Before we can analyze the significance of corporate power in new media, it is important to have a working definition of the term “new media.” However, “new media” has proven to be a difficult term to define. One broad definition says that new media is “a catch-all term for all forms of electronic communication that have appeared or will appear since the original mainly text-and-static picture forms of online communication” (TechTarget, 2000). On the opposite end of the spectrum, some have defined new media with very specific lists of technology, such as “CD-ROM, HTML,
streaming media, DV editing, web applications and DVD-video” (Iowa State University, 2008). Critics of this specific view argue that this definition will have to change every time a new technology develops or one of these technologies becomes obsolete. Another definition says that “new media describes any digital media production that is interactive and digitally distributed” (Sheridan College, 1998). However, according to Professor Lev Manovich, the inclusion of “digital media” in the definition of new media “signifies too broad a range of technologies” to be of any value in academic discourse (Manovich, 2001).
Wikipedia (itself considered a new media entity) lists the following as forms of new media (Wikipedia, 2008):
- - Mashup
- - Internet Art
- - Video games and virtual worlds as they impact marketing and public relations.
- - Multimedia CD-ROMs
- - Software
- - Web sites including brochureware
- - blogs and wikis
- - Email and attachments
- - Electronic kiosks
- - Interactive television
- - Mobile devices
- - Podcasting
- - Hypertext fiction
- - Graphical User Interfaces
With the lack of consensus about the definition of new media, we have chosen to focus our analyses within a narrow framework. Our study on corporate power in new media will focus on the Internet and related properties, specifically:
- - Mashups and remix culture
- - Websites (particularly social networking sites)
- - Video services
- - Interactive video gaming
Related links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_media
http://www.sheridanc.on.ca/news/releases/newmedia/definition.html
http://www.webanalyticsassociation.org/en/art/?179
http://searchsoa.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid26_gci213507,00.html
http://newmedia.engl.iastate.edu/about/what_is_new_media
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