There has been a growing trend in the last two decades or so away from the physical written word. While books are still a popular way to disseminate information (even with the increasing availability of e-books, especially e-textbooks), e-mail and other forms of digital communications such AIM and Blackberries have detracted from practices like letter writing. The post office has noticed this and has had to raise the price of postage several times in recent years to help defray the costs this lack of business has brought.
While this new technology is definitely useful and has become not only an early adopter phenomenon, but one accepted by the general population, there are still a large number of late or non adopters. Many of these people are either economically disadvantaged or of a generation that is not comfortable with adopting new technology (the latter category of non-adopters is who I would like to address). One of the unfortunate social trends as a result of this technological trend is that many of the elderly who are living longer, and often alone, are even more isolated from remaining friends and family who are more technologically advanced and reliant on that technology as a way to communicate.
For example, I think nothing of sending an e-card to wish a friend a Happy Birthday, but I rarely think to make the "effort" to go buy a card and stamp for one of my great aunts or uncles who doesn't have a computer.
Around Christmas time I was reading a LiveJournal community for gift ideas when I ran across an intriguing idea called "Subscription to My Life." The idea was simple- "give" one of your relatives a 52 week subscription to your life. I adapted this idea for my Grandmother who is 90 and lives by herself out of state. I rarely have time to call and talk, but I took an on-line subscription form and used Photoshop to doctor it and make it look like a subscription form for my life. I went out and bought several dozen postcards and stamps and every week I send her a quick written postcard just telling her what happened with my week.
My parents, who talk to her several times a week, say that she rarely talks about anything else since I've started sending her the postcards.
I was talking to one our classmates today and she was telling me about her great-grandmother who is in a similar situation. I told her about this idea and she loved the concept of it and said that this would be a great idea to share. Both from the perspective that it could really help you connect with someone you don't usually get to connect with, and from the idea that sometimes we should think about those who get left behind when technology springs ahead without them.
Tuesday, March 6, 2007
Thursday, March 1, 2007
Week VIII
And another post to catch me up for now. There are only a few really good resources for people researching new media from a social sciences perspective. Terra Nova is one of the best. Terra Nova "is a blog about virtual worlds and their implications. Virtual Worlds include synthetics worlds, MMOs, MMORPGs, Social Worlds, MUDs, MOOs, and MUSHes. Terra Nova authors include scholars, practitioners and writers."
The discussions are deeply academic and examine both common topics like violence in video games, as well as more obscure concepts like the rights of players to control user content (one instance where several users had their accounts/characters deleted from an online game was characterized as murder). The authors are a veritable "who's who" in the study of virtual worlds.
If you have any questions or would like to know more about the study of virtual games let me know. One of my classes in Undergrad was an ethnographic research project undertaken in the MMO World of Warcraft. It was only the second or third time a class like that had been offered in the nation and it was interesting both to research in that type of environment as well as endure the kind of scrutiny a class of that nature created in both the academic as well as virtual world.
For example, we often had lectures in-game so that we could talk with some of the most well-respected researchers in the field. Nick Yee "visited" with us in World of Warcraft which proved challenging as we met near a "public" road in-game. The "sight" of twenty gnomes sitting in a clearing, attentively listening to a Nigh Elf discuss age of consent forms for survey takers on a public chat channel drew a lot of interest, as well as criticism from fellow gamers. The reaction of the academic community to our endeavors was similar as well, unfortunately.
My paper for this class, which examined Western colonial themes built into World of Warcraft, was featured one month on Terra Nova, in an article on Cultural Borrowing in World of Warcraft. The ensuing ruckus was a sight to behold as academics, players, and anyone else who wanted to get involved promptly did so, loudly, and not always nicely. It really highlighted for me how important this growing field is academically, and also, on many levels, how misunderstood it is as well.
The discussions are deeply academic and examine both common topics like violence in video games, as well as more obscure concepts like the rights of players to control user content (one instance where several users had their accounts/characters deleted from an online game was characterized as murder). The authors are a veritable "who's who" in the study of virtual worlds.
If you have any questions or would like to know more about the study of virtual games let me know. One of my classes in Undergrad was an ethnographic research project undertaken in the MMO World of Warcraft. It was only the second or third time a class like that had been offered in the nation and it was interesting both to research in that type of environment as well as endure the kind of scrutiny a class of that nature created in both the academic as well as virtual world.
For example, we often had lectures in-game so that we could talk with some of the most well-respected researchers in the field. Nick Yee "visited" with us in World of Warcraft which proved challenging as we met near a "public" road in-game. The "sight" of twenty gnomes sitting in a clearing, attentively listening to a Nigh Elf discuss age of consent forms for survey takers on a public chat channel drew a lot of interest, as well as criticism from fellow gamers. The reaction of the academic community to our endeavors was similar as well, unfortunately.
My paper for this class, which examined Western colonial themes built into World of Warcraft, was featured one month on Terra Nova, in an article on Cultural Borrowing in World of Warcraft. The ensuing ruckus was a sight to behold as academics, players, and anyone else who wanted to get involved promptly did so, loudly, and not always nicely. It really highlighted for me how important this growing field is academically, and also, on many levels, how misunderstood it is as well.
Week VII
With regards to my last post, where I presented the concept of abandonedware (software that is still under copyright, but can no longer be bought and so is therefore offered on the web for free), I'd like to provide a link to the Wayback Archive Internet Archive. The Archive provides an archive of sorts of the internet- it takes samples of web pages periodically and stores them in its system. You can search and see pages as they existed from years ago.
"The Internet Archive Wayback Machine is a service that allows people to visit archived versions of Web sites. Visitors to the Wayback Machine can type in a URL, select a date range, and then begin surfing on an archived version of the Web. Imagine surfing circa 1999 and looking at all the Y2K hype, or revisiting an older version of your favorite Web site. The Internet Archive Wayback Machine can make all of this possible."
The About section of the Archive explains some of the different aspects and uses of a concept of an archival system of the internet:
"Libraries exist to preserve society's cultural artifacts and to provide access to them. If libraries are to continue to foster education and scholarship in this era of digital technology, it's essential for them to extend those functions into the digital world."
"Internet libraries can change the content of the Internet from ephemera to enduring artifacts of our political and cultural lives."
"Without paper libraries, it would be hard to exercise our "right to remember" our political history or hold government accountable. With much of the public's business now moving from paper to digital media, Internet libraries are certain to become essential in maintaining that right. Imagine, for instance, how news coverage of an election campaign might suffer if journalists had only limited access to previous statements that candidates had made in the media."
"Historians, sociologists, and journalists could use Internet libraries to hold up a mirror to society. For example, they might ask when different ethnic groups or special interests or certain businesses became a presence on the Internet. "
I think this site is very interesting to those involved in many different aspects of communications research, from history to new technology. I also think, from a teacher's perspective, that it makes a very good point to students that while the web is ephemeral in a sense, there is more permanence to it than many people of the current generation generally give credit to.
"The Internet Archive Wayback Machine is a service that allows people to visit archived versions of Web sites. Visitors to the Wayback Machine can type in a URL, select a date range, and then begin surfing on an archived version of the Web. Imagine surfing circa 1999 and looking at all the Y2K hype, or revisiting an older version of your favorite Web site. The Internet Archive Wayback Machine can make all of this possible."
The About section of the Archive explains some of the different aspects and uses of a concept of an archival system of the internet:
"Libraries exist to preserve society's cultural artifacts and to provide access to them. If libraries are to continue to foster education and scholarship in this era of digital technology, it's essential for them to extend those functions into the digital world."
"Internet libraries can change the content of the Internet from ephemera to enduring artifacts of our political and cultural lives."
"Without paper libraries, it would be hard to exercise our "right to remember" our political history or hold government accountable. With much of the public's business now moving from paper to digital media, Internet libraries are certain to become essential in maintaining that right. Imagine, for instance, how news coverage of an election campaign might suffer if journalists had only limited access to previous statements that candidates had made in the media."
"Historians, sociologists, and journalists could use Internet libraries to hold up a mirror to society. For example, they might ask when different ethnic groups or special interests or certain businesses became a presence on the Internet. "
I think this site is very interesting to those involved in many different aspects of communications research, from history to new technology. I also think, from a teacher's perspective, that it makes a very good point to students that while the web is ephemeral in a sense, there is more permanence to it than many people of the current generation generally give credit to.
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