Unit 4. How multimedia affects individuals

In Unit 1, we used the metaphor of a four-layered cake talked as a way to understand multimedia. One layer studies how users and audiences relate to digital multimedia on an individual level. We now explore some aspects of that relationship relationship in Unit 3, which we cover this week and the next. Should you finish the BAMS program to completion, you will be enrolling in a variety of courses in which you will explore other desired, expected, surprising, or unwanted impacts of digital multimedia products, applications, tools, and artifacts on individuals and on societies.

Before starting this unit, briefly consider these questions:

• Have digital multimedia products, applications, tools, or artifacts made a positive difference in your life?

• On the other hand, have you had any unwanted experiences involving digital multimedia or can you identify instances in which feel that digital multimedia has negatively impacted you?

• Which of the examples of negative and positive impact that you've listed would you say relate to you primarily as an individual, and which would you say relate to you as largely as part of a community or social group?