Not So Random
Florian Brody asks: Should we wait for a random start-up to come up with some new web technology to find out about the next major change of the media that defines our society?
Well, from someone who hangs out with “random start-ups” here in San Francisco and Silicon Valley, I proffer that they are not quite so random. Defining society and defining technology and defining media — these “definitions” are all connected by two-way streets, so one cannot happen without the other.
So the “geekstars” putzing around on the Internet right now are being influenced by where society and media are going, so their new web technology is going to be influenced by how they live and what they see and what they do. It’s unavoidable.
Kids had cell phones that could record video….boom! Random start-up YouTube gives us the society-defining gift that won’t stop giving.
Kids love flirting on MySpace….boom! We have more online social networks than we have friends.
Unfortunately, I’m just an observer and a consumer — I can’t imagine what the kids will do next. So I had some trouble with Florian’s next question:
“I would like to steer our discourse into the direction of how digital media can enhance and augment other media types that – for the lack of a better definition – function without computers. How does thinking about these media types help us to define the next step in digital media?”
I could feel my brow furrow. “I don’t think I know any media that function without computers.” Surely, a silly response but that was the first thing I thought. Then I looked up media in Wiktionary just to make sure I understood correctly. “Formats for presenting information.” That don’t use computers? Painting. Singing. Collage? They’re always talking about mixed-media collage in art history books.
Collage!
TAG: wemedia
It’s “We Media” not “Media with Batteries” – so I hope there is more to human communication and expression than the boxes we have been using since the early 80s. And then – Computers will go away, the same way LPs and CDs and Linotype became obsolete.
It’s all about We Media Mix – there is a reason why Moody’s cuts Knight Ridder, McClatchy to junk: “concentration on a single industry creates vulnerability”.