Response 1 – AlexM

I.

What is unique about New Media is that unlike the old media, the New Media has the ability to target each individual person with information that is relevant to them, and is able to do so with a potentially infinite amount of people at once. This is referred to as the “Many-to-Many” approach. This can also be a bit of a problem by not exposing people to opinions they do not want to see, whether by their own choice or by the choice of those providing the information. An example of this could be what you see on Facebook, where one could choose exactly what they want to see, hiding opposing views from appearing.

II.

Exercise 1:

PROBLEM: A DISAPPEARING LANGUAGE

Ian Larson wanted to help preserve the Passamaquoddy language from extinction.

• Solution A  Create a taskforce from a select group of Native American language experts, and ask them to write down a dictionary of words and their definitions. Enter these definitions into a database and build a Web site that allows anyone to search for terms and hear their pronunciation. Hire a high-profile Web designer and marketing firm to ensure that as many people as possible learn about this resource.

• Solution B  Distribute laptops with video cameras to schoolkids in the Passamaquoddy community, and ask them to record their grandparents telling stories in Passamaquoddy. Upload these to a Web site along with the grandparents’ definitions of particular words used in the story, and make these words searchable via a tag cloud.

I believe Solution B to be the correct answer because it is far more personalized than having a dictionary of words as Solution A suggests. Solution A better represents a “one-to-many” approach due to the information coming from one unchanging source.

PROBLEM: NEGLECTED RUINS

Evan Habeeb wanted to make people aware of the beauty of abandoned buildings.

• Solution A  Assemble a film crew and visit abandoned homes, factories, and other buildings. Bring lights to illuminate these spaces dramatically, and record ambient sounds like dripping water. Edit the footage onto a DVD to create a compelling account that documents these relics for posterity, and distribute copies to historical societies across the state for their collections.
• Solution B  Build a Web site that allows adventurers to print stickers they can leave behind in abandoned buildings they explore. Create the stickers so they can be scanned by a mobile phone to reveal a Web site built to feature photographs taken by those explorers.

Solution B better fits the “many-to-many” approach because the experience is different for everyone who participates while also encouraging people to get out and explore the ruins themselves. Solution A is a “one-to-many” approach because everyone would be watching the same film.

PROBLEM: MISUNDERSTANDING COMPUTER ANIMATION

Ryan Schaller and Jason Walker wanted to help people understand the many layers required to create a computer-animated film, including wireframe, textures, and light effects. As a case study, they created an animation depicting a cartoon archeologist digging for ancient artifacts.

• Solution A Design and build a touch-screen interface that allows viewers to “rub” away layers of the film with their hands to reveal previous stages of the animation as it plays.
• Solution B  Create an iPad application that documents each stage of the animation process, using stills from the archeologist film as illustrations. Explain techniques such as ray tracing, motion capture, and morphing. Include links to companies that create animation software such as Autodesk.

In this case Solution A is the correct one because each user would have a different experience. It offers more control to the user over what they see and when they see it.

PROBLEM: A BROKEN FOUNTAIN

Danielle Gagner wanted to renovate the waterfall fountain under the skylight in the middle of the University Union, which had fallen into disrepair.

• Solution A  Repurpose the existing plumbing to irrigate a garden planted in the former fountain. Research the types of plants that would grow well together at different levels of the fountain, and meet with dining hall staff to find out what herbs or vegetables they might add to salads and other offerings. Then plant these in collaboration with the sustainable agriculture club on campus, and invite students to pick the resulting parsley, strawberries, and other fare from the garden for their lunch.
• Solution B  Use Google Image Search to download photographs of natural bodies of water such as streams, rivers, and the ocean. Combine these with nature footage from sources like National Geographic and the Discovery Channel to create a multichannel video installation that projects images of flowing water and rippling waves onto the fountain, which has been covered with theatrical screening. Supplement the moving images with the sound of a babbling brook emanating from surround-sound speakers mounted on the ceiling.

Solution A is the “many-to-many” approach here as it allows many different people to participate to a degree of their choice in enjoying and maintaining the garden. Solution B does not offer any sort of interactivity other than that of being aesthetically pleasing.

Exercise 2:

THE OCEANS ARE DYING

How can you stimulate students to learn more about the oceans?

I think that the best way to stimulate students to learn more about the ocean would be through some sort of ocean exploration/survival game. I believe that that would be the most entertaining to the student and would easily accomplish the task so long as the game included plenty of actual facts and was fun to play.

Response 1-B

1. Find a way to reduce or prevent police brutality towards minorities.

2. Transparent society. Make people wear cameras and record every aspect of their life. This could help provide evidence in court against those who were wrongfully targeted. Force government agency personnel to wear cameras, where the footage is available to the public online and is backed up to a super secure server. This can also be used on everyone and not just law enforcement.

3. Start a new company whose focus is to bring transparency to law enforcement agencies and the world. This can be an effective way to make people behave better. If everyone has access to all the footage that everyone is recording, than everyone can be caught committing a crime. This is pretty serious, but it is also entertaining, as home videos will become much greater. This can potentially benefit everybody.