On page 16 in Stephen Hall’s “I, Mercator,”, he wrote “It is hard to look at a map without sensing, in our bones, private hopes and secret fears about change.” My first paraphrase is it is difficult to see a map and not wonder what could be different about it. Another would be it is nearly impossible to dissect a map and not have a thought about the diverse effects change would have. Paraphrasing it for the last time would be when I discover a map I indefinitely think of the possibilities of change.
On page 41 of Watters “Controlling Our Own Technologies”, it reads “Having one’s own domain means too that we have much more say over what we present to the world in terms of our public profiles, professional portfolios, and digital identities.” Another way to say that would be having one’s own domain means we get to almost choose how we want to be represented to the rest of the world through your online profiles. A different way of saying that would be having your own domain can determine how everybody else views you through your social media. A different way of thinking about it would be that your self picture through the digital world is dependent on your domain, and having your own domain lets you have a major impact of what that picture is.
I chose each of the passages because I thought they were interesting. The act of paraphrasing affected my understanding of the passages by helping me get a better understanding of the text overall. Finding synonyms for words made me really have to think about what the passage was really trying to say. I learned that I need to analyze what I am reading more to better understand it. Watters was more challenging to paraphrase because of the way the sentences were written.
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