Week 3: Information Sharing

This week we touched a bit on the culture of repeated information and memes. It is quite impressive how fast information, such as images or videos, is able to travel. When things are shared to an extreme, it is deemed “viral.” For example, there was a 5^th grade teacher who got over 5 million hits on a photo she took and uploaded as a way to teach to her students how fast things can travel on the internet. Apparently, there are sets of unwritten rules that determine whether or not something becomes popular in the Internet environment. I really don’t know what these rues are, but that’s okay because I don’t concern myself particularly with gaining Internet fame in this lifetime. But, it is important to know and understand that information can travel quickly, even if it is unwanted. For all I know, there exists a photo of me that is floating around the World Wide Web that I wouldn’t want the public to see if I had my say. But, I’ll just keep hoping that is not the case. We must be aware that anything we do can be shared to the public at anytime with the Internet, so you might not want to put everything online. I personally like my privacy. It is also important to know how each of us fulfills our role in the sharing and promoting of information. This could help or harm any number of people, whether or not the information is true. There are countless amounts of false information that is shared on a daily basis. This is extremely negative, especially when it concerns a serious event, such as some sort of political movement or natural disaster. Just to be safe, don’t over share and keep a healthy amount of skepticism with you at all times. Examine the world, and make sure it stays relevant.