Aspects of Communications Internet Lecture OCT 2024 PDF

AN INTRODUCTION TO NEW MEDIA AND WHY IT MATTERS Prof. Alex Grech Aspects of Communications 29 October 2024 University of Malta ALL OF THESE NOW FIT IN YOUR POCKET.  Shaped by the Post-WW2 growth...

AN INTRODUCTION TO NEW MEDIA AND WHY IT MATTERS Prof. Alex Grech Aspects of Communications 29 October 2024 University of Malta ALL OF THESE NOW FIT IN YOUR POCKET.  Shaped by the Post-WW2 growth Independent. Internet Age. Digital Natives. Tech- Great Depression Sixties Counter- Tech-savvy. Social Media. Globally-aware. dependent AI and WW2 Culture. Political. Skeptic. Fin Crisis Inclusivity. & Automation SILENT BABY GENERATION MILLENNIALS GENERATION GENERATION GENERATION BOOMERS X Z ALPHA 1928-1945 1946-1964 1965-1980 1981-1996 1997-2012 2013-2025 INTERNET GEN-AI 1930 1950 1970 1990 2010 2030 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020 2040 SOCIAL MEDIA SMART PHONES  SOCIAL CHANGE refers to transformations of social relation, symbolic meanings, value structures and other things that make up the the social fabric. MEDIA & SOCIAL CHANGE Such changes can come from a number of sources – political, economic, demographic, technological etc. Some patterns of change may be cyclic, while others can be more or less one-directional. We are interested in the type of social change that happens because people use digital technology.  GEN-AI SMART BIG DATA + BLOCKCHAIN, SOCIAL SOCIAL NEW MEDIA PHONES, ALGORITHMS METAVERSE, MEDIA NETWORKS INDUSTRY WEARABLES VR, AR NEW INFRA- NEW NEW NEW DEVICES STRUCTURE SERVICES PLATFORMS MEDIA IS CHANGING! PRIVACY & PLATFORM ONLINE CITIZEN SURVEILLANCE CAPITALISM INFLUENCE MEDIA SOCIAL WORLD IS CHANGING! NETWORK SOCIETY ATTENTION PARTICIPATORY DIGITAL DIGITAL ECONOMY CULTURE POLITICS PLENITUDE E-COMMERCE GOVERNANCE & CONTENT IDENTITY & POWER & REGULATION POST-TRUTHS MARKETING SOCIALITY MEANING Reflexive relationship between new media & social world: from theory to praxis  MEDIA IS CHANGING INFRASTRUCTURE  The way we communicate has changed drastically because of the affordances of New Media SOCIAL INTERNET & MOBILE BIG DATA GENERATIVE AI DIFFERENT WAY OF NETWORKING SOCIAL MEDIA TECHNOLOGIES COMMUNICATING PLATFORMS WITH OTHERS WAVES OF MEDIATIZATION MECHANIZATION ELECTRIFICATION DIGITIZATION DATAFICATION  1430 Printing Press Important Media-Technological Innovations 1500 _ 1550 _ 1600 _ MECHANIZATION 1650 _ 1700 _ 1750 _ 1800 _ Typewriter High-speed press Telegraph Photography 1850 _ ELECTRIFICATION Telephone Gramophone Film 1900 _ Radio Mobile Phone Television, Audio Tape Computer 1950 _ ARPANET (Internet) DIGITALIZATION PC CD WWW Social Media 2015 _ Smart Phone WORLDWIDE WEB WORLDWIDE WEB HYPERTEXT HYPERLINK MEDIA IS CHANGING DEVICES EVOLUTION OF SMART PHONES AS CONVERGED TECHNOLOGIES 2020 MEDIA IS CHANGING PLATFORMS OUR INTERNET? MEDIA IS CHANGING SERVICES CONTENT CONTENT  TECHNOLOGIES THAT CREATE, COLLECT, ORGANISE & CIRCULATE CONTENT Discussion Slide Sharing Boards Social Micro-Blogs Networks Photo Social Sharing Bookmarking Wikis Podcasts Video Sharing Blogs & Live Streaming KEY SOCIAL Instant Curation Tools MEDIA Messaging PLATFORMS  SOCIAL MEDIA CONTEXT 1978 1986 1998 1999 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 No Platform or Service will stay static during its lifetime; rather, new features are constantly being tested and added on to the platform, while the old ones are being modified or eliminated At the heart of most new media consumption and creation is the desire for entertainment, information or communication.  SOCIETY IS CHANGING BUSINESS PRACTICES FASTER COMMUNICATION OWNED BY THIRD PARTIES DETERMINE WHAT SHOWS UP ON YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA TIMELINE. AND ON YOUR PHONE AS YOU DOOM-SCROLL. SOCIAL NETWORKING E-COMMERCE PODCASTING GAME-STREAMING MUSIC STREAMING MESSAGING BLOGGING MICRO-BLOGGING DISCUSSION BOARDS GIG ECONOMY REVIEW SITES COLLABORATION TOOLS BOOKMARKING TOOLS THE HUMAN BRAIN PROCESSES VISUALS 60,000 TIMES FASTER THAN TEXT  SOCIETY IS CHANGING SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR On the Internet nobody knows you’re a dog. Peter Steiner July 1993 The New Yorker  The last thing a teacher needs to give her pupils is more information. They already have far too much of it. Instead, people need the ability to make sense of information, to tell the difference between what is important and what is unimportant, and above all to combine many bits of information into a broad picture of the world. So what should we be teaching? Schools should switch to teaching ‘the four Cs’ – critical thinking, communication, collaboration and creativity. More important of all will be the ability to deal with change, to learn new things and to preserve your mental balance in unfamiliar situations. In order to keep up with the world in 2050, you will need not merely to invent new ideas and products – you will above all need to reinvent yourself again and again. Yuval Harari. 21 Lessons for the 21st Century LOOK AT ME!  DISTRACTED? INFORMED? COLLABORATING? FLAME-THROWING  MEDIA AND SOCIETY ARE IN A REFLEXIVE RELATIONSHIP SOCIAL NETWORKING How do NETWORKS really WORK? ALL THIS TECHNOLOGY IS MAKING US ANTISOCIAL  OUR INTERNET OUR ECHO-CHAMBER?  “IT IS VERY COMMON FOR HUMANS TO DEVELOP THINGS WITH THE BEST OF INTENTIONS AND FOR THEM TO HAVE UNINTENDED, NEGATIVE CONSEQUENCES.” RIGHT TO BE FORGOTTEN  SOCIETY IS CHANGING POLITICAL PRACTICES MEDIA AND SOCIETY ARE IN A REFLEXIVE RELATIONSHIP DISINFORMATION CRISIS  MEDIA REGULATIONS MEDIA MEDIA DATA CONTENT MEDIA MARKETS MEDIA PEOPLE MEDIA AUDIENCES WE CAN SEE HOW TRADITIONAL MEDIA INFLUENCES SOCIETY BY LOOKING AT…  ADDRESS COMBAT UNDERSTAND MEDIA DIS- ONLINE FREEDOMS INFORMATION BEHAVIOUR WHAT DO YOU DO WITH A MANIFESTO?  MEDIA AND SOCIETY ARE IN A REFLEXIVE RELATIONSHIP CITIZEN JOURNALISM  MEDIA AND SOCIETY ARE IN A REFLEXIVE RELATIONSHIP PRIVACY & SURVEILLANCE ONLINE DISCOURSE HAS RAMIFICATIONS FAR BEYOND A SIMPLE UNDERSTANDING OF HOW TECHNOLOGY WORKS  MEDIA ARE SOCIAL PROCESSES OF TRANSFERRING AND CIRCULATING MEANING  HOW WE UNDERSTAND THE WORLD ORGANISES HOW WE ACT IN IT.  THE PROCESS OF SHARING MEANING IS INTRINSIC TO THE EXERCISE OF POWER. MEANING POWER  GEN-AI SMART BIG DATA + BLOCKCHAIN, SOCIAL SOCIAL NEW MEDIA PHONES, ALGORITHMS METAVERSE, MEDIA NETWORKS INDUSTRY WEARABLES VR, AR NEW INFRA- NEW NEW NEW DEVICES STRUCTURE SERVICES PLATFORMS MEDIA IS CHANGING! PRIVACY & PLATFORM ONLINE CITIZEN SURVEILLANCE CAPITALISM INFLUENCE MEDIA SOCIAL WORLD IS CHANGING! NETWORK SOCIETY ATTENTION PARTICIPATORY DIGITAL DIGITAL ECONOMY CULTURE POLITICS PLENITUDE E-COMMERCE GOVERNANCE & CONTENT IDENTITY & POWER & REGULATION POST-TRUTHS MARKETING SOCIALITY MEANING Reflexive relationship between new media & social world: from theory to praxis  SEE MORE LEARN MORE  “Technology alone is not enough. Technology married with liberal arts and the humanities yields the results that makes our heart sing”. ONWARDS! PROF. ALEX GRECH [email protected]