TOPIC 1.3 : GAMES

Questions:

1. What makes a game 'social' – is it the type of game, who you play it with, or something else?  (Is there a line between playing and being social, or are they part of the same sort of experience?)
2. Are videogames the first indigenous form of digital media? Are videogames fundamentally different from past games and types of play?
3. Can, as Jane McGonigal suggests, videogames and game players change the (real) world?

A 'social' game is different from the game worlds that is according to Klastrup (2010), social games do not have leveling system but users can personalized their own gaming interface by adding elements such as buildings, and also are allowed to change the program objects. It represents a space for socializing and self representation but unlike game worlds if the person is not interested in building a world of his own this may be boring to him and will revert to the game worlds.

Video games cannot be called indigenous to digital media. Games existed right before the rise of the digital era and have revolutionized within the digital media for example traditional books can be obtained as ebooks in any online library or in apps like kindle. Both are the facets of the analog age which were later on digitized  which pushed analog users to try the new versions of games.
Well this can be a possibility since in games sometimes world issues are being portrayed but in a more dynamic and creative way. Many games have been designed with an objective like to solve some of the world issues it all depends how the audience accepts it. Educational games help to better understand theories! and kids like them also.

TOPIC 1.2 MUSIC

1. On balance, what are the biggest challenges and benefits to the music industries that come from digital communication and distribution?
2. Do current laws adequately address the affordances of digital media (ie do they account for what web media can actually do compared to analog media forms 20 years ago)?
3. Is radio a dying form in the face of iPods, iPhones and a million other devices capable of playing personalised musical playlists?

The biggest challenges to the music industry from digital communication and distribution lie in the protection of its IP from piracy as a result of digital networking tools such as P2P. The culture of file sharing can solved this issue. 

Another challenge could be the reducing cost of music creation and distribution. The lowering cost of entry could enable creators to produce and distribute. The lowering cost of entry enables creators to produce and distribute their music without the support of a label enabling increased creative control and financial returns to the creators. The social networking sites bringing a mass audience to those music industries like file sharing sites where millions of music are being downloaded. The online updates of music industries. 

Current laws do adequately address digital media if they are being commissioned in comparison to the analog era music.

The Radio is still surviving in this digitized world where iPods and other technological gadgets are coming into use. News make radios to still live in people daily lives since along with news they do listen to the music being broadcast. Podcasting is making it more easier for listeners in maintaining their loyalty to radio. That is users can listen to their content anytime which best suits them.  

MODULE 1: DIGITIZATION AND COVERGENCE

TOPIC 1.1: TELEVISION AND FILMS

1. How does time-shifting and recording television alter the viewing experience? Will this destroy the industry if advertisers can't guarantee viewers actually watching (rather than skipping) advertisements?
   
2. Leaver (2008) suggests that the contradictions in current television programming and online extras might be considered a 'tyranny of digital distance'?  What does that mean, and does it matter?
   
3. What television series or films have you watched that include elements of transmedia storytelling? Do you think this approach to engaging with audiences is successful? Have you become more involved with a particular television series, film or set of related films because of the content supplied in other media forms?
   
4. Tryon (2009a) outlines some of the way digital technologies and communications can make filmmaking and distribution easier, but there is also a flipside. What are some of the new challenges that come with digital technologies which movie studios and filmmakers face today? Does Alvarez's success with Panic Attack prove that anyone with a camera and a computer can finally make their way into Hollywood?

Time shifting and recording has alter viewing in terms of television viewing where people are watching movies or series in anytime they want hence not being restricted to a certain time frame. With the advent of time shifting, viewers know how to schedule their viewing and also are not forced to watch to adverts in intervals. Like MyT in Mauritius has provided an option which is the TVOD where even the news bulletin can be watched again. 

It will not destroy the industry since advertisers will come with new strategies in collaboration with digital marketing reaching the mass audience.

The 'tyranny of digital distance' is when certain channels are geo graphically restricted in certain countries. It does matter since many internet users are accessing media around the world for example their favorite bands latest album.

"PRIDE AND PREJUDICE" has elements of transmedia story telling. Yes definitely more engaging than the book but indifferent to book worms since those who have passion for books and Jane Austen is a very famous author. But nowadays people are more interested in viewing than reading hence making the movie starring Keira Knightley making the movie even more famous. 

Definitely am involved with television series or films like Games of thrones which is more engaging than the book. The visual effects of dragons and super natural creatures is magical in watching than mere reading.

One of the main challenge is that integrating digital technologies apart of being stand alone they can also add another level of understanding and story telling for film viewres(Tyron, 2009). 

Weekly Readings of Web Media

WEB MEDIA: WEEK ONE

Module 1Digitization and Convergence

TOPIC ONE

QUESTIONS:

1. Jenkin suggests 9 areas where the producers are changing. What are these, which seem most important, and how far have these relationships emerged?
2. Manovich suggests a few areas where the most interesting and innovative responses to social media are being produced. What are they, and how might (or might not) these can be indicative of new forms of creativity unleashed by digitization?