Remember in the late nineties how we were all so convinced that Virtual Reality would eventually take over how we interface with people, the internet and the online community? Movies like the Lawnmower Man, Tron and the Matrix made us salivate at the possibility of exploring a new frontier of wonder and endless possibilities without even leaving the comfort of our own home. Almost 2013 and most people know they aren't getting any bulky headsets or full body suits anytime soon, and they are certainly not lining up to try Secondlife.com (a virtual world developed by Linden Lab) but there still is something on the tip of any tech savvy person's mind today; daydreaming and imagining the endless possibilities of Augmented Reality!
You can imagine A.R (augmented reality) if you can conceive that if Virtual Reality was the complete immersion of your senses into a digital world then augmented reality is less complete immersion and simply a virtual overlay onto the real world. It enables endless possibilities by providing limitless digital data pertaining to whatever you are interacting with through a monitor or a pair of augmented optical lenses, the most well known is the Google Glasses expected to be released sometime in 2013. The Google Glasses utilize smartglass to unify the virtual world of smartphones, computers and the web with the real world of people, places and information. They were an instant hit at Google's I/O developers conference in June/2012 and continue to be online ever since. This is the promotional video released by Google and has accrued more than 18.5 Million views since April '12! And the buzz will increase steadily as the release date nears, if the can get the expected cost to be closer to the cost of an expensive smart phone (Aprox $450-500) and further from the cost of an expensive 3D TV ($1,500) then I would imagine to turn to much more of a craze!
A novel idea and all but are the masses really going to race to but the first smart phone you wear on your face? What are the potential uses beyond the capabilities of any typical smartphone? Once the public truly realizes the potential of augmented reality, the Google Glasses will only be the first of a long line of A.R Glasses! At least in the US, you will find them on the face of every student and teacher, every tech, every engineer, and then virtually everyone else (pun intended!). If you look at this video of the capabilities of Augmented Reality linking a simple child's schoolbook with an interface it isn't very hard to imagine the possibilities for educating our youth! Imagine fusing a young child's will to learn with his/her will to discover in a way no teacher ever could before!
What about the workplace? You think corporations won't jump at a way to quickly, efficiently and economically improve the capabilities and evolution of their workforce? There isn't a single industry in the world that wouldn't benefit from a more efficient and more savvy labor force. Imagine you can optimize all of your employees from day one with step by step individual tutorials with hands on practice without paying a single instructor for a single hour of mentor-ship! BMW has been working on a augmented reality training program utilizing their "datagoggles" a technology similar to Smartglass since 2007! Take a look at this brief tutorial to replace a cooling fan in a BMW 325i.
Absolutely capable of reinventing education it's not hard to theorize that it will also revolutionize reeducation; it will be simpler, more efficient and ever expanding. No more will human beings be outmoded to younger, less experienced but more knowledgeable labor. With this new tech the evolution of man will grow in as many leaps and bounds in the next 5 years as it has in the last 25! This is the retooling that will finally get us out from behind our desks and out in the real world working, blogging, learning, interacting, and interfacing with people, instead of keyboards!
Showing posts with label Digital. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Digital. Show all posts
Monday, December 17, 2012
Monday, October 15, 2012
Is Evolving Media ≤ MediaEvolving?
Ever
heard the terms “Global village” or “Cyberspace”, perhaps the phrase the “medium
is the message”? They all obviously refer the medium that we have all come to
know and understand as the internet, right? Wrong- on both counts, all three
quotes are nearly 65 years old, predating the internet as think we know and
understand it by nearly 50 years, so how could they have anything to do with
the internet? And as much as it pains me to say 99% of us do not truly
understand the internet. Many believe that media and the internet are two
separate concepts when in actuality Internet is media, an incredible over
simplification it may seem but no, the internet is simply the most contemporary
medium of communication, a complicated medium-but of media nonetheless. To truly
understand the internet you must realize its foundation, not just from a series
of networked 8 bit supercomputers in the desert somewhere you would begin at
the inception of all media 100,000 years ago with the beginnings of verbal and
symbolic communication, through the innovation of the automated printing press
into the revolution from analog into the digital age of iPad and everything in
between. Communication is media and media is evolving.
The Oracle of the Electronic Age
Marshall McLuhan is considered by many as “the oracle of the electronic age” coined the term “Global Village” in the 1950’s, 40 years before it is used again to describe the internet so why is it such an incredible designation when discussing it more than 60 years later? McLuhan understood the power of media better than anyone in his time, realizing early on that media was evolving he was coined a prophet instead on someone who understood the power of communication as well as history’s penchant for repeating itself. When he initially coined the term “Global Village” he was initially referring to television, as that was simply the most contemporary and effective form of communication and media. McLuhan recognized the value of the medium simply in terms of the communication and sharing of information- such blasphemy led him to be ostracized by many in the academic community because they did not consider it to have any value as an “appropriate object of scholarly or pedagogical attention” (Strate, p. 175). Just as it was true 100,000 years ago, it was true in McLuhan’s time and it is true today, communication is the binding force of community; whether it be symbolic communication, cave drawings, language, or email the mediums or means we use to communicate influence how we view the world (Sapir-Whorf Principle of Linguistic Relativity) therefore the ease of communication thru technological means has created this “Global Village” removing the hindrance of physical distance. The early evidence of communities known as the “Creative Explosion” begins c. 30-20,000 years BCE with the first known appearance of communication; cave paintings demonstrated to later generations hunting tactics and farming methods, tally systems (notches in rope or sticks) demonstrated the first recordings of numerical data physical information. This provided the civilizations of the time to transverse time itself by communicating knowledge through the generations evolving the hunter/gather systems into the Agricultural Revolution 10,000 years ago. That major revolution took 10-20,000 years, the next took approximately 4,500 years in Mesopotamia (8,000 BCE) between the Sumerian writing originally consisting of pictographs and made up of hundreds of characters was incredibly hard to learn therefore only a few scribes were apprenticed to learn to record for administration, religious, literary, and scientific purposes, it wasn’t until a bilingual society was created between the Sumerians and Akkadia that cuneiform was invented c. 3,500. The bilingual nature of the society was the vehicle of inception of cuneiform, the ease of communication between one civilization to the next resulted in one of the greatest literary revolutions in history; the evolution from Old Assyrian cuneiform into the much simpler Semitic alphabet of only 22 characters occurred c. 1,500 BCE taking only approximately 2,000 years. It is also worth noting that the Semitic alphabet also included the concept of positional notation as well as the concept of 0 (zero) invented in India c. 3,000 BCE.
Communication: Sociocultural Evolution Stimulant
The Oracle of the Electronic Age
Marshall McLuhan is considered by many as “the oracle of the electronic age” coined the term “Global Village” in the 1950’s, 40 years before it is used again to describe the internet so why is it such an incredible designation when discussing it more than 60 years later? McLuhan understood the power of media better than anyone in his time, realizing early on that media was evolving he was coined a prophet instead on someone who understood the power of communication as well as history’s penchant for repeating itself. When he initially coined the term “Global Village” he was initially referring to television, as that was simply the most contemporary and effective form of communication and media. McLuhan recognized the value of the medium simply in terms of the communication and sharing of information- such blasphemy led him to be ostracized by many in the academic community because they did not consider it to have any value as an “appropriate object of scholarly or pedagogical attention” (Strate, p. 175). Just as it was true 100,000 years ago, it was true in McLuhan’s time and it is true today, communication is the binding force of community; whether it be symbolic communication, cave drawings, language, or email the mediums or means we use to communicate influence how we view the world (Sapir-Whorf Principle of Linguistic Relativity) therefore the ease of communication thru technological means has created this “Global Village” removing the hindrance of physical distance. The early evidence of communities known as the “Creative Explosion” begins c. 30-20,000 years BCE with the first known appearance of communication; cave paintings demonstrated to later generations hunting tactics and farming methods, tally systems (notches in rope or sticks) demonstrated the first recordings of numerical data physical information. This provided the civilizations of the time to transverse time itself by communicating knowledge through the generations evolving the hunter/gather systems into the Agricultural Revolution 10,000 years ago. That major revolution took 10-20,000 years, the next took approximately 4,500 years in Mesopotamia (8,000 BCE) between the Sumerian writing originally consisting of pictographs and made up of hundreds of characters was incredibly hard to learn therefore only a few scribes were apprenticed to learn to record for administration, religious, literary, and scientific purposes, it wasn’t until a bilingual society was created between the Sumerians and Akkadia that cuneiform was invented c. 3,500. The bilingual nature of the society was the vehicle of inception of cuneiform, the ease of communication between one civilization to the next resulted in one of the greatest literary revolutions in history; the evolution from Old Assyrian cuneiform into the much simpler Semitic alphabet of only 22 characters occurred c. 1,500 BCE taking only approximately 2,000 years. It is also worth noting that the Semitic alphabet also included the concept of positional notation as well as the concept of 0 (zero) invented in India c. 3,000 BCE.
Communication: Sociocultural Evolution Stimulant
You surely noticed that as the
boundaries of communication dwindle so do the time spans between the
innovations, which is and will be the case for any medium in any century. The Semitic
alphabet became the basis of Greek then Latin within another 1,500 years
leading to the next great revolution, The Renaissance Era. The Renaissance which
spanned a little more than 300 years from the 14th to the 17th
centuries highlighted education, art and innovation- one of which was the
mechanical clock invented by monks to keep track of prayer time for their disciples
started the automated and mechanical revolution and another equally astonishing
historically unparalleled innovation- the precursor for virtually every one
that followed; metal movable type. Metal movable type as you would imagine
accelerated the time tables of communication even more, no longer do books need
to be hand written on parchment (made of the prepared skin of an animal) which made
them much more affordable to the masses, education then changes the archetype
of government leading to countless revolutions that never could have taken
place otherwise and closing the poverty gap more with every passing generation.
Guttenberg’s automated type printing
press came less than 200 years later, the steam engine and the industrial
revolution less than 150 years after that.
The Industrial Revolution from 1750
to 1850 led to where changes in agriculture, manufacturing, mining,
transportation, and technology had a profound effect on the social, economic
and cultural conditions of the times. The discovery of electricity by Benjamin
Franklin in 1750 was virtually useless at first, only true use was the
telegraph which wasn’t invented for almost 50 years and until the revelations
of Thomas Edison of the light bulb was the “power of electricity” (pun
intended) truly realized. Samuel Morse invents Morse Code, the true precursor
to mass communication and the first appearance of the code that is the
foundation for every computer device known to man, Binary. Binary code is a
series of offs and ons separated by short lengths of time communicated via a
current of electricity from one point to the next. Soon after, thanks to
Reginald Fesseden, Gugliemo Marconi and Edwin Armstrong radio broadcasting begins
the era of mass communication. No longer are stories told one to one, one to
many is now the means of communication, McLuhan once said “It is the device
that creates the revolution, not the medium,” “mass society” is coined to
define how man is now connected at a level never once realized in human history.
Factories begin popping up around large cities and decentralization begins; mass
production leads to mass consumption, mass transportation is developed to
transport the workforce. High voltage power lines sprung up connecting coast to
coast and it wasn’t too long after that Alexander Graham Bell had invented the
telephone and the telephone lines followed. The next great innovation that
truly completed this vision on the “Mass Man” and “Mass Culture” was the
television, in 80% of all households within 20 years of its demonstration at
the World’s Fair in 1939. This is the inception of Mass Media, information is
now shared through multiple platforms of media; books, newspaper, telegraph, radio,
television and the natural evolution of the next great medium is simple,
if the natural progression from one to
one communication is one to many then the next obvious progression is from many
to many.
“New Media” is another term coined
by our prophet Marshall McLuhan, defined as different from mass media because
it is not interpersonal such as the telephone or handwritten letter while still
interactive and somewhat participatory. Some scholars would argue that “break
point” came much later with the invention of the computer and the internet,
Professor of Communications and Media Studies Lance Strate of Fordham
University would disagree, he argues “they are secondary developments, an that,
more ofthen than not, the characteristics of the new media environment are
derived from the characteristics of electricity, electric technology, and the
electronic media in general.”
Wednesday, September 5, 2012
The Digital/Human Connection
Isn't it nice when a stranger smiles to you on a crowded street and for no discernible reason it just brightens you on the inside, you can't help but smile right back. And isn't it awesome how that same smile is so contagious that all the passersby that see that smile on your face get the same butterflies, sending infectious bliss rippling through the crowd. That's the human connection that you just can not define or explain. There is no compromise, there is no replacement or supplement for that human connection. Give me unlimited posts with unlimited characters and let me spill my heart to you a million different ways in text, but there is no emoticon for heartfelt emotion, not one for friendly sarcasm or to demonstrate real and true jest. Everyone says we should connect more, that we "need" to connect more. It makes us more efficient, it enables communication, it bridges gaps, allows us to network, evolve, etc. etc. etc... Honestly those sound more like the desperate cries of an addict pleading for another hit of connectivity from a digitally dependant population, rather than "real" people actually wanting to connect for altruistic reasons.
To further yourself and your communities is what the true objective is when you connect in the "real world." School, church, extracurriculars, book clubs, beer pong tournaments all have one real thing in common, real people sharing real connections. Not one person has ever heard anyone ever say that all of this added connectivity makes us more human, if anything you hear the exact opposite but there is just too much money in the new mediums to ever go back. We have to be able to progress with the digital age without losing that human connection in the real world. You can build all of the online communities you want, create all the new and innovative applications and portals to keep in touch you want but you can never create a real community; a civilization with true human feeling, care, compassion and even forgiveness for your fellow man . The fact is in the digital medium- it just does not compute. You can have your one hundred million apps with 3 billion users and all the friends you can possibly fit into that handheld device of yours, I'd rather have a hug.
Take the 2012 Summer Olympic Athletes Michel Morganella and Voula Papachristou as a perfect example of human emotion not transferring to the digital medium, these and all of the other Olympic athletes are performing on a such a global stage that they are icons, they are almost god like, so does that mean we hold them to a different standard? Absolutely we do, they are idols to us all but they are human like all of us and we all make mistakes. Both athletes were dishonorably dismissed from their respected teams for what was interpreted as racist messages posted on Twitter by each of them. You can't feel a persons true intent without reading their body language, your can't sense a friends displeasure without hearing the disappointment in their voice and you can't judge a persons core values in 180 characters. While I personally believe Morganella's comments to be at least slightly racist, I don't believe Papachristou's to be more than a bad joke, but regardless they both were judged and sentenced in the public eye. As a red blooded American it should sicken all of us, we all have our day to defend our actions, where was theirs? At this level of competition everyone of the athletes that are even considered have a level of heart that most can't even fathom. In the heat of competition sometimes you say things you will immediately regret, you can never take it back and it may not be forgotten but in the real world and on the field this level of excitement is understood, expected and even occasionally forgiven. Online there is no such empathy, it's typed into plastic keys but etched in stone. Those 180 characters now define them, their life long dreams-irrelevant, their dedication to their country- forgotten, themselves permanently branded as less than human because for one second their emotions got the better of them. What is this medium that it has such dominion over how the real global community judges one another?
Often there are some things posted in one forum or another that does have the potential to add a next level of alliance between two or more users, a level that was impossible to generate in the digital world not too long ago. These events, whether they are posted videos, status updates blogs or tweets allow users to think that creating that real digital community is not only possible but inevitable, the thought is noble in its purest intent but frankly its just not feasible. There is just too many X factors in the human experience that can not be digitally replicated. Recently, another Olympic reference, there was a video posted to youtube of the entire women's swim team singing and dancing to a popular song that gave a the viewer a more tenderhearted look into an Olympic team, adding a personal look at a group which are usually portrayed to be all work and no play. Because they were able to show that they can share a common interest in a popular song, and dance around like a couple of goofs (the way we all do when no one is looking), the result of the video gave the viewer a feeling of a next level of connectivity and made them feel involved and connected which added an even greater level of excitement and anticipation to the tournament. As nice as that is, it's incredibly rare to truly duplicate. It was dynamic and expressive as well as stimulating and full of emotion but so were the Tweets of Morganella and Papachrisou. I'm not saying that the Olympic committee were right or wrong in their judgements, only saying that letting your emotions run free online will generally have the same result as drunk dialing, the next day most likely your gonna wish you could take back everything you said! My advice to everyone; including future athletes and anyone in the public spotlight that wants to stay there; as much as you want to share your success with those who have supported you, don't. Always be on your "A" game and be professional. As much as you want to share your emotions with your fans, friends and family, don't. People who don't know probably don't understand you and won't even if they met you, why give them an opportunity to judge you? Just a thought...
To further yourself and your communities is what the true objective is when you connect in the "real world." School, church, extracurriculars, book clubs, beer pong tournaments all have one real thing in common, real people sharing real connections. Not one person has ever heard anyone ever say that all of this added connectivity makes us more human, if anything you hear the exact opposite but there is just too much money in the new mediums to ever go back. We have to be able to progress with the digital age without losing that human connection in the real world. You can build all of the online communities you want, create all the new and innovative applications and portals to keep in touch you want but you can never create a real community; a civilization with true human feeling, care, compassion and even forgiveness for your fellow man . The fact is in the digital medium- it just does not compute. You can have your one hundred million apps with 3 billion users and all the friends you can possibly fit into that handheld device of yours, I'd rather have a hug.
Take the 2012 Summer Olympic Athletes Michel Morganella and Voula Papachristou as a perfect example of human emotion not transferring to the digital medium, these and all of the other Olympic athletes are performing on a such a global stage that they are icons, they are almost god like, so does that mean we hold them to a different standard? Absolutely we do, they are idols to us all but they are human like all of us and we all make mistakes. Both athletes were dishonorably dismissed from their respected teams for what was interpreted as racist messages posted on Twitter by each of them. You can't feel a persons true intent without reading their body language, your can't sense a friends displeasure without hearing the disappointment in their voice and you can't judge a persons core values in 180 characters. While I personally believe Morganella's comments to be at least slightly racist, I don't believe Papachristou's to be more than a bad joke, but regardless they both were judged and sentenced in the public eye. As a red blooded American it should sicken all of us, we all have our day to defend our actions, where was theirs? At this level of competition everyone of the athletes that are even considered have a level of heart that most can't even fathom. In the heat of competition sometimes you say things you will immediately regret, you can never take it back and it may not be forgotten but in the real world and on the field this level of excitement is understood, expected and even occasionally forgiven. Online there is no such empathy, it's typed into plastic keys but etched in stone. Those 180 characters now define them, their life long dreams-irrelevant, their dedication to their country- forgotten, themselves permanently branded as less than human because for one second their emotions got the better of them. What is this medium that it has such dominion over how the real global community judges one another?
Often there are some things posted in one forum or another that does have the potential to add a next level of alliance between two or more users, a level that was impossible to generate in the digital world not too long ago. These events, whether they are posted videos, status updates blogs or tweets allow users to think that creating that real digital community is not only possible but inevitable, the thought is noble in its purest intent but frankly its just not feasible. There is just too many X factors in the human experience that can not be digitally replicated. Recently, another Olympic reference, there was a video posted to youtube of the entire women's swim team singing and dancing to a popular song that gave a the viewer a more tenderhearted look into an Olympic team, adding a personal look at a group which are usually portrayed to be all work and no play. Because they were able to show that they can share a common interest in a popular song, and dance around like a couple of goofs (the way we all do when no one is looking), the result of the video gave the viewer a feeling of a next level of connectivity and made them feel involved and connected which added an even greater level of excitement and anticipation to the tournament. As nice as that is, it's incredibly rare to truly duplicate. It was dynamic and expressive as well as stimulating and full of emotion but so were the Tweets of Morganella and Papachrisou. I'm not saying that the Olympic committee were right or wrong in their judgements, only saying that letting your emotions run free online will generally have the same result as drunk dialing, the next day most likely your gonna wish you could take back everything you said! My advice to everyone; including future athletes and anyone in the public spotlight that wants to stay there; as much as you want to share your success with those who have supported you, don't. Always be on your "A" game and be professional. As much as you want to share your emotions with your fans, friends and family, don't. People who don't know probably don't understand you and won't even if they met you, why give them an opportunity to judge you? Just a thought...
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