Weekly Report and Reflection #4: A home for new ideas

Experiences. Do we know what makes an experience? Is it something that can define? Or is it just something that we have? When I go hiking through the woods, I sometimes find myself running through emotions that I think some cannot empathize with; for example, the feeling of crisp air and abounding nature reminds me of God's presence. Non-believers might have a more difficult time understanding my experience of a good hike, all the while still going through the same actions as I would. In the same way, an internet experience is defined by what we, as users, expect to get out of it, and is different for everyone that takes part in online activities. Just as I would take a picture of the trees in the forest, I too can capture an interesting item on the internet through the use of favouriting or bookmarking. Using such tools really add to the experiences we have, and can improve it a lot by showing us the things we are interested in and the things we did not have the time to look at before. For me, I think the biggest benefit of using the bookmark services is the ability to organize interesting articles by including a title, description, and tags to make it simple to search common topics. I decided to utilize Diigo's cloud-based bookmarking service because of its simple design, and I look forward to making use of the cloud for when I am away from my computer but would like to read saved articles.

I am a believer of dependable information, I take each statement as a grain of salt. The internet is a powerful resource because unlike traditional means of information, like encyclopaedias that were limited to one source of information and could be biased, the web contains many sources that are available from many different perspectives, and I get to choose to believe that the Earth is not flat instead of being forced to believe anything. This generation we are in is becoming the most informed because of the accessibility, and diverse nature of today's information. As a student, I believe the work we produce will be more innovative and creative than previous years due to this wealth of information. I constantly find myself being inspired and encouraged by articles in my RSS feed, and this one about London Phone Booths stuck out because it is a incredible idea that is changing the way things have been for the past century. The idea was proposed by London School of Economic graduates that one a competition by proposing to change the classic red phone booths in London into the new green mobile phone charging booths. I like to believe that without the use of today's news and internet resources this idea would have never came to fruition. So many modern ideas seem to be interconnected with one another that to come up with something innovative there needs to be an element of modern technology. For example, the new iPhone 6 that I recently bought uses all the latest processors that make it extremely efficient, and when compared to an already innovative phone companies like the Samsung or HTC, Apple was able to use similar parts that reduced the size and weight while being just as effective. There seems to always be something that we can improve, and as long as there are resources are limits are truly endless.

A major part of becoming a digital citizen is education. I have found that digital literacy and communication are strengthened when we take the opportunity to inform ourselves with the resources that are available. If we expect to grow as a digital citizen we must actively pursue information and use if as much as we can so that as many people can have access to it. I believe web services, like Diigo and Feedly, are just stepping stones towards growing skill set, and our goal should be to utilize this information. When put our thoughts into action, who knows what can be accomplished. Whether it's changing the face of London's public space, or creating technology's next "big thing", as long as we continue to challenge ourselves and each other we will continue to innovate.

On that note, I just thought of a theme to add to my RSS feed: innovation. I am going to go add that now, so I will talk to y'all later!

Nathan