A writing major’s spin on “new media”

This week for class, one of our blogging assignments is to comment about “new media:” what it is, how it’s separated from other media, and how writing styles can and do differ. We were asked to read the prologue of Lev Manovich’s book entitled The Language of New Media as well as investigate into other blogs that comment about new media. Well, I read the Prologue and found nothing of use; perhaps I wasn’t understanding what Manovich was trying to say– it was very difficult to read. And I wasn’t able to find blogs about new media; this is mainly because I don’t really know how to search for them. I tried Google, but with no luck.

But besides all that, here’s my take on new media, but before I talk about new media, I feel it would be prudent to talk about old media first. While I have a general idea of what the term media means, I wanted a more specific definition. So I turned to an online dictionary and came up with this definition on the usage of the word, which I am paraphrasing. (I would link directly to the definition, but can’t find a permalink). Media, the dictionary says, was coined about seventy years ago by advertising agencies to refer to mass communication organizations. I feel that this definition is still relevant today. However, seventy years ago those people would have been referring to newspapers, magazines, and radio stations. Today that definition needs to be extended. Enter new media.

Nowadays, media can include what it did seventy years ago, but now must also include television, satelite radio, and the internet. New technology and how widespread new media is separates it from old media. There is an incredible about of people in the world who own a TV and/or computer with the internet, and probably just as many who have access to either if they don’t actually own one. Thus, new media can reach a much larger audience than ever before. This new technology has also made it easier for people to get information. There’s no more hitting the streets looking for a newsstand or paper boy. Now you just push a few buttons, and you’ve got information at your fingertips.

New media also warrants new styles of writing. Why? Because the audience is so vast. Back when there was no TV or internet, most likely the majority of people reading newspapers and magazines were those who are highly educated so the writing could be more grandiose. Now, however, all writing cannot be geared towards the highly educated. There still writing like this, in magazines such as The New Yorker, but generally speaking writing styles have to be geared to people with less education so everyone can understand what is being said.