NEW MEDIA

The term 'new media' generally refers to two trends that have occured over the past 30 years. Firstly, the evolution of exsisting media delivery systems. The way media content is delivered has dramatically changed over the last 30 years. As recently as 2000, most people received television pictures through aerials and there were five terrestrial television channels that could be accessed. Digital, high definition, flat-screen televisions and subscriptions to hundreds of digitalised satellite and cable television channels are now the norm. Secondly, the emergence of new delivery technologies - cheap personal computers and mobile phone technology, especially texting, are relatively novel forms of communication. However, the most innovative technology that has appeared in the last 20 years is probably the internet/the worldwide web.

The first feature/characteristic of new media is convergence. Sociologists use this term to describe the combining of different technologies. For example, smart phones combine a variety of technologies that used to be on seperate devices, i.e. calculators and cameras.

The second feature is interactivity. Jenkins argues that the media is no longer passively received and people expect to be able to become more involved by participating in media production. This change into the dynamics between producers…