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.