Week 2 reflection

In the past week’s lecture, something that really hit me was the fact that the internet just soaks up any information you happen to put on it.  That is why if you want to preserve your reputation you need to be careful of what you expose to the rest of the world.  Once it’s on the web it can never come down, worst of all it can be duplicated and made available to anyone.  I thought the video was shown to the class about a teenage girl posting a salacious on the school board was an effective way of warning people of what information or pictures you make available to the internet.  When it comes to my digital footprint, it is rather small.  I do not have facebook, twitter, myspace etc pages.  For one, I do not want someone like a future employer to already receive a perception of myself before I get a chance to make an impression on them in person.  Also, I’m not the type of person who likes taking pictures.  Also, I don’t like the idea of having people privy to my information and every move.  As well, I think it would be arrogant of me to think that people need to know exactly what I’m doing especially for insignificant and everyday tasks.  To me, it is a little excessive.  My digital footprint will most likely increase over the next little while considering the fact that I’m in RTA.  With my digital footprint increasing I do believe that my approach will remain the same, because I do not want just anybody to know personal information about me that they shouldn’t know.  I think that once you create a digital identity, it now belongs to the internet.  Your identity still belongs to that individual because they are the ones providing the information, but once you give that information to the internet you cannot get it back if you decide that you do not want that information available anymore.  As a matter of fact, by the time you decide you do not want certain information available anymore it may have already been duplicated.  So in a sense, do you really own that information anymore?  Should people then not post anything online, discontinue their twitter accounts and not enjoy some of the benefits that the internet can provide?  Well, it all depends on the person.  If someone feels comfortable with making certain information available to the public, then that’s their decision, and like every other decision humans make in life you have to live and die by them once you make it.  However, there are people that are purposely looking for this type of information and want to use this to their advantage at your expense, so at the end of the day, be careful.         

Week one lecture reflection

After taking in that lecture last Tuesday, my impressions of the digital media world changed because there was certain information that was new to me. For example, how China and India could be the world’s next super powers sooner than I anticipated, just due to their population and how much the rest of the world depends on them. I was also amazed, excited and scared all at the same time after the lecture. This digital media world is a lot bigger than anyone probably imagined and it keeps expanding by the day. I am amazed and excited at the technology that has been created and innovated over such a short period of time. From the time I was born we went from VHS and cassette tapes to compact disks to digital video disks to MP3 and I Pods. Maybe in a few years time you may never have to leave the comfort of your home to complete your daily tasks. Why not? Look at all the things someone can do with a computer or phone. With the digital media changing as rapidly as it is, it will lead to new possibilities and opportunities that will be available to the world, and as students in RTA we’re in the middle of the digital media universe and could possibly dictate its course. Even though amazing and exciting events are going to take place in the near future, I can’t help but feel a little scared for what tomorrow brings. The point made in the video presentation stating that some of the technology and education that we are learning is going to be useless and obsolete by the time we graduate leads me to wonder, are we going to be prepared for the real world once we leave the confines of Ryerson University. Also with the changing technology how will people interact with each other and will it lead to positive results. At the same time an RTA student needs this digital media course because here they teach us the foundations of digital media and what tools are being used in the industry. As well, I believe this course will help guide us to head the future in digital media allowing us to create an innovate technologies that will become useful to the masses. Changes in digital media have lead to mediums and technologies joining forces to create more convenient ways of getting the message. The medium has now become the message as now it delivers much more than the message itself, it defines how the message is sent to the masses. This makes Marshall McLuhan right about his expressions of “the medium is the message,” and “the world is a global village.” No matter what medium humans have used the medium has always influenced the way the message is delivered essentially allowing the medium to become the message. For example if you listen to a song on the radio and listen to the lyrics and the melody of the instrumental there are certain images and feelings that you see and feel. You dance or bounce to the music in a certain way, your overall picture for that song could be entirely different from another person’s picture of that song. As a matter of a fact it could be different from the person who even created the song. But as soon as you see this same song on television as a music video, you see how the artist performs the song your perception of the song has changed. Now you are seeing the perception of the artist when they made this song. The two mediums are producing the same content but they provide different messages. McLuhan is also right about the world being a “global village.” With something as simple as talking on the telephone, using the internet or turning on the radio or television; you could communicate and interact with someone on the other countries, you could get a sense of how they live and vice versa. Also, with these mediums and the world being a global village you can be influenced or influence people and cultures that are in different parts of the world. Even though McLuhan’s prediction is correct, he probably did not envision how small the world would become in 2010. The digital media has such a great influence on our society and when it changes, the people and their lives change along with it. How massive and influential will digital media become? Nobody really knows, but I do know one thing it will continue to grow and change with the times.