(C-Day minus 1, 4 edits, revisions and defence) Given that my thesis is on matters technological it requires that I keep up to date on the comings and goings of the web. As I say in my thesis though, the web now moves more and more quickly. Remember back in the (virtual) day when an internet meme (a unit of cultural information) would be funny and prominent for months? Star Wars Kid, Jackass antics, Chuck Norris. Now, a joke on the internet ceases to be funny 3 seconds after you read it. Lolcatz (?), dramatic chipmunk (?) and I am sure there are numerous other anthropomorphic animals with feelings/emotions/sitcoms and somebody to tape them. In fact, I think these memes passed through so quickly they ceased to be funny before they were even viewed. So what, the cats are English preteens? I don't get it.
In any event, I try to stay on top of the Social Web/social networking sites that crop up, as these at least last long enough to sign up (8 seconds). I blog (naturally. I MySpaced for a short time i.e. I listened to music on their site instead of my iTunes. Easy to see why that one didn't last. I Twittered for a short time. I'm followable, but I wouldn't recommend it (that was less than 140 characters). I even have a Del.icio.us account (to share bookmarks), but a) there was no one I knew to share with, and b) what bookmarks am I going to share? Del.icio.us? MySpace? I think people know about these sites, not exactly adding to the community there. Who bookmarks anymore anyways with predictive-text address bars? But I digress...
So my supervisor asked me to help him sketch out the options (and their respective benefits and detriments) for a Web 2.0 presence for his course program. Thankfully (because he is my supervisor and could crush me) I managed to provide a pretty solid answer to his query. While I am thrilled to be able to provide advice to my supervisor I think it was more satisfying to know that I had at last found an outlet for all of the knowledge I have accrued through this whole process that is not the thesis itself. Because, given the ego-fulfilling prophecy (see Glossary), it is unlikely that anyone will even read that. Hello practical application to GWW (see Glossary)! ...But what is 'practical' other than the antonym of 'useless', therefore...well you see where this is going. Told you I was good at rationalizing, though it is a bit of a stretch to claim usefulness for the thesis.
Re-reading this blog post, I think there will be 3 types of readers. 1. Tech savvy young people who think it is funny because they can relate. 2. Tech savvy people who don't think it is funny, because...well because they don't think it is funny. and 3. the non-tech savvy, who don't get it. "What's a Lolcat? Who's a Star Wars Kid? I remember when Chuck Norris was a movie star not an internet meme"
'Could be encouraging, could be prescriptive' song of the day: Use It - The New Pornographers
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Correction: Chuck Norris was never a movie star, he was just in movies. But don't tell him that because I heard that he was suing MySpace for taking the name of what he calls everything around you.
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