Sorry I didn't get this up yesterday, I hadn't finished the readings and did not want to write some B.S.
Most all of our readings have discussed the implications of the way the digital revolution changes the way we distribute, understand, and interpret information. One big point made by these readings is the change in cultural authority and single authorship. Books have been the unchangeable cultural authority since the renaissance. This authority fades due to the transition to the screen, where type font is amendable, rewriteable, and reformatted in tangible ways that undermines the the relationship between author and authorship. The line begins to blur as our blogs show. One person authors a blog post while another authors a comment. Then roles reverse as the author of the blog becomes audience of the blog commenter. Some drastic changes are taking place here as the role of the author is altered. I can experientially relate to the arts and letters explanation of how the "performance" of a piece of music resembles more so the writing of the tune then the actual professional concertizing. Today more people have more music, so much so that they will never be able to listen to it all. Just 10 years ago CD's were the major music distribution devices. Not everybody had that much physical music, therefore the art of the concert and seeing it performed live were cherished more. This could possibly be due to the rarity of music. So now when someone thinks (at times, not all the time) of a musical performance, they think of it as through the medium of a cd, mp3 on the ipod, or youtube video, not as a actual live performance.
One aspect of the article mentions the production and dissmination of fiction in participatory form. Such as: video games, theme parks, and museum simulations. VIDEO GAMES!?!?!?! Finally someone recognizes the potential for a participatory fictional story as possible learning material in academic setting. One video game I have recently played is Deus ex: Human Revolution. The theme is set in 2027, where corporations are bigger than the government and augmentation technology is prevalent everywhere. Basically the story plays out a type of transhumanist, darwinianesque control of our own evolution and the societal impacts of such technologies on class, morals, and ethics. If plastic surgery is ok to reconstruct a perfectly normal face for cosmetic reasons, is it reasonable to tinker with human genes in the hopes of progessing science and humanity. What are the ethics involved in such research? All this packed in an interactive video game scenario where, in the final moments of the story you are in a unique position to either tell the truth, make up a lie, or propagate an ideology that affects the end scene.
Another topic i found to be interesting was the literacy of digitalization. How it affects youth in the critical stages of development and how it affects the structure and budget of the academic world. This class is a wonderful example of the mixed media and interactivity we are reading about through out the weeks. Like in Kohl's writing the history of text is really ever changing, such as in the wiki world. One prime example is Julian Assange with his leaking of information wires between countries. If he were to do this in book form I doubt it would have half the impact as it being instantaneously published online, with the ability to add to his body of leaks. The same for wikipedia, the search for truth is constantly being added to by US! The internet is THEE book and the world is it's authors. Cool analogy?
I know I spend more time disseminating and engrossing my self through the internet then through books. Is this true for you?
I hate to admit it, but at the end of the day I spend more time reading on the internet than reading physical papers/books. And my favorite book is Facebook!
ReplyDeleteSad, but true in a way. Who doesn't like reading about everybody they've ever known? It's like a personalized community section of the newspaper.
That video game sounds sweet, I think that video games as learning tools are undervalued by the majority of society. But if that's what people are doing with their free time, why not make it educational?
I too admit to spending more time on the internet reading pointless blogs or random wikipedia entries than actual physical books. Sad part is, most of my major demands me to spend a large amount of time on books. Sad part is this digital age, whether we'd like to admit it or not, has decreased our attention spans significantly.
ReplyDeleteThat doesn't mean we shouldn't use it to our advantage though. That's why I got the Kindle for my birthday, and it works like a charm. Not only is my attention span set on that digital space so I can continue to concentrate on it, but I also found myself reading more on that than the actual physical books. I do think if we just push digital literacy in the right direction, we could expand our horizons on so many different levels.
You're right about online reading, I prefer online reading tenfold to book reading (in just about anything but poetry, I guess). And I think you make a really good and interesting point about the fact that though we are losing attention spans because of the internet, we can still use our new found technological literacy as an advantage, instead of viewing it as "the devil". I like where your head is at and I completely agree. We are simply playing into the history and adding the next conversational piece to the ever-evolving conversation on literacy, learning, technology (everything from the first pen-on-page tech to now), etc. and I'm excited to see where it continues to go in our immediate and long-term futures.
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