Beyond New: Thinking about Media Change

How would you provide an account for new media?

Well, first of all before exploring or attempting to account for new media, the phrase ‘new media’ implies progression from ‘old media’. Old media today is often practically thought to refer to the traditional printed news or newspaper, books, the old analogue radio and television as technological means for delivering information to the public. ‘New media’ on the other hand, is often thought to include novel technologies and methods of generating and delivering the information using such converged and mobile technologies as the smart phone which combines radio, television, electronic books and news and telephone. Clearly, the emergence of the so called new media is heavily reliant on the Internet and the underlying technologies at its core.

Think beyond ' New Media'?

It is worth noting that, the so called ‘old’ media were once ‘new’ media in their time. As at now, it seems that the progression or development of old media into new has simply been a change in the methods, generation and delivery technologies of information for wildly changing and diverse societies. It therefore follows that principally, it is just the delivery mechanisms and technologies that change and not necessarily the content or the consumers. As such it seems there will always be new media. However, it also seems that there are no clear or absolute boundaries between old media and new media, at least not in all societies around the world. As it turns out, old and new media are not mutually exclusive and it seems this will always be the case; as long as the technological advancement is closely coupled with sociocultural evolution.

Image References:
1-http://davidroberts1992.wordpress.com/2011/04/06/media-studies-%E2%80%93-new-media/ [Accessed: 24/10/2011]
2- http://www.al-arabeya.net/index.asp?serial=&f=3340307519 [Accessed: 24/10/2011]

Cyberspace

Do you want the internet in your head?

There is no doubt that many an individual or even society has accrued tremendous benefits from the Internet in and of itself. There is also no doubt that with its benefits, the internet also introduced or redefined a set of challenges. I certainly would not like all that conflicted diversity and confusion concentrated in my head.

If you like the internet in your head what advantages and if you dislike what disadvantages?

First of all what does having the internet in one’s head implying? It might imply that one literally becomes the platform or conduit for all the diversity and often conflicted global beliefs, philosophies, and knowledge captured within the internet traffic. There is the positive side of the internet as a continuously growing repository of a vast consolidated body of knowledge that is often captured by the continuous exchange of positive progressive ideas, human knowledge, and cultural synthesis. However the negative aspect of the internet is that even on a global scale let alone in one’s head is that even with the positive ideas and knowledge, their diversity alone is often a source of conflict. There is also the dark side of the internet, often engendered by its global reach and perhaps a measure of anonymity, where all the darkest and undesirable ideas and even cultural antithesis find a ready platform for their expression of and even more vigorous promotion than they might have in the traditional sociocultural environment.

 

Image References:

1-http://www.123rf.com/photo_3210789_earth-planet-in-binary-code-cyberspace.html

[Accessed: 19/10/2011]

2- http://www.unc.edu/~unclng/cyber/studentprojects.html
[Accessed: 19/10/2011]

Introduction: New Media & Cyberculture

If one scans through any popular media journals that deals with "new media" will come across terms like Cyborg, Virtual Reality, Web 2.0, Crowd-Sourcing etc. which effectively are buzzwords of 21st century. Classic mass media study of the 20th century focused primarily on print, film, radio and TV. 21st century media has been revolutionized by the impact of computer, to be more precise internet.

Any cultural study is a study of cultural phenomenon in various societies knitted in the relation of ideology, ethnicity, class, gender and sexual orientation. Cyber-culture is the study of the cultural practices constructed (in relationship) with digital devices. It encompasses every strata of people on earth. The connecting link or the relationship in which the culture has been developed is "cyber".

The rapid use of Web 2.0 technology, day to day use of user generated contents and massive social-networking are some of the tenets of cyber-culture. This is more of a cerebral task- it leads us to think various unresolved questions like where do we go when we go on-line? What is our identity in Facebook? What is so 'new' about 'New Media'?

For the academics, it is a huge canvas of question marks like what does all this mean for a researcher? How do we add rigor to the discourse? This study is about social, political and cultural interaction of human beings with digital Medias and gadgets. Throughout this blog series I will select various aspects of cyber-culture studies and try to answer various myriads of questions that are highly subjective. 

Image References:

 1.     http://www.sundoginteractive.com/images/uploads/ConversationPrism.jpg
[Accessed:14/10/2011]
2.      http://rossdawsonblog.com/Web2_landcape_update_May09_500w.jpg
[Accessed: 14/10/2011]