New media and its main principles

New media is an unworldly term with a complex meaning for the constant shift of mediated forms of production, distribution and communication which affect our everyday lives and the culture surrounding us. Manovich highlights how a new profound media revolution is upon us and is on-going within our cultures but also exemplifies ‘what new media isn’t.’

Relating to the printing press and the photography revolution, Manovich states that the “…impact on the development of modern society and culture, today we are in the middle of a new media revolution – the shift of all culture to computer-mediated forms of production, distribution and communication.” (Manovich 2001, p19)

Manovich, within his book ‘The Language of New Media’, attempts to summarize some of the key differences and ideologies between old and new media and in doing so highlights 5 key principles, dependant on one another affecting profoundly into our culture and manifesting into themselves creating the enhancements, technologies and media forms we have today. These include: numerical representation, modularity, variability, automation and transcoding.

Variability appears to be one of the most important principles out of the five Manovich discusses as it pays particular emphasis to how ‘a new media object is not something fixed once and for all, but something that can exist in different, potentially infinite versions.’ (Manovich, p36) In hypothetical terms we can again look at the revolution of the printing press, before this on identical copies of images/data were enabled to be copied from an original ‘master’, whereas now we can modify and manipulate almost anything electronically due to the expansion of computerization.

With this, Manovich explains how variability allows contrasts, difference and the possibility of expansion to new media. It corresponds to the idea that the growth of new media is potentially endless and can overall vary with accordance to popular culture and consumer demands.

Variability ‘…values individuality over conformity’ (Manovich, p41) it establishes customization for media consumers through all media forms and exemplifies how media creators, create the media customarily to suit users. For example, Facebook, Twitter etc. these websites are built around the demands of consumers and social cultures of today, so that not only producers of the media, but also users can customize how they use their media.

Overall, variability plays an important role within the revolution of the new media of today and interlinking with the other principles Manovich discusses within his book, creates a complex, endless and almost magnificent shift of mediated forms.

Bibliography

MANOVICH, Lev (2001). The Language of New Media. Cambridge; London, Mass.; MIT Press