Transcript Basic Concepts of New Media

Basic concepts of New Media
MIS 311 - New Media
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New media
(1/2)
 Term has been used since the 1970s
by researchers conducting social,
psychological, economic, political and
cultural studies of information and
communication technologies.
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New media
(2/2)
 Some definitions focus on computer
technology, others focus on
interactivity
 Differences:
 Audiences not heterogeneous
 Control shifts from communicator to
audience
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Facilitates Conversation
 The “audience” becomes the “creator”
 Disruptive -> breaks mass media
mold
 Is this new?
 Multimedia: Watch YouTube Clip
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Communication
 A process in which participants create
and share information with one
another in order to reach mutual
understanding (Rogers, 1995).
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Mediated communication
 What is it?
 (adj) acting or brought about through an
intervening agent; (verb) to be in the
middle
 Why would we study it?
 We live in an ever-increasingly mediated
world
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Part one : medium
 A go-between/intermediary in the
communication binding the sender
and receive
 Considers symbolic and cognitive
theories of the psychology of
representation
 Considers theories of meaning in signs
and symbols (semiotics)
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Part two : mass media
(1/2)
 Mass communication characteristics:
 Directed towards a large, heterogeneous
audience
 Messages are transmitted publicly, are
transient in nature, and are timed to
reach all simultaneously
 Communicator works for an organization
Charles Wright, 1959, from Communication Theories: Origins, Methods and Uses
in the Mass Media, 1988, p7
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Part two : mass media
(2/2)
 Mass media communication
traditionally encompasses these
channels
 Newspapers, magazines (print
technologies)
 TV, radio (electronic technologies)
 Note: “news” v “ads”
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Channel
 The physical/technical transmission
as well as any device needed for
encoding/decoding
 May encompass advertising channels
(direct mail) or news (TV)
 One-to-many, one-way channel is
typical
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So, what is new?
 Technologically?
 Socially?
Your thoughts, based on
readings?
 Three BIG things:
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Constraint of time
 Gone!
 Time-shifting (Tivo, podcasting, 24x7
tech support via the web … what
else?)
 How do you think that the speed in
which we now communicate (e-mail,
mobile phones, etc.) has affected our
communication?
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Constraint of space
 Geographical barriers: Gone!
 Internet technology lets us “space shift”
like we “time shift” – (almost) seamlessly
 There are environmental benefits from the
advancement of technology, specifically from
computers. If in the future, all of academia
(from grade school & beyond) required only
computer-based work, what would your
response be to the change? Why?
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New channels
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WWW
E-mail
Videoconferencing
MP3
Electronic publishing
Mobile telephony
What do they have in common?
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Computer Mediated Communication
(1/2)
1. Desktop computers used as tools to
influence human cognition and convey
messages among people (focuses on
the technology, older definition)
2. Any form of communication between
two or more individuals who interact
and/or influence each other using social
software on separate computers linked
by a network (focuses on the people)
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CMC
(2/2)
 Computer Mediated Communication
(CMC) software has two categories:
asynchronous and synchronous
(Smith, 1994).
http://www.edb.utexas.edu/csclstudent/kim/text/ASCmC.html
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Synchronous
 Two or more group members have
real-time (simultaneous)
communication
 Instant Messaging can be
synchronous
 Face-to-face meetings; video
conference; other?
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Asynchronous
 Allows group members to work
individually and “alone”
 Provides time/space flexibility
 E-mail, BBS
 Example: virtual teams
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Virtual Teams
 Types
 Temporary (no common history or future)
 Permanent (common history and future)
 Forms of Interaction
 Face-to-face (meetings, formal or informal)
 Electronically-mediated (phone, CMC,
videoconference)
 Context
 Culture and geography may be similar or
different
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CMC/Web Characteristics
(1/2)
 Hardware independent
 Software independent
 IM Not Here Yet, But Close (Google)
 Open standards
 Information sharing
 “Give back” (contribute) to the
community
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CMC/Web Characteristics
(2/2)
 A blend of characteristics from “old”
media
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Print
Radio
Film
TV
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Print Characteristics
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Abstract
Captive audience
Fixed
Linear
Primarily verbal
Reader controls pace
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Radio Characteristics
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Auditory
Creator controls pace
Dynamic
Linear
“Live” — happening in real time
Transient audience
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TV Characteristics
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Animated
Creator controls pace
Dynamic
Linear
“Live” — may be happening now
Primarily visual
Transient audience
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Film Characteristics
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Animated
Captive audience
Creator controls pace
Fixed
Linear
Primarily visual
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Web Characteristics
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Dynamic
“Live” (maybe)
Multi-media (visual, auditory)
Transient audience
Typically nonlinear
User controls pace and direction
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Mass audience no longer
 From broadcast to narrowcast
 Time-shifting
 Accelerates a move foreshadowed by
niche publishing
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Hypertext
 Presents information as linked nodes
 Breaks the linear narrative
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Networks of Remediation
(1/3)
 “A medium is that which remediate’s”
… and it is measured “against” other
media
 New media in turn change the “older”
media
 TV … tickertape
 Print … adopting web design conventions
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Networks of Remediation
(2/3)
 Economic success depends on
supplanting a pre-existing medium
 Conflict: newspaper websites vs paper
 Conflict: CDs vs downloadable (sharable)
songs
 Hypermediacy
 Survivor… The Apprentice… mediated or
authentic?
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Networks of Remediation
(3/3)
 How do we separate technology from
its social use? Can we?
 Technological determinism : says
technology causes social change … Social
determinism is the converse
 Corollary: “nature versus nurture” …
“'technology-push” vs “demand-pull”
 Can new media technology offer us
transparent democracy?
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Why Use a Technology?
 Cognitive Needs – Desire (demand) for information,
knowledge, understanding
 Affective Needs – Aesthetic, pleasurable, and
emotional experiences
 Personal Integrative Needs – Inner-directed, deal with
credibility, confidence, stability, and status
 Social Integrative Needs – Outer-directed,
strengthening relationships with family, friends, the
world
 Escapist Needs – Desire for tension release or
diversion
- Katz, Gurevitch, and Haas
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Technology and Communication Media
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Caves in France
Paper and charcoal/ink
Printing Press
Telegraph et al (radio, television)
Computer mediated communications
 Internet: e-mail, IM, web sites, BBs,
usenet, Skype (VoIP)
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Quotable 1
“This 'telephone' has too many
shortcomings to be seriously
considered as a means of
communication. The device is
inherently of no value to us.”
--
Western Union internal memo, 1876
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Quotable 2
“Who the hell wants to hear actors
talk?”
-- H.M. Warner, Warner Brothers, 1927
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Quotable 3
“I think there is a world market for
maybe five computers.”
-- Thomas Watson, chairman of IBM, 1943
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Quotable 4
“Computers in the future may
weigh no more than 1.5 tons.”
-- Popular Mechanics, 1949
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HCI
(1/3)
 Norman: “The real problem with
being digital is that it implies a kind
of slavery to accuracy, a requirement
that is most unlike the natural
workings of the person. People are
analog, insensitive to noise,
insensitive to error. People extract
meanings, and as long as the
meanings are unchanged, the details
of the signals do not matter.”
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HCI
(2/3)
 The world is complex: computer
systems seek to render that
complexity into something “simple”
 Yes/No (zero/one)
 Linear v Pattern Seeking
 Human Error – preventable? Whose
fault?
 CHI or HCI – false dichotomy?
 “People excel at qualitative considerations,
machines at quantitative ones.”
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Internet Technologies
 Efficiency
 IP v Telephony
 Medium Independence
 Medium in this case is the
communication medium : telephone
wire, cable wire, wireless, cell telephony,
satellite, ??
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Zuckerman and McLaughlin, link
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Domain Name System (DNS)
 Analogous to the address used by a
postal worker to deliver mail
 Domain Names
 Original: .com, .gov, .mil, .net, .edu,
.org
 Countries: .us to .za
 New: .biz, .info…
 Works because of standardization
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HCI
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
(3/3)
How does the internet play a vital role in how man and
machine interact?
What are some misconceptions about our relationship to
machines?
How much must we understand computers in order to
function in our society? In the future, will we be more or
less dependent on computers? Is this good?
The machine-centered view is precise, orderly and
logical, while people are distractible, creative and
illogical. The public education system seems to be
modeled more on the machine-centered view. How
might this model affect students’ view of themselves?
Do we as a human race really think that machines, that
one day could be more intelligent than us, could
successfully join us in our society? How would this
happen?
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Summary
 There is an intrinsic relationship
between content and technology:
both contribute to meaning
 Tension between humans and
machines
 Internet Technology is application
independent, agnostic
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What leads to adoption?
 Winston: supervening social necessity
 More than “build a better mousetrap”
 Advertising
 One goal is to build “need”
 FUD (fear, uncertainty, doubt)
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Rogers (1995) - Diffusion Theory
 Identified four main elements of an
innovation-diffusion process
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Innovation
Social system
Time
Communications channels
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Linear innovation-diffusion
 The process by which an innovation
is communicated through certain
channels over time among the
members of a social system. (Rogers,
1995, p.5).
 Innovation: An idea, practice, or
object that is perceived as new by an
individual or other unit of adoption
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Communication
 A process in which participants create
and share information with one
another in order to reach mutual
understanding (Rogers, 1995)
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Time
 The adoption model follows an “s”
shape curve over time
 For example …
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Forecast: US Household Technology Adoption, 2005-2010
Forrester Reports. July 2005, Data Overview “The State Of Consumers And Technology:
Benchmark 2005”
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Innovation-Decision Process
 The mental process through
which an individual passes : from
knowledge to forming an attitude
toward the innovation (adopt,
reject)
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Five steps
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Knowledge
Persuasion
Decision (adopt or reject)
Implementation
Confirmation
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Social System
 A set of interrelated units that are
engaged in joint problem-solving to
accomplish a common goal.
 Members or units of a social system
may be individuals, informal groups,
organizations, and/or subsystems.
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Critical mass (1/2)
 Rogers (1995) : "the critical mass
occurs at the point at which enough
individuals have adopted an
innovation so that the innovation's
further rate of adoption becomes selfsustaining.” (network effects)
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Critical mass (2/2)
 The critical mass theory is a social
system perspective, not a technology
perspective.
 The irreversible phase may take place
when not only the critical mass point
is overcome but also the dominant
design is brought about at least in
terms of the technological innovation.
 Examples?
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Adopter categories
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Innovators
Early adopters
Early majority
Late majority
Laggards
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Technological Innovations
 Hardware - the tool that embodies
the technology as a material or
physical object.
 Software - the knowledge base for
the tool
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Summary Adoption
 What are some of the reasons we
adopt a new product?
 What are the five stages of adoption?
 What is Critical Mass?
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More New Media Theory
 Marshall McLuhan: Canadian, author
of Understanding Media (1964) and
The Medium is the Massage (1967)
 Lev Manovich: professor, UCSD,
author of The Language of New Media
(2001) and Soft Cinema: Navigating
the Database (2005)
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McLuhan
(1/3)
 Believes media (technologies) affect
cultural (social) change
 Differentiates between a medium and its
content
 Same content (words) is a different
message when delivered in print, faceto-face, or on television – what is less
important than how
 “We shape our tools, and they in turn
shape us."
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McLuhan
(2/3)
 Historical Construct
 Tribal Age (oral culture – intuitive)
 Age of Literacy (invention of phonetic
alphabet – emergence of logic)
 Print Age (invention of printing press –
linear thinking – science – individualism)
 Electronic Age (ushered in with
telegraph, poster child: TV – global
village – decline of logic and linearity)
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McLuhan
(3/3)
 Compare our immediate knowledge of
the 2004 December Tsunami with the
1556 Chinese earthquake that killed
830,000
 If, as he suggests, print created
individualism and nationalism … what
might networked communication
create? Will familiarity breed
contempt or collaboration?
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Manovich’s Five
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(1/6)
Numerical Representation
Modularity
Automation
Variability
Transcoding
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Manovich’s Five
(2/6)
 Numerical representation
 “zero’s and one’s”
 Vector graphics v Bitmaps
 Analog v Digital
 Early complaints about CD v LP
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Manovich’s Five
(3/6)
 Modularity
 The “whole” consists of many “objects”
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Example from blog: Google Images
PPT and Excel
HTML page (javascript, JPGs, etc)
Individual blog posts
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Manovich’s Five
(4/6)
 Automation
 What computers do best!
 From blog post: “Apple’s new OS X
Tiger… and Automator”
 Photoshop automation; running “Cron”
jobs; database driven websites
 RSS readers
 Object management and search (Google)
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Manovich’s Five
(5/6)
 Variability
 Website customization possible by
automation
 Presenting data (shaping appearance)
based on output device: monitor, PDA,
cellphone
 Scaling (zoom – Google Maps)
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Manovich’s Five
(6/6)
 Transcoding
 Two distinct layers: cultural layer and
technology layer … the intersection is a
field called Human-Computer Interaction
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Diffusion Theory
 Rogers (1995) outlined four parts:
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Innovation
Social system
Time
Communications channels
 And five steps:
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Knowledge
Persuasion
Decision (adopt or reject)
Implementation
Confirmation
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Summary
 We define (or frame) new media in
comparison to old media
 There is an intrinsic relationship
between content and technology:
both contribute to meaning
 Churchill : “we shape our buildings
and then our buildings shape us”
 Empowerment means responsibility
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Resources
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Effects of Four CMC Channels on Trust
Glossary of Internet Terms
Hypertext Terms (W3C)
JCMC
Patterns of Hypertext
Semantic Web: Intro
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