A second-year Psychology and Computer Science major, Allan Long may never be a tech entrepreneur, but he will be eminently googleable. Thanks to his interdisciplinary honors elective, Digital Frontiers, his web presence will extend much further than anyone else who has English (Pirate) as his facebook language. When not scouring for mateys or skewering landlubbers on the popular social media site, Allan enjoys pirating media wearing an eyepatch and using his own name in third person in an attempt to raise his Google trend rating. He has been called at various times a musician, a gamer, and an ultimate frisbee god (all but the last without ever leaving the computer). Allan Long’s internet itinerary starts with Reddit, sails through stumbleupon, and pillages various forums and discussion boards of interest along the way without regard for human life or dignity – after all, this is the internet.
More than just increasing my web presence, I hope that this class will increase my already considerable web savvy and thereby increase what I can get out of the web. I had to add Digital Frontiers to my schedule during Add/Drop week because I had nearly imagined the class just weeks before when talking to a friend about how social networks had astronomically expanded and how this changes the world of business. The thinkers behind youtube, wikipedia, Pandora, facebook, etc. have changed the way we access information and, as a global society, we are only trending more towards using networked online applications for everything. Not all new technology is as useful as these, but anyone who’s ever lost a day clicking around wikipedia can testify to web 2.0’s usefulness in spreading knowledge. Perhaps after taking this class I will find value in Twitter or find a blog worth consistently following; honestly, I would be happy with a quality new webcomic to read or band to listen to. In the end, what will shape the internet is increased networking between people, and not just ISPs. It’s already happening and this generation of students is lucky enough to be able to ride a technological wave into a monsoon of money and stock options. So, with the goal of fostering a more complete global network:
What’s your favorite band no one’s heard of?
Do you read any good webcomics?
Which social news sites do you use? Are you part of the community there or are you more of a lurker?
How awesome would it be to have the job of translating everything on facebook into Pirate slang?
Popularity: 5% [?]
Write a Comment