Tag Archives: medium

LittleRED

“Redridinghood,” was the perfect example of showing digital media in its different aspects. It included many forms of digital media to tell a story that we all knew as a child. Total classic! The game-like work told a classic tale and gave it a little mixture or like a touch up which symbolized the changes made throughout digital media. It wasn’t more of Little Red going into the woods, it was more like going into the country from the city which could be connected or tied to the changes in generations of the different medium people decide to use. With the generation of technology that we use today, I feel as if the author wanted us to see the differences. He took advantage of the right away thinking so that we would continue to click knowing that we would be curious. This game-like media gave us the intention to get engaged in it all. From clicking on windows to clicking on flowers, just to see what would happen next. The artist uses the different mediums well to express his/her message across the audience. In the book, “The Medium is the Massage,” by McLuhan, it says, “Information pours upon us, instantaneously and continuously. As soon as information is acquired, it is very rapidly replaced by still newer information.” The artist created something different that kept the reader engaged. Leishman did everything mentioned in this quote, from providing information quickly and never left any gaps between messages. I found it really interesting and fairly easy to comprehend.

Bethel Muasau – @_bjeezy94

Blog Post: Red Riding Hood.

@DTC_AlexTDTran

The affordances of the electronic medium in the story of Red Riding Hood presented by Donna Leishman, titled Redridinghood is a piece of electronic literature that must be viewed or read on a computer or another compatible device. This work is an interactive fiction piece that is very immersive as it requires the reader to engage within the work by using pictures, videos and interface connectivity (a term I use that basically means that a person must connect with the interface or the piece of art in order to continue on with the plot or to enjoy the piece as a whole). This interface connectivity allows the user to enjoy the story of Red Riding Hood not through just pictures and words like in a book but rather through the ability to choose what Red Riding Hood does; a common critique to reading books (the inability to choose what you want the character to do,  giving rise to the alternative works known as fan fiction). Tying the idea of fan fiction and the ability to choose, this is what McLuhan was talking about in this quote, “Countersituations made by the artists, provide means to direct attention and enable us to see and understand more clearly” (McLuhan 68). The countersituations that the artist provides to us through this specific medium allows us to clearly understand what awaits Red Riding Hood. The environment created through this new medium enhances the message of the work providing a more in-depth and new way to tell the story.

Remediation

Some might not have noticed a very big difference between the two broadcasts except that the 2008 one has more color, flash and movement going on and around the commentators. For me the biggest difference is the quality of the reporting. The 1990 cast spends over seven minutes on one topic and covers multiple facets of it with actual information. Whereas the 2008 cast is only three and half minutes long with the time being discussed by ‘expert’ contributors that supply their own opinions and not really reporting actual facts, all the while distracting the viewer with multiple videos jumping back and forth and a ticker scrolling along the bottom. Bolter and Grusin make an interesting point when they state:

“With reuse comes a necessary redefinition, but there may be no conscious interplay between media. The interplay happens, if at all, only for the reader or viewer who happens to know both versions and can compare them.”

People may notice the changes visually but may not notice the quality of the information has dwindled. The news casts of today have reused the traditional model of an anchor but not the integrity in reporting quality news. I remember watching the news when I was younger and it having a more serious tone and integrity whereas today it seems anyone can be a broadcaster and accuracy is not required. Today when you watch the news the stories are short and barely touch the surface, facts are not checked as rigorously and there is always something else on the screen to grab your attention, to cater to the short attention span of today.

Audra Mann | @WSUVcollegeMom

Google Map Snapshot

MtStHelens

A snapshot is a single story of a moment in time and these snapshots can be anything from a stereotypical story about a place, archeological findings from an extinct era, art or film. In “The Work of Art in the Ages” Walter Benjamin makes an interesting statement about human perception:

“During long periods of history, the mode of human sense perception changes with humanity’s entire mode of existence.”

Today this mode of existence can be seen in the snapshots of life on earth that is being captured by Google Maps. Our change in perception has not exactly been for the best, as we have become accustomed to having our desires and the world before us at a single click. I find it interesting that Benjamin makes an accurate observation about this when he states:

“The manner in which human sense perception is organized, the medium in which it is accomplished, is determined not only by nature but by historical circumstances as well.”

Today the largest medium is the internet with Google Maps showing millions of captured moments from around the world.

At first the assignment seemed daunting because of the millions of miles of roads out there lastly after some thought I decided to start with my commute to work, even though there was some interesting pictures I decided to travel along the Gorge, Hawaiian beaches and finally to Mt. St. Helens. This moment of time captured the ‘aura’ of destruction still visible from 30 years ago along with the mountain taking a breath shown from the steam rising from the crater.

Audra Mann | @WSUVcollegeMom