Week 2 - Topic 2 and 3 - "Asynchronous Online Seminars"

This blog is a merge of topic 2 and 3 and I'm discussing both blogs and forums!
Asynchronous online seminars allow us to express ourselves in different ways. People can post, comment and reply to other posts when they want to instead of having the pressure to respond in ‘meatspace’ seminars. Therefore, as a positive factor, people have more time to construct a response when online. Also, the fact there are tasks on a weekly basis help me get my work done as the seminar prep has to be posted. It is a different and well organised way of learning, the forum and blogs together are a different way of learning because you are on your own, with your own online space but with support from your peers and tutor online. In terms of ‘authority and identity’ I don’t feel there’s as much of a student/tutor difference as in my other modules because the tutors are getting involved more, if that makes sense? You can use the blogs and comment them in your own time, where as the forum to me is a faster online interaction.
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In comparison to real life seminars, the communication in my opinion is very different, and although it has advantages, I think it could have a large impact on they way people do communicate and interact. I wouldn’t want to learn through asynchronous online seminars within all of my modules, I personally think face to face interaction is still very much important. I wouldn’t want to rely too much on the internet because with reference to media literacy, I’m not very good at it. Obviously it would take getting used to, but I think the flow of a face to face conversation sometimes is more beneficial in solving problems etc. Moreover, speech and writing isn’t as much as a necessity, because the forum and blogs do not have academic writing styles, which is something I think I need to keep practising because I think I could easily stop using is all seminars were asynchronous. The blogs and forums I think construct a number of different online conversations in which you have to keep checking and be alert on else you can lose track of what’s going on between your peers. Forums i think have more of a similarity to face to face conversations because in the real world conversation is more staggered in comparison to those in the blogs. Highlighted overall is a difference between online and face to face interactions. It can be furthered by Livingstone saying "...marks the greatest disjunction in the literacy requirements of old and new media.” (Lecture 2)

Week 2 - Topic 1 - "non linear/multi linear"

You can literally click on a link and it could take you anywhere around the world. I’ve been doing some background reading and it seems that a lot of people think that the web is set out “non linear” and with no structure. I found a quote particularly interesting by Wise (2000) in “Cybersociety” by David Bell … “hypertext was developed to reflect the nonlinearity of human thought processes – and the complexity of maps that trace links clearly illustrates this.” I disagree with this, maybe because I don’t see the net as complex at all…

I agree with Lister in that the web isn’t non linear, it gives readers a “Multi linear experience.” (Lister page 27) Although people argue that its non-linear when compared to other mediums like reading a book, which is seen as “sequential reading and writing” (Lister page 27) but you can still skip chapters when you don’t want to read particularly about something, websites are still understandable. An example of this can be how magazines can now be read online; they are still set out in a way that the viewer/reader will recognise. I usually read heat online http://www.heatworld.com/2 and it mirrors the actual magazine. This is also evident with online newspapers. Just because one link doesn't follow on from another isn't complex, it just allows for people to pick and choose what they want to read, they can still read link after link, like a chapters of a book.

Week 2 – Topic 1 - Interactive Websites, Immersive & Extractive

Interactivity can be seen as the distinction between old and new media. Websites are now interactive for a number of different reasons, and unlike new media the audience become “produsers” (Lecture 2) meaning that don’t only have to look and take a medium at face value, like reading a newspaper, they can now use new media to edit and express their opinions within a matter of seconds.

Habbo Hotel would be one of my first uses of interactive media. For those of you who don’t know what Habbo hotel is, it’s a interactive online game where you create your own character within this ‘cyber town.’ There are many similar websites, and I personally would apply this type of interactivity to Lunenfeld’s ‘immersive interactivity’ notion because it is “simulation 3D worlds” (Lister page 21) which users live in as their characters. However, a negative of this type of interaction is obviously the fact that people live their lives as their characters and get engrossed within these 3D worlds. I would distinguish this from “extractive” interaction as I would describe extractive interaction as taking what you want and need from a website, not necessarily getting involved within the site.

Week 2 - Topic 1 - "newness of media"

Is technology keeping up with the demands of society, or does society have to keep up with the developments of technology?

People have argued that capitalist societies are what has produced new media, but nowadays is this necessarily the case? Now technology is shaping society to some extent because its constant developments now need us having to upgrade to keep up with technology. Although it hasn’t happened yet, people are turning to digital within the next few years and they haven’t got a choice in this, therefore is this an example of us having to keep up with technology. As a whole society we have not chosen for this to happen, the developments of technology are enabling us to use media for the better by going to digital.

Obviously this is just one example, and it is still the case that our society does have a constant demand for new media, (our demand for new media could be an example of why it is still called new media, because we need the reassurance that it’s still new and exciting?) but it still shows that technology is advancing at a faster pace. XXXXX

I’m not sure, but the fact it has to be new could link in with the next point of “ideology of progress.” As a society I think progress within new media is a requirement, people want or “have” to have the latest technology. Civilisation has to keep up with the latest trends, that’s part of the new media culture in my opinion. If technology stopped progressing, what would happen to the ideology of progression??

The Internet Today

The internet has managed to change the way that society works

significantly over the last 20 years or so.

However it is only successful when all risks are being prevented. The internet has now become a major convenience in our lives, you can online shop for everything, do your banking, pay bill, work from home, interact in many forms... you can live your live through the internet but there are precautions that need to be taken. There are millions of viruses, fraud is a major concern when typing in credit card details etc. Although convenient, like most things the internet isn't safe. People are also exposed to 'bad' websites because people can literally post everything and anything on the internet, and also people can pretend to be who they aren't. Especially when it comes to children, there should always be locks on certain websites to protect them from the bad parts of the internet. The convenience part of the internet can sometimes stop people from being aware of the bad areas, and this is when, in my opinion the internet can stop being such a great revolution in society.

Reading back it sounds like i'm really negative about the internet, which i'm not at all because I depend on it so much, there are just a lot of harmful risks within this "new media."

New Media and Me

After reading Goebbels speech on the revolution of radio, I feel quite ignorant in the fact it was once a major source of media, whereas now it's probably the last type of medium I really use. I take new media for granted but I don't think I would be able to survive without it (how pathetic!) Without mobile phones, MSN and e-mails I'd have very little contact with friends and family back home, whereas now I can speak to them everyday at anytime of the day. Although it is classed as new media though, to me it is everyday media. My mobile phone is about 2 years old, and to me I wouldn't see that as a type of new media. As Lister says, the term media is "very vague" but when will the internet, mobile phones, and digital stop being classed as new media?? It is now surely just a part of our culture and isn't 'new' anymore.
Thats my first babble over! x

First

Hello all. How is everyone? Hopefully i'll get the hang of all this soon. I'm really struggling to think about what to write.