Interactivity is the Medium
Download as KEY, PDF1 like246 views
The document discusses the concept of interactivity in new media. It provides definitions of interactivity from communication technology experts as the ability for participants to communicate synchronously and asynchronously through reciprocal message exchanges. Additionally, it is the perception of the experience as a simulation of interpersonal communication that increases awareness of telepresence. The document also questions what constitutes the content in new media - whether it is the computer screen, applications, or if these are different mediums for conveying information where users can feel engaged in interaction.
Editor's Notes
- #3: We all know that the medium is the message, but what does that make content? “The content is just a juicy piece of meat that the burglar carries to distract the guard dog.” (McLuhan in Levinson, 1999)
- #4: What we are watching or listening to is not important. it is the fact we are using the media.
- #5: We don’t usually discuss the media- Except in the case of children. Here we recognise the importance of media consumption and argue that they are ‘watching too much TV.’
- #6: However, the content is not entirely unimportant. Rather McLuhan (In levinson, 1999) said that it was in fact another medium. Thus part of the message is the medium it re appropriates.
- #7: An example of the mediums that make up other mediums. Tv is made up of Movies, which is made up of a Novel, which is made up of the Alphabet, which is made up of Speech, which is made up of our Thoughts which is taken from real life.
- #8: But what about new media? What is it’s previous media?
- #9: It takes a little more than just the mix of movie, novel, radio
- #10: The Viewer is the content. In a telephone, this is rather obvious. “When you are on the telephone or on the air the sender is sent, the disembodied user extends to al those who are recipients of the electronic information” (McLuhan in Levinson, 1999)
- #11: But why is the TV is the user? I mean, shouldn’t it just be the tv presenter who is the medium?
- #12: There is a hierarchy for McLuhan’s notion of the user as content.
- #13: It’s the reader. They infer their own things when consuming media.
- #14: The human perceiver travels through one way electronic media. This confused me. I think it relates to his comment about media being an extension of human sensory organs. If this is indeed what it means, then it is only for electronic mediums. The ones that pull you to the event as it occurs.
- #15: This refers to the instances where we actually create the media, such as blogs, twitter etc.
- #16: So the internet contains everything before it, but it seems to be more than just that.
- #17: It seems that interactivity plays a big part in being the ‘special-sauce’ of what makes ew media different.
- #18: it’s one of those things where we all know what it is, but it’s kinda hard to describe.
- #24: Perhaps the interactivity is a media in itself? This is McLuhan’s tetrad, it canbe used to explore interactivity.
- #25: If we fill it in, we see that it does seem almost like interactivity is a medium.