According to David Gauntlett, “media boils down” to three aspects: conversation, inspiration and making things happen or in other words; being practical. We can “study” about how media came to be (the theory), but living within a time where there’s a rapid shift in technology and how we interact with each other makes it much more interesting.

(To name a handful of scenarios)
What seemed like a small world has suddenly become smaller. We can communicate with someone on the other side of the world and raise awareness on issues through comments, likes/reactions and hashtags (to name a few).
In that process, inspiration can weave in. Media convergence allows anyone to be a filmmaker (for example) when all they need is a smartphone and creativity. Inspiration can blossom from a simple and humble YouTube or Vine video, not just from big-budget production made films.

Gauntlett’s emphasis on “making media” made me reflect on why I decided to do this course in the first place. With creativity regularly oozing out of the depths of my mind, I want to access as many opportunities as I can to convey my (sometimes weird) ideas through a vast range of mediums and platforms. It’s the third week and I’ve already edited at least two videos on Premiere Pro (used by the professionals too and user friendly, so far) and I’ve got a blog!?

Just like ourselves, media is fluid and undergoes metamorphosis on a regular basis. Gauntlett hits the nail on the head when he says that “we need to make things with media in order to think more thoroughly” rather than digesting (possibly biased) information and perceiving things as either black or white.