Broadband Readings

      This group of articles was all about the spread of broadband in American homes, and those who don't find it necessary. In recent years, broadband has spread rapidly to many homes in America, and many people believe it is vital for job opportunities and career skills, health information, government services, keeping up with today's news, and many other important sources of information. (Home Broadband 2010) A trend has emerged in recent years of cutting back on cell phone service and television services while maintaining broadband in the home. We live in a technological age, so many of these people see broadband as the most useful portal into the digital world; thus, they place broadband above other forms of technology in their homes. (Home Broadband Adoption 2009) However, there are still a small percentage of Americans without broadband in their homes. These include people who don't know how to use the internet, don't see it as necessary in their lives, or they simply are not interested in going online whatsoever. I can relate to this group, as my parents don't have an internet connection in their house. They had dial-up internet for some time when my sisters and I were still home, but they did not upgrade to charter internet until I was almost ready to leave; once the nest was empty they turned off their internet connection completely. Neither of my parents ever really took the time to learn to use the computer efficiently; they knew the benefits of having an internet connection but didn't think it was worth paying the extra money for the small amount they might use it. I personally am of the opinion that broadband is vital in today's world; it allows you to keep up with what's happening as well as stay connected with distant friends and family, communicate quickly and with ease, and it still has many more benefits. However, my parents live in a more slow-paced world than I do; they are happy to live their lives without the intrusion of internet.
      Something I found interesting about these two articles was that, despite the fact that they are done by the same group (Pew Internet and American Life Project) they contradict each other on their facts. One article says that African Americans have seen a very small amount of broadband usage growth in the past two years, while the other states that they have had a very large jump both years and are continuing to rapidly grow. While I don't feel that this is incredibly relevant information, it still makes me wonder how credible these censuses are. While they display some very sound and detailed information, it seems that their facts are also a little skewed. I thought that maybe this was a way to convince people that broadband needs to spread and be in the homes of all Americans; perhaps they would benefit from this. Either way, I just thought it was a noteable fact.

Digital Media Artifact Rough Draft

Christianmingle.com and Its Effects on Society Today

                  As someone born into a technology minded era, it seems to me that dating service websites have always been around. In fact, the first ones didn’t appear until the late 1990’s, but they’ve been increasing in popularity since then as our society becomes more reliant on technology. One surprising trend is the popularity of specialized sites; those sites which cater exclusively to certain races, religions, sexual orientations, or other dating criteria are actually the most successful and gain in popularity each year (Online Dating Service). For this assignment I chose to focus on christianmingle.com, as it is a well-advertised specialty online dating service which I found very intriguing. The idea of a dating service which alienates so many seemed at first to be a contradiction; how would such a service be successful with such a specifically defined group of people? However, with approximately 30% of America’s 80 million baby boomers single, it makes sense that a large number of those would be Christians looking for mates with the same faith and views (Online Dating Service). The success of christianmingle.com is obvious, with the numerous ads on television, in magazines, and on some of the most visited sites on the web. A service that efficiently catalogues the profiles of thousands of members, allows members to communicate, and matches them based on personality and interest tests is clearly a digital artifact, affecting all generations of today’s society (Christianmingle.com Review).

                  Christianmingle.com is one of many specialty online dating services created by Spark Networks. The creators of Spark Networks saw the possibilities in catering to small cultural subsets, and launched their first dating service in 1997, JDate (a site for Jewish singles). Since then the company has launched several more dating services, each geared toward a specific group of users (About Us). Though christianmingle.com is geared toward Christian singles, its advertising is much more widespread, and reaches a great deal of today’s society. For instance, I personally am not a Christian, nor am I looking to find “the one,” yet I know all about christianmingle.com and the services it provides. My personal knowledge comes from television ads for the most part; these ads are informational and visually appealing to a younger generation. My theory is that the site’s content itself will bring in those who are avidly in search of finding a mate, and the advertising is an additional tool meant to entice a wider range of users, including younger users and those who are interested but not actively searching for the site. Marshall McLuhen touches on this phenomenon in The Medium is the Massage. He says the “television generation is a grim bunch,” meaning our generation, which is exposed to nearly all aspects of the media via television, has a greater understanding of what is happening in the world because of this exposure. I personally learned about christianmingle.com via television ads; though I am not an interested customer, I now know about the site: its existence, its purpose, and its intended demographic (McLuhen, 123).

Vannevar Bush’s piece As We May Think was a fascinating article in which Bush basically outlined the World Wide Web, before it was actually created. Bush simply wrote about a system he thought necessary to provide access to information and ideas, and he called it the Memex. The Memex was Bush’s answer to a need for easier access in research; his ideas inspired hyperlinking as a way to quickly jump from one idea to the next (As We May Think). Online dating services in general employ these same ideas; christianmingle.com in particular works similarly to the way Bush envisioned the Memex, but with a much more narrowly defined purpose. Individual users input information about themselves, upload photos, and answer questions; the program compiles all of this and makes the connections so that users can quickly and easily find their matches. The name of the site itself eliminates a large number of potentials, and the service then uses the client information to match clients, and then informs them of their matches. Like Bush, the creators of christianmingle.com saw a need (an online dating service catering specifically to Christians), and created the site in an attempt to service this need. The site connects users from all over digitally, filling the void for an online dating service with these precise specifications.

                  Lev Manovich describes the digital media artifact and what defines it in The Language of New Media; christianmingle.com meets all five of Manovich’s rules defining a digital artifact: numerical representation, modularity, automation, variability, and cultural transcoding. The site and all its features are coded by numbers and characters; without this numerical representation, programmers would be unable to create such an efficient and multi-faceted service (christianmingle.com). The site displays modularity in its many functions; individual profiles, chat functions, and a variety of tests combine to find the best matches for users. Automation is also represented in these functions, as they work together like a well-oiled machine to most effectively service clients (dating review site). Variability can be found in the many individual profiles and the wide variety of users participating in the service, as well as the many components of the site which are used in creating matches between users. Cultural transcoding can be seen in the way the service is taking common Christian values and incorporating them into the site to service an exclusive group of clients (The Language of New Media). Compiling all the functions that individually meet Manovich’s guidelines, it is easy to see that christianmingle.com is the quintessential digital artifact; this service performs inside and outside the digital world, and affects people of all ages and from all cultures.

                  Coming into this assignment, I had no idea what a digital media artifact was or what qualifications defined it. Through course readings and class discussions, I was able to form my own definition, aside from the ones provided in the readings: a digital media artifact is anything that is technologically relevant which conveys some form of media to us. While this is a very broad definition, I feel that it is appropriate. Technology expands further into all aspects of our lives with each passing day. I chose christianmingle.com as my digital artifact for this very reason; as I stated earlier, I am not the target customer for this service, yet I know all about it. It is a way for people of a certain demographic to connect virtually; it allows them to learn about each other, talk, and eventually meet. Its widespread advertising and many components target as many clients as possible, and then successfully perform the task at hand, which is matching single Christians. I think that the passage of time will see this type of digital media artifact growing and becoming more prevalent; our society is obsessed with technology, and we use it ever increasingly so that we may fit more into our busy schedules. Perhaps one day this is the only way we will meet our mates, and dating in person will become a thing of the past. Until then, online dating services will be used by many, but definitely not all, and will be a prevalent piece of digital media. Christianmingle.com will still be a successful website, utilizing its many functions to keep up with the demands of its users and society as a whole.

                   

Medium is the Massage

    Reading The Medium is the Massage, I found myself stopping to read quotes aloud to my roommate or to discuss issues in today's society and how they arose. This read has by far been the most successful in prompting me to compare a reading to my life, beliefs, and values. Something that drives me absolutely insane about today's society is how young people are completely dependent on technology and place little or no value in education. How many comics exist making fun of the way parents today blame teachers for the poor grades their kids receive? It isn't the student's fault for not reading the material, or studying for the exam, or completing the homework; it's the teacher's fault for not "preparing" the student. However, completing this reading made me realize, it isn't entirely the way parents raise their children today, it's the completely dominant presence of media in their lives.
Kids grow up with televisions, computers, smart phones, and other devices that throw media in their faces at all times. They learn about terrorism, the economy, popular culture, war, and crime from the moment they are old enough to comprehend it. Twelve year olds want the newest iPhone because advertising tells them they should; they have no idea what it is capable of other than texting their friends and updating their facebook statuses. I guess where I'm going with this, is that there is an ever-present exposure kids today face from media. Their ideas and values aren't molded by their parents, they are impacted by what they see on TV and in the news. They have access to the thoughts and words of their favorite music artists that week, and that may affect how they think and act.
     My favorite quote in this reading was "There is absolutely no inevitability as long as there is a willingness to contemplate what is happening." With upcoming presidential elections, political debates have recently become a big part of mine and my friends' conversations. While I think it is good to discuss political beliefs and maybe share a polite debate to defend your beliefs, nothing makes me angrier than my friends who are dead set in their beliefs and refuse to listen to others' justifications or ideas. If we could all discuss our beliefs and reasonings without a war breaking out, we might be able to learn something new about a particular topic, or find new reasons which support our current beliefs. However, political discussions do not usually work out that way. For example just today, I debated the worthiness of the welfare program with my friend Brent. He, in my opinion, hasn't seen much of our country, and very firmly believes that no matter what hand you are dealt in life, you should be able to work your way out of any situation and better your quality of life overall without assistance from welfare or other similar programs. I argued that this is not always the case, and that I've personally seen cases where people simply don't have the means to succeed in the ways they'd like. I realize that this tangent is completely off topic, so I'll try and pull it all together. Media does a great job making us all more aware of what topics are important and allows us, to a point, to see both sides of the story and to make a decision where we stand. However, we don't always take the time to see both sides, or to educate ourselves in such hot button topics. Media may skew statistics or beliefs, or only show one side of a particular story as well; this leaves us even more vulnerable as we grow up trusting media and base most of our beliefs on what we learn from it. One thing society as a whole could benefit from is learning to gain from our media based surroundings; use media to be informed, but also incorporate your own personal beliefs and values when discussing some political topic. Be informed, and use that information to make a change. Like the quote is saying, as long as we are willing to use media coverage to our advantage and to act on our feelings, there is no inevitable. We have the power and resources to make a change, we just need the willingness and drive.
       A third topic I found very interesting and engrossing in this reading was the piece about how media has caused society to return to a global village. When printing became available and suddenly everyone had the opportunity to become literate, it seems that more people were held accountable for their actions and lifestyles. As the book says, if someone commited a crime or horrible act, they were aptly punished for it, no questions asked. They had the means to educate themselves and know the rules, and still they broke them. McLuhan also says that the printing press brought about the ability to read alone, away from the rest of the world, and to form opinions that way; this disconnect is the reason for the "eye for an eye" system. However, today we are all so interconnected and informed on so many different situations, we learn to feel sorry for the criminal because we automatically assume there must be a reason for commiting the crime. The media so often take the time to tell us the criminal's life story, and how the abusive childhood or mental illness is the reason they were forced to commit the crime in the first place; this leaves us feeling sorry for them, and not placing the blame for the crime on them, but rather on the abuse, illness, or whatever the case may be. This idea resonated with me, because I often find myself feeling this way. I hear about a murder on the news and often wonder, what was this person's life like, what caused them to want to do this? Obviously I don't feel bad for every criminal, and I don't believe that all criminals have some sob story background which must be taken into consideration when handing out punishment. However, I can see the obvious connection between the media and this social return to a global village standpoint, particularly on crime.

Baudrillard Reading

    When we were first assigned this article, Wendy said, "You will think this guy is on drugs." I understood the moment I read the first sentence. I read it at least four times before accepting that it was too deep for my shallow brain to process, so I moved on. Fortunately for me, I was able to take some meaning from the rest of the article. Baudrillard's main point is to discuss what is real; whether simulations are real, and if so, whether they are more real than reality. Baudrillard uses several examples to explain his opinions; the one that resonated most with me was the reality of a one true God. Baudrillard questions which is more real: God or His image. The Iconoclasts feared that allowing people to have a tangible image of God would make him less powerful, or maybe less feared by all. Their obsession with destroying any image of God actually makes the image the greater focus and gives it more power than the belief. Baudrillard goes on to question whether God is not simply a simulacrum, meaning He is reduced to the images that represent Him; this takes away the power held by God, as He is now simply an image or idea.
     Growing up, my parents never took me to church. They told me once or twice that if I wanted to go, they'd take me. Like any eleven year old, I looked at them like they were insane and probably went back to my Playstation or something. This meant that I grew up relatively uneducated in the world of Christianity. I knew about Jesus and Christmas and all of the things you pick up from Christmas music or TV, but I never knew any of the specifics. I'm not an athiest, nor am I a believer. I like to think of myself as an unbiased party, relatively uneducated on both sides and therefore unable to form my own solid opinion. This is why the religion segment of this reading was so interesting to me. I have seen firsthand the power in belief in this superior being; what's a more hot button issue than religion? So, for Baudrillard to say that God's image may be what really holds the power, it kind of makes religion obsolete. You run your life based on what you think this image wants you to do, you worship this image, but not any real God. While I'm not saying that there is or isn't a God, I thought this was a really interesting point to make. Overall, the message I got from this reading was that there is a fine line between what is real and what is simulated; maybe our simulations are more real than our reality. Or maybe this reading was one big confusing mass of words to test whether or not we would make things up on what we learned. Either way, parts were interesting, and other parts were confusing, but it was a decent read.

Reading:
http://www.egs.edu/faculty/jean-baudrillard/articles/simulacra-and-simulations/

Lisa Gitelman's Always Already New

     In this reading, Lisa Gitelman focuses on media: how it is studied and how it becomes a historical object. I found this reading particularly interesting, specifically in respect to how closely it relates to our first major assignment. The first time we discussed the assignment in class, I was baffled as to how a piece of digital media could be studied as a historical "artifact." Gitelman's piece brings clarity to some of my confusion, as she uses several examples, such as the phonograph or ARPANET, to define how digital media shapes our views, language, and modern technology. Her discussion of recorded sound and its effect on people and their memories rings very true with me; while we today take recorded sound for granted, we fail to see what an impact it has on us, and how different life must have been without it. Music, for instance has a huge impact on today's youth. Recording artists make millions of dollars every year, which is a great deal more than many doctors make, even after spending years obtaining their degrees. Music also reaches out to young people in a way that adults often cannot; it tells them that they are not alone, whatever their struggles are. I personally relied on music to get me through many difficult times. Had we never found ways to record and distribute sound, we would not have the benefits of music in our lives, and would likely be a very different society because of it. While this is only one example, it makes clear just how essential digital media is in our society, and allows me to see a little more clearly how digital media can become a historical artifact.

What is new media?/As We May Think

In Lev Manovich's "What is new media?" Manovich offers a description of what exactly new media is and how it is formed. A rather lengthy article containing in depth analogies and examples, this piece does a great job providing a concrete definition of what defines new media. Though he states that numerical representation, modularity, automation, variability, and cultural transcoding are not laws, they provide the reader with some idea of what makes up new media, and how it is formed. A common them in the piece is the importance of the computer in creating new media; though new media creation is not limited to the computer, the computer is a key tool in creating and spreading a great deal of new media. While the computer cannot be credited with all creation of new media, one cannot ignore its overall importance in the process.

"As We May Think," is an article by Vannevar Bush which was published in 1945; in it, Bush describes the need for some sort of machine to compile human knowledge and resources. Bush names this theoretical device the "memex," and provides several examples of how it would be used, and how it would benefit science as a whole. The most interesting part of this article is the face that Bush wrote it long before the modern computer was conceived; in fact, Bush passed away before the creation of the World Wide Web.

The most prevalant and interesting theme, in my opinion, is the importance of the computer, not only for advancements in science but for creating new media and for simply connecting humans and their thoughts. Though Bush lived before the computer era, he saw the potential for advancement in its creation. Manovich also takes a great deal of time to acknowledge the computer's positive role in our society. The computer allows people all over the world to share their ideas; it keeps us all updated on what is happening in the world. Whether one is using computers for scientific research, or to discover new forms of media, the computer is a vital tool that allows us to work more quickly, learn about things we would never normally have access to, and connect with others to broaden our views and knowledge of the world.