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9. Digital Media
Richard E. Caplan
The University of Akron
Christopher Burnett
California State, Long Beach
The Internet
• Thousands of computer
networks
– No one owns the Internet
Nicholas Moreau/stock.xchnge
• Global
• Completely different from
traditional mass media
• Fastest growing medium
• Shaped by the relationships
of its users
What are Digital Media?
• Traditional media
– Print (books, newspapers and magazines)
– audio (recordings and radio)
– video (television, and movies)
• Digital Media
– All forms of emerging communication
media
• Combines text, graphics, sound and video
–
–
–
–
Video games
World wide web
Streaming video
MP3s
Darren Hester/morguefile.com
• Multimedia is media that combines text,
graphics, sound and video
New Digital Communications Network
• Empowerment
– Freedom from bureaucracy
– Freedom from geographical
limitations
– Collaboration possibilities
• Interconnectivity
– Redefines mass media
industries
Richard Koci Hernandez/San Jose Mercury News
• Simultaneous sending
and receiving of
information
Digital Development
•
Combining all digital
communication services
– National Information
Infrastructure (NII), 1994
•
Guiding principles for the
digital network
2. Full access for providers
3. Full access for consumers
jmmelton/motleyimage
1. Built by private industry, not
government
Media Evolution
• Digital media evolved from
older forms
– Interdependence
• Is print media dead?
– Book sales continue to be
healthy
– TV did not end radio or movies
– Market adaptation
– Old media contribute to the
new media
jmmelton/motleyimage
• The new does not mean the
end of the old
Media Convergence
• Convergence
– Nicholas Negroponte, MIT
Media Lab
• Media industries
combining
– Buying and selling each
other
AP/Wide World Photo
• Technologies merging
• Media & computers
creating a new type of
communication
Nicholas Negroponte
Media Convergence
Illustration 9.1
Digital Media Competition
• Wealth of competing products
– Often confusing for consumers
• Economics, creativity and consumer demand
– Irresistible forces for technological change
• Pace of change
– 30 year cycle
– Paul Saffo
World Wide Web and Access
• Widespread adoption of email
– Altered business and
personal communication in
the ‘90s
jmmelton/motleyimage
• Convenience
• Comfortable adaptation of
existing technology
– Familiarity with the keyboard
• Digital Divide
– Between those using and
those not using new
technologies
Developing the Internet
• Tim Berners-Lee
– Created programming to share scientific text, graphics and video
electronically through links between sources
– Named the sharing network the “World Wide Web”
– Developed the first browser
• Other Browsers
– Marc Andreesen developed “Mosaic”
– Others emerged later
AP/Wide World Photos
• Search Engines
– Expanded use of the Web
– Google, Yahoo, etc.
• Public Domain
– Berners-Lee gave his discoveries to the public
Tim Berners-Lee
Universal Access
– Anarchy?
• No national boundaries
• Limited only by
– Availability of digital
technology
– Economics
• Promotes free media
Bob Daemmrich/Image Works
• Internet is open to
anyone
• A world without rules or
laws
Illustration 9.2
Commerce, Entertainment & Info
• Paying for use of Web
– Internet service provider (ISP)
• America Online, Comcast, etc.
• Promoting commerce
– Amazon.com
– eBay.com
• Accepting Advertising
– Electronic buyer feedback
– Ad robots
– Search marketing
• Providing Content
– Wall Street Journal
– Apple iTunes
Chasing the Mobile Media Audience
• Internet and Cell Phones
– The newest market
• Podcasting
• Blogs
• Personal Web Pages
– MySpace
– Facebook
Internet Advertising
Illustration 9.3
Going Wireless
Illustration 9.4
Regulation and Intellectual Property
• Failed regulatory attempts
– Communications Decency
Act, 1996
• Intellectual Property
– Creative works
• Unprotected on the Internet
©Jacques M. Chenet/Corbis
• Attempt to restrict Internet
content
• Struck down by U.S.
Supreme Court
Ownership of Web Content
• Already copyrighted material
– Recordings, books and movies
– Easy, worldwide access a danger
• Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA)
– Passed by Congress in 1998
– May NOT share copyrighted material on the ‘Net
• Napster, MP3 & Grokster
– Napster found liable for copyright infringement
– MP3 paid $70 million damages
– Grokster settled with RIAA and MPAA
• Darknets
– File sharing outside of public view
Internet Challenges
• Free Access
– Spam
• Improved Storage
– Data Compression
– Improved servers
• Compatible Delivery
– Conversion to a standard digital system is complicated and
expensive
• Personal Privacy
– Protecting important consumer information
Emerging Technologies
• Digital Subscriber Line (DSL)
– 50 times faster than modem
– Always “on”
– A person’s online identity
• Personalized Channels
– RSS
• Really Simple Syndication
– Customized Internet Interaction
• Wikis
– From Hawaiian for “fast”
– Collective information pages
Richard Bliss/morguefile.com
• Virtual Reality Avatars
©Bill Freeman/PhotoEdit
Critical Discussion
1. Can you think of any areas in which
the Internet could use some
regulation? In what ways would you
recommend that the Internet be
regulated?
2. What breakthroughs do you see in
digital media over the next decade?
What role will cell phones play in
these changes?