Humans and technology

"In other words, the concept of 'human' is unthinkable without technology but we act as if it is." (Shaw, 2008: p.81)

Have we been overcome by machines or are still human? Without technology the human race wouldn't get on very well. Think about how many times you use technology, we are always using are phones and iPods and laptops we couldn't live without these appliances. Try for one day leave your phone down and not use it, I bet u struggle. This shows how new media has overcome and that we can't live without them this shows how new media revolution has took over. This is basically meaning that we aren't being ourselves and that new media and technology has become an extension from ourselves and that we actually need them instead of want them.

Although new media wouldn’t have come about if it wasn’t for us we wouldn’t have evolved if it wasn’t for technology. We have developed a lot over the pasts due to the revolution of technology I would say that we have got smarter but also that we have got lazier as we no longer find the need to do maths we just use a calculator on our phones or we don’t remember history we just google it.

Shaw looks at William Harvey's circulatory system this is telling us that the body is "produced by technology in the simple sense that Harvey had necessarily to use tools to examine the workings of the heart"(Shaw, 2008: p.82) Now a days we don't need tools to look at the heart but that we can actually use technology to look at the heart beat and to do blood pressure and all things like that.

So overall we find ourselves turning into cyborgs as we are no longer ourselves but that we are just a form of media and that we find that humans wouldn't have evolved that fast if it wasn't for technology but also that technology wouldn't have evolved that quick if it wasn't for us.

Bibliography
Shaw, D (2008) Technoculture: The Key Concepts (Oxford: Berg Press)

Changes in New Media

"Modernism is the umbrella term we give to the way that human society responded to the changes that took place during the industrial revolution." (Creeber, 2009, pg11) New media wasn't simply discovered when the industrial revolution came along but through culture and how it has changed and this was mainly influenced by the coming of modernism.

'The Frankfurt School' has the idea about how the media is like mass production and that media is very like fordism as ford where well known for their mass production and how every car was nearly built the same.  "T. Fords were exactly the same. When asked what colours his cars came in, Ford famously replied, ‘any color – as long as it’s black’." (Creeber, 2009, pg13).

"A post-industrial (sometimes known as a post-Fordist) economy is one in which an economic transition has taken place from a manufacturing-based economy to a service-based economy."(Creeber, 2009, pg15). The media went from a mass produced industry also known as the heavy worker society where people didn't have little office jobs but in fact sat  behind a desk, also known as the white collar worker. This was due to the growth in the financial industry and that people where becoming  more and more involved into 'new media' and this was taken the attention away from the mass production and now "consumption and leisure now determine our experiences rather than work and production. This means that ‘consumer culture’ comes to dominate the cultural sphere"(Creeber, 2009, pg15). 

This is a totally different look at what new media is and is saying that it has evolved from the mass production too the 'service based economy'. This means that people used to watch boring standardised rubbish that everyone will maybe like or be able to relate too but instead the media has to be changed as culture has changed so that it fits in with 'consumer culture'. Meaning that media is now tailored to what you like instead of a standard programme for everyone this is due to the mass about of channels that are now available in this modern time.

Bibliography 

Creeber, G. Digital Theory: Theorizing New Media (Maidstone: OUP)

Convergence Culture

Convergence is basically where old and new media come together to become one with multiple mediums put into one. It is where different kinds of media are put into the same device or place. Such as the way Jenkins talks about with his phone. Mobile phones aren't just for calling, as they were built for but have now become a place where you can find multiple media forms in one place such as internet, games, mp3 etc. This has been revolutionary as "they don't make single-function phones anymore. No one wants them." (Jenkins, 2006, p.7) It has become apparent that people are no longer interested in something thats serves its purpose but that it fulfils many needs and has lots of added extras.

We don't even have time to think about the amount of mediums that are being produced as they are being produced that quickly so really we don't have a chance to think about the impact that it has had. Although we actually don't realise it but technology controls are lives. We are that passive that we don't realise that media is no longer for information but that we have a relationship with it. Think of the last time you left the house without your phone? Think about the last time you looked at your phone, checking emails or Facebook. Bet it wasn't that long ago.

Jenkins talks about that we should not think of media as the different technologies but think about emerging the different media cultures and theories together. So that different forms of media are no longer singular but have become multiple by having a relationship with another form of media.

Convergence isn't only the way in which different kinds of media are made one but in the way that we are selves use media. For instance we don't ever just watch television. While watching television we will be on Facebook on our phone and maybe even doing coursework on your laptop.

Bibliography

Jenkins H. (2006). Convergence Culture: Where old and new media collide. New York: NYU Press.