Andrew's Blog

     In William J. Mitchell's essay "Homes and Neighborhoods" he discusses the future of the commercial world in relationship to telecommuting. Mitchell believes that with the advent of new communication technologies the workplace and the home will become united in a "live/work" situation. He also believes that the places people choose to live will become less influenced by the proximity to the workspace and more influenced by its appeal as a place to be.

     Mitchell presents many interesting and plausible ideas in his essay. In the future technology is definitely going to change the workspace, but I doubt it will completely redefine it. Already we have the ability to telecommute, yet it has not caught on to the extent some imagined it would several years ago. Part of this is due to the fact that many employers are resistant to the idea. When all of an employer's workers are in one building, or one floor in most cases, he or she has the ability to watch over them, have face-to-face conversations with them, and develop relationships with them. These are very important aspects to the workplace and are part of the reason that I believe telecommuting will never completely take hold of our economy. The people who will be able to take advantage of the telecommuting options will mainly be the self-employed. My father is self-employed and works in an office above our garage. He is a computer consultant and programmer. He communicates with his clients mainly by telephone, and fixes their problems by remotely connecting to their servers from home. But even he has to occasionally leave his office to work. If there is a big enough problem at one of his clients companies he has to travel there to fix it. But without telecommunications his job would not be possible. He has clients all around the country, making it impossible to be at their workspaces regularly. This is the way that I believe telecommunications has really influenced business. Businesses can communicate over farther distances with other branches and other companies.

     In Tara McPherson’s “Reload” she discusses the illusion of “liveness” created by the web and how it is similar to that of television. She makes the claim that in many ways the web is taking over television’s use as a source of information.

     I tend to disagree with this claim. I believe television and the web are two different entities. They both have their purposes, and while they may share a few, they also have many unique ones. McPherson argues that the internet provides us with instantaneous information. With the internet we have the ability to get news immediately, instead of waiting for the late night news. But in my own personal experience the web has not replaced the television as a source of news. Both of my parents still watch the late night news almost every night. Maybe this is not as immediate news as they would find on the internet, but it is easier. With the internet one must first turn on the computer, usually at least a couple minute process, open up a web browser, navigate to the site, find the news article he or she wishes to read, and read that article. To watch TV, All my parents have to do is go into our lounge, turn on the television and sit down on the sofa (often with a glass of wine) and watch. It is also a social activity. My parents watch together, and sometimes the rest of my family does as well. But we cannot all sit down in front of a computer, it just wouldn’t work. And as they watch the news they can talk to each other, cook dinner, or just enjoy themselves.

     My dad does use the internet for news a lot, but that is while he is working and already at a computer. If you are already at a computer, online news is more convenient. You can have many windows open with different news sites on each and you can choose which articles you want to read. Also, the articles are usually linked to related articles, so it is very easy to find more information if you are still interested after finishing. If you find an article interesting and would like to share it, you can email the link to your friends and family.

     The internet may be a faster and more dynamic information source than the television but it does not replace the television. The television still holds on with its convenience and simplicity.

     In one section of Roland Barthes’ Camera Lucida he talks about his mother’s death and how he looked through old photographs of her to try to find a photograph that captured her essence. Eventually he stumbles across a photo that he dubs the “Winter Garden Photograph” that is the most effective in capturing his mother’s true spirit. He says that he cannot explain why this photograph affects him in this way, but he does describe the way his mother is standing back from her brother, as if she is timid to be in the picture.

     Barthes is making the point that photography cannot capture the essence of someone and it cannot preserve his or her memory. He makes a legitimate point but at the same time I don’t completely agree with his feelings on photography. I don’t think photography was ever meant to capture the essence or spirit of someone. It is merely a tool for capturing an image. Usually, that image is one which the photographer would like to be able to look back on and remember. Photography isn’t a substitute for memory, it merely refreshes it. When I look at old photographs of me sometimes I cannot remember the time they were taken and sometimes I can. If I can remember when it was taken that usually leads to more memories of what I was doing at the time and what I was doing before and after the picture was taken. If I did not have photographs many of these memories would never be brought to the surface again. I think that if Barthes’ wants to find a way of capturing his mother’s essence I think he should stick to his original plan of writing about her. Writing is a far better way of remembering what someone was truly like.