Personal Essay

Being a part of the technological revolution that is currently taking place has been quite a privilege.  Computers, AM/FM radio, The Internet, video cameras, TV -- you name it, we are all surrounded by these tools used to create and broadcast media.  It's almost inevitable and unavoidable.  Communication today is crucial to our daily lives, and therefore e-mail, phone calls and texts are all effective ways to establish connections between distances.  It's so easy to forget what life was like without these wonderful inventions, because it seems as if cell phones and the internet have been a part of us for much longer than they really have been.

The way media has evolved in the past century has allowed ample amounts of information to be readily accessible by our fingertips.  When wireless communications began with the telegraph, messages were received quickly through Morse code.  From the telegraph, to the telephone and through television, media has evolved a great deal and is still evolving.  Virtually every piece of existence has been recorded on the internet, and thanks to the invention of the search engine (Google, Yahoo) anyone can randomly access this information from any computer, and nowadays, anyone with a smartphone with 3G or 4G internet connections can find an answer.  The internet is probably the best and most useful invention of the past 2 decades.  Without it, conducting research and making references would be a much longer process to undergo, as Google has allowed us to search for virtually hundreds of billions of answers in fractions of a second.  This doesn't mean we aren't allowed to go to the library and crack open a book like used to be able to do.  However, the choice is yours.  Would you rather make a trip to the library to find what you're looking for?  Or, would you search online for the exact same answer virtually 1000x faster than you would going to a library?

When I complete my education in Media Arts & Studies, I feel that it is my duty to expand and acquire creative control over media.  I really want to be an editor; I feel like it is my greatest strength. According to the documentary "Rip! A Remix Manifesto," our culture in media is becoming less free.  I feel that it is my duty to change modern media so anyone who aspires to become musicians, filmmakers, game designers, etc. can get feedback from their work without worrying about the overbearing consequence of copyright laws.  It's up to me to pursue the media and take on the challenge of forwarding the world of entertainment and culture into the future.  I have been inspired to create great things by famous media artists before me.

Soon, it will be my turn.