'Web New.0' + 'Edu-creation'

Web 2.0 and Social Media, while they have some negative connotations associated with them, explore the new generations of software capability. These new applications and entities take full advantage of the fundamental ideas behind networking and apply this to the web. With these technologies, anyone can publish anything, from virtually (no pun-intended) anywhere around the globe. It has become almost a sort of main-stream pioneering, a collaborative effort forward.

These new innovations, I'll call them 'Web.0,' encourage participation; and the best part is that they are inherently open and social. I would love to have an intellectual boxing match with someone who would argue: "These innovations will ruin education as we know it." I would tell that someone to substitute the word 'ruin' for the word 'change.'
Our New Media class has proven, via this very blog, (along with much more,) that said someone is wrong. I estimate that "Olives on My Pizza" has 'trafficked' 150,000 to 500,000 characters during the month of July. This was just an Intro to New Media class--by this I mean that no one needed any complex understanding of computer software for this astonishing information exchange and collaboration to take place. Let's say, for argument sake, that at least one half of the 120+ blogs that our class has contributed are relevant, interesting, and/or meaningful. That means that a tiny, 10 or so different students, have contributed a net of at least 60 blogs that are educationally significant.

Allow me to get a few final points across:
Vast amounts of information are out there... so why not use this information to re-create, feedback, and re-mediate new ideas and entities? This really applies to education; especially as it pertains to creativity.
Tangible research will continue... (i.e.-the Medical fields, non-Computer Sciences along with hybrid ones that do incorporate the 'Cyber World' somewhat, etc.)... so the free-flow of information can be of great aid to these "Tangible" fields.
Overall, 'Web New.0,' as I'm calling it, offers very intriguing, unmatched resource of functionality. Exploiting this grants new and high potential, especially for the future of learning and communications.

Control Us

In the reading, Beniger compares the architecture and landscaping of Harvard University to 'free-flowing cyberspace.' Harvard has forsaken the centralized control of the campus and is instead "...in favor of decentralized control by emergent popular habits."

This is not always the case on the internet, as Beniger alludes to with a compelling inference:
"For those who would control vast populations...the growth of cyberspace does present an immediate setback..."
But it also "...[has] the promise of even greater control in the near future."

The author points out that no medium has ever resisted application to mass persuasion and control. This is a scary thought. Is freedom as we know it on the internet doomed by time via corporate/political interest?

When mass communication is limited to one-way delivery, there are so many restrictions. Two-way communication is much better (I hope we agree on this by now,) "because the effect of any one message can be monitored and responded to in a subsequent message." Its as simple as that primordial idea; it brings us back to the idea of 'feedback.'

Regardless of whether or not the control of cyberspace is iron clad, it is difficult to picture a future internet that restricts two-way communication. This is subjective: I'm an American who has been blessed with the opportunity to own and use new technologies for my entire life. I along with many others are jaded; we should all be educated on the Internet as it pertains to the rest of the globe...the Chinese internet is dreadful, it makes me think of Farenheit 451. Our nation needs to use objective knowledge and wisdom so as to find a balance as a whole, but I truly hope to see a continuously growing free-flow of information in the years to come.

Which World Takes Precedence

In Chapter 2 John Phelan talks about disconnection with reality. How the internet takes us away from the real world. It acts as a distraction from real action in the world. Gumpert and Drucker also talk about the loss of the connection to the real world. They talk about how this didn’t start with the internet, but rather how it started with television. Making the home entertainment center the central to our lives is a perfect analogy for what the internet has become to our lives as students. Phelan talks about how as a teacher he is very dependent on email and digitized texts from all the libraries of the world. With this technology he finds it “timely and inescapably available” to send instructions and information to his students and most importantly receive their requests and questions at any time of the day. As a student I share the same respect for email and blackboard that Phelan has access to as a professor. It is impossible to stay away from the computer as a college student. Although computers and the internet may suggest negative impacts with disconnecting from reality, I find when dealing with school work the internet can be a positive disconnection. When I am alone, with just me and my computer, I can do work and feel like I have fallen onto the page with my words and the words of the scholars I have searched for inspiration and knowledge. Yes there will always be the tempting and distracting social networking systems and other entertainments that can be found on the web, but I have found these to help me take a break from my work when I have lost myself in the computer. Although, there have been times when I had spent so many hours in front of a computer screen, that I have turned to other ways to get away from these mind absorbing sites that disconnect us with the real world. But at the same time, what is the “real world” anymore? Everyone you have to communicate with you can access on the internet. And everything you have questions about you can just simply punch into Google. So when the concerns arise about the internet disconnecting us with reality, we should ask ourselves which world takes precedence?

Copyright, wasn’t always copyright. So what led us to copyright? Intellectual property and the ideas of property go back to the beginnings of civilization. Property was originally tangible therefore there was no need to provide the sense of ownership because what was yours you had. Because there was no form of writing or even an alphabet at that at the beginning of civilization the idea of copyright did not enter their minds because no problems arises from this. The way things are addressed and taken care of is when a problem arises. If there was no writing then there was no one stealing other peoples work and claiming it for their own. Hence there was no need to come up with a “right” to prevent that from happening. With writing or any form of notation came with the need to develop a private property ownership. But what opens up the idea that you can have copyrights? The invention of the printing press. What Neil Kleinamn talks about in Chapter 4, is after the invention of the printing press, we get the notion of copyright. The idea of copyright was established from the medium of printing. The idea of patents follows the motto established by copyright and the same thing goes with trademark. The same thing goes for patents and trademarks. With an established government and peoples individualization, is followed by the right to your own ideas. In the beginning of civilization these problems didn’t arise because the idea of surviving was their only concern. Now that we have evolved into social beings competing to be the best, the idea of surviving is a simple one, and the idea of excelling becomes our focus.

'Death of Copyright'

I believe that copyright is dying, due to our national and global culture embracing spaceless and virtual worlds. Whether its for the better or for worse is for time and debate to decide. Many competent people who are aware of the times we live in would advise not to invest in any company that distributes books, music, or movies. It is fairly evident that the digital revolution we are experiencing is the reason why this suggestion is being made.
Here are some of my predictions:
I predict the demise of the entertainment companies' models as they have always existed. I believe that HBO has created 'HBO GO' because they either have been or can see future revenues falling as a result of satellite Internet connections and cable modems. I believe that Daytime TV will probably survive--I'm sure Oprah Winfrey's income is secure. Live broadcasts to millions of women by their adored celebrities will most certainly uphold market share. The same probably goes for soap operas. Sports broadcasts that are live will continue to uphold market share every weekend...and women will be the 'sports widows' that they often are.
I could go on,
but I want to talk briefly about why the end of the 'Copyright Era' (we can call it that I guess) is seemingly imminent. New technologies are now making it very expensive for monopolists who own the legal right to distribute copyrighted ideas and images. This is seen by many as an assault on private property; we've discussed this at length in class. Many more (along with hypocrites) just shrug their shoulders -- hey, they want digital copies of movies and music...ASAP and AEAP (AEAP=As Easily As Possible© :D ). Self-regulation isn't working and the cost of suing over, say 100 million Americans, well its just not economically sound. Regardless, this is the future. Furthermore, when we look at the past we realize that the moral defense of copyright wasn't always popular, "...It was an unpredicted outcome of government policies to restrict the free flow of ideas."

The Original Dream still Exists

In the reading, I found it interesting that the shift to an information delivery model seemed like an end to the dream of a utopian internet. Originally Tim Berners-Lee saw his invention as “just another program,” but if Berners-Lee had decided to patent this idea, the Internet would be a different place then what we are so familiar with today. Instead, the World Wide Web became free to anyone who could make use of it. Because he and his colleagues agreed on a license free technology, people can see the same Web page as any other personal computer, system software or Internet browser, on their very own personal computer.
He originally wanted it to help achieve understanding. He imagined it to be a collaborative space where you could communicate through sharing information. The idea was that by writing something together, and as people continually collaborated on it, they could find mistakes and minimize misunderstandings. Tim Berners-Lee said, “There was a time when people felt the Internet was another world, but now people realize it is a tool that we use in this world.”
The internet has many fathers who developed other important components that make up the internet we are familiar with today. It was the contributing components from Berners-Lee’s and his colleagues which caused this shift. This collaboration helped them bring together the invention of the world wide web, with the system to let different computer networks interconnect and communicate, the creation of e-mail which included the use of the "@" symbol, and the coin of the term hypertext. This joined together with Berners-Lee’s World Wide Web with browsers, hypertext markup language, and uniform resource locators (URL’s) caused this shift which forced the creators to envision a different future with this system.
In Chapter 21 Douglas Rushkoff makes the distinction between communication and information. The distinction is that web browsers shifted the internet from a one-to-one communication, Berners-Lee’s original vision, to a one-to-many communication, the new vision after collaboration. He also makes it a point to insinuate that it was unintentional to go against what Berners-Lee originally imagined. Rushkoff talks about this as a kind of war and he takes the side of the communication as an interaction. He sides with the people not the programmers. He says the biggest problem is letting go of that need to control the message and just letting people take over.
I disagree with Rushkoff on this aspect because although there is information on the internet which is controlled, the internet is made up of much more than just that. If anything this shift has led us to be able to do anything we would like with the World Wide Web and to a much higher extreme than Berners-Lee could imagine when he first envisioned this system. Sites on the internet such as, Wikipedia, Blogs, and Social Networks, allow us to communicate on the internet through an information basis where we are able to collaborate and envision ideas just like Time Berners-Lee and his colleagues.

mental break.

I agree with Ace when she talks about chapter 2 and how Phelan states how the internet disconnects us from reality but that temporary disconnection isn't necessarily a bad thing. Of course you don't want to be constantly finding yourself disconnected to the real world all the time but just like everything else in life, things in moderation are good. LIke Ace said, when your busy writing a 396734 page paper its nice to be able to escape for a little and explore some social networking websites such as facebook or twitter. It gives your brain a break so it can refresh its self. A down fall to this break however, is that some people, including myself at times, find it hard to actually do the work and get off facebook. :(

social permanency

In addition to Juliette's comment about companies/brands walking a fine line between trying to control or stop what is said about them, or having to just let it go, I think this is a serious issue not only because the things said are malicious and untrue, they are permanent. Just as Professor Strate had dealt with his name being linked to an inappropriate website that he had nothing to do with, the anonymity on the internet and inability to not be able to control what is said about you nor deleted thereafter is terrifying. You really have to think about what you do and what you put out there for the whole world to see, because it can never be taken back. In this sense, I find this kind of social interaction to be less like communication, and more like information because although you can give your own input, somewhat stand up for yourself or attempt to make corrections, it is never like a conversation with someone and water under the bridge. Even worse than being in print, is having something written or shown about you on the internet because it forever exists somewhere. Even having some sort of centralized control would not be able to eradicate this type of behavior nor the permanency of information. It is incredible how powerful and persuasive information is and even with the prominence of social media and level of communication that the internet embraces, we are left feeling out of control. It has become bigger than us, and what is conveyed on the internet seemingly holds more weight than the spoken word.

Information vs. Communication or Information + Communication

Yesterday in class, we talked about control and how the U.S. is different than communist China because our government doesn't try to control the internet, our economy does. This actually makes a lot of sense because brands and labels would rather have you online buying their product rather than socializing with your friends. I however would disagree on whether it's one or the other thing battling to be most prominent on the internet. I think actually brands have capitalized on the fact that the majority of the world's population uses the internet for communication. They have seen the trends of social networks and rather than fighting to be top dog, they have merged.

There are more than thousands of brands on Facebook and Twitter. The brands use the social networks differently in order to market their brand and image properly. The brands use Facebook to hold photo contest like Johnson & Johnson, give away coupons like Palm Beach Tan, and encourage customer feedback on a one to one basis like Nintendo - article courtesy of Mashable. The brands use Twitter to provide instant help with technical problems like The Home Depot, to promote new products like Starbucks, and to engage immediate customer response like the upcoming movie 30 Minutes or Less - article courtesy of Search Engine Journal.

So, back to what we were discussing in class yesterday about corporations trying to take over the communication aspect of the internet, I think they already have and the businesses that haven't are catching up quickly. I think they are facing some issues while trying to get consumer information to us via communication. Yesterday, for a second, we talked about hate speech and how that is still technically respected by the First Amendment, but how there is a fine line between hate speech and libel/defamation. Earlier this year Forever 21 was confronted with this problem of determining what someone could say about their brand when they tried to go after WTForever21, a blog about the negatives of Forever 21 stores. An article from ABC News, "Forever 21 Threatens Blogger With Lawsuit for WTForever21 Site," said that the corporation was planning on taking the blogger to court, but was advised against it due to the amount of negative publicity they got as a result of the lawsuit.

So it's true that brands still haven't found a way to get us to stop badmouthing their product and they realize that bad publicity - especially on the Internet - lives up to its name of being "viral." But I think they have seen how much we rely on the Internet for socialization and rather than make it information vs. communication, they have seen ways to merge the two.

social networking

Last class we talked about social networking.  Within the last decade social networking sites such as Facebook have become a way of life for people of all ages.  Although social networking have expanding the forms and types of communication in our society, I agree with Jamie that it can make relationships become solely cyber.  Facebook allows people to hide behind an internet personality to do whatever and act however they please even if it isn't truly how they are in real life.  What most people do not realize is these social networking websites actually restrict the amount of privacy one person could have on the internet, making every post that much more dangerous.  Many people have been denied jobs for the content on their Facebook page or a picture that looks suspicious or promiscuous.  The more social networks sites that become available the more our society uses that as an excuse to stay glued to the computer screen.

New Hypertext - Vogue Stealing Wiki's Idea

This is a little random but Lauren's post about hypertext reminded me. I met a girl on my flight Sunday who told me about a new Hypertext on the web. (Since this is a new media course, I figured it's good to post some new technology as it arises) A few classes ago we came to the big realization that the world wide web is one big hypertext. We also realized that Wikipedia is a hypertext because you can be on one page and click the other hyperlinks to find other topics - similar to the hypertext stories we viewed on the web that day. Wikileaks and basically all other Wiki+noun websites operate the same way. Recently, Vogue decided that they would take this idea and run with it and they created: Voguepedia. It's essentially a hypertext that centers solely around fashion: designers, models, brands, personalities, and beauty. They're currently building the website right now, they have released it for the public and, similar to wikipedia, it is always expanding. Unlike wikipedia though, they are requiring extensive research and article submission before they post it to the website. Makes you wonder what hypertext is next: sports for example could be just as broad a topic.

Social Networking and the internet has almost made one-one conversation impossible. Everything that you post on the internet is displayed for all to see. A message through a social network that is supposed to be private can still be seen by someone it was not intended too. The purpose of social networking is mot negative at all. It is intended for people to use it as a way to create relationships, network ideas, promote ideas, and even reconnect with people that you lost touch with. The problem is people become involved with the sites and become addicted.

For example, my mother works for the state of New Jersey as a criminal investigator. Her job can be very time consuming and sometimes she finds herself bringing home work from the job. Despite being so busy my mom used to make the time in her day to log on to Facebook and update her status and make sure she kept up with maintaining Farmville. She was only able to stop using Facebook once she found herself bringing a lot more of her work home with her. she realized that Facebook was consuming a lot of the time that she was supposed to be concentrating on work.

open-ended

Reverting back to a few class discussions ago, I particularly liked the idea of the hypertext format that the woman had to write her stories online and take ideas from her readers and to change them according to what they want to hear and how they want a story to end. Reading Rushkoff's "The Information Arm's Race" made me think about this more in depth, and how different types of mediums should be viewed and utilized. He explicitly says that any form of movie or book, no matter how absorbed we get or captivating it is, it is not participatory and therefore not classified as communication. Although we may sometimes think that someone's else's ideas being expressed to us, may seem as such, "it is merely a unique and personalized experience essentially dead data." The internet and other types of social media are described as a threat to programmers and other advertisers who are influencing us to do things by telling us what we need. Rather than being fed information, we are able to interact with one another, and be participants, which is a more realistic and better defined form of communication. Constant change and move from the status quo is something we should continue to seek. This is a fundamental idea in the field of communications, and not surprising that it was greatly brought about and enforced by Mcluhan himself, who welcomed inquisition and constant questioning.

social notworking.

In response to Michael, and Lauren I also agree with the statement that socializing and relationships have greatly changed due to the Internet and technology. I believe that this change however is not for the best for our society. I believe that people replace real relationships and friendships with online ones. People are too busy changing their status while they are out doing something “fun” then actually enjoying what they are participating in. For example when someone post “ I’m having sooo much fun at a party.” shouldn’t they be to busy having too much “fun” at the party to take the time to stop to update their facebook status?

Also the fact that people can contact and see what someone else is doing 24-7 is also not the best for relationships. Back in the day people weren’t able to talk or text their girlfriend/boyfriend every other minute. This constant communication I believe puts stress on each person in the relationship, where before the only communication would be in person or over a home phone.

Early Internet

The early Internet was a text-only technology. Users would send e-mail, join in live chats, or participate in asynchronous discussions on bulletin boards. Users spurred Utopian visions because it was the first time we could spread ideas globally. Working through wires and computers, the internet was a community as well as a living cultural experiment. At first, the internet was not at all about information but about relationships. We were not interacting with data, but with one another. For example, if a philosopher posed a new idea, he would be forced to defend it. Also, everyone had an equal opportunity to voice their opinions online.
The trick at this point was to figure out how we turn this communications nightmare into controllable mass medium? We needed to replace communication with information. By 1980 we were on the cusp of the Information Age. And now that information was traveling all over the World Wide Web we needed to make sure that this information being shared was factual.
The current direction of Internet technology promises a further interactive abilities. Our internet is getting so fast it is turning into TV-like Internet.

copyright and youtube

In chapter 4 of "Communication and Cyberspace," Neil Kleinman speaks a lot about copyright and how it should be used for information posted on the web. He focuses mainly on intellectual ideas and writings in this chapter, but something he left out was the use of other media such as videos and music online. Copyright on videos and music became big with the introduction of youtube, so perhaps the reason he left this out was that youtube had not been created yet. I feel that the copyright laws on youtube seem a bit too strict. When I was younger me and a bunch of friends used to skateboard and make videos using programs such as imovie or windows movie maker. When making these videos we would use certain songs to go with the film, but we soon found out that there were a bunch of songs that we could not use. There have been instances where our videos were taken down from youtube for containing copyrighted material, which seems a but ridiculous to me because we just made these videos for fun. I believe that videos like this, made just for entertainment and not marketing, should be allowed to include whatever material necessary to make a good video, including copyrighted material. Now, if the video was made for marketing purposes I would say they have the right to take it down if it contains copyrighted material, but only for that purpose. I think that youtube should loosen up a bit and revise their policy regarding copyrighted material.

Arielle's post made me think a lot about the Internet and how it's actually causing a lot of young kids to grow up faster. Since the Internet is so big and you can't control what content gets put on there, there's a lot of stuff out there that could be detrimental to kids. Not to mention the fact that kids seem to be one of the primary audiences online - they have taken over Twitter, Youtube, and Facebook. They're definitely exploring all the possibilities that the web has to offer. In fact, in the documentary we watched the woman said that it was lucky she had her younger daughter to explain the world wide web and emails and new technology to her. So are they brave little explorers or growing up too fast? I think that they are actually making it a lot easier for us because they create this new frontier that we can learn from. Talking to a 14 year old can actually be one of the best things to do in the social media field because they always know the terminology (hashtags, etc) and how to complete tasks using the social media networks. I think that it's good they're out there, and it's definitely beneficial to them - especially for school and socializing. They are learning skills at a young age that most of us caught on to in high school. So that part is definitely a pro. I think that it will be interesting to see what the next generation will bring to the technological table.

online education documentary

I thought the documentary during our last class was one of the more well rounded ones we have watched.  Although it sided more towards online classes being a helpful tool, it showed evenly both the positives and negatives of the idea.  I think online education effects each person individually, as some people may love it while other people may not be able to adapt.  Me being a hands-on and visual learner would probably find it hard to gain any knowledge from taking an online course.  Some people, on the other hand, cannot afford driving to a classroom or has work hours that does not fit their school schedule may find it easier to take online classes that work around the hectic things already occurring in their lives.  One man that spoke in the documentary was explaining that face-to-face learning with a professor cannot be simulated or get the same benefits as a computer.  I completely agree, but I also realize that some people have to settle with less than perfect to get what they want out of life.

Risks of the Internet

Parents believe that children having access to the Web is very important, yet many parents believe children will come into accounts with something they should not see. Clearly the benefits outweigh the risks in the Internet, but parents need to worry about children finding explicit images or hackers breaking into the family household computer. They need to be aware of these risks in order to prevent them from happening. Items, such as credit card numbers, are stored into families databases. Databases are something a hacker could easily gain access to. Like anything in life, there is always a little bit of risk involved. Having a bad mushroom could kill someone, yet we still eat them anyway regardless of the risk involved. As a society, we balance the risk in different activities with the benefits they provide to us.
According to Paul Slovic; risk is broken down into two factors: how unknown the risk is, and how dreaded the risk may be. Both of these factors go hand in hand. Internet risks are unknown to many people because for one thing many common users of the Internet are still learning new things about it everyday. The technologies and advancements we have been achieving are moving faster than we are able to keep up with. For that reason, some parents believe it is too dreadful for their child to go on the Internet. The dreadful concept comes from the fact that as parents they are responsible for keeping their children safe. For the same reason a parent may not allow their child to visit a friends house before they meet their parents, is the same reason they feel uncomfortable letting them surf the web; they have a sense of fear for the unknown. If they themselves are still learning new things about the internet, it is unlikely that they will let their own child discover these things on their own.
Others see the Internet as an escape for children from other technologies they are consumed in, they find the internet to become a good balance amongst everything. Also, they find the internet a good source for education and school work. It's not unlikely for these children to have more experience with the internet and use it to their advantage, not to spoil their minds. The Internet is still very much unknown and we as the users are vulnerable to the media. It is not only important to learn about the new technologies emerging all around us, but it is also important to understand the risks involved so we are able to gain the best possible experience from our medium.

cyber-social creatures

In response to Michael, I agree that the dynamic of social relationships has changed immensely; there are some ways in which we have become less social, in the sense that people do spend a lot of their time in front of the computer playing games, surfing the web, etc, but I beg to differ that people are as a whole less social due to all of these social network sites and means of mass communication. I can see how less face-to face interaction can be seen as such, but I just feel like it is simply a different, and perhaps more relevant social behavior that has replaced it.

For example, Drucker mentions the hot topic of artificial intimacy, which got me to thinking about the prominence of online dating, in this day and age, which was once seen as unsafe and rather taboo. I think this kind of social site alone, is demonstrative of how "cybersocial" we have become, and how trusting we are in sharing our personal information, and developing relationships with people we meet on the Internet. Furthermore, he discusses the need for cyberlaw, which is an important and necessary response to technological advances and being able to control all of these outputs and social interactions on a completely different playing field. People want to feel safe on the Internet and I believe more than ever they are able to. There of course is going to be some debate of how much control is implemented and by whom in order to maintain this feeling of safety and preventative measure from hacking and unwanted, negative mass persuasion as mentioned on page 63. But I think overall, we have become more social creatures and have developed a stronger trust in cyberspace.

online education

The documentary about the use and growth of online education was jammed packed full of information. I found it interesting seeing the different benefits from online education. Some of the benefits were that online education was cheaper, more easily accessible, and in some cases even produced a better form of education to some. I however have taken online classes before and it wasn’t my favorite to say the least. I personally like my education to be in person, but that’s just me. However for people who do not have to time or funds for traditional education, it is very beneficial and therefore should be further explored.

The Digital Divide

During the year 2000 there was a leap of 201 million to 3003 million internet users in the span of two months. This seems like a large number but in fact it is only a small fraction of the worlds population. One statistic said that in early 2000 there were still about 96% of the worlds population offline. In the span of 11 years I am sure that number has changed quite a bit, but my guess is that it is still a minority percentage.

In a 1999 white paper from the US Department of Commerce, it was suggested that in the time since the 1997 preceding 1997 white paper the “access digital divide” had become more evident (National Telecommunications). In the document it shows that the people who have been using computers for some time are getting far more advanced than the population without access to computers. In the paragraph below you will see the gap broken down in five different ways.

Income: Email usage had increased over the time period of this study as well as the income level. Of the people in upper level incomes about 44% used email in 1998. In the lowest level only about 6.2% used email during that same year.
Race/Origin: All groups growth increased by about 3.5 times or more. Whites led the way with Hispanics and Blacks following behind. Whites led all areas of the country whether it be urban or rural.
Age: Senior citizens used email the least amount but over the span of 4 years the usaged quadrupled.
Education: There was a huge correlation between email and the level of education. The digital gap between elementary school-educated and college-educated households grew from 8.7% in 1994 to 37.5% in 1998.
Household type: All household types increased except male householders with children. Usage by households with married couples and children led all categories throughout the period by a substantial margin and equalled 25.9% in 1998. During the 4 year span, rural area usage trailed other areas of household types except for the female householder with children category.

Anti-Social Networks

As I was reading the first chapter in “Communications and Cyberspace,” particularly page 35, I started to think about the effect that new media, including social networks, have on our social lives. In one particular passage Gumpert and Drucker talk about the way social life used to be, and how they “played and watched others play,” and “conversed with strangers we might not meet again…” This passage really made me think about how much the average human social life has changed due to new technology. Nowadays a good amount of social interactions happen online, whereas in former generations there was no such think as online interactions. It appears as though we are becoming more antisocial, sitting in front of a computer screen talking to people via web rather than going out and actually seeing that person or doing some sort of activity with them. Many people’s social lives seem to have been consumed by facebook, even though facebook is supposed to be a way to enhance our social lives, not hinder it. In addition to social networking sites causing a decrease in face-to-face interactions, another media that does the same thing is video games. It looks as if many kids are now spending a lot of time indoors playing video games rather than going outside and participating in sports or other activities with other people. New media does have many tools that make it easier to interact with other, but we have to be careful to make sure we don’t use it as the only way of interaction.

cybertime

Due to the fact that space and time are independent of one another it makes perfect sense that their counterparts, cyberspace and cybertime similarly exist on their own. Truthfully I have never thought to separate cybertime from what I percieve to be real time. Time is still passing while you are in cyberspace, but after reading this chapter, it has made me realize some significant differences, and be able to disassociate the two. Strate mentions three important components of cybertime, which include the computer's time function, the medium itself as a symbol of time, and our perception of time in our interactive experience spent on our computer, and with an online community.

I think the first mentioned of the time function is very clear cut; it allowed the intrinsic and extrinsic time of the outside world to be measured and coincide. Furthermore, the comparison to the clock has made it more tangible and easier to understand; they both produce pure information. An important difference though between a traditional clock or watch and digital time is that it focuses on the present whereas a clock is additionally representative of the past and the future. In a previous class we had discussed it in a way that really put this into perspective for me. At a certain point, say 7:40, it is easy to say that 7:38 is closer in time than 7:50, because visually and spatially it is. But in the scheme of actual time it is so much further. I think this idea of digital time, is synonymous with cybertime, and perhaps explains our difficulty in perceiving it as separate from real time. It is hard to understand it as on the same playing field as cyberspace, because you cannot see the greater picture; you are living in the moment, and do not feel like you are existing inside of it.

After watching the South Park world of warcraft episode (since I have never actually played the game) it definitely put cybertime into perspective, just as Strate describes it in the computer as a medium. Although real time is passing while one is playing a game, there is a definite sense of virtual time, where one is completely absorbed in a different world, and is practically a different person. The immersive quality of virtual reality coupled with a variety of modes representing time, give me a much better sense of not only time spent on your computer or other media, but in it.

now generation

While reading Professor Strate’s chapter about time and cyberspace I thought it was very clever how he made the comparison between the clock and the computer. The clock gives the information of time in a fast and accurate way, the same way a computer gives information of other subjects in a fast and accurate way.  Also I agree with both Professor Strate and Michael Raganella when they talk about the part of the chapter when Strate says  "When sitting at a computer terminal, delays of a few seconds seem interminable and five minutes an eternity." This delay does not only affect life through a computer but also real life as well. I believe it has turned and fueled our generation to what is known as the "now" generation. This means that we need instant gratification. Right here right now, but is this a good or bad thing?

Computers = Clocks

Chapter 22 of Communication and Cyberspace discussed the links between computers and external clocks. One interesting point Professor Strate pointed out is that computers developed in society the same was that clocks did. Time is human-made, meaning that it is completely objectory. Seconds, minutes, and hours were created to give people settings or schedules throughout their existance. Clocks started out being very expensive and only few were available, but they quickly became popular and widespread throughout society.  Now it is virtually impossible to find someone who doesn't own a clock or a watch of some sort, at it has become the building block to sustain the schedules of people around the world.  Almost the same things has happened with computers.  First computers weren't seen as a necessity and they were scarce throughout society.  As years passed, the people became more reliant on the abilities of a computer and now it is found odd if a person does not own one.  It was also discussed in the chapter how computers have their own internal electronic clock, and how every program is run on this aspect.  It was interesting although a little confusing reading on how complex the time that computers run on and the type of world it creates.

In the reading I would have to completely agree to the fact that the internet sped up the way people live and also affects the way people live. As technology sped up so did our way of life. We become so involved with our cyber lives that it transfers over into our real life. Since the internet is fast, we expect that aspects of our real life should be fast. Cyber life can have an enormous impact on the way people live; in fact it may even take over some people real lives. For example, the people that are addicted to video games have sometimes completely abandoned their real life just to focus on their gaming and cyber life. Another example would be of people so into their computers that they never leave their house because they have lost all forms of social interaction. The only communication that they have with other people would be only through cyber space. Now that video games are becoming more complex people are able to customize and almost create people in their own images making it easier to relate to the game. They are even some social networks that allow people to create avatars. Unfortunately, this might also make is easier for people to lose grip on their real lives and become completely indulged in their cyber ones.

Philosophies of 'Cybertime'

The reading for today's class discusses 'cybertime' and all of its implications as an idea. "Cybertime is absolute time, and it is digital time...something more than digital clocks and watches." There are important negative aspects that are associated with this notion. The reading talks about how "a digital timepiece displays numbers in a vacuum--time unbound to either a circadian reference or the past and future." This lack of connection, referred to as the lack of "[this] circle," results in the elimination of a very important idea/understanding -- of time as being a cycle; the reading call this the loss of "...the notion that time is cyclical and related to the larger rhythms of the earth and solar system..." If our society is constantly losing connection to this seemed reality and truth of our ecological systems and celestial place; the question isn't 'What's the problem with this?'--but rather 'What isn't wrong with this?'
The reality of time, or at least an arguably much more healthy way it can be perceived, is that it's seamlessly flowing, "...Rather than hiccuping periodically." In contrast to this, 'cybertime' is based on a series of individual, separate "...and distinct electronic pulses; just as is the case with the microworld's absolute time...they are what passes for time in cyberspace."
In my opinion, 'cybertime' has some very disturbing implications and repercussions; especially in regards to the offsetting of our human circadian rhythms, as well as the generic distortion of the way we all interpret the entity that is time.

Lost in Time

In this chapter, “Experiencing Time,” Professor Strate explains that human interaction through computer media include our use and experience of time with cyberchronemics. For example, email and computer conferencing are asynchronous forms of interaction. This makes email highly flexible and an efficient way of interpersonal communication. The dictionary definition of asynchronous is, “requiring a form of computer control timing protocol, in which a specific operation begins upon receipt of an indication/signal that the preceding operation has been completed.” The asynchronous character of email eliminates many time-related issues that may create loss of control over the groups output, and even a loss in time it takes to complete the task. Asynchronous forms of interaction allows for increased participation, creativity, and satisfaction.

In cybertime, distinctions between past, present, and future start to fade and our sense of time becomes distorted. For example time flies by when engaged in computing and gaming. This is particularly evident in video gamers who are capable of blocking out their sense of time in order to enter only the world of the game. Now whether this underlining feature is positive or negative is up for further debate. I personally find that with the advancements we are making with video gaming, falling into a virtual reality while playing is a natural tendency. The ability to differentiate the two is for the gamer to decipher. Often times long-term computer users jolt back and forth between the two worlds of game time and reality time. This is called, “temporal schizophrenia,” which is when a user is caught between two distinctly temporal orientations.

As said by G.S. Kirk author of The Nature of Greek Myths, “cybertime is in someways a form of sacred time, a mythic time or dream time.” I found his observation directly on point. If you have ever engaged in gaming, even if it was something as simple as Atari, you will notice that when playing that game you are unable to accomplish something else successful. This was because you had entered an alternate reality. When engaged in the game, you became the figure on the screen that you were controlling with your hands. No other medium provides the same sense of active personal presence like the computer; no other medium allows us to construct and encounter other versions of ourselves. Computer mediated communication has also led to the discovery of multiple roles, personalities and identities. Through VR technology we can see our dream selves or fantasy selves. Our cyber-selves are digital creatures made of data and information and are unaffected by time.

cybertime and impatience

While I was reading chapter 22 in "Communications and Cyberspace," I came across a passage that stuck out. The passage can be found on page 367 and says, "When sitting at a computer terminal, delays of a few seconds seem interminable and five minutes an eternity. Hyperspeed breeds impatience, haste, and intolerance, both online and in the real world." After reading this passage I began to think about how long it used to take a page to load when the Internet was in its early stages. When I used to go on the Internet as a kid the time it took for a webpage to load up wasn't nearly as quick as it is today. It usually took a couple minutes for each page to load up, but at the time it seemed like nobody saw no big deal in waiting the couple minutes. Now, if a page takes a mere 30 seconds to load up we all seem to have a problem with it. We are so used to getting information at the instant we demand it that it appears we have lost a lot of the patience we once had. Even in the real world, as the passage says, when it takes a couple of minutes to receive certain information we become anxious and impatient. I have never really thought about how or why my patience has changed until reading this passage. I never even really thought my patience had changed until I thought back to the days when the internet was first introduced to everyone, and it was then that I realized how much things have changed.

Is the computer our second self?

After reading the chapter on cybertime I realized that through virtual reality and computers we can seek our more ideal and fantasized self. Within computer-mediated communication there has been a great deal of play experimentation with multiple roles, personalities and identities. To put this into perspective, take any sporting game or battle game now-a-days. While making your character the player has options as to what the player looks like by changing qualities such as the hair color, weight, muscle tone, and so on. When we play these games we are altering ourselves into a new community. According to Carl Jung over time a new synthesis between the conscious and the unconscious may well emerge and a new consciousness may possibly emerge through a synthesis between our physical personal and the dream selves we generate in cybertime.

Virtual Technology and Reality

Virtual reality is a computer interface that enables people to participate in 3-D environments that have been set up from computer-generated environments, digitized images of people and objects, or imported video. Computers are able to generate people interacting in person and then place the images on a computer offering the user to feel as if they are in a different place.
Currently developments in virtual reality focus on entertainment in gaming. To me I find this stuff to be really interesting. Being the youngest of three brothers I have seen a lot of military application type games over the years. In the new VR technology it appears on the screen like we are actually playing it ourselves or in the game.
The human factors of VR refer to human performance, behavior, and desire that must be applied when designing an information system. When making these new VR’s , we know from experimentation in psychology, sensation, perception, and experience are some of the related issues. Some of the normative factors include cultural variation in communication expectation, performance or norms, and ethical considerations. Among other factors listed are expressive, instrumental and cognitive interfaces.

eeeemial.

Judith Lee discusses how email has changed the way we communicate and has made it easier to write and send letters. She also goes on to say how email has also changed the level of formality of the way we communicate when it comes to letters. She discusses how we have evolved to writing the way we would talk to each other. This could be looked at as both positive and negative. She says that the “memo” has become the new formal letter when communication with in organizations. Within a memo includes the to, the from, and the subject line, along with the body or the note part. This way it is to the point and quicker, the reason email was created in the first place.

online classes

I think the advanced of students being able to use online classes is definitely an advantage. I agree with Charlie, however, that there is negative aspects to education via technology and computers. As we discussed in the last class, e-mails have sprouted in the electronic industry as a way of sending letters more quickly and more efficiently. They have come up with "cc" and "bcc" options, that make sending letters even more complex and more convenient to use. The most important part of e-mails is the speed at which they reach the person we are trying to communicate to. Even invites to numerous people for a large party can easily be done quickly through e-mails without spending extra money or time. Have e-mails made sending information too informal? I believe at sometimes, yes it does. The reason hand-written letters are so valuable is because the person receiving it appreciates the time and effort that went into creating it. Also, each hand-written letter is different and more intimate then sending an e-mail, as they all look the same and are sent without emotion. Online classes however, are beneficial for the students who cannot afford housing or to quit their job but still need to catch up on credits to get a degree. In a more negative light, online classes are much less informal than a lesson held in a classroom by a teacher, meaning that people could not take it as seriously and not pay attention as much. Students who need hands-on, visual, or hearing to learn any type of subject could have major trouble actually being educated from an online class.

mcluhan and virtual reality

I think these past few classes have been the most interesting thus far. We started with the idea of cyberspace, and the fact that the internet and everything involving it has its own world surronding it. Virtual reality is a simualtion of another life external of our own. Virtual reality, although it looks simple, is rather complicated. Professionals will take a computer-like device that usually covers the eyes, and send a person or numerous people off into another dimension that feels as real as the one were in now. We talked about a word in class related to this subject called immersion, which a stem off of the word emerge. An immersion of virtual reality literally means to engulf yourself in this electronic simulation, having all your senses and everything around you look and feel as real as humanly possible. With the advancement and control over all the videos games out today it is not a surprise to me that virtual reality is becoming more intense and more popular. What most people do not realize is that virtual reality is an augmented state, meaning that you can become attached to it although it is not technically real. Like in the video we watched, professionals created a virtual reality that simulated the thoughts and actions that go through a skizophrenic's mind, and patient's agree that it is almost identical to how they felt in the past. The other documentary we watched about McLuhan was interesting and confusing in the same sense. McLuhan believes that content of a medium in another medium. The video definitely showed how influential McLuhan was on the idea of the introduction of new media to our society throughout history.

Online Education

Online education is used at almost every school across the country, if not all. At bigger schools where it is hard for students to fit into the class schools have made online classes an option for credit. there are some drawbacks to online education but i was lucky enough to find enough reasons for online to still be a popular and resourceful way to learn.
Geography: If we could fly anyplace in the country in less than 20 minutes that would be great, but unfortunately we can't. With online courses I am able to take a class at the prestigious school Stanford while living in breathing in the New York City air at the same time.
Timely manner: Timing is everything to life. But what if timing was a restriction on something that needed to be done. With online courses students and teachers can grade and learn in a leisurely manner. In a school setting if the teacher had to cancel class that would leave all the students feeling as if they had just wasted time out of their day. This is not the case online classes, you have no excuse not to finish the course.
Note Taking: Being a slower student myself taking notes in class sometimes can be a pain in the butt. With an online course I am able to go at my own pace and retain everything within the scripts of the material.
Price: People need to make a living and making. Making a living can be tiring on top of going to class for three hours a night. Online education can fix these problems. If a student works better in the morning then they have the option to work on the assignment or read the chapter before work.

Informality: Good and the Bad

Lee discusses email as a new medium; educating us readers about its origin. The cultural mindset of those who use it is all too often informal. There is the speed of this new medium, or 'hybrid medium,' as it moves in hyper speed when compared to 'real mail.' It may just be this hyper speed that has made informal dialogues, messages, and so-forth (pertaining to email or digital messaging of any kind) absolutely commonplace. The good things that communication via email and these other new mediums bring us are obvious: a massive amount of information is being shared and its being done so at an exponentially faster pace---thus progress is bound to occur in many places as a result.
The bad things don't always steal the spotlight. As we discussed, informality can lead to questionable behavior/relationships in the workplace. Other issues can emerge in the workplace...like the 'bcc' option in email...which has tons of potential for malicious use. The informality in email and other similar mediums can lead people to misunderstand others. These are just some of the basic, fundamental 'bad aspects' of informality in email and other new mediums of communication. Its kind of corny to quote Spider-Man, but here it is anyway: "...With great power comes great responsibility." Email (and the other new communicative mediums) certainly give great power.

e-class

As we had discussed yesterday, electronic mail has been such a groundbreaking invention that has practically rendered letter-writing obsolete. Similarly newspapers and other print media is disappearing due to the fact that everything is available online. I thought it was interesting that these hypertexts are created online to simulate flipping through a magazine or book; a very literal form of remediation. Gibson contemplates this idea of hypertext ultimately replacing books, as being an inevitable shift. Particularly in a classroom setting, the need for books would diminish, but the effect of reading one can still be achieved in utilizing this hypertext. Furthermore, virtual reality poses an even greater question of whether or not classrooms, in the literal sense, will continue to exist.

Although virtual reality may be viewed as serving merely entertainment purposes, it has many practical applications as well and may be an important tool in educational organization. It is an immersive learning experience that would be able to be tailored to individual needs. it would allow students to not only utilize a more fun, interactive environment that can simulate real world situations, but according to Levinson, it gives on the opportunity to participate in class without the constraints of geography or time, which is pretty remarkable, and quite appealing. I particularly agree with the potential result of this in which he describes that people will "tend to participate at their best, when they are likely to derive the most benefit from the experience." In a way it is similar to a class like this, in which we are able to blog and share our ideas as we think about them on our time, or we stumble upon something that provokes a relevant thought. Although there are some constraints due to the timeline of a course and assignment deadlines, I believe that this form of education could really be conducive to a more productive, effective, and importantly, a desirable learning environment resulting from the freedom that it provides.

The New Medium Process

What other medium does email re-mediate? Like we discussed in class the obvious answer would be writing letters. But writing a letter and sending it in the mail is a form of contrast to what we now know as e-mail. In Judith Lee’s chapter she states that email re-mediates a simpler format for communication within the organization, known as memorandums or popularly known as memos. In memos you don’t need the whole address, you just need the: to, from, and subject line. She says that the email format copies the memo rather than letter writing. The memo became the major medium in inter-organizational communication. Lee goes on to explain e-mail as a new medium. She says that email is a lot less formal than other mediums; in that sense, it’s compared to conversational speech. She says it has elements of both written and oral conversation. Part of the difference between written and oral communication is that in writing we are much more tolerant, but at the same time you can’t always tell the boundaries. She also points out part of the problem with this mode of communication is the general tendency to be much less formal with email. The difficulties people face with it is that in oral communication your engaged, with writing you tend to take more time, edit even if you want, because of this it becomes more informal. She also mentions that email is a hybrid medium; the tendency to use abbreviations goes along with American culture. This emerges because it is a fast medium. Although Lee has made strong points that are very true at the same time but getting a new medium and the idea of remediation is only part of the point. On top of everything that Lee has stated, a new medium is created and with time it is inevitable for it to start to develop codes that didn’t exist before. I find that the changes that come along with new mediums should not be consider in-formalities as much as they should be considered a part of the new medium process. Part of the convenience with internet access is the speed in which words can travel. With that being said, it is only necessary to use this medium as much as we can to its advantage and part of that is discovering new forms of communication. This is not just the case for e-mail. This idea has continued even to this day with the many different forms of communication continuing to develop.

Education and VR

In chapter 12 of "Communications and Cyberspace," Terri Toles Patkin talks about having VR as a type of learning experience, such as having a VR internship or VR environment pertaining to certain subjects and classes. I think this idea is brilliant although it may never be possible due to how expensive it would be to create various VR environments for different classes and internship experiences. If it were possible to create these VR environments affordably and actually have them at schools such as Fordham I believe it would revolutionize education. It's commonly known that the best way to learn something is hands-on, and VR would be able to offer that hands-on experience that would enhance education. Patkin focuses mainly on the education/experience of communications students, but she acknowledges that VR would be beneficial to all. One field I think it would enhance the most would be foreign language classes. Most people say the best way to learn a language is to immerse yourself the culture surrounding the language, but in order to do that you would have to travel to another country. With the VR environments you wouldn't have to travel anywhere, it would all be right there for you. The VR environment could be a copy of different cities for different languages. For example, a student taking Italian could choose a VR environment of Rome while a student studying Spanish could choose the city of Madrid. This type of immersion into an environment where the VR people speak only the native language would be ideal for these students. If VR environments actually become a reality there really are no limits to what we could learn.

Edgar Allan Poe

I found there to be many parallels within the many ideas represented in the film we watched in class on Marshall McLuhan. I believe that the director used Edgar Allan Poe’s story as the main theme throughout the film and continued to refer back to it because it went well with the narration of McLuhan’s life. In Edgar Allan Poe’s poem the idea is that there is this shipwreck and its told from a sailors point of view who survived. It’s a whirlpool sucking everything down and it looks like the sailor is a goner. While he’s waiting for the piece of debris he is holding onto to be taking down, he is watching what else is going on around him. As he is watching he notices a pattern. This anticipates the chaos theory before they had the theory had ever existed, and it is brought about in Poe’s poem. The sailor notices that there are some things instead of being sucked in are being pushed out. The normal strategy is to stay on the debris which is keeping you afloat, but instead, because of his pattern recognition, he lets go and is saved from the whirl pool. When he is picked up by an oncoming boat, no one believes his story. With this being said, I also found that the director used the representation of Poe’s story because the story represents this idea of pattern recognition going back to Poe’s era. The analogy of no one believing the sailor along with overlooking this idea of pattern recognition is just like how no one understood or bought into McLuhan’s ideas. I think the director of the film continues to refer back to Poe’s story in order to tell the story of McLuhan’s life because they complement each other well. The director is making it a point to state that when Poe introduced this idea hidden in his poetry it was over looked, just like no one believed the sailors story and just like McLuhan ideas. Although McLuhan seemed to be ahead of his time, it’s unbelievable to imagine the advancements we could have made if we bought into McLuhan’s ideas and if we took them more seriously no matter how perplexed they might have seemed at the time.

Digital Classrooms

There have been a lot of predictions that the digital world will make it easier for you to be in an independent place and still 1) communicate with friends 2) go to work and now 3) go to school. This section of the class is really interesting because digital classrooms have already started to become popular - classes you can log into, class discussions that can continue online, etc. I found an article that talked about the pros and cons of communication mediated education and thought I would add a few ones from the standpoint of a college student:

Pro: You don't have to show up to class anymore - you can access the material, discussions, and homework on any day and any time of day.
Con: For some of us procrastinators, this gives a lot of freedom to continue ignoring assignments and "skipping class."

Pro: Students get the most benefit from being taught by a forerunner in the specific field. But those industry leaders typically have a lot of work to do besides teaching and giving out homework. This education system allows the professor to continue making strides in his field without sacrificing the knowledge of the minds of tomorrow.

Pro: Researchers have found that these digital classrooms actually encourage class participation. In class you can always nod along or answer in as few words as possible, but online they found that students are more likely to type more about the subject than they would have said in class.
Con: Based on what we talked about yesterday, about how digital writing has become more and more relaxed, casual, and conversational, you have to wonder how much actual substance can be found in those longer paragraphs. Especially when you consider how many kids ramble in their essays just to fill the word count.

Pro: Sometimes students don't speak up in class for fear of the teacher or the other students judging their comment. With this new educational system, there will be no way to tell that because there will be no body language to interpret and no way to hear the snickers, so more shy students will feel comfortable sharing their opinions.
Con: Not having a physical face to talk to (no facial cues or tones of voice to go off of) does cause people to learn differently, and in some cases, less than they would have. It also opens the door to "flame wars" which we discussed yesterday - when things you wouldn't read into too much if they were said in person, when read online make you mad.

So, is it the way of the future? I actually think yes. It will definitely change things: classroom discussions will be more casual, we'll have more opportunity to follow career paths and go to school simultaneously, and there will more student participation. However, maybe we have to take a step back for a second. After all, we've already dismissed cursive from school curriculum, as found in USA Today, and added LOL and OMG to the Oxford Dictionary, as found in The Huffington Post. Kind of does make you wonder though, is all this change too much, what was really that bad about the old systems? Are we encouraging kids to go to school by sacrificing the standards of education?

e-mail formalities

In chapter 19 of "Communications and Cyberspace," Judith Yaross Lee writes about how communication via e-mail is its own type of communication and is more informal than most other forms of communications. I do find this to be true, but to an extent. I think the formality level depends on who the sender is writing to. If I am writing a letter to a professor here at Fordham University, I always make sure I use proper greetings and endings, and always check to make sure grammar and spelling are correct in my e-mail. On the other hand, If I am writing to a close friend I usually get a little careless with spelling and grammar and use abbreviations and other phrases that I would never consider using if I was writing to a dean or professor here at Fordham. Lee states that even in e-mails that are meant to be formal there is a common omission of an opening greeting and a proper closing good-bye phrase, but I would attribute it to the way the sender writes normally rather than to the fact that he or she is using e-mail to communicate. Though I do agree with some of the points made in her writing, I do not believe that e-mail should be considered less formal than most other forms of communication because every sender has a different style of writing.

The Medium is the Massage

I thought it was clever that McLuhan chose not to correct the mistake of the title of his book. Instead of message he used the word massage. By this he meant that the media pretty much "massages" and influences people to do a certain thing or even change their way of life completely. His main argument was that the media was an extension of our human bodies, senses, and minds. In the movie i wrote down something that McLuhan had said,

"the medium itself is the message; the medium itself is the greater influencer of society - more than the messages it is carrying."

I am pretty sure that he is saying that the whatever gives you the message is greater than the message itself. For example, the computer is the medium and it gives us messages but the computer itself has became a greater fixture in our lifestyles than the message.

Understanding McLuhan

I believe that Marshall McLuhan was underrated, under-appreciated, and most importantly: way ahead of his time in terms of progressive communicative thinking. The fact that he was not taken seriously by many people is just more of a testament to his unorthodox ways of thinking, rather than being a means to discredit him in any way. The film was a good history of the ups and downs in his personal life; as well as his evolving philosophies and ideas. It was incredibly funny to hear McLuhan talk about how his kids would ask him: 'why don't you have a real job, dad...like all the other dads'? Learning of his personal battles and life struggles definitely aids in the process of comprehending his true motives, ideas, and in turn--ingenuity.

McLuhan

The video was exemplary of how revolutionary McLuhan's idea were to media and communication. McLuhan put so much emphasis on the medium of a message rather than its content, which is often mistaken as the part holding most importance. With that said I recall a particular comment in the documentary made about his preference and passion to speak in person directly to someone or an audience, where they are able to have a dialogue and pose questions. His placement of lesser importance on written media or his books parallels this idea of medium as a message, and the need for it to be able to be easily interacted with, changeable, and most importantly not have a definite endpoint. In realizing this, one can come to understand the extensions to the human body that all of these mediums serve as, in a physical sense, which overrides the importance of the content, which we can easily get blind sighted by. The content exists without new media and advanced technology; they are separate entities. This alone helps us see the increasing transformations to our environment and lifestyle that these mediums alone bring about.

r/evolution.

The documentary we watched last class was at times confusing but also very informative. I found it interesting when they showed the young children in the class room learning the twenty six (in Charlie’s case the twenty four) letters of the alphabet. The narrator went on to say how the letters by themselves don’t mean anything until they are paired with other letters. Those paired letters make words which then make sentence which then communicate ideas. I also thought McLuhan’s idea that technology ultimately is an extension of our bodies is also very accurate and kind of reflects the idea of evolution. Many people who do not have access to technology do not live as long as some one who does.

Second Life - A New Place for Marketing?

This is a little random, but today at work my boss was telling me all about this interesting new tactic companies are using to get extra public relations: they're building their stores in the game Second Life and selling merchandise. The clothes and products they sell in the game are only virtual and for your avatar. The idea is though to spread awareness about the brand and make people shop their when they turn off the computer. It's almost like a new form of product placement. So far Second Life has housed brands from Rebok to Toyota and until recently, American Apparel. Kinda cool, you can read more about it in this New York Times article: Second Life's Real-World Problems.

What McLuhan would think today

McLuhan's radical ideas couldn't have been introduced at a more perfect time as it reflects a pot smoking, revolutionary rhetoric time period.

McLuhan's central thesis "the medium is the message", was that the technologies through which we take in information - the media, broadly defined - become "extensions" of our bodies, exerting a profound influence over us. When an important new medium arrives, it can reshape who we are as individuals and as a society.

The electric media of television and computers would liberate us from our dependence on the printed word. Print was what he called a "hot" medium, one that absorbed all of our attention and left little room for participation. A "cool" medium is one that left plenty of space for participation.

The internet does seem to represent the fulfillment of McLuhan's vision, at least in some ways. As we've seen with the explosion of blogs, podcasts and homemade videos, the net encourages media participation on an unprecedented scale.

But it's hard to imagine that McLuhan would be self-assured about today's "electric media". In fact, he'd probably have a hard time even recognizing them. Television, which McLuhan saw as cool medium, is rapidly turning into a hot one, with enormous screens, high-definition images and surround sound. And computers, rather than freeing us from the printed word, have made text more widespread than ever. Whether surfing the web, typing messages on our phones or checking our BlackBerrys, we are wrapped in a world of text that would have boggled McLuhan's mind.

McLuhan understood that as media become more interactive, they also become a more potent tool for control. They not only transmit information to us but gather information about us.