New Media Technologies: Communication Theories

COM 300

Kathy E. Gill24 April 2007

Agenda Housecleaning Recap New Media Theories Networks Discussion Leaders – Group 2

Housecleaning Grades Feedback Questions:

How many seniors? How many have never had to write a

cite?

Adoption - Rogers

Summary Adoption How does an understanding of

technology adoption stages relate to concepts like this week’s readings?

More New Media Theory Lev Manovich: professor, UCSD,

author of The Language of New Media (2001) and Soft Cinema: Navigating the Database (2005)

Marshall McLuhan: Canadian, author of Understanding Media (1964) and The Medium is the Massage (1967)

Manovich’s Five Characteristics (1/6)

Numerical Representation Modularity Automation Variability Transcoding

Manovich’s Five (2/6)

Numerical representation “zero’s and one’s” Copying does not lead to degradation

(format change, however, can) Analog v Digital

Early complaints about CD v LP

Manovich’s Five (3/6)

Modularity The “whole” consists of many “objects”

Google Images PPT and Excel HTML page (javascript, JPGs, etc) Individual blog posts

Manovich’s Five (4/6)

Automation What computers do best! Photoshop automation; database driven

websites RSS readers Object management and search (Google)

Manovich’s Five (5/6)

Variability Website customization possible by

automation Presenting data (shaping appearance)

based on output device: monitor, PDA, cellphone

Scaling (zoom – Google Maps)

Manovich’s Five (6/6)

Transcoding Two distinct layers: cultural layer and

technology layer … the intersection is a field called Human-Computer Interaction

Which takes precedence – culture or technology?

McLuhan (1/3)

Believes media (technologies) affect cultural (social) change Differentiates between a medium and its

content Same content (words) is a different

message when delivered in print, face-to-face, or on television – what is less important than how

“We shape our tools, and they in turn shape us."

McLuhan (2/3) Historical Construct

Tribal Age (oral culture – intuitive) Age of Literacy (invention of phonetic

alphabet – emergence of logic) Print Age (invention of printing press –

linear thinking – science – individualism) Electronic Age (ushered in with

telegraph, poster child: TV – global village – decline of logic and linearity)

McLuhan (3/3)

Compare our immediate knowledge of the 2007 VaTech shooting with the 1556 Chinese earthquake that killed 830,000 (or even daily events in Iraq)

If, as he suggests, print created individualism and nationalism … what might networked communication create? Will familiarity breed contempt or collaboration?

But to understand networks…And their impact on society and the

economy …

We first need a basic understanding of economics.

Supply and Demand Most widely used economic model Describes how consumers and

producers interact to determine the price of a good and the quantity that will be produced/sold

Demand Curve Shows the quantity of a good (or

service) that consumers are willing to buy at each price

Assumes “all other things” remain constant (static)

Law of Demand: curve slopes “downward” (P on the vertical axis)

Supply Curve Shows the quantity of a good (or

service) that businesses are willing to sell at each price

Assumes “all other things” remain constant (static)

No “law of supply”

Supply-Demand

Types of Goods (1/2)

Non-rival - a good that can be used by more than one person at the same time (an idea)

Non-excludable - it is not possible for the “owner” to exclude others from consuming this good (non-patented idea)

Types of Goods (2/2)

Rival Non-Rival

Excludable Most consumer goods Private land Services: dental, rental cars, tax prep Single license software

Trade secrets Multi-license software Patents Subscription web sites

Non-Excludable

Public land Most roads Water?

Basic research Defense, police, firemen Lighthouse “Open” websites

Network effects (1/2)

Static analysis: One person’s decision to adopt a new

piece of software (or other technology) has no effect on someone else’s welfare or decision to adopt

Assumes no network externality

Network effects (2/2)

Dynamic analysis: The value of the software (or technology)

depends upon the decisions of others (interoperability, for example)

Assumes there is a network externality

Locked In! Consumers may be locked into a network

because of “cost of exit” (switching) Contracts (cell phone 24-month policies) Training (learn a new system – ugh) Data conversion (from Word to Word Perfect, for

example) Search cost (finding the new product) Loyalty cost (frequent flyer programs, “minutes

carry-over”)

Tipping As market share increases for any

one product (system, technology), there are increasing returns (externality) from increasing consumer demand, leading to dominance by one system

Examples AM v FM radio Beta v VHS Mac v Windows QWERTY v DVORAK What about ..

“Google”? Windows? AT&T Wireless/Cingular?

How Does Open Source Fit? Assumes many minds greater than a

few Assumes transparency leads to higher

quality Enabled by virtual computer network

Examples (some conceptual) ARPANET development of standards

for telecom protocols 1998: Netscape releases Navigator

source code Apache (web server)

Open Source Parking Firefox, Mozilla Wikipedia

Summary There is an intrinsic relationship

between content and technology: both contribute to meaning

Churchill : “we shape our buildings and then our buildings shape us”

Network effects can shape society (but maybe only short-term)

Discussion Leaders Count off – groups Leaders pick a computer Small groups “move” but leaders

“stay put”