Just Outside The Zeitgeist

Week 2 Lectorial Reflection

Not being alive during the time in which broadcast production had control over the media landscape places me in a position to favour the post-broadcast age we live in now. The ease of access to information and entertainment is so deeply ingrained in our society that I have heard the phrase “I can’t live without my phone” multiple times in the past year. The free environment of the internet does lean towards the proposition that media is not a ‘thing’ but places we inhabit and is a constant source in out everyday lives.

Yet this presence is not so restrictive in terms of audience choice in comparison to the broadcast age where a limited number of television station aired programs designed to draw audiences away from the few rival stations. The television viewing population were active in their choice of channel but not in the content they saw and as someone who tries to absorb as many cultural touchstones as possible, the internet age has allowed the people to flourish. The huge volume of media output such as user created content is not created through media factories anymore but through individual or networks of creative people who can share their expressions with a click of a button. The majority of these works do not reach as many members of society because they are specific to the creators interest and that entails viewers with similar interest seek it out whilst others never learn of its existence. This contrasts greatly with the mass comprehensibility of broadcast content but I certainly feel that the age of user created content allows for a more personal connection between creators and viewers ensuring that even though a media text is not known by everyone, it still is very important for those who care.

Week 1 Lectorial Reflection

It was difficult to list ten things I would like to accomplish before I receive my degree as setting goals has never been my forte. Yet they were suddenly popping into my head because I realised how passionately I feel about media and pop culture and how eager I am to soak up all the knowledge I can. They are as follows…

1. Review television episodes and films in a professional and well educated manner
2. Deconstruct a director’s choices and the relationship to the films narrative
3. Learn proper script writing and directorial skills
4. Deep understanding of the relationship between media forms and the pop culture zeitgeist
5. Ability to translate media from script to screen
6. Deeper knowledge and understanding of different equipment and software
7. Create a network between peers
8. Learn the career pathways and opportunities that may await me in the future
9. How to connect with a differing range if audiences through media
10. Understanding of media jargon

The discussion on hyper and deep attention surprised me not through the excerpt from Hyper and Deep Attention: The Generational Divide in Cognitive Modes by N. Katherine Hayles, but the discussion on the topic with other people in the class. I have been aware that the younger generation have become aligned with the hyper attention cognitive styles due the the ease of access to screens and the internet. It is as simple as reaching into your pocket and pressing a button, the distractions are endless and the need to look at a phone when the message tone is heard has become a reflex in a large percentage of the population. Yet I was not aware of how my peers would classify themselves.

I definitely see myself as having a hyper attention, and I assumed my inability to solely focus on a single task was shared amongst my generation yet a few people I talked to were adamant that they had the ability to give deep attention to a task, be that studying of watching a film. This concept seemed so alien to me, with my need to have my computer split screen so I can do two things at once and it made me want to question how students will be taught when there is clearly a huge divide in a class’s cognitive modes. Yet I am ecstatic to be apart of the experience.