Chapter 2 Understanding Media in the Digital Age Comm 336 Mass Media Malaise Course

Transcription

1 Chapter 2 Understanding Media in the Digital Age Comm 336 Mass Media Malaise Course

2 The Digital Revolution Changes Everything! The first decade of the 21 st century ( ) saw a radical shift in the way that communication occurs among people and societies This digital revolution came about thanks to the connectedness of a computer-driven, electronics-based systems that makes possible the Internet and the World Wide Web This revolution is regarded as a transformation as important in human history as the invention of the printing press and moveable type National boundaries are not what they used to be- people can more easily communicate around the world; far fewer distance barriers than in the past Legacy media such as books, magazines and newspapers exist side by side with newer media, as do radio, TV, cable, motion pictures and other players in the media family Studying older media and the basic communication process can help us more clearly see and understand the early years of the digital age

3 The Information Age In human history there was the agrarian age when people were hunters and farmers The industrial revolution began in the 1830s with the invention and advancements of machines and manufacturing The telegraph would be the first great conquest of time and space A new information age began in the 1980s and 90s when more people were employed in the creation, development, and dissemination of information than in agriculture and manufacturing This service economy was spurred on by computers and ultimately an integrated networking society where digital communication dominated and changed everything People everywhere have a greater access to information with cell phones and the Internet giving us greater freedom because of a greater capacity to communicate with one another But this isn t quite true yet- Internet penetration is far from universal in many parts of the world (graph, page 23)

4 Digital Takes Off, Stumbles, Takes Off Again the WWW blossoms as personal computers are widely adopted, especially at home 1998/1999- an Internet business bubble or expansion begins with dotcoms (named for the suffix in web addresses) soared, tens of thousands of websites were established and powerful new online business-tobusiness (B2B) and consumer online buying economies rapidly emerge Big media enter the picture creating new traditional/new media conglomerates, most notably the ill-fated AOL-Time Warner merger 2000/2001- the dot-com crash occurs due to overheated stock markets, slow-speed Internet; widespread financial meltdown; many dot-coms fold 2002/2003- Comeback time; new media companies evolve, many old media companies cautiously enter the fray High-speed Internet, broadband, wireless and satellites, flat-panel computer devices, cell phones- it all starts to jell launching a new era for digital media referred to as Web 2.0 Relaxed government restrictions on start-ups and more deregulation of some old media industries help foster the positive environment

5 Changing Definition of Mass Communication Mass communications is a term invented to describe media organized to reach mass audiences, carried out by professionals and aimed at accumulated audiences in which it was impossible to ID individual viewers or readers The digital/internet age have, to some degree, shaken this longstanding and settled definition of mass communications because now anyone can be a communicator and can reach large audiences Plus, now a person s specific interests and attributes can be tracked by marketers and advertisers, challenging the anonymous nature of the mass communications receiver Mass Media has become Personal Media - developing a playlist of music, sending text and messages, creating Listservs or personal networks do not constitute mass communication any more than making phone calls did in earlier times- you re in many cases only reaching a few people Intermediate Communication is a new term to describe technology used to create communities for like-minded people with similar political, social, leisure views/activities, for example- private club analogy

6 Personal/Mass Media Hybrids YouTube and Facebook are examples of today s mass media hybrid Today, amateur website or software developers can create global media enterprises Personal media can quickly take on the characteristics of mass communications- they hire a staff, compete for advertising with traditional media, and even try to improve on the mass media model and accumulate audiences while aggregating (collecting) content originally gathered by others, sometimes in the oldest media forms Established media industries, in adopting their own digital strategies, create or use personal and intermediate communication and transform them into mass media Look at The Post and Courier.com as an example

7 Digital Revolution Concerns Like all changes, the information age has not been easily welcomed by everyone The fast pace of change worried some On one hand, the increasingly widespread technology leveled the playing field by giving more people power to create and get information While the old communication barriers of time and distance have mostly been eliminated, digital communication also appears to have a darker side We now face issues that include loss of privacy, cyber crime, and what some see as a decline of media quality that had evolved over two centuries since mass circulation newspapers, magazines and books helped make us (particularly Americans) a better informed and engaged citizenry (some would say)

8 Media and Audience Goals are Similar As much as the ways we send and receive information have changed, the goals of media and of media consumers remain quite similar These goals can be summed up in four ways: Informing- through news, journalism, and public affairs information Influencing through opinion media, editorials, and commentary Entertaining through shows, movies, games, fiction Providing a marketplace for goods and services- advertising, product placement

9 Has this made the world a safe place? Are we, are nations less likely to demonize the people and leaders of other nations through all this enhanced communication? Many wars have started through portrayals of foreigners as subhuman, savage and a threat because they are just not like us Shows such as International House Hunters help prove that most people really share common concerns How about Shahs of Sunset Strip? Who do we demonize today?