Catch up on Lecture One

Communication is a vital part of our lives as human beings. We are reliant on it in all its different forms. Not only can the means in which we communicate vary, but also the message we choose to send. These messages, whilst they may have remained the same over these passing years have been carried to people all over the world through a wide range of developing technologies. Within this lecture I have come to understand different aspects of both communication and technology and their different aspects.

It is commonly understood that communication of a message (in this case we will say information) is almost always open to manipulation. This is made evident as the passing of information by mouth, email, text and various other sources may travel through a number of different people before reaching its final destination. By the time it has reached this final destination, a personal interpretation of the message being sent may have taken place or a different take on the information may have been added. This is a simple interpretation that I created from the term INTERSUBJECTIVITY, this interpretation in itself may even demonstrate intersubjectivity as I am aiming to relay information given to me and a personal reflection on this information has taken place.

Another significant part of communication as once again understood by me, is INTERTEXTUALITY. Here I understand that no message or piece of information is complete. It's meaning can be contributed to during the process of passing the message. This is to say; as each person encounters information, their own knowledge (although not always correct) can be added to, to compliment information already layed out. Intertextuality, therefore means that as each reader encounters a piece of information, not only can they read an original message, but also additional information that other readers have adapted from their own personal knowledge, on top of that, the current reader is also able to carry out this action. This is what I imagine intertextuality to be when it actually takes place, not so much its definition.

In order to communicate these different messages or pieces of information people of the world have become reliant on technology. Technology as described by Marshall Mc Luhan is an extension of the human body. This extension is one that has developed over the years, making various parts of life, not only communication much easier. In regards to technology there are two important forms that must be acknolwedged, both analog and digital. It is my understanding that analog is a form of technology, that may be much more difficult to use as it consists of various forces which need to be (to a certain extent) shown what to do by the use of dials. Whereas, digital technology, whilst it does not have a complete mind of its own is a more precise piece of technology which leans away from the "shades of grey" that analog provides, moving towards a more "black and white" I either work or I don't kind of technology.


The world of technology has advanced past mere analog and digital variances. HERE IS WHERE I RE-ATTEMPT TO DEFINE CONVERGANCE

Convergance takes place when one or more technologies which may perform different puposes merge together to perform different tasks from one specific point. An example of this is the I-Phone. Here the internet, mobile phone and a range of different technologies come together to form this overall super phone which can be used not only to talk to people,read and send messsages, but to surf the world wide web,send emails, get directions among a range of other functions. Whilst there would be a number of different technologies converged into the i-phone, the two most dominant for me are the mobile and the internet. Therefore, it is my assumption that convergance is a positive in technology, making life that little bit easier although you may have to raid your bank account to afford it.