MY OUTLOOK ON THE BLOGOSPHERE.......
I think that part of the big allure of participating in the blogosphere is that under normal circumstances the participants are anonymous except for a user name and maybe a profile. But face-to-face interaction is almost completely avoided. Blogging is also a great rapid response public platform to share information. The only blog that I’ve attempted to write on before this class was the ‘Huffington Post’, but I was too intimidated. There are a couple other reasons why I haven’t done blogging before, usually it is all very opinionated and it’s very difficult for me to decide concretely my thoughts in writing, it also takes a lot of time and thinking and reading in front of the computer and I’d like to think that I try to avoid my exposure time in front of the computer as much as possible. I can see blogging as being just another addicting thing to distract me from interaction in real life. I use the computer for reading the news, communicating with family and friends, and as a general information resource. I do believe that blogging is a great resource to share information, but as an Otis student I don’t have that precious free time to dabble in the blogosphere, maybe I’ll look into it after I graduate. But for now, I’ll keep blogging strictly to media studies.
Mike's Blog: responce to "What I learned about McLuhan"
A really interesting point that Mike brought up of the McLuhan interview was about his use of Tribal Man vs. Literate Man. Mike quoted McLuhan, “another basic characteristic distinguishing tribal man from his literate successor is that he lived in a world of acoustic space, which gave him a radically different concept of time-space relationship.” For me this is really interesting, the idea of living in acoustic space, which implies round space, organic space where beginning middle and end to no exist. Maybe the Internet is a modern form of acoustic space in that every page or space that we look at as an infinite amount of options to open up new windows and links. I think this concept is especially true for Wikipedia. The idea of Wikipedia also makes me think about something that Henry Jenkins said in the forum we went to, he spoke about the power of ‘we’ instead of ‘I’. I think that the Internet in contrast to books is an another example of the power of ‘we’. We are the ones using, creating and interacting with one another on the Internet. It connects us on a communal and world level. The idea of the collective ‘we’ also makes reference to the ‘tribal man’. In many tribal societies there is no concept of ‘I’, it is always about the community, us and how ‘we’ interact and live together. Jenkins also spoke of the “participatory culture” which is also a major aspect of “tribal man”. It tribal culture it the participation and working together that allows the tribe to survive. Wikipedia would not exist is it wasn’t for the community participation in it’s creation. I believe that the popularity and success of the internet is greatly due to the fact that it is a participatory medium. An example that Jenkins gave was the power of community, that the reason why we do thinks like bowling leagues or gaming, it’s not necessarily doing those things, but the conversations that happen around it. Basically, that it doesn’t matter what medium we use to connect to one another, it is the relations and conversations that occur through his process that is the driving force behind out participation. Another example would be what we’re all doing right now, blogging. I think that blogging can also be another form of this no beginning, middle or end. It is an open ended conversation.
February 28, 2008 11:35 AM
Kate's Blog: responce to "Power to the People"
The most important idea that Kate brought up in the future of the internet is how companies are going to make money in this seemingly free enterprise. Kate said, “The problem for the corporations is that the download culture has created an expectation of free media… Any company that wishes to compete in this new climate must restructure their business model and understand that free can also equal profit. The solution must be free media.” The beauty of the internet is the open access and freedom that we have when using the internet. The internet is completely bias, anyone, any corporation large or small can be successful. The web of an infinite amount of information is at our fingure tips. Somebody has to make money somewhere, but the media “must be free media.” Now the question is for how long? Companies are finding ways to make money and being smarter about advertising placement and there’s also the whole threat of Net Neutrality.
I think that some of the most successful ways that advertisers have made effective use of the internet is on Myspace and in the beginning of many videos viewed on line (excluding You Tube). For example, Myspace has ads everywhere, most of the time it’s relatively easy to ignore them. The most successful impossible to ignore placement is when you first go onto the home page, more often than not, there will be an ad that covers almost the whole page. This is usually done when a new movie comes out in the theaters. This works so well because most of the time the background is white, then all of a sudden one day you sign on and there’s a colorful ad covering the whole background usually accompanied by some kind of trail. I don’t think I’ve ever actually paid attention to it, but it’s impossible to completely disregard. The second way companies have been successful to make viewers pay attention to advertising it that sometimes on videos (like on TV sites or something similar) in the beginning they have figured out a way to disable the fast forward button for the commercials. Basically you’re sitting there waiting for the show to start, you can’t press fast forward, you know the ads going to be short and you don’t want to miss the beginning…so you are in a way, forced to watch the ad.
Another threat to equal “free” internet is the idea of Net Neutrality, which “prevents Internet providers from speeding up or slowing down Web content based on its source, ownership or destination…The nation's largest telephone and cable companies -- including AT&T, Verizon, Comcast and Time Warner -- want to be Internet gatekeepers, deciding which Web sites go fast or slow and which won't load at all.”(from www.savetheinternet.com) This is a complicated issue and worth looking into. Here is some more information from Wikipedia about Net Neutrality”“Some of the arguments associated with network neutrality regulations came into prominence in mid 2002, offered by the "High Tech Broadband Coalition", a group comprising developers for Amazon.com, Google, and Microsoft. However, the fuller concept of "Network neutrality" was developed mainly by regulators and legal academics, most prominently law professors Tim Wu and Lawrence Lessig and Federal Communications Commission Chairman Michael Powell most often while speaking at the Annual Digital Broadband Migration conference or writing within the pages of the Journal of Telecommunications and High Technology Law,[24] both of the University of Colorado School of Law….In April 2006 a large coalition of public interest, consumer rights and free speech advocacy groups and thousands of bloggers -- such as Free Press, Gun Owners of America, American Library Association, Christian Coalition of America, Consumers Union, Common Cause and MoveOn -- launched the SavetheInternet.com Coalition, a broad-based initiative working to "ensure that Congress passes no telecommunications legislation without meaningful and enforceable Network Neutrality protections."” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Net_neutrality)
Aya's Blog: responce to "Millenials"
I also found the Millennials video very interesting, especially the part, like Aya said “They are also very positive and casual about their life, such as job. They believe that they can do anything.” I really do believe it’s true, I really do believe that I can do anything. I also strongly believe in making the work environment as fun and enjoyable as everyday life. This was the second time that I’d heard about the characteristics of Millennials. Though, it does feel a bit weird to hear our generation categorized and really relate and agree with a lot of the characterizations.
Also as Aya said, “The video made me think about difference between me and my parents”, but unlike Aya, for me this is were the lines blurred a bit more. Both of parents have nicer phones than I do, but I use text messaging more. My mom has more knowledge about computer programs than I do, but I spend more time on the internet and use websites like You Tube and Myspace unlike her. I didn’t have a digital camera till a couple months ago, but my dad has always had top quality digital cameras. So maybe the difference between the generations isn’t so much the amount of technology we use, but how we use it.
The way in which Millennials interact with one another really has transformed the technological world. The people who started the social networks of both Myspace and Facebook are Millennials. As part of this generation we are experiencing and acting in this environment first hand and through the power of the internet we have a new power of the self, maybe that’s why we think we can do anything. Like Aya describes in her last sentence, “It was very interesting experience that I saw how Millennials and the digital world have changed whole world, and I am also part of it.”
February 27th, 2008 at 6:34 pm
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The quote that you pulled out from the interview that really stood out to me was about the power of the book.
“McLuhan suggests that the invention of the book creates nationalism and the spread of popular ideas, "...narrative chronology in literature and a psychological mode of introspection...that greatly intensified the tendencies toward individualism and specialization engendered 2000 years before by phonetic literacy."”
The book is a tool. As you said, you use books as your tool to express your art. Schools use books to teach subjects, novelist use books to tell stories, and chefs’ use books publish recipes. A book is a way to share information, which can lead to individualism, but can also be a tool for community.
I think that the medium of how information is shared, whether it’s verbally, phonetically, or through images is not the problem. As technology expands, information becomes more widespread, opening more doors of intellect every step of way. The problem is when the medium is used as a tool of deception, when we don’t question the content of the medium and who’s saying it. As McLuhan suggested, the spread of nationalism. Take for example the history classes that I grew in through the LAUSD system. If I could burn all those history books I would. It was the most blatant US nationalist campaign. It wasn’t until high school, when I had a teacher that didn’t use the books that I began to question and look past the sugar coated stories of what the government was teaching it’s youth.
Of course you are using the book as medium to your advantage, the same way the a painter uses paint and canvas to their advantage, and as a fashion designer I use the human body and cloth to my advantage.
My point being, I disagree with McLuhan that it’s not the medium, but rather how the medium is used. There needs to be healthy skepticsm in all that’s fed to us no matter what shape or form it takes.