Author Archives: William Maldonado

Media Convergence/Vinyl Vs CD’s&MP3 :William Maldonado

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While reading Media Convergence something that really caught my attention was the “Black Box Fallacy” which is a concept by Jenkins in which he states that while digital media is converging the physical forms of the media are separating, but i would say that his concept is wrong because there are already devices out today that combine movies,tv,music,games and etc in one physical hardware device. Some examples of such a device is the Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV and other ones that don’t offer as much but still offer a great deal of media in a small device Google Chromecast and Roku. Another Part of the first chapter of Media Convergence, was when they quoted Howard Rheingold where he said “The computer and the internet were designed, but the ways people used them were not designed into either technology,  nor were the most world-shifting uses of these tools anticipated by their designers or vendors. …“. This made think back to the early stages of the internet on how it was originally designed during war time to send encrypted information amongst themselves without the enemy deciphering the messages. Then they mentioned how SMS texting was just a way for phone companies to alert users of a voicemail later transformed into something for the public just like the computer. This made me open up my mind to thinking differently, in that the public are truly the ones that have the power on the changes that technological advances makes even if it wasn’t originally meant for the public.

The article written by Sean Poynton Brna makes a very good argument on why I should buy Vinyls. Although he wasn’t trying to change anyones mind to not use mp3’s and CD’s, but instead was just simply trying to make people more aware of the things they cant hear originally on mp3’s and CD’s due to the compression they do to the sound. He made me curious and want to experience the rest the frequencies that we cant hear and I found it very interesting how something that isn’t in the range of human hearing can still stimulate our brains whether it be on a sub-conscious level or not. So Ill have to make a trip and get me a vinyl this weekend.

Paper Vs Screens / The Cobweb:William Maldonado

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What I found interesting in the article written by Ferris Jabr was when is spoke about how e- readers, tablets and even laptops tend to still make reading on these platforms so similar to reading a physical book weather it be adding an animation to make it seem as you are flipping a page or adding an audio file that mimics the sound of a page rustling as you flip it.  This made me wonder on why is it so that companies decide to do that? My opinion is that right now we are on a bridge of a dramatic change that technology is making in our everyday lives and to make this this bridge strong so we can successfully cross it into newer technology and in order to make this a smooth transition, traditional methods are embedded into new technology in order to accomplish that. This way tech companies can show the future technology of reading without making the consumer feel uncomfortable with the change. Also I found it ironic that as I read this article on my laptop, how I was wishing it was on paper to be able to highlight interesting information.

The article written by Jill Lepore called”The Cobweb” was a bit disturbing but very interesting due to the article explaining how Brewster Kahle wants to archive every website from its present stage to its previous stages, along with books, movies, songs and pretty much anything else he can digitize to make a his digital version of the Alexandria Library. Although that’s a bit disturbing. I agree with the article can also being very beneficial to court cases using broken links as evidence. It can also help further evolve the web in changing the way we can direct people to websites that are no longer being hosted. Front end developers can use these link which were referred to as a”permalink” to show off the work they made for previous clients even if the clients have taken down the website that the developer created and help their own websites run smoother without stutters. They where both interesting articles and Brewster Kahle is a mad genius!

 

William Badke / Robert Reinhold: William Maldonado

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While reading the first chapter of Of Badke’s book, something that really caught my attention was how while information was scarce the more sacred information was and the more people  pursued to learn this information voluntarily. Then how throughout the years information became easier to access but the less sacred information became to people and the less amount of people pursue Information voluntarily. An example is how in modern days everyone has access to countless amounts of information due to the WWW, but instead people mostly use the WWW as a means of entertainment instead of using the information available to increase their knowledge about any kind of subject.

The article written by Robert Reinhold was pretty intense to read since the National Science Foundation’s reports so spot on to today because now the are some people that work directly from home on their computers wether they are graphic designer’s, web developers, or small business owners. Although we don’t just see “videotex” on our computers anymore but more dynamic computer experiences the report still predicted how our shopping would be up  to how we came to socialize today. Reading this article made me remember a small phrase said by Marshall McLuhan, technology would make us a “Global Village” meaning that technology would bring people together creating a sort of global village but at the same time separate people apart. His prediction came to be realized today the way people in the train are always with their head downs looking at their phone, the way social media says you have Millions of friends when you only know a few. Technology brought us together but will bring us apart. Overall I enjoyed reading both the article and the first chapter of Badke’s book.