One of the biggest changes I’ve had to contend with this semester, is that this is the first time in three years I’ve had to commute to school. The last two years I’ve lived on campus at Rowan, but I decided to commute the half hour this year, which is definitely having a drastic effect on me. It’s taking some getting used too, and I know that I’m going to right the ship, however, at the moment I truly feel like I’m in the middle of a slog, however, that doesn’t stop blog posts from coming, or from me learning new interesting skills in my last semester as an undergrad….
Omeka S was this weeks Digital Humanities skill, along with the ever interesting writings of Roy Rosenzweig and Lara Putnam. Now, coming into this week I did have a bit of an advantage in regards to the reading since I do believe I’ve read both of these articles before for last years Digital History class. Just like last year, both were utterly fascinating and made me think about things that I never did think about before. ‘Scarcity Or Abundance’, is a great title for Rosenzweig’s article, and just that alone makes one think about what is actually at our fingertips. The first part talks about the iconic ‘Bert is Evil’ meme, which he makes a great point in noting how in the future, how will people trying to study the past view things such as memes or other random internet trends? How is the digital present going to be preserved? It isn’t that we think of at all, but now I find myself wondering how my digital footprint could be studied a hundred years from now, and what technology will look like in that time. Will we be able to use implants like in Cyberpunk 2077 to view old memories and lives? I doubt it, but the idea is a fun one to think about.
Omeka as well, was something that I never used and had never even heard of before this week came around. I will be the first to admit, that I was a bit confused early on in the tutorial video about what Omeka exactly was, is it just for creating databases or websites? However, thankfully as the I drank more coffee doing my homework late at night, and as the tutorial went on, I found myself seeing the multiple uses for it. It makes me think more about the future online projects I have ideas for, and how I can integrate it into my work.
My main focus continuing forward in the coming weeks, is without a doubt going to be readjusting to a commuter student lifestyle. When I was staying at school it was much easier to stay productive and on task since I was physically at the university. However, since I’m constantly coming and going home now I find it harder to stay focused on just my school work. This is all part of the journey, however, and as I said at the end of my last post my favorite quote from my favorite fantasy series ever ‘The Stormlight Archive’, says ‘Journey Before Destination’. One of the best things about my last few years at school, is without a doubt the experience and skills I’ve learned in the process of getting my degree. Omeka S, WordPress, and the other digital skills coming up that I’ll learn is all part of the journey towards a degree, and the journey is as always I believe more important then the destination.
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