"Back to school...to prove to daddy that I'm not a fool"

We hit the ground running on our first day of class with a special treat - guest speaker Jeffery Cole (Director of USC Annenberg's Center for the Digital Future). He spoke primarily about the effects new modes of media had on...well, everything. When it comes to hard statistics regarding media this guy was a breathing Wikipedia. No Joke. I tend to think of a "Director" as a delagative/manager type but could tell Mr. Cole was on the front lines of his research. I looked into the annual report he publishes - FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS a copy. I wonder if he offers a payment plan...?

Anyway, I'm somewhat familiar with the effects radio and television had on our culture, economy and ideology, but it was interesting to hear how the Internet has so far nestled its way in; how it’s completely undermined the very foundation of the way we think, communicate and do business with each other. For example, we no longer want to pay for entertainment (napster, hulu, ninjavideo, p2p sharing) or consider news "old" if not privy to it within 30-40 seconds after its occurence (google news, rss, smartphones, newspapers near extinction). It's true. Like Jeff, if I went through my collection of CD's I'd probably pick out only a handful of which I enjoy listening to in their entirety (Weezer's Blue and Pinkerton albums, Citizen Cope's CGR and Kriss Kross's TCO - I was in sixth grade ok, and it was the only CD I owned for a good six months) just to name a few. It's becoming evidently clear that some industries must either adapt or die.

Another point Jeff discussed was the disappearance of traditional "schedules" regarding entertainment. Digital media has changed the computer workstation to a computer work/entertainment station (via youtube, hulu etc). It reminds me of a couple of friends of mine who do exactly that. Every time I see them "leisurely" watching shows on their computers, I think to myself, "They make it look so natural. How?" Call me old fashioned, but I need the ritual of going to a separate space, sitting on a comfy couch and propping my legs up on a coffee table in order to relax and decompress from the day. Although I enjoy the Failblog from time to time, I haven’t been able to fully integrate my work station with my entertainment space. This must be a new generational thing, cause I definitely wasn't invited *tear.