a. How does your capstone measure up according to the definition proposed in Henry Jenkins' "Eight Traits of the New Media Landscape"? For this entry, describe the principle that your project fits best and the one it fits worst. How might you alter your project to fit better?
The principle that best fits our project is Appropriative, since we are technically taking something that already exists (the internet and the hardware and webpages it contains) and re imagining it as something else.
What fits our project the least, and may be unavoidable, the the Everyday principle. Since our project is really based on exploring "for the fun of it," it would be very hard to make it a staple of everyday life. But games have their place in lives, too. They can be an escape, a learning tool, or just something to idly click away at when bored. With a project that is based on something that is constantly shifting and changing, like the internet, perhaps the changes will incur enough interest to at least make people want to look at it regularly. But, as brought up in the last post, technological constraints are the main thing barring is from making this project as "living" as it can be. Google may be able to afford the computing power and bandwidth to constantly scan and update their database of the internet, but we will have to opt for slower, less frequent ways of changing the landscape.
b. Do you agree or disagree with Jenkins' definition, and why?
It is definitely lighter on the technical side, and more heavy on the cultural side, but it is also a good breakdown of what we consider New Media to be. Manovich might disagree, since Jenkins kind of blankets every type of technology into his definitions and principles, but the concept is solid.
I don't agree with the way he decided to not focus on the technology in his definition, though. It would be like talking about how the automobile revolutionized transportation without considering the cars, and how they were built and produced. Technology is the driving force of New Media, and advancements in the way it is made (better, faster, cheaper) is what drives the changes - the cultural driving force is nowhere near as influential. If Microsoft did not make Windows cheaper, easier, and more widely available to users, who knows where the PC market, and consequentially, the software market would be currently. (Cue rabid Mac fanatics.)
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