New Media 1: What Are New Media?

Gatekeepers

New media is a catch-all term for media that are created and consumed using digital technologies and the internet.

• New Media are products and services that provide information or entertainment using computers or the internet, and not by traditional methods such as television and newspapers.
  Cambridge dictionary

Before the internet, powerful gatekeepers ruled the media. The only way to speak to a mass audience was on television, radio, or to write an article in a major newspaper. If you weren’t invited on, or the editors of the newspaper didn’t accept your article, this window of opportunity was simply unavailable. People working for major media corporations controlled what their audiences were seeing, listening to, and reading. To start your own media company meant to invest thousands or even millions in equipment and employees. Needless to say, this wasn’t an option for most people.

The transition

So what changed during the transition to new media? Because of technological advances and the internet, suddenly everyone was able to make a video or publish a blog post. No longer did you need an editor’s blessing to share your work—why not just post it on social media? More people got access to text processors, cameras, recording devices and software to edit their work, and content creation exploded outside the realm of traditional media.

Historian and podcaster Dan Carlin explains that the media landscape transitioned from an aristocratic model, where the power is in the hands of a small elite, to a democratic model, where power is in the hands of many people. Not everyone becomes famous, but people as a collective decide whether something goes viral, rather than the editor-in-chief of a media company.

Audiences have grown larger than ever before as more gain access to the web. Even if your project is catered to a niche audience—Harry Potter fans, for example—you might find plenty of people who are interested in Harry Potter related projects online.

New media are changing the way we create and consume information, and there is no telling how they will evolve into the future.

Question to the class

Write down their answers on the board

What are examples of new media used to share information?
Possible answers: podcasts, blogs, infographics, YouTube videos, vlogs, multimedia projects, the metaverse, video games, TikToks, wikipedia, Instagram stories,

Students will be divided in groups that will take a closer look at a form of new media. Every group will fill in the questions on the printout in order to analyze their new media category. These analyses will later be shared and discussed with the class.

1. Divide the students in 6 or 9 groups.
2. There are three types of new media that will be analyzed during this exercise. Assign these three new media types equally over the groups (so that every type is discussed by the same number of groups):
   1. Podcasts
   2. YouTube videos
   3. Data visualization and infographics
3. Every group receives one worksheet
4. Groups research and fill in the worksheets

Worksheet questions

1. How would you define this new media type?
2. What media were the predecessors of this new media type?
3. What were the technological advancements that needed to happen for this new media type to become possible?
4. How does this new media type relate to the internet?
5. How is this media type different in terms of accessibility (equipment, tools, affordability) for creators from its predecessors?
6. How can creators of this media reach their audience?

1. Discuss the answers with the class per new media type, drawing from the different groups that worked on that type.
   For example, group “podcast 1” answers question 1, group “podcast 2” answers question 2 etc. If students want to add something to an answer by another group, they can raise their hand and pitch in.
2. When the three new media types have been discussed, the exercise is completed.

1. What makes old media “aristocratic”?
2. What makes new media “democratic”?
3. What is the difference between old media and new media in terms of permanence?
4. What could new media have looked like if the internet had still been invented, but other technological advances had lagged behind (for example, no smartphones, no affordable cameras)?
5. What could new media have looked like with technological advances (for example, affordable cameras and software) but without the invention of the internet?