Monday, February 14, 2011

Evan's week 5 post, concept map 2

As my concept map shows, new media is new because of it's novelty (perceived or actual), it's ability to be duplicated, and the ability to change content and/or structure.

In terms of novelty, the major factors are when the idea gets accepted by the earliest adapters and elite, when the idea is accepted by the mainstream, and when this idea finally turns into an actual artifact. A perfect example of this is the idea of a computer and the Internet to store information on and connect people virtually. This idea was ignited when Vannevar Bush dreamed of a 'memex'-- a device which could augment human memory; or during the 1960's when Douglas Engelbart first demonstrated the use of a user interface, a mouse, and a word processor. Both of these men were ahead of their times and it took some time for their radical ideas to catch the public's attention, and then to finally be built.



New media is also new because of it's automation, which can make it easy to access to all users (like how easy it is to post a message on someone's Facebook wall or Blog, or how easy it is to use Microsoft Word to make a document), as well as how easy it is to share this information with others (like by sending it via email, posting it on a social network).

I also define new media as constantly changing content and structure. For example, wiki's are very easy to change and add to, and the content can be updated as history changes. Likewise, Twitter constantly changes in real-time, and the New York Times website always changes based on the daily news. Information can be easily updated and linked to other bits of information. I also put interactivity under here because all users can critique the inventors work and maybe even improve upon it themselves. A perfect example of this is someone posting on someone's political blog about a deep issue which they found new information on which could lead to new insight. Under interactivity, I also put the word 'prosumer', which means that any user can produce work, or consume it (less like traditional media).

I then take all of these things and say that it leads to constructionism and how people share, learn, and reflect the information they consume. I then state how constructionism can be enhanced by technology (as stated above), and then how this is effected by the surrounding environment, which then goes back up to how new media is defined. What I mean by the surrounding environment is the circumstance. For example, some new media, like the freedom o search the Internet or playing games, hasn't been able to access the school system because schools usually have rules against playing games. In order for educational/playful learning games to be accepted, some of the basic rules have to be broken. My concept map is very circular, but I think it works.



The Manovich readings definitely support my map, which explains how automation, transcoding, and variability of technology allows technology to enhance learning through sharing, experimentation, and other constructionist concepts.

Based on my own experiences in the studio so far, I used many of these concepts of sharing and automation to replicate processes so I can get a result and debug it. also am able to share my work with others for critique, but also to get help on some issues and bugs in my own project.

4 comments:

  1. Hi Evan!

    I wanted to say your post is great and I am digging your connections.

    I am going to push you to take your concept map a bit farther, however. Please check out these resources and use one of them to model your ideas.

    Videos!!!
    Firats Information on mapping: https://www.iu.edu/~lsmt/peppler-p574/?p=699
    Concept maps used in education: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gm1owf0uGFM

    Informative Sites!!!
    http://www.ehow.com/how_4469347_make-concept-map.html

    Finally, an example on how to move your outline into a concept map!
    http://www.studygs.net/mapping/
    http://library.usu.edu/instruct/tutorials/cm/CMinstruction2.htm

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  2. Hello Charlene,

    Thanks for your positive feedback. I also appreciate your helpful links for my concept map. I admit, my concept map isn't very visual and I was up late trying to get this done, I didn't do as good a job on it as I wanted to. These links will definitely help me out a lot for next time.

    Thanks again and have a good week.

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  3. I would recommend attempting to restructure this map a bit - I know that it is more work but I think that it is important for this weeks work.

    Please let me know if I can help out in any way!

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  4. I agree that New Media is changing constantly, but can you make a map of your connections to Manovich? - I also am a little confused by your mention of rules being broken when playfully learning. Can you expand on this? Thanks!

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