Welcome to this new fangled space where I intend on dissecting readings, reflecting on class meetings, and wonder about where technology has taken us. What’s that technology doesn’t shape us? We shape it? Maybe. I think if the debate of “who is in control language or us” still continues, then the jury has yet to make a decision on technology’s influence on our day to day lives.
In welcoming you, I also will introduce myself at this present moment. I am a super senior at the University of Mary Washington, who welcomed graduating late for taking Dr. McClurken’s History of the Info Age. While I have brushed shoulders with the likes of Jim Groom and Gardner Campbell, I do not possess a wealth of knowledge on information technology or how we got here today. From my eyes, the internet started with long dial tones and ridiculously high fees and has become more central to my existence every year. It’s a tool…oh and maybe an addiction…or perhaps my life support? While I access technology and ponder its applications in my daily life and interactions, I do not take the time to consider the historical impact and the footsteps that have led us all here to this moment. Technological immersion. “Google” it. It’s not official until it’s “Facebook official.” These ideas and concepts exist so closely to ourselves that we are soon unable unwilling to critically analyze what has happened and indeed happening.
Dr. McClurken’s course promises to be a fresh wind in the doldrums of the information sea. We will ask questions, investigate, scratch our heads, wonder “what if?”, and tell a story about this Information Age, whatever that might be. For the moment, I intend on raising my sails and allowing the new winds to guide me to my treasure. I am taking this class not just to analyze and understand the events but also myself. I am a product of a world of growing connections with a neural network that handles chunks of data that come forth in a flood. So while many of the posts you will see here will be reflections on my reading, you will also encounter my more personal reflections on technology. Perhaps this blog will center around a core set of concepts such as the development of written signs and their transmission through file sharing or the technical side of the development of the internet. As of now, I can only promise to keep writing and hope it all works out in the end!
I leave you all with this video by the great Michael Wesch which I saw during his presentation at Faculty Academy this past May.