Convergence: the word that has been popping up all week.
Many of Ted's points this week really struck a chord. Honourable mentions go to media platform extinction/mutation, as well as the evolution of how we perceive text.
Platform extinction was the main topic that caught my attention. It was a way of organising how different information carriers have boomed and died throughout the media timeline. From vinyl records to cassette tapes to compact-disks to mp3 files. The practical implications of each level were clear in their context, yet a new form of data-holding physicality has inevitably emerged. What's even more interesting though is the mutation of old platforms: the vinyl turned into an art of disc jamming (ie DJ'ing) for a whole new outlook on the production of sound.
Papyrus scroll to "codex" to web hypertext also gets a mention. Again, the physical organisation of words on a flat surface has evolved throughout time until we now have access to multiple texts in an order we choose. Also the fact that the name "codex" far outshines "book". Why did we ever ditch that term? Think about it, guys:
'Hey man, are you excited for the Harry Potter movie?'
'Yeah, I've already gone through my entire Harry Potter codex collection!'
With regards to the readings, some of you may know I'm not much a fan of Deuze. Again, he was too verbose, and it's hard to express my thoughts on his reading because he covered so many issues in the one article. I will say that I did like his point on how news corporations these days rely somewhat on public feedback (polls, hotlines and amateur photos/videos) in order to relay much of their information, rather than the old style of playing media filters.
Jenkins managed to make me laugh when he told the story of trying to find a phone that wasn't a "Swiss army knife equivalent". It was also great to understand the importance of individual blogging as a way to distribute immediate information about current affairs. One term I'm not quite sure about is "grassroots media" - does anyone want to explain this one to me?
Thanks for reading!
Digital communication is certainly on the rise, and will always be on the rise. Convergence has certainly made things easier, combining many technologies together into one. Jenkins reminds me of my mother or father, they also find their mobile phones to be like a Swiss army knife, much like many other forms of technology these days.
ReplyDeleteI loved the vinyl being re-purposed through dj's 'backscratching' them too, I thought it was great how cultural innovation kept this obsolete technology alive by mutating it. Usually culture moves through technology eg. like music moving through cassette tapes to cd's etc. but this was a case of culture dictating the technology, it was kind of a turn around. Yer, can't believe a book was called a codex, it's like hey it's not a code it's just the alphabet and words! The scroll was interesting how the 'order' that you read the material was also dictated, then the 'codex' was random. Today we not only play with letters and words and order, in online hypertext we also kind of play with the actual 'grammer' or the mechanics of language and how it produces meaning, and kind of challenge that too!
ReplyDelete(Hey there! so, this is a comment I wrote like a week ago and somehow it never posted... but luckily it was saved in my online presence journal thing)
ReplyDeleteNot too sure what grassroots media is - but I'll be sure to come back when someone who does replies! haha
I also find the topic of convergence a really interesting one. I always felt that technology used to be able improving one thing to the maximum potential - (e.g. making the best mp3 player, making the best phone)... which eventually gets hard because in the end, a phone is a phone... it allows us to talk to someone else with a phone. How do you improve on that?
So it got too hard - instead they went, Hey - why not combine different mediums into the one? I have always been a little cynical of this because I like keeping things separate because I feel I am getting better quality of each thing. However, from the lecture - it's become pretty clear that its really the path where technology is going to continue.... now that I have a smartphone - that cynicism is started to die down a little bit.
Still - I feel Swiss army knive's are definitely a novelty, and for sure, useful - but the individual tools on their own are always going to be better quality!
The life line of platforms was really interesting for me. It made me think about future stages. What's next? I'm sure that back in the day people were listening to their records thinking - "there's no way they can improve on this". I thought the same thing when they brought out DVD's. Im thinking that at the moment with 3D movies! I heard that there are plans in motion for future sporting events to be watched completely in live hologram. Not sure how true this is but its fun to think about the possibilities.
ReplyDeleteMedia is a platform where the diverse information be gathered, that is the reason why media especially new media is powerful. I agree with you, as you mentioned that it was a way of organising how different information carriers have boomed throughout the media. Someone claim that media did not exactly change people’s life because what we do now is same as we did before. Such as friends who be added on Facebook is already exist, it just change the way how we make friends-changed from face to face to online. The fact is people do enjoy online life and interested in multi function convergence media.
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