elanya

Emily Nussbaum of New York magazine posted a really fascinating article about the internet generation gap - how young people today view the internet and its opportunities differently. It is really interesting to me as someone who has had a long 'net presence, and has a lot of close net contacts.

I have been thinking a lot about how the internet connects you more solidly to your past and past relationships. Without it, would I still be as close to everyone from Fredericton as I am now? Would I still be in touch with people like skjaere, or longrat, or have friended people from Sheffield that I barely knew during the year I lived there? How else would I keep in touch with tsiankiio, or any other of the ECU friends for who I caved and got a myspace account? How does the maintenance of those old relationships affect my ability to grow as a person, and to move on and forge new relationships? It is a difficult balance of time to spend time with both my 'online friends' versus my 'real life friends'...

I posted a picture of my boobs in here a week or so ago without a single thought to any possible negative consequences. What does that say about my conceptions of privacy, and so forth?

The article implies that people younger than myself care even less for the distinctions. While I am fairly careful about posting personal information in some contexts.... I don't really care, and I'm not really concerned. I am not afraid of being stalked or what have you despite the fact that I know people to whom it has happened! Then again, I'm not really afraid of being mugged when I am out walking alone at night either, so maybe I'm just not especially cautious to begin with ;P

Anyway, it was very thought provoking to me. I am fascinated by internet culture, and I think ti would be cool to see more anthropological/sociological studies into the phenomenon...

I keep having thoughts for articles and such that would be interesting to write, and I really out to write them down somewhere. So I though - why not here? I am claiming copyright of these ideas though. So if you steal them - I will cut you :V

1. Ridiculous Ships. A book about the various historical ridiculous ships. Sort of a coffee table book sort of thing, well researched but not written in a scholarly style. Use input from classmates, maybe use money for something specific? Fund for text books or something similar? I really like this idea and would like to see something done with it. I know other students here who think it is a cool idea as well.

2. An article on the crazy sorts of things that early explorers were willing to put in their mouth. I can see the review article now... "Ever wondered what manatee tastes like? Well, according to Nathaniel Uring, an eighteenth century sea captain, it was a little like veal..." And so forth. But talk about what they ate, and what their impetus was for trying these foods (Mostly concentrate on meat!) - necessity? Curiosity? Coping native trends? Another fun paper but of academic merit nonetheless.

3. An article examining why there isn't much written about ship construction details for smaller vessles like sloops, etc. Were they more vernacular construction? required les planning? What does the archaeology tell us about how these small vessels conform to the standards for ship building as we now understand them? i am thinking, as always, of the 17th-18th centuries, or course, but it wold be equally interesting for later periods, I imagine.

That's all I've got for the moment...