Digital Technologies and
Identity
identity crisis: phase 1
Throughout the semester, the course
has focused on the effects of various media on thought. Specifically, the course
has centered itself on various technologies (i.e.,
computers, hypertexts, etc.) and the effects, good and bad, they
have on human thinking and feeling.
As a result, my thinking about MeDiA aNd TeChNoLoGy
in relation to literature
and the self has evolved. FOR EXAMPLE, at the beginning of the semester I had
no opinion on media in relation to literature, but
through reading about media, experiencing different types of media, and thinking
about literature in NEW WAYS, I have come to an understanding
that media does affect literature and the ways
in which an individual thinks about himself/herself.
Specifically, it is important that undergraduate
students, not only majors in literature, think about literature not only
in the CONtemPORary way (i.e., as a book), but also, if you will, in a
p o s t m o d e r n
way that includes hypertexts and various texts that appear online.
The fact that the face of literature is evolving at
such a rapid pace DEMANDS that
students abandon their old ways of thinking about literature and consider ways
in which media affect one's understanding of literature.
Not only does literature affect media, but
you, the student, are also affected by changing technologies such as
the Internet and online communities.
These are just a
few of the concepts I found to be most striking
when thinking about the Internet in relation to my 'self' and the way that computers
impact great literature.