From Type To Bytes

Photo by: Willi Heidelbach 

I started this blog for my Honors 202 class to tell the epic story of my past life and experiences.  Turns out I was wrong, this blog is about my new life as a digital consumer, creator, and connector.  Due to this awesome class I have dived deeper into the internet and technology world than I ever have before.  It seems like my new cell phone (a KIN two) got me close to the edge and this class kicked me way over the iceberg.  The revolution has begun.

Speaking of revolutions, around 1450 Johannes Gutenberg started a revolution by beginning the European use of movable type.  It wasn't just movable type though...  Gutenberg worked on everything related printing that would make his movable type work.  He had to make a paper strong enough to rip in the press.  He needed to create an ink that wouldn't bleed through the paper.  He even needed a way to make the type.  With one of his largest printing works - thousands of Catholic indulgences - he showed that he could do just that.  What was the result - massive political and religious change.

Flash forward to today.  We are, as Clay Shirky  says, in the midst of a new revolution.  We are going from movable type to digital byte.  We don't know what the end of this new revolution is going to look like, but it is the experimenters that will movers and shapers of tomorrow.

How does that relate to me and my new phone.  Well, I was originally on the skeptical side of immersing myself into the world of Facebook, Twitter, and digital media when I got home from my mission to Singapore.  However, slowly I began to sign up for things slowly.  With the persuasion of my bishop I got a Facebook 

account.  For some past classes I've begun using new LMS's and Twitter.  Here comes the chocolate story.

(This video is gives you an idea about my phone and why it is
  pushing me to be more digital)

My previous phone (a 2005 Verizon model) was working just fine for what I needed until an uneaten chocolate melted in my pocket and destroyed my phone.  Having seen the advertisements and the recently discounted price of the Window's KIN two phone, I decided I would upgrade.  The KIN links all your social networking sites and lets you view your friends updates and RSS feeds continually.  This  made me Tweet more and Facebook more.  Finally I signed up for this Honors 202 class and in the past week and a half I have already signed up for numerous new websites and services that are helping me consume content, create content, and connect with users around the world.

New things I've done:
-First time embedding something into my blog post (see above)
-First time using Google reader
-First time on Prezi.com
-First time I am ashamed that my blog post was too long : (
-First time I've thought about approaching BYU administration to change the university core to fit our new and changing world (more on that next time)

Coming next: Ideas to experiment with the digital revolution.