The Power of Togetherness : Week 3

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    One of the main focuses this week in the content was on the power we have as a collective mind, rather than just as individuals. This idea was so impactful for me, because of the fact that for so long I believed that I could be fully sufficient forever without the help of anyone else. Luckily, I have learned that that is not the case, and that having support in your life is essential and necessary to add to the quality of your life. Despite the fact that I understood that concept in my in-person interactions, I neglected to carry this mindset over into the digital world of writing and interacting. I thought of the digital space as one that wasn't totally necessary and one that I could remain passive in without noticing a difference in my life. After reading chapter four of Rheingold's "Net Smart", I see that again, it is not about whether you can survive without it, but rather it is about what it can add to your life as well as what you could add to others lives. 


    Another important concept that goes hand in hand with the idea of being involved in digital spaces, is the idea of a community. There are so many. different varieties of communities, especially virtual communities, and I am understanding how important it is to get to know how those communities work so that you can contribute effectively. This is a practice that could benefit us all in many aspects of our lives, and that is just the ability to create, share and use information, essentially having information literacy. By enhancing our information literacy, and by honing this skill in specific communities we want to be a part of, we enable ourselves to be a part of something bigger than ourselves. We work together with others towards a common goal, and in the end, we achieve that goal and continue on to achieve more goals that we would never have been able to do without the collective contributions from all the members in our communities. 

    Finally, and maybe the easiest concept to integrate into my own life, is the newfound appreciation I have for Wikipedia. When I was growing up, I was surrounded by adults that told me the same thing that many adults tell the young people around them, which is that Wikipedia is not a reliable source, and therefore you should not interact with. I am finding, however, that this is not correct. Wikipedia is one of the most impressive collections of information on the internet, and it is filled with people who are passionate and who are willing to go the extra mile to ensure that the articles on Wikipedia are up to date and filled with credible information. 

    Diving into one of the talk pages showed me that there are people who are willing to ensure quality and neutrality in an article, and are willing to make the difficult decisions that others might not be as willing to do. Seeing those kinds of discussions first hand showed me that Wikipedia is not just a page where people can post whatever they want, despite some of the articles you may have seen about people doing just that. In those instances, more often than not, the people who monitor those pages are quick to remove content that can't be verified or isn't credible.

Personally, I feel that all these things add up to one thing that I have been searching for my whole life, and that is that we are more powerful together than we are alone. I'd be curious to know if you agree with that idea, or if you have thoughts about how collaboration and cooperation between complete strangers on the internet can be beneficial or maybe not so beneficial. I'd love to see any examples you know of where this kind of collective thinking has made an impact, whether it's positive or negative! All examples are welcome!

Resources: 

Rheingold, H. (2014). Net smart: How to thrive online. MIT Press. 

Driscoll, D., Vetter, M., Stewart, M., & Heise, M. (Eds.). (2022). Writing spaces: Readings on writing. Parlor Press. 

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