Reference no: EM131074172

Social media- technologies that help to link our social networks together.

Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.

Every form of media has conventions, characteristics, and codes that differentiate it from the other forms of media

Net 2.0- People will both consume and create content in online media- YouTube is the prime example. Another example would be social media outlets like Twitter that elicit a great deal of creativity from users.

            "Produsers"- the individual as both a producer of content and a consumer of content

Digital Media- electronic modes of communication that store and manage data in digital form

•  Manipulation- ease of manipulation of data, retouching photos, editing video or     sound, editing personal information
•  Convergence- the coming together of technologies, cable, Internet, telephone, Xbox
•  Speed- instantaneous transmission of data

                        - effects how we view the pace of our lives

                        - jeopardizes accuracy

Benefits of digital media

            Social interaction- Social Media allows us to keep in touch like never before, online groups give us access to discussions on any range of topics with an unimaginable number of people.

Edemocracy- Idea that online technologies would lead to a more robust Democracy because of our ability to interact and have discussion and debate. That hasn't worked out too well...

            Easy of use- pretty self explanatory

Potential problems

Who benefits from digital media?

1. People who have access to the technology

Digital Divide- disparity resulting from some groups' lack of equal access to the Internet and the benefits of online technology

            In the US this was a hot button topic toward the end of the Clinton era along racial lines

Now it's moved to speak more about the Global Divide or the divide between the Global North and Global South. The Global North tends to be wealthier than the Global South. This disparity has seen populations in the Global South have less access to online technologies and, therefor, information. This divide is shrinking all the time, but still exists for many.

2. Telecom and Internet companies that continue to make money on online technologies

• How do digital technologies affect thinking?

1. Multitasking

            Are people good at multitasking? ---- No not really. Are brains aren't built that way...for now. We switch on and off. Although how we think might be greatly changed by the inundation of technology

2. Visual Skills

• We are a more visual society
• We focus on objects for a shorter period of time

3. Reliance on external guides for thinking

• bad for imagination and creativity?
• externalization of memory - We use technology like external hard drives. We don't have to have something in our internal memory (our brain) we can just look it up