To start off with I would like to prioritise the notion of CHANGE & TRANSFORMATION as a way of thinking about NEW MEDIA which can be linked to the key ideas of a media syllabus. For example,
- the transformation of social interaction (audiences);
- the transformation of individual identity (audiences and representation);
- the transformation of institutional structures (industry); and the changes in textual content and structure (language).
- The transformation of audience consumption
In summary, this could be described as the changing nature of symbolic interaction and a lot of the work on this blog is essentially discussing this concept.
Impacts of New Technologies:
- Speed
- Knowledge
- Time
- Space
- Understanding
- Access
- Participation
- Reality
- Privacy
- Choice
- Interactivity
- Storage
- Retrieval
share | active | creative | host |
| Posting links in messaging sites allows people to spread content and show it to others | Ability to leave like/dislike ratings on content allows audience to show their thoughts | People creating media content have the ability to change what they produce to their liking | Users can host various events online |
| story | re-connect | personalise | stream |
| Stories can be told online and through various new communication mediums | Family and friends who are distant or have been separated can communicate, transforming time and space | People often have the ability to make their lives unique to them | Streaming video and radio is developing in popularity like never before |
| experience | store | scale | immerse |
| Events can be experienced from the other side of the world, albeit virtually | Massive amounts of file storage is provided in new media communication platforms | The scale and scope of new media platforms is larger than it has ever been | Virtual reality can immerse users in pseudo – real environments |
| interface | live | adapt | binge |
| The various methods of interacting with new media platforms need accessible interfaces | Live streams with little to no delay in relaying of events are becoming ever prevalent | The COVID – 19 pandemic forced us to adapt – and new media was a big part of that process | New media is so easily accessible that binge watching is common nowadays |
| conversation | re-perform | circulate | endless |
| Conversations might be held using new media as often as in real life | Content does not need to be re-performed; it is replayable an infinite amount of times | New media provides platforms for content to circulate rapidly | There is seemingly endless amounts of new media to consume |
Key Theorist – Marshall Mcluhan
Technological Determinism – the idea that it is the tool that shapes us, rather than us who shape the tool.
“Societies have always been shaped more by the nature of the media by which men communicate than by the content of the communication”
The idea and concept of using media transmission methods can be stimulating and therapeutic, and can cause addiction over time. The ability to use said transmission method and the form in which a message comes from can be more significant in meaning than what the message itself contains.
Jaron Lanier
An American computer scientist and one of the key people behind the rise of VR – written many nooks around social media and the addiction and manipulation which occurs therein.
He argues that companies are acquiring information on mass amounts of people in exchange for free services.
B. F. Skinner
Free will is an illusion as behaviour is either a reaction/response to your environment or is random.
| NEW MEDIA | OLD MEDIA | COMMENT OR EXAMPLE |
| Active involvement | Passive involvement | |
| Two-way conversation | One-way conversation | |
| Open system | Closed system | |
| Transparent | Opaque | |
| One-on-one marketing | Mass marketing | |
| About Me | About You | |
| Brand and User-generated Content | Professional content | |
| Authentic content | Polished content | |
| FREE platform | Paid platform | |
| Metric: Engagement | Metric: Reach/ frequency | |
| Actors: Users / Influencers | Actors/ Celebrities | |
| Community decision-making | Economic decision-making | |
| Unstructured communication | Controlled communication | |
| Real time creation | Pre-produced/ scheduled | |
| Bottom-up strategy | Top-down strategy | |
| Informal language | Formal language |