New Media Technologies: Communication Theories

1. New Media Technologies: Communication Theories COM 300 Kathy E. Gill 11 April 2006

2. Agenda • Recap Last Week • Characteristics of New Media • Managing Overload • Technology Adoption • Lab

3. Recap Last Week • What is mediated communication? • Differences between mass and new media • Gone: time, scarcity, space

4. Computer Mediated Communication (1/2) • Desktop computers used as tools to influence human cognition and convey messages among people (focuses on the technology, older definition) • Any form of communication between two or more individuals who interact and/or influence each other using social software on separate computers linked by a network (focuses on the people)

5. CMC (2/2) • CMC software has two categories: asynchronous and synchronous (Smith, 1994). http://www.edb.utexas.edu/csclstudent/kim/text/ASCmC.html

6. Synchronous • Two or more group members have real-time (simultaneous) communication • Instant Messenging can be synchronous • Face-to-face meetings; video conference; other?

7. Asynchronous • Allows group members to work individually and “alone” • Provides time/space flexibility • E-mail, BBs • Example: virtual teams

8. Virtual Teams • Types • Temporary (no common history or future) • Permanent (common history and future) • Forms of Interaction • Face-to-face (meetings, formal or informal) • Electronically-mediated (phone, CMC, videoconference) • Context • Culture and geography may be similar or different

9. CMC/Web Characteristics (1/2) • Hardware independent • Software independent • IM Not Here Yet, But Close (Google) • Open standards • Information sharing • “Give back” (contribute) to the community

10. Summary • Mass audience no longer • From broadcast to narrowcast • Time-shifting • Accelerates a move foreshadowed by niche publishing

11. New Media Characteristics • A blend of characteristics from “old” media • Print • Radio • Film • TV

12. New Media • Typically nonlinear • Dynamic • “Live” (maybe) • Multi-media (visual, auditory) • Relies on hypertext • User controls pace and direction • Transient audience

13. One new technology Source: http://www.mala.bc.ca/~soules/CMC290/290wk5.htm

14. Hypertext • Presents information as linked nodes • Breaks the linear narrative • Envisioned by Vannevar Bush (1945) • Coined by Ted Nelson • Apple : Hypercard • Online (software) Help systems • Tim Berners-Lee

15. Networks of Remediation (1/4) • “A medium is that which remediates” … and it is measured “against” other media (like we just did) • New media in turn change the “older” media • TV … tickertape • Print … adopting web design conventions

16. Networks of Remediation (2/4) • Economic success depends on supplanting a pre-existing medium • Conflict: newspaper websites v paper • Conflict: CDs v downloadable (sharable) songs • Hypermediacy • Survivor… The Apprentice… mediated or authentic?

17. Networks of Remediation (3/4) • How do we separate technology from its social use? Can we? • Technological determinism : says technology causes social change … Social determinism is the converse • Corollary: “nature versus nurture” … “'technology-push” v “demand-pull” • Can new media technology offer us transparent democracy? • Howard Rheingold, John Perry Barrow

18. Networks of Remediation (4/4) • Postman: “the uses made of technology are largely determined by the structure of the technology itself” • For example, arguably the underlying Net Tech is ‘old’ (TCP/IP) and yet adoption has proved to be a function of ‘ease of use’ (new software) and social necessity (network effects)

19. Technology & Info Overload • Did “information overload” exist before new media technologies? Why or why not? • What are the characteristics of new media that have contributed to “information overload”?

20. Observations (yours!) (1/4) • To effectively and confidently use the "Internet-turned-Information-Superhighway" students/people need to be taught that it is a skill and not just a resource. – Tiana • While I would agree that a great deal of the information available to us these days is trivial, sensational and in many cases false, I would also say that finding good information is nowhere near as treacherous or convoluted as the articles would suggest. All it takes is a touch of skepticism and practice. – Theo • As Nelson says, “a person should know what tools are available and how to use them.” I definitely believe this is the key to managing the massive amounts of information out there. - Jessica

21. Observations (yours!) (2/4) • Is it really that hard to search for information on the Internet?... I have decided there could be two reasons why I don’t find it very hard to use search engines or the need for more understanding of Information Literacy. Maybe I just don’t conduct very complicated searches when I am using search engines or it could be that I am part of a generation that has been brought up using the Internet. - Meredith • While I understand why the authors are placing the value on information that is accurate and timely I seem to look at search engine benefits in terms of the fact that these search engines did not even exist when I was younger. - Christine

22. Observations (yours!) (3/4) • Too many times I have gone to individuals for information, and they were unable to assist me but pointed me to the internet. I remember a time when you could ask a question and get an answer, not a wild goose chase. – Laura • It also takes the www only one second to expand by seventeen pages. Thinking about the internet like these really made me think about how vast and dense the internet must be with information. – Mia

23. Observations (yours!) (4/4) • I agree that there is an information overload on the internet and users can become frustrated and experience anxiety, especially because so much of the information is actually advertising. – Holly • Fine and Newman point out two distinguishable types of information – “information” and “real need knowledge.” Majority of the time, I am specific in my search for information, thus I experience less of “information” but more of “real need knowledge.” - Grace

24. Quick Answers • How does Google do what it does? • Is it possible that a substantial information overload could "crash" or "freeze" the internet? • What is the role of Search Engine Optimization in controlling overload?

25. Discussion • Technical solutions or human solutions? Explain. • Whose responsibility is it to filter, analyze, judge credibility of information? Have digital media changed how we use/view gatekeepers? • Are we finding ourselves more willing to sacrifice accuracy and credibility of information in exchange for "instantaneous responses"? Explain.

26. 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

27. Diffusion Theory • Rogers (1995) outlined four parts: • Innovation • Social system • Time • Communications channels • And five steps: • Knowledge • Persuasion • Decision (adopt or reject) • Implementation • Confirmation

28. Summary • We define (or frame) new media in comparison to old media • There is an intrinsic relationship between content and technology: both contribute to meaning • Churchill : “we shape our buildings and then our buildings shape us” • Empowerment means responsibility

29. Lab • Proposals – break into peer groups • Feedback in person, online • Discuss final proposal – due Friday via eSubmit • Next Assignment (distribute) • Discussion Leaders • Process, expectations

30. Resources • Effects of Four CMC Channels on Trust • Glossary of Internet Terms • Hypertext Terms (W3C) • JCMC • Patterns of Hypertext • Semantic Web: Intro