ME

ME

Tuesday, February 07, 2012

Red Queens and Increasing Returns

The author is an outlier. In obtaining a copy of a P. K Dick movie, the local library was the logical avenue for the source of such a movie. The author never considered going to a vendor. Why should the author pay? And for that matter, most of the movies are on cable which the author already pays a hefty price for! Well enough already. This week the discussion is VOD versus DVD and this really is not a “Red Queen” issue as the author understands “Red Queens”. If VOD and DVD’s did not come to fruition at the same time this is not an argument for the “Red Queen”. We can only argue two competing technologies in a market and we now argue “Increasing Returns” and are these competing technologies. DVD is a hard copy and VOD is a soft copy hardly the same thing. While it is possible to argue they are both data this is semantic arguing. You cannot hold the soft copy you download it to your device and in most cases you do not own it your rent the material. The hard or DVD copy you own the copy but not the rights. There really is a difference. The author votes for a gray or grey area here. In consideration of McLuhan’s Tetrad model these formats are in several areas; for this argument the fourth area will be the concentration. We have seen a glimpse of the resurgence of 3-D technology and moving forward from this technology we will see 3-D technology without glasses and movies with holographic technology coming in the near future


Reference

Thornburg, D. D. (2008b). Emerging technologies and McLuhan's Laws of Media. Lake Barrington, IL: Thornburg Center for Space Exploration.

1 comment:

  1. Bradley,

    DVDs and VOD did appear at the same time; DVDs in 1995 and VOD in 1994, although streaming ability was not as we have today. By your definition, this would make them Red Queens. Kudos to borrowing the DVD from the library! I rented my DVD for 7 days for 99 cents.

    -Christine

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