On this day in history: human genome completion
28 Jun 2010 Leave a Comment
in Health, National News, Science, Technology, World News
News Production, consumption and distribution
06 Jun 2010 Leave a Comment
in Entertainment Arts, Technology
Television journalists now have access to more technology and ‘new media’ than ever before. They can utilize the internet, high powered cameras, quality microphones, mobile phones and email, just to name a few. Because technology changes so rapidly it is inadequate to list the latest developments in media technologies and say that these alone have changed the television journalism environment, rather we must ask “what’s new for society about the media” (Livingstone 1999 cited by Flew 2008), or in this case, what is new for the journalism industry.
It is true; however, that many of these technological advances have been a catalyst for industry change. One of the largest and perhaps the most significant would be the introduction of the internet. “Intellectual exercises as basic as reading the newspaper or doing research have become fundamentally different activities largely because of the internet.”(Gitelman & Pingree 2003 cited by Flew 2008)
The internet has truly changed the work of Australian Journalists as it provides fast, convenient communication, however it also brings with it a certain level of competition between news mediums (print, radio tv). The internet has created an increasingly demanding public. Viewers want their news as quickly as possible, they want the bulk of the story in a short amount of time and they want a broad range of stories. (Alysen 2006)
The internet is unmatched in flexibility and variety, users can gain information at their leisure rather than being held down to a specific bulletin time; therefore journalists have to compete for viewer attention by creating increasingly vibrant and entertaining stories. Due to this demand, Journalists are on an even tighter schedule to deliver the most current stories; however this is balanced by the effectiveness of modern telecommunication systems, which make news gathering even easier with for phone interviews, picture messages, email and more.
Through the capabilities of the internet the mass audience is said to be in decline. In the past a media outlet would produce a single message or point of view and it filters down to many people, or the ‘mass audience’. “…new media requires a rethinking of traditional sender-receiver models of communication” (Kenney 2000 cited by Flew 2008) this is why the internet is a key member of many news outlets today, because it integrates the broadcast medium into a digitized, flexible world, where audiences can see a broadcast after the bulletin time if they missed it, gain further background information on a specific bulletin and so on. These changes in technology have prompted a change in communication, thus changing the writing styles and jobs of Australian journalists.
The internet has proposed not only a new way of consumption but also of production and distribution.( Flew 2008) Society now has access to many areas of information, news and opinions streaming across a ‘multi-faceted interface’ (the internet) which is broadcast to multiple homes at the individual’s leisure, It is a many-to-many system, rather than a one-to-many (mass audience), so that the users are now also the producers of viewed content.
One of the other changes, and challenges faced by broadcast journalists, in relation to the internet is that audiences are not simply consumers anymore; they’re producers (Flew 2008), which means journalists are a lot more accountable for what they write, as anyone can cross check sources via the internet. There is a need for greater depth of research, fact-checking and accuracy.
The public may also choose what, when, where and even how they watch the news via the internet and they may also choose to contribute towards the news coverage, either via online comments, social networking website or direct news submissions. This means television journalists have to become increasingly tech-savvy to keep the line of professional journalism and citizen journalism (Flew 2008) from blurring. The challenge here is also to determine whether users are actually creating the content, or simply commenting on it. However the bomb attacks on the London Underground on July 7 2005, proved otherwise. Within the first few hours of the bombings the BBC had received 20,000 email messages, 1000 images and 20 packages of video, all recorded by people on their mobile phones. (Nightingale and Dwyer 2007)
Lastly job availability is decreasing as journalists today are being employed to do multiple jobs which require working in a multimedia environment, sometimes working with text, photographs, video and sound all within the same story for online production. Rather than taking on a separate employee for online journalism, the journalist who writes the story may also have to upload it online with pictures and video links.
Bibliography
Hirst, M. & Harrison J. (2007) Communication and New Media: from broadcast to
narrowcast. South Melbourne: Oxford.
Nightingale, V. and Dwyer, T. (Eds.) (2007) New Media Worlds: challenges for
convergence. Melbourne, Oxford University Press
Avatar vs. World of Warcraft
06 Jun 2010 Leave a Comment
in Entertainment Arts, Health, Technology
The use of computer technologies and intertextuality within Avatar (3D) as compared with World of Warcraft and the associated social problems.
Film production is an intentional process that does not present us with true realities, thus films which are produced are not transparent windows on the world, or direct forms of communication, but are representations of ‘the real’ which mirror our attitudes, our worlds, our loves and our hates. This study will compare 3D media, specifically within the film Avatar and popular massively multiplayer online role playing game World of Warcraft (W.oW), in relation to appropriation of images, narrative, contexts and the social problems which come with their popularity.
Our media do not just inform us, but persuade, influence, educate, and of course, entertain us. They can make us think, feel and react. Today many film makers achieve this through the use of technology. “The creation of computer-generated imagery (CGI) techniques allowed a blend of live and drawn action to appear seamlessly on screen for the first time” (Hirst and Harrison 2007). The film Avatar has taken CGI techniques to the next level by introducing specially designed cameras built into a six-inch boom that allowed the facial expressions of the actors to be captured and digitally recorded for the animators to use in the creation of the onscreen aliens, along with the first mainstream, feature-length 3D film screened in common cinemas. “There can be no doubt that digital technologies have altered the creative language of cinema” (Hirst and Harrison 2007)
Avatar is centred around protagonist Jake Sully, an Anglo-Saxon, middle class, combat marine who has been injured in battle and who is now a paraplegic. Despite advanced technologies Jake cannot afford suitable treatment for his condition and remains in a wheelchair. Jake takes the place of his recently murdered twin brother in a project on the planet of Pandora. The planet is a hostile environment for humans, the air is toxic, and the wilderness filled with prehistoric-like savage beasts. Many of these creatures on Pandora are futuristic yet prehistoric providing an interesting cross over between modern and primitive. Just as the 3D animation technologies tell the story Avatar which has been told in old media previously in Dances with Wolves and Pocahontas (hand drawn animation and novels) thus merging the old media with the new. This intertextuality allows for a stronger emotional response from audiences already familiar with these stories bringing them further into the immersive effects of 3D.
An energy crisis on earth has prompted this mining expedition to Pandora. The rare mineral “unobtainium”, not only an interesting play on words, but also a play of a larger social idea of mankind’s greed in wanting what one cannot ‘obtain’. This expedition brings not only miners and marines but genetic scientists to the planet in an attempt to study and organise a re-location of the native people.. Scientists have taken the DNA from the indigenous humanoids called the Na’vi, and combined it with human DNA to create ‘avatars’. These avatars are ‘linked’ to a specific human, who can then control them, like a ‘pilot’. As Jake has identical DNA to his brother he is able to use the ‘avatar’ created for his twin. This provides us with another interesting cross over in which players of modern computer games can create characters sometimes called “avatars”, some in an attempt to live a virtual life, which is in a sense, much like the world Jake Sully embarks on, a double or alternate life, thus an alternate reality. Just as Juke Sully is matched to his own avatar it has been thought that gamers “use their avatars to accurately reflect their offline self where users choose to display their self-attributes or idealised views of their avatar by concealing or emphasising attributes aligned to imagined social roles”(Goldie et al 2010).
This is most relevant to World of Warcraft, however can be likened to those who wish to have surgical procedures to reshape their bodies to become more Na’vi like. Some use their avatar’s appearance to emotionally provoke and engage the avatar viewer (Goldie et al 2010). This is where an emotional link or attachment is formed, much like ‘going into link’ in the film. The term ‘link’ is used to describe the human’s ability to pilot their avatar, which is true for the film and within game play. Lastly avatars in the gaming world are often used as proxies where users design their online self in order to convey a message to a significant other about their offline self, or in an attempt to hide ones offline self. This may vary from the clothes a person chooses in the game to the name they go by. (Goldie et al 2010) This is where forms of narrative come into play. Once a character can make choices, like Jake in his ‘real life’ situation on Pandora, is where the pilots begin to create their own stories. The immersive effects of having another ‘self’ in the world of Avatar, for Jake and the audience are not unlike some online computer games.
The 3D realisms and narratives in Avatar propose an extended view of the type of alternate reality presented in games via illustrative parallels and psychological reactions seen in World of Warcraft. “Many games do have narrative aspirations. Minimally, they want to tap the emotional residue of previous narrative experiences. Often, they depend on our familiarity with the roles and goals of genre entertainment to orientate us to the action, and in many cases, game designers want to create a series of narrative experiences for the player.” (Jenkins 2004) Twenty-first century film production, like the creation of ‘avatars’ (or alternate selves) online is an intentional process that does not present us with true realities, but does however allow users to create their own narratives. Thus the 3D ‘virtual’ world which is presented to us are not true realities or experiences, they only present what is perceived to be actual.
Online reviews of 3D technologies have all described similar experiences of striking realisms in gaming and 3D media and reaction to that realism. Although the brain perceives the idea that what is seemingly reality is in fact an intangible representation of the real, ducking, swatting away bugs or reaching out to feel something are common reactions when watching the film avatar. However some take the idea of a second life, alternate reality or physical form to a more serious level, becoming completely immersed within the digital worlds.
A condition arose with the film Avatar known as ‘Post-Avatar depression’ where sufferers “long to enjoy the beauty of the alien world Pandora”. (Piazza, 2010) Sufferers have confessed to feelings of hopelessness, obsessiveness, agitation, worthlessness and fatigue. Some even having suicidal thoughts. On one Avatar discussion site more than a thousand posts have been added to a thread entitled “Ways to cope with the depression of the dream of Pandora being intangible”. In an interview with the Daily Telegraph, psychotherapist, Stacy Kaiser said these fans have other more serious problems in their lives. “They’re seeing Avatar, they’re lonely people, a lot of them don’t have a lot going on in their lives right now. The movie opened up a portal for them to express their depression.” (Jess, 2010) It seems that this type of thing is universal as “…many audiences around the world experience the media themselves as a complicated and interconnected repertoire of print, celluloid, electronic screens and billboards. The lines between the realistic and the fictional landscapes they see are blurred, so that the farther away these audiences are from direct experiences of metropolitan life, the more likely they are to construct imagined worlds that are chimerical, aesthetic, even fantastic. (Appadurai, 1996, p.35 cited by Nightingale & Dwyer)
Avatar fandom has now reached a dangerous critical mass; so much so that the Mental Health Bureau is actively patrolling the Net for posts that exhibit this new phenomenon of Post-Avatar Depression. Similarly gamers, who play World of Warcraft, have reportedly experienced issues with reality along these lines. An American Psychologist lobbied Blizzard gaming to combat this problem by introducing “in game shrinks.” Reports in the Sydney Morning Herald claimed that World of Warcraft is so addictive that a team of counsellors would be sent into the game to treat players before they lose touch with the real world. “In recent years, several studies have demonstrated that at least a small group of gamers has trouble controlling their online video game playing. Excessive amounts of time spent on playing online video games can be severely disruptive to school, work, and “real life” social contacts. It seems that online games, especially multiplayer online role playing games, are more often associated with video game addiction. Drawing parallels to other industries-such as gambling-which are heavily regulated” (Antonius et al 2009) However many gamers do not feel that this form of restriction is needed. Nightingale and Dwyer (2007) argue that “play needs to be free…because otherwise it would lose its attractive and joyous quality as diversion.” (p 156)
The problem became apparent late last year after Sweden’s Youth Care Foundation published a report claiming that World of Warcraft was the most dangerous game on the market. Described as, “the cocaine of the computer games world”. In 2005, a South Korean couple were arrested after their four-month-old child died when they left the baby alone to go to play World of Warcraft at an internet café. Also in 2005, an in-game funeral was held for a young Chinese girl who died after playing World of Warcraft for several days continuously. (Moses, 2009)
From this it seems many gain a false sense of achievement from the game and feel the need to change their reality to become more like the idealistic one that they’re presented with through these different forms of media, be that film or computer games. “It’s only fitting then that Avatar should share similarly dangerous and life-inhibiting elements as something as globally addicting as World of Warcraft. They’re both so big, and they both involve the audience immersing themselves into a fantastical alien Utopia, that it would be hard not to find similar elements in both projects. The entire concept of having an “Avatar” – a body vessel – is essentially what people feel, on a smaller scale, when they play Warcraft.” (Fowler, 2010)
An example much like World of Warcraft in its immersive effects is Second life. Which encourages users in their promotional trailer to “free yourself, free your mind and love your life” invoking an emotional response which triggers an even more immersive experience. In these games the impossible is possible.
| Figure 5: Neytiri, Avatar |
| Figure 6: Dranei creature, W.o.W |
This may not have been the desired outcome of the film Avatar, however director James Cameron told attendees at Comic Con in 2009 “that maybe in the enjoying of it makes you think a little but about the way you interact with nature and your fellow man. The Na’vi represent something that is our higher selves, or our aspirational selves, what we would like to think we are.” Our media do not just inform us, but persuade, influence, educate and entertain us.
Avatar is not a direct mirror of the world’s social systems but it does act as a metaphor for larger overhanging themes throughout western culture, this is particularly true with Avatars use of intertextuality, or narrative appropriation. Later in the film Jake is seduced by Colonel Quaritch to infiltrate the Na’vi in exchange for an operation on his legs. Jake agrees, but he soon finds himself indebted to a beautiful member of the Na’vi tribe, Neytiri, who saves his life. After Jake falls in love with Neytiri and is indoctrinated into the tribe, his outlook changes along with the audience’s outlook. He wants to remain in his avatar persona and protect the people from the cornel’s planned extermination.
The climax of the plot is the traditional epic battle of good versus evil, as discussed in other narratives before. The result is not only a rallying of all Na’vi people who fight against human invasion to restore peace to their land and protect their culture as many humans leave bound for earth. “Avatar imaginatively revisits the crime scene of white America’s foundational act of genocide, in which entire native tribes and civilizations were wiped out by European immigrants to the American continent.” (Newit 2010) As an overview, with regard to context and real life intertextuality the mining company is running out of money. There was a perception at the time of production and scripting of Avatar that the world was ‘running out of money’, and that the money lay in large mining industry. This underlying theme of financial crisis within the movie runs alongside the economic downturn which had just passed prior to the film’s release. The rare mineral needed for energy could also represent oil which has caused significant blunder in the previous years amongst businessmen, economists at motorists alike.
The ‘primitive’ Na’vi could represent citizens of third world nations who have resources needed by more advanced countries. The perception of primitiveness is interwoven with the plot progression, where, for example European industrialists consider Native American and Aboriginal innovation to be primitive without taking into account their inherent respect for all living things, which ironically, environmentalists and citizens are ruthlessly striving for now.
The movie seems to educate the audience in pointing out the historical conquest of Native Americans or Aboriginals by Anglo-Saxon colonisation, but from the view of the natives. An example of this parallel can be seen in one sub-group of Na’vi are called the ‘plains people’. There hold striking similarities to the Plains Indians of central America. They are described in the film as skilled horsemen and warriors, much like those of the Native Americans. Within Aboriginal culture they’re said to be children of the land, they’re hunters, and a deep respect for Nature in seen in many of their dreamtime stories, much like the Na’vi. Even their dress, their weapons, and their use of “war paint” are much the same to Aboriginal tribes. The film seems to use the Na’vi as a general symbol for all native tribes ever dominated by Anglo-Saxon explorers or colonisers.
Much like colonisation “many games centre around the struggle to explore, map and master contested spaces.” (Jenkins 2004) Within World of Warcraft game play surrounds this idea of mastering spaces and exploration along with heroes vs. villains, good vs. evil culture vs. culture, technology vs. primitiveness and so forth. These parallels all develop the idea that the film Avatar and World of Warcraft are presentations of what we perceive the world to be like socially.
In conclusion Espen Aarseth (1997, cited by Jenkins 2004 pg 3) “one of the very few authors that insisted on the importance of the game dimension of cybertexts and videogames, has said that, ‘To claim that there is no difference between games and narratives is to ignore essential qualities of both categories.’ ” Therefore advances in narrative structures are often appropriated and intertextualised for films and games alike using CGI and animation technologies which have both allowed for more immersive mediascapes. “The technology of cinema is the story of technical advances that enhance the filmgoer’s experience.” (Hirst and Harrison 2007) Thus our media do not just inform us, but persuade, influence, educate and of course entertain us.
Bibliography
Antonius J. Van Rooij. Gert-Jan Meerkerk. Tim M. Schoenmakers. Mark Griffiths. Dike van de Mheen (2009) Video game addiction and social responsibility IVO, Rotterdam, The Netherlands, Psychology Division, Nottingham trent University.
Flew. T (2008) New Media an Introduction: 3rd edition, Oxford University Press.
Fowler. M Avatar vs. World of Warcraft Available http://au.movies.ign.com/ Last updated January 21, 2010 Last accessed 31/05/2010.
Goldie. P. Bänsiger T. Joinson A. Pitt. J. Vasalou. A (2008) Avatars in Social Media: Balancing accuracy, playfulness and embodied messages. International Journal of Human-Computer Studies
Volume 66, Issue 11, November 2008, Pages 801-811 Available from http://www.sciencedirect.com/science
Hirst, M. & Harrison J. (2007) Communication and New Media: From Broadcast to
Narrowcast. South Melbourne: Oxford.
Jenkins, H (2004) ‘Game Design as Narrative Architecture’, pp. 118-130 in Wardrip-Fruin, Noah & Pat Harrigan (Eds) New Media as Story, Performance, and Game. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Globalization and Media, Malden, MA: Blackwell.
Jess. K (reporter) (2010) Avatar fans reporting depression or even suicidal thoughts. Digital journal; In the Media Available at www.digitaljournal.com/article/285589 Last updated 30/05/2010.
Moses. A (reporter) (2009, August 27) World of Warcraft addicts to get in-game shrinks
Last updated 27/8/2009. Available at http://www.smh.com.au/digital-life/games/world-of-warcraft-addicts-to-get-ingame-shrinks-20090827-f0h6.html?page=-1 Last accessed 30/05/2010.
Nightingale, V. and Dwyer, T. (Eds.) (2007) New Media Worlds: Challenges for
Convergence. Melbourne, Oxford University Press.
Piazza. J. (reporter) (2010, January 11) Audiences experience ‘Avatar’ blues. Available from http://edition.cnn.com/2010/SHOWBIZ/Movies/01/11/avatar.movie.blues/index.html
Last accessed 30/05/2010.
Second Life Official website http://secondlife.com/whatis/?lang=en-US Last accessed 24/5/2010 last updated 24/5/2010.
L. Thomas. (reporter) (2010, January 12) The Avatar Effect. Available from www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1242409/The-Avatar-Effect Last accessed 25/05/2010.
References
Gitelman. L and Pingree.G (2003) Introductory essay to new media, 1740-1915, Cambridge: MIT Press, 2003)
Hub Pages Second Life Addiction http://hubpages.com/hub/SecondLife-addiction last accessed 24/5/2010 last updated 24/5/2010
‘Will New Media Produce New Narratives?’ pp. 337-359 in Ryan, Marie Laure (Ed) 2004 Narrative across Media: The Languages of Storytelling. Lincoln,NA:Uni Nebraska Press.
Official website www.worldofwarcraft.com.au Last updated 31/05/2010. Last accessed 31/05/2010
Have a snappy Christmas
17 Dec 2009 Leave a Comment
in Society, Technology Tags: Week 3
TERRY LANE
December 17, 2009
SMH.com
Have a snappy christmas is basically a ‘how to’ story on taking photos of your kids over chritsmas. Not only informative but entertaining, this article uses the news value/quality “helpfullness”. Follow these tips to capture every festive moment, writes Terry Lane.
Now is the time to start planning for the Yuletide photo ops, especially for capturing that moment when the little tacker’s face lights up when she discovers Santa has come good on her wishes. And also the moment of rapture when she gets her first taste of the joys of materialism and conspicuous consumption.
The first rule of happy Christmas snapping is so obvious it hardly needs repeating but, just in case you’ve forgotten, it is this: get down on their level. There is no missed opportunity as boring as a shot from above from which you miss the eyes completely. Get down on the floor, eyeball to eyeball.
New Media
11 Dec 2009 1 Comment
in Technology
What is new
about
new media?
Before understanding what is ‘new’ about new media, the term ‘new media’ must be understood.
‘New media’ and ‘digital media’ are often used interchangeably as new media is seen as something that is digital.
The terms refer to “a wide range of changes in media production, distribution and use” (Lister et al, 2003). Flew (2008) explains, “Digital media are forms of media content that combine and integrate data, text, sound, and images of all kinds” He goes on to say that these are sorted and distributed in digital form through networks like satellites and microwave transmission systems.
We know from Flew (2008) that new media involves a combination of computing technology, communications networks and digitalised content (‘The three Cs’ of convergence). Aside from the latest technologies themselves, combine this with the way society functions naturally and you have the development of something new!
New aspects of new media come from what advances in technology have done to society. It is inadequate to list the latest developments in media technologies because technology changes so rapidly, rather we must ask “what’s new for society about the media” (Livingstone 1999 cited by Flew 2008).
This report will focus on the internet simply because, “intellectual exercises as basic as reading the newspaper or doing research have become fundamentally different activities largely because of the internet.”(Gitelman & Pingree 2003 cited by Flew 2008)
Digital media has developed new aspects throughout many things in society such as education, economy, communication, industry, government, news, marketing, social interactions and more, creating new avenues and problems for each category to follow.
Communicating
Firstly new media or technology which is digital, does something remarkable, it releases media from the material realm and shifts it into the computational realm. Therefore, in countries with the infrastructure in place, new media has changed the way we consume information through digitalization. The speed, accessibility and its compact nature have all made gaining information easier.
Before digitalisation, information needed large amounts of space, such as in a library or archive. If information was desired a person would have to travel to the source and search through it. Now however, through digitalisation, information can be stored in small spaces, it can be distributed across multiple networks and vast distances at high speeds in non-linear ways (Flew, 2008) and its form can be changed, compressed, expanded, reproduced and in general manipulated to suit the user’s needs. Thus creating a new element to the way in which we communicate information.
New media also allow for people to meet and interact with those who they would not normally come in contact within their own social networks. It creates an avenue for armatures and activist groups to interact globally. “It is argued that these technologies make it possible for grassroots social movements to mobilise support on a global level, to spread information about their activities outside the mainstream commercial media and to discuss issues on a wider platform.” (Nightingale & Dwyer 2007)
The internet also allows for communication across the globe via programs like MSN and Skype, where a user can interact with another user via sound and video. This type of technology has a vast impact on family relationships. Now with these facilities online communications has been altered to incorporate video, which telephones did not originally do. The same can be said for video phones, where callers can see the person they are trying to contact.
Business and Marketing
Overall digital life is redefining company to consumer (and vice-versa) awareness and engagement. You no longer have to go to the supermarket-it can be ordered online, and delivered to your home, many companies have this option of sale.
Also companies are now able to find out about their market audiences without having to complete expensive research. They source much of the information they need via the way people use the internet, through cheaper online surveys, and social networking sites. The internet is therefore a useful marketing tool; companies can increase revenue by directing advertising and sending customers to their website for detailed information, online shopping or advertising opportunities.
“…millions of bytes of data can then be sorted and resold to companies keen to better target their marketing strategies, asses the value of their customers, and adjust their products accordingly” (Boukhari, 1998 cited by Hirst & Harrison 2008)
The online realm also encourages community trade, via website such as eBay, where each member can hold their own digital ‘garage sale’, getting rid of unwanted items and buying and selling wanted items.
Educating
Education has also turned to the internet with many university courses offering options of online study or courses which rely heavily on online updates and weekly readings. Our society has moved from a ‘need to know’ to a ‘right to know’ society, we crave news and information, the internet is said to be ‘harnessing collective intelligence’ through sharing for news and other information. (eg Wikipedia)
This can be a positive and negative thing as those who do not have the level of technology or skill to delve into this age of information and digitisation can be left behind. This also means that many sources are not credible because unqualified individuals may make false claims which mislead those who view them. “…the Internet is not always reliable or easily check for accuracy…” (Hirst & Harrison 2008)
Reporting
So what else is new about new media? Well, there is now a more fluid understanding of mass communication. Through digitization and therefore the internet the mass audience is said to be in decline. Using the TV as an example, in the past one outlet produced a single message or point of view and it filters down to many people, or the ‘mass audience’.“…new media requires a rethinking of traditional sender-receiver models of communication” (Kenney 2000 cited by Flew 2008)
Society now has many areas of information, news and opinions streaming across a multi-faceted interface (the internet) which is broadcasted to multiple homes at the individual’s leisure, It is a many-to-many system, rather than a one-to-many, so that the users are now also the producers of viewed content.
Citizen journalism is something that is very prevalent in today’s society, where consumers create the news and spread it via social networking websites. “consumers to producers’ (Flew 2008) The challenge here is to determine whether users are actually creating the content, or simply commenting on it.
However the bomb attacks on the London Underground on July 7 2005, proved otherwise. Within the first few hours of the bombings the BBC had received 20,000 email messages, 1000 images and 20 packages of video, all recorded by people on their mobile phones. (Nightingale and Dwyer 2007)
Concluding…
New media has changed society so vastly that it would be impossible to delve into every bit of change that has taken place to discover what’s ‘new’ about it, however in short, it has created new ways of communicating, educating, marketing, socialising, reporting and more…
How can Google or Facebook or other newer communications sites be viewed as ‘new media’?
Many of web 2.0’s websites are viewed as new media because of the various features they have and services they provide which has never been encountered before to date. However what is truly new is they have reconstructed the previous forms of interacting with technologies. Eg. Google has changed what information gathering and research is all about and Facebook has changed what socialising is all about.
“…digitalisation of content has completely transformed the distributional models of the media and entertainment industries, as the availability of content is no longer constrained by the distributional bottlenecks such as theatres, radio, and television channels, and shelf space in bookstores and record outlets” (Anderson 2006 cited by Flew 2008)
Google
“Google: V To search for the name of (someone) on the internet to find out information about them. New Oxford American Dictionary” (Hirst and Harrison 2008) Google can be viewed as new media because it has changed the way in which we search for information, solve problems and engage in learning. Google allows for a non-linear, decentralised way of gaining information, rather than a book which is linear and can be read from cover to cover, or in order. Google allows a user to find information they would not otherwise find in a library or archive. It searches out other databases and aids in finding answers about modern, global issues, which may not be in accessible print.
The ability to find one’s own information by using Google as a source of information makes Google one of the highest valued media organisations which does not produce its own media. Now instead of having a mass audience, audiences are now able to search out their own information in their specific areas of interest. This freedom of information has created a new way of looking at information gathering and privacy.
‘It’s rather like the modern-day equivalent of peeping over the neighbour’s fence, only you can do it to anyone from anywhere without anybody knowing’ (Finnila 2005 cited by Hirst and Harrison 2008) Google’s feature “Google maps” and “Google earth” have captured people in compromising situations, from nose picking to robbery.
Facebook
Facebook can be viewed as new media because of the way in which it has allowed for many-to-many connectivity, decentralisation (in terms of control), user-friendly interfaces, and has altered human relationships as a result. Staying in touch, now has new meaning with the introduction of social networking websites such as Facebook.
We’ve gone from “publishing to participation”.
One of the key concepts Flew (2008) talks about which allows Facebook and social networking sites to be seen as ‘new’ is “collective intelligence” where networked technologies “enhance the collective pool of social knowledge by simultaneously expanding the extent of human interactions enabled by communications networks that can generate new knowledge.”
How have the older media changed to accommodate the new media?
Electronic Frontier Foundation co-founder John Perry Barlow argued that ‘with the development of the Internet, and with the increasing pervasiveness of communication between networked computers, we are in the middle of the most transforming technological event since the capture of fire’ (Flew 2008)
Print Media
Fair fax media’s Sydney Morning Herald news outlet is a perfect example of how older media, in this case hardcopy print, has accommodated new media as much of its hardcopy content has been converted for the online world. “…digital media content is generated by the combination and collage of already existing media content that is reassembled in the digitally networked environment” (Flew 2008)
Evans and Wurster (2000) point out that ‘newspapers have had to adjust to loss of income central to the industry’s cost structure because classified advertising has been attacked by online completion which is more current and better customised” (Evans and Wurster 2000 cited by Nightingale and Dwyer 2008)
Newspapers, in response have reconstructed much of their services and transferred them to the internet, where advertising and news can be published more efficiently, at less cost, to a wider audience and in a lot more detail than in newspaper hardcopy. More people are turning to the online world for information and readership is now in decline as a result of this.
This is the process in which Evans and Wurster (2000) describe as deconstruction, where “dismantling and reformation of traditional business structures” takes place.
Newspapers branching out online, in turn creates a new opportunity view content, content is similar but the styles of user consumption are very different. The newspaper is often read from front to back, or from section to section. However online, information is gathered via a different method, which is often sporadic and compulsive. A user will click links which may navigate them away from the story which originally took their interest. Readers may not read a whole story, or even skim the news for the latest news. The internet has allowed for a non-linear style of searching and engaging with the print media.
Just as newspapers have digitised their material, likewise can be said about mail verses email, this ‘older media’ has changed to accommodate the new media of email, which can seem (in comparison to the latest technologies) a bit passé.
Television
Television companies have also accommodated new media by advertising their channel online. Television has enhanced its services to accommodate for new media by creating instant messaging feedback systems, reality TV and online TV.
Bolter and Grusin (2000) suggest that contemporary TV shows like Big brother represent ‘old media’, however they offer their audience more unmediated, more real form of access to the show’s contestants, along with the opportunity to shape the reality of the contestants through technologically mediated interaction. (Bolter and Grusin 2000 cited by Flew 2008)
This content response to the challenge of deconstruction was brought about by the internet, as it is now in direct completion to television “The scope for enhancement expanded quickly and dramatically once the Internet became both widely accessible and an integrated component, in particular, of young people’s media activity…Television is facing not just a re-segmentation of its audience but the need for a total transformation.” (Nightingale and Dwyer 2008)
Telephones/Mobile Phones
Mobile Phone media has even branched out to accommodate newer media. So now, instead of a device that allows a person to contact another person, phones are equip with the internet, allowing users to email, Facebook, watch videos, download music and so on. High megapixel cameras have also been integrated into this multimedia rich industry. Almost all of the mobile phones on the market today come equipped with a digital camera.
In conclusion, much of the ‘old’ media is accommodating the new media by turning to the internet and utilising its technologies in their own specific ways, be it through conversion of hardcopy content, SMS feedback systems or camera phones, they are all linking their companies, and themselves to the internet.
Bibliography Flew. T (2008) New Media an Introduction: 3rd edition, Oxford University PressGitelman. L and Pingree.G (2003) Introductory essay to new media, 1740-1915, Cambridge: MIT Press, 2003)
Hirst, M. & Harrison J. (2007) Communication and New Media: From Broadcast to
Narrowcast. South Melbourne: Oxford.
Nightingale, V. and Dwyer, T. (Eds.) (2007) New Media Worlds: Challenges for
Convergence. Melbourne, Oxford University Press
Harnessing collective intelligence: shifting power to the edge 2008, http://www.slideshare.net/scottishlibraries/harnessing-collective-intelligence-1677862
Wikipedia, Google & Facebook information, 2009 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google
Comments