0 Final Jorney 2

What did you want to get out of this class. was it accomplished? If not, what is lacking, and why

The journey between Perspectivism and the Telephone Game¶

Perspectivism The tools we use have a history, they are artifacts of the history that created them, the political moment that created them, just as we are the history of those moments. annotations for @macdougallrobertTheKillerApp2014 We left the cold war behind but not the computer, Telephone Game

Retrospectively, at the beginning of the course I would have told you that I wanted to learn about the mainstream history of the internet. I hadn't thought about the different narratives in between, to no fault of my own as I was never told about them. I believe in this course I was unable to accomplish my goal, because I've been left with an impression about the many different narratives that had taken place (and some still are currently taking place), and the innovations behind many of tools that had to be created in order to give humans the tools to put the internet together.

The journey starts with my atomic note on perspectivism

Perspectivism is a theme from my annotations on The tools we use have a history, they are artifacts of the history that created them, the political moment that created them, just as we are the history of those moments.

This quote resonates, it helps convey how important each connection that was made throughout history helped impact the shape of the internet we have today. This was one of the major learning moments in this class, because I hadn't thought about why we needed the internet. There is a trail of information behind us that tells the tail of each development that was made throughout history, but I found an interesting idea in my annotations for @macdougallrobertTheKillerApp2014

In my note about We left the cold war behind but not the computer, I was thinking 50 years into the future. Social media has such an incredible influence on the way our world has been shaped, and I really liked using Telephone Game as a metaphore of this. I remembed Dr. Graham sharing this idea with us in the beginning of the semester. As primitive of an idea that may seem as, I had a moment while making this annotation that connected how computers were created as an idea to warn the United States of a nuclear invasion, with how this idea turned into what we call social media today. They're completely different ideas with many stark differences in how they communicate information, but nonetheless I feel like this journey is a great example of how my thinking has evolved over the semester.

I hadn't ever thought about the context of computers in this time period, but after making this connection I was sure that there were many new narratives that I had to peice together in order to understand the true history of the Internet. Despite this, one of the main things I tihink I lacked was a steady process for taking my annotations. It wasn't until later in the course did I have the time to build Obsidian into the programmable note taking solution that I want it to be, but it's through this struggle that I've had that I've began to ask new questions about how I interact with technology and ask questions about the tools that I'm using.

By shifting my perspective, I've been able to pivot my interests and has shown me how powerful the medium you use to record your informaiton is. As an Engineer, I look forward to the summer where I can enjoy some free time to build a more structured memex. I felt as though I was lacking the right rituals to effeciently use the Memex. I struggled to use templates and wanted to write more maps of content, but I am glad to worked through these problems now, because I've realized how wrong I've been taking my courses in University. Their are many successful people throughout history who have invented incredible things with primitive tools, and it's through this lense that you can begin to appreciate the tools that we've been given with our personal devices. We don't need to treat technology as a distraction, we can use it as a tool to help connect us to bigger, brighter ideas. I can't imagine how much easier studying will become when a computer automates all of the storing and visualizing information, and hopefully by combining the many different ideas that I continue to study, I can find a way to make a meaningful contribution to this history.