Reflective Post On Digital Culture

I got into this class on the recommendation of Greg Bayles, himself a wizard of digital culture. And I have learned an awful lot about how the digital world works, where it is moving, and where it has been. I was intrigued with the way we connected the subject with Moby Dick, and this post by Melody Hiatt entitled "The Moby Dick Metaphor" is what initially got me excited about the connections that could be made between Moby Dick and Digital Culture. From there, I started to really read Moby Dick with a new perspective, and the result was this post entitled The (never ending) Moby Dick Metaphor. In fact this illustrates something else I have learned in this class about the nature of the digital world: there is a lot of building off of other things and remixing. And also, it can be confusing to get a grasp on new concepts, because there will always be new concepts that need grasping. There is always going to be the need to hunt for more knowledge and ability, we will never be resting or completely in control, but in a wild chase for The White Whale. The Holy Grail. The Thing We Desire. The Thing We Need.

I enjoyed being in Team Queequeg, where I was a first mate. I think being in a team was appropriate because a lot of things in the digital are moving to a more team work/collaborative model. Crowdsourcing is a good example of this, and is talked about in this class post entitled "Collaborative Creativity and Crowdsourcing."

I found it especially interesting when we talked about a musical site called "Kompoz" that Professor Burton had found that allowed for musical collaborating amongst many different people from anywhere in the world to collaborate on tracks. Each person contributing a specific part, and advertising for other specialists (a drummer or guitarist) to come in and help add stuff. This kid of collaborative environment is really neat. The possibilities it opens are fascinating. And it got me thinking about the power of collaboration in new ways (and appreciate the internets power for connecting people)

Another part I really enjoyed in this class was talking about the concept of the long tail, written about in this blog post.  It opened my eyes to the power the internet and recommendation platforms have had in allowing for revolutionary changes in the way main stream markets are no longer in complete control like they used to be. For example, now niche products (such as music, videos, video games) can really make an impact and be able to self-sustain without being a main stream product making millions upon millions of dollars.

Another point that got me excited in this class was when fellow Queequeg teammate Danielle Cronquist did an altruistic post for me giving me a jump start on my final project and a good base to work from. I also enjoyed doing an altruistic post of my own for a classmate on fandom and was surprised to see how I could at the same time link it to my own final project and Moby Dick at the same time.

That might just be my big take away from this class. That everything in digital culture is extremely connected. And that can be a powerful thing.