How Far Will Technology Take Us?

            Cultural limitations can come in many forms, and technology will surely bring some new limitations to the table.  On a massive communications scale, we all know the strain of dealing with robotic customer service calls.  So technology has since then influenced our culture to rely heavily on digital communication.  People of all demographics are using more mobile devices to get the information they want and need, so communicators have to produce data through these mediums.  The one piece of solidarity with media communications is that the story must remain powerful and draw in the audience regardless of the technology involved.  This idea can be compared to that of upgrading graphic technology in a video or a game, the user becomes uninterested if the publication is more about the technology than the content (Kolodzy, 2013, p. 165). 

            So how far can technology take us?  How much of our reality is going to become intertwined with our digital identity?  Well, many different companies are working on devices that take reality to the next step as explained by (Wall) in his BBC article Can technology help us improve upon reality?.  Augmented reality is a term that is easy to misinterpret, as virtual reality has been the thought up to this point.  Augmented reality is better, and this is because it allows the user to see and interact with digital representations, and they can manipulate the object in their physical surrounding.  The user can then share any information and ideas by digital means, and they can thus communicate with the world.  Microsoft has revealed an augmented reality headset called the HoloLens, and a video portrayal of the device can be found here:

            Not to give this post a dark undertone, but do we continue to improve upon technologies that seem to be slowly consuming our society in some aspects?  Can we ensure that improved technologies won’t go haywire and take us into a robotic apocalypse?  Or should we simply improve our way of thinking, and remain content with a certain level of connectivity?  Do these augmented reality devices have long term effects on our physical health?  Regardless, only time will give the ultimate answers, but I hope to inspire the reader to think.  I hope to help you open your imagination and wonder for a moment about what limitations technology already presents, and how far we should go before limiting our cultural involvement with technology.  So I ask, is there a stopping point?   

References

Camera Caught. (2015, January 22). Microsoft revealed the HoloLens augmented-reality headset: YouTube. Retrieved from YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qm2gnnyyvEg

Kolodzy, J. (2013). Practicing Convergence Journalism: An Introduction To Cross-Media Storytelling. New York: Routledge.

Wall, M. (2016, February 23). Can technology help us improve upon reality? BBC Website. Retrieved from BBC Website: http://www.bbc.com/news/business-35629715

Filing Films: A Brief Look at How Technology is Digitizing the Movie Industry

     Movies also have become an integrated part of society, and technology plays a large role in what happens with them also.  Movie technology has been implemented into the creation of movies for decades, in the form of special effects in order to draw the audience in.  Going along with the same trend as music, digitized movies are taking the web by storm.  The movie industry still has a strong hold with theaters, and the digital explosion has not happened quite as quickly as it did with music.  This can be attributed to a couple of reasons including the fact that digital music files are considerably smaller and less time consuming than video files (Nickson, 2013).  Movies take an enormous amount of storage space for high quality images, but still people started pirating movies just as they had with music.  Movies are not simply taking over immediately, but the transition is a much more gradual change.  Chris Nickson, a contributor to A Technology Society, explains the situation quite well when he wrote “As more services spring up letting us download films, and broadband speeds increase, making those hefty downloads faster, it might well signal the end of DVD rentals, and probably have a serious effect on the sales of physical DVDs – although we’ll need much larger hard drives in order to maintain a film library” in his article Technology & Film.  Society has come to expect movies that can play anywhere at virtually anytime, because of the plethora of devices we see on the consumer market.  The following Ted Talk by Frank Smith, tells an accurate description of the film industry’s recent timeline.

     Netflix is by far the most notable name in the world of digital movies, and many believe the physical movie industry is suffering because of it.  Numbers suggest that ticket sales have been gradually declining, and as of January of 2015 ticket sales were at the lowest point since 1995 at 1.26 billion (Bowman, 2015).  Up until now, Netflix wasn’t a significant threat to the theaters, because they only show movies that have already been through the theater.  In 2013 Netflix announced plans to stream films as they are released.  Chief Content Officer for Netflix, Ted Sarandos stated, “Why not premiere movies on Netflix, the same day they're opening in theaters? Why not follow the consumers' desire to watch things when they want? Theater owners stifle this kind of innovation at every turn ... I'm concerned that as theater owners try to strangle innovation and distribution, not only are they going to kill theaters, they might kill movies” as documented in How Netflix Is Closing The Curtains On Movie Theaters.  Netflix is certainly driven by competition, and they have amassed a very large market for their service.  Statistic Brain shows that Netflix has around 64 million subscribers and the company is bringing in 5 ½ billion dollars in annual revenue.  So regardless of their intentions, Netflix and other movie streaming companies have found their niche in American society.

References

Bowman, J. (2015, January 10). How Netflix Is Closing The Curtains On Movie Theaters: The Motley Fool. Retrieved from The Motley Fool: http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2015/01/10/how-netflix-is-closing-the-curtains-on-movie-theat.aspx

Nickson, C. (2013, January 5). Technology & Films: A Technology Society Website. Retrieved from A Technology Society Website: http://www.atechnologysociety.co.uk/technology-films.html

Talks, T. (Director). (2014). The Film Industry Today [Motion Picture].

Trending Tunes: How Technology is Changing Music

     As I continue this series of social expectations that have come from technologic advances in the media, music has to be one of the biggest areas of change over recent generations.  Music has been part of human civilization, and different variations have always been played across the globe.  Before electricity, the only way to share music with an audience was to play a live concert which seriously limits the amount of people that can enjoy the music.  The funny thing is that music was part of society and culture for thousands of years, so all of the advances have come within the last hundred years or so.  As musicians began selling their music, people wanted to be able to access more songs faster.  Thus pushing technology forward with consumer demand, and then people started creating digital music databases.  Although online music can be very beneficial to both the audience and the artist, there have been some very rough seas during the development of digital downloads.  A great introduction can be found in this YouTube video that gives some solid statistics and numbers to the tech influence on music.

(blagoysavov, 2013)

     Now we live in an age in which we don’t need to own a hard copy of the music we want (Harrison, 2014).  Consumers can buy their favorites from iTunes, Amazon, or other sites and apps.  Not to mention apps such as Pandora, Spotify, and other Internet radio channels.  These basically allow listeners to find specific bands, songs, albums, and more as long as they have an internet connection.  This also negates the trouble of buying an entire album when you only like a couple songs, and most of the folks from my generation have been in that situation.  YouTube has also given the audience a video platform without needing to watch MTV or other music channels.  Laura Harrison, contributor to Socialnomics, explains how the Internet changed the way music is made as well as the ways it can be played.  In her article, How has the Internet and Social Media Changed the Music Industry?, she shows that a couple decades ago the musicians would have to have a corporate executive listen to a demo tape, while today’s market allows for a much more direct approach across a social media platform. 

     Now artists love how some technologies can help them create and produce music, as they have synthesizers, vocal filters, and many more digital devices that enhance creativity.  However, when it comes to software programs like Napster and Limewire the audience was happy, while the artists became agitated quickly.  The technology driven delivery system was severely cutting into the profits of musicians, and in some cases led to costly lawsuits such as Metallica vs. Napster in April of 2000.  Since then, the technology has not stopped, but artists have found ways to control the flow of their own music through these digital platforms.  This has created a well balanced approach that both the audience and the musicians seem to be happy with, and I think this trend will continue to change as technology moves us into the future.

References

blagoysavov (Director). (2013). The Impact of Technology on the Music Industry [Motion Picture].

Harrison, L. (2014, July 23). How has the Internet and Social Media Changed the Music Industry?: Socialnomics Website. Retrieved from Socialnomics Website: http://www.socialnomics.net/2014/07/23/how-has-the-internet-and-social-media-changed-the-music-industry/

Technology and Digital Media: An Ever Shifting Environment

     Technology has influenced how just about everything in our society operates, especially since humans harnessed the power of electricity.  Society has always expected information, because people have always needed to communicate.  The biggest transition is that the audience has gradually gained more power while consuming information on a digital platform.  To be a little more precise, the people using social media can dictate exactly what media they want to take in rather than simply accepting what the media presents.  One paragraph found in the article, Social Media as Public Expectation: The New Public Utility, really sums up the shift that has gradually come across the internet.  The author states, “social networking and social media sites are not simply used to frivolously pass time but have become a backbone, a crucial aspect, of how we conduct our social, political, and professional business in the global world. It is this critical nature of social media over the Internet that is causing users to become vocal” (Thompson, 2010).  So even though it is considered social media, it has truly become an integrated part of how we live and operate as a society. 

     The Social Trends Institute documented a meeting in 2013 called What Society Needs from Media in the Age of Digital Communication, and it brought several communications professionals and analysts together to discuss this topic.  “Certain elements of the transformation of the media are unambiguous: There is increasing importance of audio-visual media, accompanied by decreasing use and prominence of text-based media (newspapers, magazines, and books); there is a proliferation of market-funded, highly commercialized content that is often influenced by global rather than domestic concerns; digitalization has and is producing new platforms for content distribution; and the amount of news, information, and entertainment available to the public has never been higher. All of these developments alter the economic basis of legacy media and the content we receive” (Social Trends Institute, 2013).  There are a lot of clear cut changes that we can all see on a day to day basis, but some changes are a little tougher to keep track of.  Some of these changes that people are less aware of can have dramatic effects, even on an international level.  “The changing media environment is producing both beneficial and deleterious effects to content provision. The meeting explored how the changes affect content of both commercial and non-commercial content providers, how it alters production of certain genres of content (news, information, debate, entertainment, drama, comedy, etc.), what it does to the range of topics addressed in media content, how it creates tensions between provision of domestic and international content, and how it alters perceptions of the world, relationships among people, relationships with society and institutions, and social norms and culture” (Social Trends Institute, 2013).

    A very informative video found on YouTube explains a few of these major changes.  Digital communication has literally influenced business closures, political agendas, and much more as described in this clip from Take Ten Productions.

References

Productions, T. T. (Director). (2013). How Social Networks Have Changed The World! [Motion Picture].

Social Trends Institute. (2013, October 5). What Society Needs from Media in the Age of Digital Communication. Retrieved from Social Trends Institute: http://www.socialtrendsinstitute.org/experts/experts-meetings/civil-society/what-society-needs-from-media-in-the-age-of-digital-communication

Thompson, A. (2010, June 30). Social Media as Public Expectation: The New Public Utility. Retrieved from New York Public Library Website: http://www.nypl.org/blog/2010/06/30/social-media-public-expectation