Midterm #1

My posts for the course so far:

 Hi. I'm Lizy
My introductory blog post.
What's In a Tail?
 Immersion in print versus online.
Me and my Memes
 Memes
I'd Like an Excuse to Post More Memes
 The significance of Memes--Dr. Burton suggested I look into that further. I think I might find a way to tie in memes to my final project. Memes can be very specific to people who are immersed in certain fandoms/cultural groups and have read certain texts.
 Worth Whaling About?
 Real whales, whaling, and our attitude towards the environment. Also posing the question, Is it true that all the information you can find in a book can be more easily found online? Is the reverse true?
The Two-Edged Sword
 The benefits and drawbacks of the use of social media, as evidenced in a Case Study
Another Success Story 
 How fans of Stephanie Nielson's blog reached out to her in a time of need.
Seeing the Good
 Changing my views on the purpose of video games.
 Lizy's Affidavit
Or, proof that Dr. Burton's theory about social proof actually works.
Post-Moby Stress Disorder
Questions about the cultural significance of Moby-Dick and the significance of the white whale. Also, questions about how deeply immersed I am in the story.

I'm seeing a theme of immersion emerging here. I'm not very engaged with digital culture in general, but I am interested in how individuals and societies become immersed in print culture, digital culture, and other media.  Thanks to the information available on the internet, people can become immersed in any topic they chose and discover how to research and recreate their interests.  Not only that, they can use the internet to reach out to other people with similar interests and collaborate in creating larger projects and in gathering to discuss their issues in person.  Significantly, we see this trend occuring in fandoms at events such as comic-cons.

So how deeply can one become immersed in an interest? How does this immersion manifest itself for individuals, in public and across the internet? And how does this affect perception of reality? Is the internet a part of reality, or is it a different reality altogether? Are video games a reality? Books? Physically, yes, these things take up space, but like the TARDIS in Dr. Who they are much, much bigger on the inside than they are on the outside (disclaimer: for the record, I'm not officialy a Dr Who fan, but I have enough Whovian friends to know what I'm talking about when I make this allusion). As technology gets smaller, conversely the world gets bigger. How is this possible? Is this a reflection of how the human mind works?

And considering the similarity to my questions and those being asked by Greg about the depths of reality and virtual reality, I do think I ought to consider collaborating with him.