As my aptly named blog implies, my name is Jim Schwartz. I am an English Major and Multimedia Minor at UW Whitewater as well as a non-traditional student who has a full-time career and a family. When I tell other students of my fields of study, they tend to look at me funny and remark “that’s an interesting combination” but to me it seems very natural.
In today’s world, we have been so overexposed to multimedia and instant communication that we sometimes take it for granted. We blog, twitter, and read articles on-line. Anyone with a computer and a phone line has access to a limitless world of knowledge and ideas that had been, hitherto, much more difficult to find. In the scope of human history, it hasn’t been that long since conventional literature was the primary means of conveying a message.
In America and most of the developed World, we risk relatively little when we post opinions contrary to the ruling party. This has not always been the case and authors such as Chaucer and Shakespeare would tell an enjoyable story while at same time, they would fan the embers of dissent through scathing commentaries directed to the Monarchy, Church or a rung on the social ladder. The meaning behind their message was not obscure, nor was the affected body necessarily oblivious to the author’s intent, but written properly these authors could get away with quite a bit. These writers were the informational gatekeepers of their times and as citizen journalists, we are all charged with the same task. Okay, so maybe that’s a bit overly dramatic, but there’s at least a kernel of truth to it. Anyone who posts a thread or makes an on-line comment has just published him or herself and added to global knowledge bank. We have an opportunity to use the most cutting edge communication tools to accomplish the same thing that great men and women with little more than pen and paper strove for. Now we can all share this connection with these great authors and I think that’s something important to acknowledge.
