Wednesday, January 13, 2016

"Bug List" ENT3003

Bug List

1. Traffic in Gainesville during rush hour is horrendous.
            -Why? It could have something to do with how the roads are designed, but since traffic is such a widespread problem the issue likely lies with the people that control the vehicles.  Self-driving cars would make traffic so much smoother by allowing all of the cars to be perfectly synced to one another.

2.  Battery life on my electronic devices is occasionally insufficient.
            -Why?  I use them a lot.  Battery life can always be improved. In the future I’d like to see Wi-Fi charging implemented in public places.

3.  The line at Starbuck’s in library west is usually too long.
            -Why? A lot of people enjoy Starbucks coffee.  It’s also the only coffee shop located in or around the library without walking across the street.

4.   My college tuition is expensive.
            -Why? Universities tend to have huge amounts of overhead and tons of large expenses. Why specifically for me? I’m an out of state student and am therefore required to pay significantly more for the exact same classes. (Not anymore expensive than “in-state” in my home state)

5.  No bike lanes on 22nd Street.
            -Why? Bike lanes probably won’t be added anytime soon because it would take a significant amount of construction to add them for my personal convenience.

6.  I have to take General Education courses that don’t peak my interest and likely won’t play a significant (if any) role in my future.
            -Why? Good question. Some would say it’s the “importance of being a well rounded individual”. Others may say that some departments would be significantly smaller without forcing a portion of the student body to take their classes.  I’m not an expert on the subject, but I know that there are so many cool classes offered here that I would love to be taking but yet I’m spending hours a week every semester brushing up on my astronomy, cloud formations, dinosaurs, and history. I also feel being “well rounded” is important but I feel that my high school curriculum covered that pretty well. (FYI this class ENT3003 is one of the classes that I enjoy).

7. I dislike being exposed to advertisements on almost every YouTube video I watch and every website I go to.
-Why? I dislike it because it is usually a waste of time and interrupts the video I was about to watch.  This is currently being improved by marketing research to display more relevant advertisements.

8. Lack of parking at UF makes driving to class horrendous.
-Why? There isn’t enough parking spots to go around, It would be nice if UF were to construct a few more parking garages. (i.e. see number 4 for large University expenses)

9. People are resistant to change and tend to be slow to adapt new technologies such as wearable technologies and self-driving cars.
-Why? People in general don’t like to change and like to stay with the status quo, even at times when the change would be beneficial.

10. There aren’t enough functioning outlets at library west.
-Why? They may not have foreseen the importance of outlets at the time they were building / installing the outlets.

11.  The homeless population in Gainesville seems to be surprisingly high.
-Why? Not really sure. It could be the lack of assistance programs.

12.  Books for class are really expensive.
-Why? Authors need to make money too.

13. Southwest Rec Center (gym at UF) is often really crowded.
-Why? College students like to work out. It could also be because it is January and the gym could still be filled with “new year, new me” resolution people. If the latter is the case it will likely clear out again in a few weeks.

14.  University of Florida’s Wi-Fi is very… lackluster.
-Why? A lot of students are using it right now to browse the web, watch lectures, update their blog posts for ENT3003, and probably a lot of streaming of Netflix.

15.  My charging cord for my MacBook Pro is breaking.
-Why? In part probably due to the way it was made and the main emphasis of design may not have been on durability. Also in part (likely largely) due to the fact that I take it everywhere and use it all the time. (Don’t worry I already ordered another one.)

16. Some of my classes aren’t also online… when they easily could be.
-Why? Two classes I go to, both three times a week could easily be recorded and available online as well as also in class. This could be due to the lack of facilities to record and post lectures online.  Also could be due to some professors’ reluctance to adopt new technology.  A few of my professors that I’ve talked to just dislike technology and choose not to use new technology when given the option, even if it is more efficient and better in every way.

17.  A surprising number of places still don’t offer free Wi-Fi.
-Why? Wi-Fi isn’t free for the business.

18.  Seemingly high crime rate in Gainesville.
-Why? I don’t know but it is probably due to a multitude of reasons, I just feel like I frequently get UF Alerts letting me know that there’s been another robbery.

19.  It seems like the road by my house is almost always under construction.
-Why? Because it has been under construction for some time now, they appear to be making significant changes for the better.

20. Airline seats don’t have enough legroom.
-Why? They try to fit as many seats in planes as possible to maximize profits but at the expense of minimizing legroom.

Reflection: At first, thinking of “bugs” was easy but as I continued I realized how challenging it was to think of more.  It was difficult to think of “bugs” because it isn’t something you typically think about.  I feel like this assignment makes me sound like a whiny college student who complains about small things (i.e. number 3, waiting in line at Starbucks). In retrospect I probably could’ve thought of larger, more important issues than waiting in line at Starbucks and the number of outlets at the library. 


3 comments:

  1. Hello,

    I enjoyed reading your post. I would have to say that I agree with everything you listed. I also mentioned a lack of battery life on my cell phone, traffic in Gainesville,and the lack of parking at UF. For me, it was easy coming up with the 20 "bugs." A few days before the assignment I just paid attention to my daily annoyances and wrote them down as they occurred. With this being said, I also felt like a "whiny college student" while writing my post.

    Please view my post: http://blogtestpreview.blogspot.com/2016/01/bug-list.html

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  2. Hey Parker, I was able to relate to quite a few of your "bugs." Some of the things on my list involve my bike and even my macbook charger. I also am glad you pointed out some of the problems on campus so now I can try my best to avoid them. Similarly to your method, I went through my day looking for problems and things that bothered me. This ended up only accounting for a little over half of my list and I was forced to find things around my apartment that I could use for my list. Read about the things that bug me at: http://dbaltar.blogspot.com/2016/01/bug-list.html

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  3. Parker, Great post! I absolutely loved everything you had to say. I especially liked the expensive books, youtube ads, and airline seats! I currently have been traveling and the airplanes leg room is so small! It's incredible considering I am only 5'6. I agree that this assignment made me seem like a whiny college kid as well. I was raised not to complain much so this was certainly very different to me. I really enjoyed the blog though. At first I was really confused on why we were told to do this. However, now I know completely why. The reason why is for us to recognize problems, come up with solutions, and try to fix the problems thus helping us to think like an entrepreneur. At least that's my theory! Great post keep up the good work!

    Check mine out: http://juliannacaroline25.blogspot.com/2016/01/bug-list-week-2.html

    ReplyDelete