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wordwhackerSo when I started this blog I made a generic entry which outlines my media use throughout the day. This is kind of handy, because it means that for the most part I can focus in on particular activities and try to be reflective and relevant to my course materials. Fun fun. But now and then I catch myself using media in different ways, and by the time I'm going to write a blog entry I've forgotten some of it.
Clearly, I need to get a little notepad or something and carry it with me for a few days so I can jot things down as I go. That way I can watch for trends, as well as remember neat little things that will make for a good blog entry. I'm toying with the idea of doing this through "Twitter" - I hardly EVER send texts, and I'm sure I have a number of "free" ones included in my cell phone plan. (And I think you can update them directly on the site, too.) Since lots of people are starting to do this it could be an interesting experiment. Look for some "twitter" updates here over the next week or so, between my normal blog entries.
For a while I've been thinking about the digital media fast that Danna Walker got her students to do in "The Longest Day". It would be interesting to do this - a few times I've all but decided to go for it. There are lots of things that I could cut out for a day or two, to see how I feel. I could go for walks without my mp3 player; I could write long-hand and read textbooks (and, y'know, normal books) instead of use the computer.
But every time, I'm stopped by the sheer impossibility of it. My cell phone (and occasionally the home phone) is my primary means for hooking up with people; I use email and facebook really regularly, too (for different groups of people I use different methods, I've noticed.) I'm involved in lots of stuff that requires for me to do email at LEAST once a day. So "no digital media" for me means "no hanging out with people in the real world" (either that, or arranging things in advance but not being able to be made aware of last-minute changes.)
Most of all, though - the TV is on almost all evening. My dad watches a lot of sports, see - it's playoff time in major league baseball. What am I supposed to do, not walk through the livingroom? Mum also has the radio on anytime we're in the car, so am I supposed to get her to turn it off when she's driving me places? Should I avoid getting drives? Malls and restaurants usually have music playing - am I supposed to avoid them? Or wear earplugs?
As I mentioned in my last, short post about the "Muggles" article and the ubiquitousness of technology, I don't identify through my technologies. (Well, in a sense I do, when I'm blogging or commenting, or writing a paper. But I wouldn't immediately describe myself AS a technology user. The technologies are media through which I am me. They appear transparent (though this is an illusion, because they obviously DO have an effect on what I'm doing.) I can't conceive of life - at least the life I have NOW - without them.
I'm just about to run out and see A Chorus Line at Harbour View, but I want to briefly touch on something else re: the Muggles article that I linked to the other day. I like her argument that "the audience" is not a cohesive blob of same-y individuals but is better understood as being made up of different strata of people. I'm just not 100% sold on the "life phase" aspect of it - it's relevant, sure, but couldn't we spend all night cutting the audience up into different demographics? She acknowledges this to some extent in that she admits that she's talking in broad strokes, so I certainly couldn't call her out about it. More important for her seems to be the idea that people are the thrust of technology and aren't at its beck and call, which I can dig.
With that in mind, I have to wonder whether the kinds of technologies that I'm going to experiment with for this class - Twitter, podcasting, maybe even videocasting - were designed for me. Are they going to answer some long-forgotten need? Or are they going to encourage a new one that I didn't have before? Or am I just going to go "meh" after a couple of weeks and never look at them again (or return to them periodically, a la 43 Things?)
Clearly, I need to get a little notepad or something and carry it with me for a few days so I can jot things down as I go. That way I can watch for trends, as well as remember neat little things that will make for a good blog entry. I'm toying with the idea of doing this through "Twitter" - I hardly EVER send texts, and I'm sure I have a number of "free" ones included in my cell phone plan. (And I think you can update them directly on the site, too.) Since lots of people are starting to do this it could be an interesting experiment. Look for some "twitter" updates here over the next week or so, between my normal blog entries.
For a while I've been thinking about the digital media fast that Danna Walker got her students to do in "The Longest Day". It would be interesting to do this - a few times I've all but decided to go for it. There are lots of things that I could cut out for a day or two, to see how I feel. I could go for walks without my mp3 player; I could write long-hand and read textbooks (and, y'know, normal books) instead of use the computer.
But every time, I'm stopped by the sheer impossibility of it. My cell phone (and occasionally the home phone) is my primary means for hooking up with people; I use email and facebook really regularly, too (for different groups of people I use different methods, I've noticed.) I'm involved in lots of stuff that requires for me to do email at LEAST once a day. So "no digital media" for me means "no hanging out with people in the real world" (either that, or arranging things in advance but not being able to be made aware of last-minute changes.)
Most of all, though - the TV is on almost all evening. My dad watches a lot of sports, see - it's playoff time in major league baseball. What am I supposed to do, not walk through the livingroom? Mum also has the radio on anytime we're in the car, so am I supposed to get her to turn it off when she's driving me places? Should I avoid getting drives? Malls and restaurants usually have music playing - am I supposed to avoid them? Or wear earplugs?
As I mentioned in my last, short post about the "Muggles" article and the ubiquitousness of technology, I don't identify through my technologies. (Well, in a sense I do, when I'm blogging or commenting, or writing a paper. But I wouldn't immediately describe myself AS a technology user. The technologies are media through which I am me. They appear transparent (though this is an illusion, because they obviously DO have an effect on what I'm doing.) I can't conceive of life - at least the life I have NOW - without them.
I'm just about to run out and see A Chorus Line at Harbour View, but I want to briefly touch on something else re: the Muggles article that I linked to the other day. I like her argument that "the audience" is not a cohesive blob of same-y individuals but is better understood as being made up of different strata of people. I'm just not 100% sold on the "life phase" aspect of it - it's relevant, sure, but couldn't we spend all night cutting the audience up into different demographics? She acknowledges this to some extent in that she admits that she's talking in broad strokes, so I certainly couldn't call her out about it. More important for her seems to be the idea that people are the thrust of technology and aren't at its beck and call, which I can dig.
With that in mind, I have to wonder whether the kinds of technologies that I'm going to experiment with for this class - Twitter, podcasting, maybe even videocasting - were designed for me. Are they going to answer some long-forgotten need? Or are they going to encourage a new one that I didn't have before? Or am I just going to go "meh" after a couple of weeks and never look at them again (or return to them periodically, a la 43 Things?)
