Comments on: the new reality

By: Rafe

Rafe — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 19:16:54 +0000

I don’t know. I think it’s cool. Notice everyone is sitting in the same room? In the old days, if people wanted to do there own computer stuff, they’d have to leave.

But this is good, everyones in the same room, tehey can talkk and stuff. Maybe they’re even playing world of warcraft all together.

By: Dabetswe Natasha

Dabetswe Natasha — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 17:04:52 +0000

As I saw this photo, I almost felt a little sad. Maybe because I’m not looking at it through the eyes of media and advertisement, but of a family person. It’s sad because it’s true. I do that. My husband does that, and even my 1 year old baby does it (she’s got her own toy laptop). Everybody looks so disconnected. There isn’t any interaction between the family members. Well, I guess, at least they are all sitting in the same room together, which isn’t an easy thing to do these days.

By: Svetlana

Svetlana — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 19:34:20 +0000

Do you mean that the young generation is more target audience of the net than the older one? I think it is.
Only those, who keep their traditionalism, still deny the influence of the web and not only in the matter of reading preferences or news sources, but even an inevitable informational cross-penetration.
Right yesterday I was criticized by one my acquaintance for the “import thinking”. I tried to explain to him the idea of crossing of cultures, views-sharing etc. and he tried to turn me to Soviet Union Thinking…

By: yvette

yvette — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 19:04:07 +0000

I’ll have to agree with Daniel and Christian on this one. At least the family is in the same room though! LOL. Technology makes it easier for us to communicate but in a more passive/aggressive way. Do we pray for an answering machine rather than talk to the other person? Do we answer our e-mail right away or do we get to it when we feel like it? One day my husband and I were eating lunch at the mall when four students sat down together at the next table. They all whipped out their blackberries and cell phones and started text messaging. They ate their entire lunch not speaking to each other because they were so involved with their gadgets! It was a sad day

On the other side…Jamie has some good points about the internet being used as a faster and more effective way of gaining knowledge to further education. It is also the way of the future for politics (reaching a larger audience in a shorter period of time). Posting on the internet is easier than traveling the country for a candidate but they understand that a handshake is just as important…so a smart candidate does both. The old way of doing and thinking doesn’t get the prize anymore. Again (and I keep saying this)..it’s all about balance. Incorporate the old with the new until everyone else is on board…then throw out what doesn’t work.

By: Daniel Ghattas

Daniel Ghattas — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 17:02:57 +0000

Jamie brings up a great point but I have to say my initial reaction to this photo was similar to Christian’s. Our technological and societal values favour individualism over community. The internet, social media, iPods, are double edged swords: they offer great ways to communicate and share but also tend to isolate people from human contact. Faith Popcorn has described this as “cocooning” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cocooning

As for the business side, it’s obvious there’s a gradual shift from mass media marketing to interactive marketing; but then again it depends on what you’re selling. It just goes to show that as a business owner (whether you’re a musician or CEO of a car company), it’s important to understand what your niche is, who your customers are and more importantly where/how most of them can be reached. Trying to be everything to everyone won’t work.

By: Christian

Christian — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 16:25:44 +0000

Leopard print couch aside, I think the most disturbing thing about this picture is the fact that no one is smiling/communicating.

At least when families were sitting around eating dinner in front of the TV, they had something in common. It seems as though there are four people in the same room oblivious to each other. Thoughts?

By: Jamie Sanford

Jamie Sanford — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 15:02:44 +0000

What a great photo. This is very indicative of the way that I am looking to reach my audience.

My position was created for me to address the fact that as more and more young doctors are entering the practice world, that they are much more likely to use the internet to achieve their needs to continuing education. Long gone are the days when all of the educational materials were sent in the mail or discussed during live events.

As an example, we began producing podcasts discussing clinical literature a few years ago. These were a hard sell to those in the company who heard the word “pod”-anything and brushed it off as something for kids. The thing that sold this was the fact that Harvard Medical School was releasing each lecture as an MP3, letting students subscribe to the podcast feed of their classes: http://webweekly.hms.harvard.edu/archive/2006/0130/student_scene.html.

This is my audience. The young, up-and-coming physicians/nurses/etc. They aren’t reading newspapers or pouring over medical journals. They are going online to get the most vital information being released, they are subscribing to podcasts to get a weekly feed of the latest news on clinical trial results. More recently, they are using tools they have downloaded to their mobile devices to assist in patient diagnosis. The future of medicine is online!