Research Response Blog 5

Research Reflections #5 

 

    I looked for my expert by originally looking through my rescources. I found one, Mr. Rybicki, as a contact from the AOPA fact sheet. Unfortuantly, after sending several emails to Mr. Rybicki did not respond to my questions. I looked for another source, and ended up asking Nolan if he had any extra experts. I sent several emails to Mr. DiGioia, who replied with the answers to my questions. I didn’t use a search engine to find any of my experts, and only found one through an article.

 

    The emails that I sent both times took about 15 minutes to compose. Each time I had either Mrs. Hamilton, or Mrs. Lester look over them to see if they fitted criteria. I always made sure to properly address each expert, and to make sure that each email was respectful. I thanked each expert for their time, and for the help that they provided in my research.

 

    I learned that prosthetics includes more than prosthetic limbs. Prosthetics can include glass eyes, fingers, and even dentures. I found out that about 750 veterans were eligible to get prosthetics from the Afghanastan war in 2008. I also learned that dieseases like diabetes can require prosthetics. I asked several other questions, but they couldn’t be answered. I learned that a veteran without prosthetics can use a wheelchair, or in some cases crutches to get around. However, if the veteran has a prosthetic limb, they can become completely independent. Each method has its own challenges, but prosthetics seems to be the easier route. Although, this varies greatly based on each person.

 

    My advice for a fellow student is look for more than one expert. This saves time from having to look up another expert later on, if the first expert doesn’t have the answers to your questions. You should also record everything that is sent, or spoken during an interview. I can also suggest looking for legit experts.

 

    I learned that finding an expert takes time, and isn’t a walk in the park. I learned that interacting with an expert can be relatively simple, but at the same time you have to be respectful. I’ve gotten use to using more respectful terms in emails from sending them to my experts. I’ve learned to analyze any bit of information multiple times to make sure that I understand the content. I’ve learned that contacting an expert is easy, but time consuming when it comes to writing emails or gathering the contacts.

Reader Response #5

This past week, I finished reading Fallen Angels, and in the last stretch I found these passages that caught my attention.
“Your friend didn’t make it,” he said.
“Didn’t make it?” I looked at him. “I’m talking about a woman. Her name is Duncan.”
“Yeah, Judy Duncan,” he said. “She got transferred to a field hospital and it got hit. Sorry.”
(Myers 307)
“Judy Duncan. I forgot what part of Texas she was from. I hadn’t known her, not really. I felt sorry for her. I felt sorry that Texas was so far away and that nobody there would know about her, how this part of her life had been, what she had seen, or how she had felt at the end. They would get a telegram, and a body, but they wouldn’t know.”
(Myers 307-308)

I found that passage ironic, because Judy said earlier in the book that she wished that she was out in the field. She got her wish, and ended up dead. I wonder if she’d survived if she’d been back at the regular hospital? She was probally in the wrong place at the wrong time, just like most people who die in war. Its kinda sad that Perry points out that no one at home would know her story, or anything about what she’d seen in the war. Perry’s point is correct, since no one can actually know what she’d faced without being there first hand. The family would get a telegram and the body, but they wouldn’t know anything about how Judy died.

Netvibes Reflections

Luke P.
4/16/10
Netvibes Reflections

The Netvibes portal has impacted my research in several different ways. It does make looking up recently posted information easier than having to go look up the information from each area. The only problem that I have with Netvibes is that some of the widgets wont display the data that is needed. I dont think that it is an essential tool, but it is a helpful one. It may save time, but it isn’t neccesary for research. I really don’t use it all that much, and prefer to keep the sites that I need open in tabs. Netvibes is slightly complicated to use, and not all the features work as expected.

If someone looked at my Netvibes page, they’d see a pretty basic research layout. The portal itself does reflect what I’m researching, but very loosely. Most of my research is already on Evernote, and I’ve little to continue to search for sources. On the other hand, the portal shows everything that I need to keep connected with the primary sites I need. My process for deciding what widgets to use was simple. I mainly got what I needed to use, and located some widgets that might have helped me locate other information sources that I missed. I’ve used Netvibes very little overall compared to other resources.

Research Reflections Blog #3

This week, I brainstormed several research questions to help concentrate the areas of my research. I came to the question by looking over some of the resources that I found, and by thinking of the differences in people. I hope to clarify the specifics in several passages of information that I found, while learning more. Prosthetics has some rather confusing areas in it, and I hope that the research will help me better understand it. I want to find out how the government helps the veterans, while seeing if the government supplies whats needed for them. I’d also like to learn more about the actual prosthetic devices, and to learn about how they improve a veteran’s lifestyle. I spent about a day to decide what my questions would be, and to remove different questions that I won’t be researching. The other days during the past week, I spent working on other parts of this project, or doing some needed house keeping. I hope that the interview that I conduct will help shed some light onto the specifics of prosthetics in any of the research questions. I plan on continuing to look up more rescources, and possibly find more experts in prosthetics. The only thing that I’m having problems with is the increasing amount of work coming in, and trying to keep up with the coming deadlines. The research is intersting, and I keep finding missed information as I reread each section of the different sources.

Reader Response #4

The following passage in Fallen Angels made me start to think more about the way the war was affecting the soldiers. “The plane was full of marines, fresh from Camp LeJeune. They were tough, full of themselves. They seemed so young. They kidded back and forth amoung themselves. They had weapons. Some of them looked at me, and some asked me questions. Had I been in country long? Had I seen any action? They were itching to get into combat. I had been in the country four months. I hadn’t seen a lot of action, but enough. Lord knows it was enough.” (Page 217)

Fallen Angels shows the difference in how the younger, new soldiers were compared to Perry. I can understand why Perry says that the little bit of action he’d seen was enough. I find it ironic that the new soldiers are so lively, because eventually they’ll end up like Perry. Perry was like them in the beginning of the book, but slowly started to show the effects of the war in his moods, talk, and thinking. Perry seems more depressed, or lacking life as the book progressed. The way the new soldiers act is what I would expect from soldiers that haven’t been in combat before. I can only ask, why the marines don’t realize the horrors that awaited them in the war?

Research Reflection Blog #2

I spent this week working mainly on the Netvibes page. I learned how to add feeds, widgets, and change the layout of the pages. Netvibes should make the research easier, but it is a new tool. I’m looking forward to learning more about it, and using it to show the progress that I’m making. I spent a good portion of the week managing the google site, and wordpress blog. Both are tools that I’ve used in the project earlier this year, and I already know how to use them. Aside from the different online resources, I read through the sources that I previously found. Many of the parts in the resources discussed various measures that have changed to assist veterans.

The actual research has come down to mainly reading on the sources that I’ve found. The sources that I’ve been using have provided plenty of useful information, and most of the information compliment other bits of information. Many of the information, even from a different source, helps understand the mechanics behind prosthetics. Most of the resources follow along the same line of information, and many discuss the uses of prosthetics. The only problems that have occurred lately is separating useful information from useless information. The only thing in Evernote that I don’t like about it is that you can’t highlight information, while Diigo allowed bits of text to be highlighted. It may not be that important, but it does save time from having to reread the whole passage of information.

Reader Response #3

This week while reading, Fallen Angels, this passage caught my attention. “He came at me and swung the butt of the rifle toward my head. I blocked it with my arm and backed away. He swung again and hit my shoulder, the rifle glancing up from my shoulder into the side of my face. I pulled the trigger of my rifle without lifting it. He went down on one knee. Then it was as if I were suddenly awake. I lifted the M-16 and started firing it in his face. I emptied the clip. I snatched another one from my belt, slammed it in, and fired that point-blank.”

This passage reminds me of the time in, All Quiet on the Western Front, when Paul killed the French Soldier. Paul killed the soldier, and had remorse afterwards for doing so. Perry killed the Vietnamese soldier from point blank. Both soldiers faced their first close quarters kill, but handled it differently afterwards. Paul started wondering what would have happened if it’d been a different time, or if they’d met outside the war. Perry seemed to be in a rather trance like state after the killing. I can’t imagine seeing someone up close, and ending their life that easily. I can only guess what was going through both Perry, and Paul’s head after they killed the soldiers.

I-Search Paper: What I Knew About My topic

I-Search Paper: What I Knew About My Topic
Luke P.
Prosthetic uses for Veterans
Date: March 26, 2010
Class Period: 5th

I know that thanks to modern prosthetics, veterans can resume their regular lives after losing a body part. I know that older models of prosthetics consisted of a plastic hub, with interchangeable parts to perform various activities. Prosthetics has evolved with discoveries in bionics, surgery, and technology. Bionics is a version of newer prosthetics that uses electronic connectors to allow the brain to control the robotic body part. The subject speaks to me, because I’m interested in robotics, and electronics used to make the components work. I think that its important to research, because it shows one method that allows veterans to live regular lives after serving in a war.

I don’t know the types of treatments that veterans under go after having the prosthetics attached. I’d like to research some of the different types of prosthetic parts, and how they improve the living conditions for veterans. I’d also like to better understand the therapy that’s needed to learn the uses of prosthetics. Most of the questions I have revolve around the more detailed knowledge of prosthetics, and how they improve the daily lifestyles of veterans.

Reader Response Blog #2

The passage that i read that had the most impact on me was, “We waited as Doyle walked a little ahead of his position, hands on his hips, and looked out to the field ahead of us. Behind us, I heard choppers. I turned and saw them headed for us. They went by us out to the target zone. “Hey Scotty, did we. . .?” “Yep, we just shot the shit out of the first platoon.”

I can only wonder what was flowing through Perry’s mind when he realized that they’d just wounded, and killed their comrades. I understand that soldiers would be paranoid, and its easy to see how they could mistake comrades with allies in the forest of Vietnam. In an earlier passage, they called in Willy Peter, which was a type of artillery used to level whole areas of forested land. I can’t imagine the trauma that would occur from knowing that you killed someone on your side, even if it was just an accident. If I were Perry, I’d probably try to quit the war, and go back home. I’d try to forget that it ever happened, or try to get rid of any guilty from it. This passage gave a new insight to war that I hadn’t considered before reading it.

Research Reflection Blog #1

3/24/10

This past week, I spent my time looking at a new tool called Evernote. The tool is effective in bookmarking specific passages of information, and can be used online or from the desktop. I’ve used Evernote to bookmark several passages discussing prosthetic body parts, and various treatments that are available for veterans. I’m mainly researching prosthetics because the field is moving into robotic parts, and is also increasing the field for bionics. I actually prefer using Evernote over the use of Diigo. Since this whole project is over veterans, I found several sources from government ran websites. However, Evernote is a new resource tool, and many of its features aren’t known yet. I plan on using this project as a way to explore the different uses for it. Prosthetics involves the creation of new body parts to replace parts that had to be removed. I know that most of the parts are created with plastics, wires, and metal connectors to hold it to gather. I feel that Evernote will be an effective tool, and I can’t wait to learn more about it. I’ve also been using iGoogle to keep track of daily agendas set for each day, and I’ve used it for searching for different topics. The only challenge that I’ve faced so far is the accuracy of the different sources that I’ve found, and getting use to using Evernote. The project will hopefully reveal more about a veteran’s lifestyle.