| TOPIC | NOTE / COMMENT |
| The Printing Press (Gutenburg) in the Medieval period mid 1400’s | the impact of new technology |
| Impact of new technology in South Korea as a result of promoting greater digital interaction (speed, connectivity, spread etc) | mental health internet addiction? Choices made? ‘A world without consequences’ ‘Senses over meaning’ |
| On-line / digital connection stats | |
| Theodore Vail | The Network effect |
| Norbert Wiener Loop Theory | Loop Theory – predictive behaviour But is behaviour shaped and altered through networking and digital communications (pushing / pulling) Issues around privacy and individual psychology (mental health / wellbeing) and the environment Virtual worlds / virtual identities (hypperreality, simulation, implosion – Jean Baudrillard) (Judith Butler ‘gender performance / David Gauntlett, Anthony Giddens etc ‘fluid & multiple identities’ |
| Robin Dunbar – The Dunbar Number | The Dunbar number suggests that connectivity for individuals, communities or groups is typically 5 o 6, with an upper limit of 150. So who benefits from greater connectivity? Companies, organisations, institutions – ‘small elites dominate’ (Andrew Kean) |
| Clay Shirky | What is Clay Shirky’s theory? What is the Theory? Clay Shirky argued audience behaviour has progressed from the passive consumption of media texts to a much more interactive experience with the products and each other. New digital technologies and social media has made connecting and collaborating incredibly easy. Clay Shirky argues that the history of the modern world could be rendered as the history of ways of arguing, where changes in media change what sort of arguments are possible — with deep social and political implications. Clay Shirky shows how Facebook, Twitter and TXTs help citizens in repressive regimes to report on real news, bypassing censors (however briefly). The end of top-down control of news is changing the nature of politics. |
| Vannavar Bush | associative not linear thinking the demise of long form reading So changing rules for logic, rationality, truth, understanding, knowledge. Baudrillard implosion (a culture imploding in on itself rather than expanding and developing?) |
| Tim Berners–Lee | the inventor / creator of the World Wide Web – developed and given to everybody for free?!! Why? What did he hope it would achieve? Is he satisfied or disappointed with how it has developed and made an impact on society? |
| Marshall McLuhan | The Global Village – ‘a sophisticated interactive culture’ |
| The impact on political and economic decision making | |
| B.F. Skinner | Skinner researched behaviour and looked thoroughly into operant conditioning. According to this principle, behaviour that is followed by pleasant consequences is likely to be repeated, and behaviour followed by unpleasant consequences is less likely to be repeated. Skinner introduced a new term into the Law of Effect – Reinforcement. This can be seen in media by individuals being feed content and being dragged in. |
| Conclusions, suggestions, reflections and predictions |
Most people — young and old — are able to moderate their use of social media so it doesn’t take over their lives. However, 20% of people who have at least one social media account feel they have to check them at least once every three hours to avoid feeling anxious. This phenomenon goes beyond “fear of missing out,” or FOMO. In fact, it now has its own name: social media anxiety disorder, as reported by the Anxiety and Depression Association of America (ADAA). – Uni of Nevada
On average, Americans check their phones 344 times a day, once every 4 minutes.
15-16 year olds had an increased chance of developing ADHD from high digital media use.
2021, South Africans had the highest device usage of 10 hours a day.
64% of Americans use their phone on the toilet.
Suggested Essay Structure?
Remember to focus on key issues around new media – privacy, knowledge, understanding, education, friendship, behaviour, thoughts, attitudes, beliefs, politics, economics, employment, war, conflict, food, the environment, space, science (essentially social change)
- Overview: New media always creates change (printing press, telegram etc)
- Q: so how has recent technology changed (society, individuals, organisations, ideas, beliefs etc etc)
- CSP 1 – show knowledge of CSP
- characteristics of new media (in reference to CSP 1)
- theoretical / conceptual analysis of new media (loop theory, network theory, Dunbar number, McLuhan, Krotoski)
- Critically thinking about new media (Baudrillard, McLuhan, Krotoski, B. F. Skinner, Zuboff, Lanier – are all essentially critical of new media technologies. But Gauntlett, Shirky, Jenkins are all very positive about new media technologies)
- CSP 2 – show knowledge
- Draw parallels and conclusions
- Suggest future pathways / developments
Some themes and discussion points from Great Hack(doc we watched):
- The Exchange of Data – Individuals personal data shared whether that be illegal or legal.
- Search for Truth –
- Behaviour Management –
- Propaganda / Persuasion – Propaganda is the dissemination of information—facts, arguments, rumours, half-truths, or lies—to influence public opinion. Campaigns to work in peoples favour in political elections.
- Regulation –
Jaron Lanier – American computer scientist, visual artist, computer philosophy writer, technologist, futurist, and composer of contemporary classical music.
Shoshana Zuboff – Instrumentarian power is characterised by Zuboff as the “instrumentation and instrumentalization of behaviour for the purposes of modification, prediction, monetization, and control”
| NEW MEDIA | OLD MEDIA | COMMENT OR EXAMPLE |
| Active involvement | Passive involvement | |
| Two-way conversation | One-way conversation | |
| Open system | Closed system | |
| Transparent | Opaque | |
| One-on-one marketing | Mass marketing | |
| About Me | About You | |
| Brand and User-generated Content | Professional content | |
| Authentic content | Polished content | |
| FREE platform | Paid platform | |
| Metric: Engagement | Metric: Reach/ frequency | |
| Actors: Users / Influencers | Actors/ Celebrities | |
| Community decision-making | Economic decision-making | |
| Unstructured communication | Controlled communication | |
| Real time creation | Pre-produced/ scheduled | |
| Bottom-up strategy | Top-down strategy | |
| Informal language | Formal language |
Useful vocabulary
| share | active | creative | host | |
| example or comment | ||||
| story | re-connect | personalise | stream | |
| example or comment | ||||
| experience | store | scale | immerse | |
| example or comment | ||||
| interface | live | adapt | binge | |
| example or comment | ||||
| conversation | re-perform | circulate | endless | |
| example or comment |