ENGL 680M: New Media

Hey everyone,

I thought I would post some of my questions and concerns about Always Already New as a way to continue conversation after Friday's class. I'm still thinking about several of the themes we raised in class yesterday, namely the public/private split, the differences between constructions of via narratives and public/private memories, the Web as an historical subject, and a couple others that are explored below. Perhaps we can continue discussing, posting, questioning?

So many blogs, so many drupal sites, so little time. Ahem, do you ever have those moments when you realize that you've forgotten to do something (for several weeks)? Well, welcome to my moment and the moment finds me thinking about the nature of blogs. Now I know from my various readings and discussions that blogs started as online diaries. From there it was a short walk to social and political commentary, but what I'm wondering is: when did blogs become work?

I wanted to add a couple of comments to Morgan's fabulous discussion of women and music.

Also, this is the trailer for "Afrika", a game of indeterminate purpose that claims that it will capture the spirit of Africa.

ALSO, this is the website of the StoryCorps, an organization dedicated to recording the oral histories of the outgoing generation.

So I got a chance to join the multiplayer beta for Crysis (which I took) and it is quite an experience. To say that it's pretty would be an understatement, and the gameplay is sublime. What's most impressive to me, though, is the conceptualization of the interface.

Since there's been talk of blogs being self-indulgent AND the theme of music has come up, I'm taking this blog moment to write about a current obsession of mine. No, Wendy, I don't mean "looking for creative ways to get thrown out of the program." That was last semester's obsession.

I'm interested in the way that Gitelman argues for how much impact gender had in the creation of mass music in the industry. Chicks not only used the music to keep their husbands happy at home (as KKL pointed out) but also because they were in charge of the cultural well being of the household. The ways that women took in music, specific music, made a difference in the overall reception of this new media. We can see this in some of the ads. Women, starting from all those early Magazines, where the bosses (economically) of mass media.

I laughed when I first got to the 1906 National Phonograph Co. ad on page 77 of _Always Already New_. "When a man leaves home in the evening it is because he seeks amusement. The best way to keep him home is to give him the amusement there." The message, aimed mainly at the lady of the house I'm guessing: Keep 'em home and entertained with the Edison Phonograph. I can't imagine the image of a rope tying a man to a house having any appeal to a guy.

Check your local listings for replays of The Writing Code. It's a really interesting documentary about the invention of written language. What really caught me about it was its connection to Gitelman's Alway Already New.

i realize we're supposed to be blogging as part of the class. as someone who doesn't blog--i've tried it, but i always lose interest--it's an odd act. i seriously write a blog entry every few days, but decide not to post it. this is primarily because 1)i'm not sure who my audience or why their reading and 2) i don't want to sound like a jackass. whereas when i ask my students to blog or talk with them about blogging, they seem completely unaware of the public nature of their blog, i'm hyperaware of it.