History of the Information Age — Fall 2011

Hi, my name is Claire Brooks and I’m a senior. I am originally from Glen Allen, VA, a suburb of Richmond. I grew up there pretty much all my life. I am on the women’s basketball team here at Mary Wash and I absolutely love it. One of the main reasons I took this class was because last Spring I took Dr. McClurken’s American Technology and Culture and I really enjoyed it and thought that this would be a sort of expansion of it, at least the end of it. Plus, I like current and more recent history so it seemed like a good fit.

Well, hello. This is my 8th class blog, but probably my 15th or so piece of the blogosphere with Xangas, LiveJournals and even a Blogger. I also own three domains and a few side projects, two of which I hope to make public before Thanksgiving.
This is what I look like when I’m entering photo contests for The Head And The Heart:

(I’m on the left)

And, I couldn’t have created that image before the information age! It is almost relevant!

I decided to take this class because I love technology.  Not only is my favorite possession my computer (a simple Dell Inspiron but it has everything I need besides a built-in coffee maker), but I spend a lot of time on it.  When I was younger I used to get reprimanded for spending too much time on our computer, but after a while my parents realized that I was learning a lot and stopped bothering me about it.  Without my computer I would, without a doubt, be a totally different person.

I am interested in the ways in which information and technology have shaped my life and the world that I live in.  During AMST 201 I wrote a paper on the cultural relevance of memes in our culture, and it seems that my argument, that internet memes are culturally rich, only gets stronger with time.  It has less to do with the fact that everyone has seen “Charlie Bit My Finger,” and more to do with the fact that quite a few people greet me pronouncing my name in the voice of a British toddler – information travels quickly today and that is made possible through technology.

The other night while watching the VMAs (don’t judge) Beyoncé announced that she was pregnant by rubbing her stomach.  Within a half hour a Tumblr user had made the action into a .gif and thousands of users had reblogged the image.

I would like to learn more about how this information spread before the internet.  As much as it kind of embarrasses me, my family got dial-up when I was ten so it is difficult to remember a time when information spread some other way.

So, here I am.

My name is Riley Baver and I am a senior at Mary Washington.  I play on the Men’s Tennis team here, which takes up a lot of time.  I chose to take this class because so much of history focuses on social, economic, political, or scientific aspects.  History takes a look at information from various time periods and tries to make sense of it.  However, not many classes tend to look into how information was passed down from generations, or transported across country lines.  The mediums in which history is made and told never really see the limelight.  I was interested in this class because I want to know how information was dispersed throughout the world at different points in time.

Hey everyone, my name is Michael Roche and I am a senior at UMW.  I am an out of state student from Pennsylvania.  Along with being a History major here and Mary Washington I am also in the Secondary Education Department.  I am involved with a few things here on campus including being Vice President of the Club Baseball team, a Washington Tour Guide, and have been involved in Freshmen Orientation every year I have been here.  I love to play ice hockey in my spare time whenever I can and meet new people.

When I saw Dr. McClurken’s class for the Information Age I jumped in to register for it.  Last semester I look Dr. McClurken’s Technology and Culture class, and thoroughly enjoyed it.  I really like how Dr. McClurken incorporates modern technology into history class, rather than the traditional methods of research.  I am excited to use new and creative ways to present information in the class as well as studying the evolution of the spread of information from cave paintings, as we brought up in class, to the Internet and devices we all use today.

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My name is Ken and I am a UMW History Major. I am interested in military history, and have published a book on my family who have served in the military. I am looking forward to this class to explore technology.

Hi,  My name is Ashley and I am a senior at the University of Mary Washington. I am taking History of the Information Age becuase of my interest in Library Science, even though I have no plans to plans to go to grad school and pursue a degree in that area. I am also really excited to use Zotero as it looks like a very interesting program.

My name is Nicole. I’m a senior History major at UMW, and I’m taking History of the Information Age because when I took American Technology & Culture last spring I was surprised by how much about technologies that are still in use I didn’t know and had never considered. I’m sure the same will be the case with Info Age, and I’m excited for the class!