This reading uses abstract metaphors to detail the intention of the course, and the means by which to get the most out of it.

The course of Networked Media is described as a “certainly not a big” boat, one that is sailing in an “ocean of ideas”. This “boat” “seeks and follows eddies of the breeze”, and “bobs, floats, and weaves”.

The main thing that I took away from this reading is the idea that while we still have some control over where we go in the course and what we discover, (after all, there is still a mast on our boat) we also have to ‘go with the flow’ as it were, and let the course, our lecturer, tutor, or peers guide us in the right direction.

It definitely seems like a course that is meant to be more about the journey to find knowledge rather than the end results, as there “is no shore” in sight.

This is certainly a different way to describe and introduce a subject, and contrasts greatly with the usual stock-standard and formatted course guide that every other class has.

I suppose the typical university course could be described using the allegory of a speedboat, racing from one shore to the other, going so fast that it hardly touches down on the sea of ideas, while Networked Media is intended to be a slow, calm journey through this “ocean of ideas”.