4.3 new media Flashcards
1
Q
What is meant by the new media?
A
- the screen based, digital technology e.g computers, tablets, smartphones and the internet
2
Q
What do Livingstone and Bovil (1999) argue about converging screen technologies?
A
- they may be contributing to the blurring of boundaries between traditionally distinct activities such as searching for information, education, working and other forms of entertainment, as people constantly switch between these different activities or combine them at the same time
3
Q
What does Jenkins (2008) argue about the process of technical convergence?
A
- bringing together multiple media in the same device has led to a much more significant process of cultural convergence, where by consumers are encouraged to seek out and share new information and make connections between dispersed contents from a range of media, which the new technology makes much easier than it ever was in the past
4
Q
What does Lister et al (2003) suggest the features of new media are?
A
- digitality
- interactivity
- hypertextuality
- dispersal
- virtuality
5
Q
What is meant by digitality?
A
- ‘using computers’ where all data are concerted into numbers (binary code) which can then be stored, distributed and picked up via screen-based products, like mobile phones, DVDs and computers
6
Q
What is meant by interactivity?
A
- consumers have an opportunity to engage/interact with a variety of media and create their own material
7
Q
What does Jenkins argue that interactivity has led to?
A
- participatory culture = consumers produce media content which producers consume and then incorporate into new media texts; the circulation of new media content depends heavily on consumers’ active participation
- collective intelligence = ‘each of us knows something and we can put the pieces together if we pool our resources and combine our skills’
8
Q
What is meant by hypertextuality?
A
- refers to tyhe links which form a web of communication to other bits of information, which give users a way of searching, interacting with and customising the media for their own use
9
Q
What is meant by dispersal?
A
- the way the new media has become less centralised and more adapted to individual choices
- the production of media content itself is now becoming more generally dispersed throughout the population rather than restricted to media professionals
10
Q
What is meant by virtuality?
A
- the various ways people can now immerse themselves in wholly unreal interactive experiences in virtual worlds created by new technology and create for themselves imaginary identities
11
Q
What does Jones (2010) suggest about stratification in the new media?
A
- patterns in internet access and use tend to reflect and amplify existing inequalities, with concern regarding some of the more vulnerable groups
12
Q
What did Dutton and Bank (2011) find about internet access and education?
A
- 91% of those with higher education had used the internet, compared to 34% of those with no qualifications
13
Q
How are social class inequalities seen in the new media access?
A
- the MC and UC are the biggest users of the new media as they can more easily afford it; the rate of internet use decreased in line with socio-economic status
- Helsper = found that disadvantaged groups, even when they have managed to secure access, often lack confidence and skills to fully engage with the opportunities available online
14
Q
How does age differences affect new media use?
A
- there is a substantial generational gap in access to and use of the new media
- Boyle (2007) = younger people have grown up with the developments in the new media and they are more likely to consume media in a variety of forms
15
Q
How does gender differences affect the use of new media?
A
- games consoles and tablet computers are more popular among males but e-readers are more popular among women
- men spend 3 times as much time as women watching videos online
- young women make significantly more calls than young men and they also send and recieve more textx
16
Q
What is meant by the global digital divide?
A
- the new media are used most heavily and by the largest proportion of people in the Western world
- many of those living in the world’s poorest countries lack access due to poverty
17
Q
What are the effects of new media and new technologies on traditional media?
A
- a huge decline in printed newspapers sales, and a general downwards trend in viewing of TV news bulletins
18
Q
What are the three significant changes in traditional journalism according to Bivens (2008)?
A
- shifts in traditional news flow cycles
- heightened accountability
- evolving news values
19
Q
What is meant by ‘shifts in traditional news flow cycles’?
A
- news production depends on a flow of reports of newsworthy items from individuals and groups
- the traditional media no longer control the flow of information and need to respond regularly to this increased fow of news from citizen journalists
20
Q
What is meant by ‘heightened accountability’?
A
- CJ has made traditional media much more accountable to the public - their reports are scrutinised and responded to through online blogs or comments pages
21
Q
What is meant by ‘evolving news values’?
A
- the new media have enabled news organisations to provide more immediacy through instantaneous live coverage, provided by CJs from areas like battle-zones which traditional journalists might find hard to access
22
Q
How has the new media led to the reduced power of ownership?
A
- McNair (2006) = elite groups have lss power to influence news agendas - the balance of power of media control is shifting as CJ have growing power to influence the news that is reported by traditional media
23
Q
What are the two main views of new media offered by Curran and Seaton (2003)?
A
- the cultural optimist view/neophiliac
- the cultural pessimist view
24
Q
What are the main arguments of the neophiliac perspective?
A
- more informed consumers, wider choices, and greater user participation
- greater democracy
- more access to all kinds of information
- the world becomes a global village
- social life/interaction is enhanced
25
How do the cultural optimists argue that new media has led to greater democracy?
- the new media can give more power to ordinary people and have made positive contributions to building more democratic societies
- social movements and campaigns now use the new media to spread their ideas, build support an coordinate protests e.g Arab Spring
26
How do neophiliacs argue that the new media leads to the world becoming a global village?
- **McLuhan** = global village refers to how new media allows users from around the world to connect and interact with each outher instantaneously, making the world like one village
27
What are the main arguments of the cultural pessimist argument?
- problems of validity of information
- cultural and media imperialism
- a threat to democracy
- the sovereigns of cyberspace
- censorship and control
- the lack of regulation
- commercialisation
- increased surveillance
28
What is meant by the sovereigns of cyberspace?
- **MacKinnon** = used to describe the power of giant multinational corporations like Amazon, Apple, Goog;e. etc to control internet access, social networking - these companies hold the kind of power over us that was once held only by governments
29
How do the cultural pessimists argue that the new media can be used for censorship and control?
- some undemocratic, repressive regimes like those in China and Iran, monitor and control new media use
- Western democracies are increasingly using the same surveillance technology, with the British govtin 2014 proposing more cyber-surveillance
30
How do the cultural pessimists argue that the new media has led to a lack of regulation?
- the global nature of the new media means there is a lack of regulation by national bodies like Ofcom
- undesirable things like bias, internet crime, pornography, drug smuggling, paedophilia, people trafficking, etc can thrive virtually unchecked
31
How do the cultural pessimists argue that the new media is about commercialisation?
- the new media are about making money for the companies that produce the technology
- social networking sites are not about connecting with other people but are just a means of targeting advertising at people who spend extraordinary lengths of time giving away to advertisers detailed information about their lives and interests
- it is a form of **commercial surveillance** through cookies left on their computers and mobiles to bombard them with adverts offering products and other sites to visit
