Zachariah James Watson
Ian Bogost discusses the topic of media micro-ecology through a series of multiple takes on the effects of media related activity throughout our society. For instance, Bogost begins by summarizing the argument of journalist, Nicholas Carr, which is about how the internet has been contributing to a “major decline within the realms of careful, reasoned, and imaginative human mind of the period between the Renaissance and the Industrial Revolution. While we may feel like we are getting smarter, we are actually just experiencing a fleeting burst of energy from a surgery snack instead lasting nourishment (Carr).”
Bogost later goes on to discuss the counter arguments toward Carr’s assertion of how the Internet has having a negative impact upon society. For instance, he uses Matthew Battles as an example of those who perceive the Internet as a much larger whole compared to Carr’s “literary” take on the subject. That their are multiple modes of reading that can and have coexisted with one another for years.
http://courses.jamesjbrownjr.net/book/export/html/3346
http://bogost.com/books/how_to_do_things_with_videogam_1/
http://bogost.com/writing/blog/how_to_do_things_with_videogam_2/
Discussion Questions:
1) Who’s point of view do you find yourself siding with more? Carr or Battles?
2) What are some examples of how modern media has had a major impact upon our micro-ecology within society?
