6) New media in contemporary society Flashcards
What is new media?
a term used to refer to the evolution of existing media delivery systems and the development of new digital communication technologies
Identify 3 characteristics of new media?
Convergence- combination of different technologies
Compression- signals are digital, sent down same cable
Interactivity- audience can interact with media
Who uses new media?
16-24 mostly use it all for different reasons e.g. work, gaming, shopping, contacting people.
Mainly middle and upper class as they can afford it.
Girls 12-15- mostly use it for internet, listen to music, and read celeb gossip. Boys and men are more likely to be gaming on pc/ consoles.
Western worlds mostly as poorer countries have limited access due to poverty and language barriers. Most of wwb is in English as it’s created by the Us and western Europe.
What did Neuman argue about new media?
Produce an increases in the volume of communication
change the meaning of geographical distance.
Blur the distinction between personal and mass communication, public and private communication.
explain what is meant by digital divide?
A digital divide is an economic and social inequality according to categories of persons in a given population in their access to, use of, or knowledge of information and communication technologies.
explain what is meant by a generational divide?
According to Ofcom, the 16–24-year-old age group spent more time online compared with the 25+ age-group. Up to 70% of this age group use sites such as MySpace and Bebo. It also sent more text messages and watches less television. However, 40% of adults use networking sites such as Facebook, whilst the average age of the on-line gamer is 33 years. - See more at:
is there any evidence of a digital divide?
30% of rural children don’t have the internet.
15% of rural Australia don’t have fast enough internet for email.
Between 2000-2007 internet usage grew 244%
Europe and N. America= 40% of world users but 17.4% of worlds population.
3.5% of users come from Africa, but make up 14.3% of population.
41% of Europe has internet access % 70% N. America
Explain digital citizenship?
Ability to participate in a online society.
Internet is so important that participation is essential if people are to play a full part in mainstream society. Survey evidence shows internet usages increases the likelihood of voting and participating in political processes.
Explain repressing the internet?
Governments have attempted to suppress freedom of expression by censoring material on the internet and persecuting citizens who criticise them online.
Explain the public sphere?
Space where people can freely debate issues that are of importance to them as citizens. It emerged in 18th century coffee houses independent of commerce and government.
Media in Habermans view threatens this space because they are primarily concerned in making profits. This means they seek to manipulate our thoughts and behaviour in order to make money.
However this view has been criticised because it ignores the pressure of new media to remain objective and does not take into account public sphere broadcasting.
Who are Neo-philiacs and what do they argue?
new media is beneficial to society for several reasons.
Identify 3 reasons why Neo-Philiacs argue new media is beneficial?
Increased consumer choice – there are now hundreds of choices available to people in the form of media outlets and delivery systems. It is argued that competition between media institutions results in more quality media output.
An e-commerce revolution – a great deal of retail commerce is conducted on the Internet. Most major commercial companies now have their own websites.
Revitalising democracy – new media technologies offer opportunities for people to acquire the education and information required to play an active role in democratic societies and to make politicians more accountable to the people. Some have suggested that the Internet can revitalise democracy as it gives a voice to those who would otherwise go unheard, it allows like-minded people to join together and take action which may lead to social change.
What do Cultural pessimists argue about new media?
the revolution in new media technology has been exaggerated by Neo-philiacs.
Explain 3 strands to the Cultural pessimist argument?
Cornford and Robins (1999) argue that new media are not so new and that the media today is an accommodation between old and new because to use a game console, a television is required, while to connect to the Internet, a telephone line is still needed. They suggest, further, that interactivity is not something new because people have written to newspapers and phoned in to radio and television for many years. The only thing that is new about new media is its speed – information, news and entertainment can be accessed in ‘real time’.
Cultural pessimists criticise the idea that new media are increasing the potential for ordinary people to participate more fully in the democratic process and cultural life. The Internet is actually dominated by a small number of media corporations. Over three-quarters of the 31 most visited news and entertainment websites are affiliated with the largest media corporations, according to Curran.
There are some negative effects associated with the commercialisation of the Internet, e.g. many companies that sell products and services on the Internet engage in consumer surveillance. New technologies, e.g. in the form of cookies, can monitor and process the data generated by interactive media usage so they can segment and target potential future audiences and thus enhance profits.
