Fish.

Marshall McLuhan once said, “Whoever discovered the ocean, it was not the fish for whom the water was the medium of their lives.” (Pg. 212) The interpretation of this quote prompted a mild discussion in class. I forget what was said in class but my initial thoughts on this was that if it were not for the water, the fish would not have an intermediate or channel between one another to communicate and or live their life. Much like what the internet is to us in today’s aspect. And we're all in a sense like fish, living through media. It's becoming such a big part of society all around the world. And I would like to see how others do interpret this quote. On a side note, leaving the word "internet" in lower case it will give me a grammatical error message, so why is the word “Internet” capitalized?

The web's mass collection of information and means of communication has opened up a massive network powered none other than by yourself and the millions of other people. Everyone is able to bring in his or her own knowledge and share it in one place. From my own experience, forums are very informative networks, yet at the same time, socially corrupting. On a frequent forum I read/post on, honda-tech, I become addicted with the amount of information I can gather about things ranging from how to fix an oil leak or paint wheels. I wouldn't have ever been able to do this on my own, and having a network of other car enthusiasts and hobbyist mechanics greatly helps my cause. Now this information is mainly gathered in technical sub forums that's on this website. There's also a "General Discussion and Debate" section, where almost anything goes. This is where the socially corrupting part comes in. When a new member poses an honest question, that isn't to the liking of other members, they’re likely to get, what has been deemed, “flamed”. How does the saying go? Big fish eat small fish? That’s the downside to having such a vast network, there are those who consider themselves “elitist” who probably aren’t anybody but spiteful losers sitting at home trying to put up a tough guy façade, also called an “e-thug”. And I'll honestly say these people really get under my skin even though they shouldn't. But that's the thing with media and networks, sometimes there's no control over anything and any one, or it just may not be to your liking.

As I've been posting, the words that my group has chosen has been in bold. From my two posts I have related what these words mean to me as well as my personal experiences with them. It's interesting to see how other's see have experienced these words because no one post is the same.