See discussions stats and author profiles for this publication at https www researchgate net publication 215489586 The impact of new media on society READS 116 428 Article January 2008 CITATION 1 1 author CiacuGrasu Nicoleta Vodafone 30 PUBLICATIONS 39 CITATIONS SEE PROFILE All content following this page was uploaded by CiacuGrasu Nicoleta on 06 June 2014 The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file THE IMPACT OF NEW MEDIA ON SOCIETY ASIST UNIV CIACU NICOLETA Univeristatea Constantin Br ncoveanu Pite ti Facultatea de tiinte Administratie si ale Comunic rii Br ila Br ila Rom nia nicoleta ciacu yahoo com New media includes different is an umbrella term which technologies In the opinion of some specialists are considerated as new media1 both blogs podcast video games virtual worlds Wiki encyclopaedia and other mobile devices interactive televisions and even the web sites and e mail Others2 consider that blogs and virtual worlds must be included in the category of social media because they are encouraging appearance of virtual communities and social networks In spite of the differences some research workers3 identified two common characteristics for majority of definitions These are spreading the information to a number of receivers which is theoretical infinite in customized ways depending on specification for endorsed categories tenure of un equal control about information both of transmitters and receivers Other definitions are even more vaguely considering that new media are represented by all the texts sounds images and graphic forms transformed by the computer4 THE CONCEPT OF MULTIMEDIA The new media technology has generated massive social changes in the behaviour and lifestyle patterns of the consumers New media 1 http news bbc co uk 2 high technology 6653119 stm 2 http whatsnewmedia org 2007 01 15 looking back looking ahead 3http rebuildingmedia corante com archives 2006 04 27 what is new media php 4 Gu u Dorina New Media Ed Tritonic Bucure ti 2007 pag 16 have shaped modern culture by affecting the way people behave communicate learn and conceive of themselves and their world Giovani Sartori announced in the paper Homo videns Imbecility through television and Post Thinking that we entered in a multimedia period5 The concept of multimedia is explained by Sartori through the union in a single media of the written and spoken word of the sound and the image In this multimedia period that Sartori described are living together several media and the television is not anymore the queen of them for some time now The new sovereign is from now on the computer The personal computer is not only unifing the word the sound the image characteristic specific of television but introduces row the visible simulated realities virtual realities Television is making us see images of real things she is the photo and cinema6 of the real things In exchange for the computer makes us see imaginary images DIFFERENCES BETWEEN NEW MEDIA AND MASS MEDIA One of my objectives is to identify the characteristics of new media and contrast them with the electronic mass media Given that the medium is the message I began my analysis by identifying the characteristics or messages of new media that are different from mass media that Marshall McLuhan identified such as the light bulb telegraph telephone radio phonograph camera and television Studying the specialized bibliography I identified the following five messages of the Internet 1 two way communication 2 easiness of access to and dissemination of information 3 continuous learning 4 alignment and integration 5 community Although one or two of these characteristics apply to traditional mass media what is unique about the Internet is that all five of these 5 Giovani Sartori Homo videns Imbecilizarea prin televiziune i post g ndirea Ed Humanitas Bucure ti 2005 pag 35 6 Ibidem 2 characteristics apply and help define the impact of this medium As it turns out all of these characteristics also apply to the general class of new media But these five messages are not complete and the specialists7 revealed that there are also nine other additional properties or messages that characterizes most new media They are 6 portability and time flexibility time shifting which provide users with freedom over space and time 7 convergence of many different media so that they can carry out more than one function at a time and combine as is the case with the cameraphone 8 interoperability without which convergence would not be 9 aggregation of content which is facilitated by digitization and possible convergence 10 variety and choice to a much greater extent than the mass media that preceded them 11 the closing of the gap between or the convergence of producers and consumers of media to new media The 12 social collectivity and cooperation 13 remix culture which digitization facilitates 14 the transition from products to services Although some of the electronic media McLuhan studied had one or two of these 14 characteristics by and large these properties apply primarily two way communication but it was a stand alone non portable technology until the emergence of the cell phone The very first form of the cell phone embraced two way communication and portability but did not incorporate the other 12 messages of new media The smartphone today because of interoperability and convergence with other media like the digital camera and the Internet now aggregates content provides variety and choice and promotes social collectivity telephone permitted New media today seem to have 14 distinct messages that intertwine and support each other Digitization makes interoperability 7 www mediashift com Robert K Logan The 14 Messages of New Media 3 two way communication ease of access to information continuous learning convergence aggregation of content remix culture and the transition from products to services possible Aggregation of content leads to variety and choice community social collectivity and cooperation Remix and digitization helps close the gap between user and producer which in turn builds community variety and choice Ease of access and dissemination of information leads to continuous learning social collectivity and cooperation remix culture and the closing of the gap between user and producer NEW MEDIA CULTURE Nowadays the TV viewers can attend the favorite TV transmissions on the screen of the computer The PC is exceeding by far the native function and now it plays the role of