The Internets

For our first unit, I will be running the show myself. (Remember that each of you is ultimately responsible for signing up to lead a seminar on a particular topic.) We're beginning with the Internets this year because of its ubiquity, but also because it is remarkably useful in this class for sharing information (remarkably so for a series of tubes).

In five minutes, for example, and while writing the above paragraph, I was able to provide you with links that define a 50-cent word (not to be confused with this bit of satire), explain a ridiculous analogy, and document a famous malapropism about the Internet. See? I just did it again.

We are going to look at the history of the Internet, facts about its current status and usage, and possible trends as it moves forward. We'll examine Wikipedia, viral videos, and digital copyright infringement, all while discussing the danger of using Wikipedia to look up information on things like "viral videos." And I will stop providing links to everything you might now know, because it takes too long.

In the next post: info to study and tests to forget about.