MiKayla Green
VIS 208 Journal
2/1/2022


The Internet’s Back-to-the-Land Movement was interesting because I had never really considered a “local” internet community. When I begin to think about it more, we actually are already creating these spaces in a way through social media. Spaces on twitter, clubhouse meeting rooms, and facebook groups act as both local and global spaces for connection. Although these apps are not hosted on local computers, they still give off a sense of small community when they just want to by making the spaces private. In a way, it seems that the internet has not ever really left “the land,”. People are searching for these small communities online all the time. In this increasing digital age though, this search and these “local” communities may have become obscured.


“On how to grow an idea”: Productivity may not be the best solution all the time.


One thing that I took away from “On how to grow an idea” was that nothing happens in isolation. This message carried over to “On building knowledge networks” where the author directly states this. These articles are connected through blogchains in a way, a term used in “Learning Trails''. Much of scholarship works this way. One thing connects to another even if they don’t make direct references to each other. Ideas don’t exist in a vacuum and essentially they are not owned or thought of first by anyone. There is always so much activity going on in the world that things are happening simultaneously. In “Internet’s Back-to-the-Land Movement” it discusses how the internet allows us for communities to exist in parallel. The internet is a reflection of the real world which now we have access to without having to physically travel. But actually not every part of the real world acts this way. “On building knowledge networks” there is an emphasis on how we should always be creating links between different ideas whether it be books, music, or just the internet. In academia though, this does not always happen, especially in the STEM field which tends to ignore or subvert other fields of knowledge. Another tangent related to a point made in “Learning Trails” is about bringing simplicity back to ideas in this increasing digital age where we are consumed and consume so much knowledge. How do we balance this continuous linkage with not being consumed by so much information that we don't have space to reflect?


In reading “Charles Broskoski on self-discovery that happens upon revisiting things you’ve accumulated over time” I realized that Are.na, or more so the purpose of Are.na, is similar to journaling. Starting with one idea and spiraling into other topics. Journaling for me is a cumulation of what’s going on in my head at the moment, questions left unanswered and sometimes it helps me realize solutions. Unaltered and unfiltered, anything is allowed like Broskoski’s original plan for Are.na. One thing I did not enjoy about this interview, though, was the distinction between smart people and “others''. Broskoski noted that they didn't want a hierarchy involved but in his thinking about Are.na there already seems to be an inherent social structure. I think a way people can get past this is creating tools with a diverse set of people without making distinctions about intelligence that is entirely subjective.