New Media

New media is in contrast to old media. Old, or traditional, media is found in print, film industry, advertising agencies, etc. Traditional media involves businesses targeting a large audience via billboards, print ads, and TV commercials. Old media is consumer focused, moving in one direction from producer to consumer. It is centralized and stable so long as consumers continue to pay for the service (consider the struggles in the

newspaper industry⁠

). On the other hand, new media is more decentralized and moves back and for between producers and consumers. In the age of new media the term “

prosumer⁠

” arises. The focus moves to “user-generated” content. YouTube is a good example of this. It is a platform that does not have its own content. Instead, it is an “architecture” that allows for content to be created and shared (and then profited on by both the producers of the content as well as YouTube). New Media allows companies to target a smaller yet more specific audience through social media and pay-per-click ads based on user data and preferences these networks gather.

One definition of new media is technologically advanced forms of visual or audio art. However it is important to note that the word, “new”, or the term “new media”, is relative to the person or persons that are being affected. For example, to an older generation, a digitalized version of the Bible that they can access with a few clicks on their desktop is a complete wonder. Turn to a younger generation, and it may be found that a new virtual reality like the Metaverse is comprehensible to us as a form of “new” media (as it offers some form of self-expression and art). The term “new media” really is whatever society, a person, or the ton make it.

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(since I’m an astronomy nerd, here’s a visual representation of Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity for context)

New Media, also known as digital media, is largely defined as any form of media (or method of mass communication) which is distributed/accessed via the internet/digital technology

Types of new media include social media (which can be broken down into social networking media, photo sharing media, video sharing media, interactive media, and blogging/community building media), websites, blogs, wikis, artificial intelligence, gaming, podcasting, music and video streaming services, and apps.

Another facet of new media is that it is much more interactive than old (traditional) media. There is nothing “clickable” or directly impacted with old media, whereas with new media one can click a link and immediately be transported to a different site. This also allows different forms of new media to be interconnected, as one can move from social media to a website to an email with relative ease.

In her paper for the University of Illinois Chicago Law School, Ann Marie Sullivan cites Beverly Schreiber Jacoby (Here Comes the Future) saying, “The ‘New Media’ rubric refers mainly to technology-based delivery systems for the significant artistic content critically acclaimed today. This involves concept, process and context delivered by means of non-traditional products executed in various formats, often with moving parts and sound, with hardware and software, often film/video based, electronic, digital, networked, Internet, interactive, installation, computer-based and multi-media.”

New Media can be found in magazines, radios and Tv. It has the same sort of information as regular/ traditional media mostly, but it has a different style that can be seen throughout its structure.

Media: any channel of communication, technology, New media is considered to be the multimedia and digital form of communication happening via desktop and laptop computers, as well as phones, tablets and other devices. New media has introduced user interaction, rather than simply consuming media.

Ex) websites, email, blogs,

New Media:

13 Examples of New Media (2022) - Helpful Professor⁠

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Definition:

“The term “new media” will in general refer to those digital media that are interactive, incorporate two-way communication, and involve some form of computing as opposed to “old media” such as telephone, radio, and TV.”

“The term ‘new media’ is used to describe all media that:

involve two-way communication,

allow consumers to become producers, and

involve the digitization of communication.”

“The best examples of new media include:

Websites

Blogs

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Social Media Platforms⁠

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Video Sharing Platforms

Online Newspapers

Online Forums

Wikis

Virtual Reality

Podcasts

Vlogs

Webinars”

"New media'' is digitally delivered media such as social media, websites, and streaming services. In contrast, "old" media exist before the arrival of the internet such as newspapers, magazines and books.

Examples of new media could be computer games, social media, computer animations, websites, etc.

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