Midterm 1 (Part 1)

My posts thus far:

• A Loving Intro - My introductory post aka my first blog post ever.
• The Christianity Crisis - This post probes the question of Christianity's unconventional role/purpose within Moby Dick.
• The New (A Response to Moby Dick: A Novel?)  - Relating Moby Dick's "new" form to the uncharted territory of the digital world and its new impacts on the world.
• Show us -  Exploring online identity and how we represent ourselves.
• #Structure - Relating Melville's diversified structure of Moby Dick to the various mediums available in the digital world.
• Exploration  - Relating the ways digital exploration has paved the way for my personal exploration of the real world.
• The Long Musical Tail - My way of trying to understand the long tail in the music industry through Spotify.
• Seeing Video Games Differently - My small bit of research uncovering some benefits of video games to help me cope with the fact that they're not all evil and potently addictive.
• Moby Dick's Physiognomy - Easily my favorite post. This was my amateur launch into what I understand of academic blogging. I really would like to take the topic further for more focused blog posts.
• Knowledge in Progress - After Dr. Burton's lecture on how to effectively search the web for social resources, I followed the process and did some research of my own in the posted step-by-step process.

 Reflecting on my encounters with digital culture from this course, I have found myself thinking about the connection between exploration on- and offline. Just this past weekend, my family was discussing the wonder of the "DIY" movement sweeping the web. My sister-in-law exclaimed, "You can learn anything online!" I think there's an ever-plunging depth to that concept.

This class has given me a sense of wonder as to the vastness of a literal digital "world." There's so much out there to learn and it's a collaborative world. I would venture to claim that the digital world only exists via connections. Its purpose is to facilitate varying degrees of informative communication.

My first English class at BYU started by Zina Peterson's analogy of the literary conversation being like a coffeehouse discussion. What I'm understanding now is that the whole web is a HUGE coffeehouse that involves everyone and discusses everything. It is fueled by the demand to learn and to contribute. It's about sharing and it wouldn't exist without its ability to connect others socially, emotionally, intellectually, even physically to some extent (Skype, video conferencing, etc).

One of my greatest weaknesses is my tendency to naturally avoid a digital two-way conversation but I'm learning to correct myself and try to facilitate conversation and interaction with others. I relate to Greg's post about having to push past the insecurities surrounding your opinions and contributions and establishing an appropriate identity in which connecting is relevant and possible.

I love to explore and, as an amateur, I hope to connect with people who can help me navigate the digital world in a way that inspires myself and others - because I can't do it on my own, the nature of the digital won't let me.

How is our digital experience dependent on interactions or contributions between users?