The Information Society..

I remember at the beginning of the course, Prof Tracy mentioned that Dale Bradley also taught this class and I wondered what the heck the difference was.. NOW I KNOW!!!!! Kudos to you Prof Tracy, for making this class not only very awesome, but extremely informative. I love Dale Bradley with all my heart, but I do believe I would not have been able to get the same experience as what this class taught me. 

By being able to immerse ones self in technology, and practically evaluate the ICT's we already use, I feel like I now have a new perspective of social media. Twitter itself may be a fad, just as everything seems to die off someday, but it sure does shape the way our society lives, interacts, and communicates. It shapes relationships- and not just personal ones, but relationships between government, corporations, small business, celebrities, fake celebrities, and nonprofit causes. It literally brings the world to my fingertips in front of a 13" screen. 

I think that this was a valuable learning experience because we were not forced to look from afar. I didn't have to sit at home at night wondering how this knowledge would ever apply to my life, because it became clear to me that it pretty much is my life.. or at least a huge part of it. I have learned to never dismiss a social media technology. Before this class I primarily used my networks online as social ones.. but now I value their full potential. I also am more comfortable utilizing these technologies with helpful tools like twhirl and google reader, and delicious.

Overall the information society is an extremely interesting view of society and it leaves me with so many questions. Last semester I was introduced to the idea of it by my 2p65 class when we had to read Richard Florida's article about the creative class. Here's an interview with (my lover) George Stroumboulopoulos: Richard Florida on the Creative Class. Its extremely interesting.. but at the same time, is this achievable/viable?

I still wonder, what about the people living in the 'third world', what about the people who are being continually pushed further and further away from the information society. I want to now learn about the implications for those beyond our own sphere. We live in a globalized world yet there are still so many regions or groups/classes of people not in touch with the kind of technologies we discussed in the class. They have the ability to transform.. but will they?

So much thinking to do, and schooling. Anyways, awesome class.