Life in the Network

This is most definitely my favorite picture. It comes from this summer while I was visiting my boyfriend’s family in Detroit Lakes. It was very early on in the summer, and the water was not quite warm. So, we were dared to jump in. I grabbed my boyfriend’s (Mike) hand and said, “Let’s go!” I think this is a pretty good depiction of the type of person I am. No fear, no risk, just opportunities to experience life. I really enjoy summertime because it allows me to put my worries away and try new things. I visited Detroit Lakes several times over the summer and grew to love the simplicity of just hanging out and taking things slow. . . a change of pace from my normal day-to-day activities.

I really enjoyed the article by Sturtz. I respect the way he presents the idea of a folksonomy, and I feel that he attributes a lot of control of the term to users. It intrigues me that we have come-up with definitions about the different and unique ways internet communications are categorized. It is truly a whole new field of study. I find it equally intriguing that he really believes that users are the true definers of the structure of the content. It is unlike any other area of study that is already well-defined. While the internet seems to have changed the way we categorize things, I think we, as users, need to be vigilant not to redefine what is already true (this might apply more to Cyberliteracy). My favorite quote from the article is, “Giving the end user control over the organization of content can also allow entirely new domains to develop” (Sturtz 4). Pretty cool!

Flickr uses folksonomies, as mentioned in the article by Sturtz. When an item is tagged in a photo, users can find other users’ photos with a shared name. This allows a very cool way to browse topics, and relate to other people’s lives. I believe it gives people of sense of connection and community when they find that they share interests, beliefs, and common photos with each other.

Lastly, after reading the first few chapters of Cyberliteracy, by Gurak, I believe I have gained even more insight on how to utilize and be careful while using the internet. My favorite sections were on multiplicity and globalness. It is truly amazing how many people we can be in connection with through the internet. When we can reach so many people at once, especially across the world, I think we hold some true power. But, I also feel like the number of messages and communications are so abundant that meaning gets lost, there is a lot of noise and clutter to cut through, and it is difficult for one to know what is real, useful and meaningful. My favorite quote here was, “Multiplicity drives e-commerce” (Gurak 34). I work in e-commerce, and have recently found the power of online tools such as pay-per-click, banner ads, targeted emails, and online advertising in general.