apocablog - blog #12 - you can't rip pages out of ebooks to blow your nose

So I’ve been thinking about wikis quite a bit lately; more than I would like to given other demands on my time, but at least those thoughts will make posting this week’s blog a little easier.

For my group’s wiki project one of the requested features has been hard to completely deliver on. Our client wanted to remove post-it note clutter from the reference desk while maintaining the timely and time-saving advice that such a note can have as shifts change over the course of the day. Thus, we designed the homepage to reflect this request. However, harnessing the chaos of clutter is proving to be a difficult task. What I’ve learned from this is that someone will need to manage the content regardless of the medium. In other words, it’s easy to put something on a wiki and appoint someone to manage it, but in this situation the value comes from someone managing the content, not the fact that it’s on a wiki. If we/I could figure out how to make content disappear after say four weeks, then our homepage would really be adding something.

Also, on my mind pertaining to the topic of wikis is the issue of a wiki as a public space and the ironical stability of electronic information. I was thinking about bulletin boards yesterday. Papers overlapped, sarcastic remarks in the margins of advertisements, slips with phone numbers on them for guitar lessons…you get the picture. Conceivably anyone could post a piece of paper on a bulletin board. Conceivably anyone could grab a library book off the shelf and rip out a few pages for his/her own discretionary use. Is such malfeasance possible in the realm of electronic information? Not really. A library website would need to be hacked to be altered, and an ebook could fall prey to the vagaries of electronic file storage. But the fact remains that you won’t be seeing Joe Patron using the last page of the Great Gatsby to blow his nose if that last page is on his PC monitor. At least that’s how I imagine my DISCARDED copy getting “edited.” I digress. So electronic information though it is dynamic and rapidly changing does not accumulate the marginalia of the print medium—It’s impervious to the nonchalant wear and tear that marks our favorite stories and our fleeting impulses (in the case of the bulletin board). The wiki as a public space is a move to the middle of the spectrum that I’ve tried to illustrate. I don’t know if it’s better or worse, but does seem a bit more human.

bloggin on empty, in which sam student is introduced

Sometimes its easiest to just follow a routine, a set of directions, a script...you get the idea...rather than think or act with a mind for originality or innovation. This is where I find myself right now. I'm wondering how in the world I can blog about technology again. I mean I've been blogging for my own enjoyment for about three years now, and I've blogged about many topics more than 11 times. This technology thing has become the proverbial dead horse. I've approached just about every way I know how creatively, philosophically, pragmatically, deeply, shallowly, humorously, seriously... But today the task remains, even after an entire paragraph of text, in front of me to blog about technology. So I'm going to put into practice today a genre of writing that my Basic Writing students are particularly fond of: the definition paper. In my Basic Writing class, I teach structure, structure, structure and the definition essay can meet this criteria a little more easily than other more challenging genres. So, without further ado:

According to Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary, technology is "the practical application of knowledge especially in a particular area." Technology affects my life in many ways. As a matter of fact, it's hard to think of an aspect of my life that technology doesn't affect. From eating to sleeping to studying to writing, technology's impact is all around me, but I'd have to say that I largely take it for granted. As a matter of I only really notice technology when either something is broken or when something amazes me. For example, in chapel the other day the Student Life people got up to show a funny video about dodgeball, and the video wouldn't run right. Everyone was bummed out because usually Student Life videos are hilarious. I remember thinking how if they had just thought up a funny skit, everything would have been fine. I guess unless the microphones weren't working! An example of a time that I noticed technology because it amazed me is when I went to see The Matrix. I know that this movie may not be as impressive when it comes to special effects as something like Sparta, but I guess my point here is that dazzling special effects make me notice technology. Also, I notice technology when a cell phone rings in class. Some of those ring tones are hilarious, especially in awkward situations. One time, my professor's cell went off to the tune of "TNT" by ACDC. We all busted up. In conclusion, technology, defined as "the practical application of knowledge especially in a particular area," is all around us, and we usually don't even notice it.