Was I totally digital? (How much did I come here with?)
No, not really. Somewhere deep in a closet back home my medal for “excellence in Computer Science” has been gathering dust. Though I’ve never really lost my love for seeing code come together into an end-product. My AP Computer Science Principles course in highschool was of course, not the most in-depth guide to coding or putting together my own projects outside of the class, but I’d be lying if I denied that it didn’t set me up to explore further. A short bit of exploration into HTML and Python, plus a few subsections within the latter, was really all it took to set up the smallest seed of hope that I’d return to coding in the future. And now, in my second semester at SUNY Geneseo, I’ve found a class that mixes my primary interest of English, with something I hadn’t properly thought of since leaving highschool!
Am I a little more digital now? (Where am I now?)
Yeah, actually. Through this course I’ve moved past using websites with built in tips as a mediator between me and my attempts at making a button produce music, and started to actually explore my computer as a system I’m able to make use of. My hope moving forward both through this class, and once I’m past it, is to take this information and use it as a path to explore further. Whereas my highschool’s application of coding and similar topics felt closed off and even just confined to random websites I wouldn’t have a subscription to by the end of the year, but what I’ve gained here isn’t something I can lose access to unless by my own choice, and I truly appreciate that. I won’t leave a list of commands we learned here, but even those are just a starting point for exploring and understanding what I’ve got going on, a strong point to build upon. And I kind of just love that a lot.
What about the non-digital? (Did I read?)
Of course. Through our reading of Broad Band I got to learn about a very important section of the history of something I’ve made use of all my life. Without this context, I miss out on the importance of my ability to access and make use of my own computer. Through being treated as little more than a throwaway project, these women provided us with more than just a starting point for a concept so important to what we do BEYOND this class. It is a history that cannot be avoided, one that requires the willingness to express respect no matter how far ago it was. This applies to so many things, history isn’t something that we can EVER sotp exploring. There is also, and yes this is an excuse to take us back to my starting section, a history medal up in the same closet. And that is a combo I am genuinely proud of, and that I will not let go of even if the medals were plastic and worthless. I cannot, at any point and especially as an English major, ever stop paying attention to both techonology and the history surrounding me and anyone else.
I wasn’t reading can you recap in two sentences? (Why?)
I love technology, history, and reading. I love where they meet up even more.