Tag Archives: individual digital reflection

My Digital Reflection

Leave a reply

In the reflection I wrote on my experience of YouTube at the beginning of the semester, I described it as ‘a platform whose very purpose is to democratize the exchange of ideas and give voice to the otherwise average citizen.’  In light of what I have learned during the course, I can identify aspects of this evaluation which can be problematised.  While earlier I viewed YouTube as an example of the power of new media to redistribute power more fairly than traditional media, I am now more aware of ways in which race and gender permeate this seemingly new and neutral institution called “New Media.”

I have learned through the readings, our class discussions, and through my own research in my group’s project on web series that YouTube’s “democracy” does not always equal meritocracy; that the government of YouTube by the consent of the governed is results in many of the same problems found in traditional media.  YouTube is like the company of which it is now a part, Google, in that promoted the most popular content, which is consequently viewed far more often than most unusual or transgressive content.  It gives people what they want (or what they think they want).  I learned that this type of popular consumerism is a major concern for the creators of webseries (not just on YouTube but on all platforms), whose content often deals with persons of colour, women and LGBT people.  The need to hold the attention of the masses means that those who want to create challenging material are taking a risk, and may ultimately fall prey to homogenising effect of mainstream culture which tends to either remove nonconformity by natural selection or simply absorb and compromise it.

This was a growing and sobering realisation for me over the course of the semester.  I, who had always thought of myself as critical of consumer culture, began to point my attention more towards new media, which I had thought of as the haven and weapon of the kinds of people who would not reduce racial minorities to offensive stereotypes, who would not reduce women to mere sexual objects and who wish for a more fair and inclusive system for distributing opportunities and protections.  Over the course of the semester I was forced to think about how technology has affected my life and influenced my decisions.  I confronted the fact that I have allowed Google to wield so much power over me since I was old enough to consider myself “computer literate” that I now picture the face of George Orwell’s Big Brother whenever I think about this seemingly harmless, benevolent organisation.  This Sunday when I sit down to watch my favourite network television show, Game Of Thrones, I will be more troubled than ever by the fact that all of the major characters seem to be white, heterosexual and conventionally attractive.  I wonder what it would take for the stories being told in web series about the less visible people in our society so reach such a large and rabid audience.  Ultimately, I understand that as a society and as individuals we can choose to use and interact with new media in ways that dismantle the power of homogeny in our society, or we can allow the resistance to be crushed by the heavy hand of consumer culture.

My New Relationship with Digital Media Technology

Leave a reply

One of the best things about this class is how it allowed me to break out of the “normal” class room strata. At the beginning of the class when we were choosing the group versus individual work, it was evident that most students were very hesitant to put more weight into group work. I feel that at start of the semester, none of us had the opportunity of team learning and teaching. Now, however, team learning has had such a tremendous impact on the functionality of this course. I feel like everything came back to team “love” and team discussions. Even the individual readings, for example, were not solely individual because we still had the opportunity to discuss them within our groups and collectively create discussion points made from each reading. The team learning was a major influence for how I absorbed and retained information for this course.

I was attracted to this course because it dealt with new digital media and new technologies. Previously, technology and I had a bumpy relationship. For example, I did not even know how to properly operate Microsoft Word (as I’ve always used Mac Pages). This class allowed me to dive into new technologies through learning and reading about them. I am very proud to have been able to take part in the computer aspect of my group’s final project. It was an amazing feat that I sat in the library and operated iMovie to help edit our project.

The content of this course, too, will be a really big help in my future as an educator. It has taught me more than I ever thought I could learn about Google, YouTube, and video games. I also really enjoyed the team based learning system and want to implement into my own classroom in the future.

 

Individual Digital Reflection

Leave a reply

In time I spent in this class, I came to realize that there was more then meets the eye when it came to New Media, and all of it’s various forms. More so than just websites, these were communities, with their own culture. This realization hit me in the very beginning, when we were talking about memes. While a cat meme that says “I Haz Cheezburger” may seem like any old thing you would find mindlessly surfing the web, a meme is so, so much more than that. It’s simply anything than can be replicated. Memes are everywhere, anything from a table to a style of clothing or the hairstyle on one’s head. In essence, memes are everywhere. When understanding that there was so much depth in such a small little thing is really when this class started to catch my imagination.

Being an avid watcher of YouTube, I was naturally very excited when we got to the YouTube unit. As I hoped, we discussed what it was like to be a YouTuber, to be a part of that community, and why or why not it could be perceived as a real job. After all, people do make real money from it. Considering that this, to me, is one of the most exciting facets of New Media, this was a very interesting discussion. Is YouTube the new television? Much like any sort of TV show, subscribers tune in to see their favorite personalities whenever they upload a new video. Understanding this transition of New Media was fascinating for me. It seems that the digital age has so entirely changed the world, and in regards to YouTube, it has definitely impacted the way entertainment is watched by the masses. Yes, of course, TV is still an option, and many people still watch it, but is it as popular as it once was? I distinctly remember the discussion we had when Professor Russworm told the class that she no longer had cable anymore. A Media teacher, no less. I realized then, “isn’t that simply a sign of the times?” When you can watch TV shows on such platforms like Netflix or Amazon, why pay 90 dollars for a cable package? It seems that the Internet is indeed taking over, changing entertainment one person at a time, and that discussion sticks out in my mind as the moment when I truly realized that.

Of course, Race and Gender was a large component what we learned  this semester as well. I was very excited to see that Lara Croft: Tomb Raider was going to be of the subjects to be learned, and I was not disappointed. One of the most interesting aspects of the discussion was comparing the old Lara Croft to to the Lara Croft from the 2013 game. Hypersexuality was decreased immensely in the 2013 game, much to the combined amusement and happiness of myself. I began to hope that maybe sexism is decreasing slowly, thanks to a more socially conscious and interconnected world. This may very well be the case, and it certainly was for Miss Lara Croft.

So to reflect: What did I truly learn from this class? In short, the digital world is a whole lot bigger than people might think. There are layers and nuances to this New Media Age that we’ve only scratched the surface on. I’m excited to grow up in a world that is changing so drastically technologically, and this class certainly opened up my eyes to that reality.