New Media is Good Media

It is interesting to think about how our culture is so heavily influenced by new media.  In class, we discussed Lev Manovich and his 2001 work, The Language of New Media. Manovich explains the 5 qualifications necessary for a product or system to be considered new media. These are: numerical representation, modularity, automation, variability, and transcoding. He  The two characteristics of new media that stood out to me the most were variability, and modularity.  In order to be truly varying, media must have multiple versions and customizable content.  We find this concept very alive in our culture today; media users would rather have content tailored to their personal interests and needs rather than general information. For instance, advertisments on facebook are often posed in correlation with the user's profile information, including status updates.  More and more, consumers are given the option of controlling and generating their own media.  We find this most prevalent in smartphone applications such as SnapChat, and Instagram.  With these applications, users can upload and send their own pictures to other consumers.  Snapchat even allows users to create their own GIF's.  All of these popular, customizable, products prove that culture closely follows technological advances.  New media is directly related to popular culture and shifting trends.  

The other outstanding quality of new media is modularity. Modularity focuses on the breakdown of media into elements which can function both separately and as a whole.  Media exists in the form of images, sounds, shapes, or behaviors.  Says Manovich, "these elements are assembled into larger-scale objects but continue to maintain their separate identity,"(Manovich, 51). The most prominent example of modularity at work is the internet.  Web pages are their own media elements, yet they contain thousands of pictures, videos, and links.  Each of these items are an independent source of media, yet they are also united with the external web page.  This concept is also found in video editing software, which allows one to create pictures and alternative clips out of filmed content. They are elements on their own which also construct larger videos and films.  

Variability and modularity are two new media characteristics for which I am very grateful.  New media would greatly lack appeal and relevance if it could not follow technological advances and trends. Nor would contain enough intricacy and complexity to provide for consumer desires.  New media lets modern people create updated meanings of their culture.