Reader Responses

There have been a number of responses to my recents posts and here are some samples:

Fanya

I found it very interesting - There was an interview with the actress Rene Zellweger in today's paper and something she said caught my attention. When asked about privacy, fame and harassment - she said that while walking down the street people with cellphones will photograph her - without asking her permission - but, worst of all - without saying hello!!This relatively new technology exists but maybe at the expense of manners, freedom, privacy, etc. This could be the downside. It really has nothing to do
with teaching and recognizing the new media - but it's an interesting issue touching on a paparazzi-like behaviour - whereby BEFORE this technology existed people would have stopped and maybe said hello (or
asked for an autograph - how old-fashioned).

The use today of people in far-away places where labour is cheap, or the technology exists - is something relatively new and fascinating. I know that
when you call Montreal INFORMATION the person answering you is no longer sitting in Montreal but in INDIA.. Where once material and goods
were outsourced - new technologies have now created a situation whereby customer service, telemarketing, and information services are outsourced. The changes may look subtle but they shift the power of the work force
from place to place and create jobs for people in less-developped or poorer countries (and deprive jobs for those in the wealthier countries - such as
Canada!)

All this has nothing to do with teaching new media and persuading higher learning institutions to extend their budgets for it - but it helps to prove how much there is to learn and what potentials are out there for people with good ideas who want to turn them into money-making ventures. We need to understand New Media from this perspective as well.

Jan

Actually, every time I saw the phrase 'New Media' so far I have always had
a tendency to immediately challenge the author. So far there has never been
anyone who could successfully convince me that there was anything
specifically newer - i.e. newer in a different sense - in the New Media now
than in the New Media of the past.

Your current contribution to thinking about this issue is the first one
that forces me to recognize that, even though the media themselves (i.e.
the technological tools) are as such not dramatically different, the
complex environment of which both humans and the media are part has perhaps started to take on different properties. Neither the media nor the humans may any longer be what they used to be before that happened.

Sara

Can the study of "boundaries" between disciplines become a field in itself, is this theory, or critical theory? How does theory (from arts and humanities) create tangible connections with the sciences? Curatorial disciplines can play an important role in helping us redefine the boundaries.