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Chapter 13 was definitely my favorite chapter of Dr. Levinson's book- it was a succinct but very good capstone of his research and experiences with new new media.
Most of us have grown up with computers and have an intrinsic digital skill set we like to brag about to our generational predecessors. However, there are actually very few of us who understand the software system- the specific code and designs- that drive the capabilities of computers, web sites and mobile phones. We are "masters" of these system interfaces but can not really explain the complex wiring behind them, as Levinson points out. I personally regret very much not majoring or at least taking some classes in computer science. Today, mostly everyone can use the system interfaces to some degree, but very, very few can code and design them themselves. I think this is a very valuable and marketable skill in this digital age.
Dr. Levinson's commentary on new new media's mobility was also very interesting, specifically how mobile applications on mobile media work against the no-cost model and how new new media makes all formerly useless places useful. "We do nothing when we want to do nothing, not when circumstances dictate we do nothing" further indicating the "democratic" nature of new media (189). I also found his analysis of how our places of work have evolved, "the bed and the park are almost equidistant from the desk, as powerfully different from the desk, in different directions," extremely enlightening, how "the cirumstances in which we engage new new media are both more private (the bed) and more public (the park)" (190). I had never heard of Buckminster Fuller's 1938 "dymaxion principle," which says that new technologies get smaller and more powerful, but think that it is completely correct- new new media has liberated itself from its wires and in doing so has expanded its possibilities exponentially.
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You've made a lot of good points here. I wasn't familiar with Fuller's principle either, but it is certainly true. It's ironic, really, that the smaller, and physically simpler things are, the the better, smarter, and more useful and powerful they are. Typically, we tend to think that power stems from size only.
ReplyDeleteYou've made a lot of good points here. I wasn't familiar with Fuller's principle either, but it is certainly true. It's ironic, really, that the smaller, and physically simpler technologies are, the better, smart, useful and powerful they are. Typically, we tend to think that power stems from size only.
ReplyDeletePortability is certainly an important development in technological evolution. Think of how much difference it made to go from the massive, heavy, leather bound parchment codex/medieval manuscript to the lightweight, transportable paperback book.
ReplyDelete