Re: Understanding Metamedia

The categorization of media into the 4 quadrants is a really clever way to distinguish different kinds of technology, and can be used to helpfully identify new technologies that we otherwise couldn't make sense of. I remember when the iPad first came out, the reaction of the general public was: "What is this thing? What does it do? Why do we need it? Is it a laptop or a phone, and how does it apply to my everyday life?" Instead of trying to emulate an existing medium (like the transition from a landline to an iPhone), it reinvented something completely new, which would fit it into the 2nd quadrant. I think if everyone had a general understand of this method of identifying technology, it would help resolve confusion when things like tablets, Apple Watches, or the very earliest computers surface in the technological atmosphere.