Response to Reading 2

Mariann Daniel
January 23, 2008
Electronic Word

Response to Readings 2

In the essay “One, Two, Three, Faux: The Myth of Real Time” a contradiction is made between real time on the internet and real time is real life. The article states in its second paragraph, “As it is, there is nothing real about Real Time, and certainly nothing human about it.” I suppose this statement at first glance, but once explained as I read it is it still true? There is nothing humanly about getting whatever you want at any time of the day wherever you may be, however, it is very human to want the ability. So even though Real Time is not humanly it is certainly humanly to have it. Real Time is a natural progression of technology to make life easier.

In the essay “Visual and Verbal Modes of Representation in Electronically Mediated Communication: The Potentials of New Forms of Text” by Gunther Kress, the subject explored is particularly interesting when applied to the meshing of technologies. In today’s world, technology is constantly changing. Like Dr. Consilio stated in class, a few years ago, there was no way a person could get a phone that would take great pictures and be able to go on the internet with it or watch streaming television on it. Today though, everyone has at least one of these abilities at the tip of their fingers and what’s better is that they want it. People crave a way to keep in contact with other people. As Dr. Muench once stated in a creative writing class, we as a species are social creatures. It seems logical then to assume that if marketed, humans would want to have the opportunities to stay connected. At one point in the essay Kress states that offering visual means of communication avoids the insensitive problems of globalizations. But is that really a fair statement seeing as the only reason pictures could act as a universal communicator is because industries are already globalized (this is not a real word, I know)?

I think it is interesting how pictures really do speak a thousand words. Visualize any summers day that comes to mind and I’m sure there are many different ways to describe it, by telling what was going on that day to the weather or how you were feeling that day. The weather and activities are only a couple of things that can be described visually, eliminating the need for language. However, the problem comes in when you take a thing like feelings and expect to represent it clearly. Perhaps I am rambling. I think, to kind of go along with the discussion from last class, one of the double ended sword type things about blogs is that I tend to think of them as more of an informal medium. Whatever the answer is to the visual verses words debate I think that a combination of the two is the best. Like I stated, technology is ever changing who knows what could be next.