Week 1: It begins.

As per the assigned question, this post is my reaction to the Digital Media lecture.

Let me first say, that coming into this program, I know very little about anything to do with digital media. Yet, I was startled to discover during the lecture, that the whole thing sounds incredibly interesting. Before the first class, I wasn't even certain what the term digital media encompassed. Because of my utter lack of knowledge, my impressions did indeed drastically change after the first lecture. I wasn't sure I was going to enjoy this class at all, but the lecture has got me all pumped up to start learning about Photoshop, Flash and Dreamweaver. I only know a small amount about those programs, so this is definitely going to be enriching experience. These skills will be useful outside of the workplace as well.

Digital Media, it turns out, is everywhere. It's on billboards and posters and album art and pretty much, as said, EVERYTHING. This makes it a key component for any Radio and Television Arts student to learn about, even if they don't plan on doing anything in that field. It is incredibly beneficial to know about other areas of the industry, but it is also very important to learn about digital media, because, as was taught in the lecture, humans have a tendency to judge a book by its cover. Or anything by its cover, really. I know that even I have turned away from a CD or even something like a store, because the design of it was just plain mediocre, or unpleasant looking. Our work needs to look professional on the outside too, if we ever want people to take us seriously. An intriguing look will make people interested in a product.

A good part of the lecture focused on Marshal McLuhan, the man most famous for saying, "The medium is the message." I happen to think that McLuhan was right in a sense. The way you portray your ideas, influences what you are actually trying to say and becomes part of the message. Communication is a key factor in shaping out ideas. McLuhan also believed in "technological determinism," that we are living an age of growth and advancements. McLuhan also predicted a "multisensory community experience." Maybe it's just my love for science fiction, but the video we watched in the lecture really got to me and I completely believe that McLuhan's ideas are possible for the future. The way we live our lives, McLuhan kind of predicted right. We are constantly being bombarded with various types of media, often many at the same time. We have grown accustomed to it, and often people don't even notice the experience.

This is going to be an interesting semester.

Well, we get really bad internet reception around the rings of Saturn, so I'm gonna have to check out. Until next time, my alien friends.