Thesis Idea? :: Interactivity Between the User and the Medium - Past, Present and Future ::

The subject I am considering for my thesis concerns the past, present, and future of the relationship between the end user and various (constantly evolving) media. For centuries, we have used various methods of media to communicate and evoke a kind of response of one another. These methods of communicating started with more of a one-sided method of communication, with governments providing propaganda posters and informational material to the public without leaving room for any feedback or interaction whatsoever. Examples of this would be the posters and etchings nobles would display in France during the French Revolution, as examined in Jacob A. Belzen's book "Changing the Scientific Study of Religion".

Such methods of media have drastically changed once the focus is moved from the past and into the present, especially with the advent of the internet and the effects of globalization. In the present, the relationship between the user and the medium is much more intense than it once was. Products and advertising still reach out to the consumer and communicate what they would like through flashy imagery or statements that would appeal to specific target markets, however, now because of the internet the user has the ability to speak their minds and communicate back to the product or service. Users and consumers are now able to interact with the people behind the product (something they otherwise would not be able to do) or even publish their own ideals to the masses through sites like YouTube and Twitter, as stated in Kacprzyk's book "Web Personalization in Intelligent Environments".

Other advancements in technology, such as in movies and digital entertainment, have been opened up to user interactivity. In games like 'Mass Effect', for example, every character and situation reacts and expresses themselves to the user based on the user's own personal choices and beliefs. The games and movies themselves even change to fit that to the playing style and thought processes of the user interacting with the object. Such interactivity was almost completely unheard of several years ago, when technology and the media were not quite up to par.

I would like to look further into these developments over time, from the past to the present, and ultimately look into what all of this may lead into the future. I am very interested in the topic of user interactivity and technology, and I can't wait to see what there is to find.

Here is my potential bibliography for this study:

Belzen, Jacob A. (Editor). Changing the Scientific Study of Religion: Beyond Freud? : Theoretical, Empirical and Clinical Studies from Psychoanalytic Perspectives. Dordrecht, NLD: Springer, Netherlands, 2009.

Brennan, Teresa. Exhausting Modernity: Grounds for a New Economy. Florence, KY, USA: Routledge, 2000.

Cavell, Richard. McLuhan in Space: A Cultural Geography. Toronto, ON, Canada: University of Toronto Press, 2003.

Elliott, Anthony. Social Theory Since Freud: Traversing Social Imaginaries. Florence, KY, USA: Routledge, 2004

Kacprzyk, Janusz, Castellano, Giovanna; Jain, Lakhmi C. Web Personalization in Intelligent Environments. 2009.

Lebeau, Vicky. Lost Angels: Psychoanalysis and Cinema. Florence, KY, USA: Routledge, 1994.

Loewenberg, Peter. Fantasy and Reality in History. Cary, NC, USA: Oxford University Press, Incorporated, 1995.

McEwan, Tom (Editor); Gulliksen, Jan (Editor); Benyon, David (Editor). People and Computers XIX: The Bigger Picture: Proceedings of HCI 2005. London, GBR: Springer London, 2006.

Petcock, Agnes. Freud, Psychoanalysis & Symbolism. Port Chester, NY, USA: Cambridge University Press, 1999

Taylor, Eugene. Mystery of Personality: A History of Psychodynamic Theories. New York, NY, USA: Springer New York, 2009.