Blogs vs. Wikis

Blogs and wikis are probably the first things that people think of when they hear New Media. The reason for this is that blogs and wikis are hugely popular. Blogs and wikis are have a few things. For one thing, they are usually very specific to a certain topic. For example, there are blogs and wikis that concentrate only on entertainment such as Perez Hilton's blog that was mentioned in "Celebrity Blogs: The Impact of New Media" by Melissa Gerry . Another thing that's common for the two fads is the fact that to create a blog or a wiki is usually free and anyone can do it. However, this is where the similarities end. Blogs are typically created and edited by an individual. This makes blogs extremely biased to that one person's views. People can only comment on a blog and that is it. A wiki on the other hand is a collaborative effort from multiple individuals. A blog is used to post news updates whenever an individual feels like it, while a wiki usually has all the information that pertains to that topic all at once and the info is updated once in a while. Convergence is extremely important in today networked world because in today's world, everyone needs to be able to multitask and stay connected to others. With 9 to 5 becoming a thing of the past, people are trying to stay connected to loved ones in between work, school, etc. while still handling everyday tasks. Without convergence of technology and media that is discussed in "The New Media Technologies: Overview and Research Framework" by Friedman, Linda Weiser and Friedman, Hershey H., this would be an impossible task. Blogs can be used for collaboration by posting links to online file hosting sites. This way the files are always there and since it's a blog, the files can be organized for easier access later.

Old vs. New

How do we distinguish “new media” from “old” media? Well that's a difficult question to answer because new media is constantly changing and evolving, so the definition is never the same for long. The best way to clarify if something is considered to be new media is if matches at least 3 out of the 5 C's in Communication, Collaboration, Community, Creativy, and Convergence. One of the best examples of new media versus old media are newspapers (old media) and e-papers (new media). Before the internet became the prime source for news, people used to heavily rely on newspapers. This was great for hundreds of years, but hardcopy print limited a wide discussion of the news itself. With e-papers, readers are able to read an article, comment on it, and discuss it with people all over the world. It also opens up creativity because the response to an article can inspire a response article. All of this helps to build the world-wide online community. Another example is film (old media) and youtube (new media). Film has been a very popular form of expression for about a century now, but before youtube it was very difficult for a director to get his or her material to a wide audience without a major company backing them up. Nowadays anyone with a videocamera can be a smash hit. Youtube has made hundreds of legends such as "Charlie bit me" and "The Numa Numa Guy". Viewers can respond not only with verbal comments but also with their own videos creating an incredible sense of community, creativity, and collaboration. The last example I will talk about is television (old media) and full TV episodes online (new media). Television has been around for decades and has become one of our favorite appliances, however, the internet is starting to steal its thunder. Nowadays, people can watch any TV show, movie, and etc. online. It might not always be legal, but that's a whole other issue. Again with online watching, people are able to respond and have full blown discussions about what they saw. Most shows have forums that post links to watch the show and then to have a discussion about that episode. This builds a very close online community where people are free to use their creativity as pleased.

What is New Media?

As the second proposition of Manovich's "New Media from Borges to HTML" states, a lot of different technologies qualify as New Media. Internet, Web sites, computer games, CD's/DVD's, movies, and much much MORE! This has to be updated quite often as new technologies take over older tech such as with DVD's taking over VHS and CD's taking over cassettes. The internet is, in my opinion, the most essential part of New Media because most things that involve new media and its lifespan starts off on a web and ends on the web. The NY Times article, "Why Television Still Shines in a World of Screens" talks about how in a time when newspaper and magazine readers have disappeared, but yet television viewers are still keeping this old media popular. However, I beg to differ. While a lot of people still watch television, a lot are switching to watching their favorite shows online. Sites like Hulu have more and more viewers everyday. So while television is putting up a good fight, ultimately it will lose and all shows will become online only shows.

The YouTube Revolution

The title of my project is "The YouTube Revolution". As stated in my previous post, I will be discussing how YouTube has changed world. I will be using multiple perspectives, including but not limited to (I will think of more as I work on the project) economic, sociological, moral, and educational perspectives. I will also give a brief history of the infamous site. This will give the reader a greater appreciation for the power of a single website and new media.

New Media Project: YouTube

I will be writing my paper on YouTube. We all use YouTube for everything from 2 minute comedic clips to educational how-to's. While we all use this amazing site, we probably never thought about it vast impact on our society. I will be focusing on the multiple perspectives that YouTube has impacted.