What is Media?
Definition of Media/Medium : an intervening agency, means, or instrument by which something is conveyed or accomplished. "Words are a medium of expression."
To put it simply, media is a platform for communication.
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Humans need to communicate with one another. Our primitive ancestors invented ways to communicate with one another through cave drawings. They used facial expressions and body language to communicate. Thus, even the human body could be considered as a medium at that time. Later on when speech and writing was invented, humans wrote letters to one another. Messengers or doves carried their messages.
Fast forward to the present day, we have invented so many ways to communicate with each other. Letters, Radio, Telephones, Newspapers, Short-Message Service(S.M.S), Blogs, Youtube, Facebook and Twitter.
The list just goes on and on.
What is Old Media?
So what exactly is old media?
Old Media refers to traditional ways of communication before the rise of the internet.
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Some examples of Old Media are:
- Television
- Radio
- Newspapers
- Magazines
- Books
- Most other printed publications
What is New Media?
New Media is the combination of traditional media with interactive power of the computer, communications technology and the internet.
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New Media can be difficult to define as it must be revised every years. A perfect example would be Youtube.
Just 6 years ago, Youtube did not even exist! In just six years, it has grown from an unknown virtually unknown website into the global phenomenon we know today.
Let us take a look at some examples of New Media:
- The Internet
- Twitter
- Blogs
- Facebook
- Youtube
- Video Blogs(Vlogs)
- Podcasts
- Forums
Pros and Cons
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Old Media : One-To-Many
Pros:
- Familiarity. People are globally comfortable with it
- Not very reliant on electricity
- Poorer countries still more reliant on it
- Credibility
- More trustable
- Spend less time online; more time for family and friends
Cons:
- Not as portable and convenient
- Limited content
- Have to pay for information
- Slowly updated
- Short shelf-life. Once the day its printed passes, it becomes history
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Pros:
- Interactivity
- User-generated content
- Encourages creativity and sharing
- Highly convenient
- Unlimited content
- Increase transparency of government
- Can keep in touch with loved ones from any where in the world
Cons:
- Writers deliver content inconsistently
- Some content cannot be trusted
- Reliant on electricity
- Cannot be used in rural areas with no internet and wireless connection
- Negatively affect our social lives and communication skills due to over-reliance on internet and phones
- Spend more time online; can have bad effects on our health
- Can cause internet and gaming addiction
- Danger of exposure to pornography to the young
- Lack of privacy
Is Old Media Dying? Can It Survive?
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Is the influence of old media fading?
The answer to the question would be a resounding yes.
But has new media taken over it? Maybe. Maybe not...Yet.
Its a fact that New Media has made our lives easier. People used to rely on yellow pages to find services before the advent of the internet. Yes, it has made things easier and also more efficient. The services provided online can be updated frequently. However, yellow pages are still more trustworthy. You never know when an ad posted online might be a scam.
There are over 6 billion people in the world. Hamadoun Toure, head of UN's telecommunication agency recently revealed that the number of internet users in the world has crossed the 2 billion mark. That means that there are still 4 billion people in the world who have not started using New Media.
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Collaboration of Old and New Media
Newspapers and magazines have seen a drop in subscribers. Books publishers are not earning as much due to drop in sales.
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Of course there are exceptions like Stephenie Meyer's Twilight.
Online forums, Youtube videos encourage fans of the book to come together.
In a way, it has also made use of the power of the internet to gain popularity. This is an example of how new and old media can work together.
However, television still going strong. This is because it combines old media and new media, to create interactivity. We can see Facebook and Twitter making appearances on television everywhere. From advertisements, to news programs with their own Facebook page.
Newspapers and magazines have also started to incorporate website links in their pages. Many newspapers and magazines have an online version of their articles.
Some examples would be Singapore's "Today" newspaper and Men's Health magazine.
Instead of fighting it out with each other, i believe that old and new media should work together.
Conclusion
Newspaper---> Radio--->Television---> Internet---> ???
We can see how our means of communication have evolved over the years. Perhaps in 10 years, the new media of today would become the new media of yesterday.
Here's a question to you.
What do you think comes after the Internet? Do you think something even bigger than Google and Facebook might appear?
Feel free to leave comments and Thank you for reading!
References :
http://whatsnewmedia.org/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_media
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6542596
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/02/08/why-television-is-an-old_n_165009.html
http://flowtv.org/2009/12/new-media-is-neither-new-nor-media-discussdavid-parry-university-of-texas-at-dallas/
Post your comments here.
ReplyDeleteYou have listed the various new/old media forms and taken a look at how they have evolved.
ReplyDeleteYou mentioned that "the services provided online can be updated frequently. However, yellow pages are still more trustworthy. You never know when an ad posted online might be a scam." Why do you say that print material is less prone to being scam?
TV, which you listed as old media is actually evolving to incorporate new media elements too. While print media is on the decline, I don't think it will completely disappear, at least for the next generation. What I see happening is the bringing together of various media forms with each complementing the other.
You have found some very interesting and relevant visuals and video to support your points.
Oh, don't pool your links at the end like that - use them more seamlessly in the post.
ReplyDeleteHi, I liked the fun and interesting way of presentation especially the video included in the blog. Personally, I feel that the text used and layout made the blog easy to read and I now have a better understanding and I agree that both old and new media can work together for even greater purposes.
ReplyDeleteI'm also keen to know what's next after the Internet!!
ReplyDeleteIt is true that new media are more current now compare to old media.We may not know if that will be a technology better than a telephone. But I still think that old media will still be use by the future generations because things are already quite convenient now...
Furthermore, Great work!! I'm surprise that you have a video in your web as well!! Nicely structured web as well!!XD
Hi,
ReplyDeletei liked how you listened the differences and pros and cons between the old and new media, i think that although new media outweighs old media in our society, old media has became part and parcel of the older generation so i think that new media and old media would always be co-existing together.
The pros and cons was listed out in detail and I've gotten the bigger picture from it.
ReplyDeleteIt is true that the new media now will somewhat be outdated in time to come and I am eager to know what comes next! But, we can't deny that the old media will never be extinct. Some people would still prefer the traditional ways of broadcasting, no?
Overall, good job! :D
Nice layout! Now i know more about the old and new media.
ReplyDeleteAnything is possible on the Internet.
Oh yes! I think something bigger and perhaps more revolutionary will eventually come after Google and Facebook! Not now but soon! Anyway, i think to make your presentation better, you should standardize your sub headings as it is kind of confusing!
ReplyDeleteI think that old media is still useful as if one day the internet is cut off from the whole world, we still have phones to communicate & newspaper to read. We can't eliminate old media entirely as they are part of our lives. :)
ReplyDeleteThis is Suetwa above.
ReplyDeleteHmm.I think that old and new media should work together because not all people are entitled to using new media thus using old media would greatly benefit the the person or organization.
ReplyDeleteHmmm maybe something that got to do with space would be after internet? That would definitely be something new coming up, afterall facebook has taken over the old friendster! :)
ReplyDeleteInteresting take you have there about old and new media. About the question posted, i still think nothing can come as big as the internet or better and that google is definitely into a world of its own.
ReplyDeleteInteresting post and in my point of view, people are more interested in the new media but old media has already played a big part in their life.
ReplyDeleteWell, it is true that the new media now would be taken over by future's new media. I think many/most of the people prefer new media compared to old media. But of course, old media is still useful. Anyway, good collaboration of old and new media there.
ReplyDeleteWows, media has really evolved. This article was good as it was informative and also well spaced and the information was not all chunked up. It makes me miss Old Media but at the same time, ironically makes me appreciate the existence of new media as well...
ReplyDeleteBoth plays a big part in our life and I learn a lot through this presentation. Joel here
ReplyDelete@Joel : Yes i agree that both are important to our lives. Glad that you managed to learn from my presentation!
ReplyDelete@abigail : Thanks! Yeah it makes me feel nostalgic as we all grew up using old media. We should accept change but at the same time hold on to tradition.
@weiling : New media is more convenient but i agree with you that old media is still useful. =]
@sandy : Thank you.. Yes i agree that people, even older people are more interested in new media.
@Raj : Thanks. Yup, i agree that google is definitely in a class of its own. But who knows, there might be something bigger!
@Amy : Something to do with space? Thats interesting! Yeah..Friendster used to be the main social networking site everyone used, until Facebook came about.
@Kok Weng : I agree that the old and new should work together. We must still use old media. As you stated, there are people who still cannot use new media.
@Suetwa : I agree with u..If power was cut off, i think many people would feel powerless as we are so reliant on the internet.
@Alicia : Thanks for your opinion! I will make the changes to my post. Perhaps Facebook and Google should merge together?
@Kay Yuen : Thanks! Yes i agree that anything is possible on the internet.
@Dewaine : I agree with you that old media will never be extinct..at least not in the near future. We still need paper for important legal documents and taking exams don't we?
@Robin : Hi, yes i agree with you..but what if the older generation has all passed on..would anyone still prefer old media?
@Ronald : Thanks! Imagine if one day the internet disappeared..we would still need old media in those circumstances!
@Tiantian : Hi, i'm glad that you found it interesting! When the old and new work together we can go to greater heights.
@newmediascapes : Yes i agree that different media forms will come together and really complement each other. While print ads are still prone to scam, people are more daring when it comes to the internet. One example is the "Craiglist Killer" in which a guy placed an online ad and murdered the people he met.
Interesting topic. I think there will be another thing come after google. even we using internet often ,but we also use the old media to get some information.
ReplyDeleteNew Media has more Pros & Cons compared to Old Media. I think it is impossible for New Media to take over the world because there will be a minority still prefer to have old media.. like myself. Anyways, i like the way how your blog is structured and the pictures make it more attrative. Way to Go! :)
ReplyDelete@BaoCheng : Yes..i agree that we still rely on old media to get information. Especially when there is no internet available to you at the moment.
ReplyDelete@aReef : Thanks! I structured it so that it is easily scannable. Yes, there is still a minority that still prefer old media. Poorer countries also might not have access to new media