Reflective Blog Post

This semester has been a learning experience for me. I consider myself pretty literate in my doings on the internet. I enjoy facebook, I play on imgur, I surf through tumblr and pinterest and I love watching videos on youtube. I didn't think there was too much for me to learn about digital culture. But I was wrong.

I think the thing that was most driven into my head this semester is that digital culture isn't just about finding ways to entertain myself while on the web. It's about creating things as well. As much as I consider myself digitally literate, I'm not creating anything. I don't like talking to people on twitter or connecting with strangers on facebook, I don't make my own youtube videos or memes or fan art. I'm just a silent observer.

Brittany's project on the DIY movement has been really interesting for me. While her project has been more focused on more practical things than memes, the idea of creating something and learning how to make something in the digital age has stuck with me. Even through my own project about fandoms, I've realized that I'm not really a participant in my favorite aspect of digital culture. This class has inspired me to make something, and I think that's really important.

In Dr. Burton's post about explorer's in the digital age, he inspired me to really start looking at what I'm trying to do with my experience online. The internet is more than just a series of links sending us to different pages. It's about finding and creating things. The three C's, consume (I've got that one down pretty well), create and connect. I'm not so good at the last two. If there is one thing that this class has taught me, it's that creating and connecting are more important than I had ever thought before. It might be out of my comfort zone, but that's what I need to start doing.

So here's my first meme. Baby steps guys ;)