OneWebDay Stories

Everyone has the opportunity to go on the World Wide Web, therefore the world is your audience. The web is a discussion setting where I can get feedback with multiple opinions. I can post my latest research paper in the morning, get edits from my Dad away on his business trip, and have it ready just in time for class.

Only on the web can we find copious amounts of information all at the click of a mouse. Did you know Mark Twain was born and died when Haley’s comet was visible from Earth? 75 years apart?

With the Internet I can find crazy degrees of relationships beyond the degrees of Kevin Bacon—I can easily find my cousin’s bosses’ sister to help me land a job, all through social networking. Whether I get that job. . . well, that still depends on me. On the World Wide Web anyone can say anything somewhere. Bam! It’s an open forum, a place to discuss and debate without a middleman to mediate. In the words of a great educator, “I ain’t got no money” so if the web is free that’s one more good thing for me.

And I’ve come to appreciate how much I’ve learned from all the free access. Beyond a college education it is up to me to learn and the web gives me a wealth of knowledge to invest in. Updates on social networks and chats keeps me informed on my friends’ lives, making it easier to keep in touch.

The World Wide Web gives a voice to those who normally find themselves silenced. Within minutes I can make millions of impressions on what I care about, such as saving the manatees and what others need to know. What do others need to know? To save them, obviously. Stop riding around in your stupid speedboat! Duh.

Broadcasting myself and causes online can inspire others to make a change and offer support. I can define my identity by sharing my favorite movies and music online. ::DISCLAIMER: WE ARE NOT PIRATING::

And the best thing is the web is constantly evolving and so are we. Something’s gotta keep up.

Submitted by Colleen Callahan and Megan Lee, students in Elon University’s Interactive Media Master’s Program.

Since I started using the Web in the mid ’90s, it’s been a really important tool for communication. My earliest interactive experiences with the Web were in chat rooms and with AOL instant messenger. Since the ’90s, the Web has grown…a lot…and provides so many new ways for people to stay connected that it’s hard to keep up. There are Facebook, Twitter, Google chat, blogs, Second Life, and the list goes on and on.

The increasing speed of communication and the increasing number of people joining the conversation has spawned a whole new language. Language is abbreviated to communicate faster and more efficiently. But the problem is that anyone not familiar with this language can find themselves lost on the web at times. It’s becoming more popular though, and it seems like you’re an outsider if you’re not up with the newest additions to the language.

With this openness of conversation, I wonder what it’s going to do to the future of language. Younger generations are getting more and more familiar with this language and using it in real life. This phenomenon raises so many questions. Will it get to a point one day when everyone just talks in acronyms and abbreviations? What’s going to happen to the structure of language? Are we going to have a new dictionary for this language? Will proper language be reserved for academics or will this new language permeate that area as well? Is language as we know it today going to become the old English of the future? How will this effect the way we process information? It will be very interesting to see where language goes from here.

BTW some think SSEWBA. BITD it was different. IRL we spoke words. But B4YKI, e/o was using acronyms. IMO, this will be BAU one day. JM2C, but IANAE, I’m def a NOOB. OMG I’m SITD. If you didn’t understand what I just said, SG4IT. GL.

Submitted by Bahar Rostami, a student in Elon University’s Interactive Media Master’s Program.

One of the major benefits of the developments of the Internet is its ability to eliminate the elements of space and time in mass communications. Our computers and cell phones can now connect us to people and places all around the world instantaneously. Families and friends can that are across the country can communicate through e-mail, share photographs and videos, and even talk “face to face” with video chat from such programs as Skype. In a sentence, the Internet is making the world smaller and more accessible to more people, everyday.

But not only is it bringing world to my fingertips, there are certain websites and functions that help bring me to the rest of the world. The World Wide Web has supplied us with critical travel tools that will allow almost every feature of a trip to be paid for and planned in advance, so all you have to do is go. It has become the first step in almost every traveler’s agenda, and for good reason.

Of course, I am recalling this from personal experience. A few years ago I had a compelling urge for an epic, yet feasible, road trip (or Vision Quest, as one of my teachers so eloquently put it). I needed to go to Toronto (yes, Canada), and I was determined to make it happen.

The first step was to Hostels.com (I was on a budget, too) to search for a place to stay. I was able to pick a hostel, pick a room, and pay for the first night at the website.

Next, not having a GPS system, I headed to MapQuest.com for directions. I was going with my girlfriend, and we had considered making side trips to Buffalo, NY and Columbus, OH to visit her family (as well as grab some food). So we had to plan our trip from North Carolina, to Buffalo, to Toronto, to Columbus, and back to North Carolina. Map Quest gave us detailed turn-by-turn directions, warned us of roads with tolls, totaled our mileage (over 1,100 miles), and even provided an estimated cost of fuel.

Finally, we needed something to do once we were in Toronto. Through a simple Google search we were able to find dozens of bars, restaurants, tourist destinations, sporting events, etc. so we knew there would be no problem finding things to do.

So after a few hours tops of planning and preparing, I was all set to go on a four-day excursion to another country. Lodging was taking care of, we knew where we were going, and what we were going to do when we got there. All that was left was to get in the car and go. And off we went!

Submitted by Will Campbell, a student in Elon University’s Interactive Media Master’s Program.

I’ll go ahead and say it off the bat: this is not like the other brother story. In fact, I’ve known my brother my entire life: I’ve changed his diapers, played with him in the backyard, picked on him, teased him, argued with him, congratulated him, and held him when he’s cried. But for all of that, we’ve never been close. And in fact, the day after I left college, my brother informed me of that: we’d never been close so it wasn’t that big of a deal that I was leaving for college. That was 5 years ago.

Now, it’s a different story. My brother and I are closer than ever before, even with the age gap. It’s not something I did by any means. I tried and failed numerous times. And he certainly made no efforts when I was home or at family vacations. But in the end, yeah we became close and not by anything we really did with each other. What’s the reason? Though typical and broad as can be, it was the Internet.

The Internet brought us closer as brothers, closer than we had been in the past. For once in our lives, we had something in common or more accurately, discovered we had things in common. We browsed the same sites. We watched the same videos. We played the same games online. We read the same articles online. We even both use the Internet for Latin. And all without knowing it.

I think it struck me when I came home for Christmas break my junior year. For me, going home meant going to be with my friends. As we were sitting at the table, my brother quoted a part of the latest viral video. I laughed immediately and the rest of my family sat in confusion. We both laughed even harder. After dinner, we watched it again. And again. And again. From then on, we just clicked together and we realize now what we’ve been missing.

Over time and even now, we talk online through different outlets but it wouldn’t be possible without the Internet. I had no clue that he was competing in Latin competition and was able to see online how he was doing. He could listen to me on the radio when I would be the board-op. For us, we just enjoy the same things and the Internet has allowed us to share our interests, humor and personality. For me, the Internet was able to do what blood and time couldn’t and for that I’m grateful and I’m pretty sure my parents are as well.

Submitted by Jonathan Choi, a student in Elon University’s Interactive Media Master’s Program.

I don’t pay for internet access. I count myself among the lucky few in the nation that have a free wireless connection from the comfort of home.

If you’re having visions of me sitting at a desk or in a comfy chair, let me squash them now. My trade-off for free net access? I have to sit in my kitchen, perched on a stool in front of the microwave, a position not ergonomically correct in the least. On top of that, the connection is intermittent, and sometimes I have to walk a block into town to send an email. This is fine until it starts to rain, and then, well… things get a little soggy.

Comfortable? Not really. Convenient? No.

But! I, unlike most people around the world, have free Internet access.

The town of Carrboro, where I reside, is one of the few municipalities in the country that currently offers visitors and residents access to the web for free, but this trend is growing and becoming intelligent as well. The town of Corpus Christi, Texas not only provides free wi-fi to its residents, but also collects utility meter information in this way.

These intelligent networks will become even more important as technology continues to connect the entirety of the world in the coming decades, with the hope of fueling a global conversation that includes every nation, all the while driving home the growing importance of the hyperlocal economy. This idea of the hyperlocal is already beginning to emerge, as demonstrated by the overwhelming popularity of sites like Craigslist, which connects people to others in their geographic locality.

I do, of course, relinquish some of my privacy rights by using free public wi-fi, which may be a compromise that some are unwilling to make. Universal access, however, fulfills the holistic and most basic principle of the web: that of a collection of information that is easily accessible while providing a forum for conversation and connectivity, a right everyone deserves in this digital age.

The town of Carrboro could be tracking all the sites I visit from my microwave station. But I’ll take my chances.

Submitted by Linda Misiura, a student in Elon University’s Interactive Media Master’s Program.

What is the Web good for? How is the web different from other forms of media? How is it better? How is it worse?

These are all questions that have arisen during the past 40 years as the Web has emerged to become what we know it as today. But, how does the Web affect traditional media and how we as consumers get our information?

The Web might not have any unique characteristics, because it’s a medium that has adopted characteristics from all other media. Let’s explore a few. The Web allows us networking and communication. One of the first, central ideas of the Internet was that it would allow us to talk to anyone, anywhere at any time. No longer would we be restricted to time zones, location, etc. For the first time ever, anyone around the world with access to a computer could instantly connect with someone else thousands of miles away.

Another strength of the Web is its role as a leader in multimedia. With TV and movies now available on the Internet, watching the tube and heading to the movie theatre has lost some of its allure. Think about it, in an instant we have access to news, weather and entertainment all in a visual form of communication that’s easy to understand and entertaining!

Another aspect of the Web that makes it arguably stronger than any other form of media is its ability to house knowledge the whole world wide and deep! Where else can you gain access to information about art, history, geography, literature (and the list goes on!) in one place? No library, no university is big enough to compete with the database we have in the Internet.

These are just a few of the things that give the Web a strength no other medium can compete with. We have come so far in this media-driven world; sometimes it’s hard to remember where we once were. It’s important this year as we celebrate 40 years of the Internet to remember the knowledge and information the web has allowed us at our fingertips, or maybe with just a click of the mouse.

Submitted by Brynne Tuggle, a student in Elon University’s Interactive Media Master’s Program.

The gap between those who have access to information technologies and those who do not is referred to as the digital divide. Our society has become so immersed and connected to the Internet, often it can appear as though the whole world is digitally connected and is on Facebook and making tweets on Twitter. The digital divide goes beyond connectivity and the notion that we are all digital citizens; socio-economic status is a major cause of the divide.

Not having a home computer or unlimited access to the Internet seems part of a distant world. But up until two weeks ago, I was a victim of the digital divide. I could not afford a computer, but I could not live without it. Being a part of an Interactive Media Graduate Program, makes a computer as important as breath is to life. If you’re not breathing you are unable to breathe life into the world and without a computer I was unable to breathe interactive change to the digital world.

With education being a vital organ; society’s heartbeat, and information technologies being the blood source of information, students with limited computer access are in critical condition of not being equipped with the tools they need to learn in a digital evolving world. Those who do not have access beyond the classrooms or the public libraries can be pronounced DOA.

The Internet is an ever-changing information source for those who can access it freely; for those without it, it is an everyday reminder of the struggle to survive in an ever changing world.

So what do we do?

We remember that information is free to those who can afford it and costly to those who cannot. So look at the digital divide a way to multiply resources to make everyone equal.

Submitted by Maria Rojas, a student in Elon University’s Interactive Media Master’s Program.

The 3rd Annual One Web Day is less than two weeks away. In preparation for the event on September 22nd, I would like to share this online testimonial discussing the importance of bridging the digital divide and empowering Internet users to play a role in defining the future of this unbounded technology.

Submitted by David Hollander, a student in Elon University’s Interactive Media Master’s Program.

Everyone always talks about the Internet in terms of connectivity.

Why?

It gives you the power to connect to friends, family and colleagues. It blows the doors open to new experiences, linking you up to opportunities you might have never envisioned. It stands alone as one of the largest, most evolved networks of growing knowledge known to mankind.

But forget about the whole idea of being connected.

It means nothing.

Unless you know what the Internet is.

It is:

- an inspiring video on how to achieve your childhood dreams.
- a trailer to a movie that makes you laugh every time you see it.
- a gateway to extraordinary music.
- a place to go for stories.
- a place to learn about heroes.

You’ve probably noticed by now that those links lead to people, places and things that mean something to me. They may not ever have an impact on your life.

But you now know me better, thanks to the Internet.

Yes, those links could change tomorrow. That’s the beauty of the Internet. It’s a mirror that reflects the world – every day.

You can be anyone on the Internet.

Lifesaver. Gift Giver. World-Changer. The list goes on.

Sure, these guises can be mistruths and aliases built toward deception. Any invention, has its positives and negatives.

However, I believe the Internet’s greatest potential lies within its ability to help people discover themselves and communicate their gifts to the world. And sometimes people will listen and embrace those gifts.

The Internet and interactive media let you reach out to a large audience and infuse them with what excites you. I equate it to starting a fire.

What can you offer that truly the captures attention of others – something that really catches fire and connects with people?

Yeah, so I lied.

Being connected does mean something.

It means knowing each other. And that means the ideas, videos, designs, writings and other concepts that truly catch fire on the Internet are from YOU. The real you.

So who are you?

Submitted by Dave Kennedy, a student in Elon University’s Interactive Media Master’s Program.

Hello, Planet Earth. I mean, that is whom I’m talking to right now. I’m not talking to merely my family, friends, or just the state of North Carolina. My audience is the entire world. People will have the freedom to access this video whenever and wherever they want to. That is the power of the Internet.

This power can impact places, events, and people on so many levels. For instance, look at the positive role the Internet played in the recent Iranian elections and riots. The use of social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook allowed messages to flow freely out of Iran and tell the story of a dysfunctional, oppressive regime.

People can be transformed into universal stars by using the Internet. Just look at Susan Boyle from Britain’s Got Talent. Viral videos of her singing spread like wild fire across the Internet. She wouldn’t be the same global celebrity if she were just handing out her CD on the corner of 3rd and 14th street. The Internet allows you to openly project your ideas and to connect to each and every corner of the globe.

So where does this power come from? The power of the Internet comes from its users and its accessibility. Without the Internet’s freedom, the flow of people’s ideas would not be as rapid or progressive.

Everyone has a voice on the Internet, and no one voice is stronger than the other.

The use and impact of this power is up to you. It is your Internet.

Until next time, Planet Earth!
Submitted by Matt Hunter, a student in Elon University’s Interactive Media Master’s Program.