Response 1-TateY

Response 1-TateY

I. WHAT IS NEW MEDIA?

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)

The hallmark characteristics of New Media are that firstly, unique and individualized information can simultaneously be delivered or displayed to a potentially infinite number of people. No longer are our natural and physical limitations preventing us from getting many different bits of information out to many different people. Secondly, each of the people who are involved in this communication share an equal and reciprocal control over that content – which is quite opposite from the one person to many people model that is exhibited in Mass Media. Thirdly, all of this is dependent on technology.

New Media, which followed after Mass Media – “one to many” – is now liberating the people who once had no control over the information and communications delivered to the masses. New Media levels the playing field, enabling anyone to get their message across to anyone and everyone, as well as allows groups to communicate with other groups. For instance, with the introduction of New Media, I now have the ability to rally potentially tens of thousands of protestors to come out to a climate change march. This is due to the new medium’s ability to individualize my request to find like-minded people within a certain vicinity (individualized information) and create a group where not only can I suggest we rally together and protest, but the members themselves can suggests ways in which we do so, what to wear, signs to make, etc.

II. NEW MEDIA STRATEGIES

After reading the article, answer the following questions (you should cut/paste the questions from exercise 1 into your post, then your answer of solution B or B copying the full answer, then  your explanation for why this is the correct answer; for exercise 2, just post the single problem you are choosing and follow with your brainstorm/solutions)

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

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 is a “many to many” solution because it incorporates two ways of using new media to keep a language from disappearing. The first is by way of crowdsourcing. Rather than have one person from the tribe create a dictionary, they are using the knowledge of a number of people in the tribe to compile, or aggregate, information on the language. Secondly they are distributing the load to break up the problem so it can be solved by piecing together various parts.

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 B seems to be a “many-to-many” solution due to the fact that anybody can explore these areas and then post pictures, to which anybody can then view and see them. Solution A only provides a “one-to-many” solution because they are creating the film and then sharing it to be viewed. While not a protest of any sort, it sort of feel as though they are mobilizing people to do something and to contribute through smartphones (because of the the scannable stickers).

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 seems like the best option for Ryan and Jason. This is because if they want to have the viewers really interact with their presentation, a simple documentation of their process – though it would get the point across that there are many layers to creating a computer animated film – wouldn’t allow the viewer to have control over how they experience the various layers. With the ability to “peel” back the layers, viewers are now experiencing what layers and are able to go as far or a little as they wish to with understanding the animation process.

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 A is clearly the better choice of the two. Not only would it conclude with something tangible (like parsley and strawberries) but it also distributes the work load in the process by asking other people to contribute their thoughts and suggests as to what they would like to see there. It makes the whole process more collaborative and it ends with anyone having access to these herbs and fruits.

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.

VISUAL ART IS TOO STATIC

How can you create a mural that responds to individual viewers?

I have always loved films and photography purely because it gives the artist the power to create something that they want to share – but I can also understand why for some people, it is just too static. I do time-lapse photography, and I’ve always wished that someone could interact with the displayed time-lapse. I believe one way to solve this problem could be to run a time-lapse and capture a scene for a full day or even a full week, and then have a dial in front of the display that controls a clock, to which the viewer can essentially “scrub” through a day of the scene as fast or as slow as they wish, individualizing the way the viewer wants to see the scene. If someone wishes to find out what it looks like right before sunrise, or maybe in the dark with the stars above, they could easily scrub through the day and view the scene. The ultimate project would be to set up a camera to time-lapse a scene throughout an entire year, so someone could scrub through the entire year and quickly study the weather patterns and seasons.

III. THEATER OF THE OPPRESSED

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)

In a “typical theater experience,” someone (or a few people) create, write, and then direct the play and the actors to tell a story or portray a message, and then the audience members watch and only take in the play. The spectators have no control over the play and how it is being done. Another interesting aspect is that typically those who have the ability, time, and resources to direct and write a play are from the “ruling classes,” and can reflect their own experiences through their play. This model is “one to many” and gives absolutely no control or ability for the spectators to join in on the storytelling. This is oppressive and only allows the “ruling class” to have the ability to tell their story.

Augusto Boal, however, gives back the power to the people (the spectators) by allowing them to participate in the plays. This is done through stopping the play and allowing people to come up with solutions or possible next moves, having the spectators now direct certain scenes of their choosing – to tell their own story – or even giving them the power to be an actor in a play after having already seen the play, and give them the chance to act how they wished they had seen initially. Often times, once the spectator has more power they will be more willing to come up with dramatic or abstract solutions, usually resulting in a situation that is far from what they had initially hoped for. However, this is the exact point. Just because spectators can have the power to change the play doesn’t mean they will do so in the right way, but they now have the ability to find and create solutions. Whatever method Augusto Boal uses, it is ultimately to liberate the spectator and to give the power of storytelling to the common people, not just the ruling class. Plays are reflections of those who write them and this should not be a privilege for just the ruling class. Like many parts of the world, plays need to be changed and bettered through the problem solving of many people,

How can New Media accomplish 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)

One way in which New Media has accomplished a similar goal of giving the power back to the people is how creating a film and distributing it is much easier to do today by the average person than it was just twenty years ago.

For instance, even just two decades ago, to create a film, one needed a lot of money and the right resources to do so, meaning only those who had money were able tell stories and create films. Now, through not only a reduction in cost of camera equipment, but mainly through platforms like YouTube and Facebook, anyone can collaborate with other indie filmmakers from anywhere on the planet and also release films for anyone to view. This has dramatically increased the amount of films in the world but more importantly it has enabled the average person to tell the stories that weren’t able to be told and shared before, and to give more power to the common people.

 


RESPONSE 1B

Issue: Voting in the United States. Specifically gerrymandering and voting turnout.

Strategies: In regards to gerrymandering, visualizing the possibilities of how extreme gerrymandering can be is (in my opinion) a great strategy to allow the average person with very little understanding of what gerrymandering is to understand how unfair it can be and how it can fluctuate regularly. This is certainly not my original idea, but rather mimicking what has already been done before: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/01/17/upshot/pennsylvania-gerrymandering.html but on a national case (repeat this idea for each state). Gerrymandering can seem like a bit of a complicated process, but if you take the process of reconfiguring the districts and you turn it to its extremes so both Democratic and Republican parties could see a situation that would be unfavorable to them, then both parties are forced to see that this is extremely unfair. I believe that this will ultimately create a conversation around this which will then hopefully lead to solutions, but firstly we need to inform the public and make them more interested in this issue.

A second issue that I would like to address is voter turnout. I believe the best way to combat this issue is through automation. There should be automatic registration – why do we need to go and register before we vote? You should be able to show up after you turn 18 and not have to deal with registering, something which greatly suppresses voters, especially new voters. Secondly, the automation process should extend to a digital and mobil application to vote. This should be accessible as soon as the final ballot modifications are ready, therefore anyone can vote, even if they are on a vacation or trip, or simply don’t have the time during voting day to make it out to the polls. I do not believe we should get rid of the polls all together, but rather give other options. I believe this automation process will be effective because firstly, election and voting days are not national holidays (whole other issue in itself) but that means that if someone is working 9am-5pm, they have very little time to get to the polls before and after work. An application or website that can be accessed on mobile phones or by a computer would make that process of voting so much easier. Automatic registration and digital forms of voting would greatly increase voter turnout, which ultimately makes the election results more just.

Target audience: For visualizing the extremes of gerrymandering, I think the best way to distribute this visualizing is by creating a website that shows the extremes, but also sharing this visualizations via social media, newspapers articles, and media outlets.

For automation and a website for voting, this type of change needs to come from mobilizing people as well as getting the word out that this is a possibility. Many times we feel depleted and not able to change what we disagree with, but showing that our voting process can be automated and bettered for the voters themselves will greatly enhance our odds in increasing voting turnout.