Digital Media

Since the age of three, I’ve been exposed to digital media. There were computers for us to use starting at day care and right through grade twelve. At my elementary school, it was mandatory for all classrooms to have at least two computers available for student use. The school also had a computer lab were every class spent a couple hours a week. All around me are examples of digital media that I have grown up with – the Disney video games I played with when I was eight, the posters jazzing up my dorm room now. My first CD was The Spice Girls and my first DVD was “Anger Management.” I have profiles on social networks such as “Facebook” and “Myspace.” In high school, I continued to explore technology through computer courses, which enabled me to produce some of my own digital media creations, using various programs (Premiere Pro, Photoshop, Aftereffects, Encore). We were able to use all kinds of high tech equipment; at least at the time I thought it was high tech. Naturally I assumed there wasn’t much more for me to learn in this area. I have grown up using digital media; it has been part of my everyday life, so basically I have taken it for granted. Then I attended my first lecture in BDC 192: Digital Media. WOW! I have a lot to learn. It’s a good thing I’m enrolled in this course. After hearing the introduction and the lecture on “What is Digital Media?” I realize there is so much more out there. My impression of Digital Media hasn’t really changed since last week, although I won’t take it for granted anymore. If anything, the lecture has made me more excited about this course and its corresponding labs. I can’t wait to actually start doing projects and get more involved in the course material. Advancements are happening all the time and I’m thrilled that I will be working in an area where I will be able to experience them first-hand.

A course like this one is vital for a student in the RTA program at Ryerson. As RTA grads, we will be expected to be up-to-date on all the technology and programs used to help produce digital media. We will be part of the networking industry and the media. By attending this course and others similar to it, we will be ready for any job offers in the field of communications technology. We will be prepared and educated in the technological department as well as in writing and design. This course in particular is a modern means of expressing creativity through technology. This course will enable us to get familiarized with, and practise on equipment and programs that we would be expected to use in our career but might not otherwise have had access to. We have the additional benefit of learning from people who are experts in the field.

McLuhan’s statement, “The Medium is the Message” is very thought provoking; the more I think about it, the more I agree. Whoever has a message or statement to convey will use the medium with which he or she feels comfortable. So a person with good writing skills would write an article (newspaper, magazine), a play, or a novel. Someone who prefers something more immediate and who speaks well would use the medium of radio or television (news broadcast, talk show). An actor might choose the stage or film as the medium. The audience would respond to the same type of medium; people the message is aimed at would tend to be comfortable with, and rely on that medium. Someone who is verbally inclined would be more likely to receive the message through the medium of radio or television, whereas someone who prefers written communication would receive the message through a print medium.