As I sit at home feeling a bit under the weather (listening to all of my roommates get ready for their big night out), I can't seem to bring my eyes away from my NCAA bracket. And then it dawned on me-- why have brackets not been discussed on Media Jamss yet? I think that a college basketball bracket is the perfect example of new media: it's updated in realtime, it allows users to interact with one another, it combines digital text with audio and visual, it creates participation, and it's incredibly active. In fact, there have been multiple occasions when I don't feel like fighting a roommate for the television and I choose to watch the game live on my computer through the website that hosts my bracket (CBS). I will say that this is the first year I've had a bracket and it won't be the last. Given, this is easy for me to say because I'm currently in first place-- I don't mean to boast. Regardless, I felt the need to share my feelings on the NCAA bracket-- an example of new media that I feel goes unnoticed.
And, if you're bored (or feeling a little ill), I highly recommend watching President Obama fill out his NCAA bracket on ESPN last year. It's incredibly entertaining.
Allie,
ReplyDeleteI would definitely agree that NCAA basketball brackets are an example of new media. You can easily go to any sports website and find recent updates and stats on the games, players, and teams. All the online brackets are highly interactive, which is one of the core elements of new media. These brackets also foster even more interactivity because many basketball lovers are commenting on articles and changing their Facebook's statuses about how they feel in regards to recent wins and losses. I myself don't have a bracket but I do loosely follow the games, catching updates either on my New York Times home page (which will most likely change when they start charging for articles) or of course, on Facebook. I definitely think that the internet is the main way people are getting these updates and watching games and will expand even more to the point that the internet is the only outlet people's use to watch sports.