Feb 16 RTS Ch. 4, 5

The Powerpoint for this day separates Leadership vs. Administration--light falling favorably upon leadership. Although the biggest difference I see in the comparisons is that leadership is described vaguely with idealistic buzzwords and Administration is described with commonplace activities and normal systems. Pretty common crisis I guess.

Media ecology is a good concept to ponder. For my part, my "media ecological" environment includes in big ways the internet. I read the New York times online, the Onion, WebCT and watch lots of Youtube videos. I'm listening right now to a dj's remix of Rihanna's Disturbia (a quick digression--a great promotion for art and democracy is YouTube, which allows equal access to all artists who wish to be heard through visuals and audio). I watch a disgusting amount of DVDs from libraries. I sometimes pick up a newspaper in the metro.

Media ecology is probably a good way to define the difference between childhoods across time in relation to technology. I grew up with a Macintosh Apple computer in my house that was pretty adorable. It had a little bomb icon for shutting down and had some pretty cute games with big pixels. I watched Disney movies up the wazoo and watched snipits of the news when it was on, and lots of Saturday morning cartoons. I started using the internet when I was about 9 years old with Kid's AOL, a highly censored and guided browser.

One of my friend's little brother is 10 years old. He lives in Amman, Jordan and is exponentially better at using technology than I was at his age. He can use Blackberries, iPhones, has a Facebook profile (though he is underage), uses Skype and messengers, and is bilingual in Arabic and English. His favorite bands are English-speaking teen punk bands. His media ecology is vastly different than the one I grew up with, which was on the threshold of the information age. Mine is last generation to have a general insensitivity to interactive technology in early childhood.