Decline or Innovation?

Today’s American culture revolves around the use of the Internet and social media sites. While Nicholas Carr gives a strong critique of the new media, Gregory Ulmer is able to take this new media and come up with a way to interpret the large amounts of information that comes from them.

In his article “Is Google Making Us Stupid?”, Carr tells his audience that he believes the use of the Internet and other new media sources has caused us to lose the ability to think like we once were able to. He blames this inability to think on the idea that technology is causing us to only decode information rather than interpret what we read. At some level, I agree with Carr. I do think that the overload of technology has caused us to lessen our desire to learn and to lessen our ability to think at a certain level. Its not that I know what it was like “way back when”, but I do know that it is difficult to read long pieces of text without getting distracted or tired in some way. With the short pieces of text we read on a daily basis through new technology, we have trained our brains to only work when reading similar length of information. Most people don’t enjoy reading as they used to and for that I do blame technology.

Ulmer looks at technology in a different way in his article on electracy. He believes that there is a way to interpret information from new media through this process called electracy. He says in his article that electracy are the skills used to fully utilize and understand electronic media to its highest potential. His argument is based on the idea that this theory, he has come up with, is as important as literacy is to the written word. While this may be true, the fact that Ulmer does not specifically state what electracy is within our assigned article, making his description confusing and difficult to understand. If Carr was to respond to this article, I believe that he would disagree with Ulmer on the grounds that the new electronic media does not give that amount of information to decode.

From these two articles, it seems that a debate could be going on about the importance of new digital media and how it is affecting our lives. As Carr would say we are moving in the wrong direction, Ulmer would argue that there just needs to be proper way to interpret a text. But which is correct? Are we truly going in a direction where we will at some point in the future have none of our own thoughts? Basically digging ourselves into a hole? Or will we be able to learn to properly interpret these new forms of media in order to understand the great impact they can have on a society? Also if we do end up at a point where we can no longer think for ourselves, how will we be able to continue growing a society?

Moving On and Up

College is quickly coming to an end. With only eight months left of my undergraduate career, I am really starting to realize the need to begin the dreaded job search. As a senior, I am always asked what I am going to do after college. Thankfully, because of my involvement in Furman’s Student Activities Board (FUSAB) and several internships I have had, I have a general answer to that ever-present question. And hopefully my answer will be some form of a job promoting a product and selling a lifestyle.

Over the past two summers, I have had two very different internships that have shaped what I want to do after graduation. During the first of the two, I was based in Washington DC with an internship at a small PR Firm. We represented several unions and the ideals of those unions. While I truly enjoyed being in DC, I did not care for the specific job I was doing. And even though it was not the internship for me, I was still able to learn and hone in on what I didn’t want to do as a career.

In comparison, this past summer I was able to intern for a start up flip flop company in Dallas, Hari Mari. There I was able to work in a more hands on atmosphere to learn about the importance of quality control, the technique of sales, and the ability of a company to utilize social media for their benefit in place of paying for advertising. I was given the opportunity to observe and to attend style shows, music festivals, and promotional events that endorsed our flops, giving me an understanding of how to promote the product. All of these combined to create a realization that I prefer to work and sell a product rather than an idea.

I think that this digital communications class will give me some of the essential skills that are needed to succeed in our current technology filled world. I most hope to learn how to keep up with a blog as well as integrate certain forms of media into that blog. I also think that it will be interesting to learn how to utilize these forms of media to be the most persuasive and visually appealing to the reader. 

For the topic of my blog, I have thought about two options that I am interested in possibly focusing on. The first being “hotspots”, a blog following the  events on Furman’s campus, that come from the organizations I am involved in. Whether that is a FUSAB concert or a sorority philanthropy event, I will look at how those are put together and how they are advertised throughout campus with the various mediums. The other possible blog idea would be “healthy bytes”. This blog would focus on healthy eating and where it is available throughout the Greenville area, considering price and location as well.