My New Media Class - So Far

The technologies that pertain to new media are largely Internet-based, although some new media does not require the Internet. Some of these technologies include social networking programs (Facebook, Twitter), eBay, YouTube video networking, Flickr photo sharing, blogging, wikis, and the like. The Internet is quite important to new media since it basically ensures we are able to enjoy new media. This class would not be possible without the Internet. New media consists of a lot of networking tools, so something like the Internet is essential.

New media is enhancing old media through a variety of means. Primarily, old media is being converted to new media. For example, the New York Times now offers free access to all of its articles published in the physical version of the paper (for which you'd have to pay). The New York Times also offers a new free service called TimesPeople which is a social networking tool with the primary function of sharing news stories across the site. Another example of old media converting to new media would be the adaptation of gaming. Now, platforms like Microsoft XBox and Nintendo Wii have markets for online gameplay and actual social networking through XBox live, for example. Many have predicted the end of old media. While this is somewhat conceivable, old media will always exist as long as there is such a thing as new media. In 1992, a New York Times reporter predicted that the end of books would come, thus wiping the physical book from the planet. If the reporter, Robert Coover, were writing on this topic today, he might say products like Amazon's Kindle are doing just that, slowly ending physical books. The fact is, however, many people prefer having something physical to open and would not like reading something on a digitalized screen.

The End of Books