There is a distinct difference between analogue media and the digital media. Analogue media are the old media while the digital media is the new media. The main difference between the two is that, new media operates through processes that involve numerical representations while old media do not. Old media example includes use of paper, books, letters, as a way of relaying information to the population. New media includes use of mobile phones, internet and computers. Information in digital form can now be shared and exchanged by a large population of users simultaneously. This can be illustrated using a daily life example.
A copy of paper which is an example of old media is a slow technological form that is through copying the printed page, and latter distributed physically to its readers. On the contrary, an electronic text is a fast technology that is, switched and circulated almost immediately, and at relative low costs to the producer. Communication theory states that all living beings living on earth communicate although the ways of communication are different. In this paper, cultural studies theorists’ main concern is media influence and how power by the dominant class of people plays a role in interpreting culture.
In addition, social exchange theory whose main force in the interpersonal relationships is simply satisfaction of both the sender and receiver of information. Digital media are quickly changing the world in which we live (Siapera, 2012). Mobile interfaces, internet cultures and global communications are re- configuring the daily lives of people, as well as the experiences. In the 1970s, the video was an initial new media as it converted both cinema and television material into content. Digital technologies nowadays take this procedure to an extreme and possibly even to its endpoint.
Computers now have the capability all earlier media forms as content, including camera, video, fax, typewriter, television, and record player. To understand all these transformations, a new theoretical imagination is one that is informed and able to cope with the overwhelming complexity of the world today. The main concepts reviewed in this paper are information and archive. They are essential for understanding the impact of the new media on the modern society and culture (Hearn, 2009). These concepts have been used to understand the TED video clip that describes the various ways in which web video influence global innovation.
The web video clip is an example of new media, which is in the modern world. A concept that is intriguing is the idea of information. This is a process by which informational technologies such as the world wide website and other communication technologies have altered economic and social relations in the world. Information is a prime commodity for exchange in the highly developed capitalist societies. The substantial design of a communication system structures the meaning and the contents of the information that go through it.
Information is different from conventional forms of knowledge that require human inspiration and reflection. This is because it is the basics of a computer based capitalism that acknowledges the speed and proficiency of data transmission over anything else. In other words, information is the knowledge produced for the hastened capitalist marketplace. This is because it is cheap to produce, fast to consume and easy to exchange within a large geographical area. Information also involves the transfer of form from a medium to another.
This is about movement of data through a range of diverse communication media and also about the difficulty to find a form to make such movement logical. However, there is little time for such reflection in a world that is technologically in which production and the exchange of information accelerates rapidly (Gane & Beer, 2008). The other concept is an archive which is a storage media that record and reproduces the forms of combined memory (Hearn, 2009). This tells us the basis of contemporary social life as well as the cultural life and how the theories of new media, to date, have changed over time.
In this age of digital media, archives are more of network organizations that facilitate the storage, retrieval and communication of large amounts of data. Old media archives made up of documents put in an official place have been misplaced or hard to trace. Such storage facilities include libraries and museums. New media has opened new possibilities for the slightest storage of still and moving images, sounds and texts that are accessible for the growing number of users. Archives need to be reconsidered in the light of multimedia technologies that increase the possible forms they might take.
This places the duty for the design and general governance of archives in the users’ hands. Archives can either be public or private in terms of access. There are websites that retrieving the archives require passwords or signing up to get the information. The public websites are as they are easy to access. New media archives are personalized and collaborative, which lead to new forms of popular memory that operate through daily storage of data. Some sites contain unlimited gallery of amateur movies that show singing dancing, driving or cleaning.
These activities kill the peoples’ culture. This is a negative effect to the social and cultural dynamics such as the conservation and nostalgic praises of culture (Jenkins, 2008). Conclusion New media are the main form of global communication. The use of YOU Tube or video clips in the websites is effective in reaching out to the people of the world. It offers knowledge, is easily accessible, cheap as well as less expensive. Social exchange theorists together with the cultural theorists help in understanding the video clips on the websites.
People embrace and appreciate the diverse cultures of the world, as well as the interpersonal relationships that come with communicating with different people. This makes new media easier to understand and interpret.
References
Gane, N. , & Beer, D. (2008). New media: The key concepts. Oxford: Berg Hearn, G. (2009). Action research and new media: Concepts, methods, and cases. Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press. Jenkins, H. (2008). Convergence culture: Where old and new media collide. New York: New York University Press. Siapera, E. (2012). Understanding new media. London [etc. : SAGE.
