What is New Media? – 2
Using my previous post on Interactivity as a launching point, I decided to revisit the topic of new media, which has much to do with interactivity. In May 2008, I addressed What is New Media and noted that it was a bit difficult to define it… and then defined it. New media can still be seen as a somewhat ambiguous term and a bit difficult to define, in part due to the inherently temporal, ephemeral nature of any definition in flux. However, we can certainly peg down a decent definition, beginning with the base idea from that 05.08.08 post:
New Media includes the media we currently use to communicate, entertain, and to produce and distribute content. It is the largely digital, generally interactive, instances of the technological communication, design, and production tools and features we use to reach these ends. This definition points to content distribution and replicability as foundational elements, tying directly to Web 2.0, which is largely about communication of input and output.
Certain examples of New Media become problematic, since they may simply be new applications of existing media. For example, while video (tape) media may no longer be seen as New Media, digital video media generally is seen as such. However, this begs the question as to what about this New Media form is fundamentally different from its predecessor. Thus, does the emergence of one media form based on an existing form negate the original’s classification as New Media? In what way does the addition of digitalization change our view of the form radically enough to consider it New Media? Is it this transformation to digitalization that is the very definition of New Media?
The answer to this question likely lies in the fact that we are in the digital age, that is, our culture is shifting almost wholly to computer-mediated forms of communication, production, and distribution. With the video example, the media form is not fundamentally different from its predecessor; YouTube® is still video. However, what has changed is the way we use it, the transportability and availability of it, and in this way, our perception of the video media has changed. Therefore, with the advent of any New Media, our ability to discuss, create, and share information via these media is streamlined, specified, and even simplified, if one has the functional knowledge to acquire a new literacy. This final point actually becomes somewhat cyclical, since one can learn about New Media techniques or create/distribute content online, using New Media techniques, such as interactive Web technologies, digital video/audio, etc.