The change in your hand – Personal Media / Public Good
Given that I am a victim of Georgia public school sex education in 1969, it is a wonder that I am a parent today. They divided the fifth grade boys and girls and marched us off to separate classrooms. The boys watched an animated film about the mysteries of sex while the principle sat in the front of the room – watching us, not the film. At the time I believed that was because Mr. Scarlett had already unraveled all the mysteries, but now I realize it was to monitor for spitballs. I can’t remember much about the film except for the fact that the starring cartoon figures really didn’t look like anyone in our class – boy or girl. I also recall the gratuitous use of metaphors (flowers, hens eggs, and some things that kind of resembled tadpoles) and that the film was short (ok, it got some things right). When the movie was over, Mr. Scarlett stood up in front of our class and asked if there were any questions. Johnny Tarelton asked if we could have seconds on fish sticks for lunch on Friday. We were dismissed – as baffled leaving the room as when we entered. I never learned what the girls did, but all through my life I have come to believe that they must have watched a different movie.
The next summer, my friend Ricky Terrell found a book called “Everything You Wanted to Know About Sex – But Were Afraid to Ask.” Along with a couple of other friends, we convened a study group in the tree house in Ricky’s backyard. Over the summer, the book stayed in the tree house enclosed in a plastic Sunbeam bread bag, ready whenever we needed it. It was here that we learned about sex. Sure, we didn’t understand much of the terminology that Dr. Ruben used in his book, so we got a lot of things wrong. But in this, my first book club, we could ask questions of each other. We could disagree. We became expert on the chapters and efficient use of the index and glossary. In short, we could learn. And that learning changed us.
The movie belonged to Mr. Scarlett. The book belonged to us. That made all the difference. The chance to change was in our hands. Messages take on new power when you own the medium.
Now we all own a special slice of a new medium. In our pockets, packs, and purses we carry a new channel with incredible power to change us. What started out as a device to stay in touch with our offices from the road, to check-up on children out on dates, to order pizza on the way home has now become integral to the range of activities we go through on a daily basis. Gradually, the mobile phone is insinuating itself into everything we do. And with the introduction of sophisticated new smartphone devices like the iPhone, the Storm, and the G1, we are beginning to see the potential for mobile media to educate, persuade, and change us.
I learned from my secret bread-bag wrapped book because I (not Mr. Scarlett) controlled it. But mobile media can do more than just submit to my control, it can react to me. Unlike other mass media, it can answer my questions on demand. My phone is my personal device so it “knows” me. It knows where I am. And it can even begin to accumulate information about my behavior and media preferences. My phone is with me everywhere I go. It has become the first true media companion because it responds to me and can enhance all of my experiences.
True, today only a fraction of mobile phones are truly capable of becoming a media companion. Current estimates peg the number of people with smartphones at about 14%, but that number is expected to double in just two years. Combine the enthusiasm for the capabilities of these new devices with dropping prices and there is a good argument for smartphones becoming a dominant medium very quickly – for many they already are.
Only now are we beginning to explore the capability of mobile media to change us. But we are at a critical inflection point. Yes, powerful players want to change us -- into consumers of their products and services. It would be a shame to see this powerful new medium devolve into a new “vast wasteland” of advertising. In the New Media Institute we are interested in how personal media can be harnessed for public good.
More than ever before, the change is in our hands.
Next week I want to tell you about our next big attempt to use little media for big change: the Global AIDS Personal Public Service Announcement Project (http://www.mynmi.net/GlobalAIDSPPSA/).
The next summer, my friend Ricky Terrell found a book called “Everything You Wanted to Know About Sex – But Were Afraid to Ask.” Along with a couple of other friends, we convened a study group in the tree house in Ricky’s backyard. Over the summer, the book stayed in the tree house enclosed in a plastic Sunbeam bread bag, ready whenever we needed it. It was here that we learned about sex. Sure, we didn’t understand much of the terminology that Dr. Ruben used in his book, so we got a lot of things wrong. But in this, my first book club, we could ask questions of each other. We could disagree. We became expert on the chapters and efficient use of the index and glossary. In short, we could learn. And that learning changed us.
The movie belonged to Mr. Scarlett. The book belonged to us. That made all the difference. The chance to change was in our hands. Messages take on new power when you own the medium.
Now we all own a special slice of a new medium. In our pockets, packs, and purses we carry a new channel with incredible power to change us. What started out as a device to stay in touch with our offices from the road, to check-up on children out on dates, to order pizza on the way home has now become integral to the range of activities we go through on a daily basis. Gradually, the mobile phone is insinuating itself into everything we do. And with the introduction of sophisticated new smartphone devices like the iPhone, the Storm, and the G1, we are beginning to see the potential for mobile media to educate, persuade, and change us.
I learned from my secret bread-bag wrapped book because I (not Mr. Scarlett) controlled it. But mobile media can do more than just submit to my control, it can react to me. Unlike other mass media, it can answer my questions on demand. My phone is my personal device so it “knows” me. It knows where I am. And it can even begin to accumulate information about my behavior and media preferences. My phone is with me everywhere I go. It has become the first true media companion because it responds to me and can enhance all of my experiences.
True, today only a fraction of mobile phones are truly capable of becoming a media companion. Current estimates peg the number of people with smartphones at about 14%, but that number is expected to double in just two years. Combine the enthusiasm for the capabilities of these new devices with dropping prices and there is a good argument for smartphones becoming a dominant medium very quickly – for many they already are.
Only now are we beginning to explore the capability of mobile media to change us. But we are at a critical inflection point. Yes, powerful players want to change us -- into consumers of their products and services. It would be a shame to see this powerful new medium devolve into a new “vast wasteland” of advertising. In the New Media Institute we are interested in how personal media can be harnessed for public good.
More than ever before, the change is in our hands.
Next week I want to tell you about our next big attempt to use little media for big change: the Global AIDS Personal Public Service Announcement Project (http://www.mynmi.net/GlobalAIDSPPSA/).
posted by Grady College /University of Georgia at
7:13 AM
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