Sam Han’s Navigating Technomedia was a fairly easy read that focused on the three eras of media (Mechanical, Electric, and Broadcast) and each of their histories. Through the reading I learned that the mechanical era is defined by print and being able to lock words in space. I learned that the electric era is defined by the invention of the telegraph and how telegraphy proposed the possibility of written communication no longer being bound by physical space (as did the invention of the telephone during this time). And I also learned that the broadcast era helped to mass distribute information through such things as the radio.
One of the more interesting facts that I learned through Navigating Technomedia is that while these three eras are very different they all need one another to exist and to be effective. Technomedia is defined by interoperability between devices and medias do not replace one another but instead they work within each other. Technologies of the past and the future incorporate one another.
The idea of technomedia and how it incorporates technologies and does not replace them reminds me of the evolution of the cellular phone and how different the cell phone is now as compared to cell phones of let’s say 5 or so years ago. I recently broke my smart phone and had to revert to an old cell phone of my father’s. The cell phone I am using now as a replacement phone isn’t that old at all, it was probably release in 2004 or 2005 but the differences in this flip phone when compared to the my smart phone are obvious. In just five years the cell phone went from simple graphics and just being able to send out receive calls and text to today’s phone which incorporates the internet, a camera/video camera, and an mp3 player among other things. By the cell phone picking up the qualities of a camera or iPod it still did not replace them it is just incorporating them. And it’s funny to think that now a “standard” cellular phone is not one that is just used for a phone conversation but instead it is one that call send texts, search the internet, take photographs, and play music.
Hey Sweet Dee, it is fascinating how technology has changed over time. I found the article very simple to read as it talked about the history of technology and transition of it. But this article mainly focused on technomedia and how these new tech gadgets transform a society and who not exist with out its original. In you response you talk about cell phones and I think the same can be applied to pocket games. For example, like the gameboy, it was favorite past time for many children. You just slip in a game and just play a game til dawn. But now the gameboy as transformed in the gadgets like the Play Station Portable and Nintendo 3DS. With 3DS I can access wireless internet, play with friends across boarder and get a 3D gaming experience which is very surreal. But it all started with the Gameboy evolving throughout the years it wend from the Gameboy, Gameboy Color, Gameboy Advacned, Nintendo DS , Nintendo DSi and now the 3DS. It just amazing how the techomedia can shape a timeless medium.
ReplyDeleteMy post resembles yours in the fact that I too find the transformation of cell phones really interesting. I remember back in middle school, when I wasn't even allowed to have a cell phone, the big brick nokia phones that some of my friends had. I was so jealous that they could text away and play snake on their phones, because thats literally all those phones could do at the time. Now having my own cell phones and watching them change so drastically over the last 6 or 7 years, it is amazing the things we can do with them now. I probably sound like a sprint commercial, but I love how I can search for something using my internet while calling someone and texting all at the same time. Our generation is definitely filled with multitaskers, and our technology has evolved accordingly.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your blog. Technology today is beyond words.Just when we think it can't get any better it does. I can't wait till June when the new Iphone comes out, and I don't even know what the new updates are going to be on it! I think our generation today relies too much on technology and I think it is only going to get worse for the next generations to come. But I will admit, it is very fascinating and I buy a lot of the latest and greatest technology gadgets!
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