I’m the kind of person that likes going back to the
beginning. I think it’s easiest to see
how you’ve grown from an experience by looking at who you were at the start and
who you are now. I know you’re probably
thinking, “Wait, you already did a reflective post on what you’ve
learned!” You’re right, I did. But this isn’t a post about what I
learned. When this all started, you may
remember, this blog was an experiment.
Having never done much in the way of creating or consuming online, I was
testing the waters. Are there that many
benefits to contributing to the internet?
Or is it just disconnecting us from the real world? So this post isn’t about what I’ve learned;
it’s looking at the results of my experiment.
One of the reasons I called this blog an experiment was
because I was a little paranoid about putting my name out there online. Years of computer-classes focused on internet
safety convinced me every tap on your keyboard led the pedophiles closer and
closer to your house. I’m happy to
report that I am not as afraid of creating online, and I have learned that
there is a balance between openness and control. You have a right to keep your information
safe. You don’t have to put your entire
life on the internet to create something.
But, if you don’t add your voice online, it will never be heard.
Many of these posts, you may have noticed, are about the
e-book chapter my group was writing about Open Government. Again and again I encouraged readers to find
out about how they can change legislation by looking at blogs and forums and
government social media sites, and interact with others interested in making a
difference, including government officials.
Our civilization is moving towards the web; that’s where things happen
these days. That’s where grassroots
movements start. If we don’t contribute,
we won’t make a difference. So keep
yourself safe online, but don’t avoid creating something great because of fear.
Which brings me to the next question of my experiment: what
are the benefits of contributing online?
Already we’ve seen it can cause changes in government. That also applies to the sciences, arts,
business, etc. We have the world at our
fingertips, and we can learn anything we want if we know how to look for it,
and then we can transform the world with calls to action. And if nothing else,
blogging lets me get my ideas out. I
enjoy creating, and the internet lets me do that in a fast, easy way.
By the way, I liked blogging so much that I started another
one where I teach Spanish once a week. I
haven’t done a lot with it in the last little while (I got busy), but if you’re
interested I’ll hopefully start working on it again. Here’s the link:
So, blogging has allowed me to create and even help
others. I started the Spanish blog
because a friend of mine wanted to learn but I lived too far away to teach her
in person. I hope that she and other
people can actually take something from my blog and learn a language. Cool idea?
You know it.
Finally, since everything seems to be moving online, and we
truly have a digital civilization, what
happens to our physical world? Are we
becoming disconnected from each other in our electrically connected
society? I think it depends on how you
use the technology. I’ve said it before,
but I’m saying it again: technology is amoral.
You can do great things with it or bad things. So, some people might be so into their Facebook
account that they forget to talk to their friends in person, while others will
use Facebook to organize events to get together with friends, or to stay in
contact with someone who is too far away to see talk to otherwise.
I used to think technology was an expensive waste of
time. And there are some things online
that I think I can do without for now.
Pintrest, for example, is obviously helpful to some, but I’m not sure I
would actually use it for good reasons; I think I would just use it to procrastinate
homework. But, I also see how technology
is part of our culture, and if you aren’t participating, you aren’t really a
part of it. Don’t think of the digital
world and the real world as separate things, because the digital world makes up
the real world. Culture is reflected in
and created by the technology we use.
This has been a successful experiment, in my opinion. And I'd say I'm a little more digitally civilized now. But I have a ways to go.
No comments:
Post a Comment