The piece will compare/contrast two groups of people: college students and parents of college students. The college students are generally more tech-savy because they have to use devices such as cell phones and emails to keep up with school and work. Their parents, who are more settled in their ways, sometimes find themselves unable to keep up with technology or reject it altogether. The research would show viewers the technology/generation gap and help to explain why it exists.
2) describe historical/political context: when/how did this group evolve.
College students, and young people on the whole, are quicker to adapt new communication technology to their lives because it is faster, simpler, popular, and easier for them to use. Older generations embrace such technology up to a point--they understand technology such as email and cell phones to be more efficient, but many of them reject popular technology such as social networking sites and texting because it is more complex, pointless, and does not have roots in the analog realm.
3) describe as specifically the ways in which the group identifies itself
Young people identify themselves as a collective whole on the internet, unlike any generation before. There are common 'memes' among them, a collective sense of humor, and a common understanding of digital interfaces that makes it easy for them to jump between devices. Older people don't have the same understanding about digital interfaces and are more hesitant to 'just push buttons' when something goes wrong. Many of them view younger people in a negative light because they waste a lot of time and money on digital forms of entertainment.
4) identify your assumptions of any outside perceptions
I assume that most of my audience will be young people, i.e. the participants in this class, and my friends. I assume that these people don't need dictionary definitions of "texting" and "Twitter" because they have had first-hand experience with said technology. But I need to be careful not to place the older people in a bad light--this project is meant to educate and address both sides of the argument respectfully.
5) what is your starting point: i.e. what message do you wish to convey?
Most of all I want to disprove the "kids these days" argument that technology makes people more stupid. I want to draw parallels to Plato and critics of the printing press such as I mentioned before on this blog. Conversely, I want young people to understand why older people are more reluctant to adopt new technology.
6) what images, text do you expect to collect to convey this image
Using my background in motion graphics and interactive media, I'd like to create an interactive collection of "topics" addressed by my interviewees. I've collected audio interviews and I've captured flat-looking digital images of my interviewees to cut out and manipulate, puppet-style, like in this mock-up:
7) who will you be inteviewing/photographing
I've collected interviews from my mom, dad, and sister, but I'm hoping to expand that to other students and their parents.
8) create a schedule
9) who is your audience?
My audience is the same as my subject.
10) what message do we give to those with whom we are working?
I'd really like to stress that our technology is part of our culture. It affects the way we talk, the ways we address others formally and informally, our patience and attention span. The language and mannerisms of texting and online communication are really important for young and old people to understand, to give their statements context, and to identify themselves within history.
11) what is our responsibility to them and how is it acknowledged?
I want to point out the ironies in the things my interviewees say (ie "kids these days") but I want the documentary to be light-hearted. This means taking my interviewees seriously.
12) what questions are you seeking to answer?
Why are older generations more hesitant to adopt new technology? Are new technologies such as texting and social networking valid forms of communication? Are any technologies truly revolutionary, or do they essentially serve the same purpose? I don't want to be explicit about expressing the answers to these questions--mostly because they cannot be explicitly answered. It's important to me that the viewer draws his or her own conclusions about them.
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