Hello I am Charlotte West, a junior at Santa Clara University. I am a Political Science major and a Economics/English minor. I took English 138 in Fall 2012 The class is titled, Internet Culture and the Information Society. We were asked to keep a blog that includes responses to class readings. The readings all pertained to internet cultures and how they interact with the technologically driven society that is developing in the modern world. In addition to the blogs, I completed three projects.
My first project, a Cultural Hypertext, analyzed the interaction between Pinterest with the online design community. I titled the site “These Are a Few of My Favorite Things” because Pinterest serves as an online Pinboard for users who want to curate a collection of inspirational photos and ideas. There was surprisingly a lot of good research on the design community and on Pinterest. I was able to use that information explain the synthesis between the two communities.
My second project, a Tactical Hypertext, I explore the ongoing problem of Mental Health in the U.S. prison system. There is a lot of research on the topic, some of which I had read prior to creating this project. Many scholarly articles were available on the subject. I used first hand accounts of the state of mental health in the Bay Area’s own San Quentin prison. I also was able to create a tactical video that called watchers to raise awareness about the issue.
The third project was an Analytical Hypertext that concerned “Hacktivism” and Cory Doctorow’s novel, Little Brother. I worked in a group to explain how Hakctivism has become a valid and valuable part of the modern techonological society. We explained how Doctorow’s novel and the upcoming sequel depict a world in which Hactivism is fully integrated. We created a machnima using Second Life.
Thanks for visiting my site, and feel free to browse around!