Computers

        The earliest memories I have of using a home computer is playing video games.  The games I remember playing are Tank Wars (which was played using a pc running MS-DOS) and also POD a racing game.  I remember having dial-up and getting angry if someone used the phone while I was using the computer because it disconnected the internet.  I definitely remember becoming comfortable and familiar with computers fairly quickly and being the go-to person for pc troubles in the house. 

        One of my main memories of PC use was for a high school chemistry class.  I had handwritten my lab book for the entire school year only to find out the day before it was due that handwritten lab books wouldn't be accepted.  So i stayed up all night typing out my lab book and after (I think) six hours a warning popped up in Microsoft Word telling me I should take a break from typing and looking at the screen.  I had never before, or again, seen an in program warning that I've been using the program too long.

        Computers are a huge part of my life.  I would say between work, school, social networking, etc I am on my computer easily six hours a day if not more in the ballpark of ten hours.  A big part of my work experience has to do with media production.  Mostly in the form of video editing and production, but also some web design amongst other things.  All in all I have to say that I am honestly not sure what my life would be like without computers because of how much they have been a part of my life thus far.  I think that I use computers more than any other form of communication technology, because it can pretty much complete the function of almost any other communication technology… Just Sayin...

Tank Wars opening screenshot. One of my first favourite PC games, and still fun to play

Tech Updates

        I think that the fear of new media in today's middle aged and up society is ridiculous.  I do not understand the issues they bring up, or rather why they're issues.  For instance cellphones knowing where you are and/or posting your location to Foursquare.  I do not see how that is an issue and it doesn't bother me at all, but some people freak out about it.  It almost makes me wonder what are people of those generations hiding?  Also, when it comes to people posting their every move on Facebook or Twitter, again, what is the issue? If it is annoying block that person.  We post for the people who want to know if you're not interested then don't read it.

        I do see how adapting to new technology is difficult sometimes.  My personal theory is pretty similar to Mr. Wilson's.  I think that if you keep up with technological advancement you will be able to handle it.  However, once you attempt to skip a generation or generations of technology you will run into problems.  For example my father played arcade games when he was younger.  He then played things like Atari 2600 and Commodore 64 (or one of its' competitors), NES and SNES.  Then he more or less stopped so that now, generations of games later, in the 360, PS3, Wii era he can't play modern games.  I believe it is because of a gaming generation gap.  In contrast he owns and is completely comfortable using an iPhone 4.  I think this is because he had a cellphone for pretty much all of the major (consumer) cellphone generations.

        Now I am not saying one has to be on board with technology, though I personally certainly think you should be.  That said, if you do want to be a heavy user of technology or at least to keep the option open I feel you have to stay trained more or less by being familiar with each new generation of technology and/or media communication.  I will say though that if you want to use modern technology and comm tech "being too old" is not a valid excuse in my opinion.  Even though I have a grandfather who has possibly never used a computer, I say age is no excuse because both of my grandmothers, one grandfather, and my great-grandmother all actively use Facebook… Just Saying...

An Atari 2600

Home Video

        Home video has been around for a while, from tape recorded weddings to children's birthdays.  That said I feel that home video has changed through the years, in a lot of ways, but with one main change in particular.  To me the biggest change is in the way we can and do share our videos.  Home video technology seems to be used increasingly more and more every year and I think it is only going to become more prominent in our culture. 

        Personally I use amateur video production in some way almost everyday most often in the form of news video blogs on YouTube such as the Philip DeFranco Show, friends uploading videos to Facebook, and also for work.  I have some bias for the importance of home video because of my personal experience using inexpensive equipment to help create over 7 hours of video content logging well over 300 hours of video editing over the past few summers.  Aside from that I currently work for U of L's Student Government Association as a member of the Communications team which deals heavily with generating video content.

        I think that home video is heading towards a point where it is commonplace to have a basic familiarity with producing a video yourself for essentially anyone.  However, as someone who's source of income comes from this type of thing I have to say that there are and will be drastic quality differences.  For example I would say that almost any of my peers could (given ample time) post a video to Facebook.  In some cases this could even be done from a cellphone, but the quality would be fairly low.  An edited video even would take more effort, but with how people share video online and depending on the content of a video, the expected quality can be very low.  In fact, outside of content someone was paid to make, the expectations of in general "home video" situation can be met by the majority of people I would say.  To go beyond that, more sophisticated video content is becoming more of a realistic goal now than ever before.  With advances in video equipment (things as simple as the Flip video camera) I think that there will be a continuing rise in "home movie" content.  That's not to mention the changes regarding editing software, for example the newest version of the editing program Final Cut is $300, much more attainable than the last version which was $1,000 along with the increasing trend of "over-sharing" and "technology literacy" in general.  All in all I have to say that any Communications major as well as any person who wants to be connected with society should be familiar with "home video" content… Just Sayin…

This is a screen shot of the second newest of Final Cut