My project focuses on the emergence of new types of "screens" - computer screens, iPod, PDA, cell phone screens, and other new media monitors - that might change how we approach, digest, and consume media every day. The sources I have chosen for this project reflect my desire to compare these new physical screens with older screens such as TV monitors and those in movie theaters. I also chose sources that provided background information on digital and New Media, as well as on theories of spectatorship and screen consumption, since I was not well-versed on the topic before beginning this project.

In her 2004 article on emerging digital technologies, Anna Everett discusses the contradiction inherent in the simultaneous ascendancy of both “big” technologies (widescreen TV, IMAX, etc.) and “small” technologies (iPod, cell phones that can do what a computer can do). Within the context of this discrepancy, Everett also discusses the need to formulate new theories on spectatorship and interaction with these new portable small devices. Co-presence and contact with others remain two big ideas posited by theorist Mizuko Ito that Everett supports. Ultimately, however, she argues that new media content remains largely unchanged in terms of social structure; the content mostly caters to popular ideologies that repress fringe theories.

    Though this article presents “bits and pieces” thinking on Everett’s part, it has a fair amount of nice ideas regarding where new media is and where it could go within the next few years. I especially like her argument on contradictions inherent within technological developments – we want both a big screen TV and an iPod for similar purposes (though in arguably different environments). The point is in the simultaneous longing for both, which seems to link up with the desire for multiple and simultaneous interactions with media, whether within the same device or among several devices at once. I do wish she had fleshed out her thoughts on emerging theories of interaction with new media. If she thinks we need to formulate brand new ideas on how to interact with these rising technologies, then what are those theories? And how do they change modern media theory?