W2 - Topic 1: Issues raised within Lister (Chapters 1 & 2)...

For this topic I have picked out a handful of the issues I found most interesting to discuss from the list provided.

(p2) "Upgrade culture" should be seen in the wider context that most people strive to better themselves and achieve new things. If Bill Gates thought that Windows 95 was perfection and stopped there, many new operating systems, internet functionality and further knowledge would perhaps not exist. Upgrading should in theory make things better, although some feel that older versions are better - many preferred Windows XP over Windows Vista, for example. Upgrades can be consumerism-based, but not all updates cost money - Windows provides free updates through "Windows Update" for their operating systems, though a major new operating system release (XP, Vista, Windows 7 etc) will cost several hundred pounds at launch. Consumerism is a necessarily evil with upgrades. Most people will not work for free, and therefore money must be paid for upgrades to make sure things keep improving. As the old saying goes, "money makes the world go round".

(p17) It is easy to forget that word-processing in its current form and accessibility is relatively new. As recent as my GCSE coursework, much of my work was still hand-written with endless drafts. The digital state of "permanent flux" has made editing much easier in all sorts of ways. If my work was hand-written and I made a mistake, I'd have to cross it out unattractively or start the page again, whereas word-processed it is a simple matter of pressing "delete" and starting again. Equally, if I wanted to move a paragraph to a different part of the work, I would have to re-write the whole thing, whereas digitally it is again merely a process of pressing a few buttons.

(p33) If you wanted your work published even 10 years ago, it would most likely be in the form of a traditional (analogue) media form like a book or journal. New Media enables anyone to type in content on a variety of media forms, click the send button and their work has then been published. Music distribution has also benefited from new media. Some unsigned artists have forged careers by publishing their written or musical work online and then achieving a record deal. One example is Lily Allen who started out on MySpace and has now sold millions of albums. New Media and the internet allows everyone their voice.

People can share much more of their lives than previously. Even a simple Facebook status such as "James has gone to the shops" is "published" work. I would doubt that many people realise how much of their personal information and details are available simply from one Facebook page. What was private and domestic before can now be very public indeed.