CMUN 240 FINAL BLOG: A Reflection
I have always been interested in the new media, but having taken this class, my interest grew higher. It also amazes me how far we have come from our first day of class. I remember during one of our earlier classes, we made a list of what we think is old media and new media. The class’ first response was the usual: the iPhone, the iPod, etc. Now that the semester is almost over, I now know that it’s not just about the new technology but also the new culture – from people making mashups to the issue of e-waste. There are a lot of things to learn in the world of new media.
This class has also made me realize that convergence is not just about mixing video and audio and putting it online. It is about many things like for example, online games being a reflection of the real world. The convergence is so high, it is hard to determine where real world ends and where the virtual world starts and vice-versa. It is similar to the issue of the movie that we watched in class. eXistenZ was really interesting, and it also made me think about how much we use the new media now to the point that it has seriously become a part of our lives. It goes back to the second writing assignment that we did where we had to do a 2-day fast from new media. That activity really made me see how I have become dependent on new media, especially my iPod. This also goes back to our other topic discussed in class – the issue of identity and community. Who are we online? Do we act the same in the virtual world as we do in the real world?
I have also learned a lot about the themes of utopia and dystopia because of new media, especially when I watched the movie Idiocracy for the first writing assignment. It was also interesting to see those clips of advertisements we watched from YouTube where the new media such as the Internet was seen as this tool for us to have utopia, yet it’s not really all that when there are cyber crimes and other issues currently occurring because of it. Such issues include copyrighted materials. During our class last week, we talked about Disney and the “Happy Birthday” song being copyrighted so that no one can use it to their credit. But after that class, more questions came to mind such as copyright issues in blogs. Most blogs have communities where members can share pictures and other files, but I notice that there is more focus on online-sharing websites and P2P networks. Are blogs part of the free culture?
In conclusion, when I read our last reading for this semester, I noticed two terms that will probably continue to be a topic for those of us who use the new media, and there are a lot of us for sure. The terms are “media concentration” and “culture jamming” (Jenkins, 248). For “media concentration,” we talked in class how a number of big corporations own the media, and so these corporations have a big influence. Jenkins talks about how many people are involved in media reform to fight against media concentration (Jenkins, 248). But is that likely to change soon? It could be thanks to “culture jamming”, a term popularized by Mark Derry that refers to the “efforts of grassroots organizations to insert ‘noise’ into the communication process by challenging or disrupting the corporate flow of media” (Jenkins, 283).
Lawrence Lessig was right. The culture that we have right now is definitely not just read-only. We are now in a read-write culture where anyone can be a prosumer. I remember during the election night, I was working for Eurovision, and I was watching the reporters all over the world doing their report. It amazed me how technology makes a lot of things so much easier right now. Thanks to technology, Eurovision was able to broadcast live the Obama rally at Grant Park, and people all over the world could see what was happening in Chicago. I was a spectator during that time, but after the rally, I filmed the crowd walking by Michigan Avenue with my camera and used the clip for my Broadcast News class. I was both a consumer and producer during that night.
There are still so many questions as to what will happen to the new media and to the society in the future. Since not all people have access to new media right now, will there be a time where all of us get full access? What are the effects then? And will there be a higher significance of convergence – like say, people will get their news from video games perhaps? Lastly, what about copyright online? Right now, it is hard for users to determine the exact rules, and a lot do not follow them anyway. So what is the future for copyright? Will there be a new definite set of rules or will there be an absolute free use of copyrighted materials? We may never get the answers right now, but for sure, all these are not impossible to be happening in the future.
Outside sources:
1. Technologies Invade College Campuses
2. jibjab, an original production of political satire and funny animations. Their videos feature a mixture of cultures.
3. My video after the Obama rally:
You do a very good job addressing a lot of the major issues we’ve discussed in class this semester. I think our ability as students to reflect on these issues and connect them to our own lives and media consumption is what really makes the course rewarding. Also, that’s a really cool video you took of the rally. I personally think individual footage like that is just as effective in conveying the scope of events as is the traditional news footage.