Week 2New Media

Marissa Kluger September 7, 2012

What is New Media? Definition: interactive forms of communication that use the Internet, including podcasts, RSS feeds, social networks, text messaging, blogs, wikis, virtual worlds and more!

It makes it possible for anyone to create, modify, and share content and share it with others , using relatively simple tools that are often free or inexpensive

3 C’s of new media tools: Connect, Collaborate, and Create

Components: Internet, Web sites, computer multimedia, computer games, CD-ROMs and DVD, virtual reality, e-books

Who uses it?

People of all ages and backgrounds are online and using new media tools for a variety of reasons such as searching for information and connecting with others

What’s new about New Media?Old media have all evolved in terms of ownership trends, message packaging, and audience consumption patterns.

When new media is introduced into society its place and functions are unknown but rather shaped and modeled by adaption to the new medium and by the existing habits of media use.

Key feature of new media: digitality

Digitality: the condition of living in a digital culture

Aspects: continuous contact with other people through cell phones, instantaneous look up of information through the World Wide Web on search engines, as well as communicating through weblogs and email

Changed the way in which we communicate, communication is no longer one way. In fact, we now have the need to create new words. This is a clear indicator that things are new!

Ex.- the term “multimedia message service” (MMS) did not exist until the emergence of new media such as mobile phones

What’s new about New Media?Affects the way we speak or choose to communicate to others

Ex.- Instant messaging mediums such as MSN, Skype, or even text messages shortens everything

The fact that the media has had this drastic social change on communities shows the level of influence and power it has, and the fact that old media could not do this also makes this media new.

Another feature of new media: time compression

Ex.-When editing magazines (old media) , editors would spend a month doing the work it takes to put out the publication and then wait for printing and shipping before anyone could even read the work.

All this work is done in half the time or less with new media

Being able to be heard quickly is what sets New Media apart

History emerged in the latter part of the 20th century

The phrase “New Media” came to prominence in the 1990s and is often used by technology writers and by scholars in media studies

late 1980s to early 1990s - a different kind of relationship between social changes and computer design begins the advent (arrival) of new media

There are some negative connotations of the term

Ex.- revolutionary transforming people’s lives

this is widely seen as unjustified

New Media & Mass Media

Media: a socially realized structure of communication

Therefore, new media is a sub-category of mass media, but yet it has become as influential as its parent category

Mass Media plays a crucial role in forming and reflecting public opinion, connecting the world to individuals and reproducing the self-image of society.

Example: Television broadcasting has a large amount of control over the content society watches and the times in which it is viewed.

Convergent MediaOld media: books, newspapers, magazines, television, radio, recordings, movies and paper-based publications

New media’s audience is much larger than that of old media (although it could be argued that new media helps draw attention to old media)

New media is challenging the distinguishing feature of old media (content control) by altering the participation habits of the public.

Internet creates a space for more diverse political opinions, social and cultural viewpoints and a heightened level of consumer participation

Old media such as broadcast, audience members had to attend to the same message at the same time because of programming schedules determined by the industry.

However, this is no longer the case as the audience can choose when, where and how to attend to a message using the Internet on news websites and podcasts.

Another example: with old media you could send letters to the editor and could have your own public access television show, but for the average media consumer, there was no real chance of being heard before New Media.

New Media Studies explores the intersections of computing, science, humanities, and the performing arts

Marshall McLuhan, cornerstone of media theory: “the medium is the message” and “the global village”

New Media scholars have highlighted both the positive and negative potential and actual implications of new media technologies

technological determinism - the effects were determined by the technology themselves, instead of through tracing complex social networks which governed the development, funding, implementation, and future development of the technology

W. Russell Neuman (1991) 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

Terminology digital media: electronic media that work on digital codes/form (text, graphics, audio, and video)

social media: used for social interaction, using highly accessible publishing techniques

social networking: a collection of websites that allow people to join networks

new media technologies: digital, often having the characteristics of being manipulated, networkable, dense, compressible, interactive and impartial

web 2.0: interactive media theory where an infrastructure focusing on content creation, management, and dissemination is built for the user to generate that content in a community framework.

blog/blogging: short for web log (weblog), a type of online diary/the verb form

In-class Writing

Choose one area, topic, idea, or concept that I presented about new media, and summarize, paraphrase, or write one paragraph in your own words. 10-15 minutes to write

Tasks Please set up your blog. Remember, you can use any Chinese (SINA, 163 blogs) or English blogging site. If you choose to use an English website, I suggest you use Tumblr (tumblr.com). When you have established your blog, please send me an email with a working link. In your email you should include the following: your English name, student and class number.

Read the first chapter of Converging Media. I suggest you read the chapter in the following way: a section or two each day.

First personal blog assignment: Using your introductory exercise from last week, write a blog entry that includes the following:

English Name, hometown

hobbies, interests, aspirations

why you are taking this New Media course and what you hope to learn

What old media you read/know about

Where, on the Internet, you read/find out about any kind of news/information about the world around you

What new media you use

Student Resources

http://www.kcnn.org/resources/journalism_20/ http://www.poynter.org/category/how-tos http://www.poynter.org/latest-news/business-news/transformation-tracker/28803/new-media-timeline-1969-2010/

Some odds and ends Week 3 Lecture: Important Concepts in New Media; The Changing Media Landscape and How Digital Media are Changing Our World Please make sure you are checking your email on a regular basis. Heads up: I usually send mail to your public e-mail address Friday afternoon.

I will be sending you an important piece of electronic mail regarding our class blog before Week 3.

If you add me on QQ, please tell me who your English name, class number, or major. I do not add individuals who do not provide me with one of the first, second, or last pieces of information.