Starting out

So here I am with my first blog post. I guess it took a graduate school class to get me try to this out. Well, whatever the impetus, I can see how liberating this can be. No editors or publisher approval or even an audience needed to get your words out there. Which brings me to my first thought about the web. The Internet makes amateur authors, photographers, and filmmakers out of us all. But is it always a good thing? I think we'd all agree that a lot of the videos on Youtube range from the bizarre to the well... mundane, with most of them in the former category. Does the relative ease of reaching out to people through the Web also make it easier for people to misuse it to shock, grab attention, or maybe even harm someone? While it's true that it's almost impossible to define art and creativity, I think it's worthwhile to think about how the Internet has changed our perspective of what constitutes legitimate self-expression.


Last evening, I saw a TV ad for parental controls for cable television. I found myself laughing, not just because the ad was a funny one, but because it occured to me that there has never been a parental control of any kind that kids haven't found their way around. But it also made me think about children using the Internet. The idea of children making the Web an integral part of their education is a highly desirable one, and is being strongly encouraged in most schools for its collaborative and creative potential. I personally hope to be a part of this transformation, creating educational material for the web. But I do wonder how we can ensure that kids access the knowldge on the web, while keeping them safe from its dangers.

The Internet, for all its flaws and perils has been a wonderful way for me stay connected with my family. My sister lives in New Zealand and my mother in India and the three of us decide on a time that works across the 18-hour time difference and get online for a family gossip session. But while I am delighted with how easily we can exchange news instantly, my father, who is not very Net-savvy, feels left out. My mother also complains that she would rather recieve a letter with my handwriting on it. It makes me think about people who are left out of the Internet revolution. It may be by choice - as in the case of my father, who says he is too intimidated to learn- or by economic and political circumstances. People claim that the Internet is representative of the real world outside. But if large sections of the planet's population do not have access to it, how can it be representative? For instance, there are several websites in regional languages. Yet, the predominant language of the Internet is English. Is that representative of the world?