Week 1 of 'New Communication Technologies' brought with it a definite sense that I had finally found my perfect nichè. Computers? Internet? Multimedia? All the perfect recipe for an interesting and detailed look into how technology has evolved and where it is heading in the future. The first lecture (29th July) explained a basic overview of various 'New Media' applications and technologies. I found it quite interesting throughout the lecture to pinpoint the particular 'media' group (as I call it) one person would belong it. As far as observation goes, I would say at least half the lecture was occupied with the computer illiterate! For such an interesting range of topics, I felt a little out of place regarding most of my surrounding peer's knowledge to the internet. For some, the internet means to simply access the 'Twitter' or 'Facebook' page and begin throwing in updates such as what they found under their shoe.
Oh, here we go again with the ol' 'Twitter' rant...
Sometime during the lecture, Steve Stockwell, our speaker for the day, questioned the amount of people in the room who use a 'Twitter', 'Facebook', 'Myspace' or another other related account. Funny thing was, a vast majority of people in the room who had laptops, when asked the question, failed to put their hands up and listen as they were on 'Facebook' itself!
Ok, now I'm just nitpicking...
Many, many people put their hands up. Scary thing is, I'm sure there are more of them who use it to. I was one of the proud few who kept his hand down as much as possible; my dignity has been well kept. What also struck out to me in the lecture was the topic of 'Convergence' - the ability to combine technology with other forms of media and even businesses. The whole idea does indeed sound effective and I can see much more potential for it in the near future. As we speak, many companies, educational institutes and physical workplaces have 'converged' to these new technologies. I remember an intricate programme my father showed me, released about a year ago, that allows electricians to save themselves much physical labour by simply looking at a laptop. Instead of actually investigating any potential problems in water pumps, this new programme installed on the work laptops reads each pump and will diagnose any problems - with another feature to 'remotely' send the pumps specific commands. Trippy stuff.
Anyhow, the lecture delivered some great points and definitely got me thinking. The real, true and horrifying question was: Whats next after 'Twitter'?
**Grabs shotgun**
I'll be ready for 'em!
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LOL @ the end.
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