New media

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It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Digital media. (Discuss)

New media is the marriage of mediated communications technologies with digital computers.

Contents

[edit] Introduction

Until the 1980s media relied primarily upon print and analog broadcast models, such as those of television and radio. The last twenty five years have seen the rapid transformation into media which are predicated upon the use of digital computers, such as the Internet and computer games. The use of digital computers has also transformed the remaining 'old' media, as suggested by the advent of digital television. Even traditional media forms such as the printing press have been transformed through the application of technologies such as image manipulation software like Adobe Photoshop and desktop publishing tools.

New media rely on digital technologies, allowing for previously separate media to converge. Media convergence is defined as a phenomenon of new media and this can be explained as a digital media.“The idea of ‘new media’ captures both the development of unique forms of digital media, and the remaking of more traditional media forms to adopt and adapt to the new media technologies."[1] Convergence captures development futures from old media to new media. For example, we can easily see that people watch movies in the home on DVD these days instead of videocassettes. Also it is true that people listen to music with their CD player and mp3 player instead of cassette player. The most prominent example of media convergence is the Internet, whereby the technology for video and audio streaming is rapidly evolving. The term convergence is disputed, with critics such as Manovich pointing out that the 'old' medium of film could be seen as the convergence of written text (titles and credits), photography, animation and audio recording. Equally, Espen Aarseth has surveyed the ever increasing number of incompatible electronic appliances to critique the techno-utopian claims of convergence. The status of convergence is one of many such disputed claims regarding the revolutionary 'newness' of new media.

While the term New Media is disputed - the technologies involved are now up to 25 years old, and therefore not new in the sense of recent innovations - theorist Lev Manovich has argued forcefully against the alternative term digital media in The Language of New Media (2001). Manovich contends that a digital process is one which is based on sampling a continuous (analog) one from the real world in order to re-present it. While computer based media fit into this description, as data is converted into binary code, so too does cinema - which functions by sampling time into a series of discrete images which are then played in rapid succession. Consequently, the term digital media signifies too broad a range of technologies for Manovich to consider it to be of any value within academic discourse.

Andrew L. Shapiro (1999) argues that the "emergence of new, digital technologies signals "a potentially radical shift of who is in control of information, experience and resources" (Shapiro cited in Croteau and Hoynes 2003: 322). W. Russell Neuman (1991) suggests that whilst the "new media" have technical capabilities to pull in one direction, economic and social forces pull back in the opposite direction. Thus, although social changes will occur, they "will be evolutionary, not revolutionary" (Croteau and Hoynes 2003: 322). According to Neuman, "We are witnessing the evolution of a universal interconnected network of audio, video, and electronic text communications that will blur the distinction between interpersonal and mass communication and between public and private communication" (Neuman cited in Croteau and Hoynes 2003: 322). Neuman argues that New Media:

  • will alter the meaning of geographic distance
  • Allow for a huge increase in the volume of communication.
  • Provide the possibility of increasing the speed of communication.
  • Provide opportunities for interactive communication.
  • Allow forms of communication that were previously separate to overlap and interconnect.

In place of the vague, hype infused terms often used to describe new media such as digitality, hypertextuality and interactivity, Manovich presents what he purports to be the principles of new media - which are not to be understood as fixed as laws - but general ways in which new media function.[2] These principles are listed as-

  1. Numerical Representation
  2. Modularity
  3. Automation
  4. Variability
  5. Transcoding

As an area of academic inquiry, new media studies has sought to understand the genealogies of new media platforms and texts; tracing the distinct pasts of digital computers and the media, and understanding how these paths came to intersect in the 1980's with the advent of GUI's and computers which were sufficiently powerful to run image manipulation programs. New media studies also seeks to map the potential trajectories of new media systems, and analyse their relationship(s) with democracy and the Habermasian notion of the public sphere. Consequently it has been the contention of scholars such as Douglas Kellner and James Bonham that new media, and particularly the internet provides the potential for a democratic postmodern public sphere, in which citizens can participate in well informed, non-hierarchical debate pertaining to their social structures. Contradicting these positive appraisals of the potential social impacts of new media are scholars such as Ed Herman and Robert McChesney who have suggested that the transition to new media has seen a handful of powerful transnational telecommunications corporations who own the majority achieve a level of global influence which was hitherto unimaginable. Recent contributions to the field such as Lister et al (2003) and Friedman (2005) have highlighted both the positive and negative potential and actual implications of new media technologies, suggesting that some of the early work into new media studies was guilty of technological determinism - whereby the effects of media were determined by the technology themselves, rather than through tracing the complex social networks which governed the development, funding, implementation and future development of any technology.

A host of companies and organizations describe themselves as "new media". With this all-encompassing use of the term, "new media" can refer to any type of media that is used for public relations or marketing, if it is more electronically sophisticated than an animated flashing neon sign. Because this broad use of the term has a vague definition, it may be considered something of a buzzword.

Such marketing organizations may understand "new media" as another term for digital media, whilst others discussing the term tend to see it as more related to a hypothetical future of digital media. This narrower, more advanced use of the term doesn't just apply to digital media, but to the technological leaps themselves--from developing new concepts, products, or technology to pushing technological advances on items already in circulation.

New Media has become a significant element in everyday life. It allows people to communicate, bank, shop and entertain. The global network of the Internet, for instance, connects people and information via computers.[3] In this way the Internet, as a communication medium of New Media, overcomes the gap between people from different countries, permitting them to exchange opinions and information. Diverse means for this exist even within the context of the Internet, including chat rooms, Instant Messaging applications, forums, email messaging, online video and audio streaming and downloads, and voice-over-internet telecommunications. New Media is defined not only as a communication tool, but also as a tool for the commercial exchange of goods and services.[4] Consumer goods are for sale, and personal property may be auctioned, through the Internet. New Media is increasingly ubiquitous in everyday life. To adopt the phrase used by Lister et al in New Media, a Critical Introduction, those of us with access to the online world are now 'living in the interface'.[5]

[edit] Some examples that usually fall within new media

What counts as new media is often debated, and is dependent on the definitions used. However, there are a few that have been widely accepted as forms of New Media. The following are fairly firmly established, or at least referenced by some companies that claim to deal in new media:

[edit] Globalization and new media

Flew (2002) stated that as a result of the evolution of new media technologies, globalisation occurs. Globalisation is generally stated as "more than expansion of activities beyond the boundaries of particular nation states".[6] Globalisation shortens the distance between people all over the world by the electronic communication (Carely 1992 in Flew 2002) and Cairncross (1998) expresses this great development as the "death of distance". New media "radically break the connection between physical place and social place, making physical location much less significant for our social relationships" (Croteau and Hoynes 2003: 311).

"virtual communities" are being established online and transcend geographical boundaries, eliminating social restrictions. Rheingold (2000) describes these globalised societies as self-defined networks, which resemble what we do in real life. "People in virtual communities use words on screens to exchange pleasantries and argue, engage in intellectual discourse, conduct commerce, make plans, brainstorm, gossip, feud, fall in love, create a little high art and a lot of idle talk" (Rheingold cited in Slevin 2000: 91). For Sherry Turkle "making the computer into a second self, finding a soul in the machine, can substitute for human relationships" (Holmes 2005: 184). New media has the ability to connect like-minded others worldwide.

While this perspective suggests that the technology drives - and therefore is a determining factor - in the process of globalisation, arguments involving technological determinism are generally frowned upon by mainstream media studies. [7][8] [9] Instead academics focus on the multiplicity of processes by which technology is funded, researched and produced, forming a feedback loop when the technologies are used and often transformed by their users, which then feeds into the process of guiding their future development.

While commentators such as Castells [10] espouse a 'soft determinism' [11] whereby they contend that 'Technology does not determine society. Nor does society script the course of technological change, since many factors, including individual inventiveness and entrpreneurialism, intervene in the process of scientific discovery, technical innovation and social applications, so the final outcome depends on a complex pattern of interaction. Indeed the dilemma of technological determinism is probably a false problem, since technology is society and society cannot be understood without its technological tools.' (Castells 1996:5) This however is still distinct from stating that societal changes are instigated by technological develoment, which recalls the theses of Marshall McLuhan [12] [13]


Manovich [14] and Castells [15] have argued that whereas mass media 'corresponded to the logic of industrial mass society, which values conformity over individuality,' (Manovich 2001:41) new media follows the logic of the postindustrial or globalised society whereby 'every citizen can construct her own custom lifestyle and select her idology from a large number of choices. Rather than pushing the same objects to a mass audience, marketing now tries to target each individual separately.' (Manovich 2001:42).

[edit] Old media and new media

Old media are, for example, typewriters, vinyl record albums and eight-track magnetic tapes.[16] These media involve analog processes - ones which directly sample a continuous recording onto a physical medium, as opposed to new media which sample media as a numerical representation in binary code.

The distinction between "new media" and old media is often indistinct due to the homogeneity of the term, which can conflate media where computers are the transmission medium and media where digitisation occurs to facilitate a new way of distributing a pre-existing medium. Whereas the Internet clearly marks a departure in terms of user experience and possibility, transferring a betamax tape onto DVD involves a far less dramatic change as the content of the media remains either identical, or slightly enhanced through digital manipulation of - for example - colour.

The term 'new media' gained popular currency in the mid 1990s as part of a marketing pitch for the proliferation of interactive educational and entertainment CD-ROMs. One of the key features of this early new media was the implication that corporations, not individual creators, would control copyright.[17] The term then became far more widely used as the mass consumer internet began to emerge from 1995 onwards. The term 'new media' can be traced back to the 70s when it was described more as an impact on cultural studies of different aspects such as economic as well as social, it is only within the last 25 years that the term has taken on a more advanced meaning.

[edit] Interactivity and new media

Interactivity has become a key term for number of new media use options evolving from the rapid dissemination of Internet access point, the digitalization of the media, and media convergence. In 1984, Rice defined the new media as communication technologies that enable or facilitate user-to-user interactivity and interactivity between user and information. [18] Such as Internet replaces the "one-to-many" model of traditional mass communication with the possibility of a "many-to-many" web of communication. Any individual with the appropriate technology can now produce his or her online media and include images, text, and sound about whatever he or her chooses. [19] So the new media with technology convergence shifts the model of mass communication, and radically shapes the ways we interact and communication with one another.

Interactivity can be considered as a central concept in understanding new media, but different media forms possess different degree of interactivity [20], even some forms of digitized and converged media are not in fact interactive at all. Tony Feldman [21] considers digital satellite television as an example of a new media technology that uses digital compression to dramatically increase the number of television channels that can be delivered, and which changes the nature of what can be offered through the service, but does not transform the experience of television from the user’s point of view, as it lacks a more fully interactive dimension. It remains the case that interactivity is not an inherent characteristic of all new media technologies, unlike digitization and convergence.

Terry Flew (2005) argues that "the global interactive games industry is large and growing, and is at the forefront of many of the most significant innovations in new media" (Flew 2005: 101). Interactivity is prominent in these online computer games such as World of Warcraft and The Sims. These games, developments of "new media", allow for users to establish relationships and experience a sense of belonging, despite temporal and spatial boundaries. These games can be used as an escape or to act out a desired life. Will Wright, creator of The Sims, "is fascinated by the way gamers have become so attached to his invention-with some even living their lives through it" (http://www.thesun.co.uk/article). New media have created virtual realities that are becoming mere extensions of the world we live in.

[edit] Cell phones and new media

Cell phone users can read newspaper, see advertisements, watch movies, and watch television with their phone. The cell phone is one of the vehicles upon which new media can be distributed and broadcast.

[edit] The new media industry

The new media industry shares a close association with many market segments in areas such as software/video game design, television, radio, and particularly advertising and marketing, which seeks to gain from the advantages of two-way dialogue with consumers primarily through the internet. The advertising industry has capitalized on the proliferation of new media with large agencies running multi-million dollar interactive advertising subsidiaries. In a number of cases advertising agencies have also set up new divisions to study new media. Public relations firms are taking advantage of the opportunities in new media through interactive PR practices.

Within the advertising business there is a blurring of the distinction between creative (content) and the media (the delivery of this content). Now media itself is considered to be creative and the medium has indeed become the message.

In 1999 a Newsweek cover story featured the 20 "New Stars of the New Media." The magazine claimed a handful of newspreneurs were "changing the way Americans get their news."

According to Croteau and Hoynes (2003), people are spending more time online but visiting fewer web sites. People often access the same web sites, so many Internet sites are seldom visited and remain unknown. Well-known names such as Nike and Sony have an advantage on the Internet because they are already familier to users. Small companies are at a disadvantage because users do not even know they exist. Thus the merger of America Online (AOL) and Time Warner may predict the direction of New Media.[22] It is possible that New Media companies will merge with the established Old Media producers.

[edit] Origins

New media can be seen to be a convergence between the history of two separate technologies: media and computing. These technologies both began back in the 1830s with Daguerre's daguerreotype and Babbage's Analytical Engine.

Computers (for performing calculations) and modern media technologies (e.g. celluloid film, photographic plates, gramophone records) started to become inter-connected during the 20th century and these trajectories began to converge by the translation of existing media into binary information to be stored digitally on computers.

Therefore, new media can now be defined as "graphics, moving images, sounds, shapes, spaces, and texts that have become computable; that is, they comprise simply another set of computer data."[23]

New media can be defined not only as things you can see such as graphics, moving images, shapes, texts, and such. It is also things that cannot be seen, such as a Wi-Fi connection. Like radio or electricity, no one can see the Wi-Fi waves in the air floating through the air. But the Wi-Fi concept can be considered new media. So new media can be either concept-based, refer to a solid object, or both.

[edit] 21st century Media

Two significant but contrasting events heralded the beginning of 21st century media.

10th January 2000: "AOL and Time Warner merger". Two media giants from different media backgrounds: AOL (internet based) and Time Warner (print, film, television, radio). While Time Warner produced and warehoused content (news, movies, music), AOL's web portal provided the vehicle for delivering content to AOL subscribers. Overnight they became a bigger entity than Coca Cola or Brazil.

This is important because it demonstrates that the 21st century began with the old media conglomerates like Time Warner becoming larger and serving the world its content (from one source) through more avenues. As with television before it, online advertising exploded and generated its own online advertising models. No longer did consumers have to travel to the record or video store to rent, purchase, or learn about new content; they could simply download it online.

It is also significant because the Internet was at its centre. AOL bought Time Warner, and not the other way around. [24]

30th November 1999: N30 (WTO Ministerial Conference of 1999 protest activity). N30 was the launch of a new millennial round of trade negotiations, quickly overshadowed by massive and controversial street protests outside the hotels and the Seattle Convention Center, in what became the second phase of the anti-globalization movement in the United States.

The significant part for the media was not however the WTO meeting but the protest activities and the way they used the internet to organise, publicise and mobilise their actions. The entire event was co-ordinated online through the emerging "Independent Media Center" (http://indymedia.org).

At the same time as media corporations are merging, expanding and becoming more transcendent, the people are deciding that in the 21st century the news is too important to be left to the media. Lawrence Lessig states that this 21st century media balance is the opening up of a new kind of free media (not financially, but democratically free) against the media giants who have ownership over all the current forms of media. [25]


[edit] References

  1. ^ Flew, Terry (2002) New Media: an Introduction, Oxford University Press, South Melbourne, p.11
  2. ^ Manovich, Lev (2001). "The Language of New Media". MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts. p20
  3. ^ Croteau, David & Hoynes, William (2003) Media Society: Industries, Images and Audiences (third edition) Pine Forge Press, Thousand Oaks
  4. ^ Barr, Trevor (2002). The Internet and Online Communication, in Stuart Cunningham and Graeme Turner (eds) The Media & Communications in Australia, Allen & Unwin, Crows Nest
  5. ^ Lister, Martin, Dovey, Jon, Giddins, Seth. Grant, Iain. & Kelly, Kieran (2003) New Media: A Critical Introduction, London, Routledge
  6. ^ Thompson, John B. (1995). The Media and Modernity. Cambridge: Polity Press, p. 150
  7. ^ Williams, Raymond (1974) 'Television: Technology and Cultural Form, London, Routledge
  8. ^ Durham, M & Kellner, Douglas (2001) Media and Cultural Studies Keyworks, Malden, Ma and Oxford, UK, Blackwell Publishing
  9. ^ Lister, Martin, Dovey, Jon, Giddings, Seth. Grant, Iain. & Kelly, Kieran (2003) "New Media: A Critical Introduction", London, Routledge
  10. ^ Castells, Manuel, (1996) Rise of the Network Society, The Information Age: Economy, Society and Culture volume 1, Massachusetts, Blackwell Publishing
  11. ^ Lister, Martin, Dovey, Jon, Giddins, Seth. Grant, Iain. & Kelly, Kieran (2003) New Media: A Critical Introduction, London, Routledge
  12. ^ McLuhan, Marshall (1962) The Gutenberg Galaxy: The Making of Typographic Man, London, Routledge and Kegan Paul
  13. ^ McLuhan, Marshall (1964) Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man, Toronto, McGraw Hill
  14. ^ Manovich, Lev (2001) 'The Language of New Media' MIT Press, Cambridge and London
  15. ^ Castells, Manuel, (1996) Rise of the Network Society, The Information Age: Economy, Society and Culture volume 1, Massachusetts, Blackwell Publishing
  16. ^ Gitelman, Lisa. & Pingree, Geoffrey B. (Ed). (2003). New Media, 1740-1915. London: The MIT Press
  17. ^ http://www.kathryncramer.com/kathryn_cramer/2006/02/watermarking_as.html
  18. ^ Schorr,A & Schenk,M & Campbell,W (2003),Communication Research and Media Science in Europe, Mouton de Gruyter, Berlin, p57
  19. ^ Croteau, David & Hoynes, William (2003) Media Society: Industries, Images and Audiences (third edition), Pine Forge Press, Thousand Oaks, p303
  20. ^ Flew, Terry (2002), New Media: An Introduction, Oxford University Press, UK, p13
  21. ^ Feldman,Tony (1997) An Introduction to Digital Media, Routledege, London
  22. ^ Croteau, David and Hoynes, William (2003) Media Society: Industries, Images and Audiences (third edition) Pine Forge Press, Thousand Oaks
  23. ^ Manovich, Lev (2001). "The Language of New Media". MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts. p20
  24. ^ Top Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A) Deals (2007-03-28). Retrieved on 2007-05-05.
  25. ^ Lawrence Lessig (2005-02-22). Free Culture: The Nature and Future of Creativity. Penguin. 

(2003) in Wardrip-Fruin, Noah and Nick Montfort: The New Media Reader. The MIT Press. ISBN 0-262-23227-8.  Croteau and Hoynes (2003) Media Society: Industries, Images and Audiences (third edition) Pine Forge Press: Thousand Oakes. Flew and Humphreys (2005) "Games: Technology, Industry, Culture" in Terry Flew, New Media: an Introduction (second edition), Oxford University Press: South Melbourne. Holmes (2005) "Telecommunity" in Communication Theory: Media, Technology and Society, Cambridge: Polity. Turkle, S (1996) "Who am We?" in Wired magazine, 4.01, published January 1996, [1]

[edit] See also

fy:Nije media it:Nuovi media nl:Nieuwe media no:Nye medier sr:Нови медији fi:Uusmedia th:สื่อนฤมิต zh:新媒體

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