How Media Is Changing Society – Connectedness
Should we wait for a random start-up to come up with some new Web technology to find out about the next major change of the media that defines our society?
In a connected society, media are the shared stories modulated over the diverse connections available to its participants. Every well-connected society shares a diversity of threads and will use a range of different media types available to them to exchange news, establish and maintain connections and establish history.
There are obviously many different types of connected societies. The society we live in is well connected via digital media. By no means do digital media connect everybody in the Western industrialized world, but those working in the field – and this most likely includes the readers and writers of this blog – are reasonably well connected to each other. Tribes around the world are organized around the media available to communicate in space and in time. 
Compared to the community of a small town in the 19th century, we are probably not very well connected amongst each other – we have many more outside connections, yet how many of our media connections can be extended beyond an informational level, i.e. you know that something happened, you react to it with a statement, but with little involvement beyond that.
Grassroots media, the political power of media, the impact of digital media are part of the ongoing discussion on the future of media. For this week, I would like to steer our discourse into the direction of how digital media can enhance and augment other media types that – for the lack of a better definition – function without computers. How does thinking about these media types help us to define the next step in digital media?
The media framework we have at our disposition has a strong impact on our society and currently the direction is guided by technological developments – for the better or worse. The Web 2.0 wave brought us a whole gammut of user-centric media types. Blogging – i.e. creating an inverse-chronological list of news on a Web page – was always possible, only Blogging software made it easy enough for millions to engage in exactly this type of media form – because it is currently possible. Non-temporal blogs are difficult to maintain and therefore are not done.
Should we wait for a random start-up to come up with some new Web technology to find out about the next major change of the media that defines our society?
Image Source: Frederick S. Remington: Smoke Signal; 1artclub.com and others
TAG: wemedia
Previous Comments
The next step in Media may not be a drastic departure from where it is – however, what it does mean is that the options available are many, and the users of a certain media often become its creators.
The best instance perhaps is News. Where Mainstream Media in its early digital avatar still didn’t give users a choice on customizing their experience – current Web 2.0 tools allow users to create their own news.
An interesting twist to connectedness – is media going to shape society or vice verca? Besides, media cannot be seen as a monolith anyway. The notion of connectedness brings with it a decentralized idea of media. It becomes localized and makes itself more useful to more purposes – in this case – hopefully to connect rather than divide.
We are allegedly the revolutionaries of the Internet and communications.
Shouldn’t we be the ones revolutionizing the way advocacy is done and communicated in the 21st Century? Shouldn’t we be the creative forces verifying that the medium is the message? Who better than us to harness the enabling power of the Internet to bring our message to legislators, to policymakers, to the public? Let’s throw away the old rulebook and try to think as members of a global community of Internet innovators and enthusiasts. Each of us is surfing the intersection of technological innovation, influencial social networking and the often cognitive dissonance associated with critical thinking in a world where we are not just connected, we are interconnected. What shall we do with this opportunity to shape the world we live in?
we are changing – drastically. we speak a different language (thanks to sms), dress differently(thanks to fashion tv), write differently( thanks to hypertext) and above all, think differently because of the connectedness.the world has become small and beautiful, flat and round, united and diverse. I am excited – and panting too! Sometimes i feel i cant keep pace.
Maybe we’ve never been more disconnected. Here in London it’s hard enough finding out where your food comes from, let alone electricity, water… it’s all very well to get excited about the power of digital media to transform society but let’s not throw the rulebook away too quickly. I relish and leverage the network but the same old rules apply. Early arrivals grab the best seats. The powerful don’t empower others out of fear. Techno-fetishists love their shiny baubles. Page Rank and Public Relations are interchangeable.
I may not be the brightest bean, but I’m having trouble understanding your question. And I assume if I’m having trouble others are too.
“Should we wait for a random start-up to come up with some new Web technology to find out about the next major change of the media that defines our society?”
Plus, can you explain the sentence “Non-temporal blogs are difficult to maintain and therefore are not done.” What the hell’s a non-temporal blog and how do I get one 🙂
FWIW, and I’m not sure this is strictly related to this discussion, but what the hell. Google search is the single biggest global connecting power online. It’s also the fuel firing Web 2.0. But Google is homogenising media, not freeing it or really moving it to a newer, better level because it loves boring, bland samey crap and it rewards that same sameyness.
Simon Waldman puts it rather well:
“The more important this sort of homgenaiety becomes.Why bother with original reporting, or in fact, anything distinctive, if it’s not going to make it onto the shelves of the news supermarket that Google provides.”
http://tinyurl.com/gydo6
So, all hail new media, the dawn of the digital age and global connectivity, but at what price? Are we dulling our brains by scoring a piece of the search engine pie? If the online society rewards dull homogenous glop, is that really a society you want to succeed in? Are the Google rules of the game a game killer?
Justa thought.
Ordinary people’s thoughts are just as relevant as journalists’ and the pundits they usually quote. But for now, ordinary people who are technology deprived or living on the other side of the civilizational divide — the marginalized, the extremely poor, the illiterate — usually only get their due when reality TV producers think they can make some money off of them. Where is the technology-driven media that allows simple folk who are not plugged in to the globalized world a dignified and sophisticated medium to voice their thoughts on where things are headed, on whether we’re on the right track… Where are the elderly, for instance, those who experienced life before media became so all-prevailing? Surely their take on life may have some relevance, or help put things in perspective. But are we hearing theirs or other silent — and potentially wise — voices? Perhaps everybody with a grandparent who’s still alive aught to start them a blog.
In reading Tarek Atia’s comment: “Where are the elderly, for instance, those who experienced life before media became so all-prevailing? Surely their take on life may have some relevance, or help put things in perspective.”, I thought of my mother who lives in a very isolated part of Canada. Since the early 80’s, mom has felt disconnected with the small community in which she lives and has clung to the notion of connectedness through our mother-daughter relationship. Most of that sharing has taken place via the internet, either through email or VOIP, as I live in New York, hundred’s of miles away from her. This year, she surprised me. After refusing to date anyone for 30 years, she become an active member of ‘Singlesnet.com’. Why you may wonder? Through the dating site, Mom has finally found a group of people of her own age, with similar interests, with whom she can connect in a very fulfilling way, even though she has never met any of them, and isn’t planning to. Through her recent adventures in on-line dating, mom has taught me about my own preconceived notions of what ‘real’ connection is. Strange, I never really understood the attraction of MySpace, until my mom began ‘hanging out’ on Singlesnet. Mom isn’t quite ready to start a blog just yet, she is too busy learning Mandarin online with a group of Beijing artists. That certainly puts a few things in perspective for me.
I also found this intriguing – “Non-temporal blogs are difficult to maintain and therefore are not done.”
I’m not sure whether this was trying to define something elusive, or whether it was a cute reference to what I consider “non-temporal blogs” – wikis.
In my talks on citizen media, I like to say:
“If news is the first draft of history, blogs are the first commentary on history, and Wikipedia is the working draft of history”
Projects like Wikipedia connect folks from around the world based around a particular language. For languages with a global footprint, like English, Spanish, French and Chinese, Wikipedia’s focus on writing from a neutral point of view and working by consensus means that not just the winners get to write the history books.
While most people appreciate Wikipedia as a product, like Encarta or Britannica, the most revolutionary aspect is its ability to connect folks from around the world to converge on something considered “the truth.”
Now as we move into the digital world we must make sure that other part sof the globe — especially developing countries — understand the idea of media rolls, and follow similar practices that might seem obvious in the western world.
In a country where blogging is not common and citizen media is still quite new concept. How should we encourage them to engage in dialogue though It’s not transparent to many Westerners.
If we are to be truly “connected,” we must remember these developing countries when talking about the media.
Now as we move into the digital world we must make sure that other part sof the globe — especially developing countries — understand the idea of media rolls, and follow similar practices that might seem obvious in the western world.
In a country where blogging is not common and citizen media is still quite new concept, how should we encourage them to engage in dialogue though it’s not transparent to many Westerners.
If we are to be truly “connected,” we must remember these developing countries when talking about the media.
“Connectedness”
Not sure we are more “connected” in this day and age, perhaps more technological and specialised, which brings with it more divisions. Individually yes, if one can afford the satellite phone you are always contactable, but how any people can afford that type of connectedness.
Connectedness begs a range of further questions. Who is connected and the corollary of who is not connected? Is the northern hemisphere more connected then the southern hemisphere? Is the so-called developed world more connected than the developing worlds?
Connectedness in any media is surely a direct factor of the ability of the communities to understand the message be it smoke signal or blog. Language divisions and literacy levels on a global scale need to be considered when talking about connectedness. Through development one must be careful not to extend the divisions of society further, to exclude certain communities form the connectedness. Technological development of the media should try be more about enabling and welcoming diversity.
Communities also need the tools required to produce and interpret the new methods of the communication. This too has a limiting factor of having the resources to be able to obtain these tools and technologies. Finding paper to write a letter may be easier than obtaining a networked computer in certain parts of the world.
For true connectedness one needs an universal view of communications and media, as well as the people who communicate.