Week One!

Week 1
Your first post on your blog should be a reaction to the Digital Media lecture. Answer the following questions in your post: What were your impressions of the term “digital media” before the first class? Did your impressions change in any way after the first lecture, and if so, in what way? Why should a student in RTA take a course like this one in digital media? Finally, was McLuhan right?

Blog numero uno,
Before my first class of Digital Media I didn’t have a clear perception of what Digital Media was but I gathered that it was a technical, computer based class. Since the majority of the media is currently digitally communicated, i.e. computers; television; and radio, I assumed we’d be learning about the inner workings of these technologies and how to use them to our advantage.
After the first lecture I realized that Digital Media is almost everywhere I look. Advertisements, clothing, CD covers, posters, websites, buildings/interior design, signage, etc. I enjoy using computers and am stoked to start creating my own designs and works of digital media.

Although I am still uncertain about what I want to specialize in within the radio and television field, I know that a digital media class will help me with whatever I choose. As I mentioned before, digital media is everywhere, therefore it will most likely be a part of whatever career I choose to pursue. There are countless types of digital media within the field of television, including animated programs and commercials. The graphic design element of the course will be useful for creating any sort of visual concept I want to convey. The design of whatever I do is the first impression to my intended audience and the way I am going to attract their attention, interest, and business.

Enough about me...
In 1964 Marshall McLuhan wrote Understanding Media and from this piece of literature sprang his most famous quote: “The Medium is the Message”. McLuhan saw what was really effecting people minds, as well as society, when they were receiving information/messages by watching TV, listening to the radio, reading a book, etc, was not the content but the actual medium through which they were receiving it. The invention of the telephone, for example, didn’t change the conversations people were having but rather the way they had them. The medium changed society and culture, not the messages which we communicated by using it. Television sends its most effective messages by using images, radio through sound, and books/literature through the written word. Whenever a new medium is invented there is a shift in culture; people adjust and communicate and learn differently. The audience can have three very different experiences and interpretations when receiving the same message through three different mediums.

I think McLuhan is right. The messages we send through different mediums are infinite in content but the medium we choose to send them highly influences these messages. For example, if I call someone and they don’t answer then they text me back “what’s up?”. I know that, for some reason, they can’t or don’t want to talk. The message I get through the medium of text, in this situation, is I can’t or don’t want to talk, not “What’s up?”.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wtJmbuE2qOs

http://www.marshallmcluhan.com/gordon.html