When searching for examples of digital essays, a Heart of Darkness Prezi repeatedly returned under my search results. I liked the interactive process of clicking in this example, but I decided to narrow my search and see what other Prezi examples I could find.

This brought me to a youtube video from 2009 that demonstrates how to use Prezi when trying to convince the government to give out free ice cream, what else? I like that this youtube video includes music which is something the Heart of Darkness essay lacks. I think the presence of music or a voice over adds a nice touch to a digital essay and makes the reader (or viewer) feel more involved.

I think this was a unique video because it is a digital essay about a digital essay. The tutorial demonstrates the extent in which you can use Prezi to create a story. I hope the program is as simple as they make it look because it is something I definitely want to consider using for my own digital essay!

I’ll be honest, 95% of the time I find an introduction at the start of a book I rarely read it. I am not proud of this fact, but I have fallen under the impression that nothing important and worthwhile is actually mentioned in the introduction. I also have come to despise the small roman numerals that stand in my way of the actual beginning of a book. With that small tangent being said, I found this introduction very thought-provoking.

Though I consistently hear horrendous stories as a result of the fast-pace of today’s technology, I never stopped to weigh the pros and cons of the Internet. I always focused on the benefits that we receive. The possibility of buying a book through Google hours before an assignment is due (guilty), the endless ways to connect with friends and family, the option to watch a missed television show or catch up on the morning’s newspaper. Some of these benefits may seem insignificant, but there is no question that they drastically help us save time and effort.

But then there is the gruesome, ugly side of the Internet that Mark Bauerlein refers to several times in his Introduction. Like the horrific case of the Rutgers freshman jumping to his death after his roommate exposed his sexual relationship with another male over the Internet back in September 2010. I actually was not aware this happened, which led me to Googling “Rutgers Sex Scandal.” Sure enough, multiple hits came up referencing the devastating event. Here we have a pro of the Internet: an incredibly fast way to discover and reveal information at the drop of a hat. But what also came up was an article referencing the Duke sex scandal involving Karen Owen that occurred around the same time. I was abroad in Florence when I received a copy of the Powerpoint the very same day it was released to the Duke student body. I remember how shocked I was that something so personal and invasive had gone viral. I knew several of the people on that Powerpoint and I couldn’t imagine the embarrassment they were dealing with.

I also thought it was very interesting that Bauerlein referenced collegeacb.com because I think it is something that many people at Duke have been victims of (including myself). The anonymous aspect of the Internet is what I incredibly despise. The fact that people can so easily publish ridiculing comments pinpointing individuals for the entire world to see because they know their identity will never be revealed. Who in their right mind creates these websites? Is Duke alumn Matt Ivester proud of what became of his creation Juicy Campus?

The debate over whether the Internet causes more harm than good can go in many directions and I am curious to see what other people in class think!

When I read Johnson’s section on “Zoom In On Telling Details,” one online text immediately came to my mind: The Huffington Post. Ever since I gave into making a twitter account last February (I swore it was only for “following” and not for tweeting. Needless to say, things have changed), Huffington Post has taken over 90% of my Twitter feed.  During my summer internship when I had little to do, or rather when I was looking for something unproductive to do, I would often scroll through The Huffington Post’s twitter page for my source of daily news. What always struck me was the bizarre and hilarious nature of the newspaper’s tweets. I liked that they weren’t afraid to cross the line with the sometimes suggestive headlines. I was intrigued by the complete randomness of their stories. For example, a tweet from January 27^th reads, “Mom, just let me have sex in my bedroom.” If you are like me, you read this tweet and wonder what in the world this story could really be about (there is no way The Huffington Post is actually giving out how-to-convince-your-parents-to-let-you-have-sex-in-your-bedroom advice to teenagers).

Johnson writes, “To connect dots, people make inferences based on what they’re told, what they know, and what they can figure out from the context. The richness of the meaning people derive from a message depends on the possibilities suggested by the details they’re given and the situation at hand” (94). The Huffington Post is extremely good at intriguing their followers based on the context of their tweets. They more often than not touch on taboo subjects (like the “just let me have sex in my bedroom” tweet) that immediately pull readers into a story. With only 140 characters, The Huffington Post twitter page truly does not have enough room to tell the whole story. As a result, they hit on very effective details in their headlines that are irresistible and require further investigation. This further investigation was obviously necessary after I read the “sex in my bedroom” tweet.  What was the article actually about? The true title of the article read: “Teens Having Sex at Home: Should Parents Allow it or Forbid it?” Though this title is under 140 characters and could have been used on the newspaper’s twitter page, it does not generate the same amount of reader curiosity.

Side note:  Another all time favorite tweet from The Huffington Post dates back to December 14^th: “Baby seal wanders from bay, breaks into home through cat door, takes a nap.” I mean, how could you not want to read that story?

In terms of my own blog, I think the effectiveness of “telling details” is something I can really work on. I have only published one post so far titled “Senior Wine Night.” Clearly, this title couldn’t be more straightforward and doesn’t exactly evoke reader curiosity (I hope the actually post itself is more entertaining). I plan to write my next post on the restaurant “Toast” and giggled to myself when I thought about titling it “The Toast Post” (give me a pity laugh, at least). Though this title is a little more creative than my first, the effectiveness and catchiness of my titles is something I plan to focus on in the upcoming weeks!