Globalization: "No Man is an Island"

Where is this world heading? With the world population burgeoning over 7 billion people, the use of social media is connecting people at an unprecedented level. In political science, one of the great concerns of today is how globalization will affect the structure of government and how politics will change because of it. The Arab Spring is a prime example of how social media is affecting the political world and how it can be used as a medium to change the international dialogue that exists. Young, educated members of society are able to harness the power of the masses through the use of Facebook, Twitter, and other social networks and organize nationwide revolutions.

A recent example of the use of social media to enact change has come from the organization Invisible Children and its movement to stop the leader of the LRA, Joseph Kony. Through their campaign efforts using documentaries posted to YouTube and their extended effort to gain people to their cause by using Facebook and other social networks, they have garnered a huge amount of media coverage. The influence of their Kony 2012 campaign can be read about in today's New York Times Article, "In Vast Jungle, U.S. Is Helping Track a Killer." Political movements are moving from the streets to the Web. This world is going to be changing because of social media, and I hope we are ready for the flood.

The great metaphysical poet John Donne wrote, "No man is an island, entire of itself." We are all becoming connected. We are a part of a global society that is no longer separated by seas or borders. Because of this, everyone has an opportunity to lift their voice and let it be heard. The new media will give rise to the Ghandis, Donnes, Washingtons, and Moons of today. We should not fear for the future. All that is left to us is to embrace new technologies and harness them for good.

I'm optimistic about the future.

Water, Water Everywhere...

"Drip, drop, drip, drop" is the incessant sound that haunts my dreams. My body is exhausted and chilled laying in my bed, wondering, "Why?!" The last part of my day was spent in my flooded basement trying to salvage what I could of the books that were left on the floor of my office. The tedious job of drying each water-logged page with a hairdryer sent my mind to our class. The printed page could not stand up to Mother Nature's strange jokes of allowing water to fill our home. On the other hand, the words that I've been writing on this blog remain untouched. The digital world is allowing for the inked words we write to remain eternal and unharmed by the disasters of the world. Books can be burned and computers may die, but the Web allows for our words to remain. Authors have sought immortality through their ideas and words and now every person on earth can have their own immortality through blogging and social media. No matter if floods come, fires burn, or tornadoes dismantle, our words can always stand unchanged while books and papers are reduced to pulp, ash, or pieces. 

Creative Commons License

In trying to look at different aspects of the digital humanities, I have really gotten interested in Creative Commons Licenses. They idea of being able to share work with others on the web or other places allows for ideas to continually be enhanced by different individuals who can bring new insights to a specific work. Does anyone have any thoughts on the matter? I understand that for most writers they enjoy copyright laws because that is how they are able to gain a profit from the books they write. I am curious to see how these types of licenses will be used in the future. 

Liberation of the Personal Voice

The recurring theme of how new social media, such as blogging, gives authors a voice in their work jumped out at me while I was reading the chapters from Writing About Literature in the Digital Age. In Dr. Burtons's chapter about Moby Dick, he explains how blogging makes writing about literature something personal where students can invest their personal views into their work and make their writing more meaningful. This theme again came up in Ben Wagner's chapter about racism in The Great Gatsby  as he explains how literary criticism should include the personal views of the critic. The new forms of media really throw the straightjacket of formality aside during the beginning of the writing process and critical analysis of papers allowing for the character and voice of the author or critic to bleed into their work, making it have more depth and power. Standard research papers are usually written with high-brow language and are stiffly manufactured for the consumption of a sole individual, the professor. The voice of the author can get lost in writing these types of papers because the author's focus would be on impressing the professor as opposed to showing their vibrant thoughts and personal feelings in their writing. I feel that powerful academic writing can only be enhanced by personal insight and passion that are fastened to the cohesive ideas of a research paper or critical analysis. 

George Orwell 1984

For my research paper, I am planning to read George Orwell's 1984.  I love this book because it gives a picture of what censorship of the media can be like if taken too far and used as a tool to control the ideas and lives of people. The themes contained in the book make me think of SOPA and other acts the government is trying to put in place to censor the media and curb what is available to the public's view. It will be interesting to see how policy interacts with the rise in new media over the next few years. Along with the government playing the role of "Big Brother" in the book, it seems like the interconnectedness created by social media also makes me feel like I am constantly being observed and measured. I wonder if the new media creates a kind of paranoia in its users.

Something else that made me want to read through 1984 again for my research paper is the way that the news was altered continually to show what the government wanted readers to view. I am currently starting an internship with Deseret News, and being able to see the process of how news is analyzed really makes George Orwell's story come to life in a whole new way. 

BYU-I Learning Model--Prepare, Teach One Another, and Ponder and Prove

As I was thinking about preparation, I thought of an experience from this past semester concerning spiritual preparedness. At the close of finals week for Winter Semester, I had my PLSC 200 final which was a bear of an exam. While I was studying the morning of the exam, I felt prompted to take extra time to read from the Book of Mormon. I read a chapter from the book of Mosiah and I felt this peace come over me letting me know that everything was going to be ok on my exam. To me, this experience reinforces the concept of putting the Lord first knowing that He will give us all we need if we do so. Our spiritual preparation is key to our understanding of other lesser truths which are part of our day to day lives. Failing to be spiritually prepared causes us to cut ourselves off from the possessor of all truth, even God who is willing to teach us all things by the power and gift of the Holy Ghost, if we would but seek Him with a broken heart and a contrite spirit.

Along with being spiritually prepared, it is imperative to be prepared as an individual. For example, if you fail to do the reading for a class it will drastically affect the kind of input you can offer during class discussions. The learning process is stimulated by individual effort to to contribute to the whole. Individual preparedness bleeds over into being prepared as a group. If effort is put into pre-class discussion, whether through personal learning or online discussion with others, the learning in a classroom setting will be enhanced because more insights can be elaborated on.

Along with being prepared, it is important to teach and learn from one another in class. I had a great experience with one of my close friends who is very skilled at editing. I had a paper that I was struggling with and I sat down with my friend and he took the time to explain to me certain editing skills which are valuable in constructing a sound paper. The few tips he gave me have really impacted the way that I write my papers. By being able to learn from my friend I have been able to improve the level of my formal writing. There are so many benefits to being able to learn from one another. Because it is impossible to be a master at everything, being able to be instructed by people who are interested in specific fields or are more knowledgeable in certain subjects allows an individual's knowledge to expand. More knowledge is able to be gained. Further, teaching others is very fulfilling because it builds a person's confidence in themselves. As a teaching assistant, I have had many experiences when teaching other students certain concepts my own knowledge is expanded and solidified in my memory. It is important to teach others because those that are teaching are instructed and both the teacher and the learner are taught and edified together.

The last part of the learning model focusses on the need to ponder and prove the work we do. This past semester I had the opportunity to write a paper for my English 293 class which I spent a substantial amount of time on the front end editing and perfecting. Because of that work, my professor said that I should rework the paper to try and publish it in an academic journal. Because of my professor's feedback, I have spent substantial time going over the paper and doing further research to expand my understanding of the paper's topic. Through further meetings with the professor I plan to prepare the paper to be published. This is an example of how our work should be continually examine our work and prove our learning through stretching our efforts beyond the classroom.

This is the genesis of something new and exciting for a country bumpkin from the hills of Tennessee. I am interested to see how these new types of social media play a role in my development as an author and also how I view the world. Being connected to the world in such a public way can be a bit frightening, but it should be a lot of fun.