All Together Now, to Each His Own Sync

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Week #2

Title: In this post, I will be commenting on the article “All Together Now, to Each His Own Sync” by Anand Griridharadas.

Comments: I found this article a little whiny. The information was all there and seemed factually accurate, but the way it was presented seem to favor one side more than the other. And not just the usually subjectivity that you find, but a noticeable bias towards the worry of becoming “detached” through too much inner synchronicity. I found this a little annoying, because it distracted me from the topic that was being discussed.

The topic, however, I found very interesting. I personally think that our modern technology is pushing us towards a global society, and a global culture, rather than a regional culture that has existed for so long. However, I don’t believe that the regional association will be totally overwhelmed by this new global society. Rather I think that the two will merge together into something distinctly new and different than we’ve ever see before.

From a New Media perspective, this article shows a good example of two sides of an argument, one on the positive aspect of change and the other on the negative side of it. However, regardless if the change is good or bad, it’s change. And that’s what New Media is all about.

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Bold Ideas Inspire New Life for Magazines

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Week #2

Title: In this post, I’ll be commenting on the article “Bold Ideas Inspire New Life for Magazines” by Jeanne Carstensen.

Comments: I myself have never really been a magazine person, but I have found myself thinking time to time of what is going to happen to the magazine in the future as we move more and more into a internet-based world that gets its entertainment from the web. After reading this article, I can see know that innovation never fails to leave anything special behind in the metaphorical dust.

The switch to making magazines more personalized is a great idea, because you can then tailor to a specific audience and provide them with material you know they will understand and love, and forget about anyone who is outside of your target audience. It makes it much easier to find exactly what you want or need, and gives companies a definitive group of consumers they can then tailor their product to.

I found the idea of a live theater version of a magazine to be absolutely brilliant. The thought had never even occurred to me, but the simplicity and the brilliance was immediately apparent. To combine the classic aesthetic appeal of a magazine and the entertaining aspect of live theater makes for a terrific combo. I wonder which subscription I would choose to watch?

From a New Media perspective, this is a way for a dying industry to be reborn into something new and different, and therefore something that audiences  and consumers will want to experience and enjoy. Again we see the blend of something new with something old, and the result is something entirely different.

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The Future of Journalism as Seen Through Computer Science

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Week #2

Title: In this post, I’ll be commenting on the article “The Future of Journalism as Seen Through Computer Science” by Nicholas Carlson.

Comments: The first thing I thought of when I read this article was “why haven’t they thought of this before?” This concept seems like a really good idea to keep an old career from dying out entirely in this new day and age of modern technology and New Media. It also seems like a more obvious answer, and one that shouldn’t come as a surprise to people. The evolution from the  journalist who relies on others for information to the journalist who can fill her own data base with findings that she collected herself, using modern technology. It seems that more careers than just that of a journalist could really reap the benefits of using a system like this to keep ahead in their field.

When we look at this from a New Media perspective, you see the blend of something old with something new, which is one of the basic definitions of New Media we found in our class discussions. They’ve taken and old career, one of the journalist, and incorporated new technologies and processes that allow the journalist to then do her job in a more efficient way than ever before. This seems like the perfect example of what New Media is, and how it affects our every day lives. A great article.

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A Strong Password Isn’t the Strongest Security

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Week #2

Title: In this post, I’ll be commenting on the article “A Strong Password Isn\’t the Strongest Security” by Randall Stross.

Comments: Online security has never been extremely crucial to me, because I’m quite naive when it comes to the subject of identity theft and stolen information. I’ve never had it happen to me, and the information I keep online I don’t see as information that someone would be willing to risk jail time to take from me. Therefore, I’ve become very lazy and lax on the position of internet passwords. But I am a big fan of short passwords.

Because I am a fan of the short, easy to remember, personalized password, I agree with the arguments these men have voiced to websites across the board. I think lengthy passwords full of restrictions and a required update at certain intervals is silly and ridiculous. I find it interesting that the research these men have done seems to agree with my statement. If you think about it from a thief’s perspective, though, it makes a good deal of sense. If you have a long, complicated password, odds are you’d have to write it down in order to remember it. That makes it simple for someone to simply scan your documents for these important keywords, and then use your information at will.

From a New Media perspective, I think this shows a new awareness of how effective an old tool/method of internet security actually is, and having the technology available to help us find a new solution to the old, unreliable methods shows the growth of New Media in a practical area such as security. There is definite opportunity for exploration and research done on other outdated methods of anti-theft and anti-virus programming as well. A very thought provoking article all together.

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Your Brain on Computers – Digital Devices Deprive Your Brain of Needed Downtime

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Week #1

Title: In this post I’ll be commenting on the article “Your Brain On Computers – Digital Devices Deprive the Brain of Needed Downtime” by Matt Richtel

Comments: I found this article fascinating. Being a long-distance runner, I love to run with my mp3 player or IPod blasting techno as I run for 30 minutes to and hour. Reading this, however, I could see how this could hinder my brain from getting that much needed rest. During our cross country practices, I would never listen to music because I would be running with a friend. Thinking back on it, I can see the difference between those times when I was running without my music blaring and when I was simply running.

I had also heard of the memory issue before. I believe this to be true as well. It makes sense that the brain would need some time to process what it had just learned, and to then internalize it so the next time it does that activity, it can remember what had been done before and improve upon it. Sleep is important for that very same reason, along with the fact that we need sleep to survive.

As to how this impacts New Media, I would say that this study occurred because of the  abundance of mental stimulae in our modern society. Because of the constant evolution and growth of New Media technologies, we can literally be busy twenty-four hours a day. This article serves as a warning to all of us media enthusiasts that every now and then, it’s nice just to take a break.

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Drilling Down-Women Set the Pace as Online Gamers

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Week #1

Title: In this post, I’ll be commenting on the article by Teddy Wane, “Drilling Down – Women Set the Pace as Online Gamers”

Comments: I thought this article was quick, fun, and very informative. I had some idea that women would spend more time than men on communication components of the web, but I had no idea that women would overtake the men in the online gaming category. After reading the article though, I can see how it would work. Generally, when you think of online gaming, you think of games like World of Warcraft, which are very male-oriented games. But what you don’t think of are games like Farm Ville or other word or puzzle games that men don’t play as often.

Other than that, the article didn’t have too much to say that shocked or intrigued me. But it definitely opened my eyes to what I consider gaming to be, and to how stereo types can be misleading.

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Twitter Revamps Its Web Site

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Week #1

Title: In this post, I’ll be commenting on the article called “Twitter Revamps Its Web Site” by Claire Cain Miller and Miguel Helft.

Comments: I decided to read this article because I know absolutely nothing about Twitter. Really, I don’t know anything. What I do know, is that Twitter is huge. It mentions in the article that Twitter started up in 2006, which means that Twitter has only been in existence for four years. If you look how popular it is now, you can see that the folks who made Twitter did something right. So, I figure that Twitter is important to know about, and decided to read the article.

The thing I found most surprising I saw right off the bat; Twitter’s website wasn’t very good before the update. What? I thought this company was huge, and had millions of people using their service. In the article, it states over 70% of users access Twitter online even though the site had major flaws in how it functioned as a user-friendly environment.

This surprised me, but as I read on it made more sense. The company had grown much quicker than any of the founders has anticipated, so funds had to be used in other areas before the usability of the site could be considered. I guess this makes sense, but they also said that the new site will be beneficial to advertisers because of the better layout on the page. You would think that ease of advertising would be a number one concern, especially for a company trying to keep its site from crashing.

Though it was a little alarming to learn that Twitter had so many flaws on their website, it was an educational experience for me as I got a first look at Twitter, and how their making changes for the future. Maybe it’s better that I haven’t tried Twitter before this, or else I would have had to suffer along with everybody else.

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“Computers as Invisible as the Air”

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Week #1

Title: In this post, I will be reflecting on the article “Computers as Invisible as the Air” by John Markoff.

Comments: The topic of the article was the evolution of the microchip technology, and its possible continuation of Moore’s law through this evolution in data-storage technology. I found this topic very interesting, because it highlighted the evolution of technology, through companies such as PARC and men such as Steve Jobs, and how they have helped to prove Engelbert and Moore’s theory of Moore’s law, or the exponential increase of computing power coupled with an exponential drop in price. The more time that passes, the more advanced technology becomes. The smaller things get, the more power they provide, and the most cost efficient they become. This has been a trend that has occurred over the past thirty years at least, and as the article hypothesizes, is a trend that will be continued with the discovery of this new technology.

I firmly believe in Moore’s law. To me, it makes a lot of sense. Just from the trend we have seen over the past thirty years, technology will continue to improve, to shrink, and to become even more personalized. This in turn will force scientists to find new ways of providing the required data and power to provide the product at a cost consumers can afford. Then the next leap in technology will occur, and the cycle will start all over again. This continuous loop is very important to the innovation process, and will continue as long as there are resources on this Earth to discover and humans to create the technology.

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September 17

Lecture notes and comments

Week #3

Date: September 17

Outline: Today, the lecture was taught by Paul Grossweiler, the associated professor of Communications and Journalism, who is also one of the leading experts on Marshall McLuhen, who wrote about New Media and who we read earlier in the month as an assignment. Here are my notes from today’s lecture NMD 100 Journal Sept. 17 .

Comments: To be honest, I did not like the lecture. Paul seemed like a nice guy, but he looked uncomfortable in front of the class, insecure in his position of professor for our class, and constantly looking for a sign that we were listening and enjoying the presentation. He undermined himself once or twice, being wishy-washy at times instead of resolute about the facts that he was presenting us. I expected him to be firm in all that he was talking about, but it came off like he was asked to teach the class just ten minutes before, and happened to have a slide show on the topic of Marshall McLuhen handy to fill the time.

Another problem was the slide show was far too long to fit into the fifty minute lecture that he had to work with. He spent too long on some parts of the presentation, and by the end of it he skipped huge chunks of the end of his slide show, leaving some of the class wondering what what they had missed. I felt uncomfortable during his presentation, almost pressured to like him and his presentation out of the guilt trip he was putting on us, his audience.

I realize I’m being awfully harsh on him, but my expectations were quite high when he was described the world’s top expert on Marshall McLuhen. The information I gathered, which you can see in my notes, was good information, I felt. But the presentation was so under par that I found it very hard to retain the information as his thoughts were all over the place.  It’s really too bad, because it seemed like he had a lot that he wanted to communicate to us, but just couldn’t do it.

Unfortunately, a disappointing lecture. At least I learned what not to do when I have to present in front of the class later this semester.

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September 15

Lecture notes and comments

Week #3

Date: September 15

Outline: Today in class, we were given the syllabus for this semester, which we were told could be changed at any point, and probably will be. Personally, I’m quite glad we received this schedule, as it makes it much easier to see what lectures are coming up in the future, and so that I can quickly reference what we talked about in class on a previous date.

After this,we went on to talk about an upcoming project in the later half of the semester called the “sound-image project”. It ends up looking a lot like a music video, because the idea of the project is to make a collaboration of music and pictures, that you either drew, took, or got off the internet, and sync the two pieces together. It is worth a good chunk of our grade, so I was glad i we went over it early so I could begin thinking of what I will do for my project.

Comments: Not only did they talk about the project, but they showed us examples of what they were looking for in a good project, and told us why the projects were good in their opinion. A lot of the projects shown were down with a tablet, and only a couple were done with a digital camera. I know I definitely did not want to just grab photos off the internet, so I began thinking on what I wanted to do.

At this stage of my thinking, I want to do a stop-motion animation project with a digital camera I can borrow from the library. I’ve seen some cool effects done on youtube.com using these techniques, which I hope to experiment with and test to see if I will be able to pull this off. The only flaw in my plan right now is I don’t know who will do the photography, but I’ll figure that out closer to when the project is due.

A good start to what I hope to be a very good project.

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