Response to Gregory Ulmer Ch. 1 “Internet Invention”
Chapter One of Ulmer’s Internet Invention discusses numerous connections between technology, particularly the Internet, and modern influential individual’s means of dealing with certain situations. As a blogger, I use technology to deal with my standpoint on the law and how it has affected me. Primarily, this reading attenuates that each person within a technological space is a part of that space and should be referred to as an “egent,” opposed to an agent. Every person in the modern world who is eighteen or older possesses the potential to utilize the web for the purpose of moving forward intellectually. Since so many people use blogs as a way to publish personal interests online, anyone with the internet has the ability to become an “egent.” According Ulmer’s article, “EmerAgency proposes Internet as a knowledge bank from which to draw information.”
A solid example of how technology, whether it is simple or complex, has on an individual is illustrated through Einstein’s fascination with a compass his father showed him. The issue represented by this scenario suggests that the Internet, much like the compass, causes a state of awe due to constant change. Since the Internet and computer technologies are always changing, people are often found in bewilderment trying to decipher numerous properties relating to the Internet. Technology and wonder parallel each other because of the direct effect both aspects have on everyone, even Einstein.
Furthermore, culture is addressed as a problematic issue that should be critiqued and reevaluated from a technological standpoint. A person who has a career should not be as concerned with what position they hold, however, how that position can be applied to gain knowledge that would further their proficiency in a constantly changing Internet based society. Comprehension of the world on the web is a requirement to thrive in our culture, from the Ulmer’s perspective.
** On a final note, the creation of this blog is a form of “electracy” term coined by Ulmer. Basically, practicing and applying internet techology to make myself more electronically literate**
November 4, 2009 at 5:30 pm
Good thoughts, but if you want to talk Ulmer, don’t talk about becoming more “electronically literate.” His whole point is that “literacy” isn’t the same as “electracy.” Becoming “electrate” would mean something else entirely from being “electronically literate.” How do you think they differ?