Journal #9 - Digital Ethnography

                Sitting in class listening to the presentation was probably one of the best decisions of my recent life because it opened my eyes to the reality of how drastic Web 2.0 and the Internet are changing education and knowledge.  Knowledge is literally at our fingertips and so easy to obtain that no one takes a trip to the library anymore.  The book is a medieval invention in today's society.  Wikipedia is the new Encyclopedia.  One of the videos says "soon we will have the entire Library of Congress at our fingertips".  That concept isn't so farfetched anymore; ten years ago it was just a figment our imaginations but now it is so believable with how fast technology is making the Internet expand and grow.

                Having access to the Library of Congress from anywhere would make being a student even easier when it comes to doing research, because this is a free and legitimate data resource that can be accessed by anyone.  The problem with Wikipedia is that anyone can edit the information it offers in its database and sometimes people change the facts so much that it changes it to fiction.  However, there is an upside to this system: anyone can dispute the facts and can correct them with evidence.  But having access to the Library of Congress will supply texts that that are the real deal and this will evolve online databases to the next level.  I envy my son because I know he will take full advantage of this new technology when he gets old enough to write research papers.  He will probably look at a book and say to himself, "I know what that is, I read an online article about how people used to read these just the other day."

                The evolution of technology is making knowledge easier to obtain to anyone who seeks it, and this is creating a smarter society.  In the past, we made excuses to why we didn't know the answer to something, but now there is no reason to not know the answer because we can always Google it.  It's even the advice we give to our friends.  The Internet is creating a more intelligent society but it is also making it socially awkward because we spend more time at home in front of the computer than in public, and when we do find the time to be out in public we are staring into the screen of laptop at a coffee shop sipping on our lattes, or zoning out the rest of the world while swiping away at our smart phones.  Our social awkwardness is a side effect that we will have to learn to live with if we want to be a more knowledgeable society.  If you ask me, I'd rather be smarter and socially awkward than be dumb and know proper social etiquette.