Communications & Media



Question One

New Media Effects

Given the rampant advancements in the realm of information technology in the past decade, the role of mass media activities in reshaping our assumptions, meeting our information and education needs and facilitating communication among the masses is commendable. One of the most significant impacts of new media pertains to convergence, which refers to the interlinking of media content with communication networks and with computing infrastructures and technology. The massive expansion of the internet has further catalysed this effect resulting in convergent products and services that are now accessible over multiple new media devices.

Digital media space has in due course changed the patterns of product and service consumption among the masses. For businesses; the boom in new media, particularly in reference to supporting internet and networking structures; sustainable existence is now being redefined from conventional retail practices and physical existence to global presence supported via online websites, e-business etc. For example, collaboration among media companies and internet companies in the current times and interactive websites supporting television shows are now available on mobile phones. Computers traditionally limited to the domains of communication and computing are increasingly being used as entertainment and information centres. In addition, the emergence of new technologies such as tablets, synchronizing software such as Zimbra, mobile software support application and several new developments aided by instant access to wifi hotspots have made our communication needs critically sensitive to time delays.

Social communication in current times is incomplete without mobile technology. Mobile telephony, as one of the leading giants in new media, has integrated itself into the masses so effectively that it is also effecting our cultural perceptions. For the adolescents this technology offers a refuge against parental surveillance

Multimedia, rich media or interactive media have fast replaced printed or hand produced materials. Growth and popularity of animation and gaming industry has helped boost creativity and its demand considerably. Today more than 200 countries across the globe are relying on new media technologies. Since the launch of commercial internet in India, a close comparison to China's internet users, in 1995, more than 50 million people had adopted to the technology in a period of ten years. And while traditional media sources struggle to keep pace with the new advancements, we find a number of new publishers integrating mobile SMS technology and website interfacing with their organizations in order to deliver information concerning weather, politics, law and order, entertainment, stock quotes, sports updates etc (Ravi, 2012: 479-494).

Contrary to our history, there is also an increased control of the masses over the three C's of convergent media i.e. Communication networks, computing technology and content (Flew and Smith 2011: 3-6). The massive explosion in communication needs of the masses in the past few decades has also resulted in the morphing of electronic devices rendering them highly multipurpose. The use of sophisticated software supporting online video conferencing and voicemail has turned computers into telephones and phones into gaming zones.

New media has made available a plethora of tools and ...