MetaChat - Your latest personal examplet that the internet is cool -- go!

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26 May 2008

Your latest personal examplet that the internet is cool -- go! As usual, I will start :) →[More:] Last night I was idly thinking about Jane Eyre. I have the movie, but I didn't want to watch it, I wanted to read it. I looked at my bookshelf, no Jane Eyre. So I searched on google books and found a scanned copy of the book. In bed with dog, cat, and laptop, I read about 2/3rds of the book (til I got sleepy and put the computer away). When I came across an oldy fashioned word I didn't know, I looked it up on dictionary.com or another site. (Did you know that a "beck" is a stream?) I went over to the NYT archives and read some contemporary (is that the right word? I mean back-then) reviews of books by Charlotte Bronte, read about the "great literary mystery" of the books by the Bronte sister (originally written under pseudonyms, apparently with great speculation re whether authors were men or women). Fun!!!

post by: Claudia_SF at: 11:27 | 8 comments

Um, I met this really cool guy? Through the internets? And he thinks I'm pretty cool, too?

But yeah, that's a great illustration of neat things you can do because of the internet. I also love the way it can be used to bring wide attention quickly to situations or issues and mobilize a staggering number of people to speak out against injustices. If we'd had that in the 80s maybe I wouldn't have burned out so fast as an activist. Then again, maybe I would've. Still, damned cool.

posted by elizard 26 May | 11:46

Oh Cladia, I wish I had one example for you, but it doesn't come to mind. I will say that there are times where I seem to just go from link to link - I don't know what causes the choices I make - and I come across something that is truly helpful, at the time. Sometimes something I didn't know I needed. For me, the wonder of the Net is that everything is so connected to itself that what seems random, at times, really isn't. The Net is like a huge oracle waiting to be asked a question.

posted by MonkeyButter 26 May | 14:53

I don't have one example either. But I get such a kick out of where the internet will take me. For example: someone here will post something interesting. I click on it; perhaps there's an additonal area of interest that I divert to. I can end up finding out things I never even knew of before; heck, I think that's how I found this place!!

And you're right about how cool it is. I can simple open a new window to continue one link to another, as opposed to the old days of searching through books on hand. Nevermind if the books on hand didn't have the information you need. Amazing. But the newer generations will just take it all for granted.

posted by redvixen 26 May | 15:10

I don't have a recent example, but it doesn't matter; meeting the mister trumps all.

posted by deborah 26 May | 16:08

I got a dog from the internet! Yes! I just reached in there and grabbed her!

It is kind of cool that a dog that was abandoned and living on the streets for a while is now laying at my feet as I write this... just because of internet. Now she's getting home cooked food and lots of love and care, because nice people picked her up and put her picture on the tubes.

posted by taz 26 May | 16:22

Skippy.

posted by Doohickie 26 May | 16:32

Endless fodder for my sick and creepy sense of humor.

(I am not at all minimizing the misery that alzheimers presents, but if one reads this doc carefully, well, it's pretty funny.)

posted by danf 27 May | 08:33

Sigh. I want to trade my Jane Eyre story for a met-my-true-love-on-the-internet story.

posted by Claudia_SF 27 May | 11:45

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