Audiences Influence Digital Media

With the invention of the internet came an infinite number of possibilities for just about any media outlet. The internet also permitted the restructuring of itself in order to better meet people's needs and encourage participation. The article that I feel describes this the best would be "The Long Tail" by Chris Anderson. Within the first page and a half of the article, Anderson discusses how the internet helped to encourage buyers to buy a book that had nearly been forgotten just because it was of the same genre of a new, popular book. Because of software created specifically by internet users, these types of associations are possible, and even something as traditional as bookselling has been transformed by its audience to work, simply, better.

This topic relates to many different "old media." Lets use the book first. When books first came out, they required people to read them to absorb the information. Once the digital age hit, people could go online or onto their ipod, see the words to the book, and also listen to a narration. This would never have been possible if it were not for the digital age, and the only reason this change was able to come about in the first place was because the users demanded it. Radio will be the next medium that I explain, and this medium is fairly easy to understand. To explain radio, I will use the rapidly growing example of Pandora. Pandora takes the idea of radio and is actually BASED upon the users contributing to it and helping to transform the medium in their own image. For example, I transformed the generic Pandora stations into very complex radio stations with a very specific music styling. This would never have been possible would it not have been for the digital age. The last example that I will use is the example of television and film. With the digital age came the creation of YouTube, the online video giant. This website, like Pandora, was based upon its users. Users could now use their video-editing software to put together videos, and then use the digitally based YouTube to share them with the world. This absolutely changed the way we as people looked at video and opened up a huge number of new horizons.

As far as traditional theory goes, McLuhan's theory of Technological Determinism and the theory of "hot" and "cold" mediums also applies. According to the theory of Technological Determinism, technology determines the social change. In this case, the digital technology led to a change that permitted and encouraged the participation in these newly created digital mediums. The "hot" and "cold" medium theories apply when looking at the transformation of the media themselves. Prior to the digital age, it would be fair to say that most media were considered "cold" such as film and television, as they did not permit much participation by their audiences. However, with the introduction of digital media, each of these mediums has been changed to be "hot" mediums, as they encourage and even rely on participation to prosper, grow, and succeed.

Media Affected:
Newspaper - Online Newspaper
Video/TV - Youtube
Video Games - Modding
Radio - Pandora
Journals - Blogs/Facebook

Google Privacy?

This blog post will be devoted to discussing the idea of privacy in "the age of Google" First, before going into detail about anything, I feel that I should define the term "privacy". According to Wikipedia, privacy is "the ability of an individual or group to seclude themselves or information about themselves and thereby reveal themselves selectively". The article that I feel addresses this theme the best is the cloud computing article. Within this article, Carr specifically addresses the safety of general information online and he makes two good points. The first point is that if we want privacy we wouldn't put all of our personal information online. This is a good point, as many of us put all of our information on Facebook and just believe that it will be magically guarded from people whose mission is to do harm. As the interview mentions, we want better results and we know that by putting our information online, we will get it. The second point is that

Privacy has always been an issue throughout history. With every new medium comes new issues in privacy. A good example of one of the first mediums that privacy could be violated with would be the book. Many people keep diaries and would those diaries be read by the wrong people, the information could be used in a malicious way. The same could be for television and audio. Using audio, people were able to record sound clips and in many cases, this sound clips, if listened to by the wrong people could violate privacy. I remember one particular instance in which one of my fellow students in the seventh grade brought an audio recorder to class and recorded the lecture. During the lecture, however, my teacher yelled at a student and when he found out that he was being recorded he absolutely flipped and started ranting about his privacy. The same thing can happen with recorded video. Videos can have sensitive information on them and in the wrong hands, a person's privacy can be violated. I guess that what I'm trying to get at is that with every medium there has been the issue of privacy. The only difference is that now, it is easier to access than in the past. There is no longer any need for the physical book, audio recording, or video anymore. Almost every aspect of a person's life is laid out online for everyone to see.

As far as theories go, there really isn't a theory that describes this theme perfectly. However, I do believe that the theory of Social Space by Meyrowitz can apply in a particular context. This theory argues that the medium determines how people react in certain social situations. In the case of privacy, I can argue that the medium determines how people react as well. When there were less advanced mediums, the physical place often had an effect on how people reacted to the distribution of their sensitive information. The example of that could be the one of my teacher flipping out. His privacy was being violated right before his eyes and he was able to react to it. However, in this "age of google", it is harder and harder to detect when our privacy is being violated. Because of the elimination of physical privacy barriers, in this age, it is especially important that we safeguard our information.

The Internet is All-Absorbing

The internet most definitely is a compilation of many different types of old media that were absorbed, adapted, and changed. For example, in the cloud computing podcast, the host, Brooke Gladstone, brings up a great example of one type of old media that was absorbed. She provides the example of video and how it has been adapted to be downloadable online. Not so long ago, video was something physical that could be held and played in only video-playing devices and after its absorption by the net, it has become something that is widely shared and distributed with ease. Another article, "The Rise and Fall of Media", touches upon the subject of the digitalizing of the newspaper. This has also been something that the net has adapted, and now online newspapers are developing a very large amount of regular users. The major change in the adaptation of newspaper is that the user is able to choose the news that they read and filter out stories that they will not read.

As far as old media go, most types of old media have been adapted in some form or another to be compatible with the internet. Books have evolved into the e-book and some libraries are even offering people the chance to read books online. The C.W. Post library, for example, allows students and members the ability to read certain titles online from any computer. Radio is another medium that was absorbed by the internet. The creation of Pandora and other online radio websites now permit users to use their computers to listen to the radio and also to alter the content itself. This ability to control content was an idea that originated with the internet. Even television, a more recent medium, was absorbed into the internet giant. Websites like Hulu allow television show streaming and permit users to access their favorite shows at the click of a button. My opinion of all this is that the internet is a gateway to every other medium and that it is extremely convenient. Rather than having to rely on a television, radio, or book for content, I can simply rely on the internet.

The theory that most closely fits this theme would be Marshall McLuhan's theory that the content of each new medium is the old medium. In the case of the internet, this is most definitely true. Most features that the internet offers are taken from other mediums, and the content does not change. Whether it be internet radio, internet television viewing, or internet e-books, the same information is present, but it has been adapted to be compatible with the internet. The other theory I can use to describe this new trend is Winston's theory regarding the accelerators and brakes of new media. In the case of the internet, there were many accelerators such as easy of access, low cost and high availability, and high popularity and demand. The brakes for the internet are much fewer and less severe and have not halted the internets growth and adaptation of more mediums that much or even at all.

Media Shapes Our Thought Processes

This theme is exemplified perfectly by the "Is Google Making us Stupid" article by Nicholas Carr. In the article, Carr argues that these search engines and the instantaneous availability of information has changed the way that we as humans think. Instead of having to read intensely to understand something, we can just quickly reference the internet and get a simplified version of whatever we were looking for. Personally, I find that this is a very useful quality, but at the same time, we as people are becoming much stupider than we should be. As we discussed in class, many people are not even capable of reading the New York Times, which is only at an eighth grade reading level. This pitiful fact can be attributed to the fact that we have instant access to any information at pretty much any time we need it through our phones, computers, PDA's, and more recently, our on-board car computers. These devices generally provide short snippets of information which give people general understandings and decrease the necessity for people to have to "deep read" to get information.

Media has greatly influenced the way that people have done thing throughout the years. For instance, the creation of the book changed the way in which data was recorded and it eliminated the need for people to remember large amounts of information and pass it on through word of mouth. It also created a need for people to be able to read. Therefore, the invention of the book as a medium allowed humans to "offload" information from their mind to the written page. This has been the case with just about every type of medium and the only difference throughout the years has been the medium itself. Perhaps the best example of this could be taken from the Simpson's episode that we watched in class. After the students get a new "tech savvy" teacher, he basically tells them that studying is a thing of the past because anybody can just search for the answers on their phones and blackberries. This cartoon was absolutely right and brought the issue to light, jokingly of course.

As far as traditional theories go, Marshall McLuhan's theory that mediums shape the content and the message definitely applies. Also, the argument that the content of a new medium is the old medium also applies. Allow me to explain: As I mentioned before, each new medium that has come out has permitted us to offload information to an easily accessible place. However, the type of information that each medium permits us to offload does not actually change. With each new medium, we are offloading the same information, we're just doing it in a different way. Let me compare the book to the internet. Books allowed us to store our information, so that we could reference it at any time without having to have it memorized. The same can be said for the internet and search engines. The only difference is the method. In the case of the book, the information is printed or written within the book and is only accessible with the book in the person's possession. The internet, on the other hand, allows access to the information from any device or place with internet access. Therefore, although different media have been invented, each has only recorded the same information as the previous, but in a different way.

Monetizing the Media

Although most mediums were created as a ways to relay information better, they almost always stray from this path down the path of commercialism. Most new media are manipulated to make money in our day and age. The worst part is that as humans in our current time period, we do not even realize that this is happening. In layman's terms, my argument here is that there most definitely was a change in media from the intended use of communication to the new use of making money and that that change is no longer noticeable by the average consumer. This is demonstrated in one of the arguments of Nicholas Carr in the "Is Google Making Us Stupid" article. In the article, Carr refers to the fact that media changes the way that we as humans think. Our thought processes become altered to include the medium in them. In this respect, I believe that the constant bombardment of advertising through media has in essence made humans immune to the point that they do not even realize that they are being sold something.

Each time a new medium has been created, the first use was not advertising. Lets take radio as an example. When radio was first created, it's purpose was to entertain. However, as time went on and the popularity of radio grew, large corporations began to purchase these radio stations and use them to advertise and ultimately create a profit. What started out as a innocent utopian idea evolved slowly but surely into a capitalizing monster. The exact same situation occurred with television and with television, it was even worse. Once television became popular, advertising moved in just as it did with radio. However, instead of limiting advertising to commercials between programs, television took it to the next level. Product placement in regular programming became standard and before long, people didn't even realize that they were being sold to while they were enjoying themselves. The perfect example of this would be "The Price is Right" show that we touched on in class. The show was basically devoted to teaching people about different products and how to buy them. This ties into the argument of Carr in the Google article that over time, media shapes the way we think. In this case, it eliminated our ability to sense when we are advertised to.

As far as traditional media theories go, the Economic or Capitalist Ideology theories explain this phenomenon perfectly. These theories basically argue that media is driven by the capability to make a profit. In essence, how media work and what they present is based solely on monetizing. This is a pretty straightforward theory and it's also pretty short. It's just a pity that these great advances in technology are all based upon advertising and making a profit. It's hard to go anywhere nowadays without seeing an advertisement for something, and the worst part is that we do not even notice it anymore. It's just too bad...but it's a part of life.