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Saturday, April 23, 2011


What are the technical AND economic transformations that are making the new emerging media practices possible? Be specific—not just internet, but how, what capacities, materials, etc. Think about other technologies, roads, satellites, phone, and alternative energy sources, 

            Without question, the single most technical transformation is the SmartPhone. Everyone has one, everyone needs one. The current world wide ratio of cell phones is 2 cell phones for every single land line. (Maxwell, 2009) Since the SmartPhone is needed to make and receive calls, people usually sleep with the phone by their bed, let alone carry it wherever they go. The economic transfer is in lowered cost of parts, mainly the chips that run the OS. Take a picture on your SmartPhone, click a button and there it is on Facebook for everyone to see. The same can be done with Twitter as well as other social media sites.
Alternative energy sources would be my number one economic transformation outside of the Internet. Solar and wind power have yet to be harvested in an economical and practical fashion. Yes, they exist, but they are very expensive to produce and put into operation. Additionally, their size alone would preclude most people from having them in their homes. This in a sorted way leads to both economical as well as material capacities. If renewable energy were to be able to advance in the scientific portion of production as the computer did, it would eliminate the need for fossil fuels, thereby destroying OPECs grip on the world, let alone the emissions leaving the environment. With the renewable energy sources would come the materials needed to create the devices. We have seen companies such as IBM, Intel and others make billions of dollars from chips as small as or smaller than the tip of a pen. If this could materialize whereas it was feasible to create these alternate energy sources at a cheaper price, an entire new market would open up.
New emerging media practices are not new concepts however. People meet on Match.com and eHarmony.com; they meet on Facebook and other sites. How is this different than meeting someone in a gym, a nightclub or even a supermarket? The concept is the same; however the venue has changed due to the immediate ability and anonymity that people have with the Internet. The downside to meeting someone on the Internet was depicted in a cartoon that I recently read; there was a picture of a young girl with the caption of “meet 12 year old Cindy.” Below it was a sleazy old man in a dirty t-shirt with a cigar in his mouth that read, “Meet Cindy’s Internet 12 year old girl friend.” Therefore, the concept has basically remained the same, the threats that the Internet bring sometimes outweigh the good.
Reference
Maxwell, B. (2009). COUNTRIES WITH THE HIGHEST RATIO OF CELL PHONES TO LAND LINE TELEPHONES. Retrieved April 2011, from Geography Lists: http://www.geographylists.com/list21n.html



Understanding New Media
     Mediacy, hypermediacy and remediation can be used as terms to describe different types of media as well as the same type of media. The Sports Illustrated video is a prime example of this. Using the inter-active video in its new interactive format, the magazine offers the perception of immediacy for its new format, but also acts as a manifestation of the journals hypermediacy. At the same time, Grusin also claims that is premeditation because two very different markets are being advertised in one, the iPad and the new format for Sports Illustrated.

     Jenkins and Bolter offer up an example of remediation as a multi-media CD ROM whereas all information is self contained within the CD itself without having to look at outside sources for information. This is an example of an older form of media. Grusin on the other hand states that remediation does not have to be self contained and may contain a hybrid or mixed media that replicate other media.
Jenkins discusses premeditation as well in the sense of the Sports Illustrated video by having the iPad play the app, but then also has the ability to play a game while the user is reviewing the magazine, thereby deeming it preprogrammed interactivity.

      The video Gold Digger was also discussed as a form of remediation due to the look and style of pin-up magazine covers in the background while the video plays. Both Jenkins and Grusin agree that within remediation, there is a fine line to cross of undermining the premeditated type of all of our media interactions.
The article was very interesting and it did take a few times to read due to the fact that the two gentlemen contradicted each other on several accounts and obviously spoke in opinion, of which this topic is. It took several readings to realize that many forms of Mediacy can be crossed and mixed. I especially liked how they explained the terminology with the associated videos, however even there they had a few different opinions and some very grey areas. It is obvious however that both men took a lot of effort to not only develop their opinions, but their interview was well played. (Jenkins, 2011)

Jenkins, H. (2011, March 7). A remediated, premediated, and transmediated conversation with Richard Grusin (part I & II). Retrieved 2011, from Confession of an Aca-Fan: http://henryjenkins.org/2011/03/a_remediated_premediated_and_t.html



Thursday, April 21, 2011

The purpose of this assignment was to discuss Comment on Murray’s four properties of the computer and give examples for each. Murray’s four properties of the computer, encyclopedic, participatory, procedural, and spatial.

Murray’s four properties of the computer
The assignment was to discuss the four properties of Murray’s view of properties of the computer. Without headers listing the four properties, I found more than four, therefore I will engage all that I read and give examples of what I believe that the author speaks of.
In the beginning, the author speaks of confusion as to where digital medium is headed. She speaks of “enhanced video games and television.” Then she compares this to the vast variety of formats that are now available, and without stating it directly, questions as to where this is going? The Internet is now used on an iPad to watch TV, on an Xbox to compete against other warriors in fictional characters across the world, but is also used as an agent to learn, seek information, both current and historical. When the automobile was first invented, it was done so to seek an alternative to horse pulled carriages, but soon developed into crude race cars. One idea came from another and they were developments spawning from the same invention, as is the Internet. I believe that no matter what the invention is, there will be offspring that was not thought of in its inception, but developments that will bring many hybrids of the same design.
Murray then discusses the fact that the traditional library with books is being greatly outpaced by the Internet. She discusses that the library very may in fact be an obscure or even extinct entity due to the technology that exists on the Internet. Both Borges and Bush do not think of the computer as a replacement to the library, but instead it must create a change in how our minds think in relevance to how we seek out information. That we are looking for short cuts to gain this information as fast as we can.  I remember when I was younger; our town had an evening newspaper. The town was not small by averages of other towns in the U.S., but it was the only paper. Therefore, for this paper to go to print, it had to begin early in the A.M. As this paper was phased out and the entire countywide area gravitated to a paper owned by a large conglomerate, it became an A.M. paper available at most newsstands by 5 A.M. This meant that all of the information that was printed could have been reported up until late the evening before, giving an entire day’s head start on the evening rival. Eventually the evening paper closed and we are now left with still one local paper. The Internet though has beaten the current paper hands down. With an RSS feed, a text message can be sent from a murder scene describing the details within 30 minutes of the reporter receiving notification. Did I need to know this information this quickly? When the evening paper came out I didn’t, but now that I can receive an RSS feed on my SmartPhone, I can’t live without it. I believe this is what Murray describes in the differences of Borges and Bush.
A very interesting point that is bought up is about how information is pooled by many people via the Internet, making us smarter people. Not just in current and potential future events, but in historical events such as WWI and WWII, seemingly putting us in the midst of the battle with its descriptions and pictures. All of this done with a mouse and keyboard instead of looking through an endless sea of books and references. Although I personally am not a gaming aficionado, I imagine that many of the games that are sold now that simulate war, both on foreign soil and domestic gang fights give the user the same type of experience without actually being there.
The article ends with how in the 1960’s, the computer was used primarily for scientific and economic uses of extremely large databases. Murray likens the time when Douglas Englebart (who had devoted his lifetime work and career to developing the computer for everyday use), to that of Michelangelo, seeking what he deems as a “computer renaissance.” Instead, early in the years of computers and without the time needed to develop what we have today, Murray likens Englebart to DaVinci with much work to do, but left incomplete due to lack of time. Murray also believes that it might be possible one day that we in fact will have outthought ourselves and our humanity with the further advancements that computers may take.  (Murray)
Reference
Murray, J. H. (n.d.). Inventing the medium, http://www.ctudoctoral.net/file.php/615/EM820_Spring2011/Murray_Inventing_the_Medium.pdf. Retrieved 2011, from from CTU doctoral library.