Week 3 Reading

The chapter Buying into American Idol was interesting, covering many aspects of how new forms of TV such as reality television and the networks have an ongoing and more direct relationship with the viewers. The chapter discusses the issues that the show faced in its earlier seasons, as well as how companies capitalize on its success with newer and bold marketing strategies.

Coca cola is one company that caught my interest. Coke is one of the most recognized brands in the entire world. The reason for this is due to the fact Coke has one of the largest advertisement budgets of any company out there. This is due to the fact that Coke does not only consider itself as a soda bottler, but also an entertainment company. The company invests a great deal of money in TV and movies. They do this in order for the public to be used to seeing the Coke logo everywhere. When they see the logo in partnership with a sports brand or TV show it usually puts a positive spin of Coke’s image. I through my personal experience can say that I have seen a lot of Coke advertisements in conjunction with other entertainment companies. I have seen it at the movies, during the Super Bowl and during the Olympics. This is a clever marketing strategy because it works in my own experience. I myself have in a way not only seen Coca cola as a soda but also as an all American brand.

This sort of nostalgia I have for the brand is exactly what the company is hoping for. From there they can gain customers who have a loyalty to the brand and will most likely buy any Coke product that comes out. I find it very interesting how Coke was able to diversify its brand form being just a soda drink to a world recognizable brand.

American Idol from the start was a hit. It gave the viewers a new and interactive way to watch the TV by calling in and voting for your favorite contestant. This new formula for TV sparked a new type of viewership in which people would debate with their friends and family about the show. But problems for the show soon arose. One of which is the accusation that the voting process is fraudulent and that FOX in the end controls the outcome. This outraged many hardcore fans and as such grass root campaigns started taking place that aimed to get back at the producers. In season six, a campaign took place to vote for the worst of the contestants. As a result, Sanjay Malaker made it to 7^th place. This is only one example of the drama that American Idol has caused over the last few years.

There have been many other controversies, such as with last year’s winner and runner up. Many people, myself included, thought that Adam Lambert was going to win. He had “winner” written all over him but in the season finale he lost to his fellow contestant and friend Chris Allan. Some say he lost because FOX did not want to have a gay American Idol. That is a distinct possibility of which the truth may never come out. Only time will tell.

In the book The Language of New Media the definition, history and observations of a screen where discussed. A screen is actual not only a great invention of the 20^th century but also an object of great philosophical importance. This is because a screen is a two dimensional item that inhabits our own physical space, but yet it acts like a window to another reality all together in which anything can happen.

The inventions of the screen started in the military when the U.S. first developed radar. This was a huge step technologically because before this all tactical information could be a few hours or even a few days old by the time it reached a commander. The radar screen was the first type of tactical intelligence that allowed for it to be read and sent to the commanding officer in real time. This became a huge advantage for those who possessed this technology. And because of the screen now, we are able to see and hear thing that we would have not been able to otherwise.

The online massive multiplayer game Second Life has a lot of great and interesting actives and games to play on it. There are many great pros to this game. The first of which is a customizable avatar. An avatar can be made to look any way a user wants. It can look exactly like the user or not at all. It can be customized in every aspect form its hair to its shoes.

The Second life online universe is huge with many different places for a player to go and things to do. Players can even buy property and build their own houses to their exact specification. Players can decide what kind of furniture they want inside their houses or the type of counter tops they want in the kitchen. This extreme customizable world is great because a player can make it exactly to their liking. Avatars can even have their own custom design outfits for certain occasions. Going to a swanky party put your avatar in a tuxedo or just have it wearing a t-shirt and shorts it is all up to the user.

I discovered that even real life companies have gotten into Second Life creating virtual products and making money off them. People can go into business for themselves on second life and if they are successful enough with their online money accounts they actually can make real world money.

Second life also has certain aspects that make it difficult to use. First it requires certain system requirements that were not fulfilled on my laptop as a result I had to play the game off my desktop. Another aspect of the game I had problems with was the navigation throughout the online world. The world of Second Life is extremely large and as a result I did not know where to go or how to start playing. Second life should have a list of things to do online for new users. That way the users becomes acquainted with the game play and have an idea of what they can do in the game before they get frustrated enough to quit. After playing the game for some time I can say that I defiantly still do not know all about what one can do on Second life.

In the end the game Second Life is an interesting take on how to create a virtual world that not only mimics the real one, but also improves it by allowing one’s avatar to do things that they would not have been able to if it were real life, such as flying. Continued success of this game will depend on the creators allowing new content in order to grow the world and make it greater.

Week 2 Reading

The CBS reality show Survivor, while relatively trivial by itself gave rise to a new form of communication in which fans of the show could come together on the internet and talk/discuss about the show in great detail. Through their collaboration they were even able to figure out what was going to happen in the show before the episode premiered with the creation of online posts known as spoilers. This is due to the fact the online Survivor community became what is known as a collective intelligence. This means that the online community was able to pool their knowledge and skills in order to produce intellectual theories about the show. Each person is able to contribute a piece of information.  They were able to obtain this information in two ways, either because a person contained a certain skill set that allowed them to gain a certain amount of information or they simply were in some way shape or form connected to the show and knew something about it. This highlights the two strengths that an online intellectual community possesses, certain skills some of which are considered professional skills and information. With these two tools in hand the community is able to work together via the internet to uncover and make discoveries about Survivor before the show airs.

This is another example of the Cultural/Informational revolution that is the internet. There is now a community that did not exist before the internet. Through the internet people with the same interests are able to meet within the comforts of their own homes and discuss topics that are important to them, no matter how trivial they may seem to the rest of us.

The creation and development of computers and forms of media have greatly paralleled each other, but only in recent times have they finally intersected. New inventions such as the still camera, live action camera, printing press, radio, and telegraph were all new forms of media that greatly increased the range of words and ideas. The invention of the computer allowed for the compiling of many calculations and pieces of data. With basic graphic programming computers were then able to create visual representations of their calculations. The first example of that was the loom and how the daguerreotype was able of make patterns and shapes effectively and quickly. Soon after computers media and computers merged into one with the incorporation of Daguerre’s daguerreotype, Babbage’s analytical engine, the Lumiere cinematographie and Hollerith’s tabulator. After this sound bites, visuals, and texts where able to be condensed into mathematical formulas that could then be stored and read on the new computing device.

This is the beginning of the transition from media to new media, that is, media that is stored and used on the computer. Because new media is stored on computers it is also much easier to edit and change. Sounds can now be mixed with great accuracy, as well as pictures and visuals photo shopped and changed to give the user  exactly what they want it. After the cultural/informational revolution of the internet new media is now accessible to anyone with a computer. Because of how new media now works, distribution and production is much easier and simpler. New media is essential to the revolution of the internet. Without it there would be no movies to watch, music to download, or pictures to email to your friends. Only time will tell how else it will shape our lives.

Reading Week 1

In the introduction to the book Convergence of Culture the author wanted to highlight the shift that has been taking place over the past few decades in media and how it is incorporated into society. This mainly has to do with the invention of computers and the internet. In contemporary times media was bound to whatever form of medium it was in. Paintings were to remain on canvass, motion pictures where captured on cellophane, pictures were taken on film, words where written on paper, and so forth. Now with the digital age all these forms of art and culture and be brought together in one place on the computer.

Forms of media that are created and used on computers are known as new media. I use new media all the time on my computer to write my blog, instead of paper, view billions of photos on web sites like Flicker, or watch millions videos of things on YouTube. This change in how media is presented has made it much more accessible to people. Because of these examples, as well as dozens of others I could come up with, I believe that the internet has been the single greatest informational revolution since the first written words. Not only does the internet and computers allow for anyone in the world to access information, but it also has changed how we interact with that information.

For the longest time media moved in a single direction, from the producer to the consumer.  The only true way the producer knew if the public liked there was if people actually bought and consumed it. Producers would also and still use focus groups in order to test their products, but those are only used in prerelease production. But due to the fact now through computers producers of media have not only changed how they deal with their customers but also how they distribute their products as well.

Soon, may experts agree, all our media will come from a single hypothetical computing device that is simply referred to as a “black box.” I would have to agree with this assessment. In some ways this “black box” is already here. I consume the majority of my entertainment media on the computer. I very rarely watch TV because I can watch when it is more convenient for me with fewer commercial interruptions. In addition I can stream my favorite radio stations online anywhere in the world as opposed to using AM and FM transmits. I also get my news and information the same way as well.

Now that almost every single person in the world has access to a computer the ebb and flow of information in society has fundamentally shifted. News can now move around the world at the speed of light and to many more people. Through the use of new media we are able and will continue to educate and learn at a much faster pace.