basic concepts of new mediaLab14 January 2009Kathy E. Gill

Contd From Monday .

New channels (mediated)WWWE-mailVideoconferencingPodcastingElectronic publishingMobile telephony

What do they have in common?

Computer Mediated Communication (1/2)Desktop computers used as tools to influence human cognition and convey messages among people (focuses on the technology, older definition)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)

CMC (2/2)CMC software has two categories: asynchronous and synchronous (Smith, 1994).

http://www.edb.utexas.edu/csclstudent/kim/text/ASCmC.html

SynchronousTwo or more group members have real-time (simultaneous) communicationInstant Messenging can be synchronousFace-to-face meetings; phone calls; video conference; other?

Asynchronous Allows group members to work individually and aloneProvides time/space flexibilityE-mail, BBs

CMC/Web Characteristics (1/2)Hardware independentSoftware independentIM Not Here Yet, But Close (Google)Open standardsInformation sharingGive back (contribute) to the community

CMC/Web Characteristics (2/2)A blend of characteristics from old mediaPrintRadioFilmTV

Print CharacteristicsAbstractFixed Linear Primarily verbal but can have images Reader controls pace

Radio CharacteristicsAuditory (sound) Creator controls pace Dynamic LinearLive happening in real timeSome programs are now podcast for time-shifting Transient audience

TV CharacteristicsAnimated sound and imagesCreator controls pace Dynamic LinearLive may be happening nowLive has two meanings: real time and scheduled time Primarily visualTransient audience

Web CharacteristicsContent may be live (dynamic) or fixedMulti-media (visual + auditory)Transient audience Typically nonlinear Visitor controls pace and direction

Mass audience no longerFrom broadcast to narrowcastTime-shiftingAccelerates a move foreshadowed by niche publishing

SummaryMediated Communication is Two types are Three characteristics of new media and their impacts

Geek SpeakInternet 101:What is a URLWhat is a browser?What are protocols?

Lab On WednesdayExperiment with RSSDemo Slideshare.net

****Abstract = not live, not in motion before your eyes, interpreting symbols in your imagination

Linear = goes from point A to point B (not necessarily in the story, which may skip around in time; book itself starts at the beginning and ends at the end)

Reader controls pace -- fast, slow, all in one sitting, over a month

Primarily verbal -- text

Captive audience -- using that term loosely; audience has committed as far as buying or checking out the book

Fixed -- doesnt change the next time you pick it up**Now television -- which shares some but not all the characteristics of film.

Transient audience = not committed; click the remote

Dynamic = content always changing*Web shares some of all these characteristics. In many ways, Web has taken bits and pieces from all the other media to form a new hybrid

TextImagesAnimation

User controls pace and direction = unique relationship between content-creators and content-consumers

Visual aspect = important but combined with old-fashioned text reading

Transient audience = one click and theyre gone

Live = sometimes live and sometimes not

Dynamic = always changing; less predictable even than TV

*