RAISING DIGITAL AWARENESS

In general, the purpose of posting content online is sharing it with others--getting it seen. If no one is visiting a site, then its curator's ideas remain undiscovered by the rest of the world, leading to a tragic collection of unrealized potential as opposed to a fruitful body of valuable contributions. In my case, however, I don't feel that the amount of views/viewers I have is important at the moment. I don't have a groundbreaking product or idea to pitch, nor do I have any other sort of latent value that is being wasted by not being shared; no one besides perhaps my peers are likely to benefit from my blog in its current state.

Resource of the Day 3/27/2014

This interesting article discusses some attempts at measuring happiness, and the challenges that are imposed when dealing with such a subjective state.

SEEKING MENTOR

The characteristics that I identified for my Expert Profile had mostly to do with, well, a person's expertise: the skills, knowledge, experience, etc. that he/she possesses. A mentor, however, is slightly different. When I think of a mentor, I think of someone I look up to--someone I trust personally, as well as professionally. This sort of relationship isn't something that can be forced; it must develop naturally, and this is rarely a quick process. I honestly have no idea where to even begin when it comes to facilitating something like that; I feel like it just has to happen on its own.

IS THERE AN EXPERT IN THE HOUSE

*I didn't post this assignment earlier because I already have a couple of experts on standby, so I didn't feel that it was necessary. It is a prerequisite for the direction we are taking now, though, so here it is.

My Expert Profile:
- Knowledgeable in an area (or areas) pertaining to my topic
- Credible: extensive formal education and/or able to demonstrate clear mastery of the concepts at hand
- Experienced, both in life, and in his/her given field
- Versatile: should be able to speak with authority in various areas, even if he/she specializes in only one
- Analytical with minute attention to detail
- Forthright and willing to provide honest feedback/criticism

Resource of the Day 3/25/2014

Today, I found this great little article on happiness; it is difficult to imagine these ideas being conveyed any better with so few words.

Resource of the Day 3/21/2014

This Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy entry is the perfect starting point for the next branch of my topic: desire. This subtopic was introduced to me by an expert who I met a couple of weeks ago.

THIS IS ONLY A TEST

My "test" will be based on the longstanding philosophy that the best way to test one's own understanding of a concept is to attempt to teach that concept to others. Either by giving a presentation in class, or merely by conversing on my own time, I will explain my project to some of my peers prior to giving them a brief quiz to make sure that I was successful. If I can teach someone else about my topic well enough that he/she is able to answer the sort of questions that I would consider asking myself to test my own knowledge, then I will feel comfortable saying that I know my material to the degree that I should.

Resource of the Day 3/18/2014

        Today's resource is a book which I found in the bibliography of the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy entry on happiness that I posted one week ago. It is entitled Exploring Happiness: From Aristotle to Brain Science, and is said to provide a more-than-comprehensive account of happiness in terms of philosophy, as well as in terms of psychology, neuroscience, genetics, and economics. I am having this promising book transferred to a local library and look forward to reading it.

In-Class Essay Follow-Up

My essay was not oriented around my Masterpiece, though the information I have accumulated thus far definitely contributed to my thought process while writing. My research on flow & happiness particularly shaped the way I addressed the last part of the prompt (which I actually chose to use as the foundation of my essay), as I define "success" differently now than I would have earlier. Don't get me wrong - I have always assigned value to the journey itself and not just to the destination but, prior to my readings as of late, I probably would have taken the word "success" as a measure of physical attainment like most people do. While I haven't believed this definition to be true--at least in terms of happiness, which is what everyone ultimately seeks--for many years, I most likely still would've have assigned it to the word "success" in constructing my essay, which would have drastically changed all of the other content that depended on it. Basically, I think I would have considered "success" a measure of wealth, fame, power, etc. dictionally, though not in practice if it weren't for my Masterpiece research... If that makes any sense... Anyways, I feel that my essay came together fairly well. I was a bit nervous about only having 40 minutes to try and create an essay that I would be proud of, but I think I managed to pull it off. I can't be sure though, as I began writing immediately after the prompt was revealed and continued until the very end of the period, leaving me no time to look back and read anything that I had written. I felt pretty strong for the first couple paragraphs, but hearing the 10 minute warning when I was barely half way finished admittedly rattled me a bit. I turned it up and managed to finish, but, in that frenzied state, I was not able to convey my thoughts as eloquently as I would have liked, and I imagine I probably made a few mistakes. It is what it is though; not to mention that, sometimes, stepping out of one's comfort zone is the only way to grow/advance, and I always relish an opportunity to better myself.  

Resource of the Day 3/12/2014

Yet another Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy entry! These wonderful resources are difficult to pass up... This entry on emotion completes the trio in terms of the three main components of my topic.