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Municipal Broadband Networks. The term does not necessarily roll off the tongue but it is far simpler than it sounds. Rather than buying Internet access from a private company like Comcast or Time Warner, municipal networks allow consumers to buy their internet access from their hometown, much like their electricity or water utilities. These locally owned networks are quite literally built by the people, for the people. Even better, they are flexible in their implementation. This means that they can respond to the demands of the people they serve more effectively than the one-size-fits-all approach of national chains like Time Warner Cable.

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The Internet is one of the biggest innovations of the 21st century. It has become an essential part of business and a cornerstone of modern socialization. Yet despite its importance to our society, we as a people have allowed access to the information superhighway to fall under the sole control of a small group of enterprising individuals. These Internet Service Providers, or ISPs, owe no loyalty to any person, town, state, or nation. Driven only by profit, ISPs force consumers like you and me to pay exorbitant prices or live without a staple of modern society. There exists a third option however, that has the potential to break down the barriers imposed by ISPs and open new portals into the web through the cooperation of individuals like you and me.

Midterm Reflection

1. What has surprised you about this class?

I was a little surprised by the structure and grading in this class. Traditionally I have always received a grade soon after turning in a product. It is very unusual for the primary course grade to fall under a single final portfolio.

2. Which class period was your favorite?

My favorite class period was the one we spent discussing the Serial Podcast and its merits as an inquiry in the context of our project. The subject matter was very interesting and I found the subject helpful for refining my approach to the main project.

3. Which class period was your least favorite?

My least favorite class was the peer revision period for the annotated bibliographies. While I like peer reviews, the actual discussions were dry. Also, without any particular guidance for discussion I feel like I didn't get as much useful feedback as I did with my inquiry proposal.

4. What’s your favorite thing you’ve read for this class?

I have enjoyed reading my peers' inquiry proposals and blogs that focus on their topics. They have allowed me to keep up with many of the interesting topics that my peers are researching as well as see how personal views are changing.

5. What’s been the hardest part?

The annotated bibliography has been the hardest task in this class to this point. While the format was very simple, its rigid structure was unappealing and made the task far more laborious than other bits of writing that we have done.

6. If your experience in this class so far was a movie, what movie would it be?

Perhaps my memory for movies is failing me but I cannot think of any movie in particular. Frankly, it would be the kind of movie that you'd rather talk about than watch. Sure it can be thought-provoking at times, but it isn't very original or interesting on its own.

7. Do you feel like you’re giving this class as much effort and attention as you’d like to?

I'll be perfectly honest and say that I am coasting through this class. I have already taken several writing and rhetoric classes at the college level, so nothing has been particularly new to me. I don't put nearly as much time into it as I do with other classes, except when an important deadline arises.

8. Is there anything you’ve learned or heard in this class that might affect your life outside of it?

I was already familiar with all of the technical aspects of writing that we have discussed in class due to my experiences in similar classes in the past. The thing that has stood out for me is the culture shock I experienced in this class from many of the opinions and research topics I have encountered from my peers. I am used to a far more liberal culture at Penn State, so the wide acceptance of more socially conservative values was a bit weird at first. I have never been in a class where so many people would have attributed the Bible to being the most influential piece of writing in their life. This is in no way bad, but it has caused me to revise the way I interact people in everyday life.

Improving Writing with Shitty First Drafts

The writing tip suggested in the piece entitled Shitty First Drafts is quite useful to aspiring writers as well as those people who utterly detest the practice of publishing their ideas in printed form. By allowing yourself to freely write, without concern for critics or anyone else, a writer can more ably utilize their full writing potential. There is something very freeing about being able to candidly express yourself in writing. Unfortunately many writers have a tendency to try and edit their work while drafting and interrupt that creative process.

That is something I know all too well. Personally I am my own worst critic when it comes to writing. I will often write, edit, and reorganize my thoughts through several iterations before ever setting a pen to paper, or even engaging in normal conversation. In fact, this last sentence went through at least 4 different iterations before I typed anything. This habit has proven to be very frustrating in the past, and fueled an utter distaste for writing throughout most of my high school and college years. It was only after I started working to break the habit that writing became a pleasure rather than a burden.

So why is the one-and-done approach to writing so prevalent? I think a large part of it ties into the way that we learn to write. A lot of teaching in general these days is devoted to equipping kids with the tools to pass standardized tests. Often these tests consist in part of an essay that requires students to form a full-fledged argument in 1 hour and 5 paragraphs. There are no drafts or revisions, just an institutionalized pressure to be perfect the first time, every time. This turns a free form of expression into a cold mechanical formula that is detrimental to a student's writing capacity in the long run.

At the end of the day we need to drop the standardized test writing and get back to the basics described by Anne Lamott. Not only will people be better writers for it, they might actually enjoy it a little bit more.