I came across a reading from David J Bolter about new media in the book Remediation: understanding new media that I think quite interesting how new media, new technology have changed our ways of reading and our literary skills. As I believe this helps me to understand deeper about hypertext which is also considered a kind of new media.

Bolter suggested in the first part of the reading that whenever one medium seems to have convinced viewers of its immediacy, other media try to appropriate that conviction . He stated that remediation did not begin with the introduction of digital media. The last several hundred years of Western visual representation all attempts to achieve immediacy by ignoring or denying the presence of the medium and the act of mediation.

What is new about new media comes from the particular ways in which they refashion older media and the ways in which older media refashion themselves to answer the challenges of new media.

Although each medium promises to reform its predecessors by offering a more immediate or authentic experience, the promise of reform inevitably leads us to become aware of the new medium as a medium. Thus, immediacy leads to hypermediacy, the process of remediation makes us aware that all media are at one level a “play of signs”, which is a lesson that we take from poststructuralist literary theory. New digital media are not external agents that come to disrupt an unsuspecting culture. They emerge from within cultural contexts, and they refashion order media, which are embedded in the same or similar contexts.

so here is some take away ideas about this week reading from Gabrielle and David observation:

• Hyperlink creates a by-product
• Two way writing
• Hyperlink breaks the traditional way of reading, non sequential, people can jump to anywhere, not follow a particular order like reading a book from start to end
• Printing unevenly phased in

However, personally I find that the modern technologies of smartphone, facebook, computer, tweeter…. and other social media, mainly writing is performed electronically and this is really destroying my writing skills. Grammar, spelling… everything is checked as we go. Well in a way it’s a great development in general but I think it more likely to create bad habits for me. I almost feel like I have lost the ability to write longer and academically. I becomes more lay back like I don’t care much about my spelling and sometimes even grammar since I know the device will correct my mistakes for me.

But yes, we can’t deny the conventions of writing. Imagine life without books, newspapers, magazines, blogs, etc, it’s just so boring. And then the art ground is missing out on an amazing medium on earth.

Another year is coming. I just blinked and a year has passed. Time is too fast for us to follow.

There’re so many Tet festivals but they don’t make me feel like Tet at all. Tet is not about going to a festival, playing some games, eating something we could eat everyday and listening to live music. No, it’s not the Tet that I know.

Tet is a culture. To me, it’s a wonderful time of the year. In those last days, I and my family spend hours cleaning up our house. Well, it’s when I read all the memories of the year and decide which ones have to be forgotten. We buy new decoration to refresh and bring some new luck into our house. We always have a special lunch on the last day after we worship my dad’s parents. There’s always a boiled chicken and ” bánh chưng”. It’s the only time of the year I eat “bánh chưng”, it’s not my favourite though.  And thousand of things we do when Tet is coming, they always keep us busy but happy.

And to the children, the most interesting part of Tet is receiving lucky money ” lì xì”. In the old day, the children loved lucky money because they believed that money would bring them luck but nowadays, they love it because of its value. People turn into too realistic these days, and so do I.

Sometimes, I miss the old day. It was too good to remember.

Another Tet is coming, just like my last year. No Mum, no dad, no Tet special dishes, no traditional things I used to do when Tet is coming but valuable lucky money.

Somehow, I wish I could have a real Tet like I used to, but I couldn’t use that money to buy a Tet for myself.

I realise there’s something more valuable than money and it’s our feelings, the real feelings that we hide inside our hearts.

Just close my eyes and imagine I’m back home, worship my grandparents and then eat the boiled chicken and “bánh chưng” as well; Mum is smiling and Dad is telling stories of his wretched youth.