New Media and Digital Culture
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Approaches to New Media
Social Networking and New Media
Games, Technology, Industry, and Culture
New Media and the Transformation of Higher Education
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Introduction to New Media
New media is more accessible for creators and consumers
"New" is relative to each person; what is new media in India might not be new media in the United States.
Extensions lead to amputations (McLuhan). For instance, a car could be an extension of a foot because it helps us travel, but amputates the physical activity that keeps our leg muscles going (par. 11).
Concepts in New Media
The 3 C's of Computing
Alan Lightman emphasizes the idea that society is becoming more reliant on the digital world and that people trying to be in multiple places at once end up being nowhere. (The Accidental Universe)
Wikinomics
The "synthesis of the two histories" of historical communication technologies and new media is convergence
Marshall McLuhan used "rearviewmirrorism" to describe how "experiences with any medium are conditioned by those media with which we are already familiar."
sharing
openness
acting globally
peering
communication
content
computing
People have developed "techno-selves," supposedly better extensions of themselves on the internet (The Accidental Universe).
The idea that new technologies are "self-generating" and are invented in an independent sphere that then create new societies is technological determinism.
Social shaping of technology states argues that technological innovation is a "social product."
McLuhan describes media technologies as "extensions of man."
Kranzberg's First Law is that "technology is neither good, nor bad, nor is it neutral."
SNS stands for social networking sites.
“We tap out brief missives and believe that we are being sociable, but as psychologist Sherry Turkle has so aptly said, we are only getting “sips” of connection, not real communication” (The Social Debate)
People tend to check their devices many times a day without even receiving any alerts or notifications (The Social Debate)
“Every increase in freedom to create or consume media… alarms people accustomed to the restrictions of the old system, convincing them that the new media will make young people stupid” (Does the Internet Make You Smarter? by Clay Shirky)
“Wikipedia took the idea of peer review and applied it to volunteers on a global scale” (Shirky par. 8)
Games
negotiable consequences
player attached outcome
rules
variables
player effort
valorisation of outcomes
Effects of Sustained Violent Media
desensitization
fear
aggression
Types of Games
handheld games
games within social media
PC-based games
mobile games
arcade games
console games
Devices like the Oculus Rift and the Sony PlayStation VR uses video games to create almost 4D experiences in certain scenarios.
With virtual reality devices, people can play simulations of grand experiences like touring the Louvre or walking the Grand Canyon (cnet.com).
Derek Newton discusses economists’ theory that higher education will be “’unbundled’ by the Internet.”
MOOC: Massively Open Online Courses
Digital media technologies enable more flexible delivery of education.
Completion rates for MOOCs are extremely low.
Key Features of MOOCs
free to students
courses are not available for academic credit
courses are scalable to an unlimited size