Cathleen Ward

'''Who are you? What is your identity?''' My name is Cathleen Elizabeth Ward; this however does not say much about my “identity”. Perhaps defining identity in my own words would be most helpful in describing my personal identity. An identity is comprised of a number of very important aspects which collectively create one’s personality. These aspects include family influence, friendships and life experiences. My immediate family (mom dad sister) is responsible for the formation of the majority of my identity. I am organized, responsible, sensitive and sometimes overly worrisome person. This may be a result of being the oldest child and the responsibilities and expectations my parents had for me at a young age. The more carefree, fun aspects of my identity have been brought out by my friends. I have an extremely close group of friends whom I have known since we were young. My friends play an extremely important role in the formation of my identity as they have been around for as long as I can remember. They know and understand me well and in some ways better than my family.

How has technology changed your life? Technology has given me the ability to stay in touch with my friends and family members very easily and very regularly. The internet has made learning and school assignments much easier than I think they would have been had I attended college when my parents did. Medical technology though different from communication technology has also changed my life and allowed those closest to me to have the ability to live longer, healthier lives.

How do you most effectively communicate?

I most effectively communicate orally. For the most part I am able to express myself well and to say what I mean.

How do you least effectively communicate? My spelling skills are greatly lacking. Under pressure I tend to make many mistakes; therefore my least effective form of communication is on written exams or hand written letters. Fortunately, with the advent of the computer and its spell check capabilities these are both things that I am very rarely required to do.

How does context affect your responses to the last two questions? Who I am speaking to could possibly change the answers to the previous two questions. For example I noted that I least effectively communicate through writing. However when I am writing to friends through AIM or e-mail I do not worry about being grammatically correct or even spelling correctly; they do not care therefore I am more confident and express myself more freely. I also noted that I communicate best orally; once again I am more confident and open when speaking with friends and family as I can use slang and other terms that would not be appropriate to use in a professional or school setting.