This is a commonly used phrase and what we expect here is to hear something that we don’t know or haven’t heard of till now.
Something is new if we are experiencing, hearing, seeing or acquiring it for the first time. The thing, in itself, might be old or new but our experience with it is new. For example, imagine watching a tv series on an old television set (which is considered as old media) and watching it on your computer or the modern television set. The content is the same in both cases but the experience while watching on a computer is different and new if you are watching it for the first time.
Is new media really new?
According to me, new media is new in a way that people like us as we can now have the control of information which was unidirectional in case of old media. We have more access to information than we had before and hence we experience many things for the first time or in a different way which is the newness in new media. The content, on the other hand, might be the same as it was for years or might get a personal touch owing to the authority and freedom that the new technologies give us which might have both positive and negative implications.
Another new aspect of the present media is the interactivity that allows us to understand the information more intuitively which is very important owing to the amount of information that we have access to. An interesting theory called displacement theory argues that the viewership or readership of one particular outlet leads to the reduction in the amount of time spent by the individual on another. The introduction of New Media, such as the internet, therefore reduces the amount of time individuals would spend on existing “Old” Media, which could ultimately lead to the end of such traditional media.
Media as mirror
While developing media we try to replicate our senses in some way. Like camera was designed to replicate how our eye functions.
Example: Using our eyes we are able to see and consequently store images (or sequence of images) in our memory. Similarly, Google glass is a mirror for an eye as we are able to store these memories by using camera located in the glass.
Media as prosthesis
‘Prosthesis’ means ‘an artificial body part’. Medium act as prosthesis by acting as an extension of our senses and assisting them to enhance their capabilities.
Example: The display on Google glass extends our eyes by putting a layer of digital information over what we are seeing. Like displaying the direction to a hotel etc.
As I mentioned in last post, the newness of a thing depends on its familiarity with us, which we can say depends person to person. But, if talking in a general way, though new media is derivative of old convention of communication and information circulation, the added ease of use, effectiveness and immersive nature can be a reason to call today’s media as new media. So my answer is “yes, new media is really new”. Again I would say technology and user centered design are making positive difference.
Virtual Community vs real community?
Interactions, communication and information circulation is present in both communities. The key difference is that virtual community lacks physical presence and emotions which may have effect on what the receiver is interpreting. Video calling and virtual reality meeting are trying to solve physical presence problem but have not reached to the masses yet. Some measures like emoticons, sticker and gifs are taken to facilitate emotion communication while texting but are used as filters while communicating, sometimes faking the communication. I would conclude by stating that the distance factor factor is eliminated in virtual community but better communication is facilitated in real community.
I am a current student at Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, Assam, India. I am a bachelors student of design discipline and this is me writing an autoethnography on the use of media by me and by those around me in my current environment.
The first mode of media I was introduced to was television, and as the moving pictures are very easy to catch attention, it was the first thing that grabbed the attention of mine as a child. This was brought to my attention by my parents, as I did not have enough cognition abilities back then. Although I thought it was all real/ true/ candid, it was a bit later when it came to my understanding that it was media prosthesis. Later, the newspaper, which can be categorized into the gray literature, is believed to be true by most of the people around me. Up to a certain age, I believed each and every word of it, but as I kept on reading I found some anomalies; the information from one newspaper did not match with the other, and if both of them are true then it would weaken the overall credibility of both the information and would further lead to prove that newspapers are not necessarily always true. But rather they are perspectives/ views of certain people on some controversy or subject of interest so it would be categorized into media mirror as well as media prosthesis.
Into my teens, I had been introduced to a personal computer and the phenomenon called the internet. There were games like Roller Coaster Tycoon, Need for Speed II: SE, Road Rash, et cetera. The internet had websites such as Orkut, which was used as a social media. Orkut was a media mirror, which showed other people what I wanted to say and photos that I wanted to share. But by my late teens, I had shifted to Facebook, started using Google, Youtube, and Whatsapp as well. The facebook is a media mirror as we can upload what we capture, observe or experience. Whereas, Snapchat and Instagram can be said to be media prosthesis as well as media mirror.
Currently, the types of media mirrors that I use are WordPress, Whatsapp, Behance, Instagram, Flipboard and the media prosthesis that is used by me are mobile-smart-phone applications on self-help for various reasons, dictionary, photo filtering application, et cetera. All the above mentioned are the media accessible to me through a smartphone, and internet browser. Media used by people around me include Facebook, Quora, LinkedIn, and Youtube as well.
New for me…is something that has not been experienced by me before.
I can relate it with using something for the first time.
w”, being an adjective describes a noun. It is seldomly used alone, unlike Boys of Mechanical Engineering. The thing that it describes also has an impact on newness of that thing. For ex: New shoes, New clothes, New gadgets etc.
But the time for which each of these things feel new is different. Lets take an example:
Considering the pathetic condition of your smartphone and the happiness of getting placed at a big MnC, you decided to buy a new smartphone and some sassy formals to be the next chick magnet in the office.So you went to shopping and brought an iPhone7 (Without selling your kidney) and a pair of formals.
At the time of purchase, both the things were new for you.
After wearing the formals for 4-5 times, they are shifted into the category of “old”.
Whereas the iPhone you bought, even after using it much more than formals, remains new to you for atleast 1-2 months.
It is also related to personal experience an individual has. Something which is new for me may not be new for you.
Keeping in mind the human nature of finding flaws in everything, things/ways of doing things get old. There comes the need of improvement from which comes out “new”. New ways of doing things. For ex: e-commerce.
Media as Mirror
Lets break “media as mirror” into “Media” & “Mirror” to understand it.
Media: Means of transportation of information from a source to receiver.
Mirror: That reflects the true self.
So combining both, if the media does not impacts the information transported and conveys it as it is, it can be considered as Media as Mirror. The information sent = the information received.
Media as Prosthetics
It is the opposite of media as a mirror. If media is changing the information in some way, it is said to be media as prosthetics.
For ex: suppose i have to convey a message to my friend. The same message, if sent through: 1) Plain text message -> mirror as media and if sent through: 2) Whatsapp – mirror as prosthetics; as it has the power to alter the message using emojis, giffs.
Is new media really new??
There are two things to consider when information is transferred. The “what” and “how”. What refers to the content of the information. How refers to the medium of transfer.i.e Media With time, the How has evolved a lot. In the beginning print was used as a medium, after that televisions and radio came. Today is the time of new media which includes Mobile phones, Laptops, Internet, AR, VR etc.
It is evident from this evolution that a medium which was new at some point has grown old.
Radio was once a new media, but now has grown old.
Same will be the case with current “new” media. Yes, it is new, but the speed with which we are advancing, it is bound to get old.
Ex: Mobile apps market has already started growing old and is being eaten up by chatbots market.
Proxemics basically defines how comfortable you will be traveling in a Mumbai local. Basically, what is the range of distances, where you can let people stand, physically. If this didn’t make sense, you can watch this video, but it will stop in between and ask you to sign up.
Here is another diagram to explain you.
Basically, how you communicate using space. “Back off me”, is one such use of proxemics.
Now the realms of personal, physical and geographical territory were well defined, until social media showed up. Like a rebellious teenager, who claimed to know everything. And the harsh truth is, it actually does. And it refused to be bound within definite boundaries. Or emoticons and filters.
Intentionally or unintentionally, we have ended up with our own personally tailored social media proxemics. For me it goes somewhat as shown below. Memes and poking for my dearest, Instagram if I like you, Whatsapp if we like each other, Facebook if we can’t un-know each other now, and I don’t mind knowing you checked in to an airport to fly or a restaurant to eat. Like really, I never knew what to do with airports and restaurants anyways.
Apart from that, I do have this teeny weeny thing for people on Goodreads and Medium. They know the nerd inside me, and they read my brain pickings. Like you just did, when you read till this word. Thank you 🙂
We were recently discussing in class, how does a medium, translate what we are saying. If it translates it exactly how we meant it to, it is said to be a mirror. Say photographs. If it adds something from its side as well, the medium is said to be a prosthesis. Hmm…augmented reality?
You can read more about it in a book by McLuhan: Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man, 2001
Social media as a medium is? Mirror or prosthesis? If it’s not a mirror, what mental models of us is it catering to our social network?
Just the other day, someone told me “I imagined you to be rather an intellectual talker from your blogs.” I heard it as “You talk dumb, your blogs gave me a mental model that you were intellectual”. (This has nothing to do with I am girl btw, and it’s not even overthinking. These are just specialized processing skills I happen to possess.)
Remember, that group selfie with acquaintances where you pushed your way into last moment. Now tagged #homies. Then those pictures on Instagram. Carefully chosen from 40 supposedly candid pictures. Now tagged #honestcandid. Those tweets about the intellectual blog you read after scrounging through 10 best looks of Kate Middleton. Then the blogs you wrote in your moments of “intellectual-itty”. All adding up to different universally cool “mental models” of you.
It is indeed interesting to think how much do we actually let social media act as a mirror medium.
Q. How does the interactivity change the way in which we communicate with authority? Answer: In old mass media average people or simple audience didn’t have oppurtunity to interact like us. If a person want to give a complaint or feedback to any auithority it used to take time because of technology used at that time. eg: FAX machine, letters, phone etc.,
This complaints and feedbacks given are not in public but today becaus eof this interactivity provided by companies we can access them easily and cheating on customers can be brought to public today.
Examples:
I have seen people posting on facebook about how they didn’t get good customer experience with respective companies or how their money is not returned back to them when it should be returned. Immediately authorities used to respond because they may get bad impression. Then authorities start to treat them well. Good examples are “Amazon” and “Flipkart“.
Ill treatmet by staff is also uploaded in social medias and went viral. Even cases were also filed on companiy’s staff. good example can be “Cafe coffee day“.
What is NEW?
For me new is something that is created, discovered or invented. Things that we have no-clue about are considered as “NEW”. But we generally use the word NEW in many situations. Meaning might change a little while using it.
For example, If we relaunch a product that was stopped years ago then company gives it a “New Branding”. Giving it a NEW avatar .But due to the mental models of some customers. They may think that product as old one. The term new is often used in Patents world because this is related to Innovations, Adding features that never existed, new Ideas etc..,
New things in human societies are creates everyday. But they spread from one person to other when they reduce (or) remove the pain or Add pleasure or do both.
Finally a Quote that uses this word…..” We constantly see people raise in career who constantly learn something new“.
Is New Media really NEW?
Before generalizing, I can say that most features that NEW MEDIA provides using technology are “NEW”. Depending on the context we can probably say whether it is really new or not. It has its own advantages and disadvantages. There is a wide range in the distribution of power in New Media. General audience have a chance to interact in the forums. They can also communicate with authorities or creators of content.
Few advantages can be:
Virtual papers every where. Even I am writing this on a virtual paper which can be shared remotely with help of Technology. We are also decreasing the number of trees cut down every year. Because Virtual papers are acting as alternative for Papers we use .
Power is not in few top hands(to an extinct): New Media is always being helpful to breakdown propaganda which are created by Mainstream powers.
Best example can be Gaddafi’s life story. Many mainstream medias which are famous world-wide openly said that he is a cruel dictator but average ” Joe” revealed truth which eventually became very famous
Different Opinions: Free thoughts and Opinions are always being shared on virtual forums.
Is the experience of virtual community really different from real community?
We experience things because of many factors but in almost every case senses and motives are keys for our Experiences. In most of the cases YES the Experience is different. In virtual communities vision is the most used sense. Hearing(Voice messages), is the second most used sense after vision. But when it comes to real world we use all the senses. When it comes to motives… Sales men can be the best example or even a presenter. Selling done with a sales person is done by user centered motives. Virtual shopping sites like Amazon , Flipkart mostly use visuals of products to sell things.
Virtual world also Lacks details most of the time because of some restrictions. (Eg: space provided for us to use by websites and mailing services.) many virtual mediums / forums doesn’t give us the Aesthetics we get to see in our daily life. We talk to a person who is very far from us in virtual communities. Technology served us to interact well with other person. But when a whole community wants to talk to each other than it couldn’t serve this need.
“Authenticity” is the most important factor which affects a lot and can differentiate real and virtual world in my opinion.
In a world where we have come from stick and stones to harnessing the energy of sub-atomic particles, new is something that, for sure is not static. Right from the time men found out about fire and the miracles of the wheel, we have been an innovative race, coming up with new methods, new activities to make our lives easier. That is what it basically is all about. New, then is something that is different from already existing forms, it is an innovation, for positive or negative. To put it in very basic words, ‘new’ is the creation of something that had not existed before. However, in context of the society, we seem to accept only those innovations which are of use to us, which create a sense of interest in the minds of the multitudes. This is what is new, not just today, but has always been!!!
Is the ‘new’ media really new?
This again would depend on the context. What is our frame of reference? Are we comparing the present media with something that existed 10-20-30 years ago? With passing time, our world has indeed seen quite a lot of changes in the world of media. From telephones with two separate parts, today we stand in an era where we do not even need to hold a phone to our ear to talk to people. Media, in its essentials, used to be either digital or analog. Today, though, digital media cannot be talked about under a single umbrella. Now, media is no longer static. It talks to us, literally. There has come a time where media has the ability to replace people. The interactions that today’s media allows a user, both tangible and intangible, does successfully create that sense of interest in his mind. So, yes, the ‘new’ media is new, but only in the sense that it has evolved, and not transformed completely. Nothing is built from scratch; and media has always built on already existing concepts.
Real vs virtual community
If we think about from an emotional viewpoint, the virtual community can never match the likes of a real community. The amount of interaction brought in by a real human being cannot be cloned by any sense of technology. Interactions on a social platform, or any other virtual medium fails to meet the expectations of the real intellectual mind. However, there are positives as well. One of the most important of them being provided with platforms to interact with like-minded people, both professionally and personally. This leads to selective conversation, thereby reducing the chances of engaging in an unproductive conversation. As such, virtual community has its own merits, but in terms of interaction, the real community is the real deal.
According to me new can be defined as a synonym for change in the current state to enhance the effectiveness and productivity of the following state . In context of media, I would like to define new media as systems that have evolved existing practices, performed of human beings in their day to day life. New media has let to evolution of the ecosystem of human beings be it : reading/perceiving news from different source (news channels, radio, internet), watching videos/movies over the internet as a major source of entertainment, connecting with people sitting far away over social networking sites, sharing/receiving information in seconds of the internet etc. It has not only changed the way we receive/send information but also the medium through which we perceive information and made the process more interactive and still evolving day by day to enhance the inter-activeness between the user and the medium while communicating the information or performing a certain task. The medium is no longer used for just communicating information, evolution in media has led to creating and storing information within the medium which could be transmitted across mediums without much of a hassle.
Is ‘new media’ really new ?
Media can be defined in two different perspectives depending on the context in which it is being used : a) media as a mirror : The essence of media is mode of transportation of information from source to receiver. If media does not introduces changes in the information and presents it to the receiver as it is, then it should be considered as media as mirror. b) media as a prosthesis : In contrast with media as a mirror, if media is altering the information to have more out of the same according to user’s need or want.
Over several years, media has changed the way we interact, communicate and transmit information. Initially the change was in form of innovation of different mediums that communicate and interact with the users. Now it is more about evolution rather than innovation in existing mediums that communicate information and interact with the users. As evolution of media started it was more about innovating new media through the mediums, now it is more about innovating new media through information and how it is being communicated to the user.
Is experience of virtual community different from real community ?
Virtual community evolved with evolution of new media where people can connect with their friends, family sitting far away. Virtual community is different real community in following aspects :
On virtual community it becomes very difficult to express and understand feelings amongst the users where as it becomes very easy to empathize with the other person when you meet them in person.
Virtual community is very restricted, and lacks various aspects which often leads to miscommunication between the users which can be avoided in person conversations.
Virtual communities can be very often misleading in terms of information uploaded by the users , which is shared with their friends over the platform.
Excessive use of virtual platforms has lead to a decline in culture values in the society as a whole which was earlier maintained and has earlier evolved through social gatherings organised on a regular basis.
New Media Studies 