Norman Mailer vs. Marshall McLuhan

I've watched the movie, I've thought about the men and their views and I've come to view Mailer as a tool. His contributions to literature are far enough removed from their newness and from the context of the period in which they were written that whatever innovations they may have represent have no impact on my opinion of him. Beyond that, I'm not sure what constitutes 'notes' in this case. It was kind of entertaining to watch them duke it out in an existential battle of the wits the first time, but it was harder to watch the second.

Group Think

Wow. This really struck a chord with me. This has been a struggle for the last year or so. While I am compelled to be a social creature and feel pressure (and guilt) to spend time with my family, I've come to realize that all of my best work that I've ever done has been when I've been able to throw the blinders on and focus of my work. No interruptions, no guilt about not helping enough around the house, no worries that my daughter needs more daddy time. Just me locked away with my imagination.

Lately I been overwhelmed. My brain is one big, tender, exposed nerve. Every sound, every smell, every light makes me feel a little more claustrophobic… And I'm highly overstimulated and agitated. I wish I could just spend a week working on my projects and schoolwork and then painting… or drawing… or taking a road trip to do some photography. All of it by myself.

I love my family and I would never want to lose them. I enjoy spending time with them. I'm not saying that I want to be single again, just that I wish I could do what I have to do without feeling guilty about spending the time alone or for even thinking about it. I've gotten better with the guilt at home, but I'm still not as productive as I should be and alone time would help. I just feel the pull of various responsibilities to others when I am alone.

In other words, I completely agree with the opinions of the author; without alone time with my thoughts, I'm about 1/3 the designer/artist/student/creative soul I could/should be. I may just have to be a bit more selfish… for the greater good. Because when I'm making art/producing, I'm a lot happier of an individual.

Social Media Applications in the classroom...

Flickr - A great way to share photos, videos and artwork with an entire class. With the various levels of permissions, it lends itself nicely to creating a class viewing environment. With a Flickr account, a design or art class could be taken to the next level by allowing students and instructors alike to comment on both finished art and works in progress. It creates a whole new feedback experience that could fill in the gaps in interaction between classes. The instructor could then download the finished project at size for a critique/grading.

Skype - This takes the instructor-student interaction beyond the limits of class time and allows for more time for collaboration on group projects. By having Skype in the classroom, it would be far easier to have guest speakers who might otherwise not be able to leave the office to come and speak, but do have 20 or 30 minutes to Skype in from their office allowing them to seamlessly return to their workday.

Foursquare - An app like Foursquare (or Yelp) would allow for the creation of interactive field trips, and location-based homework assignments. For a museum experience, the student could check in an then describe the pieces of art work they are looking at and post a photo. The class could then comment on each others posts and exchange opinions and experiences. The same would apply to something like a music class where the requirement is to see for example several concerts and review them during a semester. The student could check in, give a brief impression of the event and encourage the class to comment and post questions. The instructor would then know that the student was in attendance and the students initial thoughts in the moment.

That which we were to read and comment about...

I'm honestly not sure WHAT to say. I read through the articles and looked at the infographics. It's fairly alarming the rate at which social media has grown and diversified... especially when you consider the amount of personal information out there. It has grown into a juggernaut that really has a life of it's own. It has helped to share breaking news before the networks were able to report it and it's helped to save lives. It's helped to promote worthy causes and been a vehicle of hatred, stalking and bullying. It's redefined how we do business and advertise and how we communicate with one another. I have seen social media help to bring down corrupt governments. It has many times been a human rss feed of information and news you won't find main-stream sources covering. I am amazed at how it has changed the way we play... and what it means to 'game'. Social media and it's many tentacles is all at once mesmerizing and enthralling and horrifying and invasive.

When I look at how mobile devices, wifi enabled cameras and video cams, apps and social media connect us all, I see an artificial neural network... each of us and individual 'neuron' and sensory organ for the whole. I would imagine if interactions were mapped and animated it really would resemble brain activity... more-so than any previous comparisons to the web. Maybe it's not the next step in human evolution, but some days it feels that way. Just this side of a true 'cyborg'. 

I guess it comes down to the humanity of it all. There is so much potential and so far some of that has been harnessed for good. We have new and compelling ways of exchanging information and promoting worthy causes. Social media has made it easier for us to organize and come together to do great good... or just hang out in person... and to find lost friends and loved ones. There is a dark side of stalkers, bullying, ID theft, the selling of lives by third parties, tracking our every move on the interwebs, etc. It's unknown territory in some ways. 

That's my two cents.

Social Media Landscape

I wasn't really clear what if anything that I am supposed to take from this article. Facebook is a monster and it tentacles are far-reaching and in everything. That is what I took from it. It's also no longer the coolest kid on the block... it's just the most popular. That's not enough these days. The connectivity is awesome, but also a bit disturbing.

And so it begins...

This is my first official blog post for Instructional Media Systems. The assignment posts will follow.

Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!