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USB keys, email addresses and passwords, hard drive crashes and lost document files…enough to raise your stress levels and give your memory a run for its money. While computers and machines in general were invented to give us all an easier time, it sometimes appears that technology at times is the problem itself. The fear of losing our precious data can at times cause serious anxiety. Computerized data is not tangible. Yes, you can print it, but then what? Once the data is lost from the electronic side, the tedious and lengthy process of retyping it will likely follow. More so, with the busy life schedules we all tend to lead nowadays, portable electronics and available Wi-Fi pretty much everywhere, are a must. So now with the other million and one things you have to do and remember, you mustn’t forget where you saved the latest version of a document or presentation, the email address you sent your document to as a backup, the USB key you have to bring with you that you used to save a backup of the backup and of course your laptop that carries the necessary software to open and operate these documents, as well as most likely the location you saved all these documents originally. This can process can be aggravating, confusing and memory straining; so, the Dropbox to the rescue! This “new media” was created in 2007[1], and for quite a tech savvy girl, I actually only experienced and learned of its existence for the first time a couple of weeks ago. With the required technologically competent minds we must exercise on a daily basis at school, work and socially, we are almost obliged to learn about the newest technologies and innovations in the tech world that claim to guarantee to make our lives easier and simpler. The Dropbox, an internet software application that you can download to your desktop or simply navigate through its website (www.dropbox.com), offers its users the removal of this fear of data loss. The Dropbox is a folder that seats itself down alongside all the other file folders on your computer such as My Documents, My Computer, My Pictures, and makes itself comfortable as a folder icon that looks as if it’s been there from the beginning. This icon however differentiates itself from the other icons by allowing users to “drop” folders, documents, pictures, videos etc. into this folder, and have it be available from any other computerized device, including Smartphones. Just simply log on to www.dropbox.com, enter your email and password you registered with, and access all your files saved to this folder. Forgot your laptop or USB as you ran out of the house this morning? Forgot to send the latest version of a document to your email or to your team member’s email? Experienced the classic hard drive meltdown the night before your paper was due? Don’t let your stress level fly off the charts. Take a breath and magically access all your files from your Dropbox folder.
USB keys, email addresses and passwords, hard drive crashes and lost document files…enough to raise your stress levels and give your memory a run for its money. While computers and machines in general were invented to give us all an easier time, it sometimes appears that technology at times is the problem itself. The fear of losing our precious data can at times cause serious anxiety. Computerized data is not tangible. Yes, you can print it, but then what? Once the data is lost from the electronic side, the tedious and lengthy process of retyping it will likely follow. More so, with the busy life schedules we all tend to lead nowadays, portable electronics and available Wi-Fi pretty much everywhere, are a must. So now with the other million and one things you have to do and remember, you mustn’t forget where you saved the latest version of a document or presentation, the email address you sent your document to as a backup, the USB key you have to bring with you that you used to save a backup of the backup and of course your laptop that carries the necessary software to open and operate these documents, as well as most likely the location you saved all these documents originally. This can process can be aggravating, confusing and memory straining; so, the Dropbox to the rescue! This “new media” was created in 2007[1], and for quite a tech savvy girl, I actually only experienced and learned of its existence for the first time a couple of weeks ago. With the required technologically competent minds we must exercise on a daily basis at school, work and socially, we are almost obliged to learn about the newest technologies and innovations in the tech world that claim to guarantee to make our lives easier and simpler. The Dropbox, an internet software application that you can download to your desktop or simply navigate through its website (www.dropbox.com), offers its users the removal of this fear of data loss. The Dropbox is a folder that seats itself down alongside all the other file folders on your computer such as My Documents, My Computer, My Pictures, and makes itself comfortable as a folder icon that looks as if it’s been there from the beginning. This icon however differentiates itself from the other icons by allowing users to “drop” folders, documents, pictures, videos etc. into this folder, and have it be available from any other computerized device, including Smartphones. Just simply log on to www.dropbox.com, enter your email and password you registered with, and access all your files saved to this folder. Forgot your laptop or USB as you ran out of the house this morning? Forgot to send the latest version of a document to your email or to your team member’s email? Experienced the classic hard drive meltdown the night before your paper was due? Don’t let your stress level fly off the charts. Take a breath and magically access all your files from your Dropbox folder.
The Dropbox technology software made its appearance in December of 2007, created by CEO Drew Houston who equally shared the anxiety of potential data loss and control and memory of the location of all his files, which became the driving force behind this innovation[2]. The Dropbox features a video on the main page of its website that displays a short two minute and 15 second video that demonstrates to the user or future user, what exactly the Dropbox is and why it can make lives simpler. Now let us take a closer look at what is required to use this software. Firstly, Internet is the main requirement behind gaining from the Dropbox to its full potential. Without Internet, the files from the Dropbox can be viewed and edited however updated versions cannot be uploaded. Evidently, the ownership or access to a computer, laptop or Smartphone is needed as well, which consequently must have internet, a data plan or be in a Wi-Fi zone. For the sake of “privacy”, the Dropbox requires you to create a profile consisting of a valid email address, a password of your choice, and your first and last name. Your email and password will be used to log on to your personal Dropbox to access your files. Of course, as this Dropbox transfers files mystically through the air of the internet, the question of privacy remains a factor. What happens to all these files once they are deleted? Can they be deleted permanently? We will take a look at this a little later. For now, let us take a closer look at the Dropbox’s feature of sharing folders. The option is that you can create a new folder or choose an existing one and invite one or more people to share it with. When they log on they can view anything you have “dropped” into this folder, as well as they can “drop” files themselves or access files you have dropped, edit them and drop them back in.
What this truly allows is freedom of being able to work from any location and still be in contact with team members or co-workers. The need to rush from home to work because of the “filing cabinet”(McLuhan, 1965) is not so much a need anymore. Of course the “filing cabinet” is the idea brought about my Marshall McLuhan. He discusses how there is this constant pressure to rush to our work location to get things done because of the constant need of files and documents. He describes how the stockbroker was one of the few intelligent ones who figured out from a while ago that he can work from virtually anywhere by simply just using his telephone (McLuhan, 1965). Of course, given that this critique of society’s way of living was argued in 1965, it is understood that four decades later, the possibility of working from home or taking courses online for example, has become widely accepted. The Dropbox allows people to work from anywhere without always having to carry this “filing cabinet” with us. It equally allows to simplify the most often impossible task of coordinating everyone’s schedule when working in groups and having to arrange a meeting time and place, therefore removing the necessity of a regular commute (McLuhan, 1965).
What this truly allows is freedom of being able to work from any location and still be in contact with team members or co-workers. The need to rush from home to work because of the “filing cabinet”(McLuhan, 1965) is not so much a need anymore. Of course the “filing cabinet” is the idea brought about my Marshall McLuhan. He discusses how there is this constant pressure to rush to our work location to get things done because of the constant need of files and documents. He describes how the stockbroker was one of the few intelligent ones who figured out from a while ago that he can work from virtually anywhere by simply just using his telephone (McLuhan, 1965). Of course, given that this critique of society’s way of living was argued in 1965, it is understood that four decades later, the possibility of working from home or taking courses online for example, has become widely accepted. The Dropbox allows people to work from anywhere without always having to carry this “filing cabinet” with us. It equally allows to simplify the most often impossible task of coordinating everyone’s schedule when working in groups and having to arrange a meeting time and place, therefore removing the necessity of a regular commute (McLuhan, 1965).
Referring back to the issue of privacy, the Dropbox incorporates the idea of embodied experience. Julie Cohen explores this idea through the discussion of cyberspace in her essay, “Cyberspace and/as Space”. Cyberspace is compared from different perspectives in her essay, in relation to it being separate or the same as “real space”. The Dropbox embraces cyberspace from an unexceptionalist’s (Cohen, 2008) point of view that should not associate cyberspace and real space as separate things, because while its capabilities allow a user to access its files from anywhere as long as computer and internet connection are available, the Dropbox puts certain limits on the amount of “storage” the user has available to them. Just as real space has its capacities in terms of how much it can store comfortably, the Dropbox uses this same notion. This plays on the idea of isotopic space and place which is constructed either ‘deliberately or by force of habit, after the pattern of existing places” (Cohen, 2008). The Dropbox resembles that of a human filing cabinet, as McLuhan would explain it, and all the files and documents and hard copies are filed by folder, and the sharing folder represents that of the many copies of the same document that allow it to be available to the “sharers”. However in terms of embodied experience, the Dropbox gives its users the ability to track its “events” which illustrates a list of the user’s activity as well as the activity of the users he/she is sharing folders with. Of course in reality, activities cannot be tracked or retraced unless they are physically jotted down. The Dropbox tracks the person and the time of their activity, something that real human experience cannot compare to.
However, this embodied experience aspect of the Dropbox calls for concern in terms of the user’s privacy. The user’s files are shared over the Internet, a networked space that includes billions of other users. Where this information can wind up and more so, if this data can be permanently deleted, questions the security of using such a software to, ironically, reduce the fear and risk in terms of data loss. With this unknown answer to where deleted information stores itself or if it simply disintegrates, can equally suggest the unexceptionalist theory of cyberspace being separate from real space seeing at its boundaries are not defined nor are its limitations from the behind the scenes of the software(Cohen, 2008). The user’s access is limited to certain restrictions where as the software creator and operator can move around these restrictions and make its own rules. The laws in cyberspace differ from real space because these activities are not overseen by a government or must pass certain laws before being available over the Internet. The Internet is accessible to all whereas real space will always have its limitations, politics and regulatory rules; what can be copied, what can be accessed, what can be shared, cannot compare from cyberspace to real space.
However, this embodied experience aspect of the Dropbox calls for concern in terms of the user’s privacy. The user’s files are shared over the Internet, a networked space that includes billions of other users. Where this information can wind up and more so, if this data can be permanently deleted, questions the security of using such a software to, ironically, reduce the fear and risk in terms of data loss. With this unknown answer to where deleted information stores itself or if it simply disintegrates, can equally suggest the unexceptionalist theory of cyberspace being separate from real space seeing at its boundaries are not defined nor are its limitations from the behind the scenes of the software(Cohen, 2008). The user’s access is limited to certain restrictions where as the software creator and operator can move around these restrictions and make its own rules. The laws in cyberspace differ from real space because these activities are not overseen by a government or must pass certain laws before being available over the Internet. The Internet is accessible to all whereas real space will always have its limitations, politics and regulatory rules; what can be copied, what can be accessed, what can be shared, cannot compare from cyberspace to real space.Lastly let us take a look at how the Dropbox portrays old media practices through its new media face. As Matthew Fuller takes a deeper look into the Microsoft Word application in his essay, “It Looks Like You’re Writing a Letter,” he brings up the interesting fact that Word has this belief, or so it seems, that the more icons on the toolbar, the more up-to-date the software is (Fuller, 2003). Of course, the computer generation, Genereration Y, grew up learning how to use technology, so these tools to most, do not need to inform the user of what they are or how they are to be used. Technological intelligence is second nature to many in this generation. However, as many from Generation X begin to jump on this bandwagon of text messaging, the Internet, computers and electronics, they need the added help in having tools available to them readily, as well as explanations for how they are used. Fuller brings up the idea that “culture becomes an engineering problem” (Fuller, 2003). Our society forces us to live in a fast paced life and if you chose not to do so, you will fall behind. Constantly keeping up with daily responsibilities and tasks, often hurrying to our “filing cabinet”, as well as the personal need to stay social, it is no surprise that technologies must continue to keep up with this pace as well. However, Fuller refers to culture being an engineering problem in its way of constantly having new software being created to perform tasks that already existed without their help (Fuller, 2003). The Dropbox provides an easy way to get on board with this new media. The video offers cartoon-like illustrations that display a narrated skit of what the Dropbox is and its purpose. However, the main page of the website is very plain, not many words, no buttons except the “play” button for the video and the “download” button, and very little use of color. A simple white and ocean blue theme portrays the simplicity of a period where technology and overwhelming gadgets and buttons and tools were not needed to “maximize” or so to speak, the effectiveness and newness of a media. The Dropbox goes back in time, grasping details from earlier media such as the typewriter and the record player that had few buttons, few tools, few gadgets and most importantly, a clear focal point. The simplicity in their functionality allowed their main use and purpose to be undoubtedly understood; the typewriter, ink letters onto a paper for the purpose of creating standard, similar letters and documents and removing the need to write by hand; the record player, allow for the playback of recorded live sound for continual enjoyment of re-listening and having the recording always being the same as the original; the Dropbox, to reduce the fear of data loss and simplify the need for a “filing cabinet”, or as their Facebook page states, "simplify the way people create and share their life's work."
So in conclusion, what can we say about the Dropbox as a form of new media? Not only does its purpose simplify traditional methods of working and storing our files and data technologically, but it also offers a simplified way of understanding its true purpose, therefore allowing people to use to it to its fullest potential. It portrays embodied experience in its means of at times reflecting real space, yet at the same time with it requiring internet to function to its full capacity, allows it to equally represent cyberspace and real space as separate entities, seeing as its privacy terms, ability to use and availability of use, do not pertain to the same regulatory laws of real space and place. Most importantly, removing the constant need to hurry downtown to our filing cabinets emphasizes McLuhan’s argument that this should not be a necessity. Especially in a fast paced society, constantly connected by media and technology, an innovation as such, should have been much anticipated. With this, downloading your free version of the Dropbox will give you freedom of location, the detachment from stressing over potential data loss, and of course will offer you the liberty to carry less and to let your memory go once in a while. However as for privacy concerns, this continues to remain an issue with any software that involves the internet. With that said, it is evident that the Dropbox translates both old media and new media in its functions, interface and purpose. However, as we know it, how long this new media will remain “new”, lies in the hands of how hard the next brightest innovators and engineers are working behind their computer screens.
So in conclusion, what can we say about the Dropbox as a form of new media? Not only does its purpose simplify traditional methods of working and storing our files and data technologically, but it also offers a simplified way of understanding its true purpose, therefore allowing people to use to it to its fullest potential. It portrays embodied experience in its means of at times reflecting real space, yet at the same time with it requiring internet to function to its full capacity, allows it to equally represent cyberspace and real space as separate entities, seeing as its privacy terms, ability to use and availability of use, do not pertain to the same regulatory laws of real space and place. Most importantly, removing the constant need to hurry downtown to our filing cabinets emphasizes McLuhan’s argument that this should not be a necessity. Especially in a fast paced society, constantly connected by media and technology, an innovation as such, should have been much anticipated. With this, downloading your free version of the Dropbox will give you freedom of location, the detachment from stressing over potential data loss, and of course will offer you the liberty to carry less and to let your memory go once in a while. However as for privacy concerns, this continues to remain an issue with any software that involves the internet. With that said, it is evident that the Dropbox translates both old media and new media in its functions, interface and purpose. However, as we know it, how long this new media will remain “new”, lies in the hands of how hard the next brightest innovators and engineers are working behind their computer screens.
[1] http://www.facebook.com/Dropbox
[2] http://www.facebook.com/Dropbox
Bibliography:
Matthew Fuller (2003) "It Looks Like You're Writing a Letter" from Behind the Blip: Essays on the Culture of Software. Brooklyn, NY: Autonomedia.
Cohen, Julie E. (2007). “Cyberspace as/and Space,” Columbia Law Review [Vol. 107:210]
http://www.columbialawreview.org/articles/index.cfm?article_id=850
Marshal McLuhan, (1965). "McLuhan predicts 'world connectivity' 1965", YouTube Video, available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNhRCRAL6sY
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