This Time.....It's For Keeps

During this, my finest and most junior of academic years I was treated to a class of robust interactive ability. The class in question is Fordham University's Communications Department's Interactive Media Class, taught, or should I say hosted and MC'd, by Lance Strate. 

It all began on a brisk, yet crisp, January day when I strolled into the Digital Media Lab in Faculty Memorial Hall just outside of campus. Professor Strate, a man I had actually met as a Senior in high school during a tour of the communications department way back in 2005, sat us down and promptly set up a class wide blog. From that point on, the blog postings came heavy and often. We embedded videos, commented on literature, talked about current events, gave reviews of tourist destinations, and just got closer as a group of spry minds just trying to get good grades. 

The inter-personal communication didn't stop there. He introduced, well to me anyway, MySpace. I was hesitant at first, like a freshly born deer taking his first steps on a frozen pond, but I settled into it and am now part of a couple of groups and have a solid group of friends who I share an online bond with over such things as our mutual love of Orlando Magic offensive juggernaut Pat Garrity. MySpace wouldn't have been on my radar as an online venue I'd participate in, but I was put on the Strate path towards realization of its true power. I am a habitual Facebook user so this was a welcome addition to my repertoire and contrasted the college-focused Facebook quite nicely. 

Amazingly, the roller coaster of new internet destinations for me to discover wasn't over. After our guest Paul Smith regaled us with his love of the chat site Twitter it was, as the saying goes, all the rage. The class and I Twittered until we passed out, in some cases, and had a generally unique experience thanks to Twitter. The unique, short-blurb format was surely original and it lent itself well to people with not too much to say. I could say anything I want, press update, and what I'm doing right at that moment is now out there for everyone (my subscribers, mostly) to see. I like what Twitter has shown me. 

I never thought I'd get serious face-time in a medium viewed by all the movers and shakers in  this world: YouTube. Thanks to Interactive Media that is a dream that has already been fulfilled. In a humorous, yet informative interview session with Professor Strate we talked about everything from Jerry Seinfeld to messenger boys. It opened my eyes to just how easy it was to make a video that will live in cyberspace forever; accessible free of charge every time. I wish more YouTubeing had taken place, but in a once a week class what more could I ask for.

All in all, this class had me thinking about the internet in a broader, more progressive way. I no longer check ESPN.com first...I browse the web and see what tasty morsels it has to offer. Thanks to this class there are a moatload more morsels than ever before.