MODULE 5

Dr. Thornburg defines a Red Queen as "huge competition existing between two technologies, in the process all other competition is left behind" (Laureate Education, 2009). It is clear to me that streaming video is clearly competing with DVD’s for the market share of movie watchers at home. With the video streaming becoming cheaper and easier to do within the next 10 years we will see DVD’s obsolete. The one thing that hinders video streaming from taking over right now is that there are so many places where a person can get DVD’s. With gas prices being what they are, along with the time it takes to rent or buy a movie and return the movie video streaming becomes more attractive. I believe that more and more people will be leaning at video streaming as they realize it is easy and economic to use.
The thought of running to the store to rent or purchase a video today

When you decided to obtain a DVD for your science fiction assignment in Module 4, where did you go to find a movie based on a Philip K. Dick book? Did you rent or purchase a DVD, or did you view it digitally on your computer using Netflix or a similar vendor of video on demand?

First as with anything I want to know I went online to Google and goggled it. I first looked for free video’s and watched 60 minutes of the movie before my computer said my streaming was full. Becoming frustrated I went to Amazon and downloaded the movie for $5 as I had a $4 off coupon. This worked great I was able to see the movie. I live in rural Tennessee and a drive to town is a round trip 40 minute ride and the local McDonalds is the only one renting movies and selection is not extensive.



This chart shows the relative growth of instantly watched titles streamed by Netflix compared to DVD Shipments over the past decade. As impressive as the growth in DVD shipments has been for Netflix, the growth in Instantly Watched streams is even steeper. It is likely that 2010 will be the first year when Netflix's DVD shipments will begin to plateau off. Retrieved from http://www.feedfliks.com/dvd-vs-instant

Where do you think DVDs and video on demand are on the four criteria of McLuhan’s tetrad?

Enhances
Watching movies at home. More family time watching movies together.
DVD’S

Obsoletes
Going to the movies.
Going to video rental stores.

Reverses
Cheaper, quicker movie downloads

Retrieves
VHS and Beta and film strip movies of years past

Thornburg, D. (2008). Red Queens, butterflies, and strange attractors: Imperfect lenses into emergent technologies. Lake Barrington, IL: Thornburg Center for Space Exploration