It was nice to read something that is relatively new, compared to some of our foundation readings at least. Sam Han does a great job of illustrating his points about how far media has come, and possibly where its headed. The first idea that caught my attention was the 'digital divide' stuff. He says "for those whom the promise of globilization had yet to be realized, new media technologies became an integral part of not only the discourse of modernization, but of global justice." I couldn't agree more that it isn't fair that some people live without the technologies that shape most of our lives. I can't imagine life without my cell phone, or even my PS3's capabilities to play versus thousands of other gamers from around the globe. But what's the answer? How do we fix the fact that it isn't cost effective to set up billions of dollars worth of equiptment to serve the 12 people who live in Nowhere, Montana? And do those 12 people even care about being connected? Could the Safeway thats 200 miles away afford to bring them their Internet ordered groceries anyway? My point is, their experience with the 'missing' technologies would be vastly different than mine is anyway.
Secondly, I thought the Mechanical, Electric, and Broadcast period breakdown was cool. Even though we sorta studied the 'history' in the earlier reading, I found this one more interesting. Especially since he touched on the coming 'virtual' phase. I do agree that we're moving toward that. Has anyone seen the holographic keyboard you can get for your Ipad? It's so cool, reminds me of something out of Star Wars...
Very cool read, see you all soon, Sharxjay.
Hi Sharxjay,
ReplyDeleteI think I see your point that about the twelve people in Montana. There doesn’t seem to be much need for internet access if folks choose to live off the technomedia grid anyways. However, I can’t imagine growing up with our internet access. Even though my teenage years only saw painfully slow dial up connections, I used internet access to connect with friends. Web browsing ability along was incredibly helpful as I read blogs and sites to learn who I wanted be, where I wanted to travel, and eventually go to school. Later as a young adult who felt a little isolated by some circumstances in my life, internet access provided the connections and information I needed to get by and pull myself back in to a happy and productive place. I recognize that even one generation before mine not have these media at their fingertips. But now that that it exists and is widely used it only seems fair that all humans would have access. I think you make a very good point that region and other demographic factors could really affect how they use technomedia. Thanks for your post!