Topic 2 - New Media, Globalization and Popular Culture

The new media generally refers to the evolution of existing media delivery systems and the development of new digital communication technologies
Convergence - combination of different ways of presenting a variety of types of information into a single delivery system
1. Information can be delivered across a range of media platforms, what was once a seperate unconnected technology are now part of converging media landscape
  1. E.g. it is now possible to watch tv through personal computers or mobile phones
  2. This has changed the way media is produced and way it is consumed
Compression - the way in which digital technologies can send signals through the same cable
1. This has led to a huge growth in number of tv channels as it means many signals can be sent through the same cable, telephone line fibre optics ...
  1. Many media companies are providing a personalized media experience
Interactivity - digital technologies that are responsive in 'real time' to user input
1. The internet is the epitomy of such interactive media because it lets users select the story they want to watch and in order they want to watch them
  1. People can access new from several different sourced
2. Interactivity can be seen in television media, we have moved to a demand led tv organized around idea that viewers/suscribers decide what they want to when and when
  1. We are no longer restrained by schedules due to examples such as Sky+ and we are also able to pause live TV
  2. We can interact using red button
  3. Also if we miss a show we can catch up on the internet using iPlayer or 4OD
Who is using the New Media
1. Generational Divide
  1. Sociologists have suggested that the new media is often associated with young people, some have even said that there is a generational divide in terms of how people use the new media
    1. The media experience of young people growing up in the UK is miles different from previous generation in regard to access and familiarity with range of media
  2. Some cultural commentators are worried about the ease of accessibility of pornography sites on the internet and also new forms of bullying appearing on mobile phone texts and through social networking e.g. Facebook (cyber bullying)
  3. A survey completed by Ofcom found trends that indicate that teenagers today are probables more media savy than previous generations
2. Class Divide
  1. The poor are excluded from this cyberspace/super information highway, because they lack the material resources to access this new media revolution
    1. Cannot afford to keep up with the middle class technological elite
  2. The poor are excluded as they cannot afford the digital technology, personal computers, subscriptions to internet service providers and wireless broadband
    1. All of this creates a digital class divide
3. Gender Divide
  1. A survey done by Ofcom found that girls in their teens are more likely than boys to have mobile phones, use the internet, listen to the radio and read newspapers and magazines
    1. Only when it came to playing computer games and console games did boys overtake girls
    2. The survey showed that almost all teenager (both genders) were confident in surfing the web and did so for several hours a week
  2. One study found that men played more computer games than women and that men were more self confident with computers and their computer skills than woman, computers were seen as a male activity and skill
4. Global Divide
  1. A survey showed that 3/100 africans have access to the internet, compared with average of 50% of all G8 countries which is home to only 15% of worlds population yet have 50% of worlds total internet use
  2. Nearly 90% of the internet is written in English yet only about 10% of the world speak it
  3. One commentator pointed out that economic and social inequalities in the offline world mirror the online world
    1. Westerners are the ones usually producing websites and also the ones consuming them
      1. Websites are also communicated in the language most of the world does not understand
Debates about the New Media
1. There are 2 main perspectives that dominate the debate about the new media in the UK
  1. Neeophilacs - who are optimistic about the spread and the influence of the new media technologies, which they see as offering consumers more choice and opportunity to partisipate more interacatively and effectively in democratic process
  2. Cultural Pessimists - commentators who are pessimistic about the spread and influence of the new media technologies; ownership of the new media is still overwhelmingly in hands of the powerful corporations and also notes that the new media content has led to a decline in quality of popular culture
2. Neophiliacs
  1. Neophiliacs who are essentially Postmodernists argue that the new media is beneficial to society for several reasons
  2. Increased Consumer Choice
    1. Neophiliacs argue that the convergence, compression and interactivity that characterize media technology and delivery systems today have actually increased consumer choice
      1. There are now hundred of entertainment and news channels of tv
    2. Neophilics have suggested that competition between media institutions will result in more quality media output
    3. People can now choose from a number of media delivery systems e.g. people may choose to download music from their phone, laptops, cd, itunes and may listen to music using different devices
  3. Ecommerce Revolution
    1. Internet has led to a revolution in ecommerce, most major companies now have their own websites
    2. Ecommerce has resulted in more choice to consumers because it increases competition, this leads to lower prices and puts the consumer in control s they compares products and prices from huge range of services
    3. Internet today can be used to shop a wide range of products and services e.g. clothing and groceries, also offers services such as banking
    4. Marxists however link this to people feeling they need to aquire false needs
  4. Revitalizing the Economy
    1. Neophiliacs have said that new media technologies offer opportunities for people to acquire education and information required to play an active role in democratic societies
      1. Allows people the opportunity to access a wide range of information and alternative interpretations and viewpoints
      2. Some have said that the internet can revitalize democracy as it gives a voice to those who go otherwise go unheard of
        It allows like minded people to join together and take action and make lead to social change
    2. Any political viewpoint, no matter how extreme can therefore be found on the internet
3. Cultural Pessimists
  1. Cultural pessimists believe that this revolution in new media technology has been exaggerated by neophiliacs, cultural pessimists outlines a number of arguments
  2. Not So New Media
    1. Cultural pessimists have argued that so the so called 'new media' is not that new
    2. 'Old' technology such as television and telephones landlines are integral to the use of new media such as computer games and broadband and wireless connections to the internet
    3. Cultural pessimists note that the only thing new about the new media is its speed
      1. Information, news and entertainment can be accessed in 'real time'
  3. Commercialization
    1. The internet it now extremely commercialized, millions of people now use the internet to manage their bank accounts, pay bills, buy services and consumer goods
    2. Cultural pessimists note that these new technologies may produce more choice for consumers but there can also be dubious side effects
      1. E.g. companies that sell products on the internet engage in consumer survelliance, this may be in form of cookies which can monitor and process data generated by users and target potential future audiences and enhance profits
    3. Marxists sociologists have been alarmed by the commercialization of the internet and other new media such as mobile phones and TV; they claim is encourages materialism, consumerism and false needs and therefore furthers capitalist domination
  4. Decline in Quality of Popular Culture
    1. Cultural pessimists argue that increased consumer choice of media delivery systems and also digitalization of tv had led to a decline in the quality of popular culture
    2. Harvey suggests that digital television may have dramatically increased number of channels for viewers to choose from but this has led to a dumbing down of popular culture
      1. This is because tv companies full these channel with cheap imports, films, repeats and reality tv
      2. Harvey argues that this tv increasingly transmits a 'candy floss culture' that speaks to everyone but no one in particular
Postmodernism and the Media
1. Postmodernists see the rise of the new media as a key part of the change from modernity to postmodernity
  1. Postmodernists argue that we live in a world that is shaped by the media, media images and representations have become our reality and computer technology have created a virtual reality which has replaces real life e.g. Facebook or Dating sites
    1. Media now shapes our identities more than traditional influences e,g, family and community
    2. Postmodernists see all accounts of the world as equal and people can consume world as they please
2. Baudrillard notes that we live in a media saturated society where media images distort and dominate the way we see the world
  1. These distorted views of the world is called hyper reality
    1. Media presents this simulacra - media images that have no basis is reality but which people increasingly model their behaviour on e.g. Disney
      1. 'A copy with no original'
      2. Simulacra can also be linked with celebrities
        We can see example of some celebrities who are untalented but are seen as talented, are they 'real' or a product of the media?
        E.g. Kim Kardashian
3. Postmodernist commentators have suggested that TV and film have become preoccupied with 'style over substance'; surface style and imagery are seen as more important than the underlying meaning and themse which may actaully relate the the realities of human life
  1. Links back to just making profit, targeting the lowest common denomenator
4. Critics of Postmodernism have said that the media influence is undoubtably important but it is not the determining factor in most peoples life choices
  1. Family and friends are far more influential
Globalization of the Media
1. In relation to the mass media globalization takes a number of forms ...
  1. Ownership of Mass Media - media companies are no longer restricted by national boundries, media conglomerates own hundred of media companies around the world e.g. Ruport Murdoch
  2. Satellite TV - this news medium has opened up to the world to television viewers, you can sit in a hotel in any part of the world and watch programmes you are familiar with e.g. Sky, E4, BBC
  3. The Internet - access to the world wide web via the internet mean that we can access information and entertainment in most parts of the world
  4. Advertising - advertising now occurs on a global scale, and brands have become global as a result e.g. Coca Cola and Mcdonalds are now household names across the globe
  5. Entertainment - entertainment has been globalizedvia satellite tv, gloabal marketing, advertising and the internet, much of the world engage in same popular culture e.g. films (hollywood produced), some big tv programmes and sports (world cup, olymipics)
2. Possible Consequences of Globalization
  1. Globalization is seen as beneficial as it is primarily responsible for diffusing different cultural styles around the world
  2. Marxists argues that is restricts choice because transnational media companies and their owners have too much power
    1. Could link back to Marxist ideology
    2. Marxists are also concerned about the local media and cultures being replaced by global culture
      1. Cultural pessimists refer to this trend as 'Disneyfication' of culture as it is claimed that this global culture is overwhelmingly American entertainment culture, focussed on sitcoms, reality tv and celeb gossip and consumerism
        Can also bring in Mcdonaldisation - now possible to travel around the world without having to eat any local food, can lead to decline in local cultures
  3. Many sociologists have suggested that global media culture is about sameness and that is earases individuality and difference
    1. It has also been suggested that global culture are 'dumbing down' real and authentic local cultures and perhaps killing off nation states
  4. Postmodernists suggest that globalization is good for both developing and developed worlds as it offers citezens more choice and opportunities
  5. Cultural pessimists have been criticised for underestimating the strength of local cultures
    1. It has been suggested that people do not generally abandon their cultural traditions, family duties, religious beliefs just because they listen to particular type of music of Hollywood films
    2. Rather that they mix and match elements of global culture with local cultures in much same was as citezens of Uk or USA
  6. Cultural Imperialism - when one country or region dominated the cultural out of other regions e.g. American culture

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Topic 2 - New Media, Globalization and Popular Culture

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	Created by Victor Mendon almost 10 years ago