The Daily Triangle

by Laura

Back in 2000, Duke did some remodeling and unveiled an improved K-ville*. The campus was especially in awe of the ethernet connections in the lamp posts. This provided a much-needed way to connect laptops to the Web, because the primary concern of students seeking basketball tickets was ensuring proper completion of their homework.  Also, the lamp posts were a handy place to post those flyers about alcohol-induced hypothermia.

Life in K-ville, courtesy of uwire.com

Above you will see K-ville during the height of tenting season.  This is why I spent the second half of freshman year recovering from a cold.

Now, perhaps I’ve been away from school for a while – but suddenly, those lamp posts are beyond obsolete.  It may come as no real surprise to hear that the entire Triangle area is running on wireless.  But each day, I’m continually impressed by the community’s efforts to feed my addiction to electronic connections and prevent me from having to talk to people.  

Because you know what?  Being anti-social has its benefits.  Forget the friendly South – I only have so much time and energy to give.  I’d rather use that energy to talk to people I know & enjoy, rather than an administrative assistant who’s probably annoyed with my request to begin with. (Spoiler alert: this post may or may not have been written by a cranky ex-New Yorker.)  

The first sign of change came when Duke announced that all of its incoming freshman would receive iPods, purely for listening to educational lectures, of course. Fast forward to about five years later and shift a few miles down the road.  Now, on any given day, I can:

• Monitor real-time progress of public transportation on my Berry
• Receive email reminders and customized resources related to my latest doctor’s appointment, or the performance I’m going to attend that evening
• Mention the performance on Twitter, and then immediately gain a follower from that campus organization
• Book a Pilates session or a haircut via web calendar
• Turn in my registration forms for IM sports, or for an educational conference
• Receive regular Blackboard communication and postings from every single one of my older but seemingly savvy professors
• Have event details from community listings go straight to our personal iCal
• Have The Daily Tarheel delivered to my inbox
• Swipe my ID card at a print station to call up a job sent from my computer
• Ask a librarian to find an obscure journal article, and then email me a PDF copy
• Receive a trifecta of text, Twitter, and email messages to test the emergency alert system
• Live chat with IT support, when (gasp!) one of these technological innovations goes haywire

It’s not that these advances are so remarkable in and of themselves – I’m not that behind the times!  But, seeing them work cohesively across a vast array of users creates an inspiring sense of unity.  It’s nice to be so in sync with others, finding ways to meet my needs without ever having to suffer through a false exchange of pleasantries.

So far, my favorite uses of Web communication include the online submissions posted on The Daily Tarheel kvetch board.  Here’s a sample:

To the girl who pronounced H1N1 the “hiney” flu: I hope you get it.

See? Who would have thought that Al Gore’s invention would bring the world together in such unexpected ways?

*K-ville: A grassy area outside Cameron Indoor Stadium where, during the winter, students are tricked into sleeping outside for over a month in order to get into the Duke-UNC game.  In other words, the greatest place on earth.