Showing papers on "Digital media published in 2007"

Youth, Identity, and Digital Media

Abstract: As young people today grow up in a world saturated with digital media, how does it affect their sense of self and others? As they define and redefine their identities through engagements with technology, what are the implications for their experiences as learners, citizens, consumers, and family and community members? This addresses the consequences of digital media use for young people's individual and social identities. The contributors explore how young people use digital media to share ideas and creativity and to participate in networks that are small and large, local and global, intimate and anonymous. They look at the emergence of new genres and forms, from SMS and instant messaging to home pages, blogs, and social networking sites. They discuss such topics as "girl power" online, the generational digital divide, young people and mobile communication, and the appeal of the "digital publics" of MySpace, considering whether these media offer young people genuinely new forms of engagement, interaction, and communication.ContributorsAngela Booker, danah boyd, Kirsten Drotner, Shelley Goldman, Susan C. Herring, Meghan McDermott, Claudia Mitchell, Gitte Stald, Susannah Stern, Sandra Weber, Rebekah Willett David Buckingham is Professor of Education at the Institute of Education, London University, and Founder and Director of the Centre for the Study of Children, Youth and Media.

Teens and social media

Abstract: Content creation by teenagers continues to grow, with 64% of online teenagers ages 12 to 17 engaging in at least one type of content creation, up from 57% of online teens in 2004. The use of social media is gaining a greater foothold in teen life as they embrace the conversational nature of interactive online media. Girls continue to dominate most elements of content creation. Some 35% of all teen girls blog, compared with 20% of online boys, and 54% of wired girls post photos online compared with 40% of online boys. Boys, however, do dominate one area - posting of video content online. Online teen boys are nearly twice as likely as online girls (19% vs. 10%) to have posted a video online somewhere where someone else could see it.

Beyond Technology: Children's Learning in the Age of Digital Culture

Abstract: Acknowledgments. Preface. 1. SELLING TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS. The Marketing of Educational Technology. 2. MAKING TECHNOLOGY POLICY. ICTs and the New Discourses of Learning. 3. TECHNO-TOPIAS. Constructing Childhood, Learning and Technology. 4. WAITING FOR THE REVOLUTION. The Unfulfilled Promise of Technological Change. 5. DIGITAL CHILDHOODS?. New Media and Children's Culture. 6. PLAYING TO LEARN?. Rethinking the Educational Potential of Computer Games. 7. THAT'S EDUTAINMENT. Digital Media and Learning in the Home. 8. DIGITAL MEDIA LITERACIES. An Alternative Approach to Technology in Education. 9. SCHOOL'S OUT?. The Future of Schooling in the Age of Digital Media. References.

Digital Performance: A History of New Media in Theater, Dance, Performance Art, and Installation

Abstract: The past decade has seen an extraordinarily intense period of experimentation with computer technology within the performing arts. Digital media has been increasingly incorporated into live theater and dance, and new forms of interactive performance have emerged in participatory installations, on CD-ROM, and on the Web. In Digital Performance, Steve Dixon traces the evolution of these practices, presents detailed accounts of key practitioners and performances, and analyzes the theoretical, artistic, and technological contexts of this form of new media art. Dixon finds precursors to today's digital performances in past forms of theatrical technology that range from the deus ex machina of classical Greek drama to Wagner's Gesamtkunstwerk (concept of the total artwork), and draws parallels between contemporary work and the theories and practices of Constructivism, Dada, Surrealism, Expressionism, Futurism, and multimedia pioneers of the twentieth century. For a theoretical perspective on digital performance, Dixon draws on the work of Philip Auslander, Walter Benjamin, Roland Barthes, Jean Baudrillard, and others. To document and analyze contemporary digital performance practice, Dixon considers changes in the representation of the body, space, and time. He considers virtual bodies, avatars, and digital doubles, as well as performances by artists including Stelarc, Robert Lepage, Merce Cunningham, Laurie Anderson, Blast Theory, and Eduardo Kac. He investigates new media's novel approaches to creating theatrical spectacle, including virtual reality and robot performance work, telematic performances in which remote locations are linked in real time, Webcams, and online drama communities, and considers the "extratemporal" illusion created by some technological theater works. Finally, he defines categories of interactivity, from navigational to participatory and collaborative. Dixon challenges dominant theoretical approaches to digital performance -- including what he calls postmodernism's denial of the new -- and offers a series of boldly original arguments in their place.

Media Consumption and Public Engagement: Beyond the Presumption of Attention

Abstract: Governments in many countries fear voting turnout and political engagement is in terminal decline, threatening the long-term legitimacy of the democratic process. Meanwhile definitions of politics and the public world are changing, while media formats are proliferating and media audiences fragmenting in the age of digital media. How are these important trends related? And what do our everyday habits of consuming media contribute to our possibilities of being effective citizens? Nick Couldry, Sonia Livingstone and Tim Markham address these questions in their pathbreaking new book based on research into the 'Future of Public Connection'. The book reports their findings and explains highly original methodology, involving people across England producing diaries for three months tracking their perspective on the public world. The book includes interviews, a nationwide survey and an authoritative review of the current literature on democratic theory, political sociology and media audiences. The result is a major assessment of the difference that media, and our ways of living with media, make to the condition of democracy.

Digitizing Race: Visual Cultures of the Internet

Abstract: In the nineties, neoliberalism simultaneously provided the context for the Internets rapid uptake in the United States and discouraged public conversations about racial politics. At the same time many scholars lauded the widespread use of text-driven interfaces as a solution to the problem of racial intolerance. Todays online world is witnessing text-driven interfaces such as e-mail and instant messaging giving way to far more visually intensive and commercially driven media forms that not only reveal but showcase peoples racial, ethnic, and gender identity. Lisa Nakamura, a leading scholar in the examination of race in digital media, uses case studies of popular yet rarely examined uses of the Internet such as pregnancy Web sites, instant messaging, and online petitions and quizzes to look at the emergence of race-, ethnic-, and gender-identified visual cultures. While popular media such as Hollywood cinema continue to depict nonwhite nonmales as passive audiences or consumers of digital media rather than as producers, Nakamura argues the contrarywith examples ranging from Jennifer Lopez music videos; films including the Matrix trilogy, Gattaca, and Minority Report; and online joke sitesthat users of color and women use the Internet to vigorously articulate their own types of virtual community, avatar bodies, and racial politics. Lisa Nakamura is associate professor of speech communication and Asian American studies at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. She is the author of Cybertypes: Race, Ethnicity, and Identity on the Internet and coeditor, with Beth Kolko and Gilbert Rodman, of Race in Cyberspace.

Preparing for an age of participatory news

Abstract: In a time of declining public trust in news, loss of advertising revenue, and an increasingly participatory, self-expressive and digital media culture, journalism is in the process of rethinking and reinventing itself. In this paper, the authors explore how journalism is preparing itself for an age of participatory news: a time where (some of) the news is gathered, selected, edited and communicated by professionals and amateurs, and by producers and consumers alike. Using materials from case studies of emerging participatory news practices in the Netherlands, Germany, Australia and the United States, the authors conclude with some preliminary recommendations for further research and theorize early explanations for the success or failure of participatory journalism.

Campaign Ads, Online Messaging, and Participation: Extending the Communication Mediation Model

Abstract: Political communication researchers have devoted a great deal of attention to the role of political advertising, the Internet, and political discussion in civic and political life. In this article, we integrate and extend this research by developing a campaign communication mediation model of civic and campaign participation. Two data sets are merged for this inquiry: (a) content-coded ad-buy data on the placement of campaign messages on a market-by-market and program-by-program basis and (b) a national panel study concerning patterns of traditional and digital media consumption and levels of civic and campaign participation. Exposure to televised campaign advertising is estimated by developing an algorithm based on the market and program placement of specific ads and geocoded survey respondents’ viewing of certain categories of television content in which these ads were concentrated. Structural equation models reveal that advertising exposure drives online news use in ways that complement conventional news influences on political discussion and political messaging. However, campaign exposure emphasizing ‘‘attack’’ messages appears to diminish information seeking motivations via broadcast and print media, yet only indirectly and weakly suppresses participation in civic and political life. Further, alternative specifications reveal that our original model produces the best fit, empirically and theoretically. We use these insights to propose an O-S-R-O-R (orientations-stimuli-reasoning-orientations-responses) framework as an alternative to the longstanding O-S-O-R model in communication and social psychology.

Digital Media Literacies: Rethinking Media Education in the Age of the Internet

Abstract: This article considers how media educators can respond to the new challenges and opportunities of the Internet, and of digital media more broadly. It begins by exploring the value and limitations of the notion of 'literacy' in this context. It argues that 'competence-based' definitions of literacy tend to neglect the social diversity of literacy practices, and to retain a narrow focus on 'information', and it suggests that a broader definition of literacy necessarily entails a more critical approach. It then moves on to consider the nature of digital literacy more specifically. It argues that definitions of digital literacy have tended to take a rather limited view of information, and of issues of reliability and bias, and it proposes a broader approach which recognises the social and ideological nature of all forms of mediated representation. Following from this, it then provides some concrete indications of ways in which media education approaches might be applied specifically to the analysis of the World Wide Web, using the established framework of 'key concepts' (representation, language, production, audience). Finally, it considers the potential of digital media production in the classroom as a means of promoting digital literacy. It distinguishes between the approach adopted by media educators and more instrumental or expressive approaches. It then considers the difficulties of such work in a context where a 'digital divide' in access to technology continues to exist, both within and between societies. It argues that the benefits of digital technology in this respect depend crucially on the pedagogic and social contexts in which such technology is used, for example, in the opportunities that are provided for collaborative production and for students sharing their work with a wider audience. The article concludes by arguing that digital literacy needs to be seen as part of a broader reconceptualisation of literacy, and of the use of technology in education.

Campaign Ads, Online Messaging, and Participation: Extending the Communication Mediation Model

Abstract: Political communication researchers have devoted a great deal of attention to the role of political advertising, the Internet, and political discussion in civic and political life. In this article, we integrate and extend this research by developing a campaign communication mediation model of civic and campaign participation. Two data sets are merged for this inquiry: (a) content-coded ad-buy data on the placement of campaign messages on a market-by-market and program-by-program basis and (b) a national panel study concerning patterns of traditional and digital media consumption and levels of civic and campaign participation. Exposure to televised campaign advertising is estimated by developing an algorithm based on the market and program placement of specific ads and geocoded survey respondents’ viewing of certain categories of television content in which these ads were concentrated. Structural equation models reveal that advertising exposure drives online news use in ways that complement conventional news influences on political discussion and political messaging. However, campaign exposure emphasizing ‘‘attack’’ messages appears to diminish information seeking motivations via broadcast and print media, yet only indirectly and weakly suppresses participation in civic and political life. Further, alternative specifications reveal that our original model produces the best fit, empirically and theoretically. We use these insights to propose an O-S-R-O-R (orientations-stimuli-reasoning-orientations-responses) framework as an alternative to the longstanding O-S-O-R model in communication and social psychology.

Civic Life Online : Learning How Digital Media Can Engage Youth

Abstract: Young people today have grown up living substantial portions of their lives online, seeking entertainment, social relationships, and a place to express themselves. It is clear that participation in online communities is important for many young people, but less clear how this translates into civic or political engagement. This volume examines the relationship of online action and real-world politics. The contributors discuss not only how online networks might inspire conventional political participation but also how creative uses of digital technologies are expanding the boundaries of politics and public issues. Do protests in gaming communities, music file sharing, or fan petitioning of music companies constitute political behavior? Do the communication skills and patterns of action developed in these online activities transfer to such offline realms as voting and public protests? Civic Life Online describes the many forms of civic life online that could predict a generation's political behavior.ContributorsMarina Umaschi Bers, Stephen Coleman, Jennifer Earl, Kirsten Foot, Peter Levine, Kathryn C. Montgomery, Kate Raynes-Goldie, Howard Rheingold, Allen Schussman, Luke Walker, Michael XenosW. Lance Bennett is Ruddick C. Lawrence Professor of Communication and Professor of Political Science at the University of Washington.

System and method for extraction of meta data from a digital media storage device for media selection in a vehicle

Abstract: A method is provided for extracting meta data from a digital media storage device in a vehicle over a communication link between a control module of the vehicle and the digital media storage device. The method includes establishing a communication link between control module of the vehicle and the digital media storage device, identifying a media file on the digital media storage device, and retrieving meta data from a media file, the meta data including a plurality of entries, wherein at least one of the plurality of entries includes text data. The method further includes identifying the text data in an entry of the media file and storing the plurality of entries in a memory.

Interactive digital media services

Abstract: Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer software, for interactive digital media service is presented. A content provider streams secondary content, such as images, chatroom discussions, offers for sale, promotions, advertisements, contests, or surveys, along with primary media content, such as radio or television programs, to multiple consumer devices. The consumer can interact with the content provider by sending messages in real time, and the content provider can edit or modify the primary media content or secondary content based on the received messages. The consumer can also order commercial transactions, such as buy products offered for sale, download digital content, songs, ringtones, and screensavers. An operator of the system can manage and control the primary and secondary content and modify them in real time according to the consumer interaction. The content provider can also build a consumer data base based on the consumers' communications.

Digital Media, Youth, and Credibility

Abstract: The difficulties in determining the quality of information on the Internet-in particular, the implications of wide access and questionable credibility for youth and learning. Today we have access to an almost inconceivably vast amount of information, from sources that are increasingly portable, accessible, and interactive. The Internet and the explosion of digital media content have made more information available from more sources to more people than at any other time in human history. This brings an infinite number of opportunities for learning, social connection, and entertainment. But at the same time, the origin of information, its quality, and its veracity are often difficult to assess. This volume addresses the issue of credibility-the objective and subjective components that make information believable-in the contemporary media environment. The contributors look particularly at youth audiences and experiences, considering the implications of wide access and the questionable credibility of information for youth and learning. They discuss such topics as the credibility of health information online, how to teach credibility assessment, and public policy solutions. Much research has been done on credibility and new media, but little of it focuses on users younger than college students. Digital Media, Youth, and Credibility fills this gap in the literature. Contributors Matthew S. Eastin, Gunther Eysenbach, Brian Hilligoss, Frances Jacobson Harris, R. David Lankes, Soo Young Rieh, S. Shyam Sundar, Fred W. Weingarten

Apparatus and method for utilizing an information unit to provide navigation features on a device

Abstract: The present invention relates to a system and method for interacting with digital media that permits creating, editing, combining, producing, and using digital media content. In one aspect of the invention, these features are implemented using a “virtual container” or unit that contains structured information. This structured information includes the software, metadata and content required to use the content on a wide array of platforms, without software installations and without required net access or complex DRM interaction. Additional aspects of the invention extend the above described functionality and universality by enabling new ways to use the platform and link interested and connected parties so that consumers can interact with the product, create or mashup new products, or monetize their content.

Credibility of Health Information and Digital Media: New Perspectives and Implications for Youth

Abstract: Please cite as: Gunther Eysenbach. Credibility of Health Information and Digital Media: New Perspectives and Implications for Youth. In: Miriam J. Metzger & Andrew J. Flanagin (eds.). Digital Media, Youth, and Credibility. MacArthur Foundation Series on Digital Media and Learning. MIT Press 2007 (in press) To be published by MIT Press end of 2007. Note: These are PROOFS which still may contain typesetting errors.

From SuperGoo to Scratch: exploring creative digital media production in informal learning

Abstract: Based on work in media studies, new literacy studies, applied linguistics, the arts and empirical research on the experiences of urban youths' informal media arts practices we articulate a new vision for media education in the digital age that encompasses new genres, convergence, media mixes, and participation. We first outline the history of how students' creative production has been used to meet the goals of media educators and highlight new trends in media education that are instructive for creative production. Our goal is to introduce and situate the new ways in which youth are participating in creative production and the subsequent impact that this might have on teaching and learning media education today. Findings from an ethnographic study are used to demonstrate the potential of youth producing new media, such as videogames and interactive art, on media education research and practice.

Flickr and public image-sharing: distant closeness and photo exhibition

Abstract: This paper presents an empirical study in progress of the use of Flickr.com, part of an on-going research program on personal digital media, including images. Two new kinds of image-sharing with Flickr are.distant closeness. and.photo exhibition.. We are seeing changing uses of images in social interaction and increased multi-modal communication.

System and Method for Providing Data to be Used in a Presentation on a Device

Abstract: The present invention relates to a system and method for interacting with digital media that permits creating, editing, combining, producing, and using digital media content. In one aspect of the invention, these features are implemented using a “virtual container” or unit that contains structured information. This structured information includes the software, metadata and content required to use the content on a wide array of platforms, without software installations and without required net access or complex DRM interaction. Additional aspects of the invention extend the above described functionality and universality by enabling new ways to use the platform and link interested and connected parties so that consumers can interact with the product, create or mashup new products, or monetize their content.

Shifting Roles, Enduring Values: The Credible Journalist in a Digital Age

Abstract: When everyone can be a publisher, what distinguishes the journalist? This article considers contemporary challenges to institutional roles in a digital media environment and then turns to three broad journalistic normative values—authenticity, accountability, and autonomy—that affect the credibility of journalists and the content they provide. A set of questions that can help citizens determine the trustworthiness of information available to them emerges from the discussion.

The features of interactive whiteboards and their influence on learning

Abstract: In a small‐scale study of Information and Communication Technology (ICT)‐rich primary school, interactive whiteboards (IWBs) were found to be the predominant ICT tools used by teachers. The study sought to identify how the teachers used features of ICT to enhance learning, based on a list of ICT’s functions published for teacher education programmes. This list did not appear to account for all the aspects of the IWB’s influence that were described by teachers and observed in their lessons. Interview and observation data concerning digital whiteboard technology were probed further, using a framework for analysing activity settings designed for teaching and learning. This process generated a new taxonomy of features of ICT involving two levels: those intrinsic to digital media and devices and those constructed by hardware designers, software developers and teachers preparing resources for learning. Pedagogical actions supported by these features were identified and views concerning the impact of these actio...

Theorizing Digital Cultural Heritage : a Critical Discourse

Abstract: In Theorizing Digital Cultural Heritage, experts offer a critical and theoretical appraisal of the uses of digital media by cultural heritage institutions. Previous discussions of cultural heritage and digital technology have left the subject largely unmapped in terms of critical theory; the essays in this volume offer this long-missing perspective on the challenges of using digital media in the research, preservation, management, interpretation, and representation of cultural heritage. The contributors--scholars and practitioners from a range of relevant disciplines--ground theory in practice, considering how digital technology might be used to transform institutional cultures, methods, and relationships with audiences. The contributors examine the relationship between material and digital objects in collections of art and indigenous artifacts; the implications of digital technology for knowledge creation, documentation, and the concept of authority; and the possibilities for "virtual cultural heritage"--the preservation and interpretation of cultural and natural heritage through real-time, immersive, and interactive techniques.The essays in Theorizing Digital Cultural Heritage will serve as a resource for professionals, academics, and students in all fields of cultural heritage, including museums, libraries, galleries, archives, and archaeology, as well as those in education and information technology. The range of issues considered and the diverse disciplines and viewpoints represented point to new directions for an emerging field.Contributors:Nadia Arbach, Juan Antonio Barcelo, Deidre Brown, Fiona Cameron, Erik Champion, Sarah Cook, Jim Cooley, Bharat Dave, Suhas Deshpande, Bernadette Flynn, Maurizio Forte, Kati Geber, Beryl Graham, Susan Hazan, Sarah Kenderdine, Jose Ripper Kos, Harald Kraemer, Ingrid Mason, Gavan McCarthy, Slavko Milekic, Rodrigo Paraizo, Ross Parry, Scot T. Refsland, Helena Robinson, Angelina Russo, Corey Timpson, Marc Tuters, Peter Walsh, Jerry Watkins, Andrea Witcomb

Digital storytelling in higher education

Abstract: DIGITAL STORYTELLING is a promising instructional strategy as well as an emerging field of study in higher education. Courses on digital storytelling are offered in communications and creative writing programs at a number of universities. However, the potential for digital storytelling extends far beyond the fields of communication and media studies across many fields of study, including history, American Studies, business and leadership, knowledge management, community planning, and much more. In addition, digital storytelling has been used to help students prepare for college. Digital storytelling applications include personal stories, digital story archives, memorial stories, avocational stories, educational stories, and stories in medicine and health. This paper examines the origins and practice of digital storytelling, highlighting a range of applications in higher education.

Affordances for manipulation of physical versus digital media on interactive surfaces

Abstract: This work presents the results of a comparative study in which we investigate the ways manipulation of physical versus digital media are fundamentally different from one another. Participants carried out both a puzzle task and a photo sorting task in two different modes: in a physical 3-dimensional space and on a multi-touch, interactive tabletop in which the digital items resembled their physical counterparts in terms of appearance and behavior. By observing the interaction behaviors of 12 participants, we explore the main differences and discuss what this means for designing interactive surfaces which use aspects of the physical world as a design resource.

Language and literacy development in computer-mediated contexts and communities

Abstract: This article describes second language uses of Internet communication tools, Web environments, and online gaming, and critically reviews existing research and emerging technologies representing diverse pedagogical conditions in three distinct computer-mediated configurations: (1) instructed and institutional intraclass discussion and interclass partnerships, (2) transcultural partnerships and structured participation in “open” Internet environments, and (3) interaction in ongoing Internet-mediated environments that include popular culture blogs and Web sites, fanfiction communities, language and/or culture communities, and online games. We propose that a critical-and-constructive appraisal of existing and emerging digital media, communicative genres, literacy practices, and the communities made possible through them, can help to forge more responsive, and more ecologically responsible, language-learning opportunities for students who are expected to navigate increasingly mediated social and professional worlds.

Generation Digital: Politics, Commerce, and Childhood in the Age of the Internet

Abstract: Children and teens today have integrated digital culture seamlessly into their lives. For most, using the Internet, playing videogames, downloading music onto an iPod, or multitasking with a cell phone is no more complicated than setting the toaster oven to "bake" or turning on the TV. In Generation Digital, media expert and activist Kathryn C. Montgomery examines the ways in which the new media landscape is changing the nature of childhood and adolescence and analyzes recent political debates that have shaped both policy and practice in digital culture.The media has pictured the so-called "digital generation" in contradictory ways: as bold trailblazers and innocent victims, as active creators of digital culture and passive targets of digital marketing. This, says Montgomery, reflects our ambivalent attitude toward both youth and technology. She charts a confluence of historical trends that made children and teens a particularly valuable target market during the early commercialization of the Internet and describes the consumer-group advocacy campaign that led to a law to protect children's privacy on the Internet. Montgomery recounts--as a participant and as a media scholar--the highly publicized battles over indecency and pornography on the Internet. She shows how digital marketing taps into teenagers' developmental needs and how three public service campaigns--about sexuality, smoking, and political involvement--borrowed their techniques from commercial digital marketers. Not all of today's techno-savvy youth are politically disaffected; Generation Digital chronicles the ways that many have used the Internet as a political tool, mobilizing young voters in 2004 and waging battles with the music and media industries over control of cultural expression online.Montgomery's unique perspective as both advocate and analyst will help parents, politicians, and corporations take the necessary steps to create an open, diverse, equitable, and safe digital media culture for young people.

Aspects of digital media content distribution

Abstract: Techniques for distributing digital media content to personal electronic devices are discussed. Digital media content is collected from a variety of disparate digital media content sources. Specific digital media content is identified and transcoded into a selected format prior to receipt by a particular personal electronic device. The selected format may be based on preferences or characteristics of the personal electronic device or the user thereof, the network, or both. Virtually unlimited subset selection criteria may be used to arranged transcoded digital media content into subsets, which may be temporarily or permanently stored in a single computer or using distributed computing techniques. DRM and identity management techniques can be used in combination with the transcoding and distribution techniques discussed herein to accommodate many business models.

Digital footprints: online identity management and search in the age of transparency

Abstract: The vast array of data points that make up "personal information" in the age of online media are nearly impossible to quantify or neatly define. Name, address, and phone number are just the basics in a world where voluntarily posting self-authored content such as text, photos, and video has become a cornerstone of engagement in the era of the participatory Web. This article looks at the implications.

Media education goes digital: An introduction

Abstract: This editorial introduction provides an overview of the challenges and opportunities presented to media educators by the advent of digital technologies. It argues that media education can provide an important critical dimension to the use of technology in education, that moves beyond a merely instrumental approach; and that it can help to bridge the ‘new digital divide’ between students' experiences of technology outside school and their experience in the classroom. The article then focuses on three ways in which media educators need to respond to new digital media: by applying and extending existing conceptual approaches to these new objects of study; by addressing the creative possibilities of digital technologies, and the pedagogic challenges they represent; and by exploring the potential of emerging forms of participatory media culture.

Display inserts, overlays, and graphical user interfaces for multimedia systems

Abstract: A disclosed digital media device operational at user premises to receive media signals from a media source for presentation via endpoint devices such as a television display. The digital media device can include gateway and digital media management functionality and can be referred to as a gateway and digital media device. The device offers application services obtained over a wide area network and a user premises network. The digital media device may form a composite signal from the media signal and application service information, for example, for a composite audio and/or video signal for television type presentation to the user. The digital media device may receive a selection signal based on the presentation, for transmission to the application service provider device or to the media source. The media device also offers a GUI presenting a moveable arrangement of icons for selectively accessing application services.