Is new media…
My friend Kelley posted a link to this video on her blog:
This little video is full of gems like this:
“New media I think is a very broad term that means a lot of things to me…”
In other words, as Kelley points out, nobody really defines it.
At the beginning of almost every UMaine new media course, students are asked to define the term “new media”. It’s sort of a challenge and a running joke all at the same time. Providing a concise, concrete definition for “new media” is next to impossible; it’s sort of like trying to define “art”.
Most of the people in the video look at new media from an angle: the current “new media” methods of advertising, the latest technology, and in general what people are interested in at the moment. I shook my head for a lot of the video; some of it is just wrong. New media is meant to be a dynamic field; Kelley’s boss Marc actually does the term some justice by mentioning that “new media, the term, is evolving all the time.”
In short the video kind of angered me.
There is hope, though. C.C. Chapman has a wonderful podcast entitled “Managing the Gray“; its focus is new forms of digital and new media marketing. I think C.C. does a great job explaining how there are new arenas for marketing opening up almost every day.
Comments
Blech, New Media is a loaded and ambiguous term. I don’t even see the point of trying to define it. As you said, it’s like defining “art” which is just silly. I’d like to see less talking and more doing. This term is probably worse than “Web 2.0″
Thanks for the link love and glad to hear that you checked out the show and liked what you heard. It is a hard term to define. That is for sure!