Response 1- DrakeP
Describe the hallmark characteristics of New Media. How do you think this changes who has the power to “define reality” via the media? Give an example of where this might be the case. (2-3 paragraphs
As the reading said, the two staples of New Media are its ability to provide individualized information to a potentially infinite number of people, and each of those people involved having some sort of control over the information. This new medium is also reliant on technology to work, because the goals it is able to achieve cannot be replicated by humans by themselves. New Media has given people the opportunity to communicate and collaborate in ways that were never possible before.
With the creation of New Media, and especially the creation of social media within it, came a different balance of power. More power was given to the people at large. People were given the ability to find whatever information they wanted to know without restriction. Even in the case of restriction people can find ways to bypass whatever is stopping them to find the information anyway, for better or for worse. This ability worked a lot like how the creation of the Gutenberg printing press did; people were able to access more information than was given to them before, which in turn made people smarter (arguably). It also created issues for business and politicians whose platforms relied on people not being able to look up what they were talking about or doing at all times.
EXERCISE 1: WHICH IS THE NEW MEDIA SOLUTION?
For each of the following past capstone ideas, identify which solution embodies the “many-to-many” principle and which one doesn’t and explain why in 1-2 paragraphs.
PROBLEM: A DISAPPEARING LANGUAGE
Ian Larson wanted to help preserve the Passamaquoddy language from extinction.
- 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.
Solution B takes on the many-to-many principle by giving an interactive approach to collecting information. Solution A was only about making a dictionary with a handful of people and putting it out there for others to see. While that’s useful in some ways it doesn’t embody a New Media solution. Letting people record themselves and then explain what they’re saying will give a much more personable way to learn a language.
PROBLEM: NEGLECTED RUINS
Evan Habeeb wanted to make people aware of the beauty of abandoned buildings.
- 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 A may show some of the beauty, but it will be very short lived and most likely forgotten. Solution B, on the other hand, encourages people to get out and seek to find abandoned buildings on their own. Allowing people to take their own photographs and upload them to a website will also show how different people can view the same location in different ways. People will also see where others have been and they may want to actively seek those places out to visit as well. As a whole Solution B is a much better way to show more people the beauty of abandoned buildings by having them go see for themselves.
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 A is the better of the two, as it allows people to interact with the animation themselves. Simply explaining each step may leave a lot of people confused and bored with what’s being presented, which is what Solution B was about. Being able to “rub” away the layers and look at the different stages yourself will help people see what goes into the different stages better and at their own pace. For example, if you rub away the light layer and slowly reveal how different the textures are without it it’ll be easier to see how having the light layer effects the whole picture.
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.
While Solution B is an interesting art project, it doesn’t really help fix the situation or allow for people to engage with it. Solution A, however, is reliant on many different groups of people coming together to make this project work. It also encourages others to interact with it by planting and picking things themselves and helping to keep this installation going. Not only that, but it also provides fresh food to the students and kitchen staff to save some money and eat better. So not only is Solution A more indicative of New Media, it’s also a much more useful solution in general.
EXERCISE 2: INVENT YOUR OWN MANY-TO-MANY SOLUTIONS
Pick one of the following problems and brainstorm a solution that embodies a many-to-many approach. Describe your solution in two or more paragraphs.
STOCK PHOTOGRAPHS COST TOO MUCH
How can you help designers discover and download high-resolution images for their layouts?
Example: Corey Butler, Photorrent.
I think a good solution to this issue is a mixture of crowdsourcing, aggregating, and sharing what was inaccessible, to put it into some of the categories given in the reading. This solution would involve the creation of a website that collects and categorizes un-watermarked stock photos. The photos will be linked to the photographer, editor, and others that were involved in making it, so the works are still properly credited. We want to take the stock photos away from the businesses that are trying to sell them for so much, not the people that took their time to make them.
People will be able to share to the site stock photos that they may have purchased, edited, recreated, or made themselves as long as proper credits are still given. Ideally the credits would be embedded into the pictures themselves, so scrolling over it will give a text bubble with who created the picture no matter where the image is used. This would not only give designers access to more resources for their work, but also encourage people to make and share their talents and work to help people as well.
People could also make accounts on the site and list themselves as a contributor or designer of some sort. Each account could have donation buttons attached to it so people could donate money to those that are contributing to the site; or people could donate photographs or resources to designers that are looking for specific things. This way people have the option to support contributors/designers they like without being forced to pay too much money.
How does media oppress people in this article, and how does Boal try to give that power back to people? How does he use humor to do this? (2-3 paragraphs)
The most glaring form of oppression in this article is the very beginning discussing how Boal was jailed and tortured, and his colleagues killed for his interactive performances. That is perhaps not oppression by the media itself, but it reflects a form of oppression in the media. The point of Boal’s performances and techniques was to give people a forum to discuss their oppression and find ways to change the situation. Government agencies obviously don’t want this type of media to be present, they don’t want people to think about revolution or anything that could be a danger to the government, so they’ve gone to extreme measures (murder and torture) to censor it. This censorship is meant to continue the oppression of the people by actively destroying ways for them to express and help themselves.
Boal’s techniques are centered in helping and giving power to the oppressed people. He does so ways that are easy to digest and fun to watch and/or interact with. Having people control what actors do whether with words, with their hands, or by becoming the actors themselves gets them more involved with the issues the actors are presenting. With controlling the actors through words and watching them play out different scenarios people can see different ways a situation could be solved, and the crowd input can help decide what the best course of action may be. The more involved performances that arise from people in the crowd replacing actors to go through with their own idea gives practice to whatever situation they want to solve. In that form they also get feedback and can see how other people’s ideas played out and how other ways can be better or worse. Boal’s form of theatre is giving power to the oppressed by helping them find ways to fix or lessen their oppression.
How can New Media accomplish a similar goal? give a few examples. You can add projects we review in class, but you might want to start by trying to think of some yourself. (2 paragraphs)
New Media, especially with it’s incredible reach can help mobilize and get people talking, much like Boal’s theatre. New Media allows a potentially infinite number of people to interact with each other and discuss almost anything, including their society and issues. People have already been helped by New Media by being able to find likeminded people that are facing the same issues as them and talk about it, which helps shed light on the fact that their oppression is fucked up, and something should be done about it.
While New Media is already helping accomplish the same goal as Boal’s theatre, more improvements can always be developed. It can be from something simple like making a forum dedicated to talking about different types of oppression and ways to fight it, or something more complex like creating all new technology to help people deal with these issues when they happen. Something like the Theatre of Oppression could also be created within New Media. An interactive group storytelling site or app that helps people recognize and find ways to dismantle systems of oppression. Having this idea on the internet also grants the ability to collaborate with people around the world instead of just in a localized area, so more issues can be seen and discussed.
1-List your topic/issue and your proposed intervention (Eg UMaine requires immunization for students matriculating, but Maine has a law that allows citizens to refuse immunization. UMaine should explain the pros and cons of each choice, educating students, and give students this option)
Many celebrities are still incredibly idolized even though they’ve done incredibly bad things (not minor problems, but big issues like rampant racism, sexism, homo/transphobia, sexual assault, etc.). Some people unknowingly support famous people that actively do or have done incredibly harmful stuff, so I was thinking of an app or widget of some sort where you can check to see if someone famous has done something egregious before you support them.
2-List your top strategies , how they work, and why you would use them.
- Crowdsource: Have people help gather info and put it together on a site where you can search a celebrity and see if there have been issues with them. Obviously should be moderated to make sure everything is sourced and correct and people don’t post minor issues or blatant lies, or take things down that they don’t like.
- Upstage the Man (?): Adding on to the crowdsourcing idea, have a pop up when someone searches a person on social media or search engines with a link that says something like “Here’s info you might want to know” and links to a list of their transgressions.
- Share What’s Inaccessible: A lot of famous people try to hide bad things they’ve done in the past so their “image” doesn’t get ruined. Uncovering this hidden information, possibly also things like lawsuits that people don’t usually get to see, and making them available to the public so people can see what this person doesn’t want them to see.
3- Describe how you will reach your target audience: Consider effectiveness, as well as aesthetics, fun, surprise, or any other aspects that make the strategy appealing. What does this say about the conventional line between serious & playful? What is that line doing there? Who does it benefit?
To go along with the pop-up idea, I think it would be effective to have a light and kind of fun aesthetic, to make people actually want to click on the link. Or alternatively to have the pop-up have the same layout/aesthetic as whatever site it pops up on to make it seem like it’s a new part of the site itself. The site itself would also have a lighter, more fun aesthetic to counteract the unfortunate information on it. The light aesthetic/promise of more information on a celebrity would probably attract more interest from a younger audience, which is probably more effective than going after older audiences who have already formed a potentially difficult-to-change opinion on people. It also helps inform younger people that probably don’t know as much about whatever celebrity they’re looking up, whereas older people will probably already know about them.
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