- Explore your surroundings looking for material traces of the internet (explore indoor, outdoor, and underground spaces)
- Take pictures of all the internet traces you identify (discussed or not on the slides)
- Write down where did you find each element and any other observation you consider relevant
- What things surprise you from this scavenger hunt? Did your perception of the internet or your surroundings change in any way? What did you learn?
- Laptops and computers found at school
- They’re available to all students, either by renting them from the library or by using the desktops.
- Markings on the sidewalk
- They were pointing towards a small gated community, so whatever it was, it was specifically for that community.
- Wires from internet carriers on the streets
- Runs on all blocks, so it must carry more than just internet. It probably carries electricity and phone lines.
- Routers, one found in Penn Station and the other found in school
- These are just two examples of the many routers we spotted. They’re so common nowadays because basically every public space needs access o the internet in order to function.
- Wireless print release stations found around the school
- You can send something wirelessly from any laptop, and through the network, it’s carried to the printer systems. It must constantly be using the network because every single student uses the printers.
Nothing really “shocked” me when we were going around because as being a teenager who was born in the beginning of the digital age, I’ve grown up with new technology and new updates. Something I did notice as one of the biggest forms of the internet was all the people on their phones. On the subway, on the street, in their cars, people are constantly looking down at their phones. Not to say I don’t do it as well, but I think it’s taking away from human interaction, and so I have been making an effort to stay off my phone, because I think it’s important to communicate in real life. Overall, I think that since there is so much access to the internet, it has caused everyone to become social on their phones, but anti-social in real life.
