Contexts of Media Technologies Usage - Coursework Example

Media Technologies Name Course Lecturer Date 3. Discuss the relation between media technologies and the contexts in which they are used, with reference to at least one film or television program that uses multiple media or re-mediates content. Examples that may be used include The First Interview (2011, dir. Denis Tupicoff) and the use of online television extensions by either the ABC or SBS (including the second SBS series, 2012, of Go Back to Where You Came From). Plan Media technologies are used in various contexts, covering and serving specific or interrelated purposes. Through its historical development, media has played a central role in coverage, communication, informing and interpretation of issues. Technology progress has served various degrees of needs at different times and continuous inventions has drastically improved and expanded its use. From 18 th Century, there has been significant and fast move in invention and use of various modes of technologies in the world. The first form and category of media involved recording. As the earliest form of media technology, recording included the art media, along with the use of drawings to express human experiences. Print media technology developed later and dominated in the role of mass communication. More recently, data transmission has been fast with highly converged media which serve the mass audience. The discussion will look at the past and more recent categories that are widely used as necessary devices to disseminate information and programs. We will also see the role of convergence in the digital and electronic media, used in incorporating diverse modes to serve large audiences through different platforms. Looking at some specific media technologies, it is possible to discuss the contexts in which they are used. Another fundamental role that can be seen with development of media technologies is the way they integrate diverse technologies to offer a holistic experience (Graham, 2004). This primarily, identifies how various services, through media technological development are served. It is a strategic way in which the past and present interact to meet the needs of the various media users and audiences. The discussion that follows will also offer critical analysis of these media with relevant contexts as illustration. Media Technologies, contexts and re-mediation According to Beavis (2004), media has been in the centre of communication process; the sending and receiving of message. All sorts of media technologies are socially significant in that, they enable and effect human communication. Media technologies entail a predominant role of industries and organizations which produce the mass media facilities. These technologies help us understand how the media work, since; different forms of media have specific purpose and context they apply. It has contributed to significant social change, because its contents and properties have consequences to the consuming society. There are content of media images which widely circulate with diverse meanings for broader political system and audiences. Different media technologies also influence the way people think, shaping their character and social relationships. The fact that different media technologies are used in different contexts is by the purpose they serve. Each technology’s capacity, capability and limitations offer different manners of experiencing its content. This mainly involves the kind of information presented and the way audience access and experience the content. It is thus significant to note that, technology matters; it can limit on what a certain medium can be used for and make some media more suitable in purpose as compared to others. As most media technologies evolve, they break the past limitations of technology by offering more opportunities to the audiences for diverse applications and usage. A technology which forms the basis of media is remarkable in the ways it works. This is demonstrated through contextual relevance of diverse media (Luke, 2003). A printed book, radio, television, mobile devices, broadcast technology and computers are all relevant with a particular context. These media technologies are user-friendly allowing users to choose among the options; read a book, listen to a radio, watch TV, use the smart phones and surf the Internet. However, the differing technological capabilities of each medium affect the delivery of content. The sound, text and visual images delivery, primarily depend on the capability of the applicable technology. A radio broadcasting a live performance can be heard but the performers cannot be seen. A magazine with a printed story may provide photographs showing the event, only after an event has happened and without the sound. A television delivers live sound and video without much of text delivery. A DVD also provides sound and video, only after the original date of performance. The Internet uniqueness is seen through its ability to serve as digital platform and enabling all the above features of print, sound, video, still photos and can do it live. Its capability help remediates content that probably would be limited with other media technologies. Online viewers in addition, can communicate with other fans through tweets, instant messaging and thus introducing interactivity which are impossible with magazine, radio, television and DVD versions (Manovich, 2002). Traditional mass media can be traced back before the invention and development of Internet. Its typical characteristics included one person communicating with many audiences through a one way channel of communication. In such a case, the receivers are anonymous and there is a clear distinction between the producers and receivers. A newspaper is a good example, where a news organization produces and sells to a large group of readers. Films, music and televisions are also centrally produced and distributed through various channel to a large audiences. Anonymity arises from the fact that, the sender may be known but the receivers are anonymous. For instance, in the case of books, the readers know the exact authors but the authors do not know exactly who is reading their books. This is also the case with watching television program and movies where the producers, directors and actors names are displayed, while on the other hand the television audiences and moviegoers spread around the world are anonymous. According to Beavis (2004), the tradition forms of media technologies enable a one-way communication without direct feedback from message receivers. The media are not interactive such as in reading a book, listening to a CD, and turning on a TV program. Direct response is impossible to the message received. However, with the use of another media form it is possible to write to and call the producers, distributor and author of a book. The one-way communication has a clear distinction between the producers and receivers. Nearly all the content of traditional media is produced by commercial companies, governments and non-profit media organizations. The ordinary people are thus limited to be audience members. As discussed by Jenkins (2006), the rise of Internet, mobile devices and digitization has bridged the boundaries created between media types. It has also changed the broad parameters that were associated with mass media. These new forms have dispatched from many features which characterized the traditional mass media. Digital media content can be stored in form of 1s and 0s of the computer code. This includes texts, pictures, audio and video. Different media such as compact disk, digital video disk, digital radio and television broadcast signal are used to deliver this content. This was the significant shift from analog to digital media. An example is the different properties in which a music CD compare to a phonograph record. CDs are immune from accumulation of scratches and identical copies can be made easily using a computer. Digital media content can also be united with Internet. The documentary series ‘Go Back To Where You Came From’ utilized nearly all modes of media technologies from its wild reception. On Twitter, it was a trending topic worldwide, it’s viewing figures and rating gave it prominence more than any of SBS 2011 programs. The broadcaster held televised forum event for reflections of its series, having had a very vast audiences, as it was enabled through various technologies (Go Back to Where You Came From returns in 2012, 2012). Internet, as communication platform enables delivery of media content to wide variety devices. These include desktops computers, smart phones, wireless laptops and mobile devices. Internet and digital media growth over the last decades and the explosion of mobile devices have expanded the meaning of mass media. The content is created to suit various devices that are used by end users (Bolter & Grusin, 2000). The Internet has blurred the distinction between mass audiences and individual, replacing one-to-many model with a possibility of many-to-many communication web. Individual communication has taken on emails and instant messaging, the small group communication has assumed forums, micro blogging and social networking, while mass communication with unlimited and unknown numbers of recipients using websites, streaming video and blogs. In the Internet, the audience is known in some instances by producer when registration is required for access of websites, joining an online community, receiving electronic mailings and post comments for a site. In some instances, the producer of certain information may remain anonymous to reader, viewer or a listener if no identifying information is provided on the website or a blog. This has led to open mischief, spasm e-mails, and rumor-mongering and false information using anonymous websites. Digital footprint also supplies some information and this changed the relationship between producers and users as a great deal of users information, identities and behaviors can be known than in traditional mass media. Communication is also interactive with ‘new’ media technologies. Readers of websites newspapers provide instant feedback for a story, post product reviews on online retail sites while viewer see, vote, comment ‘like’ and ‘dislike’ in sites like YouTube and Amazon.com. Digital media tools and their widespread availability enables people with financial resources and technological literacy to create their media content to other media platforms. This is another element of digital media that has blurred the distinction between the producers and receivers. By this they can alter or contribute to other content in other platforms. Each of the media technology has potential benefits that help in communicating and learning. For instance social networking has enabled people to explore different interests on global scale, discussing them with wider range of people. This has largely been significant for self-learning since resources and information are more available. According to Luke (2003), Twitter great capabilities have helped users, by making communication and collaboration simple and quick. Through it, assignments can be posted, track attendance; and get people updated on news from many fields in a school context. With its limited 140 characters, it can enable users and particularly students to communicate and focus on central point of the argument. As Myers & Beach (2001) argues, Websites like Wikipedia are immensely useful and readily available and provides contents with lots of information and in various languages. Its process and controls by the community continuously improve its quality allowing them to provide neutral and comprehensive information. Nevertheless, it is hard to study some topics like math and technical knowledge through it. The need for in-depth information, elaboration of obscured and advanced topics, makes it hard to completely replace the Websites with traditional academia. This gives other media a significant role, thus working hand in hand with current Websites. Wikipedia for instance, does not compete with past and traditional academics but it provides ways to access basic information on various topics which is made easier by providing summaries. Facebook, Google and YouTube have transformed online learning with tools that improve social and academic environments. It is possible to share calendars, documents and communicate through an integrated video chat. Facebook provides online advocacy. The platform enable publicizing of things we care about; news, personal achievements, stories and political opinions. Teachers may use it to post information, course management and responding to students in far from a computer. YouTube and video chat services are potential tools of learning and communicating by via video other than just live presence. Video lectures and communication are cheaper for institution, but it does not eliminate live presence. They can also be combined with other interactive components including discussion with people or students and thus provide better learning experience and improve. Smart phones allow people to look for information, access Internet; Google, Wikipedia and YouTube and provide easy access of information using apps. Their applications combine many tools that are useful including dictionaries and language translation. It is possible to read e-books through them. People can almost instantaneously learn about anything. The new media technology has created participatory culture, where more young people participate in the society. According to Weber & Mitchell (2007), cloud computing and the new media technology has played a central role in personal, business and young people lives. They provide a one stop platform for interacting, playing games and learning with their multiple converged applications. Electronic delivery of information has allowed publishers of magazines and newspapers and print products overcome conventional printing and offering more benefits to both the producer and consumer. Information dissemination is also done in a quicker manner. Media technologies have had a fundamental role in every stage of development. Its history of development shows this role through the coverage of prominent people, events and experiences. The only major difference between the traditional media and the new is primarily seen by the increased users of the new compared to the traditional one. However, the new technologies experience is founded on convergence of different past forms allowing a holistic experience with a single device like the Smartphone. The past and the current media technologies serve the same purpose; covering the most interesting issues the audience finds exiting. The diversity of technology has caused the producers to come up with the various ways of recording and dissemination of their production. This is for the purpose of reaching diverse audiences. International audiences can access a newspaper electronically, view news and event on YouTube, Internet and give feedback through texting, twitting or social media platforms. Locals who rarely access to Internet can also experience the same through radios, TV, newspaper and video coverage disseminated locally. The short documentary “The First Interview” reveals the media experience realized back in 1886. It is notable and compare in many instances with the current contexts in which media technologies are used. The interview shot in Paris, August 1886 involved Nadar, the great photographer interviewing the famous sceptic and scientist Chevreul at his 100th birthday. This covered two legends of 19th Century. Though much of what was happening at that time is overlooked, most qualities of the interview are central interests in modern TV shows and interviews. Modern media covers curious and lively characters, serious and wit comments and interesting subjects. This compares to Nadar, France famous photographer and Chevreal a famous scientist who was speaking before the 1789 Revolution (Tupicoff, 2012). The ABC recreating the interview used most of its raw material, many images and shorthand recorded text. This mixed the narration with clever use of original images to recreate the original interview filmed and synchronized back in 1886. This informs our discussion of media technologies and the context they are used. The development of media technologies has remediated the past technologies. The new, complement the old to serve its audiences who in their context might not value a subject, personalities and images of the past if they are disseminated to them in their original forms. This example is one among many, which makes it possible to argue that, the current media technologies have not dissociated from the past. The only thing that they have done is to increase the experience through convergence. This way, pictures can be seen in motion, live, together with the voices and text. The prominence of the old cannot be overlooked, for in its time it served the same experience we get from current media (Manovich, 2002). Today it would be ridiculous to communicate a happening, characters and blend of experiences without real time coverage. This has been made possible by pervasive way media technologies have been adopted and made portable, that nearly all experiences are covered no matter how remote the place of happening might be. In conclusion, convergence and remediation has retained and at the same time, improved the past experiences of media technologies. However, their genre and the roles have remained; serving social, economic, political and environmental purposes. The historical experiences are recreated as media technologies improve to be relevant in current contexts. References Beavis, C. A. (2004). 'Good game': text and community in multiplayer computer games. Bolter, J. D., & Grusin, R. (2000). Remediation: Understanding new media. Mit Press. Go Back to Where You Came From returns in 2012. (2012, Jun 12). Retrieved Jan 23, 2013, from SBS INTERNATIONAL: http://www.sbs.com.au/ Graham, S. (2004). Beyond the ‘dazzling light’: from dreams of transcendence to the ‘remediation’of urban life. New Media & Society, 6(1), 16-25. Jenkins, H. (2006). Convergence culture: Where old and new media collide. NYU press. Luke, C. (2003). Pedagogy, connectivity, multimodality, and interdisciplinarity.Reading Research Quarterly, 38(3), 397-403. Manovich, L. (2002). The language of new media. MIT press. Myers, J., & Beach, R. (2001). Hypermedia authoring as critical literacy. Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, 44(6), 538-547. Tupicoff, D. (2012, Feb 02). 'The First Interview' - ABC1 on Tuesday 7th, 10pm! Retrieved Jan 23, 2013, from APUG: http://www.apug.org Weber, S., & Mitchell, C. (2007). Imaging, keyboarding, and posting identities: Young people and new media technologies. The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Series on Digital Media and Learning, 25-47. Read More

Different media technologies also influence the way people think, shaping their character and social relationships. The fact that different media technologies are used in different contexts is by the purpose they serve. Each technology’s capacity, capability and limitations offer different manners of experiencing its content. This mainly involves the kind of information presented and the way audience access and experience the content. It is thus significant to note that, technology matters; it can limit on what a certain medium can be used for and make some media more suitable in purpose as compared to others.

As most media technologies evolve, they break the past limitations of technology by offering more opportunities to the audiences for diverse applications and usage. A technology which forms the basis of media is remarkable in the ways it works. This is demonstrated through contextual relevance of diverse media (Luke, 2003). A printed book, radio, television, mobile devices, broadcast technology and computers are all relevant with a particular context. These media technologies are user-friendly allowing users to choose among the options; read a book, listen to a radio, watch TV, use the smart phones and surf the Internet.

However, the differing technological capabilities of each medium affect the delivery of content. The sound, text and visual images delivery, primarily depend on the capability of the applicable technology. A radio broadcasting a live performance can be heard but the performers cannot be seen. A magazine with a printed story may provide photographs showing the event, only after an event has happened and without the sound. A television delivers live sound and video without much of text delivery.

A DVD also provides sound and video, only after the original date of performance. The Internet uniqueness is seen through its ability to serve as digital platform and enabling all the above features of print, sound, video, still photos and can do it live. Its capability help remediates content that probably would be limited with other media technologies. Online viewers in addition, can communicate with other fans through tweets, instant messaging and thus introducing interactivity which are impossible with magazine, radio, television and DVD versions (Manovich, 2002).

Traditional mass media can be traced back before the invention and development of Internet. Its typical characteristics included one person communicating with many audiences through a one way channel of communication. In such a case, the receivers are anonymous and there is a clear distinction between the producers and receivers. A newspaper is a good example, where a news organization produces and sells to a large group of readers. Films, music and televisions are also centrally produced and distributed through various channel to a large audiences.

Anonymity arises from the fact that, the sender may be known but the receivers are anonymous. For instance, in the case of books, the readers know the exact authors but the authors do not know exactly who is reading their books. This is also the case with watching television program and movies where the producers, directors and actors names are displayed, while on the other hand the television audiences and moviegoers spread around the world are anonymous. According to Beavis (2004), the tradition forms of media technologies enable a one-way communication without direct feedback from message receivers.

The media are not interactive such as in reading a book, listening to a CD, and turning on a TV program. Direct response is impossible to the message received. However, with the use of another media form it is possible to write to and call the producers, distributor and author of a book. The one-way communication has a clear distinction between the producers and receivers. Nearly all the content of traditional media is produced by commercial companies, governments and non-profit media organizations.

The ordinary people are thus limited to be audience members.

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