Language of New Media really taught me a lot about the birth and ever-changing face of new media. I really enjoyed reading the section that discussed how modern media came about during the time of the Industrial Revolution. During the Industrial Revolution was when Henry Ford introduced factory line production. It relied on two main principles, first was “standardized parts”, and the second was this new concept of breaking down the production process into simple and repetitive steps that could be “executed by workers who did not have to master the entire process and could be easily replaced”(29). This is how modern media relates so strongly to the industrial revolution. It aims to make electronic media both accessible and comprehendible to any and every person. Modern media was also invented in order to connect people, ideas, and information in the easiest and fastest way possible.
Automation is one of the principles of new media. Examples of automation would be artificial intelligence and video games. Automation is so exciting because there is still so much to be discovered with it. We are currently building virtual theaters and actors with new media who adjust their actions based on what the user does. For instance, on iChat there is an automated “person” that I used to instant message with sometimes when I was in middle school. I liked IM with “him” because I was able to type “hangman” and hangman would pop up on the screen. Based on what I would type, he would respond with an appropriate answer that allowed for conversations to be, for the most part, the same as if I was talking to a real person. CollegeHumor.com also does a very funny skit on new media and the future of automation, called Auto Phone Sex. It pokes fun at our society and how we are becoming so dependent on technology that one day we will even go so far as to having automated tellers for phone sex.
After the readings we also brought up using new media as a learning tool. It is very exciting that modern media is now making it possible for kids to learn in every type of way. This technology becomes really beneficial for kinesthetic learners. XBox Connect Uses an infrared grid to tell how far away from the camera the user is (IR Cam), and uses a regular camera in order to view the actual person (Web Cam). Kids can now learn dance moves, sport movements (learning proper techniques for swinging a bat), etc. New media could be a breakthrough-learning tool for kids across the nation.
Variability within media allows each user to personalize it took make it their own. For example, websites such as StumbleUpon, Google, and Pandora all allow each user to decide what kind of information or media to view or hear at any particular time. We are now able to control the types of media and information we surround ourselves with. This sorting and customization of data is done without us even asking. Today’s computers can take your user history and customize information based on prior and past search history, in order to make your Internet surfing experience as personal as possible.
New media is both exciting and a little scary. Technology is evolving and media is changing so fast that we have to make sure that we can keep up with it, and make sure society is accepting of it.
To see the College Humor video, click on the link below:
(Just a little heads up, it is a little inappropriate but goes hand in hand with automation)
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