The end of the end: The FINAL PAPER

The Final Paper.

Can you believe it? We finally got to the end. Oh, but remember—it’s never really the end because it’s all about the process. And the process never ends. =]

Because we are on the brink of the digital knowledge revolution, I was interested in the transition between each of these types of knowledge. This idea in combination with the discussions we had today in class prompted me to write this subsequent essay. Enjoy.

       Knowledge from antiquity to modern times has been a slave to the institutions and mediums of each era. As folk knowledge, oral knowledge, written knowledge, print knowledge, and now digital knowledge have revolutionized the development and dissemination of information, there have been dynamic changes altering the very fabric of society.  Although each new medium of knowledge brings unalterable change, societies never truly abandon past mediums of knowledge because of their necessity and utility.

Salon Notes: Final Exam Review

As I created this blog post, I thought back on all the different assignments and blog posts we had written. It made me realize that even though this class has been difficult, we have all learned a lot about the history and transmission of knowledge as defined by different institutions in power. I think we have also learned a lot about ourselves: how fast we can whip out a blog post, how we work with others, and how (through self-directed learning) we can make any topic interesting and relevant to ourselves. Most importantly, we've learned 

IT IS ALL ABOUT THE PROCESS.

"The World Cannot Be Governed Without Juggling."

Skylar's first recorded attempt at juggling three pears

Something I have discovered in this study we've done on folk knowledge is that folk knowledge is the kind of knowledge that takes a lot of love to transmit.  There needs to be someone charitable and invested enough in another person to teach them, and the other person needs to be patient and humble as they are taught, or the knowledge we cannot fully convey with books is eventually lost.  The importance of folk knowledge is that it builds a community of teachers and students, and those roles are shifting all the time.

Slip, Chain Two, Double Crochet

My wonderful roommate Hannah and her basket of yarn

"Love of beauty is taste. The creation of beauty is art." -e. e. cummings

These are the instructions that my roommate, Hannah, wrote on a yellow sticky note in a firm hand for me after our crochet lesson this evening: "Petal loop: [Slip, chain 2, double crochet (yarn over twice, catch yarn through loop, yarn over, pull through two loops ('til one loop left) double crochet 3 times, chain 2, slip into same] slip into next loop."

She ended with REPEAT.