In the age of the internet, do we really need formally educated experts anymore?
The internet and digital technology become increasingly more intertwined in our lives with each passing day. Older members of Generation Z have grown up alongside the world wide web as it has transformed into the cultural and economic institution it is today. We leverage our youth and personal experience to explore and research issues and trends in modern technology. We create How We Live Online, a podcast dissecting these issues and trends. Each week we produce, record, edit, and promote an episode of the podcast, which covers a variety of topics. Topics have included trends in physical versus streaming media consumption, modern sex dolls and the uncanny valley, and exemplars of archiving the internet. As graduate students in information sciences and creative writing, we investigate using a variety of analytical perspectives. Each episode, we present insights from data science and machine learning, feminism, economics, and pop culture. We reflect and introspect on the effect of online living in our own experience, connecting with and learning from our audience, an online community. Because of our quick production schedule, we can discuss emerging and breaking topics within a week. We forecast trends and speculate what the future has in store for the online world. In this presentation, we aim to explore relevant topics of interest. We also hope to present insights on critical making, sharing our triumphs and pitfalls. Finally, we strive to take in the expertise from the audience to inform the future direction of our podcast.
