Nové médiá

Pojem nové média prichádza s objavovaním digitálnych, počítačových, sieťových informačných a komunikačných technológií koncom 20teho storočia. Väčšina technológií popisovaná ako „nové médiá“ sú digitálne alebo digitalizované s charakterom manipulovateľnosti cez siete.

História

Do 1980tych rokov média spoliehali najmä na tlač a analógové vysielanie, ako televízia a rádio. Za

posledných 30 rokov sa média transformovali s použitím osobných počítačov a nových digitálnych

technológií ako internet a počítačové hry. Akokoľvek, tieto príklady sú len malá kvapka v mori nových

médií. Používanie počítačov transformovalo ostávajúce „staré“ médiá, a pripravilo nástup digitálnej

televízie a elektronickým publikácií. Dokonca tradičné formy médií ako tlačené noviny sa zmenili

vplyvom aplikácií technológií a využíva sa upravovanie fotiek a obrázkov v grafických softvéroch

a programoch pre desktop publikáciu.

Andrew L. Shapiro (1999) argumentoval, že: „Príchod nových digitálnych technológií signalizuje

teoreticky radikálnu zmenu kto má v rukách a kontroluje informácie, skúsenosti a prostriedky.“

(Shapiro cited in Croteau and Hoynes 2003: 322). W. Russell Neuman (1991) predpokladá, kým

„nové médiá“ majú technické možnosti ťahať na jednu stranu, ekonomika a sociálne úkazy budú

ťahať opačným smerom. Podľa Neumana sme účastníkmi evolúcie univerzálne prepojenej siete

audia, videa a elektronického textu, ktorý znejasní rozdiel medzi interpersonálnou a masovou

komunikáciu a medzi privátnou a verejnou komunikáciou.(Neuman cited in Croteau and Hoynes 2003:

322).

Viacerý pionieri nových médií tvrdili, že:

Zmení sa ponímanie vzdialenosti (Marshall McLuhan – koncept globálnej dediny)

Výrazne sa zvýši množstvo prenášaných údajov a informácií

Zvýši sa rýchlosť komunikácie (množstvo a čas)

Príležitosť pre interaktívnu komunikáciu.

Umožní formám komunikácie, ktoré boli predným oddelene navzájom sa prepojiť.

Consequently it has been the contention of scholars such as Douglas Kellner and James

Bohman that new media, and particularly the Internet, provides the potential for a

democratic postmodern public sphere, in which citizens can participate in well informed, non-

hierarchical debate pertaining to their social structures. Contradicting these positive appraisals of the

potential social impacts of new media are scholars such as Ed Herman and Robert McChesney who

have suggested that the transition to new media has seen a handful of

powerful transnational telecommunications corporations who achieve a level of global influence which

was hitherto unimaginable.

Recent contributions to the field such as Lister et al. (2003) and Friedman (2005) have highlighted

both the positive and negative potential and actual implications of new media technologies,

suggesting that some of the early work into new media studies was guilty of

technological determinism – whereby the effects of media were determined by the technology

themselves, rather than through tracing the complex social networks which governed the

development, funding, implementation and future development of any technology.

Globalization and new media

Flew (2002) stated that as a result of the evolution of new media technologies, globalisation occurs.

Globalisation is generally stated as "more than expansion of activities beyond the boundaries of

particular nation states".[2] Globalisation shortens the distance between people all over the world by

the electronic communication (Carely 1992 in Flew 2002) and Cairncross (1998) expresses this great

development as the "death of distance". New media "radically break the connection between physical

place and social place, making physical location much less significant for our social relationships"

(Croteau and Hoynes 2003: 311).

However, the changes in the new media environment create a series of tensions in the concept of

“public sphere”. According to Ingrid Volkmer, “public sphere” is defined as a process through which

public communication becomes restructured and partly disembedded from national political and

cultural institutions. This trend of the globalized public sphere is not only as a geographical expansion

form a nation to worldwide, but also changes the relationship between the public, the media and state

(Volkmer, 1999:123).[3]

"Virtual communities" are being established online and transcend geographical boundaries,

eliminating social restrictions. Howard Rheingold (2000) describes these globalised societies as self-

defined networks, which resemble what we do in real life. "People in virtual communities use words on

screens to exchange pleasantries and argue, engage in intellectual discourse, conduct commerce,

make plans, brainstorm, gossip, feud, fall in love, create a little high art and a lot of idle talk"

(Rheingold cited in Slevin 2000: 91). For Sherry Turkle"making the computer into a second self,

finding a soul in the machine, can substitute for human relationships" (Holmes 2005: 184). New media

has the ability to connect like-minded others worldwide.

While this perspective suggests that the technology drives – and therefore is a determining factor – in

the process of globalisation, arguments involving technological determinism are generally frowned

upon by mainstream media studies. [4][5][6] Instead academics focus on the multiplicity of processes by

which technology is funded, researched and produced, forming a feedback loop when the

technologies are used and often transformed by their users, which then feeds into the process of

guiding their future development.

While commentators such as Castells [7] espouse a 'soft determinism'[8] whereby they contend that

'Technology does not determine society. Nor does society script the course of technological change,

since many factors, including individual inventiveness and entrpreneurialism, intervene in the process

of scientific discovery, technical innovation and social applications, so the final outcome depends on a

complex pattern of interaction. Indeed the dilemma of technological determinism is probably a false

problem, since technology is society and society cannot be understood without its technological tools.'

(Castells 1996:5) This however is still distinct from stating that societal changes are instigated by

technological develoment, which recalls the theses ofMarshall McLuhan [9][10]

Manovich [11] and Castells [12] have argued that whereas mass media 'corresponded to the logic of

industrial mass society, which values conformity over individuality,' (Manovich 2001:41) new media

follows the logic of the postindustrial or globalised society whereby 'every citizen can construct her

own custom lifestyle and select her ideology from a large number of choices. Rather than pushing the

same objects to a mass audience, marketing now tries to target each individual separately.'

(Manovich 2001:42).

New media as a tool for social change

Social Movement Media has a rich and storied history that has changed at a rapid rate since New

Media became widely used.[13] The Zapatista Army of National Liberation of Chiapas, Mexico were the

first major movement to make widely recognized and effective use of New Media for communiques

and organizing in 1994.[14] Since then, New Media has been used extensively by social movements to

educate, organize, share cultural products of movements, communicate, coalition build, and more.

The WTO Ministerial Conference of 1999 protest activity was another landmark in the use of New

Media as a tool for social change. The WTO protests used media to organize the original action,

communicate with and educate participants, and was used an alternative media source.

[15] The Indymedia movement also developed out of this action, and has been a great tool in the

democratization of information, which is another widely discussed aspect of new media movement.

[16] Some scholars even view this democratization as an indication of the creation of a "radical, socio-

technical paradigm to challenge the dominant, neoliberal and technologically determinist model of

information and communication technologies."[17] A less radical view along these same lines is that

people are taking advantage of the internet to produce a grassroots globalization, one that is anti-

neoliberal and centered on people rather than the flow of capital.[18] Of course, some are also skeptical

of the role of New Media in Social Movements. Many scholars point out unequal access to new media

as a hindrance to broad-based movements, sometimes even oppressing some within a movement.

[19] Others are skeptical about how democratic or useful it really is for social movements, even for

those with access.[20] There are also many New Media components that activists cite as tools for

change that have not been widely discussed as such by academics.

New Media has also found a use with less radical social movements such as the Free Hugs

Campaign. Using websites, blogs, and online videos to demonstrate the effectiveness of the

movement itself. Along with this example the use of high volume blogs has allowed numerous views

and practices to be more widespread and gain more public attention. Another example is the on-

going Free Tibet Campaign, which has been seen on numerous websites as well as having a slight

tie-in with the band Gorillaz in their Gorillaz Bitez clip featuring the lead singer2D sitting with

protesters at a Free Tibet protest. Another social change seen coming from New Media is trends in

fashion and the emergence of subcultures such as Text Speak, Cyberpunk, and various others.

Interactivity and new media

Interactivity has become a key term for number of new media use options evolving from the rapid

dissemination of Internet access point, the digitalization of the media, and media convergence. In

1984, Rice defined the new media as communication technologies that enable or facilitate user-to-

user interactivity and interactivity between user and information. [21] Such as Internet replaces the

"one-to-many" model of traditional mass communication with the possibility of a "many-to-many" web

of communication. Any individual with the appropriate technology can now produce his or her online

media and include images, text, and sound about whatever he or she chooses. [22] So the new media

with technology convergence shifts the model of mass communication, and radically shapes the ways

we interact and communicate with one another. Vin Crosbie described three communications media in

“What is new media?”. He saw Interpersonal media as “one to one”, Mass media as “one to many”

and, finally New Media as Individuation Media or “many to many”.

When we think of interactivity and its meaning, we assume that it is only prominent in the

conversational dynamics of individuals who are face-to-face. This restriction of opinion does not allow

us to see its existence in mediated communication forums. Interactivity is present in some

programming work, such as video games. It's also viable in the operation of traditional media. Other

settings of interactivity include radio and television talk shows, letters to the editor, listener

participation in such programs, and computer and technological programming. [23]

Interactivity can be considered as a central concept in understanding new media, but different media

forms possess different degree of interactivity [24], even some forms of digitized and converged media

are not in fact interactive at all. Tony Feldman [25] considers digital satellite television as an example of

a new media technology that uses digital compression to dramatically increase the number of

television channels that can be delivered, and which changes the nature of what can be offered

through the service, but does not transform the experience of television from the user’s point of view,

as it lacks a more fully interactive dimension. It remains the case that interactivity is not an inherent

characteristic of all new media technologies, unlike digitization and convergence.

Terry Flew (2005) argues that "the global interactive games industry is large and growing, and is at

the forefront of many of the most significant innovations in new media" (Flew 2005: 101). Interactivity

is prominent in these online computer games such as World of Warcraft and The Sims Online. These

games, developments of "new media", allow for users to establish relationships and experience a

sense of belonging, despite temporal and spatial boundaries. These games can be used as an

escape or to act out a desired life. Will Wright, creator of The Sims, "is fascinated by the way gamers

have become so attached to his invention-with some even living their lives through it" [26]. New media

have created virtual realities that are becoming mere extensions of the world we live in.

New Media changes continuously due to the fact that it is constantly modified and redefined by the

interaction between the creative use of the masses, emerging technology, cultural changes, etc.