Interrelated Digital Media Concepts - Coursework Example

Name: Professor: Course: Course Code: Date of Submission: Interrelated Digital Media Concepts Digital technology and the apparent digitization of media is primarily the core of the fast transformations that have re-shaped the media landscapes. Interoperability of digital technology has expedited the effect of digitization in all segments of the media industry: mass production, distribution, and the reception, which have made media more mobile, versatile, and highly interactive. This critical analysis details the interrelated digital media concepts to further the understanding of the role of digital technology in re-shaping the media landscapes. Digitization Digitization is anchored on digital data, which includes texts, numbers, speech, video, and graphics that are structured in discrete digits primarily zeros and ones. Important to note is the contrast from analogues that are formed of infinite scale values. According to Bolin (2007, 237) digitization refers to the process of converting numbers, texts and graphics into data that can be processed and distributed using digital devises. The digitization concept has revolutionized data creation, synthesis and storage, and has cultivated the general evolution of unprecedented interrelatedness between information communication technology and media platforms. For instance, digitization of photos and graphical data has completely revolutionized the photographic industry in that ninety percent of cameras in the industry now are digital. In addition, digital imaging especially in the medicine realm: computed tomography applied in CT scans, has transformed data acquisition, procession, storage, and consumption. The digitization principles have drastically advanced filming by making digital videos easily portable and distributable, and sophisticating the already complex dynamics of movie recording and their reach through the diverse media platforms. Summarily, digitization has not only changed how data of all calibers is created and consumed via different media. Interoperability According to Bolin (2007, 240), digitization has drastically intertwined different media technologies through high end interoperability of the communication concepts. The rise of digital technology that has virtually replaced old analogue procedures in the past two decades has enhanced interoperability: convergence, which has completely transformed not only the reception but also the scale of distribution of information. The integration of digital technology has not only enabled computer systems to spread information and media products in masses, but has also facilitated storage of digitized documents in the distribution channels. For instance, the standardization of digitization of academic journals not only avails them to multiple consumers but makes them accessible via diverse digital devices with Apple’s iPads replacing printed magazines. The contemporary media technologies permit information downloads: music, journal articles, videos and photographs with little differences in the skills required. Within music production, film making, video creation, and even photography, there has been an apparent adoption of digital production concepts that reflect the substantial simplification imparted by the interoperability conferred on the different media technologies. The distributive digitization is imperatively the anchor on which new consumption of media production is anchored on. Jenkins (2006) argues that the transition from analogue to digital technology has transformed interoperability that is ubiquitous in digital devices that are substantially becoming complex. For instance, mobile phones can now send text messages, relay high quality voice information, store data of all classes, and also take photos; all using one equipment. Convergence Convergence is conceptually the blending of different media technologies into indistinguishable forms, which is a consequential output of digitization. The concept of convergence apparently is explained by the ubiquitous integration of different technologies that avail diverse information via single or few connected digital devices. For example, mobiles today come with smart digital cameras that reflect the sophistication of the convergence precipitated by digital technology. Convergence is underlined by the principle communication elements brought about by digitization: high data mobility, interactivity, and versatile nature of current digital devices. Jenkins (2006) contends that the digitization driven convergence in communication technology has made it impossible to differentiate media technologies because they increasingly founded on functions that are strongly interconnected. Inherent in the convergence rationality is the unique digital capacity whose technology splits all data types into binary digits, which enable the textual content and technical functions to suit diverse media technologies. Although the canons underpinning convergence roots from the 1940s development of computers, the concept manifested itself explicitly in the 1980s when technological changes liberalized computer accessibility. Computer technology has enabled the global audience to watch feature films on diverse media platforms: cinemas, televisions, the desktops, and even increasingly now from mobile phones. Noteworthy is that the computer digital technology built around transistors and integrated circuits is at the core of media technologies convergence. Primary to this premise is that digitization, and the evolution of computer technologies has fueled the sophisticated communication network across the world especially with the enhancement of the internet. Convergence is a function of digital systems and communication technologies that have bolstered the melting out of the myriad of older media technologies. Section 2 Media Diversity Within the media realm, the diversification has been gradual starting with advances in digitization that promoted mass production of printed material, and hedged televised and audio communication. The diversity has also been characterized by reduction of production cost and unparalleled changes in storage capabilities. According to Bakardjieva (2005), the transformation in the storage of digitized information formed the basis of media diversification via the broadened distribution and consumption of media technologies. This precedence culminated in discovery of video tapes, the teletext, and the movement from audio to audio-visual development of compact discs (CDs) and DVDs. The digitization concept does not produce new ways of communication per se as was perceived when writing was discovered, or when photography presented a new way of preserving a moment of time. The digitization wave rationalizes data production and analysis processes and influences the means of distributing the finer information to consumers. Diversification through digitization must not be confined to the media and communication because it has as well revolutionized other industries via the developments in computing and telecommunications. Diversity in media technology has been underpinned by the integration of digital devices with computing and advanced telecommunication, which bolster the concept of convergence that combines different communication tools (Brooker 2009, 79). Media diversity has been a function of the increased flexibility and fluidity of content, which harnesses the economies of scope and integration that influence the traditional content distribution-consumer relations by adding many communication avenues and selectivity of products. Remediation In the emerging new media world, there is a wholesome assumption that digital technology must depart radically from the traditional characteristics of the preceding practices. However, Bolter (2000, 62) explains that the new digital media and new genres can be clearly understood through critical examination of the ways they remediate and build from the older technologies. For instance, the computer graphics and the Wild Wide Web (WWW) are constructs of from the remediated innovations on television, film, traditional painting, and print. Bolter (2000, 62) argues that virtual reality is remediates film and the old painting perspectives, and the digital photography is a remediation of the older analogue photos. The WWW recollects techniques of almost all textual and visual media. Additionally, the older media technology can remediate the new digital advances as witnessed in televisions that are increasingly use computer graphics, which make television screens appear like internet web pages. Diversity of Devices It has become apparent that digital technology is not all about the physical devices: circuits and electronics, nor is it about the techno gadgets like iPods, computers, and portable music players, but a complex realm including the software innovations. Media devices in the contemporary world comprise largely the digital technology that virtually permeates the core of human life (Figure 1). Figure 1: Components of Digitization Devices Source: Parsons & Oja (2009). The generic classification of the diverse media devices during this digital era is summarized by computing. The diversity of the digital devices is underpinned by their computing capacity: their ability to take in input, processes data fed into them, storage, and the command procedure of generating output (Brooker 2009, 80). Contemporary media technologies comprise of multipurpose devises that compute information according to a series of preplanned instructions. The ubiquitous handheld devices: kindles, iPods, iPhones, GPSs, and Blackberry devices are some of the consequential products of digital media technologies. The devices incorporate computing features in that they accept input data, they have storage capability, and they process and generate procedural output. Brooker (2009, 79) observes that from a technical vantage point these devices qualify the computing characteristics but they are customarily named as per their function for instance the portable music players, the smart phones (Figure 2), and the personal digitized assistant (PDA). Figure 2: Hand held Digital Devices Source: Parsons & Oja (2009). Conclusion This critical analysis explored the interrelated digital concepts that have increasingly thinned the margin between digital media technologies. Digital technology and the apparent digitization of media is primarily the core of the fast transformations that have re-shaped the media landscapes. Interoperability of digital technology has expedited the effect of digitization in all segments of the media industry: mass production, distribution, and the reception, which have made media more mobile, versatile, and highly interactive. The digitization concept has revolutionized data creation, synthesis and storage, and has cultivated the general evolution of unprecedented interrelatedness between information communication technology and media platforms. Convergence is underlined by the principle communication elements brought about by digitization: high data mobility, interactivity, and versatile nature of current digital devices. Bibliography Bakardjieva, Maria. 2005. Internet Society: The Internet in Everyday Life. London: Sage Publications. Bolin, Goran. 2007. “ Media Technologies: Transmedia Storytelling and Commodification” In Tanja Storsul & Dagny Stuedal (eds). The Ambivalence of Convergence. Gutenberg: Nordicom. Bolter, Jay D. 2000. “Remediation and the Desire for Immediacy.” Convergence (6)1: 62-71. Brooker, Will. 2009. “ All Our Variant Futures: The Many Narratives of Blade Runner, the Final Cut.” The International Journal of Culture 7(2): 79-91. Jenkins, Henry. 2006. Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide. New York, NY: New York University Press. Parsons, June J & Oja, Dan. 2009. Computer Concepts 2010: New Perspectives. (12 ed.). London: Cengage Learning. Read More