The Impacts of Networked Media on Traditional Media - Term Paper Example

Media and Everyday Life [Student’s Name] [Institution] Introduction Like a force of nature, people cannot deny the contemporary networked media- it has qualities such as empowering, harmonizing, globalizing, and decentralizing which are resulting in its ultimate triumph. The network markets are unconstrained in terms of richness, reach, as well as relationship. In contrast, time and location control traditional broadcast media such as Television and Radio access; the media houses produce, edit, and distribute the content for a fee; the experience is transactional, professional, standardized, and predictable. In this case, the audience is usually a passive customer. In networked media, access is open to all people, at any place in the world, at any time; people generate content and share it freely over the network. This experience is thus multi format, collaborative and based on the users’ relationships and interests (Sweeney, 2009). The audience is an active creator; this is the major difference between traditional media and contemporary networked media. This research seeks to determine the ways that modern network media has displaced traditional broadcast media and the manner that the balance of networked and traditional media affect people. The research subject in this case is a female student at University of Notre Dame Australia (UNDA). At the university, networked media is an essential part of a student everyday life. This research entailed discussing and documenting her media use in her everyday life. Statement of the Problem The purpose of this research is to determine the impacts on networked media on traditional media. The researcher will investigate the following questions: 1. Has contemporary networked media displaced traditional broadcast media in the research subject’s everyday life? 2. How does the balance of traditional and networked media affect the research subject’s experience of public life? Data Collection Process The female student kept a diary of all her media use for one week. The record sheet was detailed and the student had to record the type, when, where they used the service or device, the duration and purpose: relaxation, communication, pleasure, study and the content and relationships they engaged with. After collecting the data for one week, the data collected is shown in the table below Day Time Media use diary Live/Taped Where the media was used Reason for using media Monday 16/4/012 8.00pm- 11.00pm Television Live Home Entertainment Monday 16/4/012 9.30 am-11.30am 11.30 pm-12.30 am Internet Internet Campus Home Research/Entertainment Entertainment Tuesday 17/4/012 8.00 am-8.30am Radio In a Bus Listening to a radio show Tuesday 17/4/012 7.00am-7.30am Newspaper Home Catching up on latest news Tuesday 17/4/012 9.00pm-11.00pm Television Live Home Watching ‘The Ringer’ Tuesday 17/4/012 5.00pm-8.00pm 12.00pm-3.00pm Internet Internet Home Campus Research, Socializing & school work Wednesday 18/04/012 9.00am-10.00am Radio In the bus To listen to music Wednesday 18/04/012 12.00pm-1.00pm Television Live Home Watching a movie-‘In Time’ Wednesday 18/04/012 7.00am-7.30am Newspaper Home Checking latest news Wednesday 18/04/012 3.00pm-6.00pm 9.00pm-11.00pm Internet Internet Campus Home Finishing assignment Entertainment-Socializing Thursday 19/04/012 8.00am-10.00am 3.30pm-5.30pm Internet Internet Home Campus Sending emails to friends Socializing/ finishing assignment Thursday 19/04/012 8.50pm-10.50pm Television Live Home Watching News-C.N.N Thursday 19/04/012 10.20am-11.20am Radio Taking a jog Listening to music Friday 20/04/012 8.20am-8.50am Newspaper Home Friday 20/04/012 10.40pm-2.40pm 10.00pm-11.00pm Internet Internet Home Home Socializing Watching a movie online Friday 20/04/012 3.30pm-6.30pm Television Live At a friend’s place Watching a movie Saturday 21/04/012 2.20am-6.20pm Internet Home Socializing Saturday 21/04/012 10.30am-1.30pm Television Live Home Watching a T.V. Program Sunday 22/04/012 11.30 am-2.30pm Television Live Home Watching a T.V. program Sunday 22/04/012 3.40pm-6.40pm Internet Home Finishing a school project The table above captures data on days per week that the student uses different kinds of traditional and networked media, the hours per day and the purposes. Figure 2 shows the amount of hours spent using the different media Figure 1 and Figure 2 shows number of hours and percentage (figure 1) spend using the different types of media The pie chart above shows the number of hours and the percentage that students spent using the internet, television, newspaper and radio which were the only type of traditional and networked media used during the one week duration. The student used 33hrs (61%) using the internet, 16hrs (30%) watching television, 1.5hrs (3%) reading newspaper and 3hrs (6%) listening to radio. Figure 2 Percentage of traditional media usage against networked media Figure 2 shows that the percentage of time spent on networked media is considerably higher (62%) than the one used on the other traditional media combined (38%) Data Analysis To prove whether the modern networked media is substituting traditional news media, this analysis focused on four different variables :domestication, mediation of time and space, mobility and networks. Domestication The student has adopted the different types of media in her everyday life, particularly in her home as well as in the university. The student used both traditional and networked media. The traditional media is used particularly at home whereas the networked media is used both at home and at the university. The student has incorporated internet usage into household activities and routines and has changed the student everyday life in the household. The students spend most of the time chatting via webcam, doing schoolwork and watching news and programs over the internet. The students normally use the networked media when she is not attending any classes and when at home. There is interplay between the media characteristics and its usage in the household. The student prefers the internet to other traditional media because of a wide array of options presented by the internet. There was a sense of the student dependency on the media but increasingly on the internet relative to the other traditional media. The internet is sufficiently integrated into the student life and it enable her to reach her goals, express herself in the new form for new purposes and experience more spontaneity through reducing waiting time. For instance the student argued that she could access news over the internet at any time compared to the news by TV stations which are brought at fixed times of the day. The internet has more influence on the way the student go about her every day context of living and everyday schedule. Mediation of time and space The experience of time and space has considerable implication for the student physical mobility as well as the sense of identity. The changes in time and space under the influence of the networked media have created stretched relationship between the traditional media and networked media. The networked media such as the internet has increasing rapidity of time breaks down of space unlike the traditional media, which is limited in terms of space and time. For instance, through the internet, the student can take part in an event through the internet without her being physically present. The networked media has even enabled the creation of online discussion forums, which the student has with her classmate: this marks the creation of a new space. Reduction in time comes with the reduction of space. The mediation of time and space by technology has become a constantly evolving process particularly with the invention of the internet. Mobility Mobility has created a sense of fluid and it has shifted spatiality and temporality, because the student can re-structure and re-shape the time boundaries and re-conceptualize time and space boundaries, which are important to her communication without space and time being important. The internet and the various activities that the student take part in when using it have considerable changed the student meaning of temporal variations and its implication in physical mobility. She contacts her friends who are far away simultaneously. The internet activities that the student engage in such as sending e-mails change the dimension of time in work as well as in social interactions, releasing rigid time-patterns in work organization as well as everyday life activities. Networks The ad hoc nature of traditional media such as television does not have a range of the infrastructure network like the networked media and have to rely on systems of wire links before transmission. The traditional media are untimed, asynchronous networks and use A/V circuits and links that interface with the core. With the new media, there are a range of networks which enable a wider access of ongoing activities in the world. The content and connections of the internet grow exponentially and this can be attributed to the increased usage of internet (Bell, 2004). The content and connections of the internet is not limited by boundary or speed, they are often free to use and they create and sustain themselves. The networks have been described as the basis of a new age and the platform, which drives fast as well as sustained growth. Discussion From the research study, it is quite evident that contemporary networked media is replacing traditional media. The female student spent most of the time on the internet searching for information for school projects. The traditional media such as television, radio, and newspaper are defined by geography and this limits their attractiveness to the student. Furthermore, the student claimed that she could access the newspaper and radio via the internet. The networks are thus more intelligent and organized. They move across all physical boundaries and serve the collective motivations, preferences, loyalties, and needs of the users. The networks come in all sizes and shapes-virtual and physical and they are self-developing and structured. Like students, the internet also take the form of retail chains, online communities, radio and television stations, fans of particular athletics teams, fans of a certain athletics or football employees or teams, parents of local schools, customers of the same brand and people with similar illnesses (Kim, 2005). The student argued that the school has its own website where students access academic libraries and other important information, which is used for research papers and other types of academic schoolwork. By doing this, the internet has created a pathway for linking like-minded people who were once separated by social and economic status, geography, religion, and ethnicity. The student also spent a lot of time on the internet socializing with her friends and other people in different parts of the world through social networks such as Face Book, Twitter, and My space. These websites enable the users to collaborate where content is largely generated and shared by the users; they thus form the basis of collaborative production. Most people in the modern world can thus participate in the economy by selling things through EBay, uploading documentaries made at home to the current TV and remixing their favourite music for iTunes (Pavlik, 2001). The value of these networks is in the content that is developed by people through their connections. Modern media has characteristics that assist them to organize, interact, and structure their worlds as they develop and this makes it attractive for most people including students. The online community develops around the common standards, participation, structures modularity, and decentralization, where the user controls everything including his or her identity (Kim, 2005). Why people are Deserting Traditional Media At the centre of almost all arguments about substitution of media is the supposition that users are active as opposed to being passive users of mass media. This view is supplemented by the central tenet that people are selective and intentional while using media. This is evident in this research because the student uses both traditional and modern media selectively using modern media more than the traditional ones. This shows that users employ the media purposefully; they use diverse Medias for assorted reasons and they choose amongst the media depending on the ability of a media to help meet the explicit goals and requirements by the user. The student prefers the internet because it meets her diverse needs both at school and at home. The research shows that media users assess the existing media choices and select among the foundation of assessments. To the point that the media is taken as advanced for meeting the specific needs and serving specific functions, people are likely to opt for the media over others for fulfilling the function or need. The surveillance satisfaction seems especially critical in understanding the student choices among the news media. The student sought newspaper to get update on current news. The use of television is driven by the need for escape, entertainment and the need to circumvent getting bored. The student uses the television for entertainment purposes. The media aptitude to entertain and its effectiveness in passing time determine its importance (Kim, 2005). Its richness of information is also an important evaluation criterion for choosing media. The student opts to use the internet because of its ability to entertain, usefulness in passing time and its richness in information. There is a significantly stable relationship between the student and the choice of media. However, this study shows that the basis of evaluation is the usefulness of the media when compared to the older media for gratifying the user’s current demands. This is one of the reason that modern networked media is replacing the traditional media because of its ability to meet people numerous demands. The helpfulness of the networked media in relation to traditional media for gratifying people present demand is very high. The modern networked media is used for the same purposes as the traditional media and thus it is a practical substitute for the traditional mediums and hence people can pick between them after evaluating the one that gratifies specific necessities better (McDonald, 2006). From the research, it is evident that the internet is a functional alternative to the traditional media like radio, TV, and newspaper. The possibility of substituting traditional media is being enabled by the use of the modern networked media as people are identifying a specific number of needs, which are currently not supported by the traditional media (Sweeney, 2009). The student argued that the networked media meets her needs better relative to the traditional media and it gratifies demands, which the traditional media could not fulfil because of its structural limitations. The structural limitations thus also explain the shift toward the networked media and clear of traditional media. The requirements and gratification, which the student sought during the one-week period, arose from particular social and studies needs and the modern networked media served these needs than the other media. The structural features of the modern networked media plays a critical role in the student perception about its ability to meet her social and surveillance needs. The student indentified various structural features of the modern media that plays a role in its attractiveness, for example, she argued that some of the structures provided her with a wide range of choice as well as interactivity. Such elements of the modern media enable people to explore various places in deeper intensity and with more command over the delivery as well as the flow of information (De Jong, 2006). It is thus evident that in the context of modern networked media, these characteristics are very important in comprehending the way people perceive media. The contemporary networked media has an almost boundless capacity to transmit and store information (Wilson, 2001), which the student regarded as one of the important aspects of the internet. The student also argued that even in cases when traditional media services are moved online, the owners usually supplement their usual fare with added features and news. This important feature of obtaining news online enables the users to track events and issues in expanded superior intensity than in the usage of the traditional media. Instead of depending on the gate keeping and taste preference of the producers and editors of traditional media, the modern networked media enables the users to choose and pick among content options, this is a way of personalizing access to news (Moore, 2002). The synchronized nature of information on the networked media sets it apart from the traditional news media. Traditional media like newspaper usually use a definite procedure of assembling and presenting news. The student argued that a TV news program often has a partial amount of news and people usually obtain the information only when aired on the TV program at particular times of the day. She also suggested that the newspaper provides information just once every day and it is limited to the format and quantity selected by the editors. She suggested than consuming news over the internet gives her much more control as she could visit the internet at any time of the day to access updated information on almost all topic that she chooses. This shows that using the internet for accessing news offers the users significant command concerning the environments of the information. Taking into consideration the distinctive structural attributes, the modern networked media thus excels as surveillance media over the traditional media because of the need for information by the users and the desire for control. Likelihood of using newspaper, radio, television and the internet for different purposes The information obtained from the student shows that she perceives modern networked media as being useful for accessing current events and issues, entertainment, socializing and passing time. The student said that she regularly used the internet for surveillance, it was also clear that she perceived the modern networked media as a medium for surveillance. For insight into this subject, a comparison between the perceived usefulness of the modern networked media in relation to the traditional media in terms of surveillance showed that the modern networked media is more effective. The student used prime television for diverse purposes such as watching news, TV programs and movies although at a limited rate than the internet where she claimed that there are diverse entertainment types including games and socializing among others. The student also cited the modern networked media as a credible source for finding important information is making decisions such as making a purchase and comparing prices in different online stores. For reasons of keeping up to date with updated issues and events, the students argued that she was to some extent more apt to make use of TV to obtain news in relative to the newspaper. This is evident in the table above as the student relies more on TV than newspaper and lesser time is spent reading the newspaper. Nevertheless, the student perceived the modern networked media to be superior to the traditional forms of media. The modern networked media is also mostly used for diversionary purposes such as passing time. The student used the internet mostly for entertainment-socializing and passing time. In contrast, the student used television and newspaper less for such purposes. The student preferred the newspapers and television mostly for surveillance purposes as opposed to passing time and entertainment. This pattern in gratification reinforces the significance of the uses as well as the gratification for the preference of media among useful substitutes. From this research, it can be deduced that people use both modern and traditional media for diverse functions; however, the motivation for using a particular medium depends on comprehending why time spent in using modern media is negatively relative to the time spent on traditional media. Judging from this case, it is evident that substitution takes place when two Medias are used for the same purpose; however, one is perceived as a better alternative for the other because of achieving particular needs of the users. The modern media is an adequate substitute for traditional media because it incorporates even the functions of the modern media. References Bell, D. (2004), ‘Practice Makes Perfect? Film and Media Studies and the Challenge of Creative Practice’, Media, Culture & Society, 26: 5, pp. 737–749. De Jong, W. (2006), ‘From “Doing” to “Knowing What You are Doing”: Kolb’s Learning Theory in Teaching Documentary Practice’, Journal of Media Practice, 7: 2, pp. 151– 158. Kim, B (2005), Internationalizing the Internet. The Co-evolution of Influence and Technology. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar. Macdonald, I. (2006), ‘Mindset and Skillset; The Persistence of Division in Media Education’, Journal of Media Practice, 7: 2, pp. 135–142. Manovich, L. (2001), The Language of New Media, Cambridge MA, and London: The MIT Press. Moore, J (2002), The Internet Weather. Balancing Continuous Change and Constant Truths. New York: John Wiley & Sons. Pavlik, J. (2001), Journalism and New Media. New York: Columbia University Press, Sweeny, R. W. (2009) ‘There’s no ‘I’ in YouTube: social media, networked identity and art education’, International Journal of Education through Art 5: 2+3, pp. 201–212. Wilson, J. (2001), Understanding Journalism. London: Routledge. Read More