The World Wide Web

The World Is At My Finger Tips & I At Theirs...

Meme Created by Stephanie Jones 

This week made things feel real. This was the first official week back as an active participant in the #NetNarr class. And I must say that I am scared all over again ( I am secretly glad that Alan caved and allowed us to have a list. The way my life is set up I need it.) There are aspects of this journey that feel familiar and comfortable and I can say, yea, I got this. Then there are some other parts that are making me nervous. But a good type of nervous-- I read the graduate email twice. We've got some extra special things to do this semester. But I think I'm up for the challenge.

I must admit that I am little upset that I just don't have the time to do all of the DDAs cause they are truly back with a vengeance. Doing the DDAs are simply my favorite part of the class. Now there are some other cool parts. But I think this is the most exciting because you never know what you're going to be asked to do next. It is hard for me to do one at a time. I like to let them pile up. Once I get started doing them I'm on a roll. I know we're only supposed to do two a week. And some weeks I will. But this week. I was able to do four.

                    

                      

This week we had our first studio visit and I had the flu. So I wasn't able to weigh in on the conversation and it drove me crazy. But I did Tweet one of my questions towards the end of the conversation. I thought it was extremely informative and it made me pause and reflect on my own usage of the internet. Since becoming a graduate student I have been more open than ever to using the internet in my classroom. The connections and resources that can be made across the world wide web are endless. However, in using these tools what are we giving away? This question is one the talked about during our studio visit with Brett Gaylor. After the studio visit we discussed some of our thoughts as a class through hypothesis.is. 

I didn't get a chance to watch the second and third installment in Brett's Do Not Track mini docu-seriesuntil after class. This one was about cookies and the way in which we are tracked on the internet in terms of advertising. Now I knew I wasn't crazy. And I could not for the life of me understand why when I am shopping for an item and I resist the urge to purchase what is in my cart-- then I go to check my email in yahoo, not gmail or I log onto Facebook. I get ads on the right side of my screen that are urging me to buy the very thing in my cart. Now I know why. These are cookies. This made me start to wonder about the cookies that I want to remain in my search history like when I am looking up lesson plans or recipes or websites that I am using for whatever reason. I am totally okay with that but everything else is not cool. But I am not going to be disconnecting and deactivating any time soon. I will just complain about and keep doing what I've been doing. Now, I just know the deal and isn't knowing half the battle. 

Since my family calls me the Facebook Queen... I opted to read the article titled, How--And Why-- Apple, Google, and Facebook Follow You Around in Real Life. I must say I wasn't shocked about what I read after having watched Bret's documentaries. But it did give me more reason to pause. But in my frozen moment of thought. I did want to consider that maybe the intentions are pure. Maybe they are not trying to technologically profile us to oppress us later on. Maybe it is to simply sell us things. Isn't that why we are constantly bombarded with images on TV. Now most of our TV watching is being replaced with time used on the internet. I am more concerned for my children and what impact that this will have on them. Am I actively giving away their rights to privacy. I mean they are growing up right before my 400 plus ( I really need to delete some people) Facebook friends. And I never once asked them if they wanted me to put them out there like that through each and every milestone moment that I want to share. 

Now what I share with the world about Stephanie is my choice and since doing my Twitter usage I found out that I share quit a lot. I must admit that graduate school has opened up my usage to Twitter and now I am bit hooked. I tweet often and about a lot of things. Mostly about writing and ways to get an agent. 

I can't say I am surprised by my usage but I did notice how much I don't really talk to a lot of different people even though the entire Twittererse is at my fingertips I kinds of stay in my lane and I am very selective in who I engage with. But I will say I find a lot of great information from people that I have never met and may never even utter a word, just a heart shape approval of what or she may have posted. This fact made me realize that maybe my world wide web usage isn't that wide spread at all. 

Who knows, maybe all of that will change by the end of #NetNarr2.