Finally, Some Questions

Straight-forward Questions

1. According to Herbert Simon, what does information "consume"?

• answer

2. On fanfiction.net alone there are over 600,000 Harry Potter fanfiction stories, and Harry Potter is only one of many original works which has inspired fanfiction. True or False?

• answer

3. On the Prezi about Fan Culture that Sarah and I made, Sarah talked about fan charities. One of these charities has collected well over $1,000,000. True or False?

• answer

Essay Questions

1. Fanfiction is one aspect of the creative fan and remix culture found online. This sort of recreation can be a productive creative outlet and an abundant source of entertainment, despite its problematic aspects.

•  My discussion of fanfiction.

2. We go to religious school, so it's unsurprising that many of us had something to say about how our beliefs affect our view of the digital culture. Learning doesn't have to be just secular. Through the Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ can teach us about both spiritual things and secular things.

• A post by Ellis

(There were numerous other posts that discuss similar ideas, but this post does a good job of briefly discussing the subject while still being personal and interesting. I also remember where to find this particular post at the moment.)

A Media Fast Sunday

My media fast was actually pretty successful, as far as it went. I didn't even try to limit my communication via cellphones (I had a lot of visiting teaching coordinating to do) or forgo watching the broadcast of the dedication of the Brigham City Temple (che, like that was gonna happen). I also did take a look at something my roommate was working on online. But I didn't get on my own computer at all on Sunday, nor did I watch any television, or movies, or listen to any music outside of the broadcast.

I spent much of the day catching up on some readings for my religion class.

What did I learn from all of this? Well firstly, I seriously need to keep up better in my readings. It took a long time to catch up. Secondly, I spend far too much time online goofing off. There are a lot of great and legitimate reasons to get online, and if my parents had called and wanted to webchat I would have been online within minutes, but a lot what I do online is not the really the best use of time. I had a great day yesterday, and I was probably more in tune with the Spirit than I've been for many Sundays. So I guess I just have to remember moderation in all things and that it's important to spend my time wisely doing the best and most important thing for that moment.

I can't think of any better way to sum up my thoughts on the experiment, than to link to President Uchtdorf's talk What Matters Most. In fact, I think that talk is crucial in understanding the frenzied pace of life in our digital world, and our place  in it as Latter-Day Saints.

Psalm 46:10 Be still and know that I am God.