Disney for The Family, Maybe Not!
I found this essay by Brenda Laurel to be highly personal which is nice for a change. I can take pity on her and her struggles to create lasting memories with her daughter. As a child of divorced parents, I can remember my father always trying to make connections with my brother and I, to find that he was almost always unsuccessful. It is not that we did not love him, although it is closer to that point today, it was just that we were always closer with our mother and felt that we had to see him against our will. However, back to the point of the essay, which I have to admit I do not completely understand. I think the point that is being made is that as we advance in media the old technologies loose there magic, like the submarine ride at Disney. How many times have you gone to a carnival or amusement park and can not help but to think this is so fake. With that being said I think the innocence of places like Disney has died. The other point is the morality of amusements. I remember the days when everyone would stand on line and this was no problem, but now instead we see line passes, speed lanes, all special programs that once paid for allows the person to have a shorter or no waiting time at a ride. I don’t know it I agree with this. I think that one values the ride more if you wait for it. The same goes for the line holders, the one member in the family who stands on line and then the rest of the family comes up as he or she is about to get on the ride. I think this takes away from the ride and the lessons that can be learned from waiting. I know that in our world of faster, faster, faster, we want everything in an instant but maybe just once it would be nice to wait, for as we know good things come to those who wait.
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
The World through The Screen
The World through The Screen
It’s amazing when you stop to think about the emergence of the screen, be it movie, television or computer. Years ago you would walk into a fast food place and the menu would be up on boards above the register, now there items are flashing at you on as many screens as the store can hold or afford to hold. As we continue to experience new media and how it relates with us I think this will continue, we will take our technologies and the screens we access our technologies on with us. I mean we already have laptops and I-pods both of which serve as a type of personal computer. What’s next who knows, but the more important question to ask is how will it integrate into our world.
It’s amazing when you stop to think about the emergence of the screen, be it movie, television or computer. Years ago you would walk into a fast food place and the menu would be up on boards above the register, now there items are flashing at you on as many screens as the store can hold or afford to hold. As we continue to experience new media and how it relates with us I think this will continue, we will take our technologies and the screens we access our technologies on with us. I mean we already have laptops and I-pods both of which serve as a type of personal computer. What’s next who knows, but the more important question to ask is how will it integrate into our world.
Monday, November 12, 2007
Has Information Lost Its Value?
Has Information Lost Its Value?
Condition of Virtuality
Reading the essay The Condition of Virtuality by N. Katherine Hayles I could not help but get the feeling that I was reading cheesy science fiction. Beginning her argument, She states that information is at the heart of all. She explains that as technology advances so does information become easier to obtain. There are even examples in the paper of a “computerized Human” a computer that holds the consciousness of a human. However without all the crazy illustrations of science fiction I thing a valid point is being made. Information has now become so accessible that you can almost find anything online. So like the essay states, does that make information lose its value? In some ways I think it does. I think that we as a culture have begun to not take the information we have at our finger tips with much care. Back in the Middle Ages and Renaissance, scribes would write books by hand it was common that tops there may be ten copies of a book. The information contained in them was seen as vital. Long gone are the days where you were forced to do research on a subject on interest (unless it is for a class) but instead one looks for it on Google, or searches for it on Wikipedia. But I don’t know if that means that the information is worthless, no instead I think it simply means that it is more accessible to those who wish to search for it.
Condition of Virtuality
Reading the essay The Condition of Virtuality by N. Katherine Hayles I could not help but get the feeling that I was reading cheesy science fiction. Beginning her argument, She states that information is at the heart of all. She explains that as technology advances so does information become easier to obtain. There are even examples in the paper of a “computerized Human” a computer that holds the consciousness of a human. However without all the crazy illustrations of science fiction I thing a valid point is being made. Information has now become so accessible that you can almost find anything online. So like the essay states, does that make information lose its value? In some ways I think it does. I think that we as a culture have begun to not take the information we have at our finger tips with much care. Back in the Middle Ages and Renaissance, scribes would write books by hand it was common that tops there may be ten copies of a book. The information contained in them was seen as vital. Long gone are the days where you were forced to do research on a subject on interest (unless it is for a class) but instead one looks for it on Google, or searches for it on Wikipedia. But I don’t know if that means that the information is worthless, no instead I think it simply means that it is more accessible to those who wish to search for it.
Thursday, November 8, 2007
Unleashing the Ethical Bomb on the Internet.
Unleashing the Ethical Bomb on the Internet.
The Ethical Life of the Digital Aesthetic
To say the least, Ethics in the Media, especially in the realm of the World Wide Web is a very hot and dense topic. In my mind it is a debate that is far to complex for a single chapter summery to give justice to. However it is a topic that needs discussion. Is it wrong or right to take pornography of the internet? Should we censor children from accessing certain sites? Should the internet be controlled by the government? To be honest I don’t know if I have enough information to answer this. I understand the view point that the internet should be protected by the first amendment but at the same time does that mean we should leave it completely without restrictions? Does that mean that we should allow anyone to access anything? I think in many ways instead of relying on a sort of internet ethic we as humans need to rely on our own ethics and morals to control the wonderful and potentially horrible internet.
The Ethical Life of the Digital Aesthetic
To say the least, Ethics in the Media, especially in the realm of the World Wide Web is a very hot and dense topic. In my mind it is a debate that is far to complex for a single chapter summery to give justice to. However it is a topic that needs discussion. Is it wrong or right to take pornography of the internet? Should we censor children from accessing certain sites? Should the internet be controlled by the government? To be honest I don’t know if I have enough information to answer this. I understand the view point that the internet should be protected by the first amendment but at the same time does that mean we should leave it completely without restrictions? Does that mean that we should allow anyone to access anything? I think in many ways instead of relying on a sort of internet ethic we as humans need to rely on our own ethics and morals to control the wonderful and potentially horrible internet.
Cyber Evolution
Cyber Evolution
The Cyberspace Dialectic
How does one view the computer and the immerging cyber world? . As a tool, as the future or maybe a threat. The advances in technology have in some minds created an artificial evolution. Humans are almost being forced to adapt to new media technologies or fear becoming extinct. We fear dying out by not fitting in to the rest of society in the digital age. Now I guess in some ways that makes me a “realist”, someone who relishes on real experience and so what if I am. Now don’t get me wrong I appreciate the advances in technology just as much as anyone else but I fear that we as humans have allowed ourselves to become computer slaves, to allow this forced technological evolution to take us in a direction I don’t think we always need to go. I think at times instead of allowing our human existence to revolve around a box with a screen, we should allow ourselves to step out into nature. I can not count how many times I say to myself; today would be a nice day for a walk and then never go for one. Yet at the same time, I could not count how many times I have sat down at my computer when I have had any amount of free time. The emerging cyberspace world is exciting and exhilarating, but at the same time as we become pioneers in this digital world I hope we don’t forget to spend time in the real one.
The Never Ending Maze of New Media
The Never Ending Maze of New Media
Unfinished Business
While reading Peter Lunenfeld’s essay, all I could do was force myself from saying yes or maybe well duh. We have entered an age of digital exploration and with that will come the unfinished space stories and time. We are like today’s version of Columbus, but instead of searching for new trade routes to India, we are exploring an uncharted virtual world. Maybe in that way we are more like Captain Kirk, boldly going where no may has gone before. With this exploration will come stories of exploration and the digital experiences these “sailors” have. Stories will become unending as you begin to have virtually endless ways to end them. However, I don’t think time is endless, I think its accelerating in the digital world allowing everything else to happen at an alarming rate. Time instead is like the Grim reaper it allows advances to happen but destroys everything that is obsolete in its path.
Unfinished Business
While reading Peter Lunenfeld’s essay, all I could do was force myself from saying yes or maybe well duh. We have entered an age of digital exploration and with that will come the unfinished space stories and time. We are like today’s version of Columbus, but instead of searching for new trade routes to India, we are exploring an uncharted virtual world. Maybe in that way we are more like Captain Kirk, boldly going where no may has gone before. With this exploration will come stories of exploration and the digital experiences these “sailors” have. Stories will become unending as you begin to have virtually endless ways to end them. However, I don’t think time is endless, I think its accelerating in the digital world allowing everything else to happen at an alarming rate. Time instead is like the Grim reaper it allows advances to happen but destroys everything that is obsolete in its path.
The Ever Changing Screen Grab
The Ever Changing Screen Grab
Intro and The Real and The Ideal
In the introduction to the Digital Dialectic, we are introduced to the concept of the screen grab. The screen Grab, a sort of picture of you computer screen as it appears in that moment, is a metaphor for this Book, but also I think for this course, NMC 331, altogether. Who knows where we will be in two weeks or three months in relation to the New Media realm so instead, we study screen grabs the hear and now of New Media. Because as we are told in the Digital Dialectic, New wont be new for long, or in other words there is always a new new. The Chapter The Real and The Ideal continues this idea in an intriguing way, well at least for me by using Plato’s Myth of the Cave. This Myth serves as the classic tale of the truths we see and the ideal truth. However I disagree with a point the book makes in regard to Plato’s myth, it says that “the materialistic rationalism that leads to the development of new digital technologies would seem to undermine our confidence in our own ideal, much less the Ideal.” To this I would disagree, Plato talks about the ideal forms, and the fact that technology keeps advancing makes me think that we are doing everything in our power to reach those ideal forms. Whether or not we can reach ideal forms by our own accord well. . . that’s a different blogging for a different day.
Intro and The Real and The Ideal
In the introduction to the Digital Dialectic, we are introduced to the concept of the screen grab. The screen Grab, a sort of picture of you computer screen as it appears in that moment, is a metaphor for this Book, but also I think for this course, NMC 331, altogether. Who knows where we will be in two weeks or three months in relation to the New Media realm so instead, we study screen grabs the hear and now of New Media. Because as we are told in the Digital Dialectic, New wont be new for long, or in other words there is always a new new. The Chapter The Real and The Ideal continues this idea in an intriguing way, well at least for me by using Plato’s Myth of the Cave. This Myth serves as the classic tale of the truths we see and the ideal truth. However I disagree with a point the book makes in regard to Plato’s myth, it says that “the materialistic rationalism that leads to the development of new digital technologies would seem to undermine our confidence in our own ideal, much less the Ideal.” To this I would disagree, Plato talks about the ideal forms, and the fact that technology keeps advancing makes me think that we are doing everything in our power to reach those ideal forms. Whether or not we can reach ideal forms by our own accord well. . . that’s a different blogging for a different day.
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