ENGL 680M: New Media

I was discussing the rhizome in relation to sites that randomly generate pages or screens when I discovered that Rhizome.org is an online resource for people who are interested in new media art. Interesting...

Following are some things I have been thinking about since Friday's class.

• The degree to which the dominant power determines the acceptable modes of communication (patterns), of technology, of access, etc. extends into issues of intellectual power and/or manipulation.
• New developments in technology alter the qualifications surrounding the term literate.
• Is it more important to be able to recall or be able to locate information (is that a literacy?)?

I think we can all agree that technology moves forward at such a remarkable pace that people respond in one of two ways: either they embrace (some or all) new technological developments, or they experience increasing resistance to learning the technology. The first group implicitly accepts the rationale behind each new edition, version, model, etc., agreeing that the latest x increases the speed/availability with which they can accomplish tasks and eases the stress of accomplishing those tasks.