Hui's JOMC221 Journal

What do we do with the Web in terms of theory since it combines (converges and diverges) so many media and media forms?

(Is this a trick question?)

I see a positive convergence of print, TV and radio

‘rhetorics’. This requires a knowledge of multimedia technology, marketing and neurolinguistic programming (NLP). In terms of theory, it is simple. The theories must expand and develop in order to explain and predict the future of the Web.

Even the vocabulary word ‘rhetoric’, as a noun, now has a new meaning. The theories and the vocabulary will evolve in the same way. Some concepts and definitions will stick and others will be forgotten.

When as content developers should we strive for immediacy, compared in the reading with TVs "perfect transparency", and when should we go for hypermediacy? (translation: when should we encourage people to forget the presence of the medium and when should we try to remind them of it?)

Well, this question itself has a translation. Professor Carroll thought it was necessary to add it, and it improves the communication. Similarly, when content developers and Webmasters feel clarification is needed, then that is a good time to go for hypermediacy. Clarification is just one reason to remind the Web surfers of what the media are.

I think that sharing technical information about pictures and audio clips is hypermediacy. Hypermediacy is not necessary unless their is responsibility, like in an education environment. In any case, the human need for immediacy is more basic and pervasive than any interest in hypermediacy.

I think that there no “perfect transparency”. It is a theoretical concept only. Even on the holo-deck of the U.S.S. Enterprise on Star Trek, you could be in The Matrix and not know it! Total Recall, eXistenZ and The Truman Show all explore the theme of reality. There is no way of knowing.

Think about this, then tell me what I have just written!

Does the notion of authenticity help us with the hypermediacy/immediacy riddle? (In other words, when do we want individuals to experience a "reality," an emotion, and how do we facilitate this "immediate and therefore authentic emotional response"?

These are theoretical concepts. The surfers can always imagine the medium when the Web designer does not want them to, and vice-versa. These ideas always fall under communication theory.

Your questions?

Do the new terms always add something to our understanding of communication?

No, not always.