Week 2 Topic 1 focusing JUST on questions:A, C, E and F

Week 2 Topic 1

A)With windows Vista replacing XP and Office 2007 replaicing 2003 (and so on) what is "upgrade culture" all about? Is some new media change just consumerism thought up by big business?

Upgrade culture in these terms deals with the continuation of technology and the nature of it always being "upgraded" as it were.the example being Office was the successful and popular package designed by Microsoft and used for a few years as a global company there became a "need" to design something that would satisfy these "needs" according to Microsoft of being newer, better and newer again. I believe thatsome new media change is just consumerism another example is the Apple I-pod there have been at least four or five upgrades since they were first made all the time claiming to be newer and better than the last model. For some reason we seem believe them but surely if they had really thought about it they would have at first produced a super duper I-pod that did everything in just one model. However it appears that would be too easy

C) Are new media a source of "progress" in the sense that they enhance things we do in spheres of social activity- businesses, education, shopping, democracy etc? Could we say that such a proposition involves an "ideology of progress"?

New media= new technology, upgrade, bigger, better, faster, stronger and newer. "These connotations of 'the new' are dervied from the modernist belief in social progress as delivered by technology" (Lister et al p.11) As a constant thing of change we have no choice but to go along with this "progress" if we wish to continue in our social activity spheres. Businesses, education and democracy are probably the areas to affected most by this "progress" and this will be due to legislation enflicting it on them. Because of this enfilction it is fair to say our activities will become more advanced than before. If we look at the ways in which we communicate telephone, email, msn messsenger, facebook etc etc they become advanced so do we be it through their own laws or the people above them this then ties in with the ideology of progress because that is exactly what it is doing.

E) Digiatlity and code. Imagine you couldn't compose your assignments on computer. How would a hand-written editing and composition process be different?

A hand wirtten composition would be very different from a computerised one firstly there would be very many drafts before you even had the final product. This would be down to mistakes through grammar and spelling and indents with paragraphing. Not only so but to produce an essay for example is very time consuming anyway let alone having to write it by hand through perfection. At least with a computerised version the process is very simple when writing an essay the simple tools of cut, copy and paste spring to mind as the whole process really boils down to editing. Thinking about it more we take the computer for granted as not so long ago you would have to complete assignments by hand.

F) What do you make of Lunenfield's concept of 'immersive interactivity'?What could we apply it to?

Lunenfiled's concept of immerse interativity i believe can be best related to computer games as he says 'we move from seeking to gain access to data and information to navigating representations of space or simulated 3D worlds we move into 'immersive' interaction" (Lister et al p.21). The user (player) can enter these wrolds through watching a flat screen and using controls or putting on headsets which 2include visual and sensory pleasures of spatial exploration" (Lister et al p.21)