The more, the harder

As we talked about a typology (critical perspectives x tech-savvy), we absolutely want to be type 1, which is tech-savvy with critical veiw. I would admit that poeple (both undergarduate and graduate students) are increasingly getting better at dealing with technological skills and having good eyes on what's going on Web 2.0 era.

But I doubt a notion that "media audiences (expecially students) in general are already extremely capable interpreters of media content, with a critical eye and an understanding of contemporary media techniques." I think it's getting even much harder to have a critical eye on this contemporary media environment where lots of media contents and choices are around us, which may make us tough to have a sort of sense of what's going on behind the scene.

Think of mass media and propaganda era vs. Internet era (let's say Media Studies 1.o vs. 2.o); the power relationship seems simple in Media Studies 1.o (e.g., elite vs. mass audience; producer vs. receiver...), but in MS 2.0, it seems getting more complex to figure out their power relationships among various social agents (e.g., traditional media, user-generated content, political blogger, NGOs, campagins, thousands of social groups online and offline, individuals' multi-level social identities.). See also media companies' business strategies (e.g., their M&A, complex competitions, and so on); do I have a critical eye on this?; one thing sure is it's becoming harder to catch up with it with critical views.

Absolutely, we have to focus both on how to deal with tech and how to read meanings in there. And I believe that we are taking the best of previous approaches and rework them to fit a changing environment, and develop new tools as well; and (hope) we can make it.

Anyway, both technology and research are NOT easy at all...