Reblogiation

I wish I’d been around when The War of the Worlds was first broadcast:



Due to the play being written and performed in the style of a news broadcast, much of the audience at the time believed they were hearing an actual news account of an invasion from Mars! "People packed the roads, hid in cellars, loaded guns, even wrapped their heads in wet towels as protection from Martian poison gas, in an attempt to defend themselves against aliens, oblivious to the fact that they were acting out the role of the panic-stricken public that actually belonged in a radio play." (Source)

Bolter and Grusin define this effect as immediacy. Media producers seek to erase the gap between the signifier (medium) and the signified (subject) to create a "style of representation whose goal is to make the viewer forget the presence of the medium and believe he is in the presence of the objects of representation". Due to the rapid development of digital and interactive media, such as live webcams and CGI, audiences demand immediacy from traditional media. Documentary programmes like Traffic Cops use point of view cameras to make the audience feel like they’re in the action chasing a bunch of scallywags in a stolen Citroën Saxo.


Not to stereotype...

The opposite of immediacy is what Bolter and Grusin defines as hypermediacy. This is a "style of representation whose goal is to remind the viewer of the medium". Hypermediacy can be seen in the characteristics of websites. As they stream video, adverts and text all at once and adding in the fact that people can chat, listen to music and download whilst on the web, it panders to the audiences’ fascination with the medium itself.



These two contradicting techniques are able to not only coexist in digital media but have become mutually dependant. TV news programmes borrow from the graphic style of websites, using video streams, split-screen displays and graphics, but contrast this with the live immediacy of news coverage mostly on location (enhancing the immediacy).



Bolter and Grusin predicted that “not only will the new media landscape look like television as we know it, but television will come to look more and more like new media”. This has been achieved due to the convergence of immediacy and hypermediacy in what has been dubbed the ‘double logic of remediation’.

The next step is virtual reality headsets. C’mon Science!

Multi-blogging

Traditionally, 'old' media such as broadcasting and print had its own distinctive functions and markets without much interaction or involvement with each other. But now we are entering an era where the media is EVERYWHERE! (cue 1984 paranoia ¬_¬)
You can watch movies and browse the web on games consoles. On my iPhone I can watch TV/surf the web/listen to music/read the news/play games/take pictures/update social networks/book trains and even make a call! Technology is becoming an electronic version of a swiss army knife.




The old idea of convergance was of one central device that did everything, like a universal remote or a 'black box' in your living room. However, this isn't the case. Due to cross-media ownership and the expansion of interactive 'new' media, the same content can flow through many different channels. Cheskin Research (2002) states that " What we are now seeing is the hardware diverging while the content converges." Meaning, we can access the same content from many different devices.

However, Jenkins argues that this media change isn't just technological, it has a cultural effect:
" Convergence alters the relationship between existing technologies, industries, markets, genres, and audiences. Convergence alters the logic by which media industries operate and by which media consumers process news and entertainment." (Jenkins, 2008, p15). From a top-down corporate driven perspective, companies deliver content across different channels to expand revenue and broaden markets. This leads to a bottom-up consumer driven convergence, which allows the user to control the flow of media and interact with other consumers. I don't know where I'd be if I couldn't check Facebook and play Angry Birds whenever I wanted to.

It's an expensive trend to keep up with though. Technology is constantly evolving and the most advanced media device becomes outdated within a year. Do we really need to have the latest gadget just because it can do everything? I mean, what is the point of an iPad?

Seriously.