I would see old media as something that is not in much use of, for example Snapchat. It is a media platform that is of use and there are many people that use it, but it is not used as much as instagram or YouTube. To me new media is media that is continuously updating and improving, and that is in constant use of an individual. In class we talked about how instagram is used as a platform for chatting even with close family members, or discord how it is used for clubs, classes, gaming. Discord is not a new platform however due to what it can do, it is being used more often and any way that it is updated or improved or is pushed to have new features people seems to enjoy interacting with it.

Another fascinating idea that was brought into class was the idea that during Covid our use of these media platforms increased in order to help fill the days left at home. Instead of Skype, platforms like Zoom and discord became popular. Giving easy access to live streaming and share content with people around the world.

Another point was that old media can be considered as text, blogging was and still is quite popular. However how we blog today is more towards a visual perspective than a written one. Having platforms such as twitter or tumblr have reduced over the years because people are more interested in seeing what is happening then reading about it.

I also found our conversation in class about how media consumers are just tools for marketing and the basic idea that we provide free labour very interesting. We don't realize how much of our lives are used for marketing until we deconstruct every conversation.

In chapter 2 of the textbook, there is a little section that talks about Jane Austen sending letters, and the need for instant communication. Every piece of media that is made for us came from a problem that we requested to be improved. Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and the internet itself, are all solutions to problems we want solved. This can also bring a point when we hear our parents say things like "When we were your age, we didn't have all these luxuries", but these luxuries are only provided for us because they had such a hard time. During covid people needed something to do and Instagram converging all these different features within it allowed us to find something to do.

Flew, T. (2014). New media: An introduction (4th ed.). Oxford University Press.

I personally didn’t know that there was such a thing as a Zine. Although I do remember there was a teen movie that had come out a while back where the daughter started a type of newspaper that was to impower girls. She had created it at home and photocopied it at school and left them in the girl’s bathroom. Even though these types of participatory culture may be slow moving, from the communities that are now present, I think that these kinds of strategies may work. This is because in my opinion everyone wants to be heard, everyone wants to get their opinion out there and I don't think that they would keep it to photocopying and leaving newspapers everywhere, but people would now see it as a way of being authentic and post it on their stories to show others how authentic they are.

This can also connect with Hall's encoding and decoding model, where the newspaper article can purpose a dominant-hegemonic way of decoding whereas posting online may be negotiated or oppositional as people may feel that why post it if you want to be authentic, or maybe they don't a line with the same views, etc.

 Flew, T. (2014). New media: An introduction (4th ed.). Oxford University Press.

From the presentation I really loved how he was able to show the effects of fake news made by AI on social media platforms. It really goes to show how much we rely on the information that is given to us through platforms we trust.

From the film I found it interesting when they said that our data sets reflect our history. When looking at the creators of AI and the group of men that surround the invention, most were white males. When it comes to facial recognition and technology that identifies what gender or race you are I find it interesting how segregated and biased people have made AI. There was a mention in the film that the future is here but it is unevenly distributed and that AI only replicates what the world is like today. Creating such a technology not only tries to identify who is worthy of what but also who is wealthy enough to collect revenue from. The expectation to find who is worthy of a job or of housing to me is crazy. As well as to have such a reliance on a machine that 90% of people don’t know where this AI’s information is coming from. Its coding is only determined by its creator. 

Kantayya, Shalini, et al. Coded Bias. 7th Empire Media, 2021.

What I found the most intriguing was the difference between knowledge and information. From my understanding information is raw data, while knowledge is the application and understanding of that data and how that data turns into something of value. This is the foundation of why knowledge and information economies are so different. 

New media technologies are the Center for enabling this kind of system. Networked ICTs not only speed up communication, they also allow for wide spread of knowledge that is turned into new forms of value instantly. Bringing back our discussions on convergence, this really helped me understand why our phones can be tools for entertainment, work, commerce and evening learning all at once. 

Another thing that stood out for me was that from both the textbook and the lectures was the aspect of globalization. From my understanding the knowledge economy is truly global, with the flow of people, money and ideas. However, they both stress that there is a great inequality of access. Even though we live in a world with information that is more accessible, the availability of that knowledge is unsteady.

There is a limit in education, infrastructure, and social factors. 

Through this course I feel that I was able to connect with everything that was taught and I was given a deeper understanding as to how much our work revolves around our ability to communicate through these technologies. 

Flew, T. (2014). New media: An introduction (4th ed.). Oxford University Press.