Marshall elaborated the idea of interactivity as the characteristic of new media. Although the term has been abused, the term often implies  group dynamics, collaboration, and influence toward each other. In the context of new media, interactivity relies on the replication of interpersonal dynamics and provides greater connection to others along with a greater sense of control, consequently greater ownership of ideas.

Anderson pointed out an exceptionally intriguing point. Since conventional media contents are often influenced by editors and/or business interests, so-called professional journalism reflecting public opinion may not be relevant anymore. As we can frequently witness, certain media channels’ contents are heavily influenced by political atmosphere and business agenda. So called, “journalistic truth”, might have been the echoes of shouts by media channels with the loudest voice and deeper pocket.

In the midst of such environment, 1) changing audience dynamics refusing to absorb broadcasted contents passively, and 2) new media and internet technologies offering broader access of information, it may not be a coincident to see the rise of public journalism, such as blogs. As Rosen argued, the premise of passive audience is just obsolete, especially when audiences now consume, produce, and share media contents. People no longer absorb and interpret mass-broadcasted contents. The emergence of user-centric media, such as public journalism, Indymedia, and demand media might have been pre-destined.

Shirky also brought up a very intriguing perspective. Formerly, occupied by TV media, we now are experiencing cognitive surplus. Due to widen availabilities of media access, we voluntarily consume, produce, and share contents based on our choices of media channels. Users may create contents motivated by fame, fortune, fun, and fulfillment (Blank & Reisforf 2012), or they simply want to connect with other likeminded people, enact the self, or express their struggling(Correa & Jeong, 2011). On the other hand, users just want to have fun by sharing their thoughts.

Nevertheless, I still have a doubt that we have already witnessed the full potential of new media. Many people are using it for different purposes, and even different races have dissimilar perspectives and usages of new media (Correa & Jeong, 2011). Still, new media appear to be for young people currently, and some level of technical knowledge was surely a factor to encourage active usage of new media, despite the presence of privacy concerns (Blank & Reisdorf, 2012). The role of technology is one of critical factors to define new media. Our urge to communicate with others was never a new concept. We now can actualize our impulse in a bigger scale because of Internet and new media technology. Even the concept of interactivity is transforming because interactivity embedded user interfaces are facilitating our urge to communicate. We no longer need to sit straight in front of Desktop PC. Couch-potato is no longer exclusively implying a lazy TV addict. Thanks to Tablet and voice-oriented software (Siri and Dragon), any brilliant mind can exert their creativity wherever they want. Still, it is not clear how new media would evolve or even where it would lead us. Nevertheless, I seriously doubt that new media is a fad because, regardless what applications and platforms dominates today, as long as whatever new platforms can mimic the dynamics of our natural communication, the idea of web 2.0 will stand strong!!