I never skip class. Well, I guess I can’t say that anymore because I kinda skipped class on Wednesday. Not a total skip. I think for it to be an actual skip, you don’t have anywhere to be. I skipped because we had to take my dog to the vet. He has a painful wart on his paw pad and he’s been limping and wincing from the pain. It was breaking my heart and clearly hurting him, so we had to get it checked out and the vet had limited availability. So to take care of my baby, not technically a skip. 🙂

On Monday we talked about the encyclopedia. I am just old enough to remember using them, and my old-fashioned-ness is exacerbated by the fact that I was born and raised in central Pennsylvania (think Amish people – my neighbors are Amish). I didn’t get internet until I was in 7th or 8th grade I think. I vividly remember the floppy disk as a way of transporting my word documents from my home computer to the computer at school. I didn’t get a cell phone until I was 16, and I finally got a smart phone right before I went to college. Anyway, we had an encyclopedia set in my house and I remember reading them for research and when I got bored. My sisters thought I was crazy for that second reason for using them.

The encyclopedia brings up an interesting thought – how is information organized? It has to be categorized and cross-referenced. It’s very complex, and before computers it was hard to do.

Then we talked about Richard Stallman. What an interesting dude. I find him very interesting and forward-thinking. Essentially he created a platform for new computing software that is open to the public for correcting and advancing the product. He argues that the best way to get the best product for the most people (value theory much?), is to leave it open. Copyrighting is the enemy, in fact, he swears by his “copyleft,” that is, to leave things wide open for anyone to use and improve. He argues for the four freedoms of software – run the program for any purpose, study how it works and change it how you wish, redistribute copies of the program to help your neighbors, and improve the program and release what you’ve done to the public.

Then we talked about this in the context of Wikipedia. It operates under the belief that because anyone and everyone can add to it, you are getting the best and most information possible (so long as you cite it). Experts (or just nerds) of any subject can start a new page or edit an existing page. I love Wikipedia. I have learned so much from that site, it’s ridiculous. I honestly believe I would be dumber if I didn’t spend significant time on Wikipedia.

The downside to this whole “information should be free and changeable” thing is (1) that if someone makes something great that will benefit others, shouldn’t they get paid for it? And (2) in this way, there is no filter on information. Wikipedia has hired editors so that nothing inappropriate, false, or not cited is published. We talked about the DC shooting in the pizza place, or the recent anti-Semitic Pittsburgh shooting. These incidences occur out of false, diluted, or exaggerated information online. If information was controlled in some way, these things might not happen. But then we’d be going against our internet freedom of speech that makes us American and not The Great Firewall of communist China.

We were assigned a digital scavenger hunt for Wednesday, which I did, but then missed class. I chose to search mambo. I wonder if I can figure out how to insert the Ngram in here. I’m not familiar with blogging and I’m not fantastic at computer-ing. Anyway, there’s a little spike around 1830, then a bigger spike from 1857-64, then a bit wavy, then a HUGE  spike in 1956. This is really when the term took off. Then a dip, then a consistent rise until 2000. Since then, a slight decline.

For the Library of Congress newspaper digitization source – why does it stop in 1963? Newspapers still exist. From 1789 (where it begins) to 1963, there are 1127 results. From 1830-1963, there are still 1127. I think it’s fair to say that this word really started to pop up at that time.

In Mississippi from 1830-1963, only 3 results. In Connecticut, 6. Fourteen in Pennsylvania, and a whopping 306 in New York. Seems to be a more northern musical tradition.

This is fun. I found a children’s book called Under the Mambo Moon by Julia Durango about a Latino family where the girl is celebrating her quinceanera. Judging by this book, mambo may be a Latino musical tradition.

I’m going to keep digging into this, but I want to get this published so I can get to work on my paper due on Monday. I’ll look at some more books and jot down some quotes to see if I can gain some more knowledge on the genre. I’ll edit this post when I do so.

-Jessi Russell