Digital
Storyline One: Convergence and the Digital Immigrant
The
traditional and the digital are coming together in a convergence that impacts
everyone. Technology has found a way to make our lives easier by converging
itself into traditional forms of accomplishing tasks. Even though technology
has made our lives easier, there are still some who struggle with the newer forms
of digital media. It is important that we understand this fact and try to
realize where we fall short as a society.
One
way to depict this convergence is to show how it is happening in the
here-and-now. Many people don’t notice how this is happening, and go about
their lives using digital media in place of more traditional approaches. Showing
these against the more traditional approaches can create a dynamic that will
enlighten if not stun viewers. Some examples are traditional phones against
cell phones, a billboard versus the new electronic signs, and watching
television versus watching online movies.
A
good way to demonstrate how this convergence is taking place is to interview a
digital immigrant, one who still struggles with the adaptation of digital
media. Portraying the struggles that a digital immigrant has with these types
of technology will help us to understand how digital media has evolved. It will
also help in understanding how digital media looks and feels to a digital
immigrant, furthering our understanding of the struggles with the convergence.
Portraying
the dynamic between traditional and newer media is a good way to enlighten the
audience as to the convergence of these two forms of media; furthermore,
interviewing a digital immigrant can help us understand the trouble that comes
with this convergence.
Digital
Storyline 2: Digital Media and its Significant History
Digital
media, since its emergence, has had many significant events that have
transformed it into what it has now become. Email was part of a government
project that evolved into an everyday use for everybody. The Internet helped
email and propelled information into a giant resource of vast knowledge. Google
and other search engines found a way to quickly query this information for us to
have at their fingertips. Social media has evolved to extend our communities
past physical bounds. Digital media has become something grand and needs to be
shown as an evolution, with certain events happening in linear time.
Images
of technology pertaining to certain historical events can be shown in a linear
passage of time, from when media was more separated to the present day, in an
attempt to describe the progression of technology against traditional media and
their convergence. I believe that email is a great way to start this
progression; in addition, showing how the Internet evolved from the basic
structure of the Intranet would be a great secondary position. Other
developments might include the cell phone that propelled pads, readers, and
eventually the computer/pad. Showing technology this way will set up an
interview processes with questions developed from the interviewee.
Interviewing
a digital native, who might not know of this progression, would decipher areas
that need to be explained further so that other digital natives can know how
the newer technology has matured. For instance, many digital natives may not
know about car phones and how prior to cell phones they would literally be
plugged into cars with a cord. They may not know that search engines had not
been developed at some point; the web URL had to be entered into the address
bar directly in order to reach a website. Similar developments may be unknown
to a digital native, and it is important for them to understand that digital
technology is every-changing, that what they know today may be completely
different in the future.
Showing
the developmental progression of digital technology can have an impact on
digital natives; digital natives may in turn have questions about its history
that they did not know. It is important for these digital natives to understand
that, even the technology used today, technology is every-changing and will
probably change in the future.
