After completing this lesson, students will be able to:
Students should refer to accompanying handouts for further explanation and questions.
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Student Handout: Reading Inanimate Alice, Episode 1 - Student Reading Reflection
NOTE: Students should answer at least ONE of these questions as a comment to this post.
Now you have finished reading “Episode 1: China,” Inanimate Alice. Write a short blog (or journal) entry to think about your reading experience. Be sure to answer the following:
What I did (Explain how you read the story – did your eyes scan each screen from left to right? How did you feel about the sound, images, and words that would appear all at the same time on certain screens?)
What I enjoyed (Write about what you liked most about Episode 1)
What I found difficult (Write about the most difficult part of reading Episode 1)
What really worked (What was the best bit about the story and why)
Next time (What will you do when it comes to reading Episode 2? How will you prepare? What tips might you share with other readers for their first digital story reading experience?)
Thanks to all the students of MEDS 2007 for participating!!!
1) ‘The supposedly distinct characteristics of new media: digital convergence; many-to-many communication; interactivity; globalisation; virtuality are arguably, with the possible exception of the specifically technical, not new at all’ (Silverstone, 1999: 11). Critically examine the problems in defining “new media”.
2) ‘ . . . The personal and social consequences of any medium- that is, of any extension of ourselves- results from the new scale that is introduced into our affairs by each extension of ourselves, or by any new technology.’ (McLuhan, 1964: 7). Using examples of “new” and “old” media, elucidate and analyse the theory of media technology known as technological determinism.
3) ‘Any particular technology is then as it were a by-product of a social process that is otherwise determined. It only acquires effective status when it is used for purposes which are already contained in this known social process’ (Williams, 1974: 6). Using examples of “new” and “old” media elucidate and analyse the theory of media technology that focuses on the social shaping of technology.
4) Kranzberg’s first law of technology states that “Technology is neither good nor bad; nor is it neutral.” Discuss this law in relation to any of the theories you have looked at in this module.
5) With the advent of digital technology ‘Sound becomes a series of partial objects for engineering, rather than an object of admiration for heavenly metaphorics.’ (Mackay in Ansell, 1997: 253). Critically examine how digital technology has changed the relationship of producers and consumers to media content.
6) Critically examine Manovich’s view that interactivity as a unique aspect of new media is a “myth” (2001: 55).
7) Examine the validity of Gordon Graham’s statement that an online or virtual community ‘is a second-rate form of community’ (1999: 145).
8) ‘It is not just that the tools and issues brought to the fore by internet art are current, and therefore relevant to how we live now. Internet art is part of a continuum within art history that includes strategies such as instructions, appropriation, dematerialisation, networks and information.’ (Greene, Rachel, Internet Art, 2004) Does New Media offer artists anything new?
