I’m designing a New Media course module which will sit inside an under-graduate degree, at the final year stage, so typically analysis, dissemination, examination, reflection, future visions etc would be considered.
I envisage a heavy emphasis surrounding the future of content distribution, both in terms of the shifting cultures we will operate in and also the converging technology coupled with wider accessibility.
A friend of mine Sean McKay suggests the following pointers:
• theory: rss, rethinking content, relationships, story, and human interaction
• practical: tools for audio, vid, text, & images + mashing it all together
• ethics: issues of identity, integrity, character, and intellectual property/copyright… questions like, who are you, really?
Whilst this is a good basic list as a start point for discussion, how would YOU embellish it, what would YOU add to the list, or how would YOU expand it, what challenges are YOU facing right now, what is missing in your knowledge, what techniques or skills shortages are not in your current tool box?
If you had to consider “outcomes” what outcomes would you want, how would you personally find yourself better equipped to monetise your new media activities?
Need you on this.
From my viewpoint I keep attending workshops/conference sessions on web 2.0 tools and all you seem to get is a list of what is available, bit like a shopping list.
Although I use quite a lot of them I think some expansion on practical uses of these tools would be useful – look at the unconventional. Too often people are using wikis, blogs etc because they think they should. Bit like “I’ve got a hammer, better find something to hit with it”. Like any other technology/toolkit it is a case of getting the best out of the thing you are using, not just using it for the sake of it.
The ethics need to be addressed as we now move to sharing more personal information – it is OK to distribute your own stuff but what are the ethics of putting things about your friends/colleagues into the public domain without their consent. Is it practical to get consent everytime you post something that they appear in?
Future developments – where will we go to next? Apps are developing so fast that the crazy idea you come up with today could be reality tomorrow. How do you work out what will work, get other people involved, make the idea reality?
I’d try to get this structured like a science course, with theory classes and practical classes – that may depend on your systems and structures.
I’d add things like atom, iTunes to distribute your content (audio and video I believe these days).
In terms of outcomes, I’d get each student to develop a plan and content for it. I’d also try to have some examples – a tribute site to a band being an obvious one. You could quite easily have a forum, a dev blog and user blog, audio clips, video clips, a wiki about the band and so on. Many of those lead to piping feeds (RSS/Atom etc.). It also gives them a nice portfolio item, they can load it onto a CD/DVD and take it to interviews even if they won’t host it directly live.
You then get a nice written report too, reflecting on the dev process and the choices, supported by some critical thinking analysis of why this blogging software, why this wiki software etc.
Some very good practical advise there Eloise.
Thank you.
Are we as human beings leading increasingly solitary lives in favour of graphical interfaces, pixels and ultimately words on a screen. While i recognise the power of the internet as a tool for bringing people together i often see it as a way of pushing people apart. People tend to stay in their little cliques and rarely branch into new areas. Does it matter? i’m not sure! but the point i am trying to make, in a bull in a china shop kind of way, is that people are substituting a real community spirit with a digital one.
The digital age presents the computer user an infinate number of possibilities, the question is what does the user do with that, let’s face it, not a great deal. most spend their time on face book or myspace, wasting their hours in computer games or downloading music or, worse, pornography.
I’m not a harbinger of doom in the slightest, i use the internet like everyone else. What i would like to see in this course is a balanced aproach, pointing out that yes you can buy 10,000 myspace plays, but does it mean anything if you do? would it not have been better to have had 10,000 actual plays?
anyway i’ve rambled on enough. apart from that some practical measure of the students performance would be nice.
“Are we as human beings leading increasingly solitary lives in favour of graphical interfaces, pixels and ultimately words on a screen. While i recognise the power of the internet as a tool for bringing people together i often see it as a way of pushing people apart. People tend to stay in their little cliques and rarely branch into new areas. Does it matter? i’m not sure! but the point i am trying to make, in a bull in a china shop kind of way, is that people are substituting a real community spirit with a digital one. “
I don’t think you are putting your argument over as a “bull in a china shop”, I think that was reasonably clear.
However, I would say that you have not really used any sufficient research to cement your argument, I mean you are “assuming” a digital community is not a “real” community. Just because a community chooses to use a differing form of dialogue transmission, i.e. emails, or voice over IP (as an example) why is that any less of a “real” community than chatting to someone in the flesh? Personally I do not think it is, and research suggests that too, and certainly experience does.
Mind you I am a CEO of a distance learning school and have therefore built completely virtual relationships for over a decade, so naturally I can enthuse very positively about the benefits of a cyber culture being just as “real” as a chat in the pub.
“The digital age presents the computer user an infinate number of possibilities, the question is what does the user do with that, let’s face it, not a great deal. most spend their time on face book or myspace, wasting their hours in computer games or downloading music or, worse, pornography. “
I could list (given time) about a million and one uses here that you have not even considered. Given a period of time with you as a distance learning student I am convinced you would see the benefits, you’ve just not had a reason to see them yet.
Thanks for your input, keep it coming I really enjoy debate.