This week as it is my last blog I thought the topic of the future of media and social change was a fitting one. Looking at the way the increasing number of different media and different forms of communication can be used and brought together. A large part of what Andrew spoke about in the lecture was multiplicity — the coming together of some or many things and their relations. However he also looked at fragmentation and how there is more of both fragmentation and multiplicity. This is because of the media and communication networks increasingly affect each other — and it is this affect that creates new multiplicities.
Bollier (2013) looks at ambient commons, which consists of everything in our built environment, and how new technology and information systems have changed the ambient commons of cities. With media everywhere from elevators to gas pumps we are more immersed in media and social change than every before. “We identify our locations, find information, connect with each other and experience life in different ways” (Bollier, 2013), the way we live in and perceive our world is change constantly — with a large part of that change attributed to developments in digital and media technology. As McCullough explores in his book ‘Ambient Commons’ (2013; cited in Bollier, 2013) physical locations are increasingly tagged with sensors found in everyday objects, he looks into how this has changed what we pay attention to. There are apps that are able to do almost anything for us, whether it be interact with people on the other side of the world in a virtual reality or play games.
Each of these apps is an assemblage, and poses the questions of social relations and how these apps change social relations. The future of media and social change is a question that is prominent in today’s society as there are so many aspects that influence media and social change. The future of media and social change is something that cannot be predicted as we are unable to determine how a development will impact society. That is why it is an exciting time to be studying what we are studying in this course. The impacts of new media technologies on social relations and the way we interact is something that will constantly be evolving and always be an interesting topic to explore.
I've put this video in as a little overview of the impact social media has had on social relations so far. It's an eleven minute documentary on different aspects of social networking, including how it has changed the way we celebrate birthdays and the way it has changed how children spend their time now compared to before Facebook.
Bollier (2013) looks at ambient commons, which consists of everything in our built environment, and how new technology and information systems have changed the ambient commons of cities. With media everywhere from elevators to gas pumps we are more immersed in media and social change than every before. “We identify our locations, find information, connect with each other and experience life in different ways” (Bollier, 2013), the way we live in and perceive our world is change constantly — with a large part of that change attributed to developments in digital and media technology. As McCullough explores in his book ‘Ambient Commons’ (2013; cited in Bollier, 2013) physical locations are increasingly tagged with sensors found in everyday objects, he looks into how this has changed what we pay attention to. There are apps that are able to do almost anything for us, whether it be interact with people on the other side of the world in a virtual reality or play games.
Each of these apps is an assemblage, and poses the questions of social relations and how these apps change social relations. The future of media and social change is a question that is prominent in today’s society as there are so many aspects that influence media and social change. The future of media and social change is something that cannot be predicted as we are unable to determine how a development will impact society. That is why it is an exciting time to be studying what we are studying in this course. The impacts of new media technologies on social relations and the way we interact is something that will constantly be evolving and always be an interesting topic to explore.
I've put this video in as a little overview of the impact social media has had on social relations so far. It's an eleven minute documentary on different aspects of social networking, including how it has changed the way we celebrate birthdays and the way it has changed how children spend their time now compared to before Facebook.
Reference List
Bollier D, 2013, 'How We Will Reclaim and Shape the Ambient Commons', accessed 18 May 2014, <http://bollier.org/blog/how-will-we-reclaim-and-shape-ambient-commons>.
Bollier D, 2013, 'How We Will Reclaim and Shape the Ambient Commons', accessed 18 May 2014, <http://bollier.org/blog/how-will-we-reclaim-and-shape-ambient-commons>.
Moore A, 2013, How Social Networks Have Changed the World, online video, iewed 19 May 2014, <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=trH4iuebjjI>.