Class discussion Mar 19 - New/Old Media

March 19, 2009

Transition Old ⇔ new
- what is different?
- participation, dimension, technology, temporal, control – on demand, choice
- analog?
- receptive?
- knowledge based diff? literacy?
- look from past/ future?
- new skill set required, function pattern, social → new way of thinking about it? → new set of values?
o (new edu degrees)
- Internet
o rmb when it was not around?
o what do u gain? lose?
o visiting = passive participation = creating a trail/record, a membership
o some just transform old stuff to new tech without changing its form
- TV: the box or the content???
o delivery system/platform vs. content
o hardware that attracted content production (both tv n internet)
o then shifted to value content
• internet too??
o ex. Vietnam war failed b/c TV was new and produced diff consciousness
- relationships b/t content, tech, people
- how do we make the transition meaningful?
- diff motivations for disagreement, diff ways of delivering
- collective: not BIG group but many small groups
o dispersed nature of activity
o dominant mode of communication determines how the society thinks, acts..
o shifts the responsibility away from the leader

Global society:
- still western dominant
- “glocal” – ideas shared, just letting it be up for grabs, but u still retain ur own
- so, how did u start wanting it?
- global village: getting stuff from everywhere at your own spot
- now, global: not being at one place, but being everywhere else
- where is the value??
Friends
- local VS anywhere else
- value
Choice: do u trust yourself in your choices?
- do u know the options?
- expertise/ how well u know abt stuff?
- analog VS digital

ex. is it ok to ‘outsource’ someone to write a paper for u?
- depends on what is the goal of the degree – ability to complete the process VS gain knowledge
- value of credentials
- do we still apply old standards of values to new stuff?


Sharing
- solitude VS privacy
- a feature of the transition – ability to be unplugged; omnipresence – always feel need to be connected, still in the loop.
- value of solitude, changed? negative consequence VS positive necessity
- it’s hard to be alone now – always thinking abt being connected ex. upload photos from camping trip → being subject to it
- shift in social understanding
- more comfortable
- to be able, or connected in diff ways?
- solitude: connected to self, not others
- change in technology or people? – they influence each other

private: restricted access, yours, control
- when we choose to share our private lives (FB status, PS, FmyLife), talking on cell phone on bus…
- imaginary safety bubble? idea of privacy shifted?
- are we trying to connect thru similarity and not acknowledging differences any more?
- what do we choose to keep private? benefits?
- copyright form – sharing → collaboration; bad: less chance of each gaining possession n making it better?
- sharing online VS offline – offline more skeptical; online less, just trust it!
- being physically removed makes us feel diff abt being private
o consequences? need?

good/bad being private:
- bad: can’t know full circumstances; good: judge!

SUMMARY
more / less participatory
redefine personal space – physical/ global
solitude vs. privacy – value? definition?
These are questions of transition, to be aware of what is going on and where we are now
things are redefined; words that are used again don’t mean the same thing as before
analog vs digital
what is gained/ lost? good/bad consequences? value??

VIDEO – Zeitgeist

Google: prosperity institute