A Theme?

While I was planning out my Pinterest post (see previous), I came to a sudden and startling realization: my blog has a theme.

I didn't really have an introductory post.  I just dove right into some self-directed learning.  So I never really explained what this blog is about.  I'm mostly doing this for my Digital Culture class.  I came up with the name Culture in Progress because the course is about culture in the modern day being influenced by digital media and how culture then influences that media.  I added the "in Progress" part because I figured it went along with the idea of things being in beta, and everything I write on this blog will be in beta, so it's all in progress.  I thought it was witty.

Some people progress faster than others...

As I went along, I was mostly just writing about whatever it was that came to mind.  Hactivism, television ratings, relating Hard Times to time and measurement, and stuff relating to our collaborative project.  What I didn't realize is that I have actually been talking about culture in progress the whole time.  That is, how cultured I'm becoming, and how our culture is changing.

When I talked about television ratings, I was discussing how our ratings system needs to change due to our culture of watching TV online.  When I talked about the value of beta, I showed how I have altered my way of thinking and embraced the learning that comes from projects in the beginning stages.  When I compared Hard Times and industrialization to digitalization, I was trying to show how we need to draw on the past in order to cope with our rapidly changing world.  We have to think differently but also remember inherent morals.  All this time, I have been talking about culture in progress.

With my latest switch to Pinterest, I have become more digitally cultured.  And I'm about to get an ebook reader, something I never thought I would do.  If anyone was an advocate of "real" books, it was me.  Now I'm seeing how helpful ebooks can be.  I've learned to use other online resources as well.  I haven't gotten a Twitter yet, but I've used Twitter Search a few times, and I've discovered many Google tools (docs, spreadsheets, sites) and used them this semester.  Perhaps you'll laugh because I'm so obviously behind, but this is a big deal to me.  I'm becoming more cultured digitally.

I'll see what I can do to keep up this theme.  I know it hasn't always been obvious, nor has it been a central focus, but if you look it's there.  I'm just amazed that it fit so perfectly with my title.