Media: Make it interactive please.

So. The other day in class, conversation was turned to the topic of interactivity and the media. Following a lecture from the incomparable Tom Apperley, we approached it from a different angle this time. Coming from a Media Research perspective this time, rather than a net communications one, we were asked to consider whether interactivity has a role in shaping audience behaviour.

I’ve written before about how crucial I think it is for digital technologies to tap into existing cultures and human wants and needs when it comes to advertising their products, but it seems this idea is infinitely more important to consider when it comes to the very idea of ‘interactivity’.

I find this whole set of ideas really compelling for maaaaany reasons. I know, it’s a bit of a tenuous link for the same girl who loves pink, sparkly things and shopping to also sit around contemplating technological culture, but get with the program.

So here’s where I stand on interactivity and the media/digital technologies -

Firstly, I am outraged at online newspapers. Last year we had a professional writing competition to see who could get their letter to the editor published within the space of a week. I sent of three different versions and, much to my bittersweet horror, the most abusive one in which I tell our Minister for Transport to “bugger off”, was the only one that made the cut past the gatekeepers of The Age. You would think, then, that commenting instantly on an ONLINE news story would be liberating.

No. I commented numerous days ago on a news website only to be told that my comment would be ‘moderated’ and then I would be notified if it were published. Not that I’ve been waiting by my inbox or anything (I think we need a new expression…) but I still haven’t heard. What’s the point in inviting comments from your online readers (who are most probably precocious little media students like myself) if you’re going to deny their free speech? Hmph.

Secondly, I like things that make my current life easier or enhance it in some way. I assume most people feel this way about new technologies, though I guess I’m also a product of a different generation in which we are happy to throw away the traditional for something faster, easier and more efficient overall. Though we do have a somewhat ironic appreciation for all things ‘vintage’ which could make for an interesting research essay. In light of THIS, I think this product encapsulates all the interactive digital technologies really should do - seamlessly integrate themselves into our daily routine and make us happy.