Cultural and Social Implications of New Media Technologies - Coursework Example

Cultural and Social Implications of New Media Technologies With the emergence of newer forms of media, communication between people has become easier. Similar has been the path of their interests which are attached with the newer age technology and its different regimes. The diverse trends in marketing and sales tenets have been made possible due to advancements in the fields of technology, communication and entertainment which have diversified the work of middle managers, marketing gurus and more than anyone else, the average user of the said medium since he has a lot of options to choose from and indeed satisfy his need. The different appliances, devices and products have thronged the market like a bang in the last five decades and such a revolution has never been that profound in the whole of the humanity basis. Obviously this has brought headache and trouble for the people who are at the helm since they are required to make decisions which are in the best interest of all and sundry and more than that the whole world is banking on their split second verdicts. Sales and marketing fields have been benefited enormously with these advancements and having said that a number of other innovations, changes and up-gradations are already underway, which will eventually alter the basis of human understanding in the world of present times as well as that of tomorrow. The convergence of entertainment, communications and technology has brought in different features like Xbox, I pod, Retail sensor devices, household appliances, industrial machinery and much more – thus bringing a complete revolution to the present day world of human beings. What best this convergence has created is a need to understand that man has grown beyond doing everything manually. (Greene, 2002) The present world is an age of assistance and help from the machines and man is bound to reap rich benefits from the machines which are there to serve him in the best manner possible. What is more important is an understanding that the human mind is actually making all these machines work to the benefit of his own requirements, needs and desires and no other entity can actually bring about such a change in the first place. With the passage of time, the sales and marketing fields have evolved and so have the different methodologies and the ways and means through which they are carried day in day out. One needs to realize the fact that business is a consistently changing world and in this world only the people who are ready to diversify their products in different directions are successful. Thus to put it in the related context, change is the only constant in the world and in the sales and marketing scheme of things, changing to suit the will and desire of the customers and/or the stakeholders as well as doing one last bit to bring in more revenues and profits for the organization just plays the right trick for the sales and marketing fields to succeed both in the short term as well as in the long run. The organizations which stagnate over a period of time and do not change because of one pressure or the other usually die out quickly. The ones that have existed thus far have relied a great deal on the phenomenon attached with change and consistent upgrading of the needs of the customers, for whom the organization is in existence and business in the first place. In the times of today, only those businesses will eventually survive which fulfill the needs of the customers in the most efficient and effective manner possible and with that they have the ability to reach out to the exact audience that will buy their products and acquire the related services. (Barney, 2002) However with the coming in of newer media forms, the audience has started to expect a lot from the technological regimes and what this has done is to bring out more and more useful products for all and sundry. These have impacted the growth of the products/services coming under the wings of technology in an enormous manner. However much needs to be done in the related regards since this is a market which is full of potential, both from the short term perspective as well as in the long run. The need of the hour is to realize that these newer media forms would indeed benefit the customers – the actual users at the end of the day in a head on manner and would look to satisfy not only the needs but also the cravings and desires which they attach with different organizations and businesses bringing out state of the art products/services every now and then. With the advent of time, Information Technology has evolved into a very significant tool for all the businesses that are aiming at deriving as well as maintain competitive advantage. What IT has done is to affect the competition in three different ways: 1) changing the industry structure, 2) supporting cost and the differentiation strategies and 3) generating new businesses all and all. More specifically, IT has changed the nature of business opportunities as well as the threats by altering product life cycles and through the increase in the speed of distribution, whereby it has been able to create new products and services and not to forget the eroding of the limitations of physical distances in a broad perspective. Within IT, “mobile communications” is a comparatively new distribution channel for the different media content and the related services. In the year 2000, the mobile sector made great waves and advanced in a head on manner when Japan’s leading telecommunication company NTT DoCoMo began providing Internet services, “i-mode” basically through the mobile phones. There were competitors in line including the KDDI’s “ez-web” and Vodafone’s “Vodafone live!” Internet service on mobile also came ahead with their own offerings that were pretty much similar yet offered to the market something new and novel and thus the whole industry started to become intensely competitive. The creation of this new media thus had an enormous impact on the business strategies of these telecom companies as well as a number of other firms that included contents providers and advertisers to state a few. The nature of the marketing that was done was especially transformed in the related contexts. It is without a shadow of a doubt that Japan is the first country in the world which introduced a packet switched wireless network as well as brought in the wireless Internet (i-mode), in the year 1999. Also it is to the credit of Japan that it launched the camera phones, 3G in 2000 and 3.5G in 2003. One must understand that Japan is an advanced, highly competitive market and offers so much more to the world in terms of technology. (Gallaway, 2005) The cultural implications of the new media technologies have had a serious effect on all counts. One must comprehend the fact that culture plays a significant role in the make-up of any technological regimes since it is the social and cultural acceptance that leads the way for its incorporation within an area, region or country for that matter. If the cultural norms and behaviors are not in line with the technological frameworks, it is a stark reality that there would be losses all round and people might end up making bogus technological products which would benefit no one in the long run. (Flagan, 2001) Thus it is important to understand what the target audiences require in terms of differing product offerings so that their needs could be met in the most effective and efficient way. With the comfort and satisfaction of these people in mind, a lot of advancements could be envisaged within the relevant quarters and there could be headway in setting up cultural connections with the manner under which technological changes are actually brought up. This requires vision on the part of the different organizations and not only that but also the role of the government in such a setting is of paramount importance since their undertakings in the line of forming encouraging legislations would in essence pave the way for the businesses to spread in the right directions in the first place. Also the role of the industry as a whole is believed to be imperative as the end result is one factor that will help one and all and the technological basis would be considered as most up to date and advanced nonetheless. The new media technologies can only help and facilitate the audiences when there is proper work done in the way of communicating the meeting of needs and wants through the tools and uses of the new media technologies as well as the manner under which media exploits the very same. Now the role of media is of immense significance since it has to interact with the technology leaders on a consistent basis so as to deliver the message in the most adept way as well as build a liaison with the things that will shape up within the future or technological undertakings and media incorporation with the very same. The social implications of new media technologies bring about issues related with societal tensions that exist amongst individuals. This could be due to the non-citation of one’s work into a person’s speech, writing or work. What this shows is that people do not credit those gentlemen who in essence laid the foundation stone for bringing a newer form of technology towards humanity and thus started the whole wave of change in the first place. (Charp, 1998) This aspect pushes the subject of authorship and intellectual property since it is an imperative matter nonetheless. It is because of these points that the new world of today has changed into crediting each and every innovator with the work that he has found out, no matter in which capacity it might just have been. The society tries to discredit the individual who brings in a new product/service because there is so much at stake when seen in the broader scheme of things. People tend to suggest that certain works or inventions are their own, thus bringing in disharmony and discord by individuals who are trying their best to understand what is on offer in the real sense of the word. (Winston, 1998) If only the issue of intellectual property had not come in the picture, this world would have been such an easy place to live in. Now everything is being accounted for and there are proper documentation procedures set up so that nothing goes amiss in the relevant discussions of authorship and intellectual property. Then there is the subject of patenting every new innovation that is making the rounds of the technological regimes – being significant since there are certain rules that are drafted to govern the rights of the patenting parties and thus credit is also bestowed upon them in a consistent manner nevertheless. The cultural and organizational problems due to the advent of the Internet have posed a number of troubles for the workers and employees. These aspects come into consideration due to the fact that there is diversity within the frameworks of the organizations, thus hindering the smooth flow operations under the due course of advancements in the Internet sector. The cultural basis stems from the fact that the workers have problems in understanding the language of instruction on which Internet operates, usually being English in this case. (Lewis, 2003) Then there are the technical details which matter a great deal in the up and coming problems. The technical problems owe their basis to the ever-changing technological regimes as well as the advancements which happen within the software and hardware units making use of the Internet technology. Organizational problems have come about due to the different infrastructural make-ups of these companies and the varied business models under which they operate from time to time. Millions of computer users worldwide every year lose invaluable data and information at the hands of stolen means employed by anyone sitting on a workstation thousands of miles away from the host node. Technological privacy thus is one such aspect on which the researchers in the same field are working their best at. Certain ways are being devised all around the globe to ascertain the manner in which technologies could be kept secret from the people who are not authorized to seek it. Of late, this has become a serious issue that should be tackled with immediate effect. Similarly, people must be careful when performing online transactions on the Internet because no one knows that on the other side a crook is sitting to grab someone’s credit card number and other significant information. One should always trust his feelings and should not carry out business when he thinks that something is fishy in all the dealing. Fraud as well as theft must be reported to the relevant authorities so as to curb the effects of being deceitfully attacked by someone anonymous. People should be vigilant enough to know as to when and how certain dealing should be undertaken and under what circumstances. This, in the world of new media technology is such an imperative point that both from a social and a cultural aspect raises quite a few eyebrows. In the end, it is safe to conclude by suggesting that the world of present times looks at the new media technologies with a welcoming attitude yet the after-effects are something which no one can actually predict. There are problems under different folds of the technology but these needs to be adequately studied before making any tall claims. (Brody, 1990) However success and failure in the related regards and coming under the auspices of the cultural and social implications of the new media technologies are best addressed when the new media actually start making their respective mark. Bibliography BARNEY, Ralph D. (2002). Ethics and the New Media Technology. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates BRODY, E.W. (1990). Communication Tomorrow: New Audiences, New Technologies, New Media. Praeger CHARP, Sylvia. (1998). The International Reach of New Media and Technologies. T H E Journal (Technological Horizons in Education), Vol. 25 FLAGAN, Are. (2001). The Language of New Media. Afterimage, Vol. 29 GALLAWAY, Terrel. (2005). Media, Technology, and Copyright: Integrating Law and Economics. Journal of Economic Issues, Vol. 39 GREENE, Rachel. (2002). While Frenzied Interest in New Media. Afterimage, Vol. 29 LEWIS, Diana M. (2003). New Media Language. Routledge WINSTON, Brian. (1998). Media Technology and Society: A History: From the Telegraph to the Internet. Routledge Word Count: 2,313 Read More