Intermedia

Although I am a firm believer in the usefulness of a physical library as the most reliable source of information, I must admit the Internet currently features many relatively trustworthy websites that can add to any school paper. Of course, many education professionals do not agree. Some will include witty remarks about Wikipedia and Internet usage in their course outlines and discourage any kind of cyberspace activity as it concerns the course. Indeed, this extreme measure is, for the most part, unjustified but understandable. Internet does bring up a lazy side in all of us. Also, websites like Facebook continue to hurt its reputation as a solid study-friendly environment (read more here).

Contrary to whatever misconceptions may arise after you read this entry's title, this article is not intended to be taken as an attack against Facebook or its well-meant creators and developers. It is not my goal to offend those 31 million active users the Web 2.0 company claims to have. Rather, I believe it is important to raise awareness of its flawed purpose and structure and to take a critical look at its very nature as it inevitably begins to form part of our lives. Here's a scoop on what the Web 2.0 has come down to.

A group of New York graduate students is developing a system that is surely going to piss off Communication Theory teachers, such as my own Robert Danisch, around the world. In fact, simply reading Botanicalls' opening paragraph on their website, would make them all flip their lid. Those involved in the project claim to have opened a "new channel of communication between plants and humans" that will improve "interspecies understanding." Here's the scoop on the new communication system.

It's big, very big. It's cool, hip, shiny and appealing. It is colourful and fun. It is not a bird, a plane or Superman. It is what critics and beta testers are calling the future of television broadcasting. It is Joost.
Brought by Skype creators Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis, Joost began broadcasting to its beta users in May, and today, the hype can only get bigger. The program doesn't simply deliver video, it turns the computer into a free on-demand high quality TV. It works as a regular p2p by allowing Joost clients to download shows from a server and then share them with other users in real time, lowering the pressure on the server's capacity. The technology is getting people very excited. The reasons for this are abundant.

A few days ago, I stumbled upon a very interesting intermedia experience that I figured I'd share with all of you. Filmmakers David Clark, Jeff Howard, Chris Mendis and Shelley Simmons are playing with the new media and combining them in a very smart way. Their production, Meanwhile – A Non-Linear Film, attempts to show how a story can be told in a way that doesn't accurately follow a chronological order. Video footage is combined with Flash in order to create a semi-interactive interface that allows the users to pick what comes next. The story is divided into nine scenes. Each scene reveals at least one important piece of information that, in the end, helps to piece the story together.