Old Media Vs. New Media

Old media is generally used to describe traditional media: television and radio broadcasts, print (newspapers, magazines, books), film, etc. New media includes but is not limited to the Internet and World Wide Web, streaming audio and video, chat rooms, online communities, e-mail, video games, virtual realities, interactive media, DVD’s and CD-ROM’s, mobile or wireless computing, highly interactive user interfaces, telephone and digital data integration, other forms of multimedia popular from the 1990’s on.

Old media is perceived as being static, easily dated, sluggish, passive, less accessible, one-way communication while new media is perceived as being highly interactive and participatory, customizable, dynamic, multi-sensory, and often available in real time.

Old media and media technologies have generally been thought of as being separate and distinct. For example, television companies broadcast television programs and phone companies dealt with telephone communication. But the boundaries among old media providers have blurred over time as new media and old media integrate. This process is called convergence which John Hartley defines as “the integration of telephony, computing and media (broadcasting) technologies and thence the integration of the businesses, markets and the social interactions associated with them”. (M/Cyclopedia of New Media) . It may be this convergence rather than new media itself that has the most social, cultural, and geo-political implications.

Sources:

M/Cyclopedia of New Media

What Is New Media?

A cursory definition of "new media" is provided by Wikipedia: "New media usually refers to a group of relatively recent mass media based on new information technology.” (Wikipedia)

Most think new media includes but is not limited to the following: the Internet and World Wide Web, streaming audio and video, chat rooms, online communities, e-mail, video games, virtual realities, interactive media, DVD’s and CD-ROM’s, mobile or wireless computing, highly interactive user interfaces, blogs, telephone and digital data integration, other forms of multimedia popular from the 1990s on.

But new media is much more than the latest technologies. New media has the "power" to impact society, culture, politics, and everyday life. Its dimensions are at the same time both global and local; contemporary and historical; theoretical and practical; communal and individual. New media encompasses issues such as interactivity, virtuality, consumption, innovation, regulation, cyber-cultures, accessibility, identity in cyberspace, time and space in a global culture, and the politics of cyberspace. (New Media and Society, 1999)

Sources:

Wikipedia
New Media and Society

McLuhan's "The Medium is the Message"

McLuhan states in his article "The Medium is the Message" that any medium is an extension of ourself. Media is neither good nor bad. Only the intentions of the creator of the message can be good or bad. The creator chooses the medium/media in which to deliver the message. This choice of medium is important and can have social, psychological and cultural impacts on the receiver(s) of the message. The same content delivered with various media can have a completely different meanings. The message is dependent on which medium is chosen. McLuhan uses the example of electric light to support his beliefs. - MW

In McLuhan’s article “The Medium is the Message”, I believe that he is saying that regardless of the message, it is the medium that drives and shapes, to an equal or greater extent, societal and cultural changes. Messages have been delivered a variety of ways over time from cave drawings to today’s internet, but the medium and its relationship to accessibility, time, universality, and as an extension of ourselves, etc. has tremendous influence on social and cultural frameworks. A message is a message—thoughts, ideas, or information put into words. But the medium can alter, detract from, or enhance the message; affect the message’s accessibility and usability; affect the speed at which the message is delivered, processed, and synthesized; alter one’s perception of the messenger; affect the perception of time; and can make more or less demands on higher order thinking skills. - MH

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