Blog 7- Presentation Impacts: What I Learned

All the EOTO presentations were very well done. I learned a lot from each group. One of the topics that fascinated me was Salem's presentation on the history and use of carrier pigeons. While most of us have heard of carrier pigeons, I had no idea how they were really used. I had always thought that these birds just naturally knew where to go deliver messages to, when in reality, the pigeons only know one place to go and one place to return. I had no idea that carrier pigeons were such an important way of communication all over the world in the past that even powerful leaders such as Genghis Khan used them to transport messages. 

Another presentation that stuck with me was Caroline teaching us about the history of the newspaper. As a journalism major, I was very interested in this topic. Most young people today have never read a concrete newspaper as many have gone digital. Newspapers in general are vanishing as they are taken over by social media platforms. Caroline's presentation reminded me of how important newspapers can be. I had no idea how the first newspaper started, but I now know that colonists of the United States started the first newsletter of sorts (Publick Occurrences Both Forreign and Domestick) to help establish a society. Since Great Britain still had control of the U.S. they shut down the publication. About fourteen years later, the first consistently printed U.S. newspaper was born, The Boston-News Letter. Newspapers were so important to the growing society of the United States to get any sort of news of what was happening there or back in Britain. It allowed colonists to feel involved and informed. 

I even learned a lot from my own group during presentations. I found Corrina's information on Instagram very interesting and pretty surprising. This presentation really stood out because most young people in the U.S. are affected by the social media platform everyday. The topic felt much more personal and the presentation was very well done. It was interesting to learn about the origins of Instagram and compare it to what it has grown to be. Although we all know social media (especially Instagram) is just an edited version of life that doesn't exist, Corrina's presentation reiterated that fact that we do not always remember. She highlighted both the pros and cons of the platform, and posed great questions to the audience, really making us think about our Instagram use.