Over the course of this semester we learned a lot about media and how it impacts us. New media is especially important within our generation, because we are so connected to it in our daily lives. The way we socialize with each other, share and receive information is so fast pace. It is constantly changing, so it becomes important to step back and look at the factors at play and also look at who, and what, is behind all the media we engage in daily. We have discussed memes, a popular component of social media and Mashups videos complied together to make fun of, or recreate shows or ideas and the meaning behind them. We have spoken about Google, and the many privacy issues involved. We use Google drive and when placing information like addresses or phone numbers there is an automatic component. We have spoken about Facebook’s presence of taking our information and selling us to advertisers, as well as Youtube’s impact and how one can make money for views. Amazon has also been a big topic of conversation considering their deal with Umass students and text books, and what role that will play in our lives, the students. Platforms and how the big 4 uses them to connect to people was covered, as well as neoliberalism and its power lying in corporations vs. the people. Web series were discussed and the role of television becoming less prominent.
Out of all the topics covered I was the most connected to video game representation as far as gender and race went, due to my involvement in the video game group. I went from knowing nothing about the video game world, to acknowledging that it is made up of all kinds of people who come together to engage in something they love. The world knows of a stereotype surrounding people who play video games, but that is only a portion of people who are gamers. Anyone can be a gamer, and it was important to realize that different people deserve their versions of representations in the games they spend money on to play. It was also interesting to learn about independent game developers and how they essentially hold the future within diverse games. They hold the key to change, and those are the people we need to look for to invest in, as far as buying games. I never realized video games could be a part of new media, especially because I knew nothing about games, and also when compared to Facebook and Amazon. I am glad I was a part of this particular group because, it was one of the topics I was so lost in and I gained a lot from researching and hearing interviews from gaming professionals.
