One Last Word.

The semester is almost over and this blog will soon be a relic of the past, something for me to look back on as a reminder of that marvelous spring term that I spent inside a dark, windowless basement, staring at a computer screen, growing sallow and pale, ignorant of the beautiful weather outside...

Just kidding. Truth be told, there's nowhere I would rather have been than in that dark basement. This class has been one of my best experiences at BYU so far. It's been hard, but I've learned and grown so much. I really felt the need to write this last post so I could thank everyone who has helped and inspired me the last few weeks.

First, a last word about my topic, which means a lot to me. I've discovered various online communities serving women all over the world. I've been amazed and grateful for the generosity and kindness that I've seen and that has been extended to me by so many truly fantastic women. I'd like to especially thank Susan Taylor, Jory Des Jardins, and Elisa Camahort Page, who responded to my humble pleas for their opinion even though I'm sure they had a lot of better things to do with their time. I'd like to also thank the various other women who responded to blog posts, forum posts, comments, and all my various other methods of communication. Every single person who responded to me, even though they may never see this, was very helpful to me in providing aid and social proof.

One writer, Kathryn C. Lang, just recently responded to a question I asked in a forum on SheWrites: How has the Internet helped you as a writer? Lang says, "...It's opening doors to readers and friends (new and old) that may have gone undiscovered. The internet is making my world smaller - and bigger - all at the same time." When I read this, I felt a soaring sense that this was exactly what I was trying to say in my research paper. It was really amazing to have just finished it and then to reach that climax, reading that comment, and knowing that what I was writing about was true and real and very relevant.

There have been dozens of people who have helped me a ton with my project and in the class. I want to especially thank Holly and Whitney, the members of my cohort. They both helped me so much with clarifying my topic, finding sources, encouraging me, supporting me, and reminding me how much I love what I'm doing. I also really want to thank all my other class members, who offered both encouragement and critique when I needed it, and who inspired me with their greatness.

I want to thank all the bloggers whose blogs I've read and appreciated and even quoted. They are fantastic and inspiring. They are truly the Melanies of the digital age.

Being Melanie: A Real-Life Example

In my last post I discussed different ways that women can use the Internet as a force for good. Well, that wasn't just a fantasy I imagined--women out there are really doing these things online, and I'd like to introduce you to an amazing person who did just that.

Susan Taylor is the founder of Living Equilibrium. Through her business, she helps people overcome challenges using scientific techniques. The many people she has helped witness to her incredible ability to help them change their lives. She is building, strengthening, and inspiring.

I asked Mrs. Taylor about her experience with the Internet and how it has both helped and hindered herself and those she knows. She offered some very valuable insights and graciously gave me permission to share her responses here.

I asked her whether the Internet has given her an opportunity to connect with others on a deeper level. A true mother, she immediately thought of her family. "Our family is so busy, the Internet has allowed me many luxuries, like...allowing me to keep my daytime hours for family and clients, it allows me to 'peek' into the lives of my children's friends." However, she acknowledges, "There is nothing that will take the place of getting to know them in person[.]" 

Mrs. Taylor has also used the Internet as a tool to better understand her family and friends and how she could connect with them. "When I see the faces of my friends and family and read their posts, there are times when my gut tells me I need to connect with them. I have many times found that either I had a message for them or they had a message for me--the answer to what I had been searching for." This is truly a powerful way for women to use the Internet. What many call "female intuition" allows Mrs. Taylor to see, just through reading a short Facebook status update, when she needs to connect further with a friend or family member. Even though she may not usually talk to that person on a daily basis, she's able to peek at their lives through a keyhole, which can sometimes lead her to a greater connection.

Social Discovery!

As I'm getting more into my topic, I'm realizing that I really can't understand it without social proof. I can't understand women's personal experiences online without hearing what they have to say.

Here are the people I've contacted so far.

A while back I commented on a review of Gone With the Wind by Jillian, a book blogger, on A Room of One's Own. She responded pretty quickly with some great insights on Scarlett's character (I quoted her in a previous blog post). I want to talk to Jillian more now that I have some more concrete claims. I think (well, I hope) that Jillian might be interested in linking GWTW and women's experience online, since she loves GWTW (she's currently doing a reading project on Margaret Mitchell) and she's a blogger herself.

I emailed some professors who had courses that included GWTW. Professor Luesebrink, a teacher of a Popular Literature class, emailed me back!...But she didn't have much to say in response to my questions. I had asked her about the popularity of GWTW and she said that she didn't really know much about it. I asked her how she thought the 1939 film influenced the way people viewed the story (the question I was most interested in hearing the answer to) and she said she thought it influenced people, but she couldn't really say how. Ironically, she suggested that I do a web search...which is how I found her syllabus! It was cool to get a response from her, though.

This week, I decided to contact some women that I already know who have used the Internet as a force for good. I sent a Facebook message to Susan Taylor, who is changing lives through her business, Living Equilibrium. She got back to me right away with some AWESOME responses on both the good and the bad of the Internet. She also gave me permission to share her responses here, so I'll have a blog post about that soon!

Being Melanie in the Digital Age: A Practical How-To Guide

As I wrote in my last post, Melanie from Gone With the Wind is a great example of using external change--even difficult external change--to broaden her horizons and to reach her potential as a woman. Women, much more than men, are using the Internet as a social place, to help, support, and encourage one another.

Check out this diagram:

(Click here for the original diagram.)

Take a look at the different websites that men and women are involved in. Women dominate not only in some of the most extremely popular social networking sites--Facebook, Twitter, and Myspace--but also in websites that are devoted to helping each other create, like Pinterest and Instagram. And when it comes right down to it, there are 99 million more female visitors monthly to social networking sites than there are male visitors.

Women are naturally good at using the Internet for social purposes. Due to the current efforts of many remarkable women, technology is shifting away from being a traditionally masculine, male-dominated area of interest and work. Melanie used the circumstances involved in the Civil War as an opportunity to reach out and do different things and talk to different people than would have been possible in the society that existed before the war. We, as women in the new millennium, can treat the transition into the digital age with the same kind of optimism and innovation. Here's how...

Women and the Web: Are You a Scarlett or a Melanie?

After my research and talking with my professor, I've narrowed down and figured out the comparisons and the points that I want to make between gender, Gone With the Wind, and the new media.

In a previous post I mentioned that the Internet is a gender-neutral place. That's what I thought at first--but it's not. Actually, I'm prepared to make the opposite argument: that current use of the Internet is actually amplifying traditional gender roles.

Think about it. You could look at a blog and probably be able to guess the blogger's gender before you read a single word. What are women using the Internet for? Women's main use of the Internet is not to neutralize gender and enter more into masculine roles; women use the Internet to help them cook, sew, shop, make handicrafts, cut hair, do makeup--all traditionally feminine pursuits.

But women aren't using the Internet simply as a means to a traditional end. They're using it to be part of a social community. Women, much more than men, are using the web to connect with others who share their interests, hobbies, and goals. They use it as a way to reach out, to find support and to help others.

Melanie, from Gone With the Wind, is a perfect example of social connection. Throughout the Civil War, Melanie seeks the company of other women, looking to connect with them and support them. Melanie isn't afraid to reach outside of her social circle from before the war; she's even willing to befriend Belle Watling. Similarly, women are taking the dawn of the new media as an opportunity to step outside of their geographically bound social circles and connect with people from all over the world. Women are building new communities with each other and creating social ties--something women have always done, but now they're able to do it in a new way.

Scarlett O'Hara's Prerogative

I've discovered that the homemade Youtube music video is alive and well in 1800s Georgia.

I didn't expect much from GWTW music videos, but I actually really enjoyed them! Not to mention, I thought they were very interesting interpretations of the story and the characters (mainly Scarlett).

This video is set to the song "Apologize" by OneRepublic. At first, I found it ridiculous and nearly laughed my head off in the computer lab. I mean, come on--do you really think OneRepublic could beat the amazing original score? It seemed to trivialize the story to put it to a modern song.

Books vs. Movies

With the recent release of the film adaptation of The Hunger Games, the age-old (well, cinema-old) question is returning: Which is better, the book or the movie?

Two of my classmates have given really good answers to this question (click here and here). I also really enjoy this guy's take on it:

Now, let's get one thing straight: I am definitely a "book person." I don't believe I've ever read a book, seen a film adaptation, and liked the film adaptation better. But I think that we all--including myself--need to look at the situation of books and movies with a different paradigm.

Surfing the web? More like swimming in it...

So. Social discovery takes work.

For those of you not in my English class, social discovery is one way of using the Internet to your advantage. Instead of doing isolated research, drowning in massive amounts of (peer-reviewed ONLY, of course) dry articles on the subject written by experts, social discovery involves finding others who are interested in the subject and connecting with them. Click here for a more detailed explanation of social discovery.

Honestly, social discovery is so exciting to me. For a long time, I've felt like it's at the edge of my fingertips. I know the Internet is good for something, but what? So far, most of what I've done is just a new way to waste my time. But it doesn't have to be that way! Social discovery is the answer! 

However, as I've been getting started, I'm realizing that social discovery is a skill that must be learned, mainly through practice. We're learning about a lot of great tools in class, and I've been dabbling in most of them: Twitter, Diigo, Goodreads, and Ice Rocket, not to mention Blogger and Google+. Each seems really cool in its own way. 

But before these tools can be useful, I have to learn to use them. I have to figure out which tool (or tools) fits my situation the best. I have to figure out exactly what to type into that little search box in order to find what I want. And when I get a gigantic page of results, how do I most efficiently sift through them? Do I narrow my search? How do I narrow it? And what do I look for in the results in order to know which ones are of the most interest to me? The answers are different in every situation. 

As far as I can tell, these are skills that will only come with practice and persistence. Admittedly, I've never been the best at this sort of thing. When it comes to surfing the web, I still haven't caught a wave. But I have faith that I can get there. I can only move forward from here!