Mediating New Technology: The Realization of a Digital Intellect (Essay‪)‬

INTRODUCTION One of the more difficult aspects to deal with in the academic study of contemporary media is that technology often becomes out-dated or obsolete within years--or even months--which limits the effectiveness of critical study. Technology changes at an exponential rate, and perhaps nothing changes faster than home entertainment. In recent years there has been an explosion in the availability of consumer-priced electronics to make even the most techno-phobic user a home video pioneer. From TiVo to HDTV, from Blu-Ray to Plasma screens, the sheer influx of new technology creates a disarmingly high volume of "technology" to write about. And as rapidly as technology changes, so too does the type of "thinking"--the intellect--of media consumers change. New media technology lies at the forefront of a rapidly changing mindset in consumers. As Steven Johnson points out in Everything Bad is Good for You, new media has encouraged "more intellectually demanding" viewers--audience members whose intellects have been stimulated and advanced by the demands that new media places upon them (9). As part and parcel of new technology's ability to enact new ways of thinking, contemporary technology claims to offer a way for users to get closer to the text than previous technology allowed. As pointed out in Nebula 4.3, audiences are becoming more and more familiar with this type of interactive technology: Atkinson writes about how her film Crossed Lines which "presents a malleable form of digital fiction" that allows audiences to control not only what they view, but how they view it ("Crossed," 96). By introducing aspects of interactivity to a media product, and changing the nature of the encoding of media messages, media producers of new technology like the DVD declare that the "text" is becoming easier for the audience to grasp.