Impacts of New Media

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Defining the new media The term new media generally refers to two trends that have occurred over the past 30 years. * The evolution of existing media delivery systems. The way media content is delivered has dramatically changed over the last 30 years. As recently as 2000 most people received television pictures through aerials and there were five terrestrial television channels that could be accessed. Digital, highdefinition, flat-screen televisions and subscriptions to hundreds of digitalised satellite and cable television channels are now the norm. * The emergence of new delivery technologies – cheap personal computers and mobile-phone technology, and especially texting, are relatively novel forms of communication. However, the most innovative technology that has appeared in the last 20 years is probably the Internet or worldwide web. There are several characteristics of new media. * It is based on digital technology. * Different types of media content, e.g. music, images and e-mails are often combined or converged into a single delivery system, e.g. television, lap-tops and mobile phones. * It is interactive and lets users select the stories that they want to watch, in the order that they want to watch them. Users can also mix and match the information they want. Users can engage in online discussions or play on-line live games with each other. They can interact with each other through social networking sites such as Facebook. Users may produce their own films and music and post it on sites such as YouTube and MySpace. User-generated content and information sites, such as Wikipedia and IMDB, are a popular source of knowledge. * It is demand led as consumers are no longer restrained by television schedules. Sky+, Freeview and the BBC IPlayer are good examples of how consumers of new media are encouraged to take an active role in the construction

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