The 5 Principals of Life

We begin an adventure with Manovich and his principals of new media.  Granted his essay was long, wordy, and difficult to read, he strongly points out the various levels of new media.  His entire study was based off the question of what is new in new media.  Manovich explains that “new media” has been around for a while, but only now do we begin to see it’s effects on society.  Manovich explains the five principals of new media:

1. Numerical Representation

Media becomes programmable with numbers

2. Modularity

Smaller, more individual parts that make a whole unit

3. Automation

When humans can be removed from the creative process of media

4. Variability

Different versions of the same object

5. Transcoding

Convert from one form of coded representation to another

Cleverly enough, these principals could be related to any thing in the world – even stage management:

1. Numerical Representation

Stage managers are responsible for maintaining the timing of performances – stop watches help make sure everything is running according to schedule

2. Modularity

Stage managers oversee the various crews (audio, lighting, costumes, etc…)  to make sure everything is complete on time.  These smaller crews make up the entire production

3. Automation

There are programs and applications that will create schedules for stage managers.  This takes conflicts, union hours, and various other factors into account to make a master schedule – this takes the human role out of the entire process

4. Variability

Overall, the performing arts is all about variety – you can have the same script, but have different directors envision it differently.

5. Transcoding

When going on tour with a show, you have to make the production fit in different venues.  You need to be able to adapt to your surroundings.

Overall, Manovich described the various principals of new media.  All of those principals can relate to the performing acts in one way or another.

Civilization Going Instinct or Just Going Crazy?

We began to venture off into the world of civilization and how society reacts to their surroundings – both fascinating topics.   Jeremy Rifkin created a creative clip explaining how humans react to the people around them and how they empathize with others.   Experiments were conducted on monkeys as well as humans to see how the brain reacts to various situations.  It turns out that both humans and monkeys empathies with other beings when they feel certain things.
Michio Kaku discussed the different levels of civilizations:
0) Living off of plants/organic compounds
1) Planetary civilization
2) Stellar: consuming a lot of energy (star trek, non-mortal, etc…)
3) Galactic
Long story short, humans cannot live passed phase #2 because it requires such a great deal of energy which cannot be produced by humans.  Kaku explains that the human race is just on the verge of entering Planetary civilization, meaning we have just enough technology to communicate to various parts of the planet instantaneously as well as begin life on other planets.

Those who inhibit it make up the universe at large.  That’s a lot of people!  It is fascinating that for thousands and thousands of years people could not communicate with each other.   As soon as the railroad and cars were invented, humans had an easier time communicating with others.  It wasn’t until the Internet came around that communication became instantaneous.  Through online mediums, we can search for information and find things quickly and easily.

In fact, the internet is so complex that we not even realize it’s fullest capacity.  The Internet is so powerful that it could do much damage to our society.  Not to play the pessimist, but the Internet might have such a strong impact on the world that it might damage society and how we interact with others.

For the time being, the Internet is a great source to find information quickly.  It is a great tool to use and has an overall powerful method of communication.  It is a universal tool used all over the place and will be used for many, many years to come.

"The Medium in the Massage"

This week we were to read “The Medium in the Massage” – and boy did your eyes need a massage after looking through the book.  Marshall McLuhan used very strong graphic images to create a mood and tone of past vs. present.  The graphic book discusses the effects of new-media. McLuhan explains that the morality of each individual is no longer shaped by “experts”, but rather by the media seen through various mediums.  Furthermore, it has been found that the current generation can no longer find information for themselves because new-media spits out random pieces of news; students no longer need to go in search of everything because everything is at their fingertips.

While most of what McLuhan discussed are true facts,  he seemed to put a negative connotation on his points.  Yes, it may be disturbing that students have a difficult time finding relevant information, but it begs me to ask the question: do we need those skills in the future?  If the current students are the ones shaping the future, maybe we won’t need the skills that the older generation expects us to have.   Because of new-media, electronics (iPads) have been introduced in the classrooms.  These electronics are greatly enhancing the educational process.  So much information is in the world and can be found remotely anywhere.  While there may be a lot of irrelevant information and it might be difficult to find scholarly sources, there are many opinions in the world from a variety of people.   In fact, this might be taking on a new role in daily life.  If students are able to find various opinions on things happening in the world (international relations, politics, etc…), it would help them form their own ideas.  Sure, it might seem like that role is being taken away by teachers and parents, but the opinions of those around us are always being taken into account – either consciously or subconsciously.

McLuhan’s book may be interesting to look through, but I think the graphics are distracting from the content in the book.  This may be a mockery of how new-media affects those who use it: when searching for a topic, random results may come up to distract you.  In any case, I would have appreciated it if there were fewer graphics in the book.  It was difficult to concentrate on anything that McLuhan was trying to emphasize.  That being said, I think McLuhan has a valid picture of how contemporary society acts in certain situations.  The text in his book is very strong and accurate.  I agree with him on his topics, but he may be a bit extreme for my liking.

New-Media vs. Society

This week we examine the possible downfalls of new-media and how it affects society.

Masterman wrote an article, “The Media Education Revolution”, discussing the obvious affects new-media has created for a generation of students and others.  Masterman explains that media is harmful to children and they need to be protected from a harsh world that offers instantaneous satisfaction.  With anything found online, it is possible to find any information by the click of a button.  By having instant knowledge, the current and all future generations will lose patience.  The article questions if information is private or if it is free for anyone to read and use.

On the opposite side of the spectrum, Kellner and Share describe in their article, “Critical Media Literacy, Democracy, and the Reconstruction of Education”, that educators should not be bothered on media literacy, but how to better implement it into their teachings.  It is important to teach media literacy in order to have a solid understanding of what we read on the Internet.  Kellner and Share elaborate that critical media literacy forces us to develop “skills that will help create good citizens and that will make individuals more motivated and competent participants in social life” (Kellner and Share).  The article also discusses how media influences our views towards genders, races, and social classes.

New-media has changed the way the young generation acts, reacts, and deals with emotions.  Anything that you want to share with the world can be done so by a few easy clicks.  We can find out anything we want to know and all of the details to go along with it.  Through social media sites, we can discover what someone ate for dinner, what it looked like, and how it tasted.  Recently, it has been made possible to find out exactly where someone is by just a few clicks of the mouse.  Sure, information is now easily available, but privacy does not seem to mean what it used to.  

New-media has blurred the lines between needs and wants and have changed our critical awareness.  By having so many ads on popular-viewed web pages, it is easy to become distracted and start to want things without realizing the need for them.  Society has become more materialistic in wanting the best type of technology.  New-media has taught us to want “tomorrow’s technology”.

That being said, new-media has helped the world in times of crises.  Using social media sites like Twitter, any blurb of news can be sent out and seen by millions in a heartbeat.  If a quick message needs to be sent out regarding a life or death situation, social media would be a great place to advertise that information.  

The world around us has changed drastically to accommodate the whizzing speeds of media.  Media has changed our world to accommodate the amount of time it takes to receive information.  Do children need to be protected from it? Not necessarily; children need to be taught how to filter out the sensitive information that does not pertain to them.  I agree with Kellner and Share that instructors need to teach how to use new-media and how to incorporate it into our daily lives.  By understanding how to use and filter new-media, society will come to appreciate the new technology.