Ahoy!

Ring ring…

“Ahoy!”

“ohai John, how’s your day?...”

Can you imagine what it would be like to answer phone calls like a pirate?  Gershon’s descriptions of media ideologies got me interested in how we learn to use various new media sources.  I remember back in elementary school, we were taught how to use/answer the phone, or how to correctly address an envelope and format the letter.  I remember thinking that the class topic was incredibly useless – I already knew how to use a phone and didn’t foresee myself writing a letter to anyone in the near future.  The next form of media communication I used reliably was Facebook (I was never really into IMing in junior high and didn’t have a phone until high school).  Although I had an email, it was reserved for very occasion use such as email myself attachments.

Anyways, Facebook at the time was very new and cool.  I heard about it from an upperclassman and joined.  The first posts I made on Fb (still on my wall in case you want to stalk my past and laugh) lacked a lot of media etiquette to say the least.  I have about five posts within a couple of hours saying incredible random things.  And then a friend posted: “y did you write on your own wall -.-”  Obviously I had done something incorrectly. 

Ilana discusses how these new forms of media have such varying idioms of practice.  It is quite interesting how much people differ in use of media.  Coming to WashU, I’ve noticed this effect much more extensively from how people post pictures on facebook to the usage of emoticons and even email greetings.  I think Ilana’s point of understanding differences in media structure will be vital in the near future, especially as new forms of communication develop (like Twitter, Instagram).  Unlike the development of communication standards for old media like the phone, new media is developing at a rate much faster than we can formally codify all of its intricacies.