Small Group
- Why Should we (budding scholars of new media and digital theories) define “interactivity”?
- The reading stated how the term is becoming inflated. We need to understand this term, because we have to be able to determine how interactive a certain situation actually is. Is it true interactivity or is it manufactured interactivity that doesn’t actually reach the true term of the word. People are using the term interactivity to freely.
- Consider the kinds of sites your clients are using. Are they using mostly open or closed interactivity? Or are they a blend of both? How do you know?
- We considered it to be a mix of both, because they are often using social media websites. These sites have open systems in which you can control your post with open ended options, but there are situations in which it is a closed system, because we only have so many choices on where to post and how to post.
- How are these open and closed systems affecting digital identities?
- The more interactive they are on new media the better they are able to develop an effective digital identity. A closed system presents a myth of interactivity using the branching-tree interactivity in which there are fixed options leading to certain pathways limiting your ability to be creative, and present the true feelings and meanings of certain things. Open systems allow for total control and ability to create what ever is wanted. Many social media sources are considered blended. For example facebook is blended, because in your post you have open control, however, when posting or replying you only have so many options making it a closed system. There is a limit to all of the choices in social media resources making it closed, but there are situations in which it can be considered an open system in which the person can present their full creativity. These are limiting how much control you have over your digital identity. On a closed system you can only be so individualized, because there are only so many options that you can control. Creates a false sense of individualism. Can be personalized, but there are limits to the amount of control you have on the sources. For example Facebook still house control of the media outlet. There is a struggle between individualizing your site while staying withing the limits of the site design. There is also a socialogical aspect in which people are constantly feeling the need to feel a part of a group or similar to everyone else.
- To what extent is”the individual citizen… increasingly expected, and expects, to make his or her own judgement” (95)? How so?
- New media is pushing people in a direction of individualism. There is a presentation of the illusion of choice. The individual is expected to decipher the illusion, and make their own judgement on the correct choice for that situation for their own gain.
Individual
- What kind of memory of your client is being created through media interactivity? What kinds of interview or research questions can you ask or add to your project after reading this chapter?
- It can be considered a living memory, because they are constantly changing their activity on social media. They are posting and sharing over time developing a online media of your life experiences. My clients digital identity is being confined by the illusion of interactivity, because there are limited amount of choices in which my client can present themselves through. One question would be, Do you believe that you are in full control of your digital identity? Are you able to fully express how your feel, or what you want to present regarding yourself? What other outlets could you use in new media to improve your presentation of your creativity? How do your post effect your followers? Why do you interact the way you do?
