Free Books!

"Take note, Joe College: It won't cut it anymore to say that the university bookstore has sold out all copies of Silas Marner. On Aug. 30, Google announced an escalation of its book program. Now, in addition to being able to search and read out-of-copyright works, you can download and print the complete text of such volumes free of charge."

Free Music!

The Seattle Times: Nation & World: All music downloads from largest record seller will be free:

"Music fans for years have been telling record labels what they want to pay for downloaded songs: nothing.

The labels now are starting to agree that free might work for them, too."

Katy

Hello. I'm Katy Horton. I am a fifth year senior (That's my fifth year here, not my fifth senior year). I call it my victory lap. I am both a sustainable development concentration ( http://www.susdev.appstate.edu/ ) and spanish major. I have not owned an operating computer the entire time that I have been in college, so I am not the most internet savvy person. Hence, why I am taking the course. I am very interested in sustainable building design and its implications on small-town cultural development. When I am not at school,I'm working at Pssghetti's.
I really enjoy the ebaums website. It's always good for a laugh. Check out the video clip from the Family Feud years ago. It's the final round, the speedy one. The host asks this lady, "In what month do women begin to show their pregnancy?" and she replies, "September." That just kills me.
http://www.ebaumsworld.com

Me (Michael)

Hey everyone. I'm Michael Hendrick and Internet Studies is actually my concentration here at ASU. In any case, I'm a former exec of the ASU Anime Club for 3 years, as well as an instructor for the Appalachian Swingers (swing club). Last year I was an RA (not now, though, thank god) and as of now I am a cook at Capone's (best pizza in Boone).

My cool websites are:

- http://www.superdickery.com - SuperDickery is a website devoted to posting images of REAL, early comic book covers of Superman being a complete jerk. They have a section completely devoted to WWII propaganda, where in the early 40s DC Comics made stunningly offensive comic book covers about Superman beating up Japanese and German people. If you have a sick sense of humor, you'll get a laugh out of this website. The captions that are written beneath each cover by the author of the site make the pictures even better.

- http://www.marriedtothesea.com - MarriedToTheSea is a webcomic that doesn't really follow the outlines of most webcomics. Basically the creators of the site take old-timey cartoon-esque pictures, ones that you may find in a political cartoon in a newspaper from the 1800s, and put hilarious captions to them. They update daily.

- http://www.engrish.com - Engrish is a term used to describe the difficulty in translating from Japanese to English. In Japan, many things for sale also have English written somewhere on the package. This is to cater to the large tourist population there, as well as the fact that English words over there are seen as "hip" and "trendy," and they stick them on products to attract young Japanese citizens (ironic in the fact that here people get tatoos of Japanese characters). This site posts images of products and other things where the mistranslation of Japanese to English is so bad, it ends up meaning something different. For example, one picture is of a package of kitchen knives sold in Japan. The disclaimer at the bottom of the packaging written in English says "Warning: Sharp object keep out of children."

Reading Reaction

So after reading the articles "A Short History of the Internet" and "Beyond the Brochure," I really got to thinking about what else computers and the internet were capable of. I know I have heard of people owning homes that are operated almost entirely by a master computer and in the movie "Irobot" all the cars are controlled by the internet. While I think these would be wonderful features, I keep thinking that one day soon we will be so reliant on the internet for everything... and then something will go terribly wrong. Either people everywhere will be trapped in their cars and homes, or bank records will be lost, or something else big will happen. I don't mean to sound pessimistic, its just that I believe anything taken to an extreme is a bad idea, and the internet seems like the most addictive designer drug on the market with unknown long-term side effects. I guess I am just wary of the unknown.

Question from readings

In the internet timeline in 1999 it said: First large-scale Cyberwar takes place simultaneously with the war in Serbia/Kosovo.

What is a Cyberwar? Did one side post something mean on the other side's livejournal?

On a happier note, the article made me nostalgic for Napster.

Amanda

So I'm a bit late with this introduction thing. My name is Amanda Schlernitzauer and I am a fifth-year senior majoring in women's studies. I'm the Vice President of Administration for BGLAAD and I work at Claire's in Blowing Rock.

My fun websites (the first two must have audio on to be appreciated):
One of my freshmen roomates loved this site. It was our answering machine message for awhile.
YTMND.com is full of fun things but this one is my favorite because it is precious.
This is the website for the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster.

How to... create your own blog

You will be creating a blog of your very own on Blogger.com. We'll go through it step by step in class on Wednesday and also give you a few tips on using some basic html for links and graphics. Then you are going to use your blogs to post your first online writing assignments.

Blogger Help: Posting and Editing

Bare Bones Guide to HTML

Please include links on your blog to our class syllabus and class blog:

http://www.appstate.edu/~stanovskydj/internet.html
http://internetstudiesblog.blogspot.com

When your blog is ready, please post the address of your blog for us as a comment below.

Hi, I'm "Tana"

Hey all. I’m not comfortable putting my real name on the web, so I will post as Tana. Here is a little information about me: I am a fifth year senior. I am working for a degree in studio art and art management. I have two jobs on campus, both dealing with art. I like to go home to Raleigh on the weekends when I can so I can visit with my 18 month old twin siblings and fiancé. So I expect this to be my busiest semester yet. While I am genuinely interested in this class, it will also be giving me a couple of the designators I need. I am not the most computer savvy person. I am not into the facebook.com sites or online journals and I have never even created a web page before. However, I do like learning about how the internet is reshaping our society and our relationships. See you in class.

Here are some websites my friends and I like:
http://www.homestarrunner.com/
http://www.ebaumsworld.com/
http://www.loosechange911.com/

Also, I have been watching an anime series called "Serial Experiments Lain." Its about how japan has become so connected to the internet that they have collectively created a new conciousness with in the internet, which has become God and taken physical form through a 12 year old girl, named Lain. The twist is that Lain doesn't know she is God of "the wired." I just thought this series seemed strangely relevant to the class since we are studying science fiction based on the internet.

Hilarious Links

hey guys,

i have just spent about 2 hours staring at the computer screen checking out the links on derek's website.. they are hilarious! i just wanted to say... the "real world vs. the internet" is wonderful! and many many more made me laugh out loud in the computer lab...

well done!

-thanks, lauren

After class...

I enjoyed our class this morning very much. Keep thinking about how we got from arpanet and these guys who helped invent it, to the world wide web and this guy. And start thinking about how your own personal history with computers fits into these stories. See you on Thursday...

In the article "Beyond the Brochure..." I loved the author's take on the internet as a brochure that shows you what the company has to offer but that cannot by its very nature give the customer a way to leave their imput and create changes in the market. I found the bit at the end quite interesting on how the internet companies are moving past this road block and working on interacting with potential customers. I wonder though if the stand point that websites are merely brochures looks past other important functions of the internet like online community building and information sharing?

Christoph

Hi,

my name is Christoph and I am an International Student and my major is psychology. I grew up in Hamburg, a 2 million inhabitant city in the north of Germany. You probably now the name of the city as it is almost your national food.
I got my first computer in the early 90s. It was a 2-86er IBM cpu with a amber-black screen and I think it was DOS 3.0 running on it. My first experience with the internet was with a 16kb modem. My brother and I wanted to download a picture and it took 45 minutes. We were eating downstairs while the picture slowy popped up. We could have probably draw it faster.

My favorite link for kids (or people on LSD) is Boobah Zone.

Maybe even dumblaws is worth a view.

When i am bored i play some curveball.

And i even got a personal homepage. But it is in german, so hardly any use for you.

And please excuse my poor english!

Jen Radcliff

Hey everyone. My name's Jen Radcliff and I'm a senior majoring in English with a concentration in Film and a minor in Internet Studies. I wanted to take this class because I'm amazed by the Internet and the way it's become such a major part of our lives (well, that, and because I'm completely addicted to it). I actually grew up in Florida, but my family moved to West Jefferson a little over four years ago, so now I call Ashe County home. Music, writing, British humor, horror movies and the ocean are my favorite things in the world and you'll usually find me reading in my spare time.

Here's a couple of my favorite sites:

http://www.neilgaiman.com/journal/

The link leads to my favorite author's online journal. Neil Gaiman is a really amazing writer - and it's nice to be able to read his daily ramblings in between his book releases. He's also big on that 'British humor' thing I mentioned earlier, so his entries are usually good for a laugh.

http://margaritaville.com/

Growing up in Florida I was raised on country music, classic rock and Jimmy Buffett. I usually check that site for Buffett tour dates and so that I can read the Coconut Telegraph and listen to Radio Margaritaville.

State your name, rank and occupation.

Hello. I'm Wade Gum. I'm a senior journalism major with IDS for a minor. I hail from the marvelous city of K-Vegas, which is the one neatly tucked right in the middle of the Piedmont Triad. I occupy my time by watching films, reading comics (or "graphic novels" if you want to be fancy) and reading any magazine I get my hands on, none of which I do for long due to a short attention span.

I'm interested in Internet studies mostly because I was exposed to the Internet at an early age and am facinated by the way it has so swiftly changed our society. That and the fact that the Internet is playing a part in the circulation numbers of traditional newspapers and magazines plunging downwards.

Overheard in New York
Bizarre, moronic and hilarious things overheard by people just walking around in New York. The sister sites, Overheard at the Office and Overheard at the Beach, are just as funny.

The Perry Bible Fellowship
White Ninja Comics
Two web comics I have a particular fondness for.

Stomp Tokyo
A site with plenty of focus on my favortite types of movies - bad ones.

And now for shameless plugs to the places I write for:
CHUD - Cinematic Happenings Under Development
Wizard Universe

Samantha

Hello everyone! I'm a 5th year senior IDS major- individually designed with a sociology minor. I'm a vegetarian, I like reading manga(Japanese comic books), and since this is starting to sound more and more like a lame personal ad I think i'll stop there.

Here are some sites I regularly visit to kill time, unwind, and do something good without breaking the bank:

www.thehungersite.com

www.jacksonpollock.org

www.explodingdog.com

hello...internet.

hey everybody, my name is derek wycoff and i like lower case letters. i am a sophomore and i plan on majoring in internet studies, so i am excited to be taking the class. i enjoy computerz, livermush on toast, and one-man bands. here are some tasty links for your enjoyment!

craneleg!!!!!!!!
- this is a website by some of my talented friends. they make short films about silly things. PLEASE GO CHECK THIS OUT!!!! this all was put together a couple years ago, the best one is called "new effects of time", i play a person on a park bench who dances. "tree jumping contest" is pretty awesome too. i think the link to "new effects of time" is messed up though. i will tell my friend to fix it for your viewing pleasure.

tinymixtapes
- tinymixtapes!!! this is an online music zine. they review concerts, albums, and post online music news everyday. sometimes they are stuck-up music snobs, but not as bad as pitchfork media. my friend used to write for them. they usually do some pretty creative stuff with the news article, so even if you arent interested in the band there will always be something clever in the headline or througout the article.

tapeOP
- tape op is a magazine for audio geeks such as myself. they do incredible articles on home recording and provide new ideas to the industry of recorded music. the links page on there website is awesome, they have some pretty wicked links to audio websites and resources.

thepunkguy
- this is a blog by some dude that i read daily. he does music news and just talks about interesting things. lots of links to other cool stuff from here also.



enjoy!

Sara-with-no-h

My name is Sara. I've no major or minor as yet- I just can't pick. I'm taking internet studies to see just how interested in the field I am, and because I'm interested in some of the subcultures that have arisen around the internet, computers, and technology. I bake, sing, and collect interesting and beautiful words.

A few interesting sites:
http://www.chateaubizarre.com/: a directory of small businesses catering to the strange and subcultural. Helps me feed another hobby- watching trends in non-mainstream clothing.
http://www.cuteoverload.com/: small fuzzy things. They're not messing about- the goal seems to be to fill your head with so many cute things that it explodes.
http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/g/geary-gravel/: the bibliography of sci-fi writer Geary Gravel. He hasn't written a lot, but I enjoy his Alchemists books. Only two so far, and the last one was published in 1986, but apparently a third one was planned at some point. I can always hope that it will be released someday. However, I do recommend reading the two Alchemists books if you can find them.

The 25 Greatest PCs of All Time

An eclectic list of computers you know and some you never heard of. I was pleased to see a Radio Shack TRS 'TRASH' 80 on the list just for my own nostalgiac pleasure.

Hi! I'm Lauren

Hello folks, my name is Lauren. I actually missed the first class, so I have not yet met you all. I am a senior Anthropology and English Literature major. I walked for graduation last May, but because of technical issues with my diploma, I had to move back to Boone-town and take a few more hours so they would give me my degree. Bummer. Anyways, I am 24 years old. I am originally from Virginia, but have lived in Boone for about 6 years now (with a little stint for a year in St. Simons Island, GA). I was interested in this class because it is quite cultural, as I understand, and I am a Cultural Anthropologist. I am very fascinated with the culture of the internet and the semi-pseudo-superficial communities it has made available to the world, especially most Americans. I look forward to this class for it's social implications, besides the fact that I've heard Dr. Stanovsky is brilliant!
As for interesting, scarcely known websites, the only one's I could think of were one's of amusement to myself. Here they are:

http://www.toothpastefordinner.com/ this is a site of a man who works in a cubicle somewhere and writes silly and sometimes politically avant gaurde cartoons everyday while sitting, bored at work.

http://www.thesuperficial.com/ this is a hilarious account of superficial celebrity news. The man who runs this is extremely cynical and often quite cruel, and I find it personally hilarious! It is a very fun site, note the title "The Superficial--Because You're Ugly"

enjoy!

LLA 223

We will be back in our regularly scheduled room, LLA 223, on Monday. See you there!

You can also check your campus email for an invitation from blogger.com to join this blog now and post a brief introduction here about yourself. Please only post information you are comfortable sharing publicly, but consider including the following: Your first name, your major and minor, your particular interest in taking this class, and perhaps a link to your favorite strange, unusual, or little known web site.

It's the tubes...

Senator Stevens' recent disquisition on the "internets" as a "series of tubes" has been much discussed online. Above is a photo of what may be one of the main internet tubes beneath Al Gore's house.

There's also a power-point presentation, a song, and a T-shirt.