A week without internet

            This last week marks the first week in a long time that I was unable to join the online communities that I am a part of. My computer was sent into a shop for repairs and I was unable to access the internet for more than a few minutes at a time. It was a long week, but it really showed me both how much I am dependent on the internet—something that I might want to look into changing—and that the communities I am a part of move on without me but don’t necessarily leave me behind. Because of their nature, I was easily able to catch up with what was happening online and even join into some of the conversations that were happening still, because of the very nature of the community. The conversation is ongoing. They don’t just end after the video is posted, they continue on, for days, weeks, and sometimes even years as people form new opinions or get into the communities for the first time. There are still people who are talking about Vlogbrother videos from 2007 when they first happened. The communities I am a part of are long lasting, even if the topics seem to be  geared toward an instant-gratification generation, the fact that people are taking part to go back and revisit old conversations and start new debates and discussions show that the online world is not only making our world smaller, but also pulling us together and keeping us connected with the past, present, and future of what we have come to expect. 

Today I would like to talk a little bit more about what I will discuss in this blog. Most of what I will talk about will consist of what is happening in the online communities on Youtube, and the daily occurrences in my life. I first joined the communities nearly five years ago. I started with a youtuber named CommunityChannel, or Natalie Tran. She is from Australia and updates weekly (sometimes) comedy sketches. This led me to one of the main vloggers I watch Phillip DeFranco. He started off the same way that CommunityChannel did with video sketches, but now he runs a news channel on youtube that can be found here. He also started a clothing company called forhumanpeoples.com. Phillip DeFranco decided to use his life to making a news channel that is sleek and short. He delivers the same amount of news as the Television in half the time, and covers more of the world news. In the last year, he started a new section of Youtube called SourceFed, which like the Philip DeFranco show, covers news and other happenings of the world. My point behind all of this, is that the online community over the past few years has really exploded and this blog will be dedicated to both an overview and an explanation of how Youtube has changed the world in the past few years, and how it will continue to change the world in years to come as it changes the world and how we communicate through the use of the internet. 

A day in the life of a Nerdfighting college student.

As this is my first post for this class, I would like to cover a few of the basic facts that will one day come in handy as I trek through this online writing quest. My name is Carrie Palmer, I am an English major with a Professional Writing minor, and I still don't know what I am going to do with my life, but more on that later. Moving on, I should probably tell you what a nerdfighter is, considering that to most, it may sound like a funny term to hear or see written down in a blog. Nerdfighters are, to put it blatantly by one of the co-founders of the community, John Green “not composed of cells and tissue, but instead made entirely of awesome”. In other words, we are just people who like a variety of things that others might find and classify as “nerdy” like Doctor Who, Classic Literature, and punctuation. Oh. We also go out of our way to decrease World Suck. It occurs to me now, that I may have a bit too vocabulary to explain. Luckily for me, John Green, and his brother Hank Green have made a wonderful video that goes over everything I may not have time to cover to fully explain. A link can be found here. I have classified myself as a nerdfighter since around 2008 and have watched the community grow. I have always enjoyed being a part of it and plan to continue to make it more a part of my life, using not only this blog, but joining some of the charities and groups sponsored by the nerdfighters and funded by their cause, which I will discuss in later blogs.