TimPenner.ca

Media dimensions

The point here is to wrap your head around how the various dimensions of media contribute to their interpretation and consequent value. I have yet to spend any bandwidth (in this site) explaining how their influences manifest in the discussion of tools.

I filled in this table in 2007 as an learning exercise for the Human-Computer Interaction course conducted by a guy named Gilbert van Buren Wilkes IV (PhD from Carnegie-Mellon in Rhetoric) who taught me how to write to a purpose. He was also (by my choice) my Masters Project advisor, by which he taught me to do research and argue in writing. I've carefully garnered the materials he used so I could use them for myself when teaching others to express themselves in writing.

	Sync/ Async	Push/ Pull	Recorded/ Live	Passive/ Interactive	Local/ Remote	Dialog/ Dissemination	Unidirectional/ Reciprocal	Richer/ Leaner	Persistent/ Ephemeral	Oral/ Written	Document/ Data	Ambient/ Local	Digital/ Analog
Lapidary Epigraphy	Async	Push	Recorded	Passive	Local	Dissemination	Unidirectional	Lean	Persistent	Written	Doc	Local	Digital
Satellite Telemetry	Async	Pull	Live	Passive	Remote	Both?	Both?	Lean	Ephemeral	??	Data	Ambient	Digital
Graffiti on a men's room wall	Async	Push	Recorded	Passive	Local	Dissemination	Unidirectional	Varies	Persistent	Written	Document	Local	Varies
Anonymous love letter	Async	Push	Recorded	Passive	Local	??	Unidirectional	Varies	Persistent	Written	Document	Local	Digital
Chat room	Sync	both	Both	Active	Remote	Both	Reciprocal	Varies	Either	Can be both	Both, Either	Both, Either	Digital
Email spam	Async	Push	Recorded	Passive	Remote	Dissemination	Unidirectional (unless target is stupid)	Varies	Persistent	Written	Document	Local	Digital
Insect Pheromones	Sync	Both	Live	Passive	Local	Both?	Unidirectional (?)	??	Ephemeral	??	Data	Ambient	Analog
Sonar pulse	Sync	Pull	Live	Active	Remote	Dialog	Both	Lean	Ephemeral	??	Data	Ambient	Digital
Corporate logos	Async	Push	Recorded	Passive	Local	Dissemination	Unidirectional	Varies	Persistent	Written	??	??	Analog
Transcripts of a wire tap	Sync	Pull	Recorded	Passive	Local	Dissemination	Unidirectional	Lean	Persistent	Written	Either	Local	Digital
Web page	Sync	Both	Both	Both	Remote	Both	Either, Both	Varies	Ephemeral	Either, Both	Either	??	??
Car alarm	Async	Push	Live	Passive	??	Disseminations	??	Lean	Ephemeral	??	Data	??	??