively in cyberspace? If so, how are they different from f2f relationships? If you have not formed cyber relationships, why not?

I have made many cyber relationships in the last 12 months. Recently I was hired by a company with 14,000 employees. Of the 14,000 employees about half work from a virtual office. So, as I was starting my new job I realized that I was working with people over email exchanges and the phone. I began to build visualizations of the people and what I thought they may look like based on the tone of their voices or the way that they articulated themselves through email. I found myself guessing age, sexual orientation, and geographic location based on how I perceived their writing styles and voices. This is much different than a face to face relationship where we can instantly determine many things about a person based on the way they dress, body type, how in shape (or out of shape), age, etc.. that are visual cues to how we may perceive this person.

· Review the etiquette rules suggested in the text. Respond to each one. Have you ever been bothered by cell phone, answering machines, or beepers? What do you feel about call waiting? Is it rude to put people on hold to take another call?

There are times when cell phones have really bothered me. Specifically I have a good friend that constantly uses his phone for text messaging. He will text at all times, even when at lunch or out enjoying ourselves at the beach. It makes it seem as though you are with yourself and is somewhat insulting. I think the etiquette around this type of use should be to give the person you are currently with your undivided attention. There is nothing wrong with taking a phone call or excusing yourself from the table to place a call. I do feel though that it can get extrememly excessive when someone will carry on a conversation while you are in a one on one setting. I would prefer to be free to do my work or schedule my time differently.

How are organizations tied to the environment? What is the relationship between the school you attend and the city or town in which it is situated? What, if any, ethical obligations does an organization like a college or university have to the local community?

Organizations are tied to the environment in many ways. Every organization has an impact on it surroundings as it consumes resources, disposes of waste, or creates a culture within a community. There are many economic factors that arise from organizations. They may create jobs within a community, create stores and services that would otherwise not be needed. For example, in Las Vegas, the middle of the desert there are now many jobs related to the casino and hospitality organizations.

The school that one attends has a direct relationship to the city or town that it is situated in. Many economies are built around schools as they provide a lot of jobs, clubs, cultural events, and infrastructure requirements. Schools make up a large part of a city and often cities are known for the schools that are in them. For example, when someone says the went to Berkeley they are referring to UC Berkeley.

I feel that organizations have a big ethical obligation to their communities. Campus environments can make or break the safety of an area. They can create traffic headaches, congestion and overcrowding. I beleive that each organization should be responsible for giving back to the community and excercising care in how it treats the environment.

*Which pattern (rigid complementarity, competitive symmetry, or submissive symmetry) do you think would be the most difficult to change? Why? Which would be the most damaging to a relationship? Which would be the most potentially damaging to the self-esteem of the individuals involved?

I think that competitive symmetry would be the most difficult type of role relation to change between individuals. Competitive nature in humans seems to continually escalate. However, I think that competitive nature is healthy in individuals. Once a competition has started it is human nature to continue the fight. I think the most damaging type of role relation is submissive symmetry. Indecision leads to lack of results. When no one is willing to take a stand I think a relationship has a way of fizzling out. Usually opposites attract. Or at least in my case they do. In relationships where neither person is willing to take a stand or make a decision it usually results in neither person truly getting what they want.

*Think about the filters you use to eliminate people from consideration as potential romantic partners. What characteristics or behaviors lead you to judge others as unattractive? Does Duck's theory make sense to you? Have you ever eliminated someone by using a sociological or pre-interaction cue only to reconsider them based on interaction and cognitive cues?

I find it interesting that we can actually classify interpersonal attraction filters by sociological or incidental, preinteraction, interaction, and cognitive cues. I think as we are filtering relationships we become so accustomed to the way in which we filter that we don't even realize that we are applying a filter. I think for many people pre interaction cues play the biggest role in how we filter. Society has placed a lot of pressure on physical beauty, dress, and body type. We can tell from a distance whether or not we have something in common with people or not based on how their appearance fits into our stereotypes or our learned culture.

*Do you believe in the rationality, perfectability, and mutability premises? What social institutions and practices are based on these beliefs?

I do beleive the rationality, perfectablity, and mutability premises. Social institutions such as our justice system follow the rationality premise. Where one can find truth and logically analyzing a situation to discover a conclusion. I especially beleive in the mutability premis that human behavior is shaped by environmental factors. If someone is raised in a terrible neighborhood where crime and poverty flourish it takes great restraint to follow the correct path. People that are born in affluent neighborhoods to educated families have a much easier time. By improving our surroundings we can add to our productivity. For example, if we work in an office we tend to be much more productive if the office is clean and organized. Or, if our house and neighborhood are clean we tend to be more productive.