What are new media cultures?
Since this blog will be looking at 'New Media Cultures' it probably makes sense if I first look at, what is new media?
The Media itself is a 'mediator', it mediates, stands between us and something else, such as us and information. You could say that it is a form of information exchange, or a form of archive, for example a storage mechanism such as a DVD or CD. The media can be very powerful and can help make social bonds between people. However, as we are recieivng information through this 'mediator' we recieve a quality of information that we cannot be sure of. There is an imposibility of real information as it has to be mediated in some way. As Marshall Mcluen said,
"It is the media that changes and defines the message"
Forms of the media saturate our society, we are surrounded by it every day. Karl Marx believed that we are all 'victims of the media'"We believe we are free, but everywhere we are in chains"
But I am talking about 'new' media. What do we class as 'new'? When we talk of something 'new' we usually mean something that is current. The word new is ephemeral. It is disposable as there cannot be a new without an old. What we, at this moment in time class as 'new' will be seen as old in months, weeks or even possibly in days time! When it comes to what we think of as 'new media', there can be a debate about what is infact new. Some might think that in term of how long people have been around on the earth, the television is actually a new form of media. However, when we look at the many different forms of media that have arisen since the arrival of the TV, such as the internet and these tiny mobile phones that we are beginning to see then many would say that the television is infact very old.
So i've looked at the term 'media' and the term 'new', leaving us with 'culture'. Raymond Williams describes the term 'culture' as,
"A whole way of life"
While Hall say's,
" By culture here, I mean the actual grounded terrain of practices, representations, languages and customs of any specific society"
You could say that a 'culture' is a shared framework of understanding. It is a collective term reffering to the idea of shared meanings.
With all these new types of media generating, it could be seen that the culture in which we are generating, is almost dissapearing as fast as we are making it. 'New media cultures' represent convenience but a problem arises with the idea of value. In a culture where everything is becoming disposable, 'value' may come into question!
