An Interview with Andrew Feenberg by Mark Zachry

Alan Feenberg image provided by Google Images

Zachry begins the piece by introducing Andrew Feenberg. Feenberg is a leading thinker in the philosophy of technology in contemporary society and has focused his thinking on understanding how technology and culture are connected. Zachry also mentions Feenberg's previous books and explains his academic background.

Zachry separates the interview into categories:

Computers and Communication Feenberg outlines how he became interested in the philosophy of technology with his work with the Western Behavioral Science Institute in the 1980s. He created the first online educational program. The institute provided him with a computer, which at the time was not a mainstream product. Computers were mainly used for filing and calculating. He also worked with France Minitel to introduce computer conferencing. These early studies helped launch Feenberg into his work with communication and computers, which was also known as computer-mediated communication.

Critical Theory and Design Feenberg says critical theory was developed during the 1930s through the Frankfurt school, who were German philosophers, Adorno, Horkheimer, and Marcuse, who developed a new version of Marxism. He explains Marcuse's book One-Dimensional Man. The book first critiques American societies' inability to think without media, and its obsession with consumer goods and shopping. The book then offers the idea that technology could also work harmoniously with society. Feenberg provides an example of how this has come about by explaining how broadcast television, which is mainly controlled by private companies, controls the public sphere with undemocratic thinking. He then explains that the Internet has broken the broadcast mold by allowing its users the ability to communicate opinions freely through online communities. He is not sure if the Internet will continue to be open or if corporations will take control.

Hacking, Creative Appropriation, and User Agency Feenberg explains that people hack or redesign a technology to better represent their lives. He thinks the best form of feedback is through the democratic process that allows users to communicate with corporations and vice-versa.

Social Design is the creation of social spaces to serve different configurations for online communication.

Technical Communication must provide user-friendly communication with the nontechnical public to make it easy to understand the technology. Designers cannot expect a user to use a product if it is not easy to understand how to use the device. It would be beneficial if users could communicate with designers to build user-friendly products.

Workplace Culture Feenberg explains that he mainly understands academic culture, but he does offers some experience he had with corporate culture. He describes "management nihilism", which is upper management's power to make decisions about ideas that they are not familiar with. He explains that technology is much more random and chaotic than organized and thoughtful.

Online Communities and Education He studied online communities and people's online interaction with these communities. He explains how he dealt with backlash from the academic community for his support of online education, and he emphasizes his belief that online education is all about human interaction. He also built software that allowed users the ability to summarize discussions, which he thinks is essential in the online learning process.

Multiculturalism and Technological Development Feenberg believes that globalization will not lead to one culture, because the world is too culturally diverse. He thinks technology will adapt to other cultures and will prosper differently than what we are currently familiar with.

Future Projects Feenberg is currently writing a philosophical book that is focused on the works of Heidegger and Marcuse.

The Design of Everyday Things: Preface and Chapter 1: Donald A. Norman

The author, Donald Norman, focuses his research on applications and design of "everyday things." He explains the mistakes in the design of telephones, home cooling & heating systems, digital watches, etc. He believes that user's inability to use a product is not the fault of the user but rather the fault of the product's design. Users seem to blame themselves for not understanding how to use the product.

He discusses three critical topics that were developed in his book:

1. It's not your fault: The person's inability to use a product is not their fault. It is the responsibility of the product's design.
2. Design Principles: Provides designers with techniques to build products that are easily understandable and useable.

There are several principle steps to this process including:
o Conceptual Models: The human mind is always trying to find meaning and understand events. A good design always has communication between the designer and the user. There is a relationship between the device and the controls, so the user knows how to complete the job.
o Feedback: The design of a product must always show the effects of the action otherwise the user will not know if the product is working.
o Constraints: Only provide the user with the ability to choose one way to use the product.
o Affordance: The primary properties that conclude how the device can be used.

3. The Power of Observation: The author hopes to change the way people interpret design. He wants users to notice badly designed products, and he hopes educated users will make more informed decisions about the products they use and demand more user-friendly designed devices.

After reading these excerpts, I begin to think of everyday products that I use, and I thought of an example of good design and bad design:

Bad Design: The Nokia N75 was the phone I had before the iPhone. I had this phone for over two years and I never learned how to add music, update pictures, use the web browser or text message. I even took it to a Nokia store for their assistance, but they were unable to help me. Now I would say that is pretty bad design on Nokia's part.

Good Design: The Apple iPhone is an easy to use straight-forward mobile phone. I received the phone and immediately learned how to add applications, phone numbers, music, etc.

Digital Footprints by Madden, Fox, Smith, Vitak

"Digital Footprints" is a Pew Internet Report that analysis users' awareness of online accessibility to their personal information. In the age of Web 2.0, name, address, and phone number are now common personal information that is easily available online. I remember a time when the only source for locating people was through the phone book, which reminds me of a scene from "The Jerk." I found the clip, although the quality is not very good and it is rather long. Here it is:

via videosift.com
Now I don't think anyone got that excited about having their name in the phone book, but before the web that was our only source for locating people.

Today, internet users provide vast amounts of personal information about themselves. Users' personal text, photos, and videos are now readily available online. The study defines individuals’ level of online privacy concerns into four categories: "Confident Creatives" make up 17% of users. They are not concerned about uploading personal information to the web, but they do take steps to limit personal information. 21% of users are "Concerned and Careful." They actively limit their online data. 18% of users are "Worried by the Wasteside." They are anxious about their personal information being publicly available, but do not actively prevent this information from being on the web. Finally, "Unfazed and Inactive" are the largest user group at 43%. This group does not worry about their personal information being online nor do they limit this information from being available.

It's somewhat surprising that the majority of users are not concerned that personal information is available for public consumption. 60% of users are not concerned about their personal information being available online, and 61% of adults do not limit the amount of personal information available about them online. Only 38% say they have taken steps to limit the amount of online information that is available about them.

Internet users are now becoming savvier about finding their personal information. 47% of users have become aware of their digital footprint via search engines, and more than half of all users have searched for other users online.

Today, in the landscape of Web 2.0 internet users must become more cognizant about their digital footprint. Providing personal information for public consumption is an acceptable norm, but users’ online information must maintain a level of professionalism. By offering personal information freely on the Internet, individuals are providing friends, colleagues, potential employers, etc. the opportunity to see into their personal lives. Anyone who uses the web for social networking, blogging, etc. must always remember this, so they can control the public's perception of them.

"What value do users derive from social networking applications?" by Neale and Russell-Bennett

This study discusses Facebook users' desire to use applications on the site. Users are more obliged to use applications if they feel it will appear as "cool" by their friends. Female users are far more likely to use applications that provide self-expression or emotional value, while males are more likely to engage in competition applications.

The authors explain four categories that the applications generate on Facebook: emotional, functional, social, and altruistic (humane). Emotional values provide enjoyment, fantasy, and entertainment. Functional values create performance and technical features. Social values offer interaction with others using the application. And finally, altruistic values provide applications that help organizations or individuals.

The popularity of applications seems to be derived by users’ perception that the application is "cool." The authors explain that users want to build their status or popularity with their friends by offering applications that are seen as hip. Advertisers are trying to cash in on these cool apps, but have not had success with delivering a product that users would be interested in engaging with.

On a personal note, I do agree with the study's definition of how users become engaged with these applications. I began using Facebook a little over a year ago. Initially, I engage in many applications. It was novel and different. I invited friends to use applications and vice-versa. As time went on, the novelty began to subside and my use of the applications became fewer and farther between. Now I find myself rarely using the applications, only when I have time on my hands or see a particular application that is of interest to me do I engage in it. So what does this mean for the applications? I am one person, but I know many of my friends are not using these applications as frequently either. The applications will have to become more demographic specific and offer far more interesting features in order to invoke engagement with the Facebook user. There are only so many "when will you die?" or "what is your ideal career?" applications that will continue to interest users.

Social Media Revolution

This video illustrates the power and importance of social media. It describes the explosion of this medium and offers the idea that no other medium has garnered the vast number of users in such a short amount of time.

It's true, in many ways. Social media is a phenomenon that so many are linked to. Even my parents, who are in their sixties, are on Facebook. Everyone is talking about it, and if you aren't marketing in social media outlets you might as well not marketing at all.

Social media has created a huge shift in how people receive and transmit news and information. Today news and information find us, and according to the video advertisers' products will soon be finding us through social media. Online advertisers already provide adverts through behavioral targeted ads and through key word search.

It will be interesting to see how this medium continues to morph and change. I would assume it will constantly be recreating itself to create the best medium for the user. How will marketers grow and shift with this medium? It will be interesting to observe and participate in.

Professional Investigation- Part Two

I began accessing my academic route last spring when I started taking classes at DePaul. I took two WRD classes (Semiotics and Community, Culture & Society). I learned a lot of interesting information and read challenging and difficult theorists' works. The courses’ writing emphasis was definitely the biggest benefit for me. This helped me re-orient towards writing academic papers. Although these classes did not relate directly to new media, I focused my final project and paper on new media topics. Although these classes were very demanding, I found them rewarding and worth my efforts to my academic progress.

In the summer, I took the Foundation of Digital Design, a HCI class. I would highly recommend this class to any student who would like to learn the basics in Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop. I can now say that I have the established groundwork of these programs, and I am confident I can now advance my skills with these programs.

Currently, I am taking Internet Marketing, a MBA course. I would highly recommend this course to NMS students. We are learning a wide variety of information about marketing on the web including, Analytics, SEO, Code, Mobile Marketing, Paid Search, and much more. This class provides a wide assortment of internet marketing topics, and in many ways, it parallels the Proseminar class. It's a great class and it's taught completely online.

Now I am starting the process of completing my NMS required courses. I am looking forward to taking these courses. I do have one elective remaining. It will be hard to decide what class to take. There are so many classes I am interested in taking. Some of the possible options for my final elective are: Foundations of HCI, Social Issues of Computing, or an Advertising or Marketing class.

I would also like to take more training courses. Lynda.com appears to be a very useful and an inexpensive training website. The site offers a multiplicity of programs for users to gain basic knowledge. Some of the programs I would like to take include: HTML, SEO, Web Design & Development, 3D, Flash, etc.

I'm excited to continue learning new skills and the latest industry information. I am very pleased with the diversity this program offers, and know I am gaining useful knowledge and practical information that will help me as I continue my degree program.

Bolter and Grusin: Remediation--Understanding New Media

This reading discusses the emergence of new media in the late 1990's. It describes the appreciation for remediation, due to the rapidly growing area of digital media along with the swift moving reaction by old/traditional media. The authors explain that new media has refashioned itself from traditional media, and argue that older media like radio and television did the same thing during their emergence. They provide the example of the CNN website and discuss the similarities of the site and television network. The website adopts many familiar applications that the network offers; therefore the website has refashioned itself from the televised newscasts.

The authors discuss new technologies such as the Internet, virtual reality, computer games, and digital photography and explain that these technologies dictate immediacy which leaves the user detached from the medium itself and become completely absorbed in the medium’s representation. For example, a user playing a computer game knows that this is not reality, but they become engrossed in the program losing touch with reality. This is known as hypermediacy. The reading also relates hypermediacy back to the Baroque era by explaining the "Wunderkammer." This object provides a multiplicity of forms like the wood, stone, or metal and the religious relics, animal remains, etc. and explain that it is an ancestor of today's sophisticated software.

The reading concludes with the statement: "Digital media can never reach this state of transcendence, but will instead function in a constant dialectic with earlier media, precisely as each earlier medium functioned when it was introduced..." In the late 90's I probably would have agreed with this statement, but today digital media has a life of its own and does not depend on earlier media. I do believe that any new medium may have evolved from an older media, but today's digital media does not need to be in constant dialectic with its older counterparts. If anything, the older media must be in constant dialectic with new media in order to stay relevant.

Professional Investigation

I found myself really connecting with the article, "Hey Unemployed Media Professionals! Read This Post Before You Apply For An Online Media Job!" As many of you know, I spent over 10 years working in the television industry in various roles. Last spring my position was eliminated, therefore I found myself without a job. Before this major change happened, I had begun to re-evaluate my career and began investigating jobs in the digital media world. Once I knew my position was being dissolved I decided I wanted to go back to school for a Master's degree. I researched many graduate programs in media studies. DePaul, by far, had the most appealing program for me. I was wanted to shift my career towards digital media.

Now that I have a few classes under my belt I have begun contemplating my next career choice. I often look at job postings online, and I am actively looking for a new position. I am interested in pursuing a digital marketing position, which is what I was doing in my last position at NBC. I really enjoyed it, and I would love to work for a company where I could grow in a marketing role. I also am interested in digital project managing. I love to juggle lots of projects, and I am really into being organized. I know I could really flourish in this type of job. Finally, I am very interested in teaching part-time at a community college. Part of my role at NBC was to manage our marketing interns. I found myself teaching them the ropes about the television industry and often times mentoring them into their first media career. I really enjoyed this, and I think I could use my years of television experience coupled with my new media experience to teach media classes. I know I would find teaching worthwhile and rewarding.

So that seems to be where I am currently heading. As I delve further into the NMS program, I may discover new career paths that I may want to pursue. It's an exciting and unpredictable time to be venturing into media, but I know I will continue to take pleasure in it.

Kress and Van Leeuwen: Multimodal Discourse

The authors discuss multimodal discourse as it relates to semiotics. Semiotics is the study of signs which are made up of the signifier (what it stands for) and the signified (what the signifier represents). The reading focuses on the term "multimodality", which is the use of several semiotic modes to create a semiotic product. Modes are culturally and socially created resources that are used to represent and communicate. Modes are visual, aural, and verbal communication. Kess and Van Leeuwan describe multimodality within the framework of traditional communication and digital media. I have attached a (:15) commercial that was created by NBC 5 Chicago. The spot promotes a mobile text campaign for the 2008 Olympics and US Cellular. I will use this commercial to explain multimodality and the several terms that are discussed in the reading.


This video example provides a rich illustration of multmodality, because it employs many different modes in order to create the end product.

Discourse: The video is developed to create an attractive promotion for US Cellular centered around the Olympic Games. The promotion was used to drive interest in the prime-time events by receiving mobile text alerts. US Cellular was the exclusive sponsor, which made this promotion very valuable to them.

Design: The discourse of the promotion builds the design elements behind the spot. Images of Olympic athletes, mobile phones, and US Cellular logo; along with the music, voice over, and graphics build a product that a viewer can interpret to understand the promotion.

Production: In order to design the product, production elements have to be utilized. First, a script must be written. Second, the images have to be shot on a video camera. Third, the voice-over must be written and recorded. Fourth, the graphics must be designed and produced. And finally, the elements have to be edited together to form the finished product.

Medium: The materials used to create the product-- Video camera, editing equipment, graphical software, audio recording equipment, etc.

Distribution: Once the end product is produced it is distributed to air on television and the Internet to build awareness about the promotional campaign.

Once all of these elements are put together a multimodal discourse has been formed.

Beyond the boob tube

Beyond the boob tube

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I just discovered this article as it relates to the Pew Report I blogged about previously. We're still far away from a world without television, but individuals are definitely finding new ways to watch their favorite shows.

Pew Internet Report: "The Audience for Online Video-Sharing Sites Shoots Up"

Image Credit: Getty Images


This report discusses the online video activity of internet users between 2006 to 2009.

Video-sharing sites such as YouTube, Hulu, and Google Video have nearly doubled their viewership since 2006. 62% of adult internet users watch online videos compared to only 33% of this same demographic in 2006. Nine out of ten adults 18-29 watch online video content. Online videos are now more integrated into users daily lives, which may lead to less viewership of traditional television broadcasting. On a typical day, 19% of users now watch videos online, which has more than doubled since 2006. Broadband connectivity seems to be the main source that has facilitated the popularity of video sharing sites. 63% of internet users now have high-speed internet access, and among those users 69% watch videos online.

23% of internet users who watch television shows or movies online also connect their computers to their televisions to watch the shows. These users make up roughly 8% of all internet users.

One final statistic to mention is that mobile users are far more likely to watch online videos. 71% of users with wireless connectivity watch online videos. Cell phone companies have recognized this trend and companies like Apple now offer video recording and video uploads on their iPhone.
So what do these stats all mean? More web users seem to be adopting their computers as their second television and in some cases replacing their televisions with their computers. For me personally, I am watching less and less television. I recently canceled my cable subscription and can now only watch over-the-air TV. "Project Runway" was one of the shows I was going to miss without cable, but luckily this show is streamed online; so I am able to continue watching it. Online videos have made it more convenient to watch programming that many people may have previously foregone.

A couple of years ago I wouldn't have thought of watching TV shows online and broadcast and cable companies were not offering many shows online. Television companies have come to the realization that there is value in featuring their programs to an online audience. Broadcasters have seen their television viewership sink lower and lower every year. Today's audience has so many more choices for entertainment between cable, broadcast, online, etc. Broadcasters realize in order to compete in today's media landscape they must offer their products online, or they may be out-competed by other companies.

I would venture to say that in another couple of years the values of these stats will continue to dramatically increase. More users will have the opportunity to have high-speed access and more shows will be available online. Coming from a television background, it is scary for me to think of a world without traditional television, but I see the likelihood of this happening as almost inevitable. I don't think television will actually go away, but I do see the likelihood of the way audiences view television changing dramatically.

Attached is a link to the full report: http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2009/13--The-Audience-for-Online-VideoSharing-Sites-Shoots-Up.aspx