Today in Digital Rhetoric, we’re covering the history of the internet in about 35 minutes. Considering that some programs devote an entire course to this, I am feeling the pressure to make the lesson meaningful and informative. I like to focus on the origins of the internet, ARPAnet, and its links to the military-industrial complex.… Read More I Used the Internet
Last time I took a Greyhound bus, I was 21 years old. Suffice it to say, it’s been a while. I am composing the post on a bus between Milwaukee and Chicago listening to The Clash. I’m typing with my thumbs on my Smart Phone (See Arroyo’s “thumb writing”). I remember my last trip on… Read More On a Bus. On a Phone.
I’m traveling around this Mid-West this summer. The twist is that I’m complete dependent on ride-sharing and public transportation. So far, someone stole my Beats (my fault), people have shouted, and men have said gross stuff to me and other female passengers. At the same time. I’ve met some really nice people – a Sister of… Read More My Dad Doesn’t Use the Internet or a Cell Phone
One of my ongoing research interests is the way in which metaphors shape the way we think about the interwebs. For example, we often describe technological changes as revolutions, breakthroughs, or cutting edge. These kinds of metaphors may mask the ways in which the interwebs are not revolutionary and recapitulate existing inequalities. Nevertheless, one of my… Read More Plagues, Viruses, and the Internet
The news is full of stories about young people being bullied to the point of self-harm and suicide. Unfortunately, bullying isn’t a new phenomenon. For example, John Hughes‘s movies (Pretty in Pink and The Breakfast Club) rely on the tension of the bullied vs. the popular. The big difference today is the constant presences of the interwebs. While… Read More Bullying Has No Boundaries
I vividly remember getting our first computer. It was 1995 and I was a senior in high school. My mother ordered a Gateway computer because it was a good computer and she liked the cow print box gimmick. She placed the computer in the space between our kitchen and living room so everyone could use it. The… Read More Digital Literacy
Current debates about net neutrality have gone largely unnoticed. Ironically, this is something everyone who uses the web should be marching in the streets about. I think John Oliver sums up the issue quite well here: Inaction could mean that corporations like Comcast and Time Warner could control how we access information. If we think about the current affordances… Read More Access, Access, Activism
Like this article in The Onion, we tend to anthropomorphize technology. Like the woman in the article, I talk about how my computer hates me or about how my phone seems to know exactly when to run out of battery power. We give machines human emotions and motives. But for how complex these machines are,… Read More Computers Aren’t People
