New Media Studies Autoblog, Summer 07

The new seven wonders of the world were recently voted on in its first ever global election. I thought it was a really cool idea to have a global election – it is another form of communication in real time. People all around the world could go to the website and click on their two favorite world wonders of the finalists. Anyone with access to the internet could vote, see that their results were cast, and then find out who won at the end of the election. Also, if you were a registered user at the website, you could watch the webcast of the live announcement in Lisbon, Portugal of the new 7 wonders. If you are interested in what the new 7 wonders of the world are, check it out!

Original post by Ashley

Original post by Amanda

Culture has ever evolved, and ever it evolves. Temporal circumstances seem to fuel this constant evolution of culture. We saw scientific advancement fuel the Enlightenment, and we saw the Enlightenment fuel Romanticism. We saw segregation fuel the Harlem Renaissance, and we saw the Civil Rights movement fuel integration. We saw war fuel existentialism, and we saw existentialism fuel postmodernism. This summer we’ve been studying culture as it is fueled by New Media.
The creation of the computer was as revolutionary as the light bulb, the printing press, the pen and the cosmos. With its light-speed capabilities came an explosion of usable time that would have otherwise been wasted on calculating, page riffling, walking or talking. The computer also provided a new and infinitely faceted means of creativity. The creation of the World Wide Web then sparked a revolution of accessibility compounded upon speed and creativity. And with the conception of […]

Original post by humanisticmystic

Just a shameless plug for my online portfolio
www.serenae.com

Original post by arynna

I keep going back to Engelbart’s assertion that computers shouldn’t be easy to use. Do I agree with it? I know I don’t believe that computers should be difficult to use just for the sake of being difficult, but they shouldn’t be easy either. I think the debate is slightly oversimplified, because the real question isn’t whether computers should be easy or hard to use. The real question is if the things we do with computers should be simple or complex. It is possible that if computers are too easy to use, we won’t think of doing (or be able to do) more complicated things with them. But do you think that’s really true? Is “easy” synonymous with “simple”?
I think computers need to be complex. And yes, they need to be difficult to use, to a certain extent. It is only when we are being constantly challenged that we reach […]

Original post by arynna

I’ve been meaning to blog this for quite a while now.

What does everyone else think of this video? I saw it (partially) as a statement on the media’s influence over us, but perhaps it’s also saying something about human nature. What makes it so sad? The very end, or everything leading up to it? (Or do you even think it is sad?) Just something to think about.

Original post by arynna

There is an idea/concept/speculation trend that I have noticed since the first new media studies class.  What I have picked up on is this: It seems to be that more would get accomplished if we simply worked together by pooling our collective knowledge to figure something out (I am using the word “our” in a general sense).  Let me try to clarify this. 
During the first two classes we discussed how communication was difficult because of field specialization (For example a math teacher trying to explain theories of calculus to a gym teacher in order to accomplish something…there is a lack of communication because a gym teacher isn’t specialized in the field of calculus).  Perhaps greater unimaginable things could happen if we were able to combine two things together to make it work (whether it is to find a solution to something, or to increase efficiency in general).  Instead of […]

Original post by Peanut!

Today I walked out of a movie theater, having just seen Michael Moore’s SiCKO, with a renewed political and humanistic vigor. It might sound odd, but I had a New Media epiphany shortly after watching that documentary on corrupt American health care. It happened while I was standing in line at Potbelly’s, waiting to order a sandwich. I saw the people around me, without that tense shouldered social anxiety I normally might have felt. I thought about their lives. I picked up my sandwich and I smiled fluently at the cashier.
A man in the film said that putting your life in danger was living, and the rest was television. He was referring of course to putting your own life on the line in hopes of saving another, as with a firefighter. Interesting, I thought. It was then, thinking about that quote while eating my food, that I remembered Walter […]

Original post by humanisticmystic

So we talked briefly on giving emotions to machines. For instance, making a vacuum afraid to go near stairs for fear of falling down them. I thought that was a cool idea till I imagined my vacuum screaming bloody murder that one fateful day it fell down the stairs. Then what if it thought I wasn’t meeting its emotional needs? Would I wake up one morning and find a note on my pillow saying, “Goodbye, I’m sucking on someone else’s rugs now.” ? Running to the door, I’d see it swaying open in the breeze and the truth would hit me: my vacuum is gone, gone forever. Falling to my knees I’d weep with my head in my hands. I’d then call my vacuum every day and leave sobbing messages asking for it to come back. It would ignore me for a while, but then eventually would realize I wasn’t […]

Original post by georgestreet