Intro and New Media

A greeting to everyone, my name is Matthew Bullock. I am a graduate from Texas A&M – Kingsville. I received my bachelors in Mass Communications (Journalism) and I double minored in English and Sociology. I enrolled into Texas State last January and am 2 classes away from graduation. I am looking to become part of the San Antonio Fire Department, in the process of waiting for a response from them I will become certified to teach and eventually finish up my second masters in education. I believe that college curriculum will be incorporated into high school, so hopefully I will be able to teach about Mass Media in high school. I am undecided about a PhD.
I have some fascination with new media, as I stated in class last Weds, after reading Thomas Friedman’s, “The World Is Flat,” I became intrigued as it specifically led into detail in chapter 12 about how other countries are using new media to level the playing field. In other words, countries such as India were catching up to America and becoming more developed by using new media technology. That really fascinated me as I started to notice that we weren’t as much in the forefront as a country as I thought we were, because new media has become a gateway of development for countries to progress and recreate themselves.
What I expect from the class is to get a more in-depth understanding of new media. I am very much intrigued on how you will teach it. I am curious and anxious to see what happens.
As far as what my definition of new media is, I would have to agree with Marc. It would depend on what time period it is, as it is some sort of communication which is constantly evolving.
In the article “New Media: A users Guide,” I agreed with Manovich in how he believes that new media has become customized for each and every citizen. One thing that I have noticed is that new media is allowing society to create and formulate their own lifestyles or ideologies as Manovich stated in the article. I firmly believe that is why there is a strong convergence to this phenomenon. When people are able to customize, they have the power to create a utopia.