Reading/Reflection on Joshua Meyrowitz and Michael Wesch's writings on new media/mediums

Reading Chapter 2 of Joshua Meyrowitz book "No Sense of Place," was intriguing, but relatively mind numbing. Meyrowitz drums up the constant media ecologists stance of media content is not necessarily the most important aspect to focus on. Meyrowitz asks scholars to focus more on the medium as McLuhan has noted with the catch phrase of "the medium is the message." Meyrowitz presents medium theory as "historical and cross-cultural study of different cultural environments created by different media of communication," (Meyrowitz, p.16). Then also presents the situationism theory and describes it as "the exploration of the ways in which social behavior is shaped by and in "social situations." (Meyrowitz, p.16). Meyrowitz says these theories need to be expanded and explored through new ways of conducting research.

Meyrowitz recognizes that the medium can structure cultural development and the media that's put into that medium. Along with recognizing the medium as important, Meyrowitz notes, so to are people and their keen awareness of unwritten rules that permeate all social interactions of humans (Meyrowitz, 1986). The sizing up the situation that people do everyday that changes their interactions and presentation of self are just as important as the medium, since the medium dictates what, who, and how things can be said or presented. Its not just the medium that dictates, but also those that control social environments, whether it be preists, governments, or individuals. Meyrowitz continues to reiterate multi-faceted approaches to investigating new mediums/media and how human behavior develops in new/old ways from the new technology.


This is where Dr. Wesch's yet to be published article "YouTube and You" becomes interestingly intertwined with all the other readings we have been doing. Wesch is one that is actually taking up the 'call,' I guess you can say, of actually trying to come up with new research techniques. Same with Neil Whiteheads approach of participant observation, observant participation. They are exploring new ways of methodology in order to understand the new mediums and those that interact in various mediums that we created and are slowly being realized the monumental impacts they are starting to have on our behavior.

Wesch is specifically looking at the internet and the new medium's that allow human interaction's that create new culturally rich communities. A place of virtual communities that are de-structuring(?!), sometimes can even reiterating old assumptions traditional ideas of place, space, and time. These old ideas confine ones idea of the world around them and the idea of self. Wesch points out the impact of showing the people in the village of Sio a Polaroids of themselves. "Recognition gradually came into the subjects face. And fear." (Wesch, Carpenter 1973). At first the villager's couldn't 'read' the pictures because they were, "flat, static, and lifeless - meaningless," (Wesch, p.2). This is a great similar reaction that some people have when they first access the internet.

The first time I used the internet I failed to realize just what it meant. One of the first things I did was to try and log onto chat rooms. I had an urge to connect to other real people through a new communications tool. People seem to want to connect in new ways, otherwise why would we 'invent' language, writing, telephone, television, and the internet if not to help build, strengthen, and explore the complexities of social relations? Yet I still have yet to explore the full extent of interactions the various mediums of the internet allow. Maybe I dont want to explore myself. Yet I'm blogging right and that's exploring without putting my 'face' out there. People seem scared of that fear that the Sio villagers had when they became 'self-aware.'

Wesch identifies this hyper self-awareness is similar to the feeling people that vlog on YouTube confront. They are keenly aware of their identity and how they construct that identity in all varying social situations. Along with being aware of their identity they struggle with what Wesch identifies as context collapse, "an infinite number of contexts collapsing upon one another into that single moment of recording," (Wesch, p.6). Context collapse seems to produce self-reflection on a new level. Self-reflection then turns to a deep connection's with other people that vlog who feel similar. People connect in deep ways, but can still be disconnected due to the structure of YouTube and the community that is forming.

Another example is the Post Secret Effect that is being researched by another member of this collaborative project. This is again where the medium becomes important. The medium dictates the types of emotional reaction and connection that can be achieved. Going back to Meyrowitz and knowing the unwritten rules of social interactions that vary person to person and situation to situation. The internet complicates these ideas of right and wrong.

4chan is against what most people consider normal behavior and questions the notions of normality frequently. If you stumbled across 4chan you might be frightened by the internet community that is forming in a veil of anonymity. When you look at 4chan and understand the medium and the complexities of 'correct social behavior' on the boards you may come to see it as a beautiful area of a real reflection of humanity. Where through satirical anonymous messages, a person can explore identity in a new relatively safe environment. The medium of 4chan and its structure that allows unrestrained conversation can be considered an area of humanity that all, one time or another, flirt with the idea of really examining the morbid side of ones perceived identity. Through examination of the darkest areas of oneself sometimes the most profound realizations could be made.

Anonymous and the 'moralfags' that are a part of Anonymous, seem to be similar to the vloggers that realize through extreme self-examination that there is common ideas that people share all over the world. This is exemplified by Wesch's example of MadV and the "One World" and "The Message" vlogs that MadV created. Wesch points out that when you have context collapse it creates a 'medium' where one can reflect on the "generalized generalized other," (Wesch, p.17).

Wesch points out at the end of the article that there is a need to examine the "impact of new media on self and identity," (Wesch, p.21). This is what our research is exploring the idea of self and the impact that the mediums created on the internet help people construct a sense of identity and self. Specifically my project is history of virtual communities (computer mediated communication). It seems to me that it connects to almost all the other projects in some way. I just haven't figured out how i can make this anything but a fairly boring description of the creation of the medium and the ways in which we have adapted to the varying limitations of the the technology.