2009年9月28日 星期一

What is "new" about new media?

When I was asked this question, I thought "interactivity" immediately. People have more opportunities interact with other people and also with technology. However, don't people interact with others with traditional media? What kinds of interaction with technology can be called "interacitivity"? Is this "new" about new media?

I am thinking some online games, such as mah-jong and poker. When I play mah-jong online, I can choose characers I would like to be, change colors of outfits, decide which rules I would like to follow, and also chat with my friends online. I interact with the computer, and it responds to me what I want. However, what I play and how I play are still as the same as I play with friends face-to-face with traditional ones. Will I play this game with another kind of "new media" in the future?

Time changes. Within different era or generation, how people present information is different with different inventions. Maybe "new" media just means only for people is a specific time, so new media is historicized. People change or invent various formats to reinterpret something which is presented in traditional media. For today, mp3 and digital formats are new media comparing with disc and tape. Youtube is new media for people today to broadcast themselves, but it will become old media when new "new media" is invented.

For today, I think what is new about new media is unicersal access to information, communication, and participation. Information is no longer accessed in one way. People can communicate through accessing the Internet or may different ways. In addtion, with this accessibility, people build up networking, share, and contribute knowledge all together. And I think this is new about new media in our time.

2009年9月7日 星期一

Welcome to my blog!

It's interesting for me to keep a blog in English. I have another one in Chinese, and I usually express myself in Chinese and pictures. It is a great chance for me to practice writing and thinking in English more!

Ok! As I mentioned in class, I am from Taiwan. I am a second-year Ph.D. student in Literacy, Culture, and Language Education. Before coming to IUB, I studied my master degree in TESOL at University of Pennsylvania. I also started my teaching in Philadelphia while working on my study. I was teaching immigrants and refugees English in English in Nationalities Service Center about three years. In addition, I taught high-school immigrant students about one year. With my experience in teaching and learning from immigrants, I was amazed by how people communicate even without a shared language. I am very interested in second language acquisition, how people learn languages and literacies, and how to help them learn. And with this focus, I also minor in Learning Science, which is a brand new but exciting field for me to explore.