Tenth and Final Blog Post

Your final blog post is a place for you to reflect on several aspects of the course. Read "What Sort of Revolution" from The Economist and watch "Epic," a short video about Google taking over the world, for inspiration. More than anything, this post is a place for you to consider the broader framework of the class--what constitutes new media, how it's changing writing, how the visual is a part of that. Because this is your wrap up post, it should be longer than the others and really engage with a few key ideas that interest you. You might write about some of the following questions or ideas related to them:

-How has your sense of your own writing changed as you've traveled more extensively in the new media world? How does image/ visual argument fit into this perception?
-Consider the way new media blurs the line between text and image and writer and audience.
-What do you see for the future of new media? How will this affect your writing and writing in general?
-Consider your use of the blog in this class. How have your ideas about blogging changed during the semester? Why? Has blogging altered your sense of yourself as a writer? How?

Twitter: Making People Faster, Smarter, and More Efficient

Interesting article in the NY Times about Twitter and its uses. “Twitter reverses the notion of the group,” said Paul Saffo, the Silicon Valley futurist. “Instead of creating the group you want, you send it and the group self-assembles.” To read "Putting Twitter's World to Use" click here.

Interactivity and Advertising

Okay People, so here's the plan. Next week is interactive week. Tuesday we'll be discussing interactivity (specifically as it relates to advertising)--what it means, what it looks like, and how it works. We are doing this because new media is interactive. And that's what the course is about. And because we're having a video conference on Thursday with Barbarian Group COO Rick Webb.

Before you proceed any further, surf the Barbarian Group website so you have a sense of the space we're moving into. The portfolio page is especially entertaining.

Now then....

Read:

• "The Myth of Interactivity" by Len Manovich - located on Ctools>Resources>Interactive Advertising. Stick with it, read through to the last page. That's when the pay off comes in terms of ideas.
• The Barbarian Group on Interactive Advertising - read through the section called "Interactive Advertising Strategy 101" to get a sense of how the Barbarians define interactive and how they approach it with clients.
  
• The Future of Visual Storytelling is Interactive- read this account of a panel discussion on visual storytelling that featured the Barbarian Group's Rick Webb
• Skim the Barbarian Group's glossary on interactive advertising
  

Explore (and have fun) on these Interactive Barbarian Sites:
Subservient Chicken
Waking Up Hannah - Dove Soap Interactive Video
Samsung Interactive Films - anyfilms.net
Moodstream-Getty Images
Virgin Mobile Parental Enlightenment Kit

Another Interactive Video
The Secret Location - Interactive Ad/Video

Blog Post #9 is also due on Tuesday. It should address interactivity in some way. You might discuss how you define interactivity after doing the reading and exploring, as well as how the interactive advertising sites above appeal to buyers. In other words, how do they actually entice a person to buy or do something? And how does the interactive element of the site/piece play into that?