The New Media Reader

When I signed up for this course I had very little understanding of "new media," but the very first sentence of The New Media Reader helped me to clarify this field as the use of "the computer as an expressive medium" (Murray, 3). The introduction of this textbook starts to paint a picture of the vastness and potential power of "the digital medium" as both a tool for understanding, communication, and organization, but also as an incredible means of self-expression and collective-expression. The use of the world "new" reflects its ever-changing nature and the fact that we are still unsure of its full potential and uses; it requires an entirely new way of thinking about the arts and creative expression. As Murray explains, "the right instruments organize not just the outer world but consciousness itself," (Murray, 4). It becomes a self-perpetuating system as we are able to further complicate technology, we must learn to think in more complexity, which will in turn require more advanced technology. This idea is displayed in the chronology that Murray presents us from the invention of the pen to the rise of print, to the creation of the computer, the internet and all of the applications that were designed for it. She explores through this time line both the advancements in the actual technology and also in society's perspective of the technology and how it could be used. Murray completes this part of the introduction with an important conclusion as to why humans would struggle to use something as cold and mechanical as a computer system to express ourselves and her answer is that we "are drawn to a new medium" as humans have been throughout history. We must constantly look for news ways to communicate and understand one another as our access to the world and information expands.

As I was reading, one of the ideas that struck me the most was our "desire to get everything in one place," (Murray, 6). I have been witnessing this phenomenon for years as I first complained about the isolating dangers of the Blackberry (or Crackberry). Devices were being designed to replace the need to interact with people face-to-face more and more, because utilities were being compressed and added to one mobile device. Years ago, skeptics of the computer shared my fears believing that it would "amplify the destructive powers of television (for example, in exercising even greater holding power over consumers, further alienating them from the "real" world)," (Murray, 7). Today, an individual with a blackberry or an iphone has the power of a phone, a computer, the internet, entertainment, navigation, and more without ever having to look up at the world in front of them. I've found that often, people with these devices, can no longer hold full conversations and instead sit, eyes glazed, staring at a mini-screen, interrupting your discussion with instant messaging and research on Wikipedia and Facebook. Obviously there are huge benefits to these tools, but I am most concerned that the overuse of them will lead us each to be completely isolated in a very Wall-E-esque type of world.