Time Can Only Tell

            It is interesting to me that although each of the three speakers we heard in class on Monday have declared individual topics for their dissertations, they all seem to tie in with the other.  The communication field does that a lot -- gives us individual topics and issues to think about, and yet correlates all of them together uniquely.  I believe the saying "you can't have one without the other" applies directly to the field of communication.  Not only is it multi-dimensional within itself, but it also feeds into other fields to make the areas of discussion and study more expansive.
            Adrienne Stoner, our first speaker, explained that she is researching how the dawning of new media effects the study abroad experience for students.  She argues that perhaps because of the new media platforms implemented in our daily lives, the impact of culture shock will not be as great for students studying overseas.  Ginnifer Mastarone depicted three areas of communication in which she is researching for her dissertation.  In correlation with Adrienne, I believe Ginnifer's interest in social network science is the most distinctive.  Through this research, Ginnifer seeks to understand "how social networks impact the creation, spread and life cycle of some artifact."  Adrienne suggests that new media, including social networks, will be detrimental to the overall experience of studying abroad.  Through Ginnifer's research, she suggests that social media will not only expand our personal social networks, but will also allow technology to make our lives easier.  Each of these women make completely valid and well supported statements, however, I do believe that truth overall can and will be found somewhere in the middle, after all, all things should be done in moderation according to the Golden Mean.
              Catherine Steele goes on a slightly different note from the two previously noted speakers, but does however allude to how social media and social networks will effect and shape our future as well as our interpersonal experiences.  Catherine discusses how maintaining social networks and blog sites will give us a sort of stronghold in our rapidly expanding world.  The kinds of blogs she follows are typically African American dominated and give the community a virtual barbershop, per say, as their close-knit communities are dragged apart and gentrified in an effort to further the anti-segregation and discrimination efforts.  Also through the topic of her dissertation, Catherine notes that society is on the upswing of reverting from written communication to verbal communication once again.  I do believe that this is an accurate assertion.  As technology and digital communication becomes more commonplace, the exhilaration of the typewriter and the word-processing capabilities of the computer from the 20th century are wearing out.  Over time, as these technologies grow older and older, people have been and will probably continue to be less thrilled about being able to quickly compose letters and documents, so on and so forth.
              In response to all three of these speakers, I do believe that further integration of new media into our lives is inevitable.  I agree with Adrienne that new media could hinder the full spectrum of experiences on a study abroad trip, though I do also agree with Ginnifer that new media can and will make our lives easier.  In correspondence with Ginnifer's research, I believe that new media will allow us to maintain closer relationships with the people we meet on study abroad trips.  Though at the time of the trip the use of new media could be detrimental to the overall experience, new media could possibly spread the experience and the full spectrum of learning from a study abroad trip over a longer period of time.  With the ability to keep in touch more effectively with people who live across the world from us, it is no longer a matter of meeting and developing a relationship with somebody once and never seeing them again.  This idea of greater distances between us may also give way to Catherine's idea that blogging and new media give the African American community a sort of "virtual barbershop".
              New media may be detrimental, and it may be beneficial.  The only way we will be able to tell the overall effects of these new media platforms is through time.