Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Old Vs. New

I have a hard time describing what new media is compared to the old but I can definitely identify them. Old media tends to to be static, it is what it is and you get what you are served. New media is more than that. To put it simply, to me it means the next step of our means of delivering content to the world. For example, back in the day a book would be the way to deliver your creativity to others. Now we dont even need a physical hard copy, we can just download it into an e-reader and have a bookshelf's worth of literature in our bag. Communicating with others has also taken massive leaps. Before, one would have to hand write a note and give it to a messenger and he would carry this note to the person in needs to be delivered. This was then upgraded to the postal service which was essentially the same thing but with a better and more efficient system. Then we got the telegram, the next step. A message could now be sent over wires from one location to the other and the other person just had to go to the place where the message arrived and get it. Then came the telephone, which made a direct link between people and they could transmit their voice to each other. Fast forward to now and we get what we are calling new media. We can send messages to as many people as we want very quickly thanks to the technology available to us now. E-mails can be sent to people instantly, massive texts can be sent from your mobile phone so one doesnt even need to be home to send a message to someone. Then you can step into the magical realm of social networks. There one can connect with virtually everyone you know talk to them instantly if they are logged in, send everyone a little message, organize events and even meet new people. Dont know how accurate this is but to me new media is that which takes us a step further as a society, that which transforms forever the way we do things, let it be communicating our thoughts, ideas, and creativity to another or to the world. New media is always fresh. Old media is just there, it is what it is.

1 comment:

  1. I agree, 'old' media is something that you can literally hold, whereas 'new' media are projected to you from a screen. Ironically, the projections are more reliable and useful than the hardcopy.

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