Digital Daily
Professor Langdon Winner of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, explains the slow and yet rapid revolution of technology and it’s increasing presence within our every day lives in his discussion of what he calls “Mythinformation”.
Winner provides the logical reason for this cultural acceptance of such technology that “as these technologies become less and less expensive they become more and more convenient.” And he believes everyone will eventually grasp an equal opportunity to this information through the digital world. Leading to an equilibrium between social classes, where there is no longer rich or poor, because he states, knowledge is power.
At this point through the example above, iPad, or the Apple corporation for that matter, has created various products of advanced technology, that have, over time, changed society to be more accepting of technology being a part of our daily lives. This is because technology has been a part of our lives all along, ever since man has existed.
Technology is defined by Merriam-Webster as the use of science, machines, or equipment, to solve problems, and invent useful things. Fire, is a technology, cars are a technology, and even glasses or pencils could be considered a form of technology. With this understanding, it is impossible to separate tech from human beings, therefore the next step is to embrace it, use it, and create more with it.
In a political standpoint (publicly speaking), technology offers individuals the ability to gain greater depth and understanding for participation with others, and may result in a populace of higher educated citizens, and more interconnected with the world. The effect is more visible from Winner’s description of technology advancing to take jobs in North America, yet offer education and opportunity to those in third world countries. This is a revolution that in some ways reduces the power of the wealthy by educating the lower classes, allowing them to be heard just as clearly.
Winner goes on to discuss that from this more easily accessible capability of participation, and connectivity to the rest of the world, participation is somewhat skewed. The cause of this is due to viewers building an illusive understanding of complete awareness, reducing their actual participation physically with the information. With the infinite volume of news, social media, and other material available online, a downside from the digital framework are the chances of misinforming individuals. Awareness of what is true and what is fact is not always as easy to decipher from as such enormous quantities of ever changing information, making it hard to keep up with everything.
Another issue Winner mentions is the practicality behind the idea of the expanding information in places it has never reached (like third world countries). In this description, he references the chances that those individuals may face a struggle to grasp the concepts the digital covers. This may provide insight into the complexity to understand for some. The “functionally illiterate” may be incapable of translating the information into practical skill.
The role of television is still a digital form that carries certain aspects of communication that the internet may not necessarily be capable of covering. The internet is a participatory machine, yet television breaks down the large quantities of overwhelming information into an understandable, “bite sized” form. In which viewers can receive information at a rate more conclusive to the primary subjects or topics most important at the current times within news, entertainment, and other forms of digital media.
Aristotle indicated that “man is a political animal”, born instinctively for communicating with others in their species. We are constantly communicating with each other over and through the digital, and as we create groups of friends in the physical world, we are able to search and seek out others in this virtual setting that we can relate with even more so. Not limited to this connection by any physical means or obstacles (as long as we have access to the digital).
This blog itself, Medium, is a form of communication between individuals at which groups are formed and relate over various topics. The National Security Agency has been know for it’s apparent observational tactics (spying) through the internet to supposedly watch the activities of others. Twitter is an excellent place for being updated and informed with activities and events occurring with celebrities or friends across the globe over various topics and subjects whether news related, media related, or other topics. KIK is an excellent form of online messaging, free, and capable of allowing instant real time conversation without the obstacle of space. Skype works in a similar way KIK, however it is through visual and auditory communications. AOL, is one of the first, now older forms of online communication through e-mail. It would be considered a movement during an era of rapidly increasing sustainment of businesses and personal connections with others, nonetheless, unavailable any other way. The Anonymous group represents itself as an online interconnected group that works to enforce rights and freedoms of everyone, in support of hackers who are supposedly capable of control certain government functions as well as any other previously thought non-controlled subjects. And Facebook, which is one of the most popular and preferred online social networks of all on a global scale.
These are just a few forms of social media and related organizations that thrive and gain stability through the activities of users’ involvement in social media. Hypertext has become a way in which the internet has become so much more viable and sustainable. This is why it is a more effective form of connectivity than any other medium presently available, like print, television, or radio. Hypertext offers readers more readily available references to resources and other forms of media as just this blog here as done so through pictures, hyperlinks, and videos. This hopefully makes the text more engaging, more clearly understood, and backed for proof of context.
