Reading 9/8 September 8, 2008
Posted by mshelle54 in Uncategorized.trackback
While reading the text I was struck by the many discussions about old media and new media or really old media verse new media. There was a discussion if new media was really old media “refashioned” as Jay Volter and Richard Grusin have said. This hit me, in my study of communications, which always includes new media and old. Never once have I even had that thought or had it presented to me in some other class where we did study new media.
After reading this idea, that new media is old media reworked, it all made more sense to me. Yes I do realize that someone has to have the first idea, like say the camera. Once that was invented people took it and ran with it, now you look at today’s world and where cameras are now. It is still called a camera and does the same thing that it was intended to do from the first camera that was invented.
But people want to call it a new media device. Why? Does it not do what its old media predecessor did? This just keeps reinforcing the point of where does old media end and new media begin? Can there really be a competition between old media and new media? Where does new media go from here? What would it be called?
Questions:
Can we just throw away old media even if it is the foundation that new media is built upon?
What will happen to old media?
Outside source:
http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/05/26/old-media-still-needs-to-get-over-its-control-issues/
Maybe the “new media” aspect of the digital camera extends beyond the digital nature of that which was previously analogue, but has more to do with all of the associated practices that grow up around them. For example, sites like flickr and photobucket makes sharing (and eliciting feedback) about your images far easier than it was when we were dealing with prints. Of course, this raises a lot of questions when we start distributing photos of our friends (or political figures) in compromising/unflattering positions. So, the basic purpose of the camera (capturing images) may stay the same, but all of the social practices around those objects are likely affected when they “go digital.”
I think old media will always be around, just not as widely used as it made be now. I think mediums like the radio and mail system have dramatically gone down in its use and societal importance in the past few decades, but both still have important uses. It may reach a point where it becomes too expensive to maintain such old media, but until then, I think they will just be overshadowed by what’s considered “new” and “better” and society.