The tools of digital media seem to be both impeding and expanding our knowledge as a society because it is giving us the necessary tools to tell numerous, untold stories, but it is also giving us a false sense of reality as well. Digital media give individuals an outlet to depict their life journeys and generate their own content. But it also hinders our own extensive knowledge by always providing resources that we as humans have been accustomed to and become dependent on. In the “Long Revolution” article, it speaks about how “Internet has come to be established as a delimited public arena, and the question is if the cyberspace imaginary will become a highly monitored and regionalized social space or if the Internet will retain its potential for independent endeavors and ideological exchange.” This article goes into depth of both sides of the equation regarding the purpose and usage of the Internet.
Then in the “Data Mining” article it speaks about the numerous cases of wiretaps that the government was issued to do on various phone calls. It mostly speaks about the process of gaining people’s information through Amazon’s wish lists by simply typing up the name of an individual. The video was interesting to watch because it seemed like a joke but then knowing the extremities of Google it seemed like a legitimate idea. The Internet is a base where any person on a computer can get the information they’re looking for but it is also somewhat of an hindrance because then dependency on the system starts to arise as well.
