Discourse of Attention

This article was a very insightful perspective on the influence of media by adaptation to the “attention span”.  I found it very interesting that Sesame Street was produced to adapt to the attention of the children watching.  Growing up, I never watched Sesame Street so I can’t reflect on it, however the article explained the debuting episode and it seems like the show had rapid changes in scenes. The results of the testing they did even proved that Sesame Street was able to keep the viewers attention from external distractions.  It’s kind of creepy that this show was intentionally manipulated to capture and keep the attention of children, but at the same time it is fascinating how it worked!  It seems that ever since then, the way television shows are created use similar techniques to keep the attention of the views in all age ranges.  It amazing how there is a science in attracting people to staying in tune with television programming and the pilot program was Sesame Street!

The World Wide Web

Wow! This was a pretty interesting article.  I never knew what all those acronyms were until I read this article.  HTTP, HTML, and URI (or now commonly know URL) are all intertwined within each other.  It sounds sophisticated but in actuality it makes simple sense.  Also, I did not know that CERN was at the center in the creation of the Web (I thought Al Gore created it…just kidding).  Because the use of the World Wide Web is completely of the norm, I never really thought about how the different systems works together to bring a pool of human knowledge together.  I found the projection of the future of the Web extremely accurate to what we have today.  All of the points identified have happened for the most part.  After reading this article, I have a much better understanding of what hypertext is, and what was presented in previous reading of hypertexts in hyperspace. 

The Self in Contemporary Society

The self in contemporary society was an interesting outlook on the differences of "self" in our modern world differ very much in comparison to previous generations.  Kenneth J. Gergen's "technologies of social saturation" has an enormous influence to almost everyone's life in modern society.  With these technologies, the variety of relationships differ much more than it did in the non-globalized world.  I also thought that Gergen's perspectives competing in modern life was very understandable.  Although he had three different perspectives, the two that stuck out was the modernist and romantic movements.  "The modernist self is described by the philosophers of the Enlightenment as the rational creature, one who operates in the world by attempting to master the passions and to act rationally, while for Romantics our sense of self originates from a deep inner core..." (pg 164).  These two perspectives are very visible in people and it's almost like distinguishing between the "emotion" driven people versus the "logic" driven people.

A Virtual Death and a Real Dilemma

This article took a look at multiple aspects about the effects and insight of the controversy that occurred with the fake death of  Kaycee Nicole Swenson.  What triggered my interest throughout this article was the direct effect of the blog, as a medium, had in the ability affect so many people.  As the reading states, "Hoaxes may have a history as old as communication, but some hoaxes are better suited to particular media than others" (pg 202).  Because of the lack of visual mediums, blogs are more susceptible due to the fact that it is typically text based.  Reading requires the audience to use their "imaginations to fill gaps and gloss over inconsistencies in their interactions" (pg 203).  This created an atmosphere where the audience became more connected with this fictitious character.  Furthermore, I found that because the freedom in which blogs hold, some address the impact of the hoax because of the technology itself.  This may bring people to not "trust" information conveyed through the web.  I found an interesting perspective to rebuttal why we shouldn't hate or distrust the internet  further in the reading.  On page 212, there is a quote from Powazek's forum , " This saga isn't going to make me stop trusting what I read on the web, the relationships I form here, because what enable trust, compassion and love is the message, not the medium...I found a out a friend died recently, because her daughter called up and told me. I do not hate the phone. I hate the fact that she died".  Although these hoaxes may be easier to be susceptible to on the internet, we should still take an appreciation of the web.  We must be more cognizant of what we trust, but that is on the individual to determine what is fake and what is reality.

The End of Books?

The End of Books was a unique outlook of the demise of novels.  However, I did find this article confusing as far as the specifics in what is being affected.  Im not a literary buff, so if I were to assume the intent of the article, I gather that novels are being threatened by "hypertext".  I was not previously aware that there were specific established systems in which people manipulated and added onto other peoples writings.  The effects of "hypertext" was confusing at first but George P. Landow clarified exactly what is occuring.  He writes, "Electronic text processing marks the next major shift in information technology after the development of the printed book.  It promises (or threatens) to produce effects on our culture, particularly on our literature, education, criticisms and scholarships, just as radical as those produced by Gutenberg's movable type".  I found it interesting how these "hypertexts" in "hyperspace" has no real rules or base.  Rather, it is a free for all with no specific order or system.

Research Project

I chose to focus my research project around the effects of online communities.  I have not decided if I am going to look at a specific online community group or keep it general to all online communities.  I haven't researched much thus far, and I will have a better outlook within the next day or so.  Depending on the material I can find, I would like to focus more on a specific age group, preferably children in middle school and high school, because I feel they would be more effected my these online communities.

Navigating Technomedia

I wasn't entirely confident in what this article was attempting to present.  I thought the first couple pages was going in one directions, then it turning into a history lesson.  However, I was able to grasp a couple interesting points from this article. I thought this article made clear that technomedia is not tied down to a corresponding technology, but rather it has multiple, multitasking and interconnected capability.  The article specifically identifies the Internet, and is a great example of it "has become a progressively more inclusive media technology, one in which technological developments of past and future somehow incorporate one another".  I am hypothesizing that the point of this article is to ask or find how and what our new technomedia is being used for...but I still feel that is not the purpose of this article.  Although I don't really understand the point of this article, I realize that the importance of technological advances is becoming a global necessity (or want) as expressed by the President of Senegal.