characteristics of new media

Question 1

digitalisation

Answer 1

growth of digital technology in 1990s - resulted in changes in the way information is stored and transmitted

all information, regardless of format - converted into binary code and picked up via screen-based products

Question 2

technological convergence

Answer 2

digitalisation has resulted in convergence of different types of information - text, photographs, video, film, voices and music

eg smart tv, smartphones

Question 3

economic convergence

Answer 3

technological convergence has produced economic convergence

media industries that once previously produced separate and distinct systems of communication eg computers - began to make economic alliances with each other because digitalisation reduced the boundaries between media sectors

Question 4

cultural convergence

Answer 4

media convergence has also produced cultural convergence because it changed way members of society interact

eg new media have changed nature of consumerism in uk - 6 in 10 now use internet to buy products

Question 5

interactivity

Answer 5

old media - one way affair

new media - two way affair - allows consumers and users to get involved - increases interactivity eg liking posts and commenting - prosumers

greater choice compared with the passive consumption of the traditional media - interactivity media referred to as web2.0
web1 - users limited to passive viewing

web 2.0 - users collaborate and interact with one another

Question 6

participatory culture

Answer 6

new media audiences no longer passive receivers

collaborate with new media to upload content

convergence and interactivity have produced participatory culture - Jenkins

media producers and consumers no longer occupy separate roles

Question 7

choice

Answer 7

Jenkins - media audiences today interact with a variety of media - often a single device for all uses

today’s new media has greater degree of choice than pre 1990s

Boyle - society’s use of TV evolved from a system of supply-led TV to demand-led TV

Question 8

collective intelligence

Answer 8

Jenkins - none of us know everything; each of us knows something; and we can put these pieces together if we pool our resources and combine our skills - new media challenges traditional ways of seeing the world provided by media owners

new media - alternative user-led source of information that is often critical of information produced top-down by traditional forms