Week 2: Topic 1

a) With Windows Vista replacing XP and Office 2007 replacing Office 2003 (and so on), what is 'upgrade culture' all about? Is some new media just consumerism thought up by big businesses?

The term ‘upgrade culture ‘ is based around the idea of replacing an older model of something for a newer and somewhat better model of itself. This is need takes place in most of us as we would rather have a brand spanking top of the range product than stick with one which isn’t so hi-tech and new. For example when I was younger I used to have a Sony Discman. At that point it was top of the range and I could play all of my CD’s and listen to them on the go as it was portable and I thought it was great! But with the invention of products such as MP3’s and Ipods nowadays, I’m afraid that my cool little Discman isn’t as appealing as it used to be. I think it’s the fact that you think that you are modern yourself if you have the new hi-tech gadgets. Also if you’re friends have the fancy new products it also entices you to want it yourself. Well it does with my anyway!

I find it strange how easy it is to access upgrades of certain products I can quite easily ring up my mobile phone company and ask for an upgrade on my handset. Also the word ‘upgrade’ implies that it will be better than the old model. An example of this would be the idea of colour screens, cameras, and videos on our mobile phones. These are seen as a luxury on modern phones compared to phones years ago. As for the idea of new software replacing old software, I think it’s the fact that you are enticed to have them by businesses and advertisements. Also the idea of having new software makes you feel as if you are up to date new technology. I find it bazaar how my brother in law works for Microsoft and he has to have a new laptop every 3-4 months, with new software on it, to keep him up to date. I also find it strange that I think that Windows Vista is the most up to date software, when on his laptop he knows of ideas and trials of other software which is being tested which is even better than Vista, strange eh?

It can be argued that the fact that every year new models of the Ipod are released and new mobile phones and other gadgets are upgraded monthly makes you feel like you have to keep up with technology so that you don’t lag behind. It’s also an easy money making technique for popular businesses as the more new models they produce the more profit they will gain. I personally think that we are quite gullible when wanting to buy these new products as the manufacturers cleverly know that we are going to want whatever’s thrown at us, especially if it’s an upgraded product of something we’ve had before.

b) According to Lister, some commentators stress the 'newness' of new media, but others (such as Kevin Robins) can be seen to be saying that nothing fundamental has changed, because new media technology is another product of capitalism, and therefore will fit into and serve a pre-existing capitalist society and culture, rather than transform it in any fundamental sense. Can we critique this position?

I think I highlighted this idea in the first post of the first week, but I shall just briefly go back over my point. Personally I agree that sometimes the newness of new media is stressed. As I mentioned before I find it strange how we still consider the internet to be ‘New Media’ when the idea of it has been round for years, but only became popular in the later 1980’s-early 1990s. What we consider to be ‘new’ isn’t necessarily as new as once thought. It makes me think of other technologies that we believe to be new and modern, which might not actually be as new as we thought. Can any of you guys think of any?

c) Are new media a source of 'progress' in the sense that they enhance things we do in spheres of social activity - business, education, shopping etc? Could we say that such a proposition involves an 'ideology of progress'?

New Media can definitely been seen as a source of process when looking at is relationship with social activity, business, education and other areas. It is clear that new media plays a great role nowadays when looking at the aspect of education. All schools, universities, colleges etc have access to the internet at a daily basis to enable students to get the best sources and information available. Also when thinking of courses; Computer and internet courses are highly popular in education, which also goes to show the popularity and importance of new media in education. Quite a few courses (just like this one) has an online module or expect you to use online sources as part as your research. This also implies that educational courses are willing to adapt to the use of the internet.

As for business and shopping, we have become accustomed to new media and find it an everyday way of life. It’s hard to imagine how life would be without new media. Online companies wouldn’t exist which would result in people having no jobs. Also without the internet high street store profits and popularity would decrease due to the lack of advertising and media interaction. The idea of new media makes things appear more modern and things like the internet allow access to websites and products 24 hours a day.


d) Is there a clean break between analogue and digital media? (Bolter and Grusin's concept of 'remediation') Can you identify any commonalities? For example, is e-mail based on the language of 'letters' and 'the postal service' because we have tried to fashion its communication functions in terms we are already familiar with?

When looking at the idea of a ‘clean break’ between analogue and digital media, I think it is hard to determine is there actually is such a ‘clean break’. Many digital media forms are simply and upgraded version of an analogue media form. For example, cinema has been around for decades but the idea of special effects has been imposed to improve what cinema used to be into what it is today. These upgrades also help to improve the success of films which may come out and will entice audiences to view a product with ‘new effects’. Another example would be E-mail. An E-mail is simply an electronic mail, which is basically the same as a letter, but instead of being hand written on paper, it’s typed on a screen. Fair enough E-mails are super quick and easy to reply to, but the letter which you post is still successful in today’s society. Even with new media/ digital media common conventions from analogue media are still clearly seen. For example in an E-mail we still write “Yours Sincerely” or something along those lines, just like in a letter. As I’ve mentioned in previous posts different age generations prefer different types of media and will stick to old fashioned methods of analogue media that they know works that try out digital media which may seem complex to them.

e) Digitality and code: Imagine you couldn't compose your assignments on the computer. How would a hand-written editing and composition process be different?

I’m glad we have this question. Personally sometimes I absolutely hate writing up essays on a computer. At GCSE all the assignments at my school had to be hand written and it was a similar case at A-Level . I’m personally glad that this semester includes us writing assignments on the computer, but also creating and hand written note portfolio. It just adds a bit of difference I guess as we depend so much on computers.
I find it strange how at primary and secondary school we used to have handwriting practice on a weekly basis to improve our writing, where as now, we only really use our own free hand for taking notes in lectures (where we can also take our laptops into and make notes on them). I must admit as much as I sometimes really dislike writing essays on the computer, it is much easier and quicker (and you don’t get wrist ache from writing so much!). I suppose that a piece of paper cant crash and lose all of your work like a computer can, BUT, you can’t accidently rip or scrunch up you work on a computer like you would a piece of paper can you? Hmm

Also depending on your handwriting, writing an assignment on a computer makes it look a lot neater and professional. This can also be applied to an example such as writing your CV. Its looks far more neat and professional if you compose a formal looking document on the computer rather than handwriting it. The luxuries of having a spell checker , adding footnotes and changing fonts also imply how simple it is to get such a professional looking document when writing them up o a computer. Also mistakes can be simply backspaced out without having to use tip ex or crossing anything out. Overall I can understand how typing up assignments on the computer easier and more professional looking is, but sometimes I wonder whether we will forget how to write sometimes with how much we use such an appliance. Silly I guess!