Media Money

Media sales numbers, the movie box office machine...all these elements connect media and money more than anything. People can get the bandwagon perspective where they only get/experience the best selling items. If everyone else like them, then I should like them too...right? At least, I could experience the same thing they are and talk to them about it. Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars receives lots of praise, but has "dissappointing" sales because it's not a blockbuster like the previous installments. It doesn't mean it's a bad game though.

Maturity factors into this condition as well, but we all want to belong, but media isn't always high on the priority for people. We have to research and try out this media for ourselves. The library is a great way to "play before pay". I think ideas, audience and practical use should cross our minds before hopping on the bandwagon. In the workplace, it's a matter of anticipating what technology/media will be most useful.

One of my previous employers refused to update their media techniques and missed the Website "wave" losing many clients and their reputation. Co-workers constantly struggled to convince management that these updates were needed, but were refuted with "this is the way we've always done business".

Just because certain remediation is the latest craze, doesn't mean we have to purchase it. There's a lot of social factors working here, but if the audience of the remediation is significant, we at least have to consider it because it's what everyone is using on a large scale. Most teachers would be surprised to receive a handwritten paper today. Clean computerized font and hand printed letters similar to that font are the norm now.

Why did I take those handwriting classes in school again? Because our instructor didn't anticipate the computer age? I now use voice recognition technology, which brings the whole orality/writing remediation cycle full circle - from speaking to writing to typing to speaking. So what's to become of the media of the pen? Maybe the computerized text scanning pen (used for newspapers mostly) will take off or we'll see it as a navigational device for computer/visual systems as seen with "The Architect" near the end of Matrix Reloaded. I wouldn't think the pen would totally disappear unless we all communicated subliminally through our brains. We are driven to get the latest technology or be left behind. Many people are ruled by the fads and remediation "branding" that convinces us to consume.

It can be hard to stay objective, but there are so many resources (Gamersgate, Internet Movie Database, mymoviecritic.com, etc.) where we can choose are media by categories and customize are media choices. A great way to wade through endless choices and media options. So long for now.