Hoai's Reading Reflections

"Why have a website?" (13) Each of person has a different purpose. The author in the article shares from the perspective of an artist, wanting to share her work online as well as a room decorated according to her wishes. Personally, I have a different perspective. I feel like the online space is like a bookshelf, helping me organize the necessary information more carefully and permanently. For example Google Drive. Of course, I'm not saying that without the web I wouldn't be able to store my information. It's just neater and easier to find. For example, you write an argumentative essay on paper, and then there are other types of identification documents. If you keep them in a physical place, one day you reach the limit of storage space or accidentally tear them, is it all gone? At least you can Undo it online. This is like drawing a picture on a computer.

One of my favorite quotes from the reading is this: "In the early days of the social web, there was a broad expectation that regular people might own their own identities by having their own websites, instead of being dependent on a few big sites to host their online identity." This is so true, especially in our age where there are thousands of applications that help us make a website. Although the premade website template is fast and convenient, it is unreliable. Therefore it's still essential to learn the basic principles to be able to stand on our own in case the main sever / company shuts down.

I also find the part about how a viewer can Right-click and view page sources, and the comparison of how the readers become the writers. It makes me curious what is the copyright law for websites? And Apple devices like iPads take away the option was it because of a scare of technology leaks? Is it possible for us to also take away that option for our Hand-made website?

When they started talking about how a computer operates on a 1 - 0 binary system, things started to become more interesting. This information brought me back to my childhood memory when I was in fifth grade learning about coding for the first time. The reading also calls out how the world we live in is not binary but varies in different values. This reminds me of the comparison I made in the beginning about how humans and computers are not in the same realm. Humans are more complex and can't be reduced to binary. Emotions are not black and white, but there's gray and dull too.

When the author compares the computer and art, it is actually interesting but makes me agree. When you look at a painting, you need to give it time and slowly pull its layers to be able to understand it. Computers might be confusing at first, but once we look into it deep enough and slowly study it like a painting, we might able to see through it.

But this goes hand-in-hand with another struggle I faced in online environments. I became more emotional and attached to online arguments. I became more hooked on things that I wouldn't take seriously or affect my mentality as much if they were in real life. For example, seeing a close friend online liked or commented on a picture of someone I dislike. Or knowing someone unfriended or blocked me when we had no beef before. We may know each other online but not actually know who they are a person in real life. It is very different. I wouldn't be able to see who my friends hanging out with beside me in real life. The time we spend with each other is the only thing that matters and is more serious.

It's also another problem of quality and quantity. I might be able to meet more people online, and talk or contact them more often. But at the end of the day, those are not real physical experiences. It was just me and the screen the whole time. You might have a bunch of Instagram followers or Facebook friends, but none of those you are actually able to share personal stories or have deep conversations. However, we sometimes focus our attention and energy more on these online relationships and neglect the real ones that we are having outside.

"In other words, civilization as of 1972 was projected to reach a total collapse by what is increasingly becoming our present day." (2) "Not everyone agreed with this approach." (4) - Interestingly enough, back in 1972 people were already aware of what the speed of development is going to harm the environment but they don't agree on a solution still until half a century later. This is because many big corporations that invent the latest and advanced technology are who profit the most from this capitalist system.

"Digital correspondence is part of daily life, and the mistakes that emerge from them — typos, autocorrect, typeaheads — are acknowledged and accepted into modern-day communication. These works embrace these missteps, exploit them as commentary or art or humor, and create platforms for the production of new errors." (19) Does anyone know the internet meme where people call a cat a car? This is related to this idea. The origin of this meme is because somehow whenever they type cat, the autocorrect turns it into car. Whether it is correct or not, this also reflects a reality in which everyone relies on autocorrect to fix their poetry but computers will always have time that they misunderstand humans.

“We’re often too quick to imagine that we’ve actually learned from the past. But new works often tend to recycle the same ideas over and over again into different media. To me this suggests that we might be more open to letting old works speak, that our task might not be so much to make new works but to build new platforms for old works to speak from.” — Rick Prelinger (26). This reminds me of an old technology that has been overshadowed by a later technology without any credit. Who remembers an app called Musically about 10 years ago? Actually, I feel that Tiktok is no different from this app except that the content instead of just singing and dancing to the lyrics is a bit more diverse. But basically they are all the same short videos. But until now, how many people really remember this app? They all think that Tiktok is the pioneer of short videos. So it's not really making the old technology shine, but rather stealing the ideas of the old technology and attaching it to yourself. Indeed, I do feel not good at all.

In 1975, Japanese farmer and philosopher Masanobu Fukuoka published The One-Straw Revolution, a guide for natural, or “do-nothing,” farming. (10) I have no idea that other parts of the world are also in the same concern on this topic. Japan is a rather advanced country with a developed recycling system, which explains why Japan's current reputation in this matter.

"Platforms like the WELL, and the World Wide Web to follow, pioneered a community-driven, decentralized media landscape in opposition to the unidirectional television, radio, and printed news outlets." (13) These new forms of communication indeed, to me is the most advance and useful form of communication. For example, YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok have helped decentralized single-sided media since now everyone can make content and share opinions, and everyone can get famous and spread a new movement or ideology. As someone who came from a country where free speech is restricted, this is a great opportunity since people know better than what they were taught by the government and are more open-minded.

"Yet in reality, life online is governed by the same limits to growth affecting the rest of our world. According to Low Tech Magazine the entire World Wide Web is responsible for consuming 10% of all global electricity production, a rate that is exponentially increasing." (14) - This is the most powerful quote so far of the text to me. Because indeed, I also fall into this trap without realizing it. The use of the internet is also one of the forms of burning electricity - resources. I was also blinded by this marketing idea of "Icloud" meaning somewhere up in the sky. Which can also lead to the same problem that we are trying to cure from decades ago.

"The building is now considered to be a Beaux-Arts classic—its most famous touches being those two lions that flank the front stairs. One is named Patience; the other is Fortitude. We don’t name things like that anymore, do we?" (5) I really like the architecture of the library. The author points out how people don’t name things like this anymore. This reminds me of the architecture aspect, of how buildings in the part are very maximized and complicated, but now it’s all simplified - reduced which makes it more boring and less creative. Just like how Vietnamese culture and architecture were falling off and getting lost. It’s where the new generation starts to abandon traditions running after new trends.

"If you’ve been to New York, you know that Penn Station looks nothing like what I’ve just shown you. Here’s why: after World War II, American families flooded out of the cities and into the suburbs. There, they opted to drive instead of travel by train." (19) Interesting, I’m not familiar with American history so I didn’t know why people flooded out of big cities at this time. All I know of is Americans were bringing armies to other countries, so their daily life shouldn’t be threatened as much. Was that because of the war with Japan?

"Penn Station went from a building worthy of comparison to Europe’s great feats of architecture to a hole in the ground." (22) This exactly shares the same idea I mentioned before, of how architecture is getting lost and growing backward. Historical changes are also one of the biggest reasons.

"[...] there’s increasing evidence, even from Facebook’s own research, that says social media depresses its users and that automated, algorithmic recommendations of content promotes extremism." (26) I have seen a lot of trends in people abandoning their social media lives and accounting for the same reason. I also have a hard time deciding whether or not to abandon it and recreate a nourishing digital environment for me. However, I am a content creator and have to voice certain opinions that are meaningful to my home community. Therefore I have to choose to sacrifice, either continue all these works that contribute to my community and suffer with mental health, or ignore everything and live selfishly for myself.