The Album is Dead

In DJ Spooky's interview in Designing Media, the main topic of conversation was the change in ways music is being used by society.  He covers the movement from albums, to CD's, to iPods.  He remarks that the CD and album days are ending, even making  a CD displaying his prediction of the death of CD's.  He talks about how music is changing back to vinyl because it can be changed to fit what he wants, splicing it and changing it's speed.  This reflects the overarching message of music and media becoming more user controlled and changeable.  Every person with an iPod can make their own playlist rather than have a whole CD by one artist.  With iTunes giving the option of downloading one song by an artist at a time, the users are in control of everything they listen to, and now everyone is their own DJ. Media has gone from owning single track vinyl albums, to a compilation of songs by an artist on a CD, to digital playlists, to the user controlling even the songs they have and changing it to fit their personality.  You can't change a CD and slow it down, splice it, or anything you can do on an album. 
If I had to summarize what DJ Spooky was saying in just one sentence, I would say that people's desire to be in control of their music is growing, and that media is changing in order to fit this desire. 

I am a reader who...

I am a reader who makes predictions.
I am a reader who uses background knowledge.
I am a reader who connects my reading to other readings.
I am a reader who looks for deeper meaning.
I am a reader who connects the characters to my life.
I am a reader who tries to completely understand the reading.
I am a reader who takes hours of the day to sit and read.
I am a reader who looks for social context.
I am a reader who reads to be educated.
I am a reader who enjoys it.

I am a reader who would be more leaning to the right of the Behaviorist to Community based literacy scale.  I wouldn't say I'm Social constructivist over community based, but I find myself falling into the middle. I like to read for my individual knowledge, to become knowledgeable, but I also read in order to learn what is needed to live in society.  I hate not knowing a great book when everyone is talking about it, movies being made out of it, so I feel like I must read that book in order to understand the cultural context related to community based literacy. 

I really enjoy connecting the characters to people or myself in my own life, all while connecting the story itself to my life and society as it is today.  Some of the best stories make me realize some issues with society, and bring forward more questions I have as an individual against societal context.  I begin to examine the collaborative knowledge that our society holds, and although I sometimes challenge them, I must first understand them.  Social constructiveness look for society context throughout, and not as much individual knowledge.

I believe both community based literacy and social constructivism are needed, but that may just be because I am in between the two.  I would like to be an individual in my reading, but I also must understand society and cultural context presented to me in my readings in order to completely understand those readings.  Picking up on references to myself or my culture enriches any reading.