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Overview of Tonight
Issues From Readings Communication Theories “New Media” Discussion Proposals, Papers
Issues, Questions (1/5)
Adoption What factors affect acceptance (or
rejection) of new devices? How do we judge probability of
acceptance? Crystal Ball
What is the next big thing? How will DM change traditional media?
Issues, Questions (2/5)
Profitability How do we get there? How do changing costs impact all parts
of an industry sector? Standards
Role in adoption, such as HDTV or wireless
Issues, Questions (3/5)
Societal Impacts Digital Divide …. by age, by access What can we learn from prior
technological shifts? A biggie: DRM
Issues, Questions (4/5)
Technology Use How much is too much? How do we make it usable? What are the impacts on traditional
storytelling? Time Shifting eVoting
What is “technology”?
tech-nol-o-gy 1: technical language; 2a: applied science b: a technical method of achieving a practical purpose 3: a totality of the means employed to provide objects necessary for human sustenance and comfort
Technology, Simply Put
Knowledge used to solve problems and extend human potential
Technology is about enabling change and amplifying its direction.
Think of it as facilitating the journey not (necessarily) setting the destination.
Let’s Look At A Few Charts
Multimedia Adoption Trends (1920-2003) Chip Griffin points out that cable TV is
leveling off at 70% penetration… what are implications for broadband, he asks. What about rural America?
From the WSJ (pdf) Two from Forrester Research:
The Net’s Wealth Of Content Appeals To Younger, More Tenured Consumers (1/2)
September 2006, Trends “More Consumers Look To The Net For Content”
The Net’s Wealth Of Content Appeals To Younger, More Tenured Consumers (2/2)
September 2006, Trends “More Consumers Look To The Net For Content”
Technologies Facilitate
Dominance of any technology is a function of many things (later!)
The ones we care about have an
impact on communication
Communication
A process in which participants create and share information with one another in order to reach mutual understanding (Rogers, 1995).
Two forms: Mediated or Face-to-Face
Technology and Media: An Evolution
Caves in France Paper and charcoal/ink Printing Press Telegraph et al (radio, television) Computer mediated communications
Part 1 : Medium
A go-between/intermediary in the communication that binds the sender and receiver Considers symbolic and cognitive
theories of the psychology of representation
Considers theories of meaning in signs and symbols (semiotics)
Part 2: Channel
The physical/technical transmission as well as any device needed for encoding/decoding
May encompass advertising channels (direct mail) or news (TV)
A one-to-many, one-way channel is typical of mass media
Mass Media
Mass media communication traditionally encompasses these channels: Newspapers, magazines (print
technologies) TV, radio (electronic technologies)
Facing the industry today: what, exactly, is “news”?
New Media (1/2)
Term has been used since the 1970s by researchers conducting social, psychological, economic, political and cultural studies of information and communication technologies (ICTs)
New Media (2/2)
Some definitions focus on computer technology
Others focus on interactivity All are, at their heart, talking about
digitized communication, what we are
calling “digital media” (as contrasted with analog media)
Concept of Scarcity Gone! Bits can be easily shared; atoms
cannot Implications for intellectual property
(content owners now use digital rights management)
Implications for business models (Skype) Potentially devastating for an
economic system built upon scarcity
Distance With global networks
Work becomes independent of geography Call centers
Consumption becomes independent of geography The South China Post Al-Jazerra.net
Social groups become independent of geography MySpace Wikipedia
Anything else?
Time Time Shifting facilitates asynchronous
communication Podcasts Tivo, ReplayTV E-mail, voice mail (not IM) Directly impacts the advertising model for TV,
radio For work
Distributed teams 24x7 work flow
Anything else?
New Channels
WWW, e-mail Videoconferencing Podcasts, blogs (RSS-distribution) Mobile telephony (tension between
push and pull) Social sites for networking, news
MySpace, Facebook,Tribe.net Slashdot, Newsvine, NowPublic, Gather
Mass audience no longer
From broadcast to narrowcast Time-shifting
Podcasting ABC News, NPR
Jon Stewart on sharing TDS clips Of course, now they’re on iTunes
The Keystone Technology Hypertext is “new”
New is a relative term! Presents information as linked nodes Coined by Ted Nelson; conceptualized
by Vannevar Bush in 1945 History Hypertext Fiction
Moving To “Why?”
A theory explains facts or events and can be used to predict future events
An unproven theory is a hypothesis Social scientists (that’s us) postulate
theories to explain why humans act in certain ways
Why use a technology? Cognitive Needs – Desire (demand) for
information, knowledge, understanding Affective Needs – Aesthetic, pleasurable, and
emotional experiences Personal Integrative Needs – Inner-directed, deal
with credibility, confidence, stability, and status Social Integrative Needs – Outer-directed,
strengthening relationships with family, friends, the world
Escapist Needs – Desire for tension release or diversion- Katz, Gurevitch, and Haas, On the use of the media for important things. American Sociological Review, 38, p. 164-181.
Communication Theories “The fundamental goal of mediated
communication theories has been to
explain the relationship between the affordances (Gibson, 1979; Norman, 1988) of
different mediated technologies and the communication that results from using those technologies.” (Whittaker, nd) Linear or Transmission (Shannon-Weaver, 1948;
Lasswell, 1960) Circular (Osgood and Schramm, 1954)
Shannon-Weaver (1/3) Theory of signal transmission
“Transmission model of communication” Focus on communication technology Information theory is “exceedingly general
in scope, fundamental in the problems it treats, and of classic simplicity and power in the results it reaches” (Shannon & Weaver, 1949)
Shannon-Weaver (3/3)
Redundancy is used to offset noise in a channel
Noise increases uncertainty What is noise in today’s digital
media?
Lasswell Formula (1/2)
Another transmission model of communication
Focus is on mass communication, propaganda
Lasswell Formula (2/2)
Who (sender) Says What (message) In What Channel (medium or channel) To Whom (receiver) With What Effect (impact)
Osgood and Schramm (1/2)
Importance of “meaning” One person can be sender and
receiver (feedback) Stresses social nature of
communication
Summary
Digital media differ from traditional mass media: Time, Space Bits v Atoms
Comm theories attempt to explain the how and why Linear transmission models do not reflect
the non-linear nature of most digital media
New Media Discussion: VoIP
How many had used Skype before this article was published? How many are using some kind of VoIP today?
What are the pluses & minuses to the consumer of using VoIP? (adoption)
What tools of suppression are being used?
If you were the head of AT&T …
Proposals, Papers
Handout On 3x5 card: “elevator description of
your research project” Small groups for feedback,
refinement