The internet is a great big monster

I used to despise the internet, back in my library school days. To tell you the truth, it freaked me out. It's so big, and so anonymous. Anyone can make an official-looking website and fill it with crap, and make it look like God's truth. It really felt like a monster to me. It still does.

Another thing I don't like about the internet is the feeling of sensory overload I get from all the millions of links. I like things linear, sequential. I don't like webs. For example, I recently googled the word "meme." I looked at Wikipedia, and boy! First I'm reading about a "self-propagating unit of cultural evolution" and then I clicked on a few links to find myself reading about types of jokes, smiley faces, or stomach muscles. And that's all within one site. Not only that, but let me digress a teeny bit and talk about Wikipedia. Have you ever been there? It's bizarre. It's an "encyclopedia" that anyone can edit! You can go in and add or subtract information at your own sweet will. See previous paragraph.

HOWEVAH, I've spent a lot of time surfing the web, particularly blogdom, in the last few weeks since I started blogging. I'll be danged, but I'm starting to fall in love with this great big monster. I really am. I think it's because I love humanity in all its teeming, crazy, glorious human-ness, and by gum! you could just substitute the word internet for the word humanity in that phrase.

And now I own a book about HTML, and I signed up for a two-day workshop on web design at the community college, starting tomorrow morning. I have already managed to change the style of the block quotes in this blog (she said, bursting with pride). Stay tuned for further changes . . . .