Digital media is expanding our knowledge for sure. Look at search engines! We have all the information at the touch of our fingers, the palms of our hand. It takes one click to get any information on about any topic you want. But there’s a bad hand dealt when it comes to digital media too. Anything you post will never be forgotten, it stays on the internet forever. For example, if you are a celebrity and you made a racist comment on your social media page from 10 years ago. Someone will find it and dig it up and post it for the whole world to see and the celebrity will be “cancelled.” In the article, “The Web Means the End of Forgetting,” Jeffrey Rosen states, “the Internet records everything and forgets nothing — where every online photo, status update, Twitter post, and blog entry by and about us can be stored forever.” Jobs also so deep background checks on you so if they see any hateful posts or comments, you most likely won’t be hired.

Bryan Romeo

My version of an ideal search engine would be something akin to what is used in most websites where products are purchased. For example, bicycles. On any company’s site there are filters which break things down into type of bike, size, wheel size, brand, and price range. In a similar fashion, this engine would have a search bar that allows for whatever the person is looking for to be typed, but right underneath it would be a box containing a number of filters. These would include how much information is desired with varying levels being:superficial, good enough, thorough, and research level, year of desired information, source preference, along with political and religious perspective.   

The tools of digital media are definitely expanding our knowledge, and things are now more accessible than ever. However, this all comes with a major disadvantage: nothing you ever post on any of these digital media platforms is forgotten. One reason which I believe would lend to the success and expansion of digital media and the internet is that it is “a remarkably multifaceted tool that has experienced an exponential growth and embedded itself in the daily lives of a vast number of people” as stated by Anna Notaro in her article “The Lo(n)g Revolution: the Blogosphere as an alternative Public Sphere”. Similar to a flow chart, the Internet connects things even with the slightest correlation and allows for new content to be developed and researched which is one of its many applications and ways in which it expands our knowledge. Yet it also serves another purpose; one of archiving and storing information. Information which most of the time is willingly given or used without our direct consent by government agencies such as the FBI and NSA as stated by Tom Owad in his article of Data Mining 101: Finding Subversives with Amazon Wishlists. Despite the moral and legal dilemma of such a function, we can’t argue against its convenience and resourcefulness.

If I came up with a search engine, it would be called FinDIt, and I would want it to be simpler than what we’re accustomed to. Although search engines for the most part are filled with so  much information that the results are endless. But the main feature I would incorporate would be where the findings would be concrete and set in stone. Not someone would go on and change anything because that questions the article and/or source’s authenticity. One more thing would be something that’s even more advanced than Siri for iOS users. For example, if the site was open and heard you say something about a particular person or topic, the site would automatically pick it up.

The tools of digital media is expanding our knowledge but it comes with a price. Depending on who you ask, communication isn’t what once was and probably won’t be the same. With everything almost exclusively online as far as shopping, gathering information and communicating with people, it’s just different. It’s almost hard for us to communicate in person because of how prevalent technology has become. 

Another example is, what we’re using technology for. Free speech might be free but comes with a price, same goes for the internet. To feel like the government has somewhat of control over what we’re doing, it is a way they do so. “Most of us don’t have access to the databases, software, or computing power of the NSA, FBI, and other government agencies.” Which goes to show how not so safe the internet can be. The government is always watching even when we don’t think they are.

the creation of content online by we the people has grown rapidly and still continues to do so as technology evolves which allows us to be more creative with it.  when a content is created that may cause a sense of amazement and entertainment, we often feel like the right thing to do is to share it with our peers who we would rightfully assume that they as well would be intrigued by the same content we had just finished seeing. Many times we find ourselves even taking the easy way out and just sharing it on our social media pages where our friends and families will respond to it and possibly even post it themselves. Content can be used to provide laughter, raise awareness , and even provide motivation along with a powerful message that will not only be verbally transmitted but also visually expressed fur better understanding. For example , there is a IG individual with a Instagram username called “Dhar.mann” where all his videos represent a situation along with consistent dialogue that ends with a powerful message to motivate people to be a better version of themselves, not judge a book by it’s cover, and to always be kind to others anyway you possibly can. I personally love his videos because of how inspirational they are and never feel the urge to skip any of them when I come across them on my feed on instagram. Should watch some of them professor so you can see what I mean !

I accepted this challenge but was unable to blog about it until now , quite frankly as I stated in class Facebook does not even exist for me due to the fact that I deactivated my account. google on the other hand though I wanted to cry, I use google for almost everything and anything. Sometimes for research on homework assignments but also when I attempt to search for a product that I have no idea where it could possibly be sold, I also use it to see the market value on certain sneakers that I want to add to my collection. google has without a doubt become the “Go To” search engine for many of us , more crucial to the number of students that rely on google for studying purposes, but you know what they say if there is a will there is a way ! it is all about mentally motivating yourself and looking forward to the positive results. this also helps us students discover other search engines that we did not even know existed or remembered that it existed

Did I hear someone say ” remember bing !?”

If I had a search engine I would called Quest, because everything when someone is searching for something on the internet, they’re on a quest to find out whatever they are looking for. The design of the search engine would be very simple because that way anyone can use, even if you are not tech savy.  The search engine, Quest would have icons in the bottom that would give you quick access to different topics that peak your interest.  only relevant information would be provided for the topic or questions you are searching for, if there happened to be no relevant information on that topic or question, it would show you related topics, questions and answers.