ABSTRACT
Different mediational means, the authors argued, bring with them different affordances and constraints, making some things easier to do and other things more difficult to do. But analyzing how media work is not as simple as just figuring out what they allow us to do, media are almost always used in combination with other media, and so they have to understand how different mediational means, different kinds of people, and different forms of language interact at what they have called sites of engagement. Controversies surrounding media use are not new. It seems that every time a new medium is ‘born’, opinions get quickly divided with regard to its impact. It may sound bizarre to you, but even writing was viewed with suspicion when it was first developed. The Greek philosopher Socrates, one of the founders of Western philosophy, was adamant that writing was a ‘bad’ means of communicating knowledge that would corrupt peoples’ minds.
