I think I’ve mentioned that I’m taking another class right now for one of those short summer semesters. I think they call them mini-mesters. Or midget-molesters. Or minge-masters. I can’t remember. Anyway, my course is kind of a pain in the ass, but the ass pain is due primarily to logistical reasons (as opposed to the “there’s a foreign object in there again, and tell the ER to get my room ready” kind of pain in the ass. I mean, that doesn’t happen to me, but I imagine it happens to you perverts on a fairly regular basis, so I thought you might be able to relate, but didn’t want to get you confused. … You’ve got something stuck in your ass right now, don’t you? Admit it.).
My class starts around 6 and gets out around 9:30. By the time I make it home it’s typically after 10, and my body is completely thrown off. I’m not hungry, but I want to eat dinner. I’m not tired, but it’s time to go to bed. Worst of all, Mrs. ACW is usually pretty close to full unconsciousness by this point, so having a conversation with my spouse is something I’m not able to do for a day and a half, twice a week. It’s absolutely repenisulous.
Despite all that, I love the class. It’s on the Series of Tubes that some also refer to as the Internets. I could teach this class. My classmates aren’t nearly as willing to make out with the Internet as I am, so they mention subjects like Second Life and Gnutella with apprehension and trepidation. I try to keep my mouth shut as much as I can, because I don’t want to constantly dominate the class discussion with my incessant jabbering, and so far I’ve done pretty well.
Except for last night. We were discussing privacy, and that somehow lead to piracy, and suddenly I found myself in the middle of what felt like a ten-minute monologue decrying DRM, the RIAA, the MPAA, and championing open-source technology, creative commons, and public domain. I was actually out of breath when I was done. It was nice to see, however, realization slowly dawning across some of the faces of my classmates. Some of the others, I think, had no idea what I was talking about.
Shortly after that class ended and we broke into groups to discuss our major project that’s due in a week and a half. We’ve decided to focus on online communities. Everybody is focusing on a different piece of what makes online communities, or how they can be used. For example, we have someone focusing on how hate groups use online communities, how communities for people with mental illnesses can be helpful or detrimental, and how online communities create propaganda to support or deride public figures, corporations, and politicians. Which piece am I covering? Glad you asked. I’ve decided to focus on how language develops within online communities, especially considering terms and phrases that become so familiar that the group develops a language that might become impenetrable to those who haven’t participated in the group from the beginning. As my primary example, I’ll be using this site.
That’s right. For a very serious and very important class about the internet, I’m going to give a very not-serious but legitmately academic presentation on lolcats. And if it’s well received, I might turn it into my thesis.
P.S. Here’s where I got the title of the post.
