Evaluating Round 4

The fourth draft of our class's eBook has just been published, and it's looking good!  To be honest, I don't feel like a ton has changed since the last draft came out.  There are a lot of really great things going on.  I like the length of the chapters a lot.  The writing is generally pretty good too!  I think that it would be beneficial for us to each trade chapters with someone else and just have them critique it hard core.  The content is good, but there really is a need for serious editing.  

As far as the layout goes, I think the sections go well together.  Is the content all on there now?  Is it all completely finished?  I'm excited that this is going well and have been coming up with ideas of how to market it on social media sites.  What are the issues that are preventing us from getting it published by like....Wednesday?  

That's just my take on things.  Happy Conference Weekend!

Jenna Is a Genius

First, I want to start by saying that we need to bring in some peach rings or something for Jenna, a gorgeous blonde in our class, on Monday for being a baller editor and putting out the third draft of our eBook.  That clearly took a ton of time and effort, and she is a champ for getting it done.  It looks pretty spiffy and that table of contents!  Art.  Purely a masterpiece.

I read the whole thing tonight and really enjoyed it!   I definitely think that we have explored a lot of avenues and topics as far as the platforms go.  Something that I liked was that the chapters don't really resemble each other.  There's not a repeat of ideas or information that seems overdone.  So yay for that!  Also, the chapters seem pretty well written.  Obviously there is room for improvement, but they kept my interest and NOT EVEN because I am pals with all of the authors.  That was just a bonus.

Of course, there are a few things that we can still work through.  I tried clicking on the links that were included in a few of the chapters and they didn't go anywhere.  That could just be my Wifi or Kindle, but I want to be sure we're aware of that in case it could be a potential problem, you know?  Also, a few of the chapters kind of oppose each other.  Is that ok?  For example, Jenna's second chapter is fantastic, and is all about the benefits of self-publishing and how it's helping authors so much.  Then my chapter comes in and basically refutes all of that by discussing the negative effects of copyright issues.  So what do we want to do about that?  I think they're both valid points, so should we keep them because they show different perspectives in the same eBook?  I mean, I'm not suggesting scrapping either of them, but it's just an interesting predicament and I'd like some other opinions.

Other than that, it's looking pretty so far!  I did like seeing my name there on the Kindle.  Maybe there is something to this whole self-publishing/digiliteracy stuff after all.

An In-Depth Approach

Ok, to be honest, the chapters I've been working on for our eBook, "Becoming Digiliterary," definitely needed some fleshing out.   Finding sources was not easy though!  However, with some new tactics, I was able to find a lot more than I thought on my topics.  Here are my results.

eBibliography:

Un-Limiting Our Generation

Tweethis:  The generations to come have a different take on the uses and opportunities afforded by online scholarship as a source of knowledge, as well as the use of devices in the classroom, than do the generations before them.

Social Graph:

• ·         Conversation b/w Shelby and Rachel Newell:  I asked my roommate, who heads over to the Provo Library at least 3 times a week, why she didn’t consider using a Kindle or eReader of some sort and an app like Amazon or Overdrive to save her time.  I explained that if she used one of those, she could have endless books available without being put on a waiting list for them.  She told me that reading was her way of disconnecting.  She said that she spent so much time in front of a screen that she just wanted to feel the book and see the pages of the right side grow less and less.  It gave her a feeling of accomplishment.  We then discussed how learning is affected by digital reading and if people retain information better from a printed page or online.
• ·         Conversation b/w Shelby and Cooper Dana, a sophomore at Westwood Highschool in Mesa, AZ (Mesa Public Schools have recently switched over to iPads instead of textbooks in the classroom):  My brother told me that in his classes, they only use iPads instead of real books in their classrooms.  He said that he loves it, because he doesn’t have to carry around books anymore...and it’s really easy to download games onto the iPads.  He is sixteen, so this really didn’t shock me.  This was interesting to me because the eBooks they use are incredibly useful, but aren’t dedicated to purely learning.
• ·         Yahoo! Answers: Can I use a kindle for college textbooks instead of actual books? (https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20121128163620AAqEweS )

New Media:

·         Youtube: iTools: Kindles in the Classroom (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aV6XOozvtLk )

·         THE EVERYTHING BOOK: READING IN THE AGE OF AMAZON (http://www.theverge.com/2014/12/17/7396525/amazon-kindle-design-lab-audible-hachette )

·         Amazon Store: Engaging Students (http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?docId=1000412651 )

Social Networks:

·         Google+: https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/102841710354937354215

Traditional Scholarly Sources:

·         “Words with Friends:”  Socially Networked Reading on Goodreads (http://www.mlajournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1632/pmla.2013.128.1.238 )

Get Off My Property:

Tweethis:  Increased online access has upped the readership of eBooks, but at the cost of much copyright infringement. 

Social Graph: 

·         Chat between Shelby and Jason Ray:

S:  Hi Jason.  Can I ask you a question for my English class?

I'm going to say yes.  Do you think that the rise of eBook popularity has created an increase in illegal downloading for authors?

J: It's not something I've ever thought of before, but I would say yes--it's a lot easier to illegally download a book than to steal a hard copy of it, so I would assume it's done more now.

And no, you may not ask me a question

S:  Have you ever done this, and if not, what would be something about it that would tempt you?

J:  I haven't. I'm personally against illegal downloading of any type of media and will not do so.

The biggest pull to download something illegally for me would be if I can't get something through regular channels--for example, a book that I really want to read that isn't in the US or in any stores or libraries I have access to.

But I still wouldn't do it.

S:  You're a champ.  Thank you!

·         Chat between Shelby and Celeste Dana: 

S:  hey maaaam.  Can I ask you a question for my english class?

C:  Of course.  Talking or facebook chat

S:  Chat...so I can copy and paste!  Do you think that eBooks have created a greater risk of illegal downloading for authors?

C:  Probably.  But I think that's the risk of working in a digital world.  But, because there's a lot more chance to get their books published and in front of the public, it's a trade off.

S:  Have you ever done this, and if not, what would be something about it that would tempt you?

C:  Have I ever done what?

S:  downloaded a book illegally?

C:  No

S:  Is there any aspect of it that would tempt you to do so?

C:  NO.

S:  Sweet.  Thank you! 

C:  That was simple

New Media:

• ·         Kindle e-book piracy accelerates
• (http://www.cnet.com/news/kindle-e-book-piracy-accelerates/ )

• ·         Digital piracy hits the e-book industry (http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/01/01/ebook.piracy/index.html )
• ·         Youtube: Illegal downloads make Kindle vulnerable [ Zoomin.TV Tech and Gadgets ] (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7U9yg9MYVz8 )

Social Networks:

• ·         Pointing Users to DRM-Stripping Software Isn't Copyright Infringement, Judge Rules  (https://bookclubs.barnesandnoble.com/thread/27644 )
• ·         Rise of illegal eBook downloads (Forum) (http://www.kuforum.co.uk/kindleusersforum/thread-6305.html )
• ·         Google+: https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/111687849164110924461/stream/ac789a62-c20c-4b76-be0b-ebd2de6e33dc

Traditional Scholarly Sources:

• ·         Digital Piracy: Factors That Influence Attitude toward Behavior

http://www.jstor.org/stable/25123707?Search=yes&resultItemClick=true&searchText=online&searchText=book&searchText=piracy&searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoBasicSearch%3FQuery%3Donline%2Bbook%2Bpiracy%26amp%3Bprq%3Donline%2Bpiracy%26amp%3Bgroup%3Dnone%26amp%3Bhp%3D25%26amp%3Bacc%3Don%26amp%3Bfc%3Doff%26amp%3Bso%3Drel%26amp%3Bwc%3Don&seq=11#page_scan_tab_contents

This exercise made me search for a lot more sources than I had thought of before.  I'll be sure to look for others as I continue to work on the chapters in our book!  

The Social Research Resources

I love that our class is taking a new approach to research.  To help along the progress of our eBook project, we have looked at a few different sources in order to find more information to put in our chapters.  As an English major, I thought that this class would require a lot of hours in the library, pouring over giant books with even bigger words that were impossible to understand, just to figure out the hidden meaning of a classic paragraph.

Well, I'm still spending hours in the library.

However, this research is much different than what I thought it would be!  Instead of sticking to the traditional forms of learning, we have been encouraged to check out social sources.  This is basically my favorite activity, because I think that communicating over the internet is super cool.  To find out more about the great innovation of the Amazon Kindle and Goodreads.com, I checked out a few sites that I visit every day, but with a very different purpose!

For example, I headed over to Pinterest to see if there was any discussion or info over there,  While they had a lot of great stuff on teaching how to be digitally aware, safe, productive, etc., I didn't find much about our topic in particular.  However, Twitter turned out to be really useful with its hashtag searches.  There were a couple good articles that I found there about using Kindles in the classroom and how they have affected education.  Facebook was not the best option for me.  I don't think that many people see it as a place for literary discussion quite as much as other forums, etc.  Obviously that's based on my own connections, but I think that the majority of people who are interested in our topic are found on other forums, etc.

So...I went to forums!  I just typed in "Forums about Kindle" into Google and was taken to a ton of sites.  Amazon has one right on their page, but I think that one was pretty biased and they took any negative stuff off.  This obviously makes sense from a business perspective, but isn't the most accurate source.  The other site that I found here had a lot of topics and opinions.  It was cool!

As far as scholarly sources, I could use some help.  I found a few on the HBLL site, but nothing very specific as to what we're trying to write about.  If anyone finds some, let me know by commenting or just putting them on the drive!

Outline of Captiulo Numero Dois

CHAPTER TEMPLATE

BOOK PART
This would probably fall under something like, “How We Read,” or…yeah, there aren’t really set categories yet, so I’m not sure.

CHAPTER TITLE

Un-Limiting Our Generation

TWEETHIS

The generations to come have a different take on the uses and opportunities afforded by online scholarship as a source for knowledge than those before them. 

KEYWORDS

Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry, Millennial Generation, new sources, credibility, resources

TOPICAL IMAGE

Something like this?

CONTENT PARAMETERS

DIGILITERARY VIA AMAZON-KINDLE-GOODREADS CONNECTION

-Contrasting traditional/social references

-Using a Kindle instead of a textbook (arguments for and against)

-Researching authors using their Goodreads accounts (getting in touch, joining discussions, participating in groups, greater access to other works)

LITERARY WORK

Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, by Mildred Taylor     

TRADITIONAL REFERENCES - (General Literary, Scholarly)

“Words With Friends” by Lisa Nakamura

http://www.mlajournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1632/pmla.2013.128.1.238

SOCIAL REFERENCES (current conversations, social media, interviews)

http://www.theverge.com/2014/12/17/7396525/amazon-kindle-design-lab-audible-hachette

CONTENT LAYOUT

 This book is clearly about racism and the effect that it had on families in the South.  There are many examples of the negative effects of interaction with white children on the Logan family, the protagonists here.  However, one character, Jeremy Simms, is a stark contrast to the rest of the hate and stigmas going on throughout the story.  He represents the hope that society has for integration, acceptance, and progress through his kind acts and subtly helpful gestures of friendship to the Logan children.  This, to me, is pretty similar to what we see now in society, as well as what used to be accepted.  The Internet was once seen as something frightening and a waste of time.  Parents and teachers saw this resource narrowly when it first came out and encouraged students to seek learning from traditional sources like the encyclopedia or textbooks.  Knowledge was found in the library and at school, end of story.  However, now it is at our fingertips and the rising generations have little to none of the apprehension of their predecessors.  Instead of being closed-minded, students today have much to gain access to databases, textbooks that can be read on a hand-held device, and greater interaction with authors and live sources.

It's the Start of Something New...

  I feel a little like Troy and Gabriella at the beginning of High School Musical.  They're awkwardly thrown into this situation where they obviously feel superrrr uncomfortable.  They are made to sing in front of a ton of people (more importantly, certain people that they are clearly attracted to.  Scary!  Ahh!)

But then, they start to realize that they're capable and able to create something great, so they start to warm up to the song and to each other, and pretty soon....there is love.  And they're belting out a tweeny hit and on the road to make millions of dollars.  

I hope to have a somewhat similar experience with this class.  Maybe not with the singing, but with a newly discovered talent and lots of money in the end?  I'd be down.

This class is much different than any other general I’ve taken!  I’m pretty excited that at the end of the semester, we’ll actually have a finished product to show for it!  After thinking long and hard about how to organize our chapters and where my book, Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, by Mildred Taylor, fits in, I decided on a few potential ideas to research.

My first contribution to the project will be about how piracy is becoming more and more prevalent due to the availability of books online through such platforms as Amazon and Goodreads.  I did a little bit of digging online and found this one slideshow that talked about the rise in piracy since the rise in eBook popularity.  There’s definitely a correlation there, since hackers are amazing and know how to download everything and turn it into a PDF that’s easily available for public consumption.  This causes authors and publishers to suffer because it’s really hard for them to keep a hold on their content and digital rights.  To me, this relates to how the Logan family, in my book, struggled to retain their lands while their white neighbors tried to take them away.  The white neighbors felt like the land should be their own property, just as the current internet users feel an entitlement to content online today.  It’ll work together, I promise.

My other idea, definitely not as well developed, would be how Cassie, a young girl growing up at the time, has to reconcile a collision of worlds around her, and how that relates to students or the younger generations using Goodreads and Amazon as study tools and reliable, trusted sources, rather than the traditional study methods (dictionaries, solo work, etc.)  I’ll admit, I’m not quite sure how to research this one yet.  But I’ll get there!  I think there will be a lot of papers on online research, the benefits of it, and how to reconcile/make the most of the old and the new. 

As far as putting together the actual book, my real concerns are only making sure that everything is cohesive and supports each other.  What if we have two contributors with different viewpoints on a similar topic?  Is that allowed?  Does that take away from our book, or does it add to the validity by exploring all the options?  These are just a few things I’ve been wondering.  But our class is pretty good at coming together and getting stuff done, so I’m not worried!

We'll Get There. Someday.

Ok!  That was harder than I thought it would be.  Here are a few of my ideas on how we could group the chapters...and they are rough.  But this was a really good chance for me to carefully go through what everyone has come up with and put it together in a working format.  I think that a lot of the ideas relate to each other well, and we definitely have enough content to fill an eBook.

Our “Limitless” Society

Jenna:  Publish Yourself, Not Myself: 

 With more opportunities to self-publish and promote, the temptation to steal the ideas of others is easily within reach.

Shelby: What’s Mine is Mine…or Yours Too? 

  The increased conflict between what is and is not defined as public domain.

Leah:  It’s Not Old, It’s Vintage: 

Creative Commons crosses the generation gap, giving modern readers access to the classics and instilling an appreciation that can withstand time.

Lauren:  Knowledge is Power:

  The possible benefits and effects of unlimited access to information on society.

A World Where Opinion is Everything

Meghan: eBook Etiquette:  

What is and is not acceptable to do, say, like, think, share, or bash on online platforms

Saren:  The Reviews We View:

  By using the review feature on Amazon and Goodreads, we are able to see different opinions and learn more about the perspectives of others by their takes on literature.

Emily:  What Happens When Everyone’s a Critic: 

  How the reader reviews on Amazon and Goodreads influence public opinion, even before the work has a chance to be read by the masses.

The Online Relationship

Lauren:  Are We Allowed to be Friends Offline?  

There’s a certain aspect of friendship that is only available through face-to-face communication.  Does that matter in the digital age?

Saren:  Getting our Bearings in the Digital World:

  There are definite tricks and tips to having a meaningful online presence.  Now, people must not only grow up in the real world, but develop their social, online identities as well.

Jenna:  Becoming Internet Nobility:  Learning the Tricks of the Trade to Become Who You’d Like Online:

  Posting a thought online can damage a person’s credibility as a reviewer and tarnish a person’s online identity.

Nathan: “So It Goes,” But Should It Stop?

  At what point is the disconnection between a book and its readers a harmful thing?

The Change Caused by the Digital Era

Emily:  Made-To-Order Novels:  

With open relationships between authors and their readers, consumers have more influence with what goes into their favorite books.

Nathan:  What Came First, the Novel or the Trailer?

  With literature expanding to all types of media, we can be exposed to the whole story of a work before even turning (or swiping) a page.

Shelby:  Once Wasted Time, Now the Most Valuable Resource: 

  How the rising generation is taking a new look at the possibilities of digital resources

Jenna:  They Know Where You Go:

  What are cookies, and how do online algorithms follow them to suggest what we’ll like best? (Echo Chamber?)

Meghan: We Want It and We Want It Now:  

Is the instant gratification of online literary platforms negatively affecting society, or simply continuing the trend?

I agree with Jenna, we should discuss how or if these online platforms will affect academia, as well as what we, as the "authorities" on them, can do to make the best use of them.  I think that a book like this, that discusses a topic is such detail, should have a "call to action" or something like that at the end.  Are we encouraging this, or is it simply a presentation of facts and opinions that doesn't really swing one way or another?

Rolling Out Ideas on Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry

Alright, ladies and gents, fasten your seatbelts and prepare for the brain dump.  The novel, Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, has a lot of possible ways that it can relate to a project about using new platforms such as Goodreads and Amazon to read and study.  I have quite a few different ways that I could go with this book, so I’ll give a brief overview of it for those of you who aren’t familiar, throw out some potential ideas for an angle, and then I am DEFINITELY open to suggestions on which are hot and which are not.

First off, Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry is a young adult book based in the Deep South back when all the Jim Crow laws were being enacted and racism was pretty heavy.  The story is told by Cassie, a little black girl, and all of the events are through her innocent, naïve perspective.  There is a big focus on land in the story, because her family owns their own and that is something that sets them apart from the other black families in their neighborhood.  She makes friends with a few of the white children, but is discouraged from doing so by her parents.  One of her older friends, also black, gets involved with the white teenage boys and pays a heavy price for it.  Ok, that’s a reallyyyyy brief summary.

A few ideas:

• ·         The obvious racism.  Comparing the lack of acceptance of new ways to garner information (social media, online, etc.) in favor of traditionally-held methods to the white dominance over the suppressed black culture.
• ·         Land.  It would be interesting to discuss property rights with this one, for example, comparing the dependence and love that Cassie’s family has for their land to the need that authors have to maintain ownership over their works.  Piracy and illegal downloading of material could be compared to the ease with which white people usurped the land legally owned by their black neighbors.
• ·         Cassie’s point of view.  Cassie is a child who grew up in a world where people told her that things were a certain way, but her own experiences told her otherwise.  This could be compared to our generation, who were taught as children how to use traditional methods, but automatically sort of transitioned into the digital era.  The things that we were once told would “rot our brains” are now our most powerful resource. (Compare to Cassie’s friendship with the white children)
• ·         TJ, her older friend, getting too far ahead of himself and paying the price for it.  This could go with some social media platforms getting too big too fast and becoming difficult to control. (This one is a stretch, I know, but just roll with me because it has potential in my head, sort of.)  This would probably have to be against Goodreads and Amazon, discussing the potential dangers about trusting everything to the digital and forgetting what we know to be “safe.”

Ok friends, that’s all that I have so far.  I hope that they made sense!  Things will develop more along the way, but here are a few starting points!

A New Side to the Digital Me

In today’s ever-digitalized culture, people can learn a lot about one another—hometown, favorite band, who the ex-boyfriend was, what sport was played in high school—all without ever having spoken to each other.  They make judgments about whether to hire people for jobs or even ask them out on a date based on a common practice of our time: Facebook stalking.  It’s growing ever clearer that we must take care to create a good image for ourselves both on- and offline.  In her article, “’Words with Friends’: Socially Networked Reading on Goodreads,” Lisa Nakamura shows how popular literary website Goodreads.com solidifies intellectual identities by allowing users to create bookshelves, share favorite works, participate in online discussions, review and recommend books to friends, and discover new genres and authors.          

 

Nakamura brings up a point that I definitely relate to.  Of the online bookshelf feature, she says, “Goodreads shelves remediate earlier reading cultures where books were displayed in the home as signs of taste and status.”  She’s right!  People can tell a lot about each other from the things what books are read and kept in the home!  For example, I work as a nanny.  Whenever I get an interview with a potential family, I’m sure to sneak a glance at their libraries when I get to the house.  Many times have I avoided an undesirable job after seeing stacks of titles like, The Official Guide to Dysfunctional Parenting.  No nanny wants into that mess.  But with cool sites like Goodreads, we can create a more attractive side to ourselves.  Want to be seen as a classy gal?  Stock your shelves with Jane Austin, Charlotte Bronte, Charles Dickens, all the fine ladies and gents of literature.   Looking to find a more adventurous crowd?  Read, rate, and review things like Ender’s Game, The Hobbit, or DaVinci Code.  Choosing how to present yourself is one of the fun and creative aspects that Goodreads has to offer.

The Karma of Reading in a Digital World: You Get What You Give.

I enjoyed the assignment for my English class here at Brigham Young University to discover what makes a good review on social media platforms such as Amazon.com and Goodreads.com.   The posts that had the most appeal to me personally were those done by people who really seemed knowledgeable in their field.  This is a crucial component of a respectable review.  The user should be able to do a quick analysis of the book and explain a bit about it without giving too much away from the story.  For example, when I was reading Heart of Darkness, our assigned novel, I found the reviews that expounded briefly on the symbolism and themes extremely helpful.  Through them, I was able to identify a few points and meanings that I would probably have missed if I hadn’t looked at the reviews.  However, I found that when the users were overly dramatic and either idolized or loathed the book, I didn’t take it as seriously.  The review should have a fairly unbiased tone, simply stating the good and bad points of the work, not being so forceful that the reader feels intimidated to form his or her own opinion.  Another deterrent for me was definitely the length.  Reading a long analysis of the book was something I turned to only in sheer desperation for enlightenment.  The users who were able to be concise and to the point were the ones I found to be most effective.  

  It was interesting to me to see the different reviews on each site based on the different type of users that each attracts.  When I went on Amazon to check out the reviews for our assigned novel, Heart of Darkness, I looked up a few of the things that users had also reviewed.  There was one account that I really enjoyed.  He had a lot of reviews and comments with real depth about some heavy literature, but also showed his playful side by reviewing a fluffy stuffed dog toy that his little daughter had ordered.  This is an advantage that Amazon has over Goodreads.  Many, many people use Amazon for various things, whereas Goodreads is a bit less well-known.  The reviews from Amazon seem to come from people that are more….”real,” I guess you could say, while those on Goodreads have an “English-teacher-esque” persona.

 I felt like my own review on Amazon would go to a broader, more generalized audience.  This made me feel comfortable to write a bit about my own experience with the novel, but also pushed me to keep it short so that it would get more reads.  When I posted to Goodreads, I felt a sense of apprehension because the people there are serious readers!  I worried that I didn’t have the experience or intelligence to be taken seriously on that platform.  But hooray for me, it’s up there anyway!

 

I found myself surprised by the pleasure I found in having people react positively to my posts on Goodreads!  Entering in group discussions made me think harder about the books, but also made me clarify and solidify my own ideas.  It made me want to participate more and get other people’s viewpoints.  Posting my review on Facebook was another big leap for me though.  It was strange to combine my academic, task-oriented self with my online persona as well.  But I think that is a really interesting part of this whole project; combining online identities to discover and round-out ourselves.  Plus, this project has not only affected me!  Now my roommates are actively involved in my reading/posting habits and are broadening their own literary horizons by talking with me about books and commenting on my posts!  

In the digital age, you definitely get what you put out.  As active online reviewers and readers, we can benefit from other people’s perspectives and deepen our own understanding in ways not possible through solo literary consumption.

A Man or a Journey?

   In the classic literary novel, Heart of Darkness, author Joseph Conrad is well-known for his incorporation of deep symbolism.  There are symbolic themes of dark versus light, wilderness and civility, and as I read the book, I noticed that Conrad even used characters to represent his motifs.  One of the most prominent characters in the book, Mr. Kurtz, seems to symbolize the dark journey in and of itself.

The narrator of the tale, Marlow, describes how he began the adventure with an intense desire to discover. As to what he wants to discover, even he is unsure, but he feels and inexplicable yearning to get out of the old routes of his life and into the wilderness of what is now the Congo.  From the beginning, he is told of a man just as mysterious as the waters he is about to enter—a Mr. Kurtz, who has a rumored wealth of knowledge, expertise, and ivory from his travels.  Marlow craves to simply hear the man speak, and says later on in the story, “I was cut to the quick at the idea of having lost the inestimable privilege of listening to the gifted Kurtz” (Conrad 67).   At this point, Marlow has never met the man, yet thinks of him with the same sense of desire he has to navigate the unknown territory.  Both Kurtz and the land represent riches, adventure, knowledge, mystique, glory; the latter the source of untold resources, the former an example of the fame awaiting those who manage to tame them.

                Kurtz’s fate also follows the pattern of disenchantment that Marlow comes to experience as the journey goes on.  As Marlow sees the bloodshed and horrors of the “civilizing” they are doing throughout the land, he realizes that the adventure he has sought is far from noble and simply ends in ruin.  Kurtz is the physical representation of this.  When Marlow finally meets him, (his “coming to grips with reality”), he sees Kurtz as an influential man who has been indoctrinated in the local savagery and obsession with lucrative ivory.  He describes his first impression of Kurtz as follows:

“The wilderness had patted him on the head, and, behold, it was like a ball—an ivory ball; it had caressed him, and—lo!—he had withered; it had taken him, loved him, embraced him, got into his veins, consumed his flesh, and sealed his soul to its own by the inconceivable ceremonies of some devilish initiation” (68).

               

Both Kurtz’s life and Marlow’s adventure in the darkness come to an end, and both are spoken of in ironic reverence and adoration back home in the city.  Marlow is known as one who has braved the unknown and come home a survivor, yet is severely broken and damaged as a result of the trip.  He tells no one of these horrors, letting them believe what they’d like.  He does the same with Kurtz’s memory.  He refrains from describing Kurtz’s madness and dark habits in the jungles, instead allowing his friends and loved ones to cling tightly to the high esteem they have for the dead man.

                Now bringing this back to our day: many Internet users are like the city people of Marlow’s day.  They see those who dare to explore and exploit the facets of the Web as brave and slightly foolhardy. Some people are like Marlow, who are interested in the journey and set out to try their luck in the darkness.  Then there are others who, like Kurtz, embrace the Internet and its components wholeheartedly and are able to profit immensely from it.  But these are they who sometimes lose contact with reality and allow the online world to transform them into a monster who, seemingly normal to those around them, are internally lost in the obsessive and captivating wild into which they have entered.