I really think that I need to start giving these assignments that are given in this class a bit more of an open mind. After being assigned this "walking backwards" assignment, I was really starting to think, "What in the world is the point of all of this? I thought this was a New Media class not a complete blow off course!" Like usual, I was proven wrong. This assignment really started to get me thinking not only about New Media, but how new products or trends are introduced to the public in provocative and sometimes questionable ways.
For my walking backwards experience, I chose to do it at Cedar Point in Sandusky, OH. I decided to only walk around backwards for half of the day and see what kind of reactions I would get in a heavily populated spot. It was very, very interested to say the least! A lot of people just looked and either smiled and chuckled, or laughed. Some of the other people just turned the other cheek or got upset! To clear things up, all I was doing was walking backwards at an amusement park. I wasn't making any sounds other than talking. I wasn't disrupting anyone else. Lastly, I wasn't doing anything wrong! So many people were so quick to either make a judgement or assume what was going on that it really shocked me to say the least. Another thing that shocked me was the number of people that actually asked me why I was walking backwards. There were a whopping total of two people that actually asked what I was doing. After answering they seemed to have an entirely different train of thought! It was almost as if the light came on.
My experience was well rather weird in my opinion. The entire feeling of having something that you've always had quickly taken away hit me as soon as I took my first step walking backwards. After the first few hundred steps, I felt like I was starting to get the hang of this new experience. As the first uneven spot in the pavement approached, unbeknown to me, the feeling of having the hang of walking backwards came to a crashing halt. Literally. Yep, I fell down in the middle of Cedar Point. Thankfully, for both my humiliation and ass' sake, this was the only time I fell down.
By lunch time I decided to call it quits and after starting to walk "normally" again, the feeling of doing something new ran throughout my body once again. It didn't take nearly as long to get use to walking normal. All in all it wasn't a bad experience, nor really that great of one either. Just a different one to say the least.
Reflecting back to this entire experience really makes me think about how new products are introduced to users and the public. Generally, not always, but generally all new products try to come in with some sort of bang. This is achieved either with a rather eye catching or provocative way. This provocative way isn't always something that is morally wrong or perceived as wrong, just something that is generally not something that is generally done. A prime example of this is walking backwards in an amusement park. This was a smaller rather different assignment that most definitely got me thinking outside of the box!
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