Week 2: Topic 1 part 2

f) What do you make of Lunenfield's concept of 'immersive interactivity'? What could we apply it to?

When considering Lunenfield’s concept of immersive interactivity, I think about things such as online gaming. As I’m not really an online game player myself I cannot really imagine what it’s like to take part in such a 3D atmosphere on a daily basis. You are able to play a ‘role’ or part for an amount of time. I also thought of the example of Xbox live, as like with online games you can play live against people all around the world. By wearing a headset you can also interact with the other players.

However when thinking about it, I also thought that ideas such as Myspace, MSN and Facebook can also be partly applied to this idea of immersive interactivity. I personally have MSN and Facebook on constantly throughout the day, and sometimes it is almost as if I’m living my actual real life but also a virtual life as well. I feel I have to constantly update my Facebook page and look to see what’s going on my other ‘virtual online friends’ almost as if we’re a little virtual village. Some people will call it weird, others would call it enjoyment. I’m not sure how many people agree with me when thinking of this idea; they might just think I’m being weird ha!


g) What do you understand by 'non-linear, non-sequential reading and writing'? Does it capture the experience of the web?
When I first saw this question I thought oh no, i’m not going to get the hang of this. But when reading Lister’s comments I understood it a little bit more, although i’m not entirely 100% on the concept of non-liner, non-sequential reading and writing’ so I would be grateful of any comments! Am I right in thinking that he’s suggest that the idea of non linear narratives have been around for some time and are popular to the reader as they portray events? This type of storytelling keeps the reader interested as they in what is being written? I’m really quite confused on this idea...

h) If new media allows more people to be involved in cultural production (compared to mass-media) what are these new voices saying in public? In a DIY and click-to-send setting, what kind of things are people sharing with others that comes from their private/domestic world and might otherwise not be distributed?

When looking at the idea of DIY and click to send feature, I noticed how it is a part of everything to do with the internet and computers. Anything can be done at the click of a button, which even though it is quite impressive it is also worrying that things can be done and changed to easily. Shopping websites consist of ‘Click to buys’ and files can be sent or received at the click of a button. I also think social networking which is something I use on a daily basis. With Myspace and Facebook or blogs for that matter you fashion yourself your own environment with what you want to be included in it. Luckily with all of these 3 examples you can have a private or public profile which helps to keep an air of security over your personal space. It makes you wonder if there wasn’t such a thing as privacy security settings, who would be viewing your page? Can this be questioned?

i) Preceding discussion of interactivity: Is there such thing as 'ideal interactivity'? What form might it take? You can also refer to Meikle's 4-types in the wk. 2 lecture.

For the idea of ideal interactivity, I’m going to have to once again look at the ideas of Facebook, Myspace, MSN Space, and Bebo. The idea of creating your own personalised webpage different to other peoples is somewhat exciting. It also makes you want to create a fun an exciting page to enable friends to explore your page as well as theirs. People like to put their own unique twist and feel to their pages to make them stand out from others. However by doing this you can be as detailed or include as little detail as you want. Because of this idea I also think the idea of people being ‘fake’ online and creating false profiles with a false information should also be mentioned here. However some people like to have a ‘character’ online to help escape from their everyday lives and interacting on the internet helps them explore things that they wouldn’t normally be involved in the 'un virtual' world.