Response 1 – BruceW
RESPONSE 1B:
Team Members: Andrew Gardner
Issue: UMaine officials decide whether or not we have snow days. When they don’t cancel classes on days with dangerous weather it puts student and faculty lives at unnecessary risk.
Proposed Intervention: Class content should be available to students from their homes OR students should have a reasonable say in whether class should be cancelled or not.
Top Strategies:
- In the case that classes are cancelled, resources should be available for students to learn the content from home
- video live stream of professor teaching from home
- online resources (eg. written notes, lecture videos, tutorials, etc.)
- relevant homework given in anticipation
- Students should be able to give their input on whether classes should be cancelled
- to balance power, UMaine officials could allow students to decide if class is worth attending on questionable days
- students can upload photos to support their poll decisions
- on questionable days, students should have the option of either attending class physically OR virtually through Google hangouts
Audience and Appeal: To reach the audience of both UMaine officials and UMaine students, I would choose to miss classes on a day with terrible weather when we still had class. During this time I would walk around the Orono/Old Town area and take photos and videos of accidents related to the weather, people swerving, peoples’ cars stuck, and any other evidence of the weather being too dangerous for class that I can document. I would upload these photos to UMaine class pages and encourage people to share them. These photos would include a small description of the purpose of the protest, and would hopefully reach the eyes of UMaine students and officials alike. I would choose to attack the problem in this way because the protest is socially disruptive – it shows people the direct impact of the decision made by the University. The photos and videos taken have the potential to be gruesome depending on how bad the situation plays out to be. It’s similar in fashion to Mamie Till’s decision to hold an open casket funeral for her son Emmett who was brutally drowned in a river. She chose to show the world her sons disfigured body against the media’s will to bring awareness to racism in mid-1900s America. It’s not the happy news the public wants to see, but it shows the flaws in a governing and moral system.
RESPONSE 1:
WHAT IS NEW MEDIA?
‘New Media’ as defined by this article is a new method of communication birthed by modern technology, specifically its ability to cater individualized content to a theoretically infinite amount of people. In ‘one-to-one’ communication, both individuals can cater their content to one another, but with the limit of having a small and finite audience. In ‘one-to-many’ communication, an individual can preach content to a very large amount of people, but cannot cater any content to the needs of the individual. In the absence of technology, amount of people reached and content catered to the individual have an inverse relationship – as one goes up the other goes down. Modern technology overcomes this balance by introducing the communication method ‘many-to-many’, allowing catered content to be shared on an infinite scale. This is considered to be the New Medium. For instance, how often do you receive emails that say something along the lines of ‘Joline, mortgage rates are at an all time low. Buy a house TODAY!’? Usage of ones name is an easy way to establish an individual connection, but we know that this real-estate company isn’t actually typing out hundreds of emails individually to individual potential customers like yourself. That would be absurd! That’s the New Medium that modern technology allows us to achieve.
There’s a certain danger to this New Medium however. When users are encouraged to use modern tools to create an individual experience for themselves, they risk isolating themselves from important information that doesn’t coincide with their personal preferences. There’s reality, and there’s perceived reality. Reality is what truly is – the unquestionable happening of everything that goes on in this world. Perceived reality is what one believes to be the whole truth based on what they’ve seen, heard, or experienced. The fear used to be that “the media” (meaning largely news companies) only shows us what they want us to see so we believe what they want us to. Now the fear is that the individual has the power to limit their information and communication to the scope of their beliefs. For instance, let’s say I believe that Cherry is the best flavor of lollipop. (I’m going to use this silly example for the sake of avoiding politics and bias) I cater my own media intake to this belief and view many articles and watch many videos that talk about why Cherry is indeed the best flavor, presenting many relevant facts and opinions. I’m now fully convinced that my opinion is well founded, and even worse, that I’m fully informed. I bump into my coworker at the candy store and see him enjoying a lemon flavored lollipop. We’re immediately outraged at each other for enjoying the other flavor because of how wrong they are. Just like that, limiting my information intake to my narrow field of interest through New Media has created a perceived reality in my mind and I’ve created an aggressive situation. At the end of my coworker and I’s lollipop discussion, hate and pride formed from perception of truth stand in the way of either of us widening our scope to find that grape is actually the best flavor. Instead we each seek more relevant information to solidify our incorrect beliefs Because my reality is certainly more accurate than his.
NEW MEDIA STRATEGIES:
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.
REASONING:
I would argue that Solution B would far better than Solution A because public interest isn’t inherent to accessibility. Solution A suggests that data-basing a dictionary of Passamaquoddy words and marketing it professionally would inspire enough interest in the subject to save the language. This addresses accessibility but fails to address the lack of reason for actually learning about the language. Solution B attacks the problem by giving technology to those who are connected to people who grew up with and may still use the language while presenting the information in a more personal manner. (videos of people talking about the language) Solution B addresses public interest while Solution A does not.
The internet is a community that holds a tremendous amount of information in many subjects. With the amount of information readily available to any user, adding to the cloud in a non-meaningful way likely won’t resonate with any crowd. To assemble a community on the internet presentation must be unique and captivating. Textual information has always existed, so why choose to make an online dictionary when your possibilities extend far beyond the reach of what was capable in the absence of modern tech? Using technology to its full extent as a means of communication and inspiration will definitely have a greater impact than not.
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.
REASONING:
In this case Solution B certainly makes more connections to the ‘many-to-many” principle, but doesn’t assist in creating any more awareness towards the subject matter as it’s intentions are directed at an audience that’s already involved. The effective idea behind the ‘many-to-many’ principle is to create individualized content to cater information needs to a large audience while still attempting to maintain an individual connection, which to the user translates to meaningful attention given to them specifically. This is the method by which interest is grasped and maintained in a large digital audience. However, the aforementioned shortcomings of Solution B prevent it from being an effective method to “create awareness” which is the goal of the project. Instead of catering to an unknowing audience, it caters to ‘adventurers’ who are already aware of the cause. For that reason, I would opt for Solution A.
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.
REASONING:
The problem here looks to help people understand the layers of animation, it doesn’t necessarily look to help people understand all of the technical processes involved in full creating an animation. Solution B seems to encapsulate the latter part of the the previous statement. It would be a great way to teach one how to animate, but ends up being more of a tutorial than a means of understanding. Solution A is what I would pick because it addresses the ‘many-to-many’ principle that defines New Media by allowing the user to interact with an informative environment rather than just view 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.
REASONING:
I think the fairly obvious solution here is the one that actually addresses the issue – Solution A. It’s an interesting idea to use projection mapping to simulate water flow and natural beauty, but the process also undermines the principles of what ‘natural beauty’ is at its core. Furthermore, Solution A chooses to embody the ‘many-to-many’ principle by involving many different campus functions in the process in unique ways, as well as giving participants free range to use the facility any way they want ranging from observation to consumption.
PROBLEM: EDUCATIONAL BOOKS ARE BORING
How can you help educational writers make use of appealing formats like comic books?
MY SOLUTION
Digitize educational books and market them to specific groups of people while using modern and relevant analogies to convey information.
REASONING:
The purpose of an educational text is not only to provide the reader with information on a subject, but to insure the reader’s full understanding of the information being presented. Where books are a static medium, it’s difficult to convey information in a way that’s most effective to all audiences that view it. Digitizing educational books would allow information about the reader to be considered when deciding what method would be best to display content. For instance, perhaps the reader takes a short survey before reading the text that takes into account factors such as age and experience before an individual product is produced.
People of different age and standing learn in different way; culture and experience should be considered when altering the learning process, but the core information should remain the same. For instance, you could compare an elements tendency to bond with the easiest recipient to maintain stability to a college student’s tendency to take easy classes to maintain a high GPA. This would be an ideal analogy for a college student and would hopefully help them understand the information. A middle aged person however, may not find the analogy to be as useful, as such it should be substituted for another that pertains more to her culture and age. This method addresses the ‘many-to-many’ principle that New Media strives to encapsulate as well as addressing educational books lack of appealing format.
THEATRE OF THE OPPRESSED:
In this article many different situations are addressed in which people are oppressed not necessarily by the media, but by what we consider “The Media.” That’s to say it’s not the media as the means of mass communication that oppresses the people, but the systematic abuse of large groups of people that uses the media to communicate and synthesize their ideals. This article explores situations such as citizens versus an oppressive government, overworked employees versus their boss, and a spouse versus her cheating husband. The commonality between these scenarios (and most oppressive scenarios it seems) is that we’re not sure how to address and overcome them. Augutso Boal suggests that we use theatre as a media tool to explore different solutions as they are proposed by audience members, but these ‘proposals’ are much more than than verbal suggestions. Boal implores three techniques methods in his interactive theatre – Simultaneous Dramaturgy, Image Theatre, and Forum Theatre. Simultaneous Dramaturgy has audience members vocally suggesting solutions that are then acted out. Image Theatre has audience members arrange the actors physically and with facial expressions (but without words) to portray a solution. Forum Theatre has audience members replace the actors and act out their solutions themselves. Creating a space where the public can freely suggest and explore solutions to significant problems liberates people by showing them they can express their social ideas freely, and even provides an opportunity for them to put their ideas into harmless practice so they can better realize what effective actions could be taken to fight oppression. The humor in this is that through theatre Boal strives to achieve suspension of disbelief so participants feel as though they are in a real situation that their actions and feelings in that moment may accurately reflect those of a real life situation. “It is not the place of theatre to show the correct path, but only to offer the means by which all possible paths may be examined.”
The beauty of New Media is that it allows the smallest voice to be heard on a global scale and that it has the ability to unify immense groups of people through free, open forum discussion. When a problem emerges, people use the internet as a tool to begin relaying and assessing viewpoints from all corners of the earth. Once people come to a reasonable solution they can continue to use the net to organize and execute their ideas. For example, many people decided that the United States were oppressing women in a variety of ways. People who shared this viewpoint organized themselves online, creating a website to clearly display there thoughts and ideals and search for more follower to their cause. They also used the website to organize events and live protests to unify people physically. Here we can see a situation in which a problem was identified, people rallied to produce solutions, and an effective solution was organized and executed. All this was possible through ‘many-to-many’ communication as a principle of New Media and the many technological devices that it utilizes.
One thought on “Response 1 – BruceW”
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“There’s a certain danger to this New Medium however. When users are encouraged to use modern tools to create an individual experience for themselves, they risk isolating themselves from important information that doesn’t coincide with their personal preferences. ” This is an astute observation. Is there a way to counter this bias?
Your description of Boal theater is also spot on–very fine summary that shows a clear understanding and appreciation of theater as a political tool (as in YES MEN).
And your snow day intervention is a current and clear issues (I have a faculty colleague who died in a snow/car accident leaving a young baby. Your option gives people more choice over a hazardous situation.
I enjoyed watching you think though these issues in clear & thoughtful prose!