Response to Glenn's Question

2. Can you separate media styles, or does one inevitably lead to the other?

Good question. I have a two-part answer.

One: The simple answer is yes, you can separate media styles at any fixed point of time. Magazines are different from newspapers are different from TV are different from advertising billboards on the interstate simply in the way that information is presented which, in turn, decides what kind of information the certain medium will present. Now, these different "styles" can indeed share similar pools of information. A magazine, website, newspaper and TV show can all advertise for Budweiser.

Two: Despite fairly clear distinctions among media styles, I do think, as the Bolter asserts, that media styles influence each other, or, as the question states, "lead to the other." A quick example: I know that the Chicago Tribune changed its layout to appear more like a webpage with the end of attracting a young hip crowd -- we Generation Y kids -- into its readership. This convergence of media styles is a good thing in that we get more consistency in the various forms of presenting, making it easier for us to digest information. It's exciting to say the least. As internet news threatens to put newspapers out of business, I can't help looking forward to the future and wondering: what is going to be even BETTER that will, years into the future, put internet medium out of business?

9/2 Discussion Questions

1. What redeeming factors, if any, do older media -- books, art, cave paintings, even old TV shows or movies -- have that new medias, catering to our "insatiable desire" for immediacy and hypermediacy, lack?

2. If media are striving to present us with immersive experiences that mimic realities we might not be able to otherwise obtain, what effects do these "simulated realities" have on our actual lives? Essentially: Why do we thirst for immediacy in our media, and what does this suspension of reality say about our own reality?

3. What's next? Is virtual reality with 100% immersion the last best phase of media? What does 100% immersion mean, and is it even achievable? If so, what purpose would we have for reality, and how would we know whether we are in reality or living a so-called computer program? Matrix references welcome.