Preface and Intro

This has to be one of the first textbooks I have found interesting, and if the book continues to live up to the potential started in the preface and introduction, then this is the start to a great relationship.

I feel like this text is finally putting all the thoughts I have been mulling over for the past couple years into reality. Gone are the days of propriety and here to stay are the "if it bleeds, it leads" mentality. I am scared that our society is quickly moving toward something like the movie Idiocracy. Ulmer explains it best when he is discussing our assignment for the semester, and states that we will be, "leaning how to write in a society of the spectacle, in which the image and word have become inseparable." (xxxiii) As little as I feel I truly understand exactly what we are to accomplish this semester, I feel that any research or thought provoking idea must be presented in a new, fresh and exciting way to reach an audience (outside the academic world anyway, because much of the academic world still is stuck in propriety). Writing a convincing paper is not enough. The general population is not going to read it. For an idea to make any kind of a splash within this digital world, it has to be visually enticing and have something that draws the user to interact with your idea. If it's static, then the user quickly becomes bored and leaves to find something that can capture its attention.

Ulmer's idea of the EmerAgency is very interesting to me. As "an internet consultancy" (xxi) it is based solely on second hand information (the testimony, also known as our societies gift to literature) and am I correct in understanding it almost stands back to watch the world implode? I'm slightly confused, but I feel that it's job is just to try and make sense of humanity's digital accident waiting to happen.