In nearly every developed facet of my life, computer technology is nearly essential. I'd like to think that I could get by without it, but who am I kidding - I'm in love. I imagine in that regard that I'm not much different from many of my fellow children of the digital age. I use my laptop to check the weather, read the news, keep in contact with old friends and keep tabs on "friends" I haven't spoken to in years. I use it to store all of my music, photos, and writings. My laptop lets me do everything from look at terrible photos of celebrities to sending my grandma pictures of my new apartment.
As a student, my relationship with computer technology is even closer. I don't just want access to e-mail, a word processor, and the library's online catalog - I need it to get my work done. Look at this blog post; I needed my laptop in order to complete a simple class assignment. I don't yet know how technology will affect my teaching, but if the classes I'm taking now are any indication, I'll at least need e-mail and some sort of site in which I can organize my class.
Computer technology is necessary for me, and at times it can be a hindrance. I have some friends and relatives who are upset when I don't respond immediately to a message from them - but these are mostly the people I know who have smart phones or other mobile Internet gadgets. They're expecting me to always be available like they are. And the thing is, I could go on and on about how personally inconvenient it would be for my mom to have a really good reason to think I'm ignoring her, but I know I'll eventually jump on the bandwagon. Otherwise, I'll get left behind.
However, I'm not entirely onboard with Wysocki's definition of new media, so I'm having a hard time linking it to how I might run my own classroom. Although she tries (a couple times) to state what it clearly is, she manages to illustrate more clearly what it isn't ("...we probably ought not give up our own agency by acting as though technologies come out of nowhere and are autonomous in causing effects" 19). One section I found confusing or troublesome was, "Under the definition I offer not just any computer-screen text counts as 'new media': just because a newly published textbook (for example) has an online component does not mean that what is online is 'new media'" (18-19). She goes on to state that these new media (cell phones, scanners, etc.) don't cause us to interact with them differently. Wysocki is very concerned with people staying in charge of technology - not the other way around. I don't understand why this issue gets so much play (nearly a full page of the book). It seems like an implicit argument.
Ok, so in my head this wanting-stay-in-control-of-technology thing looks a lot more like Terminator, but another point I wonder about is why Wysocki feels that if new media is going to be used effectively it has to be so loud about it? She stresses new media "as texts where we keep their materiality visibly, both as we work to make them and as we hold them before us" (19). When writing a good reflective essay, one of the things a writer tries to do is not call attention to the fact that someone will be reading this essay. Isn't that why we tell writers to stay away from cliches and overused phrases like "My next point is. In conclusion"?
This section also had me constantly thinking about advertising. Maybe it's because I'm really missing watching "Mad Men" right now, but it seems like advertising companies have been all over new media since someone realized you could sell it. And then sell space on/in it. Anyway, good commercials don't call attention to the fact that they're commercials - instead they use anything they can find to hook you into wanting to know more. When I think about all the other people and businesses who have been using new media in really effective and interesting ways, it seems as though composition teachers aren't so much standing in front of a golden opportunity as chasing a missed bus.
I think it's interesting what you say about Wysocki, how she's defined what "new media" isn't rather than what it is. What a better way to say it than what I came up with. I completely agree. I had such a hard time understanding what "new media" is while reading the article. I know it doesn't have to be wholly technological, for example. But then I have a hard time seeing how it can be defined as "new" without that "newer" medium.
ReplyDeleteWhen I read the passage you had trouble with, I instantly thought of every textbook I've ever bought that featured a CD or a website that only included the same materials or exercises found in the textbook. I could skill and drill online instead of on paper, but that's about it.
ReplyDeleteAs for her definition of new media, think of how so much of academic research seeks to make the implicit explicit--to question and analyze things that were previously taken for granted. In composition, while we generally advise students to avoid cliches and the like, we still encourage students to use summary, metacommentary, and other devices to make their points explicit. For example, I've come across too many 101 essays where the assignment criteria do not seem present in the text, only to hear the student tell me "Well, it's right there, it's just implied." We want students to write precisely and explicitly even as we advise them to avoid "I think/believe that" and "My second point is" (even though I've read enough academic articles where this kind of metacommentary is present, only in more complex language).