New Media
Nov 27 06 | 9:00 pm
I read the newspaper and news magazines once in a while, and they all seem to be talking about some sort of “Internet Revolution”. For some reason I can’t figure out, they keep including links to web pages that jumped the shark months ago, and can’t stop raving about News Corp’s purchase of MySpace and Google’s acquisition of YouTube. They’re ogling the millions and billions of dollars of potential revenue from advertising, but they’re overlooking why these sites are actually exciting.
What technology has always done, and continues to do now at a rate faster than ever, is lower the barrier of entry to new fields. Ze Frank points out how now, more than ever, the common person is wielding tools that allow unprecedented feats of creativity and productivity. Many bemoaned the desktop publishing revolution of the 1980’s, but it is now taken for granted. Anyone with a computer can produce fliers, newsletters, or even entire books that previously would have taken an entire printing company’s efforts to assemble. Where did the talent go? If anyone can be a producer, what will keep any fool from displacing the graphic designer from his career?
Graphic design is still very much in demand. Someone has to create the templates that WYSIWYG editors rely on, and professional quality websites and publications continue to demand higher standards than your average consumer can deliver. But tools keep arising.
Software and hardware continue to allow access to fields that previously required tens of thousands of dollars of equipment. Now, anyone with a laptop and a video camera can make their own movie. Anyone with a laptop and a soundboard can be their own recording studio. Anyone can be a journalist, a photographer, an artist, or TV star. Countless video blogs feature news, politics, comedy, and tutorials that can be viewed for free and are produced on shoestring budgets. Podcasts are like radio talk shows, only on-demand and within the grasp of a global audience. Blogs let anyone write to their heart’s content online.
Perhaps any individual endeavor will be lost in the tremendous sea of content known as the Internet, but is it more important that the content is viewed, or created? Technology is letting people do things that they couldn’t have possibly dreamed of only years ago. The only thing required to become a producer of content is a little bit of creativity and some motivation. Round your friends up and make something original, fun, and exciting. There’s almost no barriers standing in your way.
Heck, even I can do it.
I’ve been thinking about how Apple is more of the kind of company that seems to be promoting content creation as compared to Microsoft. Microsoft has Windows Movie Maker and Sound Recorder which function, but are not as leet as some Apple apps like the iLife suite and even the iWork package.
I guess with the internet evolving to motivate more people to create content and distribute it amongst their peers more people are purchasing Macs because they see the creative opportunities they have with Apple products. They also see how they can contribute to the “tremendous sea of content” on the internet by creating new media.
I noticed you added new media to your interests list on your Facebook. Last year Rick Hancock, an anchor from FOX61 news, came into my Journalism class and spoke to us about the evolution of how people consume content. Reading this blog post, the phrase new media definitely sums up what he was talking to us about.
Comment by cjelly — Nov 27 06 | 11:07 pm
Woah, what’s this blue alliance thing that you are making? You even bothered to register a domain. I’m psyched.
Comment by cobalt — Nov 28 06 | 5:34 pm
[…] TIME has named “You” as the 2006 Person of the Year. Why? Advancements in technology allow us all to be content creators rather than just consumers. As Greg points out, anyone with a connection to the internet and a cheap video camera can create a podcast, anyone with iMovie can edit a feature film, and anyone with Apple’s iWork package can layout a magazine. (Now look what happens when I read digg. You get a blog post about one item.) I went to the Connecticut Vex competition today at University of Hartford, and it ran smoothly. Tom Bottiglieri was the master of ceremonies for the competition. Greg, Chris, and Sam also ended up going. Sam and I were the main camera operators, but I ended up helping out at the scoring table most of the time. I got to learn the scoring software, and control the field via a USB to Field Controller adapter, made by IFI, hooked up to the laptop. […]
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