Moving On In New Media

One of the most interesting subjects to me is the future. I like to picture the world as if it is an episode of the Jetsons. Every house is miles in the air. Cars fly. I can get away with naming my dog Astro without someone giving me a weird look. It would be grand.

In reality, this day will probably never come and if it does, I will be long gone. Instead, my future will most likely be dominated by one of the prominent societies on today’s planet: the Internet. And yes, I called it a society. Why?

The internet has evolved from a vast database of information to an extension of life. Your persona is not just the physical you, but the cyber you. We are all part of an expansive society online and it will continue to grow. As advances like virtual reality are introduced to the world, our cyber identity will melt more and more with our physical identity. The question, though, is whether we will be lost or grown. There’s only one way to find out.

My Second Life

To begin with, I was hesistant installing any software on my computer that did not have some sort of cost attached to it. “What makes Second Life so trustworthy?” I asked. Eventually, I gave into my syllabus and downloaded this new virtual world. Little did I know that I was in for a great disappointment.

Second Life’s website describes it as “a free 3D virtual world where users can socialize, connect and create using free voice and text chat.”

I think the best way to describe it is as “a free 3D virtual world where users can roam aimlessly in order to defeat their boredom with the regular internet… and it will fail you.”

I found myself creating an avatar that looked nothing like me (which probably reflects some deep self-projected image psychology that I don’t really care to learn about) and twiddling my fingers across the keyboard in order to accomplish… something. I never figure out exactly what I was supposed to be doing.

Second Life is a social uitility that comes off as a game with no purpose. And what is life, second of not, with no purpose?

The Power of Twitter

Is Twitter changing the old media? More often than before, I see characters of old media delving into the opinions of their audience via Twitter. Entire sections of their shows are dedicated to simply listeningto the people through Twitter. This is a great change from the past where the media was the voice of God.

“That’s the way it is,” they would say.

There was no one to go up against them, aside from themselves. Now, with the advent of New Media, the old media can finally be disagreed with. Probably the most astounding part of this is that they want just this.

It seems as if the old media has finally caught onto the fact that people don’t want to just be told what to think or what to think about all the time, but instead they want to engage in an active conversation about the news. They want to be part of it. Twitter is invading the old media is allowing just this.

So is Twitter changing the old media. Without a doubt, the answer is “Yes.”

What is Digg?... and all these other sites

Digg, Second Life, Four Square, Gowalla... all of these are familiar names to me, but why? The answer is because I’m enrolled in Social World 230. But what about those that don’t have the luxury of learning about new media every Tuesday and Thursday?

To them, these names are as foreign as the Zulu Nation. Simply put, these internet “phenomena” are not as phenomenal as they are played off to be. Before coming to Butler, I never once visited any of these sites. It wasn’t due to lack of interest but simply due to ignorance.

If I ask any of my friends or colleagues who are not enrolled in the class, they too will say that they have never heard of these sites.

While it may seem like my point so far has been to attack the class, it surely is not. What I’m trying to say is that some our New Media outlets are not as popular as it may seem. My theory is that it is because we are just entering the now entering the age New Media. Therefore, my learning of these media outlets will be extremely useful in the near future.

The Death of Youtube

A theme that I've been following in my last few posts has been the degradation of New Media as more and more of it becomes controlled by corporate media. In the previous post I mentioned how the internet savior of Google has begun selling itself out for the good its stock. This trend is spreading onto other new media platforms. One of which will greatly affect all of us is Youtube.

When YouTube came about, it solved all of our video problems. Remember that episode of Seinfeld where George created the false personality of the importer-exporter Art Vandaley? No? Then go look on YouTube. You’ll love it.

No longer were we forced to watch our music videos at 3 AM on MTV because they weren’t ever played during regular hours anymore.

No longer did we have to only try to remember the magic that was the Dwight Clark-Joe Montana touchdown (otherwise known as “The Catch.”) We could simply go to YouTube and search it.

There was no wait except for a short buffering period. The entire world was at our fingertips.

Then Google bought YouTube and started to try to find a way to turn a profit. What came of it? VEVO; the menace to the streaming video industry. Now we have to sit through thirty second advertisements in order to watch a fifteen second clip. This is just one example of our New Media saviors selling out, but it is definitely one of the most prominent.