ABCT2103 New Media Technology - Vdec16 (RS) - Bookmark PDF

Faculty of Applied Social Sciences
ABCT2103
New Media Technology
Copyright © Open University Malaysia (OUM)

ABCT2103
NEW MEDIA
TECHNOLOGY
Prof Dr Azizah Hamzah

Project Directors: Prof Dato’ Dr Mansor Fadzil
Assoc Prof Dr Mohd Yusuf Ahmad
Open University Malaysia
Module Writer: Prof Dr Azizah Hamzah

Universiti Malaya
Moderator: Dr Bahiyah Umar

Universiti Sains Malaysia
Developed by: Centre for Instructional Design and Technology

Open University Malaysia
First Edition, August 2011

Second Edition, December 2016 (rs)
Copyright © Open University Malaysia, December 2016, ABCT2103
All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced in any form or by any means without
the written permission of the President, Open University Malaysia (OUM).

Table of Contents
Course Guide xiăxv
Topic 1 What is New Media? 1

1.1 Media Technology 2
1.1.1 What is Technology? 3
1.1.2 Media Technology Revolution 4
1.2 Media and Communication Products 8
1.2.1 Print Media 8
1.2.2 Broadcasting Media 10
1.2.3 Electronic Media 12
1.3 Characteristics of New Media 14
1.3.1 The Definition of New Media 15
1.3.2 What is New in New Media? 19
1.3.3 The Characteristics of New Media 20
1.4 Digitalisation 22
1.5 Forms of New Media 24
1.6 Uses and Applications of New Media 26
Summary 29
Key Terms 30
Self-Assessment 1 30
References 31
Topic 2 Evolution of New Media 32

2.1 Development of New Media Technology 33
2.2 Current State of New Media Technology 34
2.3 Theoretical Approaches to Understanding New Media 37
2.3.1 Technological Determinism 39
2.4 Milestones in Media Technology 40
Summary 41
Key Terms 41
References 43

iv  TABLE OF CONTENTS
Topic 3 Technology of Networks 44

3.1 Interactivity 45
3.1.1 The Uses of Interactivity 46
3.1.2 What is Interactivity? 47
3.2 Telephony, the Internet and Communication System 50
3.2.1 Telephony 50
3.2.2 The Internet 51
3.2.3 Communication System 53
3.3 Global Network 54
3.4 Researching the Internet 55
3.5 People and the Internet 58
3.6 Online Communities 59
3.7 Virtuality and Globalisation 61
3.7.1 Virtuality 61
3.7.2 Globalisation 63
Summary 65
Key Terms 66
References 67
Topic 4 Personal Publishing on a Global Network 68

4.1 Instant Messaging (IM) 69
4.1.1 What is IM? 69
4.1.2 Types of IM 71
4.2 Weblogs (Blogs) 73
4.2.1 What is a Blog? 73
4.2.2 Types of Blogs 75
4.2.3 Use of Blogs 76
4.3 Wikis 77
4.3.1 Definition of Wikis 77
4.3.2 Features of Wikis 78
4.3.3 The Use of Wikis 80
4.4 Podcasts 82
4.4.1 What is a Podcast? 82
4.4.2 How is a Podcast Made? 84
4.4.3 The Advantages of Podcasts 85
4.5 Personal Business Online 86
4.6 Blogrolls and Filtering the Web 88

TABLE OF CONTENTS  v
4.7 Data and Spam 90

Summary 91
Key Terms 92
References 93
Topic 5 New Media as Cultural Technologies 94

5.1 Technology and Culture 96
5.2 Media, Modernity and Postmodernity 99
5.2.1 Modernity 99
5.2.2 Postmodernity 100
5.3 Media is the Message 103
5.4 Continuity and Change 103
Summary 104
Key Terms 105
References 106
Topic 6 Convergence 107

6.1 What is Convergence? 108
6.2 Convergence of Technology 113
6.2.1 Convergence in Telecommunication 114
6.2.2 Convergence in Data Communication 115
6.2.3 Convergence in Mass Communication 115
6.3 Convergence of Software Applications 116
6.4 Convergence of Media 117
6.5 Convergence of Consumption 120
6.6 Convergence of Roles: User, Developer, Producer,
Consumer 121
6.7 Convergence of Disciplines 122
6.8 Evaluations and Implications 122
Summary 123
Key Terms 123
References 124

vi  TABLE OF CONTENTS
Topic 7 New Media Technology and Mass Communication 126

7.1 The Audience of New Media Technology 127
7.1.1 The Characteristics of New Media Audience 128
7.1.2 Audience and New Media Technology 129
7.2 New Media Technology and Journalism 130
7.2.1 Journalism in New Media Era 131
7.2.2 The Emerging Citizen Journalism 132
7.3 New Media Technology and Advertising 134
7.3.1 Internet Advertising 135
7.4 New Media Technology and Public Relations 137
7.4.1 Media Communication Technology and PR 137
7.4.2 The Use of Social Media as PR Tool 139
7.5 New Media Technology and Broadcast 140
7.5.1 Cable and Satellite Technology 141
7.5.2 Broadcasting and the Internet 141
7.6 Thoughts on the Future of New Media Technology 143
Summary 144
Key Terms 144
References 146
Topic 8 Theoretical Approaches to Understanding New Media 147

8.1 Theory and Practice of Media Convergence 148
8.2 Global Media: Media Concentration and Cultural
Imperialism 151
8.3 Uses and Gratifications of Media ă Media Access 154
8.4 Diffusion of Innovations and Information 156
Summary 157
Key Terms 158
References 159
Topic 9 New Media Technologies and Their Impacts 160

9.1 Economics 161
9.1.1 New Economy 162
9.1.2 The New Media Technology and Businesses 164
9.2 Politics 169
9.3 Communication 170
9.3.1 Formation of Virtual and Online Personalities 172
9.4 Educational 174
9.4.1 Prospect in Higher Education 174

TABLE OF CONTENTS  vii
9.5 Biotechnology and New Media 175

9.5.1 Biology and Automata 176
Summary 177
Key Terms 177
References 178
Topic 10 Legal and Ethical Issues and Implications 180

10.1 Regulatory and Legal Issues 181
10.2 Current Media Legislation In Malaysia 184
10.2.1 Telecommunications Acts 185
10.2.2 Communications and Multimedia Act (CMA)
1998 187
10.2.3 Malaysian Communications and Multimedia
Commission Act 1998 188
10.3 The Digital Divide 189
10.4 Privacy on the Internet 193
10.5 Innovations in Communication Technology 197
10.6 Gender Issues 199
10.7 Access for the Disabled 203
10.8 Information Restrictions and Censorship 204
Summary 209
Key Terms 210
References 211

viii  TABLE OF CONTENTS

COURSE GUIDE

COURSE GUIDE  xi
COURSE GUIDE DESCRIPTION

You must read this Course Guide carefully from the beginning to the end. It tells
you briefly what the course is about and how you can work your way through
the course material. It also suggests the amount of time you are likely to spend in
order to complete the course successfully. Please keep on referring to Course
Guide as you go through the course material as it will help you to clarify
important study components or points that you might miss or overlook.
INTRODUCTION
ABCT2103 New Media Technology is one of the courses offered by Faculty of
Social Science at Open University Malaysia (OUM). This course is worth 3 credit
hours and should be covered over 8 to 15 weeks.
COURSE AUDIENCE
This course is offered to all learners taking the Bachelor of Psychology
programme. This module aims to expose learners to the views and paradigms of
personality, the various personality disorders and therapies involved.
As an open and distance learner, you should be acquainted with learning

independently and being able to optimise the learning modes and environment
available to you. Before you begin this course, please confirm the course material,
the course requirements and how the course is conducted.
STUDY SCHEDULE
It is a standard OUM practice that learners accumulate 40 study hours for every
credit. As such, for a three-credit hour course, you are expected to spend
120 study hours. Table 1 gives an estimation of how the 120 study hours could be
accumulated.

xii  COURSE GUIDE
Table 1: Estimation of Time Accumulation of Study Hours
Study
Study Activities
Hours
Briefly go through the course content and participate in initial discussions 3
Study the module 60
Attend tutorial sessions 10
Online participation 12
Revision 15
Assignment(s), Test(s) and Examination(s) 20
TOTAL STUDY HOURS ACCUMULATED 120
COURSE OUTCOMES
By the end of this course, you should be able to:
1. Discuss the evolution of new media technology to the current digital

technology;
2. Examine new media technology and the ways in which it influences and
converges with traditional media;
3. Develop skills in assessing the utilisation of new media technology and to

gain hands on experience using it; and
4. Explore the effects of the use and adoption of new media technologies and
the impact on major sectors of society.
COURSE SYNOPSIS
This course is divided into 10 topics. The synopsis for each topic can be listed as
follows:
Topic 1 gives an introduction of what is meant by new media technology. You

will be introduced to the main elements and important concepts in this topic.
Topic 2 explains how new media technology evolved into its current state.

COURSE GUIDE  xiii
Topic 3 discusses the important elements of new media and the types of network
technologies. You will explore the use of these technologies and their functions to
the users.
Topic 4 explores the explosion of easy Internet publishing tools. We will also
discuss the concept of each application and its usage among the new media
users.
Topic 5 focuses on the various ways in which technology has been understood
through its linkages with culture, paying special attention on the concept of
cultural technology as a way of understanding the technology.
Topic 6 emphasises on convergence as a concept that may be considered as one

of the important elements in new media technology.
Topic 7 discusses the importance of new media technology and how it is being
used.
Topic 8 discusses the theoretical approaches to understanding new media.
Topic 9 discusses the impacts of new media technology in every aspect of our
life; economy, politics, social, education, communication and others. This topic
gives a better understanding on the benefit of this technology and its
implications in the information age.
Topic 10 examines the legal and ethical issues relating to the new media
technology.
TEXT ARRANGEMENT GUIDE

Before you go through this module, it is important that you note the text
arrangement. Understanding the text arrangement will help you to organise your
study of this course in a more objective and effective way. Generally, the text
arrangement for each topic is as follows:
Learning Outcomes: This section refers to what you should achieve after you
have completely covered a topic. As you go through each topic, you should
frequently refer to these learning outcomes. By doing this, you can continuously
gauge your understanding of the topic.

xiv  COURSE GUIDE
Self-Check: This component of the module is inserted at strategic locations

throughout the module. It may be inserted after one sub-section or a few sub-
sections. It usually comes in the form of a question. When you come across this
component, try to reflect on what you have already learnt thus far. By attempting
to answer the question, you should be able to gauge how well you have
understood the sub-section(s). Most of the time, the answers to the questions can
be found directly from the module itself.
Activity: Like Self-Check, the Activity component is also placed at various

locations or junctures throughout the module. This component may require you
to solve questions, explore short case studies, or conduct an observation or
research. It may even require you to evaluate a given scenario. When you come
across an Activity, you should try to reflect on what you have gathered from the
module and apply it to real situations. You should, at the same time, engage
yourself in higher order thinking where you might be required to analyse,
synthesise and evaluate instead of only having to recall and define.
Summary: You will find this component at the end of each topic. This component
helps you to recap the whole topic. By going through the summary, you should
be able to gauge your knowledge retention level. Should you find points in the
summary that you do not fully understand, it would be a good idea for you to
revisit the details in the module.
Key Terms: This component can be found at the end of each topic. You should go
through this component to remind yourself of important terms or jargon used
throughout the module. Should you find terms here that you are not able to
explain, you should look for the terms in the module.
References: The References section is where a list of relevant and useful

textbooks, journals, articles, electronic contents or sources can be found. The list
can appear in a few locations such as in the Course Guide (at the References
section), at the end of every topic or at the back of the module. You are
encouraged to read or refer to the suggested sources to obtain the additional
information needed and to enhance your overall understanding of the course.
PRIOR KNOWLEDGE
No prior knowledge required.

COURSE GUIDE  xv
ASSESSMENT METHOD
Please refer to myINSPIRE.
REFERENCES
Bucy, E. P. (2005). Living in the information age: A new media reader (2nd ed.).
Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
Flew, T. (2002). New media: An introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Gauntlett, D. (2000). Web.studies: Rewiring media studies for the digital age.
London: Edward Arnold.
Jones, S. (Ed.). (2003). Encyclopedia of new media: An essential reference to

communication and technology. Fifth Avenue, NY: The Moschovitis Group.
Markham, A. (1999). Life online: Researching real experience in virtual space.

Walnut Creek, CA: Altamira Press.
Pavlik, J. C. (1998). New media technology: Cultural and commercial

perspectives (2nd ed.). Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon.
TAN SRI DR ABDULLAH SANUSI (TSDAS)

DIGITAL LIBRARY
The TSDAS Digital Library has a wide range of print and online resources for the
use of its learners. This comprehensive digital library, which is accessible
through the OUM portal, provides access to more than 30 online databases
comprising e-journals, e-theses, e-books and more. Examples of databases
available are EBSCOhost, ProQuest, SpringerLink, Books24×7, InfoSci Books,
Emerald Management Plus and Ebrary Electronic Books. As an OUM learner,
you are encouraged to make full use of the resources available through this
library.

xvi  COURSE GUIDE

Topic  What is New
1 Media?
LEARNING OUTCOMES
By the end of the topic, you should be able to:
1. Explain the important elements and concepts in media technology;
2. Define the concept of new media;
3. Explain the development of media technology and its relationship
with media and communication products;
4. Describe the characteristics and forms of new media; and
5. Identify the uses and applications of new media.
 INTRODUCTION
Media and technology have a close relationship and the emergence of new
technology has a direct impact on media products. Technology has been seen as
the driving source of media. With the development and advancement of
technology, we have witnessed the evolution and development of different types
of media, beginning from print media to electronic media, and new media.
Technology keeps changing and with the Internet as the main platform, new
media is constantly evolving which results in newer media applications. The
emergence of all kinds of new media technology gives us more choices to use the
easiest and most effective tool available.

2  TOPIC 1 WHAT IS NEW MEDIA?
This topic is an introduction to help you understand new media technology

as a communication product. You will be introduced to the main elements
and important concepts of new media technology. We will also look into the
development of media technology and its relationship with media and
communication products. Then, we will study the characteristics and forms of
new media and finally identify the uses and applications of new media.
ACTIVITY 1.1
Technology development has changed the way we communicate. Now

we have many media and communication tools to choose from. But
what do you think are the factors to be considered in choosing the right
media to communicate with others?
1.1 MEDIA TECHNOLOGY

„Media‰ is the plural term for „medium‰ which refers to methods of delivering
information while technology is a science of delivering a certain medium.
Therefore, both have a close relationship with each other. The changes in
technology will have an impact on media ă which is usually referred to as
„communication media‰.
Table 1.1: Media and Technologies
Media Technologies
Text (including graphics) Print, computer
Audio Cassettes, radio, telephone
Television Broadcasting, video cassettes, video discs, cable, fibre
optics, satellite, video conference
Computing Computer, telephone, CD-ROM, satellite, fibre optics,
ISDN
Source: Bates (1993)

TOPIC 1 WHAT IS NEW MEDIA?  3
Media technology evolves in the same direction as human civilisation and it has
always been said that technology plays a role in shaping society and views of the
world. According to Brody (1990), our communication eras have evolved
through four different phases: tribal, literate, print, and electronic. And now, it is
entering the fifth phase. Every phase has been associated with one specific form
of communication or media which relates to the advancement of technology.
With the technological changes and phases, our communication system develops,
from verbal to writing, printing, telecommunication, and now we are facing
interactive communication. However, every media and communication
technology that has existed ă from print media to electronic, interpersonal, and
new media tend to bring the same characteristics, namely they cover long
distances at good speed and bring more information to larger audiences
(Thurlow, Lengal & Tomic, 2004).
1.1.1 What is Technology?

The development and advancement of technology have positive and negative
impacts depending on the definition that you hold. The word „technology‰
which originated from Latin, „texere‰, has always been limited to machine usage.
However, it is more than that.
ACTIVITY 1.2
We can define technology in a broader perspective as follows:
(a) Technology as instrumentality;
(b) Technology as industrialisation; and
(c) Technology as new things.
Discuss each of the above.

Bush (1981) and Flew (2004) associated the definition of technology with physical
objects, context and knowledge systems. According to Bush (1991):
Technology is a form of human cultural activity that applies the principles of

science and mechanics to the solution of problems. It includes the resources,
tools, processes, personnel, and systems developed to perform tasks and
create immediate particular, and personal and/or competitive advantages in a
given ecological, economic, and social context.
The definition stresses that technology offers its advantages only with respect
to a cultural situation. However, Flew (2004) defines technology by these three
levels:
(a) Technologies are the tools and artefacts used by humankind to transform
nature, enable social interaction or external human capacities;
(b) Technologies refer to their context of use, as well as the physical form
themselves; and
(c) Technologies are a system of knowledge and social meaning that

accompany their development and use.
Actually, technology also interweaves with culture in its development, use and
broader consequences. However, it does not have a direct impact on culture; it
just acts as an intermediary.
1.1.2 Media Technology Revolution

The advancement of technology changes the media landscape. Since the
emergence of the language and writing system, media as the medium for
delivering messages in human communication keeps changing and evolving. In
the 20th century, we encountered many new media technology. According to
Hiebert and Gibbons (2000), this century is said to be the complete mass media
century and has become the most communicative century in human history.
The channels or forms of communication have changed dramatically over the

centuries but the idea behind the changes is still the same, namely to inform and
entertain society. Biagi (2003) in van Dijk (2006) had identified the three stages of
information communication revolution as depicted in Figure 1.1:

FIRST INFORMATION COMMUNICATION REVOLUTION
ă The invention of phonetic writing.
ă Information reached a new kind of audience, remote from the source and
uncontrolled by it.
ă Writing transformed knowledge into information, but remained exclusive

among the privileged classes.
ă Use goat and sheep skins and paper as medium.
SECOND INFORMATION COMMUNICATION REVOLUTION
ă The invention of moveable printing machines by Guttenberg in 1455 in

Germany.
ă Knowledge, which had belonged to the privileged classes, was now

accessible to everyone.
ă The emergence of mass media or mass communication that was

characterised by storability, portability, and accessibility.
THIRD INFORMATION COMMUNICATION REVOLUTION
ă Beginning around the 1950s, computers become the electronic storehouse

and transmitters of vast amounts of information that previously relied on
written words.
ă Computers are driving the majority of changes affecting todayÊs media.
ă For instance, satellite broadcasts, digital recording and the Internet.
Figure 1.1: Three stages of information communication revolution

Source: van Dijk (2006)

Figure 1.2: Communication revolutions in media history

According to van Dijk (2006), both communication revolutions as shown in

Figure 1.2 have taken place in the history of media. Let us look into the following
descriptions of each revolution:
(a) Structural Revolution

In structural revolutions, fundamental changes take place in the coordinates
of space and time. Media can be a form of communication fixed in space (in
one place) or they may allow communication between different places.
They can also fix moments of communication to a certain time or enable us
to bridge time, such as from sending smoke, drum, and fire signals in order
to bridge places to using-up time by drawing on pottery and walls of caves.
However, the development of writing enabled us to overcome both space
and time. The most recent revolution is indicated by the emergence of new
media where it combines an online and offline media which combines the
transmission links and artificial memories.

(b) Technical Revolution

In a technical revolution, a fundamental change takes place in the structure
of connections, artificial memories and the reproduction of their contents.
The revolution started with the development of the printing press in the
reproduction of writing. In the second half of the 19th century, we
experienced a technical revolution, based on the invention and construction
of long-distance connection by cable and air. The most current revolution is
called digital revolution because it is characterised by the digital artificial
memories, transmission and reproduction.
The presence of the Internet and integration of satellite technology with

telephone, television, and computer-based media indicates the appearance of
„Second Media Age‰. Based on the idea from Mark Porter, in this age, societies
that we live in today are shaped by interactive technologies and network
communication. This age is marked by the shift from mass communication
delivered by one medium to a lot of different media and messages that are more
personalised and interactive.
Table 1.2: The Historical Distinction between the First Media Age and Second Media Age
First Media Age Second Media Age

Centred (few speak to many) Decentred (many speak to many)
One-way communication Two-way communication
Predisposed to state control Evades state control
An instrument of regime of stratification Democratising: facilitates universal
and inequality citizenship
Participants are fragmented and Participants are seen to retain their
constituted as a mass individuality
Influences consciousness Influences individual experience of space
and time
Source: Holmes (2005)
Before that, first media age is referred as the logic of spreading and delivering
information by some content providers to reach large audiences. This first
age can be characterised as a centralised production (one-to-many), one way
communication, under state control for the most part, fragmented mass
audiences and the shaping of social consciousness.

1.2 MEDIA AND COMMUNICATION

PRODUCTS
With the advancement of technology, we have many media and communication
products to choose from in the process of delivering messages to others. We can
use text-based media, electronic-based media, digital based-media or computer-
mediated communication.
When we say media, there are many forms and products. Generally, media and
communication products are:
(a) Electronic media: Communications delivered via electronic or

electromechanical energy.
(b) Digital media: Electronic media used to store, transmit, and receive
digitised information.
(c) Multimedia: Communications that incorporate multiple forms of

information content and processing.
(d) Print media: Communications delivered via paper or canvas.
(e) Mass media: All means of mass communication.
(f) Broadcast media: Communications delivered over mass electronic

communication networks.
(g) Recording media: Devices used to store information.
(h) New media: Media that can only be created or used with the aid of the
modern computer processing power.
1.2.1 Print Media

The history of modern media began with the printed book, especially when
Gutenberg invented the printing machine in the 15th century. After that, printing
led to a change in content ă more secular, practical and popular works as well as
political and religious pamphlets and tracts.

Print media is the industry associated with the printing and distribution of news
through newspapers and magazines. Usually, printed media are categorised into
two: Commercial printing; and Periodicals. Commercial printing refers to the
print products that are produced occasionally such as brochures, catalogues,
leaflets and business cards. Periodicals are the printed matters that appear
periodically such as newspapers, journals and magazines. Print media also can
be split into special product groups. Table 1.3 summarises some of the print
media forms.
Table 1.3: Forms of Print Media and Their Functions
Form of Print
Functions
Media
Books • Technology of movable type
• Bound pages
• Multiple copies
• Commodity form
• Multiple content
• Individual in use
• Publication freedom
• Computer technology and desktop publishing are changing the
way books are published, streamlining the process to create
new products such as electronic books and audiobooks
Newspapers • Regular and frequent appearance
• Commodity form
• Informational content
• Public sphere function
• Relative freedom
• Have a shorter lifespan compared to magazines
• Now most newspaper publishing companies have launched
online newspapers
Magazines • Can be categorised into consumer publications, trade/
technical/professional publications, and company publications
• Regular and frequent appearance
• Commodity form
• Informational content
• Depending on circulation and support by advertising
• Have a shorter lifespan compared to books
• Generally multi-coloured

Table 1.4 shows a timeline of the development of print media.
Table 1.4: Timeline of Print Media
Timeline Description
618 AD to Tang Dynasty ă The first printing is done in China, using ink on carved
906 AD wooden blocks.
1423 AD In Europe, block printing is used to print books.
1452 AD In Europe, metal plates are first used in printing. Gutenberg begins
printing the Bible, which he finishes in 1456.
1476 AD William Caxton begins using a Gutenberg printing press in England.
1605 AD First weekly newspaper published in Antwerp.
1702 AD Multi-coloured engraving invented by German Jakob Le Blon. The first
English language daily newspaper is published called the Daily
Courant.
1800 AD Iron printing presses invented.
1846 AD Cylinder press invented by Richard Hoe. Cylinder press can print 8,000
sheets an hour.
1891 AD Printing presses can now print and fold 90,000 4-pg papers an hour.
1903 AD The first tabloid style newspaper, the Daily Mirror is published.
1933 AD A war breaks out between the newspaper and radio industries.
American newspapers try to force the Associated Press to terminate
news service to radio stations.
1954 AD There are more radios than there are daily newspapers.
1967 AD Newspapers use digital production processes and began using
computers for operation.
1.2.2 Broadcasting Media

Broadcasting is the distribution of audio and/or video signals which transmit
programmes to an audience. The receiver or audience may include the general
public or a relatively large subset of the whole. It forms a very large segment of
the mass media.
Generally, broadcast can be defined as the following:
(a) To transmit (a radio or television programme) for public or general use;
(b) To send out or communicate, especially by radio or television;

(c) To make known over a wide area; and
(d) To send a transmission or signal.
There are wide varieties of broadcasting systems, all of which have different
capabilities. The largest broadcasting systems are institutional public address
systems which transmit nonverbal messages and music within a school or
hospital and low-powered broadcasting systems which transmit radio stations or
television stations to a small area. National radio and television broadcasters
have nationwide coverage, using re-transmitter towers, satellite systems, and
cable distribution. Satellite radio and television broadcasters can cover even
wider areas, such as the entire continent. Forms of broadcast media are as
depicted in Table 1.5 below:
Table 1.5: Descriptions of the Different Forms of Broadcast Media
Forms of
Description
Broadcast Media
Television • Very large output, range and reach
• Audio-visual content
• Complex technology and organisation
• Very diverse content forms
• National and international character
• Extensive regulation
Radio • An audio (sound) broadcasting service
• Broadcast through the air as radio waves (a form of
electromagnetic radiation) from a transmitter to a receiving
antenna
• Stations can be linked in radio networks to broadcast
common programming, either in syndication or simulcast or
both
• Can be done via cable FM, local wire networks, and with the
technology advent, now it can use satellite and the Internet
Telephone • The earliest form of electronic broadcasting
broadcasting • Telephone broadcasting began with the advent of „Theatre
Phone‰ systems, created in 1881
• Grew to include telephone newspaper services for news and
entertainment programming which were introduced in the
1890s
• The first examples of electrical/electronic broadcasting and
offered a wide variety of programming

Table 1.6 below shows a timeline of the development of broadcast media.
Table 1.6: Timeline of Broadcast Media
Timeline Description
1906 Reginald Fessenden invents wireless telephony, a means for radio waves to
carry signals a significant distance.
1923 Vladimir Kosma Zworykin patents the iconoscope, the first television
transmission tube.
1925 RadioÊs The Smith Family introduces the soap opera format.
1927 Philo Farnsworth transmits the first all-electronic television image.
1928 John Baird beams a television image from England to the US.
1931 There are nearly 40,000 television sets in the US; 9,000 of them are in New
York City alone.
1936 The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) debuts the worldÊs first
television service with three hours of programming a day.
1944 The first instance of network censorship occurs. The sound is cut off on the
Eddie Cantor and Nora Martin duet, „WeÊre Having a Baby, My Baby and
Me‰.
1945 The FCC creates the commercial broadcasting spectrum of 13 channels, and
130 applications for broadcast licenses follow.
1951 Colour television introduced in the US.
1956 The Wizard of Oz has its first airing on TV.
1971 TV finally allowed in South Africa (SA).
1975 First national TV broadcasts in SA.
1980 Ted Turner launches CNN, the first all-news network.
1992 There are 900-million television sets in use around the world; 201 million
are in the US.
2000 Reality TV mania hits the world.
1.2.3 Electronic Media

Electronic media refers to media that uses electronics or electromechanical
energy for the end user to access the content. This is in contrast to print media
which are most often created electronically but do not require electronics in order
to be accessed by the end user.

The primary electronic media sources familiar to us are better known as video
recording, audio recording, multimedia, CD-ROM publications and online
content. Electronic media may be in either analogue or digital format. This
means, it can also include new media. Table 1.7 shows some forms of electronic
media.
Table 1.7: Forms of Electronic Media
Electronic Media Description

Telegraphy • Device for transmitting and receiving written messages
over long distances without physical transport of letters.
• Message can be sent by electrical telegraph operator,
telegrapher using Morse code (telegram), cable or wire
(cablegram), and telex network.
Recording/Phonogram • Involves multiple technologies of recording and
dissemination.
• All genres of music will be made accessible at all times in
more places to more people.
• Technology changed the form of recording storage:
portable tape recorder, Sony Walkman, compact disc,
music video.
Multimedia • Devices used to store multimedia content.
• Includes a combination of text, audio, still images,
animation, video and interactivity content forms.
• Usually recorded and played, displayed or accessed by
information content processing devices, such as
computerised and electronic devices.
Digital media • Anything that is presented in an audio (sound) or video
(visual) form that can be seen and heard by others.
• Generally accessed by using complex electronics devices
that contain digital media receivers or processors. These
devices can include computers, mobile devices, video
game consoles, projectors, television and radio.
• Includes music files such as MP3, MIDI or WMA files,
video feeds found on the Internet at popular video
websites, and animated flash or graphic design files and
images used to create interactive websites and games.

ACTIVITY 1.3
There are many other media and communications products than those
already discussed. List these other products that you know of and
discuss their main features.
1.3 CHARACTERISTICS OF NEW MEDIA

The concept of new media emerged as a result of technological development in
traditional media such as video, CD, DVD, mobile networks, the Internet,
wireless systems, teletext and online databases. According to McQuail (2001), the
basic platform to new media communication holds on to two primary
innovations: satellite communication and computers. This new media concept
brings changes to our communication.
But what are „new media‰? Why are some media considered as „new‰? What
different degree of „newness‰ is found among and across various media? What
distinguishes them from other media either socially or technologically? These
questions have been asked in many discussions on new media. The
differentiation between „new‰ and „old‰ media is not always very clear and
creates many debates in the effort to make an appropriate definition.
There is a temptation to simply list the latest developments in media technologies

and call those new. But with the rapid changes in technological development, it
does not seem appropriate. Besides, there are new developments within a
particular media that extend how that medium operates, but does not transform.
An example is the use of cable and satellite delivery systems to allow
multichannel television, leading to the development of subscription-based
television. This changed the range of television options but had not dramatically
changed the experience of television to viewers.
The idea of new media involves both the development of unique forms of digital
media and the remaking of more traditional media forms to adopt and adapt to
the new media technologies. That is why the line between „new‰ and „old‰
media is hard to draw.

So, how do we define „new media‰? We will look at the definition in the next
section.
1.3.1 The Definition of New Media

The term „new media‰ has been used since the 1960s with the rise of modern
computer technology, but it began to be widely used in the 1990s. It is a broad
term that encompasses the amalgamation of old or traditional media such as film,
images, spoken, and written word with the interactive power of computer and
communication technology.
Bennett (2004), in his definition said that it is a sort of blending of many parts of
the old media in ways that enable new methods of presentation. For instance, in
the early forms of telecommunication, this technology allowed two people to
communicate through Morse code, but now with the Internet, millions of people
may be reached at the same time in more interesting ways. But the content of
new media such as on the World Wide Web is frequently a recombinant-derived
from existing media content and developed in other formats-and reproduced in a
digital format. Figure 1.3 shows examples of how such content are transformed
onto the Internet.
Figure 1.3: From existing media content to the Internet content

This brings us to the question of what is new for society from the new media.
Some scholars stress the need to be aware of how the mediation of
communication through technological forms renders communication as a form
of social practice. Lievrouw and Livingstone (2002) look at new media as
information and communication technologies and their associated social context
incorporating the following elements:
(a) The artefacts or devices that enable and extend our ability to communicate;
(b) The communication activities and practices we engage in to develop and

use these devices; and
(c) The social arrangements and organisations that form around these devices
and practices.
In an effort to determine differentiation between „new‰ and „old‰ media, we can

see from a few perspectives of an individual user such as the following:
(a) Degree of interactivity as indicated by the ratio of response or initiative on

the part of the user to the „offer‰ of the source;
(b) Degree of social presence (or sociability) experienced by the user;
(c) Degree of autonomy where the issue is whether or not a user feels in
control of content and use, more or less independent of the source;
(d) Degree of playfulness, referring partly to uses for entertainment, enjoyment

against utility and instrumentality; and
(e) Degree of privacy associated with the use of a medium or its typical or
choice content. This includes the degree to which it is personalised and
unique.
The term „new media‰ actually refers to a wide range of changes either in media
production, distribution, storage and use. New media technologies facilitate
„mediated interpersonal communication‰ and the latest technologies seem to be
shifting the balance towards interpersonal communication. Therefore, it is not
just about media and the technological that changes, it is also about its impact on
the textual, conventional and cultural aspects. However, many „new media‰
definitions give attention to the technological characteristic such as in Table 1.8:

Table 1.8: Various Definitions of New Media
Source Definition of New Media

Rice (1984) Those communication technologies, typically involving
computer capabilities (microprocessor or mainframe)
that allow or facilitate interactivity among users or
between users and information.
Becker & Klaus Schoenbach The media are „new‰ for us if there are recent additions
(1989) to the electronic mass media system such as cable
broadcasting, satellite broadcasting, video cassette
recorder and teletext.
Van Dijk (1999) New media express forms that integrate past
communication technologies into their structure and
possess noticeable advances on forms of interactivity.
Straubhaar, LaRose, & Integrate the many specialised channels of
Davenport, (2008) communication into all-purpose digital networks that
will provide access at the convenience of the audiences.
William et al. (1994) New media as applications of microelectronics,
computers, and telecommunications that offer new
services or enhancement of old ones.
With those definitions, we can adopt the definition of new media from Flew
(2004), that refers to new media as „those forms that combine 3Cs ă computing
and information technology, communication networks, and digitised media and
information content ă arising out of convergence‰. With the convergent 3Cs, we
can say that the Internet and the Web are examples of new media.
The convergence, as depicted in Figure 1.4, shows rapid development in

technologically mediated production, with the Internet and Web becoming the
centre of overlapping 3Cs, including the following:
(a) Computer-mediated communication;
(b) New ways of distributing and consuming;
(c) Virtual reality; and
(d) A whole range of transformation and dislocations of established media.

Figure 1.4: The three Cs of convergence media
Generally, new media can be defined as follows:
They are media which are both integrated and interactive and also use digital
code at the turn of the 20th and 21st century.
With this definition, it is easy to identify media as old or new. For instance,
traditional television is integrated as it contains images, sound, and text, but it is
not interactive or based on digital code. The old telephone is interactive but not
integrated as it only transmits speech and sounds and it does not work with
digital code.
The distinction between new media and old media emerged with the advent of
the Internet and the World Wide Web. Old media generally refers to pre-Internet
information outlets such as television, radio, books, magazines, and newspapers.
New media not only includes communication mediums unique to the Internet,
but also includes mobile communication devices such as cell phones and smart
phones. Examples of new media communications include websites, chat rooms,
bulletin boards, list servers, and social networking platforms.

1.3.2 What is New in New Media?

When we say new media, we always think of the newer technologies. The sense
of „new‰ in new media refers to „the most recent‰. The term „new media‰ comes
with claims and hopes that they will deliver increased productivity, educational
opportunity and open up new creative and communicative horizons. So, new
media can also refer to the following:
(a) New textual experiences: new kinds of genre, textual form, entertainment,
pleasure, and patterns of media consumption;
(b) New way of representing the world: offer new representational possibilities
and experiences such as in immersive virtual environment;
(c) New relationship between subjects (users and consumers) and media
technologies;
(d) New experiences of the relationship between embodiment, identity and

community; and
(e) New patterns of organisation and production.
The new media also refers to the intensity of change if we see it in the sense of
functions. From the 1980s, the world of media and communication began to look
different and this difference was not limited to any one sector even though the
timing of changes may be different from medium to medium. It involves
technological, institutional, and cultural changes or development. According to
Lister et al. (2003), the changes of that media are associated as the following:
(a) A shift from modernity to post-modernity: A contested but widely

subscribed attempt to characterise deep and structural changes in societies
and economies with correlative cultural changes.
(b) Intensifying process of globalisation: A dissolving of national states and

boundaries in terms of trade, corporate organisation, customs and cultures,
identities and beliefs in which new media have been seen as a contributory
element.
(c) A replacement of an industrial age of manufacturing by a „post-industrial‰

information age: A shift in employment, skill, investment and profit in the
production of material goods to services and information industries.
(d) A decentring of established and centralised geo-political orders: The

weakening of mechanisms of power and control that is facilitated by the
dispersed, boundary-transgressing, networks of new communication
media.
New media are often called multimedia ă and also digital media ă where it
involves the integration of telecommunication, data communication and mass
communication in a single medium. The integration can take place at one of the
following levels:
(a) Infrastructure ă such as combining the different transmission links and

equipment for telephone and computer (data) communication.
(b) Transportation ă such as Internet telephony and web TV riding on cable

and satellite television.
(c) Management ă for example a cable company that exploits telephone lines
and a telephone company that exploits cable television
(d) Services ă the combination of information and communication services on

the Internet.
(e) Types of data ă putting together sounds, data, text, and images.
Generally, new media technology refers to any type of application meant to

transfer information via digital techniques, computerised systems, or data
networks. First established in the 20th century, new media technology is most
readily associated with information transfers meant to be manipulated in some
way. Most forms of this technology are interactive and contain compressed data
designed to be accessed in a variety of markets. The most prevalent examples of
new media technologies include Internet-based concepts like websites or digital
mediums such as CD-ROMs, and DVDs.
1.3.3 The Characteristics of New Media

There are numerous attempts to characterise the new media, especially as
embodied on the Internet. This is because new media has commonly been
equated with the Internet which has shown clear properties of convergence.
Internet also has all the 3Cs as Flew said, besides the outstanding differentiation
characteristic compared to print and broadcast media.
Based on our general definition, the new media has three main elements to
characterise it: integration, interactivity, and digital code. However, there
are a few more characteristics that may be added, as mentioned by Lister et al.
(2003): hypertextuality, dispersal, and virtuality. Table 1.9 summarises the
characteristics of the new media.

Table 1.9: New Media Characteristics
Characteristic Description
Integration The integration leads to a gradual merging of telecommunication,
data communication, and mass communication. And the process is
enabled by full digitalisation of all media and broadband
transmission through all connections by cable and by air.
Interactivity Can be defined generally as a sequence of action and reaction. It
refers to the usersÊ ability to directly intervene and change the
images and texts that they access. So, the audience for new media
becomes a „user‰ rather than „viewer‰ or „reader‰ of media
products.
Digitality It is a technical media characteristic defining the form of new
media. It means that in using computer technology, every item of
information and communication can be transformed and
transmitted in the form of strings of ones and zeros called bytes,
with every single 1 or 0 being a bit.
Hypertextuality Hypertext refers to the text displayed on a computer or other
electronic devices with references to other text that the reader can
immediately access, usually by a mouse click or keypress sequence.
Apart from running text, hypertext may contain tables, images and
other presentational devices. Hypertext is the underlying concept
defining the structure of the World Wide Web, making it an easy-to-
use and flexible format to share information over the Internet.
Dispersal Refers to dispersed media system where both the production and
distribution of new media have become decentralised, highly
individuated, and woven ever more closely into the fabric of life.
The new media determine a segmented, differentiated audience that
although massive in terms of number, is no longer a mass audience
in terms of simultaneity and uniformity of the message it receives.
Virtuality It refers to the metaphorical „place‰ and „spaces‰ created by or
within communication networks. In this term, it creates
opportunities for the user to adopt markers or identity that differs
from their identity as constituted in the physical and everyday
social world. It also refers to the possibility of forming new kinds of
association and community which are not dependent upon spatial
location and can transcend geographical, social and political
boundaries.

1.4 DIGITALISATION
The progressive digitalisation of mass media and telecommunications content

begins to blur the earlier distinction between the communication of
information and its processing, as well as between people and machines.
Digitalisation makes communication from persons easy as it is between
persons. Also blurred are the distinctions among information types: numbers,
words, pictures, and sounds, and eventually testes, odours, and possibly even
sensations, all might one day be stored, processed, and communicated in the
same digital form.
(Beniger, 1986)
Digitalisation in very simple terms is information that ends up in sound and

images in peopleÊs home (or elsewhere) which is produced, stored, and
transmitted in digitised form ă that is in the form originally associated with
computers. As we know, digitalisation refers to the conversion of analogue
information into the computer-readable format of 1s and 0s.
In the digital media process, the physical properties of the input data, light, and
sound waves are converted not into another object but into numbers, into
abstract symbols. Once coded numerically, the input data in a digital media
production can immediately be subject to the mathematical process of addition,
subtraction, multiplication and division through algorithms contained within
software.
At the beginning, digitalisation which was introduced by the philosopher Leibinz

in the late 17th century, and through the 19th century, was developed by
mathematician and inventor Charles Babbage and formulated by Alan Turing in
the late 1930s as a principle or an idea. In the last decades of 20th century the
digital encoding of data moved out from laboratories of scientific, military, and
corporate establishments to be applied to communication and entertainment
media.

The new media is always associated with digitalisation. That is why the new
media can also be referred to as digital media. Based on Flew (2004), new media
has the characteristics as shown in Table 1.10:
Table 1.10: Characteristics of New Media
Manipulable Digital information is easily changeable and adaptable at all stages of
creation, storage, delivery and use.
Networkable Information can be shared and exchanged among large number of
users simultaneously and across enormous distance.
Dense Very large amounts of digital information can be stored in small
physical spaces or on network servers.
Compressible The amount of capacity that digital information takes up on any
network can be reduced through compression and decompressed
when needed.
Impartial Digital information carried across networks is indifferent to what
forms it represents, who owns or created them, or how they are used.
Digital goods have a close relationship with networks and information

technology (IT). Networks are crucial for the delivery of IT services and digital
goods. IT services control and administer networks and digital goods. Individual
software is part of IT services. Digital goods are those such as music and video
which can be exchanged through the Internet. And the intersection of the three
areas, Internet application represents complex products which are built-in
networks, IT services and digital goods. According to Voselsang (2010), this
explains why the Internet is often used as a synonym for digitalisation.

Figure 1.5: Relationship between networks, IT services and digital goods
The impacts of digitalisation are both pervasive and cumulative, and form the
core of growing „informatisation‰ of society. The informatisation of society is
marked by faster growth of sectors associated with the production and
distribution of information and communication and by the generalised usage of
ICT technologies in all areas.
1.5 FORMS OF NEW MEDIA

New media technology changes rapidly all the time. With continuous
development and advancement, new forms of new products always emerge.
New media has also greatly advanced cellular communications in the last twenty
years, through applications that connect with the Internet and other technologies.
Now, we are seeing many kinds of new media products than before and it is
becoming more sophisticated, be it storage (CD-ROM, DVD CD-I, databases,
laserdisc), display (interactive television, high-definition television, LCD) and
application forms (e-mail, BBS, MUDs and cyber chat).

Table 1.4: Some Forms of New Media
New Media Description

Electronic Computer system running software that allows users to connect and
Bulletin Board log in to the system using a terminal programme. Once logged in,
(BBS) users can perform functions such as uploading and downloading
software and data, reading news and bulletins, and exchanging
messages with others, either through electronic mail or on a public
message board. It deals with a full range of human interests.
Online chat Refers to any kind of communication over the Internet, but is
primarily meant to refer to direct one-on-one chat or text-based
group chat, using tools such as instant messaging, online forums or
over fully immersive graphical social environment. Some chat
rooms such as Yahoo! use both text and voice simultaneously.
Electronic mail Is a form of computer-to-computer messaging that has existed since
(e-mail) the first computer networks in 1960s. E-mail has emerged to serve a
variety of functions, sometimes replacing traditional telephone-
based voice communication among people. The growth of the
Internet made e-mail a rapid and easy replacement for traditional
postal services.
Multi-user This refers to a broad class of online adventure games in which at
Domains least two users play in a fantasy world and help each other. MUDs
(MUDs) have become an addiction among netizens seeking interactivity in a
creative computing environment. Most MUDs reflect the most
creative side of the online world.
Pay-Per-View Television service that invites viewers to pay to watch selected
TV individual programmes. It is available via cable or satellite. It has
been widely used for boxing and other sporting events.
Videophone A telephone with a video screen, and is capable of full duplex (bi-
directional) video and audio transmissions for communication
between people in real-time. Currently videophones are particularly
useful to the deaf and speech-impaired who can use them with sign
language and with a video relay service. It also used for tele-medical
or tele-educational services.
Personal These are handheld computers that initially acted simply as
Digital electronic pocket notebooks, organisers, address books, record
Appliances keeper, and language translators. But by the end of the 1990s, it
(PDA) became a fully functional computing and communication mobile.

Videotext Videotext refers to systems that provide interactive content and

display it on a television screen, typically using modems to send
data in both directions. A close relative is teletext, which sends data
in one direction only, typically encoded in a television signal. Unlike
the modern Internet, traditional videotext services were highly
centralised. Videotext in its broader definition can be used to refer to
any such service, including the Internet, BBS, online service
providers, and even the arrival/departure displays at an airport.
Smartphone A mobile phone that offers more advanced computing abilities and
connectivity than a basic telephone. It allows the user to install and
run much more advanced applications based on a specific platform.
Social media It is referred to as computer-based technology guides by users that
enable the individual to connect with each other via online and
share information and comments through easy publishing tools. It is
also known as online applications, platforms, and media which aim
to facilitate interaction, collaboration, and the sharing of content
such as blogs, social networking, podcast, and photo sharing.
1.6 USES AND APPLICATIONS OF NEW MEDIA

New media technology has been used in various aspects of our lives as
individual users, especially for communication and collaboration purposes. We
use the new media for entertainment and leisure too. Besides that, this media has
also been used in other industries and the education field.
The following is a selection of application areas affected by the new media

technologies.
(a) Advertising
Online advertising has become the fastest growing advertising medium.
ZenithOptimedia expects online advertising to account for 8.6% of global
ad spending in 2008, 9.4% in 2009 and 11.5% in 2010. Online advertising is a
form of promotion that uses the Internet and World Wide Web for the
expressed purpose of delivering marketing messages to attract customers.

ACTIVITY 1.4
There are many types of online advertising. Define each of the
following types of online advertising:
(a) Floating ad;
(b) Expanding ad;
(c) Polite ad;
(d) Wallpaper ad;
(e) Trick banner;
(f) Pop-up;
(g) Pop-under;
(h) Video ad;
(i) Map ad;
(j) Mobile ad; and
(k) Interstitial ad.
(b) Relationship Marketing

Relationship marketing involves satisfying customers with quality products
while building a long-lasting, trusting relationship with them. This type of
marketing has been transformed by the capabilities of the Internet. Social
networking has taken off as a popular way of connecting with like-minded
individuals all over the globe. This new media application enables
organisations to increase brand/customer loyalty while at the same time
getting feedback from customers and discovering what changes they want.
Companies are now taking advantage of this trend. For instance, many
publishers such as university presses use the social networking and blog to
build connection with their customers and to get their responses.
(c) Politics/Journalism
Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of
commentary, descriptions of events, or other materials such as graphics or
video. Many blogs provide commentary or news on a particular subject.
The ability of readers to leave comments in an interactive format is an
important part of many blogs. Since 2002, blogs have gained increasing

notice and coverage for their role in breaking, shaping and spinning news
stories. Blogs have a huge influence in politics, including in Malaysia.
Journalists treat blogs very seriously and they have a great impact on
politics. The new media become the alternative source of news and compete
with mainstream media.
(d) Education
Many educators are already employing new media technologies such as
blogs, wikis, podcasts, virtual worlds, and streaming video in the course
materials. Web-based learning will not probably replace the traditional
face-to-face way of learning; however, it becomes a tool to enhance the
conventional approach to learning. Since lifelong learning is becoming
increasingly important in so many industries, it is much easier to ensure its
success by using new media approaches.
(e) Entertainment
Consumers are starting to watch full-length television episodes online.
They also spend their leisure hours by surfing the Internet, downloading or
listening music, and playing games. What is even more interesting is the
trend towards audience-provided entertainment where audience is created.
They create videos, blogs, web sites, music and other kinds of
entertainment for others. Entertainment is not solely provided by the
media.
(f) Socialising
One of the uses of the new media is to socialise. The user can meet friends
or find new friends via social networking. These sites are extremely
important for teenagers. According to a recent survey of online teenagers
conducted by Pew Internet and American Life Project, 55 per cent of all
online young Americans between the ages of 12 to 17 make use of a social
networking site. Also, older female teenagers are more likely to use these
sites. They are used to „reinforce pre-existing friendships‰. Young boys use
these sites for flirting purposes as well as to make new friends (Lenhart,
2007). There are approximately 1,000 Internet dating sites in the US and the
major ones are Match.com, eHarmony, and Yahoo! Personals.

• Media refers to the methods of delivering information while technology is a

science of delivering a certain medium. This is called communication media.
• Technological changes and phases are causes for a communication system to

develop, from verbal to writing, printing, telecommunication, and now
interactive communication.
• Advancement of technology changes the media landscape.
• According to van Dijk (2006), several communication revolutions that have

taken place in the history of media are divided into two: structural revolution
and technical revolution.
• The concept of new media emerged as a result of the technological

development in traditional media.
• According to McQuail (2001), the basic platform to this new media

communication holds on to two primary innovations: satellite
communication and computers.
• The idea of new media involves both the development of unique forms of
digital media and the remaking of more traditional media forms to adopt and
adapt to the new media technologies.
• Bennett (2004) defines new media as a sort of a blending of many parts of the
old media in ways that enable new methods of presentation.
• New media has three main elements to characterise it: integration,

interactivity, and digital code.
• New media technology has been used in various aspects of life as individual
users, especially for communication and collaboration purposes.
• Some application areas affected by the new media technologies are

advertising, relationship marketing, journalism, education, entertainment
and socialising.

Computer technology Media revolution

Convergence Networks
Digitalisation New media
Interactivity Technology
Internet
1. What is new media?
2. What are the differences between „old media‰ and „new media‰?
3. What are the main characteristics of new media?
4. Why new media is always referred to as digital media?
5. For what reasons do we use new media?
1. We have various types of media. Pick five media and communication

products and think about the strengths and weaknesses of each of it.
2. One of the main characteristics of new media is „interactivity‰. Explain.
3. Digitalisation blurs the distinction between old and new media. Why?
4. Digital goods, networks, and information technology have a close

relationship in the formation of new media. Identify the relationship.
5. New media has been used for socialising. Identify the application of the
new medium that offers the benefits and explain how it is used.

Bates, T. (1993). Theory and practice in the use of technology in distance

education. In Keegon, D. (Ed.) Theoretical principles of distance education.
London: Routledge.
Bennett, J. G. (2004). Design fundamentals for new media. Delmar Thomson

Learning.
Bush, C. L. (1981). Taking hold of technology: Topic guide for 1981ă1983.

Washington, DC: American Association of University Women.
Flew, T. (2004). New media: An introduction (2nd ed.). Victoria: Oxford

University Press.
Holmes, D. (2005). Communication theory: Media, technology, society. London:

Sage.
Lievrouw, L., & Livingstone, S. (2002). The handbook of new media (eds.).
London: Sage.
Lister, M. et al. (2003). New media: A critical introduction. New York: Routledge.
McQuail, D. (2001). McQuailÊs mass communication theory (4th ed.). London:

Sage.

Straubhaar, J., LaRose, R., & Davenport, L. (2008). Media now: Understanding
media, culture, and technology (6th ed.). Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.
Van Dijk, J. (1999). The network society: Social aspects of new media. London:
Sage.
Van Dijk, J. (2006). The network society: Social aspects of new media (2nd ed.).
London: Sage.

T op i c  Evolution of
2 New Media
LEARNING OUTCOMES
1. Explain the evolution of new media;
2. Demonstrate an understanding of the developments of the new
technology;
3. Identify the various theories and principles that accompany the
new development; and
4. Track the timelines of departure from the conventional into the
current state of new media.
 INTRODUCTION
This topic shall begin with the introduction of new media technology and how it
began its evolution into the current state. New media and the accompanying new
technology like the Internet, texting, social media, chat rooms, blogs and Twitter
have added a totally new meaning to human communication. With this new
ability to instantly communicate from anywhere at all, scholars are beginning to
think if new parameters of human communication and existing theories need to
be re-looked and re-evaluated. It is also important for you to be able to have a
firm understanding of the theoretical framework that accompanies the new
regime. In addition, you should be exposed to the state of evolution from the
conventional period into the new era of the new media.

TOPIC 2 EVOLUTION OF NEW MEDIA  33
New media and the new media technologies have changed the ways we learn,
communicate and interact with one another. Its dynamism continues to challenge
the existing forms of communication and has elevated the media industry and its
audiences to very promising levels of education, edutainment and play and the
media industry.
SELF-CHECK 2.1
The evolution of media has changed how we communicate and interact

with each other. Discuss and explain those changes.
2.1 DEVELOPMENT OF NEW MEDIA

TECHNOLOGY
The current observation in the development of global media and communication
is the increasing use of the Internet and development of the interactiveness of the
media, especially with what has now been termed as the new media. Media
scholars have observed an unprecedented nature in the development and
innovations in the new technologies for communication, for the delivery of
current information and databases and the levels of interactivity all across the
globe.
Scholars have attributed this change to two main factors:
(a) A marked increase in activities involving the Internet; and
(b) Advances in the field of computer sciences and computer programming.
It is obvious that these advances have elevated all levels of the dynamism of
connectivity which combine the field of media technology and the fields of art
and media content and virtual cultures, graphic design and skills in
programming and computer technologies and also what is termed as the new
media studies or Internet studies.
Therefore, both the content industry and the academic field of media studies, art
and design and computer processing are now more integrative, finally emerging
into an amalgamation of those disciplines mentioned.

34  TOPIC 2 EVOLUTION OF NEW MEDIA
Students and teachers of new media and new media technologies need to master
the essential tools from the basic art and crafts to basic design and graphic design
to new media technologies, especially web development and the interactive
applications.
2.2 CURRENT STATE OF NEW MEDIA

TECHNOLOGY
ACTIVITY 2.1
The development of new media has offered new applications for us to

use.
(a) Can you state the new media application that you have used
recently?
(b) Why do you use that application?
(c) What do you get from that usage?
New media technology has caused a shift in the conventional roles of the content
creator and the audience. The audiences have become more interactive and they
are able to become the developer of content and at the same time are also able
to increase accessibility of content. New content developers are now able to
disseminate their products in new networks, for example via their social
networks or niche audiences.
The new buzzwords of new media technology are:
(a) Convergence;
(b) Integration; and
(c) Globalisation.

The new trends would include cutting-edge media technologies including

social media, social networking, mobile media, YouTube and new media
advocacy. Therefore, the hallmark of new media is essentially the way in
which technologies interactively engage their users using information and
communication technology. This focuses on hands on and practical applications
of the Web and internet-based information and knowledge in digital art and
design, visual effects, video and film and virtual reality are additional tools and
act as enablers. The following are the areas of trends that new technology focuses
on:
(a) Digital Art and Design

This body of knowledge covers a range of artistic products that utilises
digital technology. This process of enhancement transformed the
conventional products of drawing, art, sculpture into digital art and virtual
reality and art in the internet.
(b) Visual Effects

Visual effects refer to applications of technologies and practices that help in
the creation of elements with moving images that transplants the viewers
into a totally different domain and reality. It is highly featured in the action
genres especially to elevate the senses of cinema lovers.
(c) Video and Film

Education in the history of conventional to digital video and television and
other media art forms, including digital film and video production.
(d) Virtual Reality

Virtual reality refers to high-end user-computer applications that create an
image of a world that appears to our sensation in exactly the same way as
we think about the real world. In order to convince our mind that the
artificial world is real, the computer simulates the senses into feeling
involved and engaged in the simulated environment. The whole process
engages the various sensory conduits including smell, audio or touch. As
such there is ultimately a mastery of the various skills including state-of-
the-art virtual technologies and third generation educational and training
aspects.

One important development is the advent of Web 2.0 technology. For media
development teachers and professionals as well as students, the challenge is all
the same: how to use Web 2.0 and all its technologies. Successful teaching and
commercial organisations integrate Web 2.0 technologies which ultimately create
a networked environment as manifested in the following:
(a) Blogs;
(b) Wikis;
(c) Social networking services; and
(d) Video-sharing.
Students should have a solid and balanced background in design and technology
and content development and continue to learn the latest technology and
interactive applications.
ACTIVITY 2.2
Web 2.0 is a newer version of web that was previously called Web 1.0.
(a) What is the difference between Web 2.0 technology and Web 1.0?
(b) Web 2.0 technology is considered as new media and offers more
interactivity. Explain this.
Therefore, the final outcome is a balanced grounding in design and technology

and an ability to execute their own problem-solving. On the creative side,
students are versatile in producing high technology products such as online
games and rich media web appliances, including motion graphics and visual
effects.
It is remarkable that the new media is distinct in the way in which the
technologies interactively engage their users. So much so, the significance of new
media or digital media is that it functions not just as a product but it is also a
process.
State-of-the art information and communication technology emphasises hands-

on and practical applications of the Web and internet-based information and
databases, e-commerce applications and group communication system.

Another development that one associates with new media technologies is

networking with the capacity of carrying large volumes of data using for
example, a broadband cable or ISDN (Integrated Switched Digital network).
Hence, new media and the accompanying technological processes have impacted
strongly on the social as well as the technological processes itself. These
relationships have resulted in digitisation and convergence, interactivity and
networks and networking.
2.3 THEORETICAL APPROACHES TO

UNDERSTANDING NEW MEDIA
ACTIVITY 2.3
The Internet is always associated with the term „information society‰.

Why?
The 1980s witnessed the rapid development in international communications due

to the expansion of direct satellite broadcasting. This period was followed by the
introduction of the Internet in the 1990s which further contracted the shrinking
notion of the world.
Daniel Bell, in his book The Coming of Post Industrial Society (1973), wrote about
the move from an industrial state to a post-industrial one which was
accompanied by a society that was dominated by information and information
led industries. Analysts welcomed the idea of the arrival of the „information
age‰. Ito (1985) from Japan was the first person to have used the term
„information society‰. However, the idea of the „economics of information‰ had
already been actively discussed in the US. Machlup, in his book The Production
and Distribution of Knowledge in the United States (1962) had already discussed
information in the economic sense.
Toffler (1980) also raised the same hypothesis of the information society. He
refers to it as the third wave, which came after the agricultural and industrial
eras of human civilisation. Scholars see the third wave as the time for
interconnectedness, evolving into a universal interconnected network of audio,
video and electronic text communication.

Scholars then began to think that perhaps the new context might need new
discussions to evaluate the new media. Perhaps new media theories would bring
forth new visionary scholarly works. Theories would easily provide the context
of the assessment of the new environment, allowing space for analysis, critique
and application.
Flew (2004) mentions about how to research the InternetÊs overall social
significance beginning from the „first generation‰ Internet studies found in the
works of Rheingold (1991), Turkle (1995) and Poster (1995) which highlighted
the radical and transformative significance of the Internet to society. New media
will continue to be revolutionary and more new inventions will be generated in
the future. These new technologies do not change human needs and desires
drastically, therefore there is no absolute need to change or invent new theories.
The old and existing theories are not necessarily obsolete. Research has shown
that theories such as agenda setting, uses and gratifications, cultivation and
diffusion of innovations remained high in the selection lists of media researchers.
ACTIVITY 2.4
Many theories can be used to explain the emergence and the use of new
media. Explain these following theories and relate it to the new media:
(a) Diffusion of innovation;
(b) Uses and Gratification; and
(c) Agenda-setting.
Thus, theoretical frameworks from the more traditional communication science

paradigm to the new alternative paradigm of interpretive and critical views in
the study of media are still applicable, such as the following:
(a) Technological determinism;
(b) Cultural studies;
(c) Agenda-setting; and
(d) Cultivation theory.

2.3.1 Technological Determinism

This approach was developed by Marshall McLuhan the Canadian media scholar
in 1964. It is basically an alternative paradigm that began to be popular in the
1960s. He started writing about the role of pop culture in society and of course he
became iconic for his usage of the term „the global village‰ and „the medium is
the message‰. He provided a frame of belief that technological development
influences and determines social and cultural change. McLuhan also adapted the
theory of the biases of communication by Innis (2009), which he adapted into his
theory about how media technologies are able to impact patterns of human
thinking and how humankind relate to the new technologies. For example, when
we trace our early relation with the media we have to actually track since the
beginning of human organisation and communication, from the age of tribalism.
Tapscott (1998) noted that media technology continues to be revolutionary and

more new innovations will be invented in the future. In fact, new media made its
presence felt since 1948 and during that time too, people were already talking
about the impact of television, FM radio and the fax machine. Therefore, we are
reminded that studies on new media need to recognise the old patterns of
communication behaviour which perhaps do not change after all regardless of
the new technology. We need to be mindful of the new contexts of human
communication and human behaviour. For sure the new contexts have shifted
the focus on face-to-face communication to what is now known as Computer
Mediated Communication (CMC).
Other researchers such as Lievrouw (2009) think that new media and the
new technologies have sort of created a grey area between interpersonal
communication and media communication. Previously, communication theories
would emphasise an in-depth study of the effect of the two-step flow as an
attempt to look into the interpersonal interaction in the centre of media influence
and persuasion. However, with the new media there seems to be a shift from just
the media channels to communication interaction in the new context of
networked connections and systems.
It can be seen that much of the discussion on new media theory seems to
illustrate the fact that it is still a continuation from the traditional environment
and professional practice of conventional media with all its contemporary
phenomena and everyday applications. Thus, new media concerns should
develop critical insights about the new phenomenon especially in its relation to
the role of the media consumer, behaviour of the audience and the producers of
media.

2.4 MILESTONES IN MEDIA TECHNOLOGY

To understand the changes in the history of human communication and its role
in society, McLuhan tracked the development of communication technology over
the course of human civilisation. McLuhan referred to the earliest form of human
organisation as the era of:
(a) The Tribal Age: Oral Culture

The story of humankind began with senses associated with the sense of
hearing and the sense of smell, touch and taste were more fully developed.
Communication during the tribal paradigm was dominated by oral
tradition. Forms of articulation were derived from experiences within the
culture and thus this era reflected the tribal view.
(b) The Print Paradigm

The early period was replaced by the beginning of the modern era which
took place about 600 years ago. The accompanying technology was the
printing press, which unlike the previous oral culture, provided records of
human communication and these records were formatted and structured.
This period was also linked to human literacy and introduced the period of
Enlightenment and modernity.
(c) The Electronic Age: Electronic Media

The 20th century heralded the electronic age and the introduction and
subsequent spread of the television and its central position in society.
Society is dominated by the new tool of communication which further
extended human capacities. The media extended the senses with the ability
to see and hear things from a great distance which later created McLuhanÊs
„Global Village‰.
The new media began to debut in the US in the 1960s when the Defence
Department began formulating an alternative communication system in case the
US comes under foreign attack. The ARPANET project began as a connection
between the military, the defence contractors and scientists that were based in
their laboratories in the universities. This was the landmark that revolutionised
the information and communication technologies.

• New media technology has caused a shift in the conventional roles of the
content creator and the audience.
• Successful teaching and commercial organisations integrate Web 2.0

technologies which ultimately create a networked environment.
• Bell in his book The Coming of Post Industrial Society (1973)

wrote about the move from an industrial state to a post-industrial which
was accompanied by a society that was dominated by information and
information led industries.
• Tapscott (1998) noted that media technology continues to be revolutionary

and more new innovations will be invented in the future.
• Other researchers such as Lievrouw (2009) think that new media and the
new technologies have sort of created a grey area between interpersonal
communication and media communication.
Electronic age Technological determinism

Interactiveness Tribal age
Globalisation Web 2.0
Print paradigm

1. Media scholars have observed an unprecedented nature in the development

and innovations in the new technologies for communication. State two
main factors that bring those changes.
2. Explain the impact of new media technology in these fields:
(a) Virtual reality.
(b) Digital art and design.
(c) Visual effect.
(d) Video and film.
3. What is technological determinism?
1. The new media technology has been connected to a few buzzwords such as
the following:
(a) Convergence;
(b) Globalisation; and
(c) Integration.
Explain each of those terms and its relationship with new media
technology.
2. „New media and the new technologies have sort of created a grey area
between interpersonal communication and media communication.‰ Discuss
that statement.
3. According to McLuhan (1964) there are three phases in the history of

human communication. Discuss each of that age or phases.

Bell, D. (1974). The coming of the post industrial society. Harmondsworth:

Penguin.
Flew, T. (2004). An introduction to new media. Melbourne: Oxford University

Press.
Innis, H. (2009). The bias of communication. Toronto: University of Toronto

Press.
Ito, Y. (1985). Cross cultural perspectives on the coming of an information

society. In Edelstein, A., Bowes J., & Harsel, S., Information societies:
Comparing the Japanese and American experiences. Seattle: University of
Washington.
Lievrouw, L., & Livingstone, S. (2009). Introduction: The social shaping and
consequences of ICTs. In Lievrouw, L. & Livingstone, S. (Eds). The
handbook of new media: Social shaping and consequences of ICTs. London:
Sage.
Machlup, F. (1962). The production and distribution of knowledge in the United

States. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
McLuhan, M. (1964). Understanding media. London: Methuen.
Poster, M. (1995). The second media age. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Rheingold, H. (1991). Virtual reality. London: Secker and Warburg.
Tapscott, D. (1998). Growing up digital: The rise of the net generation. New York:
McGraw Hill.
Toffler, A. (1980). The third wave. London: Collins.
Turkle, S. (1995). Life on the screen: Identity in the age of the Internet. New York:
Simon & Schuster.
Vivian, J. (2009). The media of mass communication. Singapore: Pearson.

T op i c  Technology of
3 Networks
LEARNING OUTCOMES
1. Identify the important concepts in technology of networks;
2. Define the function of technology of networks; and
3. Explain the relationship between technology of networks and its
impact.
 INTRODUCTION
Networks and networking are always associated with new media technologies.
And when we talk about networks, we always refer to computer networks,
especially the Internet. In its simplest meaning, networking refers to the capacity
to carry large amounts of data to a series of interconnected points. The network
could take a physical form, such as broadband cable and ISDN (Integrated
Switched Digital Network). Besides that, digitised information can be carried
through other means, such as satellite or wireless telephony.
Network technology is now widely used in our life. With this technology, we live
in an interconnected relationship with each other. For Castells (1996), this creates
the emergence of a network society. According to him, „networks constitute the
new social morphology of our societies and the diffusion of networking logic
substantially modifies the operation of outcomes in processes of production,
experience, power and culture‰ (Castell, 1996: 469).

TOPIC 3 TECHNOLOGY OF NETWORKS  45
These are among the focuses in this topic. We will discuss the important elements
and types of network technologies to have an in-depth understanding of this
topic. We will also explore the use of these technologies and its function to the
users.
ACTIVITY 3.1
The development of networks makes our life dependent on this

technology. Almost every organisation in this world has become
completely dependent on networks of telephony and computers. And
because of this, van Dijk (2006) said, „we live in a connected world.‰
Do you agree with this statement? State your reasons and the
appropriate examples.
3.1 INTERACTIVITY
In general, interactivity is always used in the field of computer sciences,
industrial design and communication. It is a critical concept in computer-
mediated communication, including new media or digital media. With networks
of technology, interactivity is easily done without geographical boundaries and
time limits.
In new media, interactivity is seen as a key association that basically sets

apart the „old‰ and „new‰ media. Old media could only offer a sit-back type of
interaction, whereas new media is much more engaging to their audiences. It
provides a more involving experience that leads to greater user learning.
„Interactivity‰ is a term that emerged from the interactive feature which

was derived from a two-part word. The first part „inter‰, which means
„between‰, is implying a two-way exchange, a dialogue. The second part of the
word is „active‰, which means doing something, being involved or engaged. This
has been acknowledged by Miller (2008) in which he stated that the whole word
indicates an active relationship between two entities. When used in the context of
narrative contents, it indicates a relationship where both entities, audiences and
materials, are responsive to each other. This means that you, as the audience,
have the ability to manipulate, explore or influence the content and the content
can respond. Or, the content demands something from you and you respond.

46  TOPIC 3 TECHNOLOGY OF NETWORKS
3.1.1 The Uses of Interactivity

Interactivity is currently associated with advances in computer technologies and
new media. In actual fact, the importance of interactivity was acknowledged long
before the computer and has been used in various fields. Let us explore this in
Table 3.1.
Table 3.1: Interactivity in Various Fields
Areas Uses
Theory of learning and Involving exploration leading to new experiences and
cognition understanding which encourages interactivity.
Art and media The attempt to include the audience and allow them to
have an impact on art requires an understanding of the
audience.
Games and entertainment Interactivity is seen as a critical part in building immersive
industry defence modelling environment and simulation.
Telecommunication Interactivity is a two-way communication between
source and receiver or more broadly, multidirectional
communication between any number of sources and
receivers.
Education and training Interactivity has positive influence in learning and
satisfaction. Some research has shown that students with
interactive activities in all parts of the lesson
remembered significantly more.
There are three types of interactivity: Human-to-human; Human-to-computer; and

Human-to-content. The first type comes from an interpersonal communication
perspective and focuses on parties engaged in the communication and the
dynamics of information exchanges. The human-to-computer interactivity focuses
on userÊs reactions to the technical aspects of a medium. The third most closely
resembles the consumersÊ reactions to advertising.

Interactivity features in media had been developed since the 1950s. Back then,
there were efforts to develop truly interactive television but it failed due to
technical reasons and high expenses. Since then, interactivity has been
relentlessly pursued. It has become one of the cornerstones of the new media.
Now, many in the television industry have presented interactive TV models. The
essential interaction is defined as the ability to select from a menu of choices or to
choose movies on demand. In the earliest moment of electronic publishing
industry, interactivity is really just another word for the user, in which a user
can search and browse through electronic databases. With the convergence of
telecommunication, television and the computer, interactivity is seen by
everyone in the information superhighway to be both a source and receiver.
Interactivity has been a characteristic in electronic games, where the choice is

made by the individual player, combined with their skill levels in playing the
game. The most compelling scenario for interactivity is the development of the
Internet and World Wide Web where individuals can create their messages,
publish their own content, or engage in online transactions. The concept of
interactivity has a wider use in the 21th century and provides the model for a
whole series of specific elaborations, innovations and investment across a range
of media industries and institutions.
3.1.2 What is Interactivity?

In Topic 1, we discussed the characteristics of new media. One of the important
characteristics is interactivity.
Interactivity can be defined generally as a sequence of action and reaction. It

refers to the usersÊ ability to directly intervene and change the images and
texts that they access. So, the audience for new media becomes a „user‰ rather
than a „viewer‰ or „reader‰ of media products.

Besides the previous definition, there are other definitions of interactivity as

stated in Table 3.2.
Table 3.2: The Various Definitions of Interactivity
Source Definition
Rafaeli (1996) The extent to which communication reflects back on itself
feed on and responds to the past.
Ha and James (1998) Interactivity should be defined in terms of extent to which the
communicator and the audience respond to, or are willing to
facilitate each otherÊs communication need.
Schumann, Artis and Ultimately it is a consumerÊs choice to interact, thus
Rivera (2001) interactivity is a characteristic of the consumer and not a
characteristic of the medium.
Wood and Smith The quality of telepresence that measures a personÊs ability to
(2005) manipulate the content of the medium.
Flew (2004) Those that gave users a degree of choice in the information
system, both in terms of choice of access to information
sources and control over the outcome of using that system
and making those choices.
Based on those definitions, we can refer to interactivity as a form of

communication and control. van Dijk (2006) provided a broad definition by
defining interactivity in terms of operational tasks. His definition is also valid for
face-to-face communication. For van Dijk, interactivity can be defined at four
accumulative levels, as follows:
(a) Establishing Two-sided or Multilateral Communication

This refers to space dimension which all digital media offer to a certain
extent. But the downloaded link or the supply side of websites, interactive
television and computer programmes are of a wider dimension.
(b) Degree of Synchronicity

This refers to an uninterrupted sequence of action and reaction which
improves the quality of interaction.
(c) Extent of Control Exercised by the Interacting Parties

This behavioural dimension is referred to as the ability of the sender and
the receiver to switch roles at any moment. It is also about the control over
the events in the process of interaction. At this level, interactivity means
that the user is able to intervene the programme and to make a difference at
the other side.

(d) Acting and Reacting with an Understanding of Meanings and Contexts by

All Interactors Involved
This refers to a mental dimension which is necessary for full interactivity
that is always done at the level of interactivity which is reserved for
mediated and face-to-face interaction.
In understanding new media, interactivity is a central concept, but different

media forms have different degrees of interactivity. A sense of interactivity refers
to these three factors:
(a) Speed ă How quickly a user can manipulate the environment;
(b) Range ă How much a user manipulates the environment; and
(c) Mapping ă How the action of users are related to reactions in the virtual
environment.
The implementation of this characteristic involves two main keys:
(a) Interactive System Must Work

This means putting the software, hardware and data in a practical and
reliable configuration.
(b) How the Usage Interacts with the Information System

What kind of interface exists between the user and the databases? At the
mechanical level, interface may be a keyboard and a screen, or at the design
level, the interface determines the screen design and its functionality.
When discussing this concept, we also have to talk about interconnectivity and
interoperability, two important elements to make the true interactivity arise
(Flew 2004). Interconnectivity is the capacity to easily connect interactions across
different networks, while interoperability refers to the capacity to access all
available forms of information and media content using different operation
systems.
With interactivity, user can be engaged in other modes such as „playing‰,

„experimenting‰ and „exploring‰ under the interaction. Users can be more active
in their media usage either through hyper textual navigation, immersive
navigation, registrational interactivity or interactive communication.

SELF-CHECK 3.1
Interactivity has been offered in many forms of computer-mediated

communication.
(a) Can you give a few examples?
(b) Discuss how interactivity has been offered in it.
(c) How important is interactivity in communication? State your

reasons.
3.2 TELEPHONY, THE INTERNET AND

COMMUNICATION SYSTEM
The development of technology ă especially with network and computer-based
technology ă changed our communication forms. It began with the revolution
in micro-electronics, which acts as a foundation to telecommunication, data
communication and mass communication. This is the basis for the improvement
of communication systems and capacities of speed, storage, accuracy and
complexity in the communication media such as telephony devices and the
Internet.
3.2.1 Telephony
The backbone of telecommunication is telephony or telephone network which
has surpassed and largely incorporated the old telegraph and telex networks.
When we say telephony, it refers to the technology associated with the electronic
transmission of voice, fax, or other information between distant parties using
systems historically associated with the telephone ă a handheld device
containing both a speaker or transmitter and a receiver.
The development began with fixed telephony. In this era, copper wires were
used to reach users. This telephone equipment was fixed to a particular place.
Since the 1980s, mobile telephony gradually replaced fixed telephony. It started
with cordless telephones and car telephones. After that, the technology evolved
to mobile air telephones. It was used for long-distance communication in
navigation and aviation and in radio transmissions.

Since the 1990s, we have seen digital mobiles which offer better quality and
security against eavesdropping. The first generation comprises a Global System
for Mobile communication (GSM). This mobile telephony was accompanied by
GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) since the year 2000. The second generation
telephony is five times as fast as GSM. It is widely used for sending and receiving
data, including MMS (Multimedia Messaging). The third generation digital
mobile telephony offers broadband communication. With this new technology,
we can get good quality streaming video and multimedia Internet applications
either through the mobile phone or laptop.
Now, telephone networks have not just enabled the transmission of voice,
pictures and videos on mobile telephones, but we can also have videophones or
audio conferencing with fixed telephones. The telephone is not only connected
to the computer but also to audio-visual media. A connected telephone to
a computer is needed to enable the transmission of more data. With this
convergence, the computer is able to assist the telephone with certain
programmes that automatically call back, put conversations and data to another
telephone or monitor.
Furthermore, the combination of Internet and telephony devices gives us more

variety in our communication tools. Internet telephony was first developed to
provide interactive voice communication over the existing Internet Protocol.
Then, we have various terms referring to this technology such as packet
telephony, Intranet telephony, voice over Internet Protocol, voice over the
network and voice conferencing
3.2.2 The Internet

The Internet began its early formulation in 1969 at the Defence Department of the
United States. The project was called Advanced Research Projects Agency
Networks (ARPANET) which is a vast interconnection of computer networks
around the world. It is a network of networks that use a common set of technical
protocol called Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) or Internet Protocol (IP) in
routing data across those networks. The Internet was officially born in 1983 when
ARPANET was divided into military and civilian components. The civilian
component developed into the Internet.
Based on Flew (2004), the Internet refers to both a technical infrastructure of

computers and other digital devices permanently connected through high-speed
telecommunication networks. It is also a tool to all forms of content,
communication and information sharing that flow through these networks.

It links people and information through computers and other digital media
technologies and it allows both interpersonal communication and information
retrieval. Internet usage involves person-to-person communication, group
communication and global publishing and information provision through e-mail,
news groups, chat rooms, mailing lists and the World Wide Web.
The Internet began as the first national packet-switched computer network. It

replaced the traditional telecommunication networking technology of circuit-
switching which is a very expensive method of communication. Packet-switching
overcomes the limitation of the telephone system and established the principle of
decentralised network with no single point from which control can be exercised.
It is a cheap, efficient and fast method of transmission.
The development of the Internet also created a common set of networking

protocols which enabled researchers in the various Local Area Networks (LANs)
to communicate with each other. They communicate through the interconnection
of those LANs into a wide area network (WAN). When Internet usage spread
outside the US government in the 1980s, it allowed many people worldwide to
use this technology.
The World Wide Web development in the 1990s changed the communication
capabilities of the Internet and makes the Internet what it is today. With its main
features such as the display of colourful pictures, multimedia capability and
hypertext, it became important in the popularisation of the Internet. It is the
fastest growing medium and the number of worldwide users increases every
year.
SELF-CHECK 3.2
1. The Internet has always been referred to as new media. Why?
2. The Internet is the most powerful and influential media. Do you

agree with that statement? Discuss with your coursemates.

3.2.3 Communication System

Communication has always been the essence of living life. With the advancement
of technology and the creation of telecommunication, data communication and
mass communication, our communication has become easier and widespread
across boundaries. Furthermore, the convergence of these three networks and the
emergence of integrated network, plus the influence of Internet, we now have
one single digital communication infrastructure. This technology links all
activities both online and offline communication.
The changing development of new technology affects our communication system

in terms of the transmission medium. The communication system (Refer to
Figure 3.1) is a process of conveying information from a source to a destination.
The system may contain more than one source or more than one destination,
which is called a communication network. Communication systems consist of the
following elements:
(a) Transmitter ă Convert the original signal to be suitable for transmission;
(b) Receiver ă Accepts the transmitted signals and converts back to original
form; and
(c) Transmission medium (channel) ă Provide means of transporting signals

from the transmitter to receiver such as copper wires, fibre optic or free
space.
The development of technology provides us with two basic types of

communication, namely analogue communication system and digital
communication. Both have their own advantages and disadvantages.
ACTIVITY 3.2
List the advantages and disadvantages of analogue communication and

digital communication.

Figure 3.1: Simplified communication system model
Nowadays, long distance communication is no longer a problem. From micro-

electronics, the technologies moved to the invention of the integrated
semiconductor and microprocessors that has been used in computerisation and
telephone networks. Computer networks were then replaced by fibre-optics
which increased the capacity of coaxial cables or copper wires by four or five
times.
The connection of messages continues to improve by cable and air. We now have
radio and satellite communication which we know as wireless communication
system. The information is carried by electromagnetic waves, which is
propagated in free space. The Internet and computers are extremely important in
our communication system because these two components give us better
communication capacities for speed and geographical reach.
3.3 GLOBAL NETWORK

The existence of telephony devices and the Internet created the network that
connected people from all places and diminished the constraints of space and
time. The development of network technologies such as telephones and the
Internet created the global networks which are often referred to as communication
networks or media that connects other people. This communication technology
offered new ways in human contact and offers new sites for social, intellectual
and political growth.
Setting up global networks requires immense efforts which are typically costly
and lengthy. It also needs sophisticated interconnections, switching and routing
devices, laying out physical carriers of information, such as land and submarine
cables. Besides that, this technology needs the involvement of international
communication protocol and legislation. Still, it is a great investment which
benefits all.

The ability to make and receive long-distance communication such as telephone

calls is now possible for people in most parts of this world. Global networking
seems like a new dimension of change and opportunity especially with the
creation of ARPANET followed by email on network. Now, global networks link
millions of users around the world and the number is steadily increasing.
Actually, the first global network refers to the telegraph and the telephony
networks which achieved global status in the 1950s. Now the technology keeps
advancing with interconnected IP network (Internet), communication satellite
and the GSM mobile communication network which form the largest global
networks of all.
The uses of computer network for international communication have improved

and expanded how we connect, communicate and create communities. This
involves millions of computers. Computer communication networks have the
ability to allow us to be active participants because of the elements of interactivity.
Global networks are not only a tool but offer a venue for a „global village‰,
namely a place where the world can meet. The interaction can be held on a
network, also known as „online‰ or „cyberspace‰. This all can be done using
systems such as e-mail, bulletin boards, computer conferencing, televirtuality
and others. Therefore, with this system and technology of networks, the global
networks can unite people all around the world.
3.4 RESEARCHING THE INTERNET

The Internet can be referred to as a very huge library. It contains a variety of
resources and information that is easily searchable. We can search for people,
news, data and statistics, opinions, online works, etc. Now many printed material
are converted to the digital form and are published on the Internet. Therefore,
we can read journals, newspapers, magazines and books online. Through the
Internet too, we can also find various kinds of commercial software, music,
movie, images and personal information. However, we have to take extra care
with these kinds of content in terms of its legality.
The Internet is one of the main sources in research. According to Fredericks

(2000), research has a six-step cycle in problem-solving by using the Internet in
an appropriate manner:
(a) Question ă Good research comes from good questions which help to focus
on a specific subject.

(b) Site investigation ă Checking for the appropriate sites and listing or
eliminating the inappropriate sites.
(c) Data gathering ă Going online to obtain information that we need to answer
the questions which were generated in the early step.
(d) Data analysis ă Analyse the information obtained and eliminates

unnecessary information while keeping the important and relevant data.
(e) Compare and contrast ă Make a comparison between the information

collected from the Internet with other information sources.
(f) Extend ă Share what we had searched to enrich knowledge.
Every research begins with a question that helps to focus on a specific subject
finding. There are all kinds of websites that can be useful to the researcher. A
web search can be done in many ways. The use of general search engines such
as AltaVista, Google, Yahoo, Lycos and Excite is a primary research tool in
discovering information on the Internet. A search engine is nothing more than an
indexing service of websites. These indexes are updated frequently and
organised according to the cataloguing procedures of each search engine.
Google is said to be the largest database, containing excellent advanced searching

techniques and uses algorithms that frequently supply more relevant results to a
given query. However, no single search tool, including Google, can give you all
the information there is to be found on the Web on any given subject. When this
happens, we can use other means such as the following:
(a) Specialised tool ă A specialty search tool with a more focused database may
be a better option. We can use these specialised tools to find experts and
expert advice, search the Web by asking questions and not by using
keywords and find industry newsletters, specific search directories and
other tools, mailing lists as well as industry discussion groups. Here is the
list of specialty search tools:
(i) Targeted directory: Composed by editors with specific expertise

in one area. An example is the Internet Intelligence Index
(www.fuld.com/ Tools/I3/). It contains links to intelligence-related
Internet sites;
(ii) Focused search engine: A search engine that indexes web

pages on specific topics or areas such as LawCrawler
(http://lawcrawler.lp.findlaw.com);

(iii) Portals: Provide a start page for browsing and designed to get
you to relevant web sources quickly and easily. An example is
www.msn.com. Portals are often used as a browserÊs start page and
can contain all sorts of information on entertainment, sports, the stock
market, weather, local interest stories, etc. They often contain links to
popular commercial and business sites as well; and
(iv) Meta Search Engine: A search tool that can send queries to multiple
general search engines and directories simultaneously. MetaCrawler
(www.metacrawler.com) is an example of this kind of tool.
(b) Online publication ă We can search information from:

(i) News articles/newspapers;
(ii) Articles and papers from technical journals/proceedings;
(iii) Magazine articles/online magazines;
(iv) Books;
(v) Journals;
(vi) Educational resources; and
(vii) Information on scientific/engineering topics.
(c) Exploring government agencies/institutions sites ă These sites provide

reliable data from authoritative sources.
(d) Business/Competitor/Financial Information tool ă The Internet contains

many business resources. There are websites that allow information to be
retrieved pertaining to:
(i) Available consultants/experts on a given topic/industry;
(ii) Company annual reports;
(iii) Marketing reports; and
(iv) Specific industries.
Because of the ability to archive unlimited information, the Internet has been
used as a data gathering tool in many research activities. It is just one tool in
research field. With huge information that is being offered on the Internet, we
also have to make sure of the accuracy, precision and how up-to-date the
information is. Just because the Internet has the ability to search and retrieve
data, it does not mean that the online information is valid, up-to-date,
appropriate and necessary.

3.5 PEOPLE AND THE INTERNET

The Internet began as a military project. Then it was opened to universities and
researchers to communicate with each other. In the 1980s, the Internet had spread
to people all around the world. Since then, this network of networks has been
used by many people, organisations, educational institutions, governments and
others as a communication tool. With the advancement of information and
communication technology, the Internet is capable of immense data sharing and
communication. Anyone can access and share the information on the Internet.
With its capability to allow interactive communication, communication through

the Internet has attracted people to use it to connect with more people and
getting responses within minutes. The Internet is also a global network that links
everybody worldwide. The most common method of communication on the
Internet can be divided into six types: a one-to-one message (such as an e-mail), a
one-to-many message (such as listserv), database messages (such as USENET),
real time communication (such as Internet Relay Chat), real-time remote
computer utilisation (like telnet) and remote information retrieval (such as global
networking or web).
Table 3.3: Statistics on Internet Usage and Population in Southeast Asia in 2009
User
Population Penetration
Internet Internet User Growth
Country (2009 ă rate (%
User (2000) (2009) (2000ă
Estimated) population)
2009)
Brunei 388,190 30,000 187,900 526.3% 55.9%
Philippines 97,976,603 2,000,000 24,000,000 932.5% 24.5%
Laos 6,834345 6,000 100,000 1,566.7% 7.7%
Indonesia 249,271,522 2,000,000 25,000,000 1,150% 12.5%
Malaysia 25,715,819 3,700,000 16,902,600 356.8% 65.7%
Myanmar 48,137,741 1,000 40,000 3,900% 0.2%
Singapore 4,657,542 1,200,000 3,104,900 156.7% 72.4%
Thailand 65,998,436 2,300,000 13,416,000 483.3% 24.4%
Vietnam 88,576,758 2,000,000 21,524,417 10,662.2% 25.7%
Source: Internet World Stat

Even though the Internet is not a necessity or important utility, more and more
people use this technology. With the Internet, we can get any updated
information from time to time. Active Internet users worldwide are estimated at
625 million people and almost a fifth of that total use mobile Internet. A total of
17 per cent of users now access the Internet when they are outside. Malaysians
are among the highest Internet users in this region with a penetration of 65.7%,
just after Singapore.
The age group of 18 to 44 years old comprises half of the Internet population.
However, the youth dominate the Internet population. In addition to going
online to communicate with their peers, the youth also use it for matters related
to education since the Internet offers the biggest library of information in the
world. The adults use the Internet for work and business purposes such as
e-mail, instant messenger, e-marketing and online forum. Nowadays, almost
all activities can be done through the Internet including banking, online
shopping, e-business, online journalism, online meeting and discussion,
spreading information and others. As a matter of fact, it is used by everybody,
including politicians, governments, celebrities, publishers, international
organisations and disabled persons.
ACTIVITY 3.3
Even though the Internet has been used by many people because of its
advantages, it still raises some issues among the users, such as the
following. Discuss these issues with your course mates.
(a) Internet and children;
(b) Internet and media freedom;
(c) Internet and intellectual property; and
(d) The misuse of Internet in the workplace.
3.6 ONLINE COMMUNITIES

Social interaction and community development based on technical-oriented
equipment as well as combined with a desire to develop the collective efforts of
individuals led to the formation of a group known as the „online community‰. It
is also known as a virtual community. The online community has become an
important phrase when talking about online social activity. It is created and
maintained via the Internet.

The terms „online community‰ and „virtual community‰ are often used in
succession and became popular since the mid-1970s. It does not involve face-to-
face communication or communication between individuals or groups through
the media. This terminology is often used to refer to the interaction activities
(communication and participation) of certain groups of communication through
the Internet, whether for social, professional, education or for other purposes. It
relates to both the how and why aspects of communication and participation
using networked technologies.
There are various definitions given for this terminology. Pioneers in research and
development of on-line communities, such as Hiltz (1985) and Aksan (1993), used
the term „online community‰ to describe the intimacy, empathy and support
among the members in the online space that they observe. Ohler (1994) gives
the simple definition by saying that online communities is „a CMC-based
communication‰ while Preece (2005) refers it to „any group that uses Internet
technology to communicate with each other.‰
Based on Preece (2000), online communities consist of these four elements:
(a) People, the interaction that satisfies the needs of their own work or play in a
particular role, as moderator, or leader.
(b) Sharing purposes, such as interests, needs, exchange information or

services that give service to the community.
(c) Policy, in the form of assumptions, rituals, protocols, regulations, or laws

governing an interaction that is done.
(d) Computer systems, to support social interaction and facilitate unity.
The most famous definition in this field is adapted from Rheingold (1994) that
defined online communities as follows:
„... social aggregations that emerge from the Net when enough people carry
on those public discussions long enough, with sufficient human feeling, to
form webs of personal relationship in cyberspace.‰
For Rheingold, online communities arose from three interrelated attributes

of CMC: the building of social networks and social capital; the sharing of
knowledge and information; and the enabling of new modes of democratic
participation in public life. An online community can also be identified as a site
of play through the creation of an online identity. This can be seen in online
interaction or Internet communication among the participants through MUDs

(Multi-User Dungeons) and MOOs (Multi-User Object-Oriented Domain).

Interactions in this cyberspace cross over the geographical distance and make
space for physically separated humans to meet. This social formation is called
communities and it is created in virtual space not the concrete space that is
limited by certain boundaries or real objects.
Depending on the purposes or the benefits ă which collect information ranging

from social interaction to maintain a presence ă an online community depends on
the participation of individuals in it. The social interaction that is united in
various forms of community involvement led to the development of community
resources. New content appears as long as members continue to communicate,
attract new members and to keep on the discussion and add to the contents and
resources in the community.
This online community actually exists with the introduction of Usenet

newsgroups in 1979, but it is only used by about five to 10 per cent of Internet
users at the time. The development of static web pages in the 1990s to interactive
sites not only allows interaction between the web page and the users, but also
among the users, causing this community to grow further. This community has
become larger since more and more people entered the cyber world and joined
the on-line groups that have been created in many Internet-based applications
such as online forum, online social networking, virtual worlds and blogs.
3.7 VIRTUALITY AND GLOBALISATION

The idea of virtuality and globalisation is often related with significant usage of
the information and communication technology. It is also associated with other
technological advances, including computer technology and its connection via
the Internet.
These two terms emerged when people become interconnected by network

technology. It dismisses space and time. Geography can no longer hinder us from
wanting to communicate and interact with each other, even with people who live
far away from us.
3.7.1 Virtuality
Virtuality is one of the characteristics of new media as stated in Topic 1. It refers
to the metaphorical „place‰ and spaces‰ created by or within communication
networks. In this term, it creates opportunities for the user to adopt markers or
identities that differ from their identity as constituted in the physical and

everyday social world. It also refers to the possibility of forming new kinds of
association and community which are not dependent upon spatial location and
can transcend geographical, social and political boundaries.
The term „virtuality‰ or „the virtual‰ applies to several different forms of media
and image technologies. We come across this term in the discussions of the
Internet, World Wide Web, 3D, screen-based multimedia and also in some
convergence of old media such as in cinema, video and computer animation. It
also features in postmodern culture which refers to many aspects of everyday
experiences related to technological simulation. This term is often related to
virtual reality and cyberspace. However, the two elements usually associated
with virtuality are;
(a) A lack of a distinct of physical centre; and
(b) A network characteristic.
Generally, virtuality is a socially constructed reality mediated by electronic

media. In business terms, virtuality exists in the form of lifestyle choices (home-
working), ways of working (global product development teams), new products
(virtual museum) and new business models (such as Internet dating agencies).
From a globalisation perspective, virtuality always refers to products of
electronic industry and the tangible projection of images and text on electronic
screens.
van Dijk (1999) suggests that going virtual, in comparison with face to face
interaction, is characterised by:
(a) A less stable and concrete reality without time, place and physical ties;
(b) More abstract interaction which affects knowledge creation;
(c) A networked reality which both disperses and concentrates power, offering
new ways of exercising power;
(d) Diffused and less hierarchical communities and interaction due to the more
dynamic flow of knowledge and greater equality in participation; and
(e) A reality often shaped around special interests.
In geographical space, we identify each other by the body. The body plays an
important role in every interaction. It plays two social functions, namely to
identify who is who and to give non-verbal information during the interaction.
However, virtuality does not involve that. The body is missing but interaction
can still be done anywhere and nowhere. In a virtual context, individuals interact
at a distance and can interact asynchronously in cyberspace through the

mediation of information and communication technologies. This is what happens

in cyberspace interaction or computer-mediated communication. Cyberspace
interaction is when two or more persons at the same time observe words or
speech from one another by technology that reduces geographical spaces.
In the cyberspace interaction ă or computer-mediated communication ă the

physical body cannot be present in our interaction with others. Therefore, the
virtual functional equivalent to the physical body has to be used, such as
signature and addresses. A signature can be a text or drawing that is
automatically associated in your e-mail, which declares who you are or
something that you want to be identified with, such as a name, work title, or
homepage address. The domain name can be an important clue to the identity.
The emoticons such as a smiley (:D) and acronyms such as LOL (Laughing out
Loud) have been used as body language in this kind of interaction.
Virtuality is well shown by a technology of networks in which the hardware

determines the possibilities of person to person interaction. This allows
anonymity in direct interaction. All personality features are hidden and the
virtual personality takes over the conversation. Many organisations nowadays
create their virtual presence to reach larger consumers through network
technologies. Through the homepage or online form, they can communicate and
interact with their clients and customers without the constraints of time and
geography. Have you used an instant messenger such as Google Talk or Yahoo
Messenger? This is an example of Internet communication or cyberspace
interaction that can be done and how virtuality is presented.
3.7.2 Globalisation
What is „globalisation‰? The word globalisation is frequently used in this
millennium. Global society, global village, global economic and global trade are
among the words that go along with globalisation. If we ask for the definition of
this term, the answers vary because „globalisation‰ means different things to
different people. Some say it is the movement of people, language, ideas and
products around the world. Others see it as the dominance of multinational
corporations and the destruction of cultural identities. Globalisation is said to
bring people of all nations closer together with growing interdependence,
especially through a common medium like the economy or the Internet.
Generally, globalisation refers to the growth of ties that span space. It involves
spreading or diffusing things or information, greater interdependent among
more people, new forms of organisations and a wider awareness of
commonalities. It is often associated with virtuality. This term describes a process
by which regional economies, societies and cultures have become integrated

through a global network of communication, transportation and trade. This

makes more and more people connected in various ways across larger distances.
Space becomes less of a constraint in our social life ă same as virtuality.
Table 3.4: Definitions of Globalisation
Source Definition
Robertson (1992) Globalisation is a concept that refers both to compression of the
world and strengthening of consciousness of the world as a whole.
Waters (2001) A social process in which the constraints of geography in social and
cultural arrangement recede and in which people become
increasingly aware that they are receding.
Scholte (2005) The spreading of transplanetary connection between people. A
global [relation]⁄ can link persons situated in any inhabitable
point in the world. Globalisation involves reductions of barriers to
such trans world social contacts.
Globalisation involves an increase in flows and networks across the globe.

Additionally, globalisation increases the likelihood that an event in one part of
the world will have an effect in a distant part of the world. In its simplest sense,
globalisation refers to the widening, deepening and speeding up of global
interconnectedness. For Lechner (2009), globalisation consists of at least these
elements: diffusion, interdependence, organisation and cultural or consciousness.
It can be used to describe a series of interrelated process such as following:
(a) Internationalisation of production, trade and finance with the rise of

multinational corporations and the rise of Internet-based electronic
commerce;
(b) International communication flows, delivered through telecommunication,

information and media technologies which facilitate transnational
circulation of cultural commodities, texts, images and artefacts;
(c) The establishment of international regimes in intellectual property which

embedded the enforceability of ownership of knowledge and information;
and
(d) Global spreading of ideas and ideologies, such as the export of „Western
values‰, democratic aspirations and environmental consciousness.

According to Flew (2004), the media is central to globalisation in all of its forms.
However, sometimes, the media seems to be responsible for weakening the
cultural bonds that ties people to nation-states and national communities. Media
acts as technologies and service delivery platforms. The media industries become
leaders in the push towards global expansion and integration.
In addition, the development of new media seems to be a significant driver to

globalisation. With the worldwide Internet protocols, the broadband networks
have the ability to transfer a diverse range of digitised signals across vast areas.
The use of the Internet as a global media and information archive media helps
the growing magnitude of interconnections of patterns of interactions and flows
between societies and states that lead to the creation of the network society. New
media has also been used as a tool by critics of globalisation on some issues such
as those related to political activism and „crisis of democracy‰.
ACTIVITY 3.4
1. Globalisation has changed the type of society, from the tribal to

mass society to networked society. In this form of society, we
become more interdependent with each other. What do you think
about this change? Discuss it.
2. The processes of globalisation involve four different types of

impacts as the following:
(a) Decisional impact;
(b) Institutional impact;
(c) Distributive impact; and
(d) Structural impact.
Describe each of the impacts briefly.
• Interactivity is used in the field of computer sciences, industrial design and

communication.
• In new media, interactivity is a key association that sets apart the „old‰ and
„new‰ media.

• Interactivity can be defined generally as a sequence of action and reaction. It

refers to the usersÊ ability to directly intervene in and change the images and
texts that they access. So, the audience for new media becomes a „user‰
rather than „viewer‰ or „reader‰ of media products.
• The existence of telephony devices and the Internet has created a network
that connects people at all places and diminished the constraints of space and
time.
• The development of technology provides us with two basic types of

communication, namely analogue communication system and digital
communication.
Communication Internet
Globalisation Networks
Interactivity Online community
1. Define interactivity.
2. Global networks connect peoples. Give a few examples of global networks.
3. Internet is always about network of networks. Why?
4. How does an online community emerge?
5. Globalisation has many meanings. Give some definitions of globalisation

that you know of.
1. The Internet was not open to the public when it emerged for the first time.
Explain the history of the Internet.
2. An online community is created from interaction activities through

cyberspace. Discuss some of the activities.
3. Virtuality and globalisation are two terms that emerged from the
development of networks technology. Explain both terms and their
relationship.

University Press.
Feldman, T. (1997). An introduction to digital media. New York: Routledge.
Lechner, F. J. (2009). Globalization: The making of world society. London: Willey-

Blackwell.
Lievrouw, L., & Livingstone, S. (2002). The handbook of new media (eds.).
London: Sage.
Miller, C. H. (2008). Digital storytelling: A creatorÊs guide to interactive

entertainment. US: Focal Press.

perspectives (2nd ed.). Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon
Preece, J. (2000). Online communities: Designing usability, supporting sociability.

New York: John Wiley & Sons.
London: Sage.

T op i c  Personal
4 Publishing on a
Global Network
LEARNING OUTCOMES
1. Explain each type of personal publishing on a global network;
2. Describe the uses of the applications;
3. Identify the differences for each type of personal publishing
application; and
4. Analyse the benefits of personal publishing tools.
 INTRODUCTION
In this topic, we will explore the sudden emergence of easy Internet publishing
tools in the past few years. We will discuss the concept of each application and its
usage among the new media users.
With the advancement of technology, each of us has the option to become a

content provider as well as be the audience at the same time. The existence of
Web 2.0, which is basically the emergence of social media, the blurring of the role
of content providers and audience is rather obvious. Anybody can now publish
any kind of information without background knowledge of the programme. We
no longer have a passive audience where the majority of viewers just read and
receive whatever content that is given.

TOPIC 4 PERSONAL PUBLISHING ON A GLOBAL NETWORK  69
Online publishing has become easier than before and anyone can now publish
and disseminate information on a global network without having any specific
training. The wide spread of online publishing activities often create free and
easy access to all sorts of information. New media now offer easy and
nontechnical procedures, usually free, which can be created by anyone.
New media have been used by users to publish their thoughts, respond to others,
post pictures and share files. This has contributed to the explosion of online
content. It also creates online communities where people interact with each other
in terms of sharing and contributing information in cyberspace. However, with
this technology, we are also exposed to unwanted information and spam is one
of them.
4.1 INSTANT MESSAGING (IM)

Do you have a Yahoo! Mail account? Have you used the chat application? Or
have you used Yahoo! Messenger? If you have used it, this means that you are
familiar with instant messaging (IM). Because of its convenience, this application
is not just used to communicate with friends and family, but it is also used
widely in businesses.
IM was developed in the 1970s. It allowed users to send text-based messages to

computers linked on the same computer network, typically within the same
building. Today, IMs have additional features besides sending text-based
messages. As a user, we can also see each other by using webcams, or talk
directly for free over the Internet using a microphone and headphones or
loudspeakers. We can also transfer files using this application.
4.1.1 What is IM?

IM is also known as online chat. It is a form of real-time direct text-based
communication between two or more people over the Internet or other types of
networks. This application (see Figure 4.1) can be used on personal computers or
mobile communication devices, along with shared software clients. We need an
Internet connection and an IM client to use IM.

70  TOPIC 4 PERSONAL PUBLISHING ON A GLOBAL NETWORK
Figure 4.1: Logos of IM applications found on the Internet
This application is a combination of e-mail and chat. E-mail allows users to

communicate with one another, whether the recipient is currently online or not.
Mail is stored in the recipientÊs mailbox until he retrieves it. When sending an e-
mail, typically you send a message similar to a letter and then wait for delivery of
your message and an eventual reply. The mail can include attached files and
links to URLs. However, chat is a real-time communication medium. When we
want to chat with someone, the person must be online at the same time as we are.
This communication does not include file transfer capabilities.
IM offers both the users real-time communication and file sharing. It works more
like a telephone conversation. When we type a message into an IM, our message
is delivered instantly. This allows two people to have a real-time conversation
across the Internet. This process is similar to „chat rooms‰ but IM is usually
between two people rather than a group of people.
IM is really a specialised form of chat between people who know each other in a
friends list (or also known such as buddy list or contacts list). Both IM users must
be online at the same time for IM to fully work. That is why IM has the ability to
allow users to easily check whether a chosen friend, co-worker or „buddy‰ is
online and then connect through the selected service.
However, some IM allows messages to be sent to people not currently „logged

on‰ (offline messages). Although IM is known as text-based communication,
many IM software clients now also allow enhanced modes of communication,
such as live voice or video calling. As users, we also can play video games online
with friends and family.

4.1.2 Types of IM
There are many IM clients (see Figure 4.2 as an example) if we want to use this
application. We must not only consider what kind of client we would like, but
who we want to contact via IM. Generally, there are five types of IM clients that
we can choose from:
(a) Single-protocol IMs

These clients connect their users often to only one or two networks of IM
users. Its contact is limited to only those respective networks of IM users.
Among the popular IMs in this type is Windows Live Messenger, AIM,
GTalk (Google Talk) and Yahoo! Messenger.
(b) Multi-protocol IMs

With this type of IM, users can connect all IM accounts with one single chat
client. If we have several IM accounts, this type of IM client is more efficient
rather than using several IM clients at once. For example, Digsby is more
than just a multi-protocol IM, but a life application that connects users to
IM clients, social networks and e-mail.
(c) Web-based IMs

Usually, if we want to use IM we have to sign up for a screen name and
then download and install the client software. However, now we can access
free web chat with all friends and even new people through a single web
site such as AIM Express, Gmail, Meebo and Yahoo! Mail Messenger.
(d) Enterprise IMs

Enterprise IMs offer all the features of IM with the security businesses need.
For instance, Big Ant which has feature-rich, including offline messaging,
web conferencing, file transferring and multi-department organisation on
the contacts list. Compliance to company policies is also assured with key
word filtering, real-time content auditing and extensive IT supports. A free
trial is offered on their website; and a free license available for up to 10
users. Other enterprising IMs that we can use are Brosix, AIM Pro and
Spark.
(e) Portable IMs

Sometimes we cannot download IMs to computers at work or school
because of administrative controls. With portable IMs, even with the
limited access, we can still access IM clients on a USB flash drive and use it
anywhere by plugging the drive into the computer. One example is Pidgin
Portable that allows support for AOL Instant Messenger, Yahoo!,
MSN/Windows Live Messenger, ICQ and Jabber networks. In addition to

offering access to all your favourite IM contacts on one contact list, Pidgin
Portable also supports the Pidgin-Encryption 3.0 and Pidgin-OTR 3.1 plug-
ins for secure communications, regardless of the computer you are using.
Figure 4.2: IM is used to communicate with friends and family

4.2 WEBLOGS (BLOGS)
ACTIVITY 4.1
Do you have a blog? What do you do with your blog? Can you explain
what a blog is? Why is this media used by many people?
Recently weblogs or better known as blogs have become a social phenomenon to

Internet users all around the world. More and more people have a blog and do
blogging. Politicians, reporters, professional writers, celebrities, educators and
students now have blogs.
Have you noticed that many blogs have been used as alternative media to
mainstream media in order to disseminate news and opinions especially related
to politics? It was used widely after the 9/11 incident and the invasion of Iraq.
Blogs with these topics received heavy traffic.
Now millions of posts are being written and read by everyone. Blogs can be
written by everybody, there is no need to be a professional writer to write and
publish anything, especially news. Thus, bloggers are often referred to as „citizen
journalists‰.
The first blog was said to have appeared in 1999 and now there are more than 10
million blogs with various types of content. Blogs usually contain everything
from the common online daily journal to undated news post. This media gain
popularity as a tool in breaking, shaping and spinning news stories.
4.2.1 What is a Blog?

A blog is a type of, or part of a website. It is a web application which contains
periodic posts in a common web page. Usually, the most recent post is the first
thing that we see when we visit the blog, followed by the older posts. The posts
are in reverse chronological order and it can be accessible by any Internet user.
Most blogs are created with special blog-publishing software or tools.

A blog can be described as a regularly updated website with dated posts. The
word can also be used as a verb that means to submit, add or maintain posts or
content to a website. Each piece of content is called an entry and sometimes those
posted entries are called posts. Each posted entry will appear with a date and
time. According to Harris (2008), in order for a certain entry or website to qualify
as a blog, they should be shared, maintained and used through the Internet. It
means the content of a file or document must be published online. Then we can
call it a blog.
Most of the time a blog refers to an online journal written by one or more authors
called bloggers. Some are updated multiple times a day while others are rarely
updated. All the entries or posts can be read and commented on, which is the
interactive format and important part of many blogs. This interactive element
distinguishes this media from other static websites.
Blogs often originate from a single person, blogger and the conversation from
their posts. Bloggers have full control of their blogs in terms of management,
creation and development. Therefore, some blogs can be read by the invitation of
the creators, but many are open to the public. Bloggers also act as moderators or
gatekeepers of their own blog because they can allow visitors or readers to make
comments and then choose to publish it or otherwise.
Bloggers have full authority over their blog posts, including after it has been
posted. The publication can easily be altered as in writing. The posts remain in
the system as long as it has not been deleted. Any previous posts can be found in
the archives.
Blogs actually evolved from online diaries, where people wrote and published
their personal lives. It is actually an updated component of common websites.
However, the evolution of the tools to facilitate the production and maintenance
of web articles posted made the publishing process feasible to a much larger
group of people.
Blog publishing and blog hosting sites provide editing tools with web-based
interfaces that allow non-programmers to create a blog. With free sites and free
tools, blogging is now easier and cheaper than before. The most popular and easy
to use blog-publishing tool or weblog provider for Malaysians are BlogSpot and
WordPress.
We just need to sign up and set up a weblog account in order to start blogging.
These two weblog providers offer many layout styles and themes to choose and
use. We can also add tools or widgets such as calendar, visitor counter and other
fun stuff to the blog sites. Besides text, blogs also have capabilities to insert
images, links and video.

4.2.2 Types of Blogs

When we surf or explore blogs, we can see there are many different types of
blogs. They differ not only in the type of content, but also in the way that the
content is delivered or written. Let us explore this in Table 4.1.
Table 4.1: Types of Blogs
Category Focus
By Genre/Topical This type of blog focuses on a particular subject such as politics,
travel, fashion, technology and recipes.
By Media Type It can be categorised as:
• Vlog ă A blog comprising videos.
• Linklog ă A blog comprising links.
• Sketchblog ă Comprising a portfolio of sketches.
• Tumbleblog ă Contains shorter post and mixed media type.
• Photoblog ă Contains photos.
By Device A blog written by mobile devices such as mobile phone or
personal device assistant (PDA), called a „moblog‰.
Generally, we can categorise blogs into two types, which are:
(a) Personal Blogs

This type of blog is an ongoing diary or commentary by an individual. A
personal blog is the most common type of blog. Bloggers use personal blogs
as a way to reflect their life or work and not just to communicate. There are
also blogs that contain works of fiction by new and upcoming authors.
Some blogs quickly garner an extensive following but usually it is followed
by their own friends.
(b) Institutional/Organisational Blogs

This type of blog can be private and it is more suitable for business
purposes. It is written either by company executives or employees hired as
bloggers. It is used to enhance communication purposes in a corporation, or
for marketing, branding or public relation reasons. This type of blog also
refers to blogs owned by clubs and societies to inform members and other
interested parties of clubs and member activities.
Both types of blogs are widely used and have become sites where people seek for
information. It is used by Internet users to discuss and share their opinion about
any topic between the bloggers and their readers.

4.2.3 Use of Blogs

Why do people use blogs? Why do we try to get information by reading the
blogs?
There is no single purpose for starting a blog. The motivation varies. Some use
blogs as an alternative to old media, some just use it to inform like-minded
hobbyists about a particular industry. And if we explore some blogs, there are
ramblings and even incoherent and uninteresting posts.
Generally, blogs offer us:
(a) Fresh content ă Many blog contents are updated regularly, some are even
updated several times a day. This is what makes the blogs as fresher
websites than non-blog personal sites;
(b) Personal content ă Many blogs are like personal, public diaries. Some
bloggers, especially those owned by students, post entries related to their
own lives; and
(c) Newsy content ă Some blogs offer a less personal approach when its
content are full with updated news item or pages from other sites. Some
offer comments on the news or recent hot topics.
Because of that, many people use the blogs for various reasons. Blogs have been
used as useful tools especially for research, reviewing opinions, exchanging
ideas, locating like-minded people, getting support and also as entertainment.
Blogs are also used as marketing tools or business strategy especially for small-
size and unknown entrepreneurs.
Through blogging, the bloggers can also make money, for instance by using
Google AdSense, Amazon Associates, PayPerPost, PayPal donation widgets and
place advertisements on their blogs.

4.3 WIKIS
Wikipedia is one of the popular wikis among the new media users. It contains
online information in many fields contributed by unspecific authors. Besides
Wikipedia, there are other wikis like WikiSpace, WikiMatrix and WikiAnswers.
Wiki have been used widely. Teachers use wikis to provide their students
with updated projects and to keep project resources organised in a single
place. Programmers use it for collaborative open source projects in which any
individual may provide new lines of code at any time. Businesses use wikis to
manage theirs and attract new clients.
Educators and students, as well as amateurs and professionals (artists, writers,

collectors), have found wikis useful in expanding community involvement and
interest in their subjects and activities. But what are wikis?
4.3.1 Definition of Wikis

The Wiki concept originated from Ward Cunningham when he released
WikiWikiWeb on the Internet in 1995. His vision was to create the simplest
possible online databases. It was designed to help groups collaborate, share
and create online content. This concept has been accepted tremendously well
especially because it involves collaboration among people in a shared place. This
means, wiki ownership is shared and distributed among all of its contributing
members.
„Wiki‰ is a Hawaiian word which means „fast‰. The purpose of a wiki is to

provide fast authoring tools so publishing can be done quickly via the Internet.
Therefore, the content in wikis can be immediately viewed and commented on.
Simply put, wikis refer to an online collaborative writing tool. A wiki can be said
to be a webpage that can be viewed, created and modified by anybody with a
web browser and access to the Internet. The published content in wikis can be
changed, added and edited anytime by visitors. It also supports hyperlinks and is
typically powered by wiki software.

According to The Wiki Way:
„Open editing has some profound and subtle effects on the wikiÊs usage.
Allowing everyday users to create and edit any page in a Web site... encourages
democratic use of the Web and promotes content composition by nontechnical
users.‰
Therefore, we can define wikis as having the following characteristics:
(a) Central location ă The wiki files need to be centrally located to make it
quick and easy to share and to ensure the content is freely available to all
users;
(b) Anyone can edit ă Everybody can create, add, or edit the content without
giving up their identity or be an administrator;
(c) Easy editing ă Editing the content in a wiki page can be done easily with a
web browser and there is no need for special tools or skills;
(d) Simple formatting ă Needed to allow everyone access to it; and
(e) List of changes ă Every page should have a history page to show all recent
changes.
This publishing tool is also described as a composition system, a discussion

medium, a repository, a mail system and a tool for collaboration. This is because
wikis allow asynchronous communication and group collaboration via the
Internet. Some wikis may have simple tools to create multimedia presentations
and to incorporate sounds, movies and pictures.
By using a simple web interface, a community can collaborate on developing a

document or wiki page, no matter where they are located. Wikis can be openly
public where anyone can see the content, or be available to a defined community
within or across organisations. Some wikis allow everyone to view the content,
but only members can edit the content.
4.3.2 Features of Wikis

Wikis have developed fast since its introduction. Several innovations created
have become a part of almost all wiki engines, such as the following:
(a) Versioning ă Saving a version of each wiki page so that the previous
version can be referred to;

(b) Attaching files ă Allowing files to be attached to the wiki page;
(c) Backlinks ă Allowing easy browsing of all pages that are linked to that
particular page;
(d) Notification of changes ă Alerts are sent when a page has been changed;
(e) Searching ă Offer searching by entering a certain word in wiki pages; and
(f) Printed version ă Creating a printable version that takes of the navigation
page.
Now there are many wikis which can be used as well as created from a hosted
wiki, mostly by open source software. It can be different and before selecting a
particular wiki, it is important for us to consider the following features:
(a) Access control ă Wikis can be „public‰ or „private‰. A public wiki refers to
one that is visible to anyone on the web without having to log in. Search
engines will always identify these pages and include it in their database.
This means we can discover the wikis by searching the web. A private wiki
is only visible to those who have password access to it. It also may be
accessed by those „invited‰ to join it by someone who has password access;
(b) Capacity ă Wikis usually support the creation of multiple pages by multiple
authors. This can make it grow quickly in size. There may be restrictions on
how many pages can be created, the length of each page and the size of
attachment of images and media;
(c) Editing features ă Basic word processing features like font, bullets and
simple tables are available in most wikis and are easy to use. Some wikis
add some extra editing and formatting features when you use a fee-based
service;
(d) Customisation and skins ă Wikis are typically plain and generic pages.
Customising the way wikis look is often limited. Self-hosted wikis allow
you to create your own skin, but it needs some technical and web-design
expertise. Free and fee-based wikis often provide limited number of skins
in their wikis;
(e) Communication ă Most wikis support some type of embedded

communication among wiki members such as e-mail links to members,
discussion thread and page comments. The ability to communicate with
other members lead to the success of an online wiki project; and

(f) Security ă Wikis usually have built-in safety measure to protect against
misuse, including password protection, version control and version
archiving.
Basically, wikis can be divided into three categories: educational wikis, social
wikis and corporate wikis. Educational wikis such as the well-known Wikipedia
serve the purpose of educating people through an open and collaborative
publication format. This type of wiki supplies information for free for any
enquiries. It has the ability to adapt and change the available information to
ensure that information is up-to-date and correct.
Social wikis allow people to discuss and publish information about subjects of
interest written by people who have and wish to share their experiences.
Corporate wikis are a useful format for groups or teams that work in
collaborative environments or are starting new projects. Wikis can be used for
storing minutes of meetings, linking sites or creating online documentations. The
open nature of wikis allows the corporate environment to create an up-to-date
living documentation.
4.3.3 The Use of Wikis

Wikis are powerful and flexible collaborative communication tools for
developing content-specific Web sites. It has grown and evolved since people
keep adding material to the sites.
Anybody can use wikis. To use wikis, we just need a few simple steps as the
following:
(a) Search for a topic of your interest as you would do in a search engine;
(b) If the topic is there then you can expand on it. If not, you can create it;
(c) Then you leave it in Wiki for further contributions from you or others;
(d) You can always come back to edit and enhance the content; and
(e) You can always review and update.

Since wikis can be used by anybody and does not require special technical
knowledge, it has recently been used as a pedagogical tool ă student
involvement, group activities and so on. Since wikis reside on the Internet,
students can access and participate from any location, provided they have
Internet access. From an instructional technology perspective, wikis allow faculty
and students to engage in collaborative activities that might not be possible in a
classroom. Their flexibility will encourage broader adoption ă by both students
and faculty.
Wikis have now become important as a place to find information and share
knowledge among online communities because it has several advantages, such as
the following:
(a) Knowledge Sharing to Improve Products and Outcomes

Wikis take advantage of the wisdom of the crowds. Through simple and
open editing features, wikis encourage users to add and edit content,
making it easy to improve products as people add their knowledge. Wikis
can be used to collectively identify issues, problems and solutions and
develop products and outcomes.
(b) Working Together Across Boundaries

Wikis can foster collaboration and break down barriers to collaboration,
such as employees who work at different locations and have different
access to technology. Wikis can help bring greater continuity and
cohesiveness to communities that are fragmented or within organisational
silos.
(c) Engagement
Wikis are so simple to use that it is much easier for others to contribute to
the product or solution. They may be government employees working on a
project or the public helping the government develop a product or solve a
problem. Wikis may be the one tool that can be used to get more public
input into governance.
(d) Transparency
The shared knowledge of a community is available to all members, which
builds trust. Every change on a wiki page is recorded and viewable. Wikis
make visible changes made by every member, along with the date and
membersÊ names. The community determines who can contribute and view
content.

ACTIVITY 4.2
Wikis have many advantages to the users. However, some educational

institutions prohibit their students from using wikis, including
Wikipedia, as reference. In your opinion, why is this happening?
4.4 PODCASTS
In the digital age, online publishing is not only limited to text-based, but it also
includes media such as sound. Recording and dissemination of sound
programmes become easier now and it can be published on global networks and
shared with larger groups of people. This recording and dissemination of sound
is known as podcasting.
What is the difference between podcasts and ordinary downloadable audio files?
Downloadable files have been an Internet capability since a decade ago. There
must be more to these audio files which have grown and become a major
phenomenon lately.
4.4.1 What is a Podcast?

A podcast is a series of digital media files ă music, interviews, talks ă that are
released episodically. This new media is often downloaded through the web. It
also refers to delivering audio content to iPods and other portable media players,
so that it can be listened to at the userÊs convenience.
The main benefit of podcasting is that listeners can sync content to their media
player and take it with them to listen whenever they want to. As podcasts are
typically saved in MP3 format, they can also be listened to by using any
computer.
The term „podcasting‰ was popularised by media entrepreneur and former MTV
VJ, Adam Curry. The „pod‰ comes from iPod, which was the device that was
originally used to hear the podcasts. The word „casting‰ comes from
„broadcasting‰ which refers to the widespread casting or dissemination of first
sound by radio. Table 4.2 summarises the characteristics of podcasts:

Table 4.2: Characteristic of Podcasts
Subscription Subscription is handled through RSS (Real Simple Syndication).
Using the variety of available applications or websites, you can be
assured that every episode of a podcast will automatically be
delivered to your computer as soon as it is available. There is no
need for you to remember to check a podcast website to see if a
new episode has been uploaded.
Episodic Podcasts are recurring shows and many of them adapt the format
of radio. The subscription is done to get a full instalment of
episodes.
Detachable Podcasts can be played on any MP3-compatible device. This means
that you can listen to podcasts while on the go and not only at your
desk.
Can listen Unlike terrestrial radio which requires you to tune in at a specific
whenever you time for your favourite program, podcasts gives you the flexibility
want of listening at any convenient time.
Can target niche Podcasts can be used as an alternative medium to reach the
audience targeted audience whereas radio has a broader and unspecified
audience. It is easier to attract sponsors and advertisers with the
specific or niche audience.
Podcasts are now easily available on any computer and can be used in cars too. It
is also available via Bluetooth connections to your phone. For Levinson (2009),
podcasts and radio are becoming one and the same. The difference between them
is that radio programmes are professionally produced, whereas podcasts can be
made and be disseminated by anyone.
Levinson (2009) defines podcasts as follows:
„It is an audio or audio-visual programme that you can get for free over the
web. Its advantage is that the podcast comes straight from the podcaster and
does not have to meet whatever the requirement of radio and television
broadcast producers. This means that the podcast can be more original and
idiosyncratic; the podcast does not have to attract numbers of listeners or
viewers in order to continue.‰
Podcasting gives an individual the power to communicate. There is no working

within „the system‰. We do not need a fancy studio. Everyone can be the
podcaster and their podcast can reach a more geographically diverse audience
than a radio station with no transmitter, satellites and regulations.

4.4.2 How is a Podcast Made?

The way a podcast is created depends on the toolkits that usually come in the
form of software.
ACTIVITY 4.3
Podcasts are now being used for many reasons and in many fields, not
just for the entertainment industry. Discuss the use of podcasts in the
following areas:
(a) Education;
(b) News;
(c) Publicity and marketing; and
(d) Politics.
You just need the following items to produce a podcast:
(a) Microphone;
(b) Podcast mixer and recorder;
(c) Sound card; and an
(d) Audio software.
The first podcast that was developed concentrated on producing voice or audio
files. However, with the development of technology, more and more software
packages exist as a respond to the growing demand from the public. With the
new software, you can enhance your podcasts by incorporating images and
videos on the audio file.
Generally, to produce a podcast you just need a microphone and a sound-

recording programme. Sound-recording programmes can be purchased or found
for free (for instance Audacity) on the web. However, recording a podcast that
sounds good takes a little talent. Any mistake can be edited with ease and free
programmes can be used to improve voice quality.

Podcasts vary in length, from a few minutes to a few hours long. The longer the
podcast, the bigger the file required to store it and more bandwidth needed to
disseminate the podcast on the web. Recordings can be stored in different
formats, either in uncompressed WAV file or highly compressed MP3s. Once
recorded, the podcast has to be uploaded on the web, from which it can be
disseminated to the world.
4.4.3 The Advantages of Podcasts

Podcasting began to be popular with the public in late 2004. Podcast directories
like iTunes, Podcast Alley, Yahoo!Podcast and The Network Podcast list
thousands of podcast episodes produced by thousands of individuals. In 2006, a
podcast community emerged and created the „Podcast Yellow Pages‰. They also
have a community called Blubrry which has rapidly developed into an online
place where podcasters and listeners can meet, interact and learn from each
other.
Podcasts offer several advantages. Generally, the advantages of podcasts are as

follows:
(a) Automatic
Podcasts can be downloadable, automatically, on your computer. Once you
have a podcast that you listen to or watch regularly, you can simply
subscribe to the feed. With a simple software called a pod catcher (such as
Apple iTunes), each new show listed in the feed will be downloaded
automatically to your computer or portable media player. You do not need
to search for it on the Internet as the podcast will come to you.
(b) Easy to Control

The listener has full control of podcasting. Because you control your list of
subscriptions, if you no longer want to receive the show you can just
unsubscribe yourself from the podcast feed.
(c) Portable
Podcasts usually use MP3 files which are audio and video files encoded
specifically for use on the web and portable devices. With MP3 file format,
the sizes of the files are relatively smaller. So they are perfect for
downloading from the Internet and transferring to a portable media player.
You can also burn the MP3 file as an audio CD to take it anywhere and
share it with anyone.

(d) Always Available

Podcasts are also known as radio and television on-demand, time-shifted to
fit to your schedule. You do not have to worry about missing your favourite
show because it will be in your hard drive or portable media player,
whenever you want it.
ACTIVITY 4.4
Online publishing on global networks like blogs, wikis and podcasts

have many advantages, but there are also disadvantages.
(a) Discuss the disadvantages of blogs, wikis and podcast.
(b) Content in online publishing sometimes raises issues regarding
intellectual property and copyright. What is your opinion on this?
Discuss it.
4.5 PERSONAL BUSINESS ONLINE

With the introduction of Web 2.0, anyone can easily publish and interact directly
with the audience. Because of this, many of these applications have been used for
personal business online. This new media technology is not limited only to big
companies with money and expertise in their field.
There are various tools or applications to be used to do this personal business

online. Among them are as the following:
(a) Weblogs
More and more individuals use personal blogs for business purposes. Blogs
not only act as online journals or diaries anymore, but it has become an
important supplement to a business online strategy. It acts as a new
communication channel with audiences where blogs have been used to
engage in direct dialogue with customers by using a „comments‰ feature
that allows visitors to post remarks. So, we can use blogs to connect with
consumers on a personal level and keep them visiting a blog regularly.
While it can be used for any type of business, small businesses may gain
more benefit from it because blogs offer little-known small businesses name
recognition and the chance to boost traffic. That is why blogs are now used
for personal businesses which are usually conducted from the ownersÊ
residences.

This new media are used as virtual shops and marketing tools for various
kinds of businesses such as accessories, fabrics, shawls, graphic design
services, homemade cookies, etc. They post images and details of the
products for their customers viewing.
To make an order, customers just need to fill in an online form and wait for
the response from the owner of the blogs. The orders will usually be sent to
the customerÊs e-mail and payment can be done via credit card or fund
transfer. The product that has been ordered will be posted to the customer
as soon as the payment is made.
(b) Online Forum

Online forums, also known as Internet forums and message boards are
online discussion sites. People who participate in online forums may form a
social bond and form interest groups for topics that were discussed.
An online forum can be a good place to find a group of users with the same
demand. Therefore, some Internet users use online forums including online
directories such as Mesra.net, Cari.com, Carigold.com to promote their
personal business online. Some of them use this as a marketing tool for
sales of second-hand products while others sell new items.
Online forums or online directories are typically divided into categories in

order for users to easily find any information. This also enables direct
communication for any enquiries.
(c) Online Social Networking

With more and more people using online social networks such as Facebook
and Twitter, it has become a potential marketplace for businesses and
marketers. These social media are full of prospects and leading information
spot for sales and marketing because it is a place for like-minded people
who share the same interests.
Online social networks also encourage collaboration and can replace

intranets, while promoting a non-email conversation channel. Therefore,
social networking is great at building relationships, growing communities,
serving an audience and helping people to find business. The trick with
social networking is to get people to like or trust you. It can also be used to
improve your relationships with existing and past customers.

The social networks sometimes can be used with blogs in a marketing

strategy. Social networks are used to attract and gather the customers and
then the blog will use it as a sales tool where they can make their selection
and order. For instance, Hijab G.A.R.D.E.N and Patricia Boutique use
Facebook as customer services, promotion and sale tools for their
businesses. These two online businesses attract end-users as their main
customer and they supply the product in small quantities at affordable
prices.
Some social networks also offer online advertising to the users. Facebook,
for example, allows their members to create an advertisement for the
product or business and place it at the sidebar. This can be an effective tool
where people can click on it when they see it each time they sign on the
account. Social networking has been used as platforms that engages and
empowers its customers with the opportunity to communicate with the
business. Their network becomes wider because this type of social media
will always spread from friend to friend.
4.6 BLOGROLLS AND FILTERING THE WEB

Previously, there were a few bloggers and they were linked to one another. With
the introduction of easily used blog sites such as WordPress and Blogosphere
blogs are now growing rapidly. More and more people use blogs. We, as users,
have many options to pick and follow certain blogs that suit our interests.
With hundreds of millions of blogs, how do we find a newly launched blog or

interesting blogs that we want? This is the importance of blogrolls in weblogs. It
is provided by bloggers, usually in the blogÊs sidebar (depending on the blog
template layout).
A blogroll is a list of links to the blogs that a particular blogger likes and
recommends to the readers. Sometimes bloggers divide their blogrolls into
categories. The blogroll can be set up based on each bloggerÊs personal
preferences and it can be updated at any time.
Blogrolls can be a powerful tool that leads to increased traffic. That is why
bloggers should make their existence visible on related sites in their niche. If they
can get their blogÊs link listed on other blogs, it means that other people, who
read those blogs might notice the link, follow it and start reading their blog too

Blogrolls are linked to publicity and exposure across the blogosphere. It can
become a good networking tool. It can give added benefit if the blogger thinks
that his readers can benefit from and enjoy. This is one of the ways as to how
each blog can be shared and read by potential readers.
With the explosion of millions of blogs and other new media applications
including social media, we are now exposed to too much information that is
spreading widely on the global network. However, not all information is useful
and some of the information is inappropriate to us, especially to children or
under aged users. Therefore, Internet filters and web content filters are used
especially in our home computers.
Institutions or organisations also filter the web to control the browsing

capabilities of their staff on the network. They can even assign certain restrictions
to certain computers and certain individuals with the help of these filters. You
can even go so far as to put restrictions on browsing capabilities on a timer to
ensure that employees can still access sites that they want to access, except
during office hours where productivity is needed.
Filtering the web can be implemented in many different ways, namely by a

software programme on a personal computer or by servers providing Internet
access. Generally there are four types of filters that can be used, such as:
(a) Client-side Filters

This type of filter is installed as software on your computer. This filter can
be customised to meet a familyÊs needs. This filter can only be disabled by
someone with the password.
(b) Content-limited (or Filtered) ISPs

Content-limited (or filtered) ISPs are Internet service providers that offer
access to only a set portion of Internet content. Anyone who subscribes to
this type of service is subjected to the same type of restrictions. These types
of filters are especially designed for children. It offers web pages that have
been carefully reviewed multiple times and assessed for their
appropriateness and safety. Content, entertainment and education are key
aspects as well. There are strict rules for those who break chat room and
bulletin board rules. Those who break the rules are uninvited. Email and
instant messages can only be received from specified parties.

(c) Server Filter-sides

These servers are in demand and are very useful in institutional settings.
Some examples include schools or library systems. All users are subject to
the access policy defined by the institution. The filtering comes from the
institutionsÊ ISPs directly or from the institution itself. The filtering can be
customised. A school districtÊs high school library can have a different
filtering profile than the districtÊs junior high school library.
(d) Search-engine Filters

Many search engines, such as Google and Alta Vista offer users the option
of turning on a safety filter. When this safety filter is activated, it filters out
the inappropriate links from all of the search results. If one knows the
actual URL of a website that features sexual explicit or 18 + content, they
have the ability to access it without using a search engine. Engines like
Lycos, Yahoo and Bing offer juvenile-oriented versions of their engines that
permit only children friendly websites.
ACTIVITY 4.5
Not everybody agrees with the filtering of the web. Some of the Internet
users raise the issue of filtering as a control of free content especially
when it is used in the government sectors for their employees. What
do you think of this issue? In your opinion, why do some people
disapprove of filtering the web?
4.7 DATA AND SPAM

With the advancement of network technology, we are now exposed to various
types of data and information. The technology becomes easier to use for
everyone and we can create any data and information, then disseminate to
everybody else in the global network.
New media gives power and control to the user to select useful data for their
own purposes. The content provider can provide or offer any kinds of
information to huge audiences. And this data can be found easily in global
networks like the Internet.

However, sometimes we receive unwanted data or spam which is also called

unwanted electronic junk mail. Most of spam are commercial advertising
generated by marketing firms that collected from mailing lists, chat rooms,
membership application, ISPÊs public directories and websites. Some of the
spams are scams. It is very popular on the Internet because it is easy to create and
is cheap and it is also difficult to track down the creators.
Spam is „flooding the Internet with many copies of the same message, in an
attempt to force the message on people who would not otherwise choose to
receive it‰ (spam.abuse.net). Spam started to become a problem when the
Internet was opened up to the general public in the mid-1990s. It grew
exponentially over the following years and today composes some 80 to 85% of all
the e-mail in the world.
We always think of spam in the form of e-mail, but it also exists in other media
like instant messaging, Usenet newsgroup, web search engine, blogs, wikis,
online classified ads and the Internet forum. Some of us may have received junk
mail that try to get us to download a virus, reveals our bank account number, or
send in money or products that we will never receive.
To protect or avoid spam, especially in e-mail accounts, the easiest way is to turn
spam filters on. The filters will block the spam and other unwanted e-mails.
However, sometimes it will block e-mail messages that we want. We can also use
spam-fighting software which generally offers more capabilities than the filters
that come together with the e-mail software. Among them are SpamKiller, Spam
Exterminator and Spam Buster.
• Instant Messaging, or IM, is a form of real-time direct text-based

communication between two or more people over the Internet or other type
of networks.
• A blog is a web application which contains periodic posts in a common web

page.
• There are many different types of blogs, but we can generally categorise blogs
into two types: personal blogs and organisational blogs.

• Blogs offer us fresh content, personal content and newsworthy content.
• Wikis refer to an online collaborative writing tool.
• A wiki is a webpage that can be viewed, created and modified by anybody

with the web browser and access to the Internet.
• A podcast is a series of digital media files ă music, interviews, talks ă that are
released episodically.
Blogs Podcast
Filters Spam
Instant messaging Wikis
Online publishing
1. What do you understand by the following terms?
(a) Instant messaging
(b) Wikis
(c) Weblogs
(d) Podcasts
(e) Spam
2. What are the advantages of podcasts?
3. There are a few types of filters. State and discuss each of them.

1. Discuss the differences between e-mail and IMs.
2. Weblogs or blogs are also seen as online daily journals at the beginning of
its introduction. The reason for using the blog is not just as online daily
journal anymore. Now, more and more people began to use this application
for many purposes. Discuss.
3. Wikis have been used widely in education among the students and the
teachers. Why? Give your opinions.
4. Spam refers to unwanted massages that always come in bulk mail by

unknown senders. What should we do to avoid the spam?
Harris, D. (2008). Blogging 100 Success Secrets ă 100 Most Asked Questions on
Building, Optimizing, Publishing, Marketing and How to Make Money
with Blogs. Brisbane, Australia: Emereo.
Hewitt, H. (2005). Blog: Understanding the information reformation thatÊs

changing your world. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson.
Holtz, S., & Hobson, N. (2007). How to do everything with podcasting. London:
McGraw-Hill Professional.
Levinson, P. (2009). New media. London: Pearson.
Schneiderman, R. (2002). The mobile technology question and answer book: A

survival guide for business managers. AMACOM Div. American Mgmt.
Assn.
Weat, J. A., & West, M. L. (2008). Using wikis for online collaboration: The power
of the read-write web. New York: John Wiley and Sons.

T op i c  New Media as
5 Cultural
Technologies
LEARNING OUTCOMES
1. Explain the important elements and concepts in new media and
cultural technologies;
2. Describe the relationship between new media and cultural
technologies;
3. Explain the development and pattern of media, modernity and post
modernity;
4. Describe the characteristics of media as messengers; and
5. Identify the applications of new media which are always evolving
and changing.
 INTRODUCTION
Marshall McLuhan, the Canadian scholar was one of the renowned theorists of
media and new media and began to be closely associated with the study of the
emergent electronic media culture after the publication of his book entitled
Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man (1964). He was able to depict the
key insights into the role of media in contemporary society. In his book,
McLuhan stated that:
Today, after more than a century of electric technology, we have

extended our central nervous system itself in a global embrace, abolishing
both space and time as far as our planet is concerned. Rapidly, we
approach the final phase of the extensions of man ă the technological

TOPIC 5 NEW MEDIA AS CULTURAL TECHNOLOGIES  95
simulation of consciousness, when the creative process of knowing will

be collectively and corporately extended to the whole of human society,
much as we have already extended our senses and our nerves by the
various media.
McLuhanÊs keen observation of man and his messages through the media turned
McLuhan into one of the most acclaimed media theorists and is regarded as an
influential writer on the topic of emerging electronic media culture. In the 1960s,
he began writing on the subject of television and the electronic media and
became a commentator of the media industry giving his opinions about the
impact of media on society. More significantly, it was McLuhan who began to
realise the increasing importance of the computer culture in the history of man
and society.
His Understanding Media (1964) is a seminal study that conveyed his

understanding of the influence of the media on culture and social life. He tracked
the early developments of the oral medium into the print culture of the written
word and to the next phase of the electronic culture from the electronic
production of communication. It was at this point that McLuhan stated that print
technology and the written word were the initial mass technology that generated
modern education, modern culture and society and initiated modern thinking in
Western society. In this book, McLuhan came out with his most famous aphorism
of „the media is the message‰ which suggests that it is the media themselves that
should be the focus of study and not the content. Basically, McLuhan is saying
that technological extensions of our bodies affect our minds and our societies.
As mentioned before, mass communication institutions produce and disseminate

media products to a vast audience. With the advent of the new media, techniques
used by specialist media groups garner the use of technological devices
especially press, radio, television and films to disseminate content to an even
larger mass audience. Mass media institutions operate within the formal and
informal rules of operations, the regulations and policy requirements that are set
in place by society. Convergence of computing and telecommunication
technologies, especially the Internet, has contributed to a profound and
transformative impact on society and the way we live, the economic activities,
the way we go about conducting our businesses as well as the way we work and
interact with each other.
Today, Malaysian homes are very media friendly compared to the situation
during our parentsÊ and grandparentsÊ times. It is also a period where
Malaysians would often talk about information society as the basis of modern
societies. The policy makers would be looking into the prospects of providing
appropriate employment in a knowledge-based society.

96  TOPIC 5 NEW MEDIA AS CULTURAL TECHNOLOGIES
We are witnessing significant mass media development in the Malaysian

broadcasting sector, especially in radio and television broadcast. Media activities
are also developed around the main activities of proliferating information and
dissemination of information and symbolic content of culture to the members of
society.
According to Flew (2005), the development of new media technologies and their
relationship with social, political, economic and the cultural impacts must be
understood in all their connections. Thus, new media need to be studied in an
interdisciplinary approach, taking into consideration the corpus of studies from
the various fields of media and communication studies, sociology, psychology,
cultural studies, economics and political economy, as well as politics, discourse
analysis, history and visual arts.
This topic will focus on the various ways in which technology has been
understood through its linkages with culture, paying special attention to the
concept of cultural technology as a way of understanding the technology not
only as an entity that affects the culture, but as a form of culture itself.
5.1 TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE

The history of media may be tracked from the beginning of humankindÊs
attempt to communicate with their fellow beings. Thus, the timeline of human
communication reflects the earliest attempt to establish oral communication
and oral culture up till the advent of the digital age. The various cultural
developments of humankind are indicated by the following eras:
(a) The Tribal Age: Oral Culture
(i) Dependence on sense of hearing, touch and taste were more

developed than the visual;
(ii) Importance of narratives; and
(iii) Attention on individual interaction.
(b) The Age of Literacy: Writing
(i) The visual senses began to develop;
(ii) Process of internalisation and logical and linear thinking of the

sciences; and
(iii) Philosophical thoughts.

(c) The Print Era: Advent of the Printing Press
(i) Standardisation of national language;
(ii) Sense of nationality; and
(iii) Visual senses develop and spread.
(d) The Electronic Age: Electronic Media and New Media
(i) Emergence of the Global Village;
(ii) Rise of information society;
(iii) Information-based occupations; and
(iv) Rise of knowledge society.
Williams (2003) believed that the shift of activity from food gathering to the agro-
based practices and then the industrialised societies are what made civilisation a
reality. The early agrarian period is followed by the literacy period which formed
a meeting ground of new ideas and inventions. In a sense it is a shift from the
agricultural workplace to the office and to the desktop and virtual workplaces.
In the present millennium, modern men and women are empowered by the
latest technological tools known to mankind, such as e-mail, voice-mail, mobile
telephones, video conferencing, desktop computing and digital printing, instant
messaging, text messaging, twitter and other appliances and devices.
The relationship between culture and technology has always been reciprocal and
cultures respond to human needs and challenges. Societies and their cultures
have retained the attention of scholars because this relationship has a long and
rich history. For a long time scholars have accepted the fact that technology is not
just about technical tools. In the beginning of history, man began using
technology in its early forms. In this early period, technology refers to early tools
and crafts by the early man. This period is followed by men who were able to
invent machines which later progressed to the invention of various forms of
mechanical, industrial, electronics and now digital technology. In this context,
most thinkers and philosophers claim that man have always maintained their
control over the tools and machines due to their superior minds and power of
reason. Mankind have often thought about their relationship to technology and
at various times had questioned the possibility that man may over-exploit

technology and in the process jeopardise the survival rate of mankind.

Thus, there is often a connection between human thoughts and philosophy to
technology, as shown below in this passage from BolterÊs TuringÂs Man (1984):
... technology is as much a part of classical and Western culture as

philosophy and science and that these „high and lowly‰ expressions of
culture are closely related.
Bolter (1984) also used the term „defining technologies‰ to refer to the various
devices that have such a major presence and impact on man and society. And
in the most current cycle in the history of humankind, the machines have
transformed into the computer which is now the most significant and dominant
technological paradigm of our culture.
Therefore, the computer is essentially the most defining technology of the

twentieth century and remains one of the most influential tools of contemporary
life. It is also observed that as machines changed into other newer forms, so has
culture, each one influencing the other in a web of influence. For example,
television is seen as a cultural technology that acts upon people while the
networked personal computer is a technology that people use to interact with
other people (Flew, 2005).
Hence, it is logical to track the beginning of the first usage of digital media in
the 1990s as the first generation studies of the Internet and the new media. An
approach towards the study of social and cultural impact of the new media may
be seen in the following three levels of technology. The first level is the simplest
technology which is similar in meaning to tools and artefacts used by early
humans to act with nature and allow interactions with one another. The second
level also looked at the context of use of the technology. The third level brings
into focus the systems of knowledge and social meaning that comes with the
system as found in the development of education and training to acquire the new
competencies of the new technology.
The third level meaning of culture raised attention to the ways that members of
society are not free agents but are produced as social beings tied to a system
of social, cultural, linguistic and psychological relationships. This refers to the
fact that individuals are made to conform within a culture, giving rise to the
approach of British cultural studies where the emphasis is on the cultural
approach to communication studies where communication is not just seen at a
simple level of communicating with one another but it is a much more complex
exchange of reality which is constructed, maintained or transformed.

ACTIVITY 5.1
We can define technology and culture according to the three level

approach in Table 5.1. Discuss the similarities and differences in the
three level approach.
Table 5.1: Defining Technology and Culture: A Three-level Approach
Definition of
Level Definition of Culture
Technology
First level Technology as physical Culture as „the arts‰
„Common-sense‰ object, tools and and aesthetic
definitions artefact. excellence.
Second level Technology as content Culture as „ways of
„Contextual‰ or user- or „software‰, defined life‰ or lived experience
based definitions by how it is used. of peoples,
communities or groups.
Third level Technology as systems Culture as underlying
„Communicative‰ or of knowledge and „structural system‰.
„structural‰ definitions social meaning.
Source: Flew (2005)
5.2 MEDIA, MODERNITY AND

POSTMODERNITY
In this section we are going to look at the development of the media in the
modern age, through to the post-modern era.
5.2.1 Modernity
It is often noticed that people have always been influenced by contemporary
ideologies, philosophies and technologies that surround them. In the western
world, philosophies and technologies have often shown a close connection as
mentioned by Bolter (1984):
... technology is as much a part of classical and Western culture as

philosophy and science... In the same way it makes sense to regard the
computer as a technological paradigm for science, philosophy, even the art
of the coming generation.
The previous section shows the relationship between technology and culture. The
main argument has always revolved around whether or not media technology
has the influence to transform culture. McLuhan in Understanding Media (1964)
was one of the renowned scholars on emergent electronic media culture. In this
book he provided explanations about the role of the media in contemporary
society. In the 1960s he wrote about the importance of television and electronic
broadcasting and entertainment media on contemporary society. He maintained
that the role of television and electronic culture had caused a break from the print
era and launched the electronic era. McLuhan had since those times forecasted on
the emergence of computer culture which will again create a new contemporary
society that will further change the nature of man and society. McLuhanÊs
opinions have been identified as a major theory of modernity because he was
able to look at the changing nature of the origins of the modern world.
Beginning from the 1970s, the subject of Western modernity became one of the
main discourses of the western world. The concept of modernism in the
infrastructural sense began in the 1890s and 1900s. This period is marked by
mass technological innovations. New technology can be seen in the advent of the
telephone, typewriter which became the basic office equipment and systems
management of the era. In mass media the 1890s saw the beginnings of mass
circulation of newspapers and the introduction of the first radio wave
transmission by Marconi in 1901. Therefore, the modernist telephone, telegraphy
and other technological innovations were the artefacts of everyday life circa 1907.
The modern copper telephone is then transformed into the postmodern fibre-
optic cable which increases the information data by leaps and bounds.
McLuhan regarded print technology, books, newspapers, modern industry and

mechanisations as well as other modern technologies which illustrated the
institution of the modern world and therefore showed the conditions of
modernity.
5.2.2 Postmodernity
McLuhan is often seen as the prophet of cyberspace and the new computer
culture and the extent of how new media can transform societies as detected in
his Understanding Media (1964):
Today computers hold out the promises of a means of instant translation of

any code of or language. The computer in short, promises by technology
a Pentecostal condition of universal understanding and unity. The next
logical step would seem to be, not to translate, but to by-pass languages in
favour of a general cosmic consciousness ...

Lister et al. (2003) speak of other kinds of social and cultural changes that were
identified beginning from the 1960s, such as the shift from modernity to
postmodernity „to characterise deep and structural changes in societies from the
1960s onwards, with correlative cultural changes‰.
Society has indeed begun to break away from the print era as well as the
industrial-mechanical era into a postmodern society with its own forms of
culture and way of life as well as a new medium of communication.
According to McLuhan the specific technologies is representative of the modern

world and at the same time the emergent electronic technologies began to usher
in the new postmodern era.
Beginning from the 1970s, the subject of Western modernity became one of the
main discourses of the western world.
Media scholars focused on how the postmodern developed into a mode of

knowledge that impacted on the understanding of the media and the audience.
Television had by this time became the central technology and television
audiences had emerged as a major entity in the relationship between technology
and society. Broadcast television has indeed become one of the most powerful
media of postmodernity. McLuhan presents media and technology as powerful
forces in the history of mankind. He delves into the inner insights of man and the
technology of the media and their roles in modern society which progresses into
a new postmodern era of new information and communication technology.
Flew (2005) sees the development of the era of modernity in the various
transformations of social, political, economic and cultural lives, such as:
(a) Development of nation-states as principal forms of political, economic and

legal organisation;
(b) Rise of capitalism as dominant economic form;
(c) Bureaucratic administration of public life by governments;
(d) Industrialisation and the increasingly important role of science and

technology; and
(e) Urbanisation and the growth of cities, promoted by economic and

employment shifts from agriculture to industry.

Such forms of activities are made possible through mediated communication, the
use of technical media for communication across time and space. Mass media is
at the centre of governance in a society which is more modern and members are
highly literate and media savvy.
There is a school of thought that suggests that postmodernity refers to cultural

changes within capitalism. It is a term that denotes some form of sequentiality ă
post-modernism follows after modernism but it is still open to debate and tough
questions.
Postmodernity presupposes modernity which is more linked to the

Enlightenment period. Society is thus very different from the earlier modernist
type. By the 1980s, the term postmodern began to make its way into the media
world, being used by amongst others, Baudrillard, another well-known French
philosopher who has contributed to the theoretical aspects on this subject. He
began to be acknowledged as the successor to McLuhan due to his analysis of a
new postmodern society of which he claims that the media would play an
important role. He sees the media as the main simulation machines which
produce images, signs and codes making up an autonomous realm of hyper-
reality that plays a major role in our day-to-day life. Baudrillard also feels that
codes, models and signs are forming new forms of a new social order where
simulation is the main thing. He also sees the postmodern world as one of hyper-
reality whereby information and communication technologies, entertainment
provide acute and engulfing experiences. The media simulations of reality, such
as mega malls, theme parks, Disneyland and TV sports become more real.
Formerly, media were thought of as reflections of reality, whereas the media now
is more of a hyper-reality, into something considered as more real than real itself.
It is undeniable that McLuhan and Baudrillard talk about the centrality of the
media and technology in the contemporary society. Both theorists recognise the
power and importance of new media and its impact on culture and society.
The computer is also regarded by cultural theorists as a postmodern technology

and the computer is the most representative ethos of the postmodern world.
BaudrillardÊs (1996) explanation is a good summary of the postmodern condition:
„Today we live in the imaginary world of the screen, of the interface and
reduplication of contiguity and networks. All our machines are screens. We
too have become screens and the interactivity of men has become the
interactivity of screens. Nothing that appears on the screen is meant to be
deciphered in depth, but actually to be explored instantaneously, in an
abreaction immediate to meaning ă or an immediate convolution of the
poles of representation.‰

5.3 MEDIA IS THE MESSAGE

In his attempt to clarify his trademark slogan, McLuhan alludes to the light bulb
which by itself has no content but it is important in a sense that it brings light
to space and in the process becomes an enabler for people to create and be
productive in many ways. He adds that (1968):
The message of the electric light is like the message of electric power in the
industry. Totally radical, pervasive and decentralised. For the electric light
and power are separate from their uses, yet they eliminate time and space
factors in human association exactly as do radio, telegraph, telephone and
television, creating involvement in depth.
In this book too, McLuhan looks at media in terms of its impact on a person. He
feels that different media create different levels of interactivity on the viewer. He
considers the movies as „hot‰ media in a sense that movies enhance the sensation
of vision. A movie spectator has the pleasure of seeing all kinds of details on
screen but the television is considered as a „cool‰ media because the viewer has
to try to determine meaning and demands an effort to create value. He again
insists that all media have characteristics that engage the consumer in varying
ways. To him, a paragraph in a book could be read again whenever the reader
wants to but a film would have to be viewed in full before one could review any
particular part of it.
5.4 CONTINUITY AND CHANGE

Raymond Williams, a reputable sociologist who has issues with some of
McLuhanÊs opinions, reminds us all that the term media, which is the plural of
the term medium has been present in the history of man and society since fifty
years ago. The thinking of media as extensions of man had been used by
Aristotle as far back as the fifth century B.C. The idea that technology somehow
induced changes in the human capabilities has been present in the writings of
Aristotle, Marx, Bergson (1920) and new media observers such as Gibson (1984).
Bergson and Marx agreed that nature endowed the human body with tool-
making capability and McLuhan pointed to the continuity of the new media as
part of nature of man and his environment.

New media began to feature as a term by the 1980s and by this time the shape of
the world of media and communication began to change, from printing,
photography, television to telecommunications. Such media has always been
undergoing change in the technological, institutional and cultural sense. Other
kinds of change that are linked to the emergence of new media may be traced as
part of the media continuity such as:
(a) A shift from modernity to postmodernity;
(b) Intensifying processes of globalisation; and
(c) A replacement of an age of manufacturing by a post-industrial information

age.
Giddens, Harvey and Thompson (Lull, 2001) speak about how time and space in
modernity and postmodernity have implications for the changing nature of
culture. Human communication and relationships have changed in accordance
with the technologies that accompany them. Modern economic changes and
technological developments have not much regard for geographical boundaries
and are losing control over the audiences. Change is the constant denominator in
the history of human communication.
ACTIVITY 5.2
New media as cultural technologies talks not only about the social
and cultural shifts associated with the distinctive nature of these
technologies, but also focuses on the social and cultural continuities that
provide the contexts of activities of these new technologies. Discuss this
with your coursemates.
• The history of the media may be tracked from the beginning of humankindÊs
attempt to communicate with fellow beings.
• Technology refers to tools and crafts by early man, followed by machines and
later on by all forms of mechanical, industrial, electronics and now digital
technology.

• The relationship between culture and technology has always been reciprocal
and cultures respond to human needs and challenges.
• Society has begun to break away from the print era as well as the industrial-
mechanical era into a postmodern society with its own forms of culture and
way of life as well as a new medium of communication.
• Postmodernity presupposes modernity which is more linked to the

Enlightenment period.
• The computer is also regarded by cultural theorists as a postmodern

technology and the computer is the most representative ethos of the
postmodern world.
• Formerly media were thought of as reflections of reality, the media now is

more of a hyper-reality, into something considered as more real.
Media Print media

Modernity Electronic media
Postmodernity
1. What is new media?
2. Why is the new media regarded as a cultural technology?
3. Explain the differences in the three-level approach of „culture‰ and

„technology‰?
4. Why does McLuhan regard media as a message?
5. Explain the connection of cultural technologies with new media.

Baudrillard, J. (1996). Xerox and infinity (Trans.). London, England:

Agitac/Touchepas.
Bergson, H. (1920). Creative evolution. London: Macmillan.
Bolter, J. D. (1984). TuringÊs man: Western culture in the computer age. Chapel
Hill: University of California Press.
Flew, T. (2005). New media: An introduction. Victoria: Oxford University Press.
Gibson, W. (1984). Neuromancer. New York: Ace.
Jameson, F. (1991). Postmodernism, or the cultural logic of late capitalism.

Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
Lister, M., Dovey, J., Giddings, S., Grant, I., & Kelly, K. (2003). New media: A
critical introduction. London: Routledge.
Lull, J. (2001). Culture in the communication age. London: Routledge.
Williams, R. (1965). The long revolution. London: Chatto & Windus.

Topic  Convergence
6
LEARNING OUTCOMES
1. Define the concept of convergence in new media technology;
2. Analyse the types of convergence;
3. Discuss the different features of convergence; and
4. Identify the elements of convergence in new media technology.
 INTRODUCTION
The development and advancement of media technology has led to a
phenomenon referred to as „convergence‰. We are now seeing the delivery of
multimedia communication across a range of networks that was traditionally
separated. This innovation helps us extend access to a much broader range of
affordable services.
Convergence is a fact. It is no longer a trend and it will take us further.

Convergence is a word that we always hear when we talk about new media
technology. ICT firms have also begun adopting converged business models
and expanding to non-traditional services. It brings together the computing,
telecommunication, and media and information services.

108  TOPIC 6 CONVERGENCE
In this topic, our discussion will emphasise on this concept which may be
considered as one of the important elements in mew media technology. Through
this topic, you will have a better understanding of the convergence concept as
well as the types and the various applications.
ACTIVITY 6.1
Some people say that converged devices are frequently less functional
and reliable than their component parts. As the functions in a single
device escalates, the ability of that device to serve its original function
decreases.
As a user of new media, what do you think of this opinion?
6.1 WHAT IS CONVERGENCE?

The convergence factor changes everything. It offers efficiency that could never
be realised before. This feature has a significant impact on ICT sectors and has
influenced media technology that keeps changing from time to time. It brings
things together in a common format or in the same space.
Nowadays, we are surrounded by a multi-level convergent media world where

all modes of communication and information are continually reforming to adapt
to demands of technologies.

TOPIC 6 CONVERGENCE  109
Figure 6.1: New media products resulting from the process of convergence
Convergence is seen as one of the important elements of new media because it
consists of the 3Cs: Computing and Information Technology; Communication
Networks; and Digitised Media and Information Content.

Table 6.1 gives you several definitions of convergence.
Table 6.1: Definitions of Convergence
Scholar Definition
Henry Jenkins (2006) Convergence should be understood primarily as a
technological process bringing together multiple media
function within the same device.
Rajendra Singh and Convergence is a process driven by technology and demand
Siddharta Raja (2010) and resulting from serviceÊs providers adopting new
technologies and business practices.
Alex Shneyderman Convergence is an act of a transition of two or more dissimilar
and Alessio Casati entities to become similar.
(2008)
Gracie Lawson- Convergence as the realm of the possibilities when
Borders (2006) cooperation occurs between print and broadcast for the
delivery of multimedia content through the use of computers
and the Internet.
Palviks (2004) Convergence is the coming together of computing,
telecommunication and media in digital environment.
Green Paper on The ability of different network platforms to carry essentially
Convergence similar kinds of services or the coming together of consumer
(European devices such as the telephone, television and personal
Commission, 1997) computer.
According to Saxtoft (2008), different authors define convergence differently yet

are usually complementary:
(a) The „technology author‰ ă Convergence identifies a general pattern in the

evolutionary process, namely the tendency to bring entities together, for
example the coming together of classical telecommunication, the Internet,
information technology and broadcasting, the ability to offer multiple
services on a single network or the ability to offer the same service via more
than one medium.
(b) The „media author‰ ă The flow of content across multiple media platforms,
the cooperation between multiple media industries and migratory
behaviour of media audiences who will go almost anywhere in search of
the kinds of entertainment experiences they want.

Some researchers divide the concept of convergence into three levels:

technological level, the industry level and the service level. Others divide media
convergence into four levels: industrial level, distribution level, technological
level and product level. Generally, we can divide convergence into three levels,
such as follows (Flew, 2004):
(a) Functional convergence ă Information and media content processed

through computer-based information technology systems and carried to its
end-users across broadband communication networks.
(b) Industry convergence ă Involves a series of takeovers, mergers and

strategic alliances that strengthened linkages between the computing and
IT industries, telecommunications companies and the media sectors.
(c) Convergent products and services ă Forms of media and information

content that take advantage of a networked broadband infrastructure, the
capabilities provided by digitalisation and the scope for interactivity user
customisation of services.
ACTIVITY 6.2
Based on the three levels of convergence that have been discussed,

provide appropriate examples for each level. What do you think of each
of those convergence levels? Discuss.
Generally we can define convergence as the interlinking of computing and

other information technologies, media content and communication networks
(see Figure 6.2). This happens because of the evolution of the Internet as well as
the activities, products and services (see Figure 6.3) that have emerged in the
digital media space.

Figure 6.2: The convergence
Figure 6.3: Digital book that we can access from the International ChildrenÊs Digital
library

6.2 CONVERGENCE OF TECHNOLOGY

The development of technology has driven companies to converge and to create
demand for new products. Now we have 3G in phones. We also can watch
television on the mobile phone or computer. We also can make phone calls from
our personal computers.
The convergence seems to be blending many types of technologies into one.

Manufacturers are now integrating more advanced features such as video
recording, GPS receivers, data storage and security mechanisms into the
traditional mobile phone.
Many of us have mobile phones that we use for other features besides what the
phone was originally intended for ă giving someone a call. We manage our
e-mails, we listen to music, we take photos of our friends and family and we
Google for information or we find our location via GPS applications.
This technological convergence is a result of the rapid developments in

the electronic industry, where processor speed, memory capacity and
miniaturisation has given us new opportunities. It involves digitalisation of
communication and the falling cost of computing.
Adner and Levinthal (2000) define technological convergence as the unification

of formerly distinct technologies into a common application domain, which one
of the antecedent technologies is applied. Technology convergence can be seen as
a trend in which different hardware devices such as TVs, computers and phones
merge and have similar functions. It is a major source of new opportunities,
innovation and value creation.
In this digital era, we can see many technical foundations in ICT which involves
the convergence of the technologies of telecommunication, data communication
and mass communication to produce one single digital communication
infrastructure. With this innovation, all our activities can be linked including
online and offline communication.

Figure 6.4: Convergence in telecommunication, data communication

and audio visual mass communication
6.2.1 Convergence in Telecommunication

Traditionally, telecommunication is based on circuit switching where the
permanent link is kept open between exchanging calls, text and data. The link
has to be switched on and off and was done by operators. However, the
technology changed and the evolution of switching has been accompanied
by digitalisation. The development of telecommunication begun with fixed
telephony then was gradually replaced by mobile telephony that has been
through several developments and advancements.
Mobile telephony started with the analogue cordless cellular phone and car
phone, followed by digital mobile phones that comprise GSM (Global System for
Mobile communication). Subsequently, the second generation mobile phone was
developed which included GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) that offers not
only cheaper facilities for Short Message Service (SMS) but also MMS (Multi
Media Messaging) and mobile Internet web pages.

The third generation of mobile phone offers broadband communication that

makes streaming video and multimedia Internet application available on laptop.
The development keeps improving which not only enables the transmission of
pictures and video on the phone, but the introduction of the videophone and
video or audio conferencing in fixed telephony. With all these features, the
telephone is not only connected to the computer but also to the audio-visual
media.
6.2.2 Convergence in Data Communication

Data communication refers to „a type of communication using technical media to
exchange data and text in the form of computer language‰ (van Dijk, 2006). The
advancement of technology improves data communication from connection
between large computer centres to connection between computers working on
their own or in local units.
When the computer connects to the telephone network, it offers more capacity
and becomes completely digital. The computer is able to assist the telephone
with certain programmes that automatically call back, put conversation and data
through to another telephone or monitor.
Now, with DSL (Digital Subscriber Line) and the replacement of copper by fibre
optic wires, the transmission of audio-visuals and multimedia web pages via
telephone lines and presenting it on computers and television screens is not
impossible. Therefore, data communication networks are able to blend the world
of audio-visual and television by using telephone lines.
6.2.3 Convergence in Mass Communication

Television programmes are usually accompanied by a parallel flow of
information. The creation of interactive television, or also known as ITV,
provides us with the opportunity to respond to programmes. Nowadays, we also
have seen television channels that combine with the Internet (via e-mail or
website) or telephony as a separate return channel.
Furthermore, the rise of local, corporate and personal radio, television and
websites are breaking up centralised broadcasting. Corporate TV, intranets or
extranets for text and data and multimedia websites with streaming video may
be produced by anybody including businesses, government agencies and
individual producers themselves.

Computer gaming with high-quality audio and video is available on the Internet
in web-gaming. Videoconferencing has become a type of communication in
digital era. With this technology, the message of mass communication can be
exchanged easily among groups.
ACTIVITY 6.3
According to PricewaterhouseCoopers, the end-user (the consumer) is

driving convergence. How might this happen? Discuss the factors that
might lead to this.
6.3 CONVERGENCE OF SOFTWARE

APPLICATIONS
We always use software to store data or other programmes for future use. And
one that we might be familiar with is the application software which includes
end-user applications of computers such as word processors or video games and
ERP (Enterprise Resources Planning) for groups of users.
Different application software offers different functions based on users and the
area it serves. This type of software is developed for certain purposes which
either can be a specific programme or a collection of programmes, such as a
graphic browser or the database. The applications can include business software,
gaming, educational software, telecommunication, image editing and others.
Now, the development and advancement of technology bring us to convergence

software applications which are widely seen in web applications. For instance,
we can apply Google Maps to real estate data in order to find the available homes
in a particular community.
Besides that, convergence has made it possible for the emerging of social
software that encompasses a range of software systems where it allows users to
interact and share data. Many of these applications share characteristics like open
application programming interface, service-oriented design and the ability to
upload data and media. These software applications include communication
tools and interactive tools.
Convergence always refers to the use of two or more modes of computer-

mediated communication that at the end will create the formation of a
community that we call „online community‰. It is created by combining one-to-
one (such as IM or e-mail), one-to-many (weblogs) and many-to-many (wikis)

communication modes. With these applications (see Figure 6.5), some groups
schedule their real life meetings and in the process become "real" communities of
people that share physical lives.
Figure 6.5: Habbo, one of the „virtual worlds‰ that imitates the real world
For instance, this can be seen in „virtual worlds‰ where it is possible to meet and
interact with other people in a virtual environment just like the real world. The
user usually manipulates an avatar through the world and begins interacting
with others using chat or voice chat. They can also play games and create things
in this world.
6.4 CONVERGENCE OF MEDIA

Convergence of media is always seen as the merging of capabilities of each
individual media channel aided by technology. It involves the expansion of
channels to content combinations. This process creates the ability for an
increasingly diverse range of content to be delivered through a range of media
channels. For instance, unlike the traditional delivery of TV programmes through
the television, we can now receive TV programmes not only on a TV, but also a
mobile phone, a computer and an iPod. We also can listen to radio and watch
television programmes via the Internet.

According to Jenkins (2006), it is where old and new media collide, where
grassroots and corporate media intersects, where the power of media producers
and power of media consumers interact in a predictable way. It is a process
whereby new technologies are accommodated by existing media and
communication industries and cultures.
We can see the convergence of media as an expression of forms (e.g. text, sound,
pictures, animations) and content, which have largely been considered separate
and can now be combined and thus converged into multimedia. This process
enables one medium to borrow expression forms and styles from another
medium and thus refers to the mediaÊs ability to converge (Brond & Bach
Mosebo, 2004).
Home phones are combining networking, video, computer ready and

information bases. They have had for years built answering machines into
telephones. Hand-held devices are combining computing power, graphics, video,
music, networking, email, phone and so on.
The process of convergence is actually blurring the distinction between media,

even between point-to-point communications such as post, telephone and
telegraph and mass communication such as the press, radio and television. In the
past, services that were provided in separate ways may now be provided in
several different physical ways.
For instance, Internet Protocol TV (IPTV) blurs „Internet‰ and „television‰ media
by recombining both media in a new distribution mode over various platform
and access devices. IPTV combines a managed Internet broadband network with
elements of traditional TV, in term of content, scheduling and packaging for us to
view. This new media also „innovates‰ an existing „television‰ cultural form.
Similarly, the publishing industry also seems to take the opportunity to produce
their print media such as magazines, newspapers and books in digital or
electronic form. Now, we not only can read texts in front of the computer screen
but also listen to the sound effects or background music and interact with the
content through the interactive elements that have been implemented in it.
We know that the traditional or old media such as newspapers, magazines, radio
and television are obviously distinct and separate. With the convergence of
media due to technology advancement (see Figure 6.6), many newspapers for
instance, now have online presence and some of them have blogs.

Figure 6.6: Digital storytelling that converge sound, text and video
Source: www.inanimatealice.com
Convergence shows that the way people use the media are fragmenting.
Traditional media have started to expand into online and mobile media.
Furthermore, the introduction of broadband policy by government will create
more opportunities and increase public access to what Jim Dywer refers to as the
„internet worked‰ media and communication platform.
ACTIVITY 6.4
The convergence of media is always seen as a good thing. It offers

benefits to us as consumers.
(a) Discuss the benefits that we can gain from this convergence process.
(b) Discuss the disadvantages of convergence.
(c) Sometimes convergence gives us too many options in terms of the

uses of new media. In your opinion, how should we choose to use it?

6.5 CONVERGENCE OF CONSUMPTION
ACTIVITY 6.5
1. How do you get information about current issues or news?
2. State how often you use the following media to get information
about news:
(a) Newspaper;
(b) Radio;
(c) Television; or
(d) Blog.
3. Do you use only one type of media to get information or news?
Convergence, usually technological, will have consequences in other forms,

including convergence in use. Media audiencesÊ response to innovation in ICTs
based simply on the new capabilities of ICTs. With the new technologies created,
a change is taking place in the consumption of media among the audiences.
We now see the convergence of consumption where it is different from the

traditional mode of media consumption. Before this, users always used a singular
activity with media at one time. Now, this has changed into a shared
environment.
Typically, televisions were the medium for us to watch our favourite

programmes. However, nowadays we can also watch those shows on the
Internet.
Printed newspapers used to be the main media to read news. Now, although
many of us still read newspapers daily, we also read the news through online
newspapers especially to get updated news. Some of us will use new media
technology such as blogs to get more detail of some news or issues.
Personal computers are generally used as the mode of access to the Internet. But
now, interestingly, the Internet can be accessed via a television set. For instance,
in Ireland, Unison set top technology was launched in February 2000 as a

„branding exercise‰. The internet set top box is an alternative internet platform
available to domestic users and is instrumental in this illustration of
consumption convergence.
With the innovation of technologies, we see the migratory behaviour of media

audiences who will go almost everywhere in search of the type of entertainment
experiences that they want.
6.6 CONVERGENCE OF ROLES: USER,

DEVELOPER, PRODUCER, CONSUMER
Innovation in new media technology has blurred the roles of their users. The
roles can overlap and interchange easily. We can see the convergence of roles in
new media now.
In traditional or old media, there are clear distinctions between the content
producer or provider and media user. Content of media is provided by many
and various professionals such as reporters, writers, public relation officers,
publishers and others. This group of people are hired to do their job to serve
society via their works that they publish in the media. And the content will be
accessed by the users or target audiences.
However, with technology advancement, there is no clear differentiation

between the media users. Consumers are no longer a group of passive audience
who just receive all messages that are provided for them. Consumers may also be
media developers and consumers can also be content producers.
ACTIVITY 6.6
Try to view as many blogs as you can. Identify who are the bloggers.
Are they really professionals? Are they trained as journalists? What do
you think of this phenomenon?
Consumers like us may also become content developers and producers. By using
website design software such as FrontPage or Adobe Dreamweaver, we can
develop our own website without hiring qualified web designers. We can be a
webmaster and easily upload any information that we want to share with others.

6.7 CONVERGENCE OF DISCIPLINES

We always relate media with the media and communication discipline.
However, with the development of new technology and the combined nature of
media products, the discipline becomes broader and are now not limited to
communication only. We can see an obvious convergence of disciplines.
New media technology involves various media in a single product and they
always connect with network systems. Therefore, it also relates to multimedia
and information technology discipline.
Now, we can see many media curriculum and research projects involving the
three disciplines; communication, multimedia and information technology. In
fact, some researches about new media are related to other disciplines such as
sociology, gender studies, political economy, politics and languages. These
interdisciplinary researches will further develop new knowledge in media and
communication studies.
6.8 EVALUATIONS AND IMPLICATIONS

Convergence brings innovation to media products. Existing communication
services and media products are gradually merging into joint multimedia
services. With this, different individual services are packaged for richer
experiences, as can be seen in Table 6.2:
Table 6.2: The Changes Brought by Convergence
Single Media Multimedia

Service
Present Future
Hearing Telephony Television
(Auditory) Broadcast Radio Video-on-demand
Sight Printed Media Picture telephony
(Visual) Messaging E-books Multisensory
Internet Virtual Reality
Games
Touch (Vibrating Alert)
(Kinaesthetic)
Source: Saxtoft (2008)

This innovation is both inevitable and necessary. We can see that it is necessary
economically because in some ways it can reduce the price and the audience may
gain more benefits in one single product. But there is a claim that convergence
in one domain, such as the productive/technological, will have inevitable
consequences in another, usually convergence in use. In the household,
consumer responses to innovation in ICTs diverge repeatedly from technical
forecasts based simply on new capabilities of ICTs. But, some innovations are
rather small and little but consumers tend to be attracted to all new things. That
makes them consume more media products at the same time. The success and
failure of new technology depends on how it will be used by the audiences.
However, the convergence in the digital communications environment and the

merging of the computer, television and telecommunications industries has led
to the vying for a slice of the market which includes telephone, cable television,
entertainment, broadcasting and newspaper companies, as well as satellite,
software and computer companies. These companies come from a variety of
industries and are divided generally along the lines of being either content
producers or technology creators, although these lines are continuously blurring.
The formerly separated worlds of publishing, broadcasting, cable and computing
are rapidly converging, both in terms of ownership and in cross-industry
collaboration.
• We can define convergence as the interlinking of computing and other

information technologies, media content and communication networks.
• Some researchers divide the concept of convergence into three levels:

technological level, the industry level and the service level.
• Generally we can divide convergence into three levels such as: functional
convergence; industry convergence; and convergence of products and
services.
Communication Intersect
Convergence Multimedia
Information Technology Telecommunication
Internet

1. Convergence consists of the 3Cs. Explain.
2. Find two (2) other definitions of convergence besides those given in this
topic.
3. Explain these types of convergence:
(a) Functional convergence; and
(b) Industrial convergence.
1. According to Jenkins „it is where old and new media collide, where
grassroots and corporate media intersects, where the power of media
producers and power of media consumers interact in a predictable way.‰
What does the statement mean? Discuss.
2. Discuss the implication of convergence to the following:
(a) Consumer;
(b) Media industry; and
(c) Law and regulations.
Dywer, T. (2010). Media convergence. New York: McGraw-Hill Professional.
Jenkins, H. (2006). Convergence culture: Where old and new media collide. New
York: NYU Press.
Lawson-Borders, G. (2006). Media organizations and convergence: Case studies

of media convergence pioneers. London: Routledge.
Rajendra Singh, & Siddhata Raja (2010). Convergence in information and

communication technology: Strategic and regulatory considerations. New
York: World Bank Publications.

Saxtoft, C. (2008). Convergence: User expectations, communications enablers and

business opportunities. London: John Wiley and Sons.
Shneyderman, A., & Casati, A. (2008). Fixed mobile convergence: Voice over Wi-
Fi, IMS, UMA/GAN, femtocells and other enablers. New York: McGraw-
Hill Professional.
London: Sage.

T op i c  New Media
7 Technology and
Mass
Communication
LEARNING OUTCOMES
1. Identify the use of new media technology in mass communication;
2. Analyse the benefits of new media technology as a tool of mass
communication;
3. Discuss the applications of new media technology that has been
used in the mass communication field; and
4. Interpret the global scenario on the usage of new media
technology.
 INTRODUCTION
Our forms of communication change from time to time with the innovation of
technology. According to Biagi (2003), we are now within the Third Information
Communication Revolution that started around the 1950s. It began with
computer technology and this technology is the main driving force in the
majority of changes affecting todayÊs communication and media.
New media technology is rapidly evolving and has a heavy impact on the media
industry and the practices of mass communications. It has been used widely in
the mass communication field such as journalism, broadcasting, advertising and
public relations. This technology modifies the form of communication from mass
communication to interactive communication

TOPIC 7 NEW MEDIA TECHNOLOGY AND MASS COMMUNICATION  127
This is one of the factors that we will discuss in this topic. We will see the
adaptation or usage of the new media technology that has become an integral
part of media production and distribution. It has also established itself as a
communication medium rivalling print and broadcast. Because of the new media
characteristics, including convergence and interactivity, it makes any kind of
spreading the information easier to the wider audience.
ACTIVITY 7.1
The rapidly changing technology gives us power to control information,

especially with the existence of new media technology. The difference
between audiences and content providers is blurring.
What do you think of this statement?
7.1 THE AUDIENCE OF NEW MEDIA

TECHNOLOGY
Mobile phone, CD-ROM, iPod, weblog, IMs and the Internet. These are the
examples of products from new media technology. Have you used any of them?
Most of us use those technologies in our daily life.
New media technology is actually used by everybody. It plays a vital role to

some of us and has become part of our fabric of life especially in this digital era.
In this day, we have seen and used many convergence technologies such as PDA,
iPhone, mobile phone with camera, watch with calculator, the Internet television
and others. As users, we are the audience of new media technology.
ACTIVITY 7.2
There are many new media products based on mobile communication
and Internet technologies. Based on your opinion, discuss the following
questions:
(a) What are the same features that all these products share?;
(b) What do you actually want from those products?; and
(c) Can those new products play the same role as mass
communication media?

128  TOPIC 7 NEW MEDIA TECHNOLOGY AND MASS COMMUNICATION
7.1.1 The Characteristics of New Media Audience

Generally, new technologies always influence the young generation. This
generation is the immediate group that will adapt easily to any new technology.
That is why they are always regarded as potential target audience to new
technology development, including new media. Basically the new mediaÊs
audiences are online users who are both computer-savvy and Internet-savvy.
They are referred to as Netizens. Table 7.1 summarises the statistics on Internet
users and population in Southeast Asia:
Table 7.1: Statistics on Internet Users and Population in Southeast Asia
Country Population (2009 ă Estimate) Internet Users (2009)
Brunei Darussalam 388,190 187,900

Philippines 97,976,603 24,000,000
Laos 6,834345 100,000
Indonesia 249,271,522 25,000,000
Malaysia 25,715,819 16,902,600
Myanmar 48,137,741 40,000
Singapore 4,657,542 3,104,900
Thailand 65,998,436 13,416,000
Vietnam 88,576,758 21,524,417
Source: Internet World Stat
The group consists of teens (12 to 17 years old) and young adults (18 to 29 years
old) who are heavy users of new media technology especially those that are
linked to the Internet and mobile devices such as cell phones. Based on the Pew
Internet and American Life report, the teens and the young adults respectively
represent 94% of Internet users. They use devices such as desktop or laptop, cell
phone, games console and portable gaming device to go online.
According to Don Tapscott (2008), in his book Growing up Digital, the new
media audiences have the following characteristics:
(a) They want freedom in everything they do, from freedom of choice to
freedom of expression;
(b) They love to customise and personalise;
(c) They are the new scrutinisers;

(d) They look for corporate integrity and openness when deciding what to buy
and where to work;
(e) They want entertainment and play in their work, education and social life;
(f) They are the collaboration and relationship generation;
(g) Has a need for speedăand not just in video games; and
(h) They are the innovators.
The new formation of this audience affects the form of traditional media or mass
communication. Media and business organisations try to respond to these
changes, especially with the influences of the Internet in our daily life.
7.1.2 Audience and New Media Technology

Even with the development of new media technology, old media still play an
important role in our popular and professional lives. We still use television to
watch our favourite soap opera or drama or news. We still buy books from the
bookshops for our leisure as well as for references in our studies. We still listen to
the radio when we drive to our workplace. We are the audience to old mass
media communication.
Although we use blogs to get news about politics and the elections, but the
formal debate will still be a television event. Top-rating television programmes
such as Cerekarama and Akademi Fantasia would still manage to create a
collective „Malaysian‰ television audience to generate the much anticipated
financial returns for the networks. Online advertisements may be important, but
they are generated from the traditional print media system and continue to play
a complementary role to the newspapers.
However, the new media technology especially the emerging user-generated

media, also known as social media, actually changes the demand for media
products especially among the younger media consumer. This generation has
seen new media technology being used as a tool for listening, participating and
talking. And based on that, media providers try to offer something that suits
their characteristics:
(a) Interaction is the New Content

Interactivity is important to the audiences because they are no longer
passive audiences, as opposed to the previously dominant processes of
creation, distribution, reception or discussion of content by provider.

(b) Distracted and Fascinated

Level of engagement with media increases but at the same time reflects an
attitude in which users are easily distracted.
(c) Can Get It For „Free‰

Media and information products can be obtained at no apparent or extra
cost.
Many organisations started paying attention to the new media channel. With
these new features, many television programmes that are produced now involve
participation from viewers through telephone or SMS voting. We can get news
services through online and mobile phones. Games based on films generate more
revenue than the films themselves. We have also noticed that the music industry
now depends on the transmission of songs via network media such as ring tones
for phones. All these are the alterations from the development of new media
technology.
7.2 NEW MEDIA TECHNOLOGY AND

JOURNALISM
Journalism is one of the important fields in mass media communication. It
involves the profession or practice of reporting about, photographing, or editing
news stories for mass media. It can also refer to investigation and reporting of
events, issues and trends to a broad audience to inform them about a certain
topic. Besides covering organisations and institutions such as government and
businesses, journalism also covers the cultural aspects of society such as arts and
entertainment.
With the emergence of new media technology ă the application of digital

(computer) technology to mass communications ă affects the field of journalism
and the professionalism of the sector. It may sometimes seem as a challenge to
this field but they have to somehow adapt to it. People are no longer willing to
wait even a single day for a story to break. Besides, journalists must deal with
ethical questions regarding fact checking and source corroboration being
weighed against the speed of coverage. Journalism has also changed as the
Internet presents new and more multi-dimensional ways of telling stories.

7.2.1 Journalism in New Media Era

New media technology is transforming journalism. The Internet has become
the journalistÊs medium. It embraces all capabilities of the older media and offer
new capabilities, including interactivity, on-demand access, user control and
customisation. Thus, by using new media technology or tools available via the
Internet, journalists can produce stories using whatever modalities ă involving
text, images, video and graphic ăand communication features for a particular
story. They can also include the engagement of audience by using interactive
news story technique as well as hypermedia or links in each story.
In the old media, news are published by the newspaper or covered on the
evening television news. The updated story has to be continued the next day. But
now, updates can be made continuously. When visiting a website such as The
Star Online, Utusan Malaysia Online, or Malaysiakini.com, we always check the
updates first or see when the news is posted. If the stories are not recent updates,
browsers usually tend to look for the updated story on other sites or blogs.
In this digital age, professionals in journalism use digital tools ă such as PDA,
smartphone, tablet PC, digital camera ă in their preparation to gather news,
communicating, editing and producing the story. The tools become more
portable, inexpensive and powerful and they transform the way journalists do
their work. It makes the tasks easier and efficient, for instance to find reliable
sources, checking facts and meeting the deadline. News can be sent from
anywhere at any time. For instance, we obtained updates about the Israeli attack
on the Gaza aid flotilla, Mavi Marmara, through many sources with this
technology. We also can see the recording of the attack and the feedbacks from
viewers via YouTube and personal blogs.
Besides that, the development of software packages ă such as „Sportswriter‰ ă

has the ability to write stories automatically based on electronic data transmitted
directly by various news sources. Furthermore, some reporting for sports and
financial news can be written using basic formulae derived from specific data,
such as score, stock exchanges and other data. This may reflect a fundamental
shift in the function of journalism in society since this type of applications is
reducing the role of journalism as a filter or gatekeeper.

The new media technology also affects the news industry. Competition becomes
tighter. News providers are no longer just the traditional newspapers,
magazines, or broadcasters. The World Wide Web becomes an option for low
cost global forum for anyone with a message. Corporate, non-profit organisations
and government institutions whose voices were formerly filtered by gatekeepers
can now freely send their message or opinion through various channels of
information to the media such as online forums, blogs, newsgroups, YouTube,
iPod, etc.
In addition, the new technology also transforms the relationship among and
between news organisations, journalists and their public, including audiences,
competitors, advertisers and sources. Traditional news providers generally serve
a well-defined geographic community. Local newspapers, local magazines and
local broadcasters usually have their own markets to serve. For instance Sinar
Harian Edisi Johor and Harian Metro provide news to Johorean and Kuala
Lumpur communities respectively. National news providers serve a single
country, although some are extended to the regional markets.
Now, online news continues to serve local communities but at the same time it
also serves a larger and geographically diverse community. This includes the
local audience but may also include larger audiences who live across the local or
even national boundaries. Everybody can access news and updates easily via the
Internet nowadays. Through online news websites such as Wired, Salon.com
CNN Online, Kompas and others, we can access news from other countries at
any time we want.
7.2.2 The Emerging Citizen Journalism

Because new media technologies are now easy to use, everybody can become
content providers, including the audience. Thus, people without a journalism
background may also act as „journalists‰ and write news using various new
media technology or application. With the elements of open or personal
publishing, collaborative editing and distributed content which are now possible
with new media, we now have a new type of journalism called „citizen
journalism‰.

ACTIVITY 7.3
Anybody can become a citizen journalist by using new media
technology and post their stories on any news site, online forum, or
weblog. But what do you think of their stories? Can we accept their
stories as news? How about their credibility as a professional
journalists? Does the citizen journalist discredit the profession? Discuss
this with your course mates.
„Citizen Journalism‰ is a concept that refers to members of the public playing an

active role in the process of collecting, reporting, analysing and disseminating
news and information. According to Glaser (2006), in MediaShift:
The idea behind citizen journalism is that people without professional

journalism training can use the tools of modern technology and the global
distribution of the Internet to create, augment or fact-check media on their
own or in collaboration with others. For example, you might write about a
city council meeting on your blog or in an online forum. Or you could fact-
check a newspaper article from the mainstream media and point out factual
errors or bias on your blog. Or you might snap a digital photo of a
newsworthy event happening in your town and post it online. Or you
might videotape a similar event and post it on a site such as YouTube.
(Glaser, 2006)
With the rise of the World Wide Web in the 1990s, anyone could set up a
personal home page to share their thoughts with the world. For instance, at
Indymedia, anyone can share photos, text and video with other activists and the
world. By early 2000, journalism „by the people‰ began to flourish, enabled in
part by emerging Internet and networking technologies, such as weblogs, chat
rooms, message boards, wikis and mobile computing.
Besides that, media for citizen journalism can be classified as follows:

(a) Audience participation (such as user comments attached to news stories,
personal blogs, photos or video footage captured from personal mobile
camera, or local news written by residents of a community);
(b) Independent news and information websites;
(c) Full-fledged participatory news sites;

(d) Collaborative and contributory media sites;
(e) Other kinds of „thin media‰ (mailing lists, email newsletters); and
(f) Personal broadcasting sites (video broadcast sites such as KenRadio).
This term gained attention after 9/11 where many ordinary people became on-
the-spot witnesses to the attacks and their stories and images became a major
part of the story. In Malaysia, we can read many weblogs written and watch
videos posted in YouTube by ordinary people and the popular topics always
involve politics especially since the general election of 2008.

ADVERTISING
Advertising expenditure is one of the most important revenue components of the
mass media business and an essential economic indicator because it contributes
significantly to economic growth. Based on MCMC, Free-To-Air (FTA) TV adex
in Malaysia is worth RM1.2 billion as of October 2006 and an annualised RM1.4
billion for 2006, while ASTROÊs pay-TV services have annualised adex of
RM119.4 million. For the first quarter of 2010, adex in Malaysia grew 21 per cent
to RM2.2 billion.
Table 7.2: MalaysiaÊs Advertising Expenditure Compared to Other Countries
Source: Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (2006)

Audience advertising has become part of our lives since a long time ago. We are
familiar with the advertisements when we watch our favourite programmes. We
often listen to ads on the radio while we drive. We also see many ads when we
read newspapers and magazines. Radio, television, newspapers and magazines
are the main advertisement media used by advertisers to send their messages
about products or services. With this media, we do not have any choice other
than accepting all the advertisements broadcasted to us.
The growth of new media such as the Internet, multimedia products and
interactive television, has provided advertisers with new communication
channels to send messages to their target audience. They have to use this new
media technology as one of the advertisement mediums to reach new media
audiences. The new media audience, especially the younger generation, are
different from audiences in old media. They are more active and like to have
control. This group spend their time online longer than the older generation use
the old media such as television, radio or newspapers.
7.3.1 Internet Advertising

Advertising has blossomed with new media technology. It fills the pages of
search engines and portal websites. The Internet has started to compete with old
media for a share of some major advertiserÊs marketing budget. According to
Carat Media Service (M) Sdn Bhd, the Malaysian adex for Internet and television
recorded the highest year-on-year growth of 31 per cent each, while free-to-air
television share of the advertising pie went up a significant three points to 36 per
cent for the first quarter of 2010.
Since the Internet acts as a place for connectivity, information, entertainment and
buying and selling goods, advertisers rapidly migrate to the Internet as one of the
marketing strategies. The Internet has both features of print and electronic media
because it can convey messages electronically and it is able to display moving
or static images. Furthermore, the Internet can reach a global audience and the
interactive nature of Internet makes it a great medium to send any message and
get feedback or response easily from the audience.
Internet advertising ă or online advertising ă is a form of promotion that uses

the Internet and the web to deliver marketing messages to attract customers. The
various types are as follows:

Table 7.3: Types of Online Advertising
Type of Online Advertising Description

Search engine results pages The listing of web pages returned by a search engine in
(SERP) response to a keyword query. It may contain
advertisements. This is how commercial search engines
fund their operations. Sometimes these advertisements
are displayed on the right hand side of the page as
small classified style ads.
Banner ads A form of advertising on web. It entails embedding an
advertisement into a web page. The advertisement is
constructed from an image, JavaScript program or
multimedia object employing technologies such as Java,
Shockwave or Flash. This banner usually consist
animation, sound, or video to maximize presence.
E-mail advertisement A form of direct marketing which uses e-mail as a
means of communicating commercial or fundraising
messages to an audience. It can be divided into two:
• Advertisements whereby recipient has asked to
receive emails such as notification of publication of
the news, books from certain publishers.
• Unsolicited mass e-mail advertisement or spam.
Pop-up ads A form of online advertising on the web intended to
attract web traffics or capture e-mail addresses. Pop-ups
are generally new web browser windows to display
advertisement.
Social networks advertising A form of online advertising that focuses on social
networking sites likes Facebook, Myspace, Tagged and
Friendster.
Interstitial ads It refers to web advertisements that are displayed
before or after an expected content page. These types of
ads are often to display advertisement or confirm the
userÊs age.
Online classified Like most forms of printed media, the classified ad has
advertising found its way to the Internet. Internet classified ads
tend to be longer and more readily searchable.
Craigslist.org was one of the first online classified sites
and has grown to become the largest classified source,
bringing in over 14 million unique visitors a month
according to comScore Media Metrix.
Mobile ads An SMS text or multimedia message sent to a cell
phone.

With so many types of online advertising, sometimes those ads annoy the
audiences. This is due to some websites using large numbers of advertisements,
including flashing banners that distract the Internet user and some have
misleading images. Many ads try to shift users to using the advertisersÊ website
by clicking on the ads displays on the website. But, as new media audience,
many of such advertisements can just be ignored because we can control which
ads we want to see and which we do not want.
ACTIVITY 7.4
As a new media user, what do you think about online or Internet
advertising? Is this new form of advertising a good tactic to send
messages and attract userÊs attention? What are the advantages and
disadvantages of online advertising as compared to traditional
advertising in mass media?
7.4 NEW MEDIA TECHNOLOGY AND PUBLIC

RELATIONS
New media technology has created a more open, transparent and interactive
society. Media organisations and their audience can now check each otherÊs
activities and motives. And obviously, public relations (PR) have to keep pace
with this technology development in every sector in their PR tactic which
generally involves mediated communication, interpersonal communication and
social activities.
PR involves practices of managing communication between organisation and

its public. It concerns several discipline including media relations, corporate
communication, financial PR, consumer PR, crisis PR, industry relations and
government relations. Generally, PR is used to build connection with employees,
customers, investors, or general public
7.4.1 Media Communication Technology and PR

PR involves internal and external communication. In internal communication,
serving and informing the members is usually done by using internal media such
as follows:
(a) Association publication ă magazines or bulletin;
(b) Business and professional magazine advertising and publicity;

(c) Direct mail messages;
(d) Community public relations plans for members companies or employees;

and
(e) Personal contact by PR staff representatives.
In the practice of PR, the PR practitioners usually use press releases and media
kits for external communication in spreading information to gain public
awareness or generate positive press on behalf of the organisation. The press also
has been used as the medium for PR practitioners to seek publicity and press
coverage for their clients. The other widely used print media are brochures,
newsletters and annual reports.
The Internet now allows data sharing and communication in large quantities.
Even those who are not computer literate do not have problems accessing and
sharing information on the Internet. Although the Internet is not a requirement
or an essential utility, more and more people approach the Internet. There is no
doubt that traditional media still exists and is required as information outlets.
However, with the Internet people do not have problems to get constantly
updated information. In fact, the comfort factor in its usage is also increasing.
The traditional method of PR still remains as the central daily duties to what PR
practitioners do. However, as the Internet grows, it has now become one of the
important tools in PR. The existence of e-mail, IMs, web pages, cell phone and
other Internet-based communication technologies had changed the way PR
practitioners, individuals and organizations communicate with each other. The
technology also changes the way how people get information about anything
around them. This has affected the methods used in PR to create and maintain
relationship with the public.
The ability to influence the public depends on the credibility of a message and
reputation of the organisation. Therefore, media is not an option to PR
practitioners, but a necessity. It is important for them to control the flow of
information and manage the relationship with the public. Thus, the use of media
and communication technology as PR methods or tactics is very important to
reach their public and gain their feedbacks. And new media technology has
brought about a paradigm shift in the way PR communication works. It has
transformed communication from a monologue into a dialogue with the
audiences.

7.4.2 The Use of Social Media as PR Tool

With the advancement of technology from Web 1.0 to Web 2.0, new media is
changing and evolving into a new form of social media which is further
strengthened with a combination of three main elements, namely technology,
conversation and sharing information. Web 2.0 refers to second generation web
development and it is often associated with social media applications. With this
social media, audiences of new media are now able to present themselves and
their interest in the social platform and be able to engage with others.
Social media can be defined as the integrated activities in technology and social
interaction.
This new media technology differs from traditional media because the media
industry or audience may be directly involved by either making additions,
comments or even editing an item. In addition, the media is also relatively
inexpensive and is a tool that can be accessed by anyone. This media is constantly
changing over time and is therefore available in various forms or applications,
including weblogs, wikis, social networking, photo and video sharing and others.
Apart from newspapers, television and radio, social media is now being used in
PR. It has changed traditional PR into something interesting and challenging. PR
through social media can be executed by using various kinds of application. The
choice depends on the particular need of PR and its objectives.
(a) Podcast
Podcasts can be a great PR and marketing tool because it is cheap to
produce. It allows clients to promote their products, technology, services
and methodology directly to their customers as well as the media and the
blogosphere. A podcast could be part of a tradeshow PR campaign where
the client introduces a new technology or wants to be part of the latest trade
show buzz. A series of podcasts on one particular issue can also support a
companyÊs sales campaign and its issues management.
(b) Social Networking

As more contacts are added to social network and we are able to see those
contacts, we just might find some very useful personalities. Some might be
reporters or analysts, others might be future prospects. We might also be
introduced to graphic designers or photographers who are good contacts to
have in our line of business. Sometimes we can experiment by pitching

a story through a social networking site such as Facebook or LinkedIn. This

can be done directly (through your network) or through another contact.
Social networking will help PR practitioners keep in touch with past and
future clients who do not communicate frequently.
(c) RSS (Really Simple Syndication)

Major wire services such as PRWeb, PR Newswire and Business Wire offer
RSS-enabled press releases. They will automatically offer a form of clientÊs
press release as part of an RSS feed. With RSS, we also can subscribe to
news feeds that cover topics of interest to clients. With RSS, we can monitor
any online source ă from the online editions of major newspapers and
magazines to a number of blogs that are relevant to your clients. It will help
us to figure out the most talked about issues and who are commenting on
what topics.
(d) Weblogs
Weblogs can help clients promote their products and services and
participate in dialogues related to their products and services as well as
convey the image of a pioneer and leader and sustain contact with
important user groups and other blogs. Besides that, blogs can be a good
place to create and maintain relationships with bloggers who are important
to the clients and with those who drive conversations in the PR industry.
Discussion can be done via comments and it can be knowledgeable and
informative to PR specialists and clients.
(e) Social Bookmarking

Social bookmarking sites have become an increasingly popular way to
locate, classify, rank and share Internet resources through the practice of
tagging. Currently, the most popular social bookmarking site is del.icio.us,
which allows us to tag any web content that we find and share it with other
del.icio.us users ă and even pitch journalists.

BROADCAST
The new media technologies keep developing into new forms including
digitalisation, convergence and broadband. These developments have an
impact on the whole mass communication field, including broadcasting. With
new media technology, most broadcasting networks are now connected by air.
Broader frequency has been used for FM radio and television.

ACTIVITY 7.5
Nowadays, we have a choice to watch or listen to our favourite

program online. There are many websites providing online content and
we can access it anytime, anywhere. For instance we can find our
favourite programmes via YouTube or we can even watch any Japanese
or Korean drama via Mysoju.
What do you think about this phenomenon?
7.5.1 Cable and Satellite Technology

In the beginning, the broadcasting sector used centralised networks, in the form
of transmitters to send sound, images and text to reach the audiences. However,
this has limitations. Since then we have seen the development of the technology
of coaxial cable and fibreglass cable which managed to solve the problem.
Nowadays, digitalisation has expanded the services of television and radio

channels especially with the use of satellite and small dish antennas. Subscription
and pay television has been introduced to us. For instance ASTRO, MalaysiaÊs
sole satellite television operator owned by MEASAT Broadcast Network Systems,
offers many programmes to subscribers.
The development of video, cable and satellite technology offers more options to
us as the audience as well as to content providers. With this technology, more
content can be offered for our selection. Not only are we able to just receive all
programmes that are offered, but we can select the best programmes that we
want.
7.5.2 Broadcasting and the Internet

The introduction of Internet broadband has enabled broadcasters to provide
streaming videos which have a greater demand among the new media
audience. Furthermore, the convergence element in this new media technology
can be made available through any transmission medium such as mobile
telephone, mp3 and computer. This has dismantled the distinction between the
telecommunications, computer and broadcasting sectors.

This is seen as a challenge to the public broadcaster who concentrated on

television and radio services that were allocated by the state to provide service to
the people. The changing landscape in broadcasting creates a new competitive
environment. In Malaysia, we see the rush in all the channels to go online in
order to reach wider audiences.
With the new media technology, especially with the Internet, broadcast products
are not only watched on television. Television and radio programming are
available on the Web through the use of technologies such as Real Audio and
Video and QuickTime. This facility is fully utilised by all media.
For instance, Media Prima uses a website for each of their television channels to
manage relationship marketing with new media audiences. Through it, people
can watch any episode of local drama that they want or that they had missed at
any time. Through websites such as TV3, the public can watch drama series or
any episode of the drama that was shown like Saka, Manjalara, Spa Q, Kaber
Hero Kaber Zero, Kalbar, Pontianak, or Anak. They can also watch dramas that
had been aired recently on television via that website such as Keliwon, Segala-
galanya Kuterima, Bionik, Mr Mom and Kala Hati.
With this new technology, we can also watch dramas online for free through the
Malaysia entertainment and lifestyle portal, gua.com.my (GUA), which was
officially launched on 11 September 2007. On 23 October, 2007, GUA launched
Kerana Karina, the first Malaysian online drama. This series of 20 4-minutes
episodes was a new achievement in the country and was recorded in the
Malaysia Book of Records.
In Korea, in order to clinch the leading position in the new media environment,
Korean Broadcasting System (KBS) participated in new media broadcasting.
They launched Internet news online in 1994 and offered various broadband
services such as video on demand. KBS also provided mobile Internet services,
distributing various mobile content such as interactive data broadcasting and
mobile news services.
With the new media technology, broadcast content can easily transform and
transfer from one form to another. It can be recorded and kept in tapes, VCDs or
DVDs. It can also be uploaded to the Internet and distributed or shared with
everyone. Thus, nowadays we can find any programme easily without limitation
of time like we have with television or the radio.

7.6 THOUGHTS ON THE FUTURE OF NEW

MEDIA TECHNOLOGY
ACTIVITY 7.6
What do you think about the future of new media technology? What
new development will we have? Will this technology eliminate all the
old media or is it a complement to old media?
The new media technology will keep developing and changing. Its use is not an
option, but a must, especially in production and distribution of media content
and mass communication.
TodayÊs trend shows that collaborative network is taking place whenever we see
social media such as social networking sites and weblogs. It has been used for
both personal networking and for collaborative work on the Internet.
This media is easier to use and it is cheaper and has multimedia capability. This
tends to make it the preferred channel for citizen reporting, for the publishing of
individually or collaboratively produced content. Mobile devices such as cell
phones will be the main device of the new media technology and it will become
more direct and personal to the users.
Furthermore, new media technology will no longer refer to technology only. It is

no longer the realm of those that know computer programming and those that
know how to use the hardware the best. It will be more about culture. This is
because new media audiences are more likely to use this media when expressing
themselves and sharing their thoughts.
Media practitioners should listen to those that create and lead culture. That can
be anyone including artists, academicians, those in government, in politics and in
the civic sector. The environment is for everyone and everybody can participate.
It is a culture of inclusion. Thus, it will create more understanding if people
engage in it rightly, but it can also create misunderstanding in some cases.

• New media technology plays a vital role to some of us and has become part
of our lives.
• The Internet has become the journalistÊs medium. Through new media
technology, journalists can now produce stories using whatever modalities
involving text, images, video and graphic for a particular story.
• New media such as Internet, multimedia products and interactive television

has provided advertisers with new communication channels to send
messages to the target audience.
• Internet advertising is a form of promotion that uses the Internet and the web
to deliver marketing messages to attract customers.
• The existence of e-mail, IMs, web pages, cell phone and other Internet-based
communication technologies have changed the way PR practitioners,
individuals and organisations communicate with each other.
• Digitalisation has expanded the services of television and radio channels

especially with the use of satellite and small dish antennas.
• The development of video, cable and satellite technology offers more options
to us as the audience as well as to content providers.
Advertising Mass communication

Broadcast Public Relations
Journalism Social media

1. What kind of new media technology is being used in journalism nowadays?
2. There are many types of Internet advertising. State all the types that you
can.
3. How is new media technology used in broadcasting?
4. Give an example of how this new media technology has been used in public
relations:
(a) Podcasts;
(b) Blogs;
(c) RSS; and
(d) Social networking.
1. New media technology has been used widely as a tool in mass

communication, including in journalism. Explain how this technology
affects the journalists.
2. Discuss the use of the Internet in broadcasting.
3. The use of media in PR is not an option but a must. Discuss.
4. Explain the differences between traditional advertising and Internet

advertising.

Glaser, M. (2006). Your Guide to Citizen Journalism. Retrieved

from http://www.pbs.org/mediashift/2006/09/your-guide-to-citizen-
journalism270.html.
Levinson, P. (2009). New new media. London: Pearson.
Malaysian Communications and Multimedia

Commission. (2006).
Analysis if adex size and trend in Malaysia.
Retrieved from
http://www.skmm.gov.my/skmmgovmy/files/attachments/Analysis_A
dex_Size08.pdf

Tapscott, D. (2008). Growing up digital: How the next generation is changing

your world. New York: McGraw Hill.
Van Dijk, J. (1999). The network society: Social aspects of new media. London:
Sage.
London: Sage.

Topic  Theoretical
8 Approaches to
Understanding
New Media
LEARNING OUTCOMES
1. Explain the theoretical framework in the study of media
convergence;
2. Describe the tendencies in media concentration and its capacity
towards influencing the cultural industries;
3. Identify diffusion of information; and
4. Analyse the forms of diffusion.
 INTRODUCTION
Almost every current new media and communication reference book or primer
would begin with the acknowledgement that the Internet has emerged as the
delivery mode of choice for all kinds of media products. These media products
are, to put it simply, broken into millions of bits of data, or what is referred to as
1Ês and 0Ês which are transmitted over the Internet and are then decoded back
into their original forms. This process brought to the fore the idea of the digital
revolution or media convergence. Almost all discussions on convergence would
relate mainly to its technological aspects and the changes that come with it, again
raising the idea of the digital revolution of the media.

148  TOPIC 8 THEORETICAL APPROACHES TO UNDERSTANDING NEW MEDIA
Therefore, media convergence is perhaps one of the most powerful forces to have
brought an impact on the media industry, media organisations, media business
and media audiences. Since the impact is substantial and felt throughout the
industry, there is a need to re-examine the effects of media convergence on media
economics, management of media organisations, effects on the marketplace as
well as impact on society. The convergence of media has evoked new questions,
new discourses and new challenges to media organisations, practices and genre
development. The ongoing technological changes and innovations need to be
considered and new theoretical conceptions of convergence need to be examined,
put to test and finally answered.
8.1 THEORY AND PRACTICE OF MEDIA

CONVERGENCE
Media convergence is therefore, an important theory in communications where
all mass medium in the end merges to the point where they all become one
medium due to the advancing levels of new media technologies. A simple
example of a converging media is the element of convergence between the
mobile phone and the digital camera, the coming together of the phoneÊs
processor and the small lenses of a basic digital camera.
Since the 1980Ês, media scholars began to track and to anticipate crucial changes
in the computer and IT industries. One remarkable development was the
convergence of the cultural industries with telecommunications and information
technology. Hesmondhalgh (2002) referred to the observations by De Sola Pool
(1983), of an impending convergence between telecommunications and computers
and the media. The entertainment and information industries would merge with
the futuristic computer and will be transmitted by cable, satellite and telephone
lines.
ACTIVITY 8.1
Computers have evolved since its first invention. It is not just for scientists
or researchers anymore. Almost all of us use this technology in our daily
lives. Can you imagine what computers would look like in the future?
What are the other things we can do with this technology?

TOPIC 8 THEORETICAL APPROACHES TO UNDERSTANDING NEW MEDIA  149
These international policy agencies have increased the move towards the
business internationalisation of trade in cultural and media products, especially
in telecommunications and broadcasting. At national governmental level, in
Malaysia, prior to 1988, the Ministry of Information was in charge of all matters
pertaining to the broadcasting industry but with the implementation of digital
broadcasting technology and the repeal of the Broadcasting Act and the
Telecommunication Act of 1988, the Malaysian broadcast and multimedia
industries are now governed by the single Communication and Multimedia Act,
1998.
Figure 8.1: Three Cs of convergent media
Flew (2004) also forwarded the same opinion and states that the three Cs (see
Figure 8.1) of convergent media are between communications network, content of
the media and the computing and information technology sector, leading to the
other C of convergence. This also brings forth the idea of new media as digital
media which are digital media consisting of media content that combine data, text,
sound and all sorts of images that are kept in digital formats and are then
distributed through networks such as broadband fibre-optic cables and satellites.
Therefore, the new media technology especially the Internet, social media, texting,
chat rooms, blogs, Facebook, Twitter and others have created new approaches to
the types of new media communication by humankind.

Thus, the idea of converging media environments has raised new questions
about the theoretical frameworks in researching the current situation. Media
convergence as a theory specifically looks into the environment where every
mass medium eventually merges to become one medium due to technological
advances in communication. Media convergence is certainly one of the major
forces that triggered massive changes in media management, media economics
and audience. In most cases, this convergence increases the level of co-operation
between multiple industries and the ever changing taste and preferences of the
media audiences.
With all the new interplays brought upon by the new media technologies,
research has therefore become more complex due to the various media choices
and the changing roles of the active audience of new media. University students
have become more interested in pursuing studies on the Internet and researching
Internet-based issues. More and more postgraduates are looking into the Internet
phenomenon, especially research that look into how students use the Internet or
the Web or other online services.
For example, one major focus of a study is to see how the visual communication
aspects of technological convergence, that is the aesthetics of digital media
graphics and virtual reality would impact upon the television industry, the major
broadcast industry in the 1980s onwards. It would also be interesting to see that
the television broadcast industry is not the only medium affected by the
technological advances, but also the mainstream print newspaper and magazines
industries. This would entail a framework of study that looks into aspects of
visual communication, television graphics and magazine graphic design.
Various scholars have conducted researches on the impact of technological

convergence in their area of specialisation. Lin (2001) studies how advertisers use
the Internet-based venues and the usage of online services for advertisements.
Another area of research framework that may be applied by media researchers is

to look into matters pertaining to the evolution of different media as they face up
to or adjust to the emerging and merging technologies. One major implication is
the aspect of diffusion of innovation and how it impacted upon the practices of
media organisations. For example, research may look into the impact on the
training of new media journalists and the practice of new media journalism, such
as mainstream new media versus citizen journalism.

Other theoretical implications may also be connected to studies on the cultural,

economic, political and social implications of convergence. This research
framework had its early beginnings in the old Marxist school of the political
economy of the media, with an emphasis on the nature of the converging
structure of control and ownership pattern of the media and new media
conglomerates. Other variations in this school of thought is the hegemony theory,
in the sense that cross media ownership may lead to groups of organisations in a
particular society holding to power and control through the media. The term
hegemony was defined by Gramsci (Rosenberry & Vicker, 2009), the Italian
socialist journalist, as a situation in which a large part of society becomes
compliant and agrees with the dominant ideology. In this case the dominant
ideology eschewed by the media conglomerates.
While we realise that the new convergence has new issues and new research
questions pertaining to the new environment, we must be reminded that
common theories that have been repeatedly applied in the traditional areas of
research in media and communication need to be expanded to incorporate the
new transformations brought by the changing technology of the Internet. For
instance, the traditional media dependency theory needs to be brought in line
with media dependency in the Internet age. A quick look into the submission of
proposals to the various media schools would show that lately, more research
topics look at dependency on social-networking spaces such as Facebook and
Myspace as well as selling and shopping activities online. Students are keen to
study the influence of mobile phones amongst their peers and how this usage has
spread all over the global campus life.
8.2 GLOBAL MEDIA: MEDIA CONCENTRATION

AND CULTURAL IMPERIALISM
We have previously mentioned that as a result of the converging media
economics, we have witnessed many mergers and acquisitions at both national
and international levels. We see increasing concentration of media ownership.
Previously, most media companies started out with a visionary individual with a
business plan and braving all odds and risks. In the US, we know of Henry Luce,
who established the TIME magazine which is now part of the mega conglomerate
Time Life-CNN-AOL business. Another example is the media baron Rupert
Murdoch who started with a small newspaper business he had inherited from his
father. Today he is the man behind News Corporation, Fox studios, movie
studios, newspaper and book publishing businesses.

On a global scale, from 1970Ês onwards until early 2000Ês, media companies, as
capitalist business ventures, began to draw enormous profits and were always on
a profit making mode. This quest for bigger profits initiated the rapid expansion
into media conglomeration. Through mergers and acquisitions, transnational
companies operated with the single purpose of multiplying profits (see
Figure 8.2). For example, media conglomerate Time Warner generates a revenue
of over USD37 billion per annum.
Figure.8.2: Media conglomerates
The convergence of the media, communication, information and computer

technologies have also led towards a concentration of ownership of media
corporations at national and international levels.
ACTIVITY 8.2
Since there has been a deregulation in media laws in the early 1980s,
more companies have created conglomerates. The biggest issue is that
media conglomerates focus on profit and treat their viewers as
consumers rather than citizens.
(a) What do you think of that statement?
(b) Discuss the advantages and disadvantages with the emergence of

media conglomerates in the media industry.
Scholars in the critical political economy school like Herman and McChesney
(1977) and SchillerÊs commodification of culture theory (1983) are some of the
exponents on the idea that American media products have been successful in
influencing the global media ethos in terms of spreading American cultural

values and moral norms. SchillerÊs book, Mass Communications and American
Empire (1969), has drawn attention from the world to his treatise that American
media products, especially American movies are flooding the global market-
places and spreading Americanisation of the world culture. ESPN and MTV have
turned into global brands. Rupert MurdochÊs SkyTV have entered the skies in
Asia and Latin America.
The converging nature of media resulted in moves towards mergers and

acquisitions on a global scale, for example the merger (and consequently the
separation) of AOL and Time ă Warner in 2001 and AT&TÊs purchase of TCI in
1999. Industry convergence may also be associated with the transmissions of
audio and video which may be accessed from a range of devices, from mobile
telephones to digital televisions or even refrigerators as in the Korean LG range
of products.
Since some of these mergers involved transnational organisations, the era of

convergence also witnessed the increasing importance of international policy
agencies such as NAFTA (North American Free Trade Association comprising of
the US, Canada and Mexico), ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian nations),
EU (European Union), WTO (World Trade Organisation) and GATT (General
Agreement on Tariffs and Trade).
In the debate about the commercialisation and growth of the Internet,

McChesney (1999) as quoted in Flew mentioned that, „when certain forces
thoroughly dominate a societyÊs political economy they will thoroughly
dominate its communications system ⁄ and so it is ⁄ for the most part, with big
business interests in the United States.‰
Similarly, the development of the global Internet services would also mean a
concentration of power in a few international conglomerates controlling the
integrated computing and communications network of the world.
However, there are counter suggestions to SchillerÊs theory of imperialism. The

world systems theory speak of the core countries from the first world such as the
US and the Western European nations representing the Anglo-Saxon sphere of
influence exporting cultural products in a single one-way flow are now receiving
media and cultural products from the non-core third world countries. Media
products from regional players such as India, China and East Asia countries such
as Japan and Korea are beginning to flood the markets in Europe and the US. The
Latin American countries such as Brazil and Mexico have exported cultural
products into the global marketplace including Malaysia.

Figure 8.3: Timeline of major media takeovers and mergers
Flew also presented a list of major takeovers and mergers during the period of
1989-2000 (see Figure 8.3) beginning with the merger of Time Inc. and Warner
Communications to form Time-Warner. Later Time-Warner merged with AOL
which became the largest merger in history worth about US350 billion. Another
mega-transnational is Comcast which offers telephone and internet services
as well as television programmes with world-wide appeal such as sports
programmes.
8.3 USES AND GRATIFICATIONS OF MEDIA –

MEDIA ACCESS
ACTIVITY 8.3
With the convergence of media, you as the consumer of media products

are still confronted with a variety of products to choose from, including
the old media. So, what motivates your to use a certain media? What do
you do with the media of your choice? Do you prefer to rely on the
media that you are familiar or you prefer to try new media products?

In the early phases of media research, the focal point rests on the assumption that
media has the most powerful effect on the audience. The early and simplistic
theories show that the receivers of mass media accept media messages as
dutifully as they receive and believe the injection and the effects of that dose
of medicine from the hypodermic needles from their doctors. Therefore, the
hypodermic effect of the media reflected a sense of the powerful media
organisations during the early phases and that the audience are passive receivers
of media content and generally would accept media messages without much
scrutiny or further analysis.
Later, media scholars began theorising about the concept of an active audience.
Blumler and Katz (1974) proposed that media audiences have specific needs and
use the media to fulfil their individual needs. Blumler and Katz have also listed
the four media purposes or Uses and Gratifications (U&G) of the media as
follows:
(a) Diversion or Entertainment

People use the media to divert attention from daily routine and problems.
(b) Personal Relationships

People use media as a substitute for emotional and interpersonal
interaction.
(c) Personal Identity

People find themselves reflected in texts and television programmes.
(d) Surveillance
People use media to gather information, just like people watching for
weather or currency exchange rates.
McQuail (2000) expanded the lists of uses to include the current developments in
the media environment such as the increasing usage of new media and the
internet as well as the active usage of video games in current societies. Thus,
according to McQuail, the priorities of uses are:
(a) Information;
(b) Personal identity;
(c) Integration and social interaction; and
(d) Entertainment.

U&G has been again expanded by media researchers such as Ball-Rokeach and
DeFleur (1976) who proposed that members of urban society depend on media
on an ever increasing rate as discussed in the Media Dependency Theory, which
looked into the relationship among social systems, media audience and how each
of the these interacts and affects one another. A simple example would be
students texting one another on their mobile phones and attending interactive
Web courses. It is important to also that as the media become more sophisticated
and as more and more functions are offered, more members of society became
dependent on the media system.
Researchers would continue to ask the same research questions regarding

changes and transformations in their contemporary environment. What is further
required is to expand and include new conceptual frameworks related to the new
circumstances. Therefore, the uses and gratifications theory must keep up with
the latest contexts and issues such as the computer-mediated social networks and
how online services help social interaction and fulfil the needs for entertainment
and play.
8.4 DIFFUSION OF INNOVATIONS AND

INFORMATION
Diffusion of innovations is the process in which information, news, ideas and
values began to spread in society. The transmission of values by the mass media
into societies and communities may initiate changes and even upheavals within
societies. For example, the music and fashion industry may be influenced by a
series of popular programmes transmitted in the media.
Everett Rogers (1995) is associated with this theory which shows that the process
of diffusion goes through a number of stages including:
(a) Persuasion by generating an attitude;
(b) Decision to accept or reject the innovation; and
(c) Confirmation of the decision about innovation.
Diffusion of innovations is also a fitting theory to study the technological

innovations that occur in society, for example the explosion of the use of mobile
phones, instant messaging, e-mail and text messaging. Rogers outlines factors
that may be applied to the recent technological innovation of the iPod music
player such as the following:

(a) Relative Advantage

The level an innovation is accepted as better than the earlier item. The iPod
is better than the earlier technology of the CD player.
(b) Complexity
The iPod is perceived as easy to use especially by the younger generation.
(c) Trialability
The level in which experiments conducted with the iPod especially between
users is simple and achievable.
(d) Observability
The results of the innovation are visible, in the cities, in campuses
worldwide.
ACTIVITY 8.4
The adoption of innovation of product differs among consumers.

Generally the consumers of new products can be categorised as follows:
(a) Innovators;
(b) Early adopters;
(c) Early majority;
(d) Late majority; and
(e) Laggards.
Explain each of that type stated above.
• Since the 1980s, media scholars had begun to track and to anticipate crucial
changes in the computer and IT industries.
• The three Cs of convergent media are between communications network,

content of the media and the computing and information technology sector.
• Media convergence as a theory specifically looks into the environment where

every mass medium eventually merges to become one medium due to
technological advances in communication.

• The convergence of the media, communication, information and computer

technologies have also led towards a concentration of ownership of media
corporations at national and international levels.
• In the early phases of media research, the focal point rests on the assumption
that media has the most powerful effect on the audience.
Commercialisation Media use

Diffusion of innovation Uses and gratifications
Media convergence
1. List and explain the priority of usage of new media as suggested by

McQuail (2005).
2. What is diffusion of innovation?
3. Discuss each of following in terms of uses and gratifications:
(a) Personal identity;
(b) Surveillance;
(c) Diversion; and
(d) Personal relationship.
1. Based on Flew (2004), convergence of media involves the 3CÊs. Explain each
C and how it creates the convergence of media or digital media.
2. Americanisation is spreading into the world culture because of the

converging media economic. Explain this phenomenon by using the
diffusion of innovation theory.

3. The process of media concentration not only affects the media products, but
also the whole media industry. Discuss.
Ball-Rokeach, S. J., & DeFleur, M. L. (1976). A dependency model of mass media

effects. Communication Research, 3, 3ă21.
De Sola Pool, I. (1983) What ferment? A challenge for empirical research. Journal
of Communication, 33(3), 258ă261.
Flew, T. (2004). New media: An introduction. Melbourne: Oxford University

Press.
Herman, E., & Chomsky, N. (1988). Manufacturing consent: The political

economy of the mass media. New York: Pantheon.
Hesmondhalgh, D. (2002). The cultural industries. London: Sage.
Lister, M., Dovey, J, Giddings, S, Grant, I., & Kelly. K., (2009). New media: A
critical introduction. New York: Routledge.
McChesney, R. W. (1999) Rich media, poor democracy: Communication politics

in dubious times. New York: New Press.
McQuail, D. (2005). McQuailÊs mass communication theory. London: Sage.
Rosenberry, J., & Vicker, L. (2009). Applied mass communication theory: A guide
for media practitioners. New York: Pearson Education.
Schiller, H. (1983). Critical research in the Information age. Journal of

Communication, 33(3), 247ă257.
Vivian, J. (2009). The media of mass communication. Boston: Pearson Education.

T op i c  New Media
9 Technologies
and Their
Impacts
LEARNING OUTCOMES
1. Identify the impact of the new media technology in various aspects
of usage;
2. Analyse the benefits of the new media technology to the
government and public; and
3. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the new media
technology.
 INTRODUCTION
The new media technology is used for many purposes. Governments use it to
disseminate information on national policies, teachers and students use it for
educational purposes, corporate companies for business purposes, NGOs for
support groups and also famous persons for publicity. This technology has
changed the form of communication from print to electronic and interactive.
In this era, technology has become our tool for survival. In the new media
environment, the public has the ability to actively engage with the media by
commenting on blogs, sending interesting newspaper articles and YouTube
videos to friends and promoting activities through social networks.

TOPIC 9 NEW MEDIA TECHNOLOGIES AND THEIR IMPACTS  161
The spread and use of new media technologies have created an entirely new
interactive environment for human communication on many levels and in many
ways. This new technology has affected everyone. In this topic, we will discuss
the impact of the new media technology in every aspect of our life: economy,
politics, social, education, communication and others. From this topic you will
have a better understanding on the benefits of this technology and its
implications in the information age.
ACTIVITY 9.1
New technologies have transformed the world of media. Newspapers

can be written and edited from a distance. TV programmes can be
recorded and watched later at selected times. Radio can be listened to
through the Internet and individual persons may reproduce their
images beyond the traditional photo albums.
How do those changes or transformations affect you as a user?
9.1 ECONOMICS
The world economy has experienced lots of changes in terms of technological
innovations, managerial styles, form of work and economic organisations.
Generally, it has undergone four long waves as shown in Table 9.1:
Table 9.1: Key Technological and Economic Innovations
1780să1840s 1840să1890s 1890să1940s 1940să1980s

Key Power loom, Steamship, Electricity, Transistor,
innovations water wheel railway automobile computer
Key Cotton, iron Steel, ships, Electrical, Electronic,
industries textiles machine tools motor vehicles, consumer
chemicals goods, goods,
aerospace
Industrial Small factories Large-scale Multidivisional Mix of giant
organisation industry corporation factories and
small
enterprises

162  TOPIC 9 NEW MEDIA TECHNOLOGIES AND THEIR IMPACTS
Workplace Division of Division of Scientific Semi-

organisation labour within labour within management automated
the work enterprise production
process
Institutional Industrial Joint-stock Cartels, Multinational
developments company company industrial company
combines
ACTIVITY 9.2
Based on Table 9.1, every period has its own characteristics. What about
media and communication technologies? Discuss and identify the major
media and communication technologies in every period.
Innovation and technological change are commonly considered as among the

most important drivers of economic growth. Now, in this modern economy, ICT
plays a major role. Flow of information and communication has become more
important than the flow of physical products. In developed countries, it is
called service and knowledge economy whereby information exchange and
communication are seen as predominant economic activities. ICT networks are
used as channels to exchange goods and services.
For Hall and Paschal (as cited in Flew, 2004), ICT provide the basis for a fifth long
wave where the growth of Internet technology has led to the new economy in the
21st century. The concept of new economy arose in the context of the economic
boom in the US during the 1990s.
9.1.1 New Economy

The term „new economy‰ conjures different meanings to different people. A
broad definition can simply mean the „dotcom‰ and cutting edge high
technology companies with new technology and new systems impacting the
whole economic landscape. It may also be defined as temporarily increasing
economic growth and that it launches a wave of innovations that makes the
economy grow faster and more efficient and initiates the creation of new
products. There is a claim that this economy has caused a permanent rise in
labour productivity and economic growth without high unemployment and high
inflation (van Djik, 2006).

ACTIVITY 9.3
There are various definitions on „new economy‰. Try to find other
definitions from other scholars for this concept. From those definitions
that you have found, define „new economy‰ in your own words.
The popular meaning of new economy always refers to the information

economy, to the high-tech economy, to the technology revolution or to the many-
faceted impact of explosive growth of the World Wide Web (Jensen, 2006). For
Castells, the new economy based on ICTs has three main features:
(a) Informational
The capacity in generating knowledge and processing information
determine the productivity and competitiveness of all kinds of economic
units.
(b) Global
The operation of financial markets, international trade of goods and
services, sciences and technology, the activities of multinational firms and
communication media.
(c) Networked
It is based upon information networks such as the Internet, including
networked enterprises becoming the dominant form of economic
organisation.
New economy is said to arise from the intersection between globalisation of

financial markets, the growing significance of knowledge to economic activity
and the importance of collaboration and social capital development in a
networked environment. It is driven by waves of technology ă personal
computers, telecommunications, biotechnology, nanotechnology and alternative
energy. Therefore, the new economy generally shows two broad trends:
(a) Globalisation of Business ă The spreading of capitalism around the world.
(b) Revolution in Information Technology ă Involving the digitalisation of all

information and creating new companies and new industries.

The two broad trends, globalisation and revolution in information technology are
undermining the old order, forcing business to restructure. In the global markets,
everyone wants to take advantage of the rapid technological change. This is
because technologies in general, have a major impact on companiesÊ transaction
costs. CompaniesÊ search costs have been reduced in a whole range of industries
as the Internet for example has made it easier to identify suppliers, partners,
customers or products.
9.1.2 The New Media Technology and Businesses

The rapid development of new media technologies has affected trade and
business management methods. Nowadays, many online marketing activities,
has witnessed the growth of sales of various products. This is all due to
the emergence of electronic business (e-business) and electronic commerce
(e-commerce).
Figure 9.1: Symbols of online marketing
E-business (see Figure 9.1) may be defined as the application of information and
communication technologies in support of all the activities of business.
Commerce constitutes the exchange of products and services between businesses,
groups and individuals and can be seen as one of the essential activities of any
business. Electronic commerce focuses on the use of ICT to enable the external
activities and relationships of the business with individuals, groups and other
businesses.

E-commerce applications commenced in the early 1970Ês with the onset of new
innovations such as Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT). However, this application is
limited to large business organisations and financial institutions. The emergence
of Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) has expanded the application of financial
transactions to the manufacturing, retail, services and so on.
Generally, e-commerce emphasises the generation and exploitation of new

business opportunities and it improves business performance through a wide
range of transactions. This will deliver results more effectively and improve
economic efficiency in terms of low cost and fast interaction. Factors such as
customer interaction impeller, the knowledge economy, the consolidation of
digital technology as well as pressure to reduce costs and at the same time
remain competitive; have made many companies interested in the effectiveness
offered by e-commerce. Now the Internet technology is not only seen as a
channel for obtaining information, but it is a new platform for marketing or sale
of products and services.
ACTIVITY 9.4
Through e-commerce, many online or virtual stores have developed.
And online shopping is one of the popular activities among Internet
users nowadays. Have you been involved in this kind of shopping?
What do you think about shopping via the Internet? Discuss the
advantages and disadvantages of online shopping.
The definition of e-commerce by Inter-Agency Task Force on Electronic

Commerce (IATFEC) is as follows:
Electronic commerce (e-commerce) is business transactions conducted

over public and private computer networks. It is based on the electronic
processing and transmission of data, text, sound and video. E-commerce
includes transactions within a global information economy such as
electronic trading of goods and services, online delivery of digital content,
electronic fund transfers, electronic share trading, electronic bill of lading,
commercial auctions, collaborative design and engineering, online
sourcing, public procurement, direct consumer marketing and after-sales
services. It involves the application of multimedia technologies in the
automation and re-design of transactions and workflows, aimed at
increasing business competition.

E-commerce actually has a variety of definitions. Kalakota and Whinston (1997)

define e-commerce from the following perspectives, as summarised in Table 9.2:
Table 9.2: Perspectives of Electronic Commerce
Perspective Description
Communication The delivery of information, products or services or payment over
the telephone lines, computer networks, or other electronic means.
Business process Application of technology to automate business transactions and
workflow.
Services The equipment used to fulfil the desire of firms, consumers and
management to cut service costs while improving quality of goods
and increasing speed of service delivery.
Online Provision of the capability by buying and selling products,
operations services and information over the Internet and through online
services.
Source: Kalakota & Whinston (1997)
Generally, e-commerce can be divided into two main categories:
(a) Business-to-business (B2B)

B2B involves transactions between two or more companies. A company
will be selling goods or products to the enterprise via the web. It usually
involves Electronic Data Interchange (EDI). The interaction between
business to business to smooth out the network form of organisation
involving small firms rely on a company partner to supply components and
distribution of products to meet customer needs more effectively.
(b) Business-to-consumer (B2C)

B2C can be considered similar to the retail business because it involves
transactions between a seller and end user. However, through e-commerce,
the purchaser or end user can make a reservation or purchase directly from
the computer without having to go anywhere. They can choose from
sources as far away physically. This shows that distance between the buyer
and seller is no longer a problem because the dealer will form a virtual
store or storefront that offers information, goods and services to consumers.

Figure 9.2: The changes in distribution system
This new technology changes the distribution system (see Figure 9.2). In the
traditional system, the relationship between product producers and consumers
is mediated through the supply chain such as wholesalers, distributors and
retailers. With the convergence of technologies and e-commerce, disintermediation
will happen. This is where intermediaries will disappear and a direct relationship
between producers and consumers will exist. Besides that, there will be
re-intermediation where the intermediary function remains but is conducted
by organisations whose operations are driven by e-commerce. Figure 9.3 depicts
the e-commerce statistics in Malaysia.

Figure 9.3: E-commerce statistics in Malaysia

Source: malaysiacrunch.blogspot.com

9.2 POLITICS
New media has become a popular channel for political communication activities.
Since 2008, the Internet and its applications have played important roles in
politics, especially to express philosophies, viewpoints and convictions, either on
the part of the ruling government or the alternative party. Now, we can see
almost all political parties, such as PAS, UMNO, DAP and PKR having their own
websites These websites have been used as a medium or platform to distribute
any information related to their activities and opinions on some issues to
members, supporters and others.
The Internet is one medium that is especially needed in election campaigns.

In addition, this new tool is needed by the critics and non-governmental
organisations (NGOs) to influence public opinion.
With the new media technology, election campaigns have become more creative
especially to attract members of the younger generation who spend more time in
cyberspace. Online engagement can also lead to enormous influence. We have
seen the evidence in Barack ObamaÊs presidential bid in 2008 and the British
general election.

Figure 9.4: Political blogs

In recent years, many politicians have used social media such as blogs and social
networking sites (see Figure 9.4) in an effort to bridge or close any gaps with the
people. Many Malaysian ministers, including our Prime Minister, have Facebook
accounts since it is now the most popular medium. Through the PMÊs 1Malaysia
website, all government policies have been posted on Facebook to increase
peopleÊs understanding.
ACTIVITY 9.5
1. With the emergence of many political blogs, including by ordinary

individuals, we have a variety of information and views from
various angles. What is your opinion about this phenomenon?
2. Do you think that democracy and freedom of speech can be more

successful through this new media?
9.3 COMMUNICATION
We have established the fact that human communication is always dynamic
and keeps undergoing change. We are also aware that there are various levels
of communication, beginning from the intrapersonal to interpersonal, to
organisational level and to the mass or public level.
Sociologists, such as Bell (1973) and Castells (1991; 1996), talk about the three
main types of publicly circulated information in contemporary societies and
cultures, such as:
(a) Oral tradition of communication, namely face to face interactions and

storytelling;
(b) Recorded tradition of communication, such as everyday information that

are stored, transposed and exchanged by various means, for example, via
writing tools which began since c. 5000 BCE; motion picture camera in 1889
and films and etc.;
(c) Introduction of networked and online traditions such as exchanges between

participants, whether in the forms of text, numbers, images, or talking movies;
and

(d) In the forms of electronic bits and bytes that move around societies in
forms of digital documents sent through a computer network, for example,
internet hosts, telecommunication lines, databases, online directories,
e-books and list serves.
Bell (1962) in The End of Ideology categorised history of societies into these three
following phases:
(a) Pre-industrial;
(b) Industrial; and
(c) Post-industrial.
He also pointed out that the three phases were powered by:
(a) Steam;
(b) Electricity; and
(c) Information (computers).
We have all come to accept that the history of computers in human

communication and new media technologies is a history of computers, Internet
and networks. We had to redefine history with the earliest advent of the new
media in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, such as the telegraph,
telephone, radio, photography, moving pictures, computers and the „World
Wide Web‰. Human communication takes place alongside the presence of RAM,
hard disk capacity and TCP/IP.
Early computers were large and bulky and had emerged more as a military tool
rather than the shape that it took later on. In the 1960Ês, McLuhan began to write
about the emerging electronic media and its impact on human communication
and culture. His writings showed that he had anticipated contemporary society
to again initiate a major breakaway from the past, leaving behind the era of print-
industrial-urban-mechanical era into the new postmodern society. This new
environment may be seen as replacing forms of oral tradition of learning
and education as well as other modern activities. It is therefore very obvious
that societies at the global level shifted into the emergent world of media
concentration and saturation, mass computerisation and all kinds of new
discourses.

Media has indeed become the central unit in contemporary societies. New media,
mainly the social media, chat rooms, blogs, Twitter and etc. have created new
forms of human communication. We can communicate instantly with anyone on
the globe at any time at all. This ease in communication was not possible a couple
of decades ago! It is then mind-boggling if we are to imagine what forms would
eventually take shape in another couple of decades.
The face of technology keeps changing at a much faster rate than human
communication. For example, it is obvious that we are involved in more
ComputerăMediated Communication (CMC) than face-to-face interaction. An
obvious picture is the increasing use of texting via mobile and cell phones. At
times, texting takes place while engaging in a face-to-face communication. It is
again obvious that new media technologies have blurred the lines between
interpersonal and group communication and media communication.
ACTIVITY 9.6
Castells in The Rise of the Network Society looks at how „in the second
half of the 1990s, a new electronic communication system started to be
formed out of the merger of globalised, customised mass media and
computer mediated communication‰.
What is your opinion on the statement? Give suitable examples to your

explanation.
9.3.1 Formation of Virtual and Online Personalities

Licklider and Taylor (1968) first envisioned the beginnings of computer mediated
communication among dispersed communities:
„They will be communities not of common location, but of common

interest. In such sector, the total number of users will be large enough to
support extensive general-purpose information processing and storage
facilities. Life will be happier for the on-line individual because the
people with whom one interacts most strongly will be selected more by
commonality of interests⁄‰

As pointed out by Negroponte in 1995, we are all going „digital‰ and „being
digital‰ is a major coup in modern lifestyles, living amongst the IT specialists,
technology savvy friends. All of a sudden, we can work from anywhere, create
files and access them from anywhere, insert graphics and hyperlinks and store
them from everywhere and access them from all cybercafés. As a matter of fact,
the way we work and live has totally changed. We certainly cannot imagine
working or operating businesses without virtual communication. International
businesses and networking are almost all conducted by telephone, e-mail, and
teleconferencing and stored online or on discs.
Therefore, the idea of a virtual organisation is one that is totally different from
the traditional notion of organisational or institutional workplaces. From a real
physical environment, the virtual organisations are operated with lesser costs,
higher efficiency, increased productivity and crosses borders and spaces and
time zones.
It is clear that technology has really changed our lives and our ways in the
work environment. Thus, it is not surprising that the impact of such technology
would be most experienced at the workplace. IBM, for instance, has devised a
programme that can be installed in the office building where everyone in the
building may be contacted and consulted even by associates outside oneÊs own
section through a detailed job description of all employees through devices
including Instant Messenger (IM) chat or Voice over Internet Protocol including
through video. As a matter of fact, it was just in the 1980s that employees would
be seen using the IBM Selectric computer and the staple touch-tone telephones.
In conclusion, technology has changed us completely, whether at home or at the

workplace. Its main impact in terms of human communication and behaviour
may be seen as follows:
(a) Almost all sectors of the population are able to utilise a mobile phone; even
operators at the low-end of the work-flow would be able to operate mobile
phones and indulge in texting, emailing and immerse in the social media
such as Facebook and many others;
(b) All visual and graphic arts are utilised to enhance meaningful
communication exchanges on routine matters as well as high technology
operations and projects that are then distributed at national, regional and
global marketplaces; and
(c) At the end of the day, technology is an enabler, assisting human beings to
communicate better.

9.4 EDUCATIONAL
One of the main issues raised by CMC is the fact that it will introduce vast
opportunities in education and learning. People purchase computers mainly to
use them for educational purposes. Computers, the Internet and the new media
are perceived as tools for learning and it is all about being in sync with the new
buzzwords such as the knowledge society, e-learning and life-long education,
both remote and traditional. The increasing use of ICTs in the school system as
well as the blossoming of educational software are strong reminders of how the
new media is so strongly associated with education at the traditional institutions
as well as at home. New media technologies are constantly being touted as
creating additional space for further education, e-learning, thus stretching the
frontier further in the contexts of knowledge economy and society at home.
Governments as well as the private sector are increasingly aware of the fact that
the computer and the educational content industry are not only driving the
development in the education sector, but are also drivers of knowledge stocks.
David Hakken (1999) refers to it as the „banking‰ concept of learning. Hakken
considers knowledge as having economic value and may be expanded for profit
in the knowledge society and in cyberspace.
We can detect this development in the interest taken by big corporations such as
Microsoft, Intel, publishers of e-books and edutainment giants such as Disney
toward developing knowledge and edutainment packages. News, education and
entertainment are again merging in form, blurring the differentiation lines.
ACTIVITY 9.7
What do you think of the role of social media such as blog, weblog and
virtual worlds and social networking sites as tools for education? How
can we use it for this purpose? Discuss.
9.4.1 Prospect in Higher Education

In the 1980s, the government began to realise the increasing importance of
tertiary education in the formation of the information and knowledge society in
Malaysia. It began to realise the advantages of transforming Malaysia into a
regional education hub. Policies regarding Transnational Higher Education
(THNE) began to be drawn to enable Malaysia to become a quality THNE
provider for the Asian region.

Flew (2005) listed ten drivers of change in the high education sector. Some of
which are shown below:
(a) Shifting from elite to mass higher education;
(b) Changing learner profile and expectations;
(c) Moving to lifelong learning;
(d) Flexible learning;
(e) Rethinking pedagogy around student-centred learning; and
(f) Transforming educational media with the use of ICTs.
Some of the above situations would be looking for the intervention of ICTs in the
delivery modes of education and in trying to minimise accelerating costs in the
provision of higher education, especially THNE. At the same time, it begins to be
obvious that the provision of quality tertiary education through ICTs has made it
crucial for higher education providers to make significant investments in new
technological systems, software and infrastructure. The return in investment may
be seen in the increased level of interactivity and creative engagement in the
learning process.
In conclusion, new forms of educational media that utilise ICTs have been
responsible for massive improvements in the quality and delivery of higher
education and promise bigger profits and opportunities for higher education
providers in the region.
9.5 BIOTECHNOLOGY AND NEW MEDIA

The role of scientific research in the acquisition of knowledge is always
accompanied by the need to ensure a smooth transmission of new findings and
innovations. The field of life sciences has been identified as a major contributor of
emerging knowledge especially in the last two decades. This field has brought
forth an integrative dimension consisting of processes from the microscopic scale
to the scale of ecosystems. Life science is able to initiate a major rethink of the
processes of global development of knowledge and the role of the sciences in the
history and development of human kind.

According to Pau (Breton & Lambert, 2003):
„The spectacular development of technologies for exploring living

organisms, both biological and physical, has been accompanied by a
tremendous explosion of knowledge.‰
The field of biology or the „gloBIOlisation‰ is in fact an emergence of biological

knowledge as a vital phenomenon in the globalisation of knowledge in the life
sciences and technologies. One should realise the relations between technology
and biology. A logical approach in the technological process of development of
education is as shown in Figure 9.5.
Figure 9.5: Chart showing the relationship between technology and biology
Source: Breton & Lambert (2003)
The biotechnology field utilises the information and knowledge of, for example,
organisms which are extracted and identified and then used to cure diseases,
to develop new drugs and remedies. In this process knowledge, physiology,
innovation and economic development merge to be of service to society at large.
9.5.1 Biology and Automata

Another kind of technological application to biology is the creation of automata,
the creation of „self-moving things‰. The seventeenth century was filled with
mechanical monsters, demonic machines in the fiction world of cinemas and
computing projects. Lister (2001) uses the example of the Man-machine, taken
from the manifesto of La Mettrie (1747). In cinema it began with the characters of
Frankenstein and the later Terminator type of character.
The French philosopher Descartes (1662) had written on the machines that move
on their own, reliving AristotleÊs idea of thinking even during the Classical
period that there is always the possibility of self-moving biological technologies.
Descartes and La Metrie had already hypothesised on the advent of moving
mechanical parts of the human physiology.
Apart from the animated machines in the history of cyber culture, the biological
development also takes the form of the study of the human DNA and genomes
which has led to the development and combination of the field of biology and
technology, which marked the beginning of the biotechnological era in scientific
knowledge. This is accompanied by the fictionalised cyborg or what is referred to
as artificial life.
• Since the Industrial Revolution, the world economy has experienced lots of
changes in terms of technological innovations, managerial styles, form of
work and economic organisations.
• The two broad trends, globalisation and information technology, are

undermining the old order, forcing business to restructure.
• E-business may be defined as the application of information and

communication technologies in support of all the activities of business.
• New media has become a popular channel for political communication

activities.
• Computers, the Internet and the new media are perceived as tools for
learning.
• New media, mainly the Internet, social media, chat rooms, blogs and Twitter
have created new forms of human communication.
Biotechnology Online personalities

Cyber culture Social media
E-commerce

1. What is e-commerce? Discuss the advantages of the technology that makes

e-commerce possible.
2. How has the new media technology been used in politics in this country?
Discuss its negative impacts.
3. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the usage of the new media
technology in education.
1. Search several blogs owned by our ministers. Analyse them and comment
on their usage.
2. The new media technology is used widely in education. Give some

examples.
Bell, D., & Kennedy, B. (2000). The cybercultures reader. London: Routledge.
Breton, G., & Lambert, M. (2003). Universities and globalisation: Private linkages,
Public Trust. Paris: UNESCO Publishing.
Castells, M. (1996).The rise of the network society. London: Blackwell.
Descartes, R. (1662). Treatise on Man. In S. Gaukroger (Ed.), The world and other
writings. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

University Press.
Hakken, D. (1999). Cyborgs and cyberspace: An ethnographer looks into the

future. New York: Routledge.
La Mettrie, J., & Thomson, A. (1996). Machine man and other writings.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Negroponte, N. (1995). Being Digital. Sydney: Hodder & Stoughton.
Pau, B. (2003). „From Knowledge to Innovation: Remodelling Creative and

Knowledge Diffusion processes‰. In Breton, G. & Lambert, M. Universities
and Globalisation: Private Linkages and Public Trust. Paris: UNESCO
Publishing.
London: Sage.

T op i c  Legal and
10 Ethical Issues
and
Implications
LEARNING OUTCOMES
1. Identify the laws or acts that relate to new media;
2. Discuss the problems that relate to ethics and legal parameters in
the new media technology; and
3. Analyse the legal implications of the problems in new media.
 INTRODUCTION
The convergence of communication and multimedia in the new media
technology industry has resulted in the blurring of distinction between the
producer and the customer, the amateur and the professional, the private and the
public. Everyone can now use and create content to share with others without
strict requirements. New media, the Internet particularly, is seen as a media that
offers more freedom compared to old media.

TOPIC 10 LEGAL AND ETHICAL ISSUES AND IMPLICATIONS  181
Even though the technologies and applications convergence in new media do

challenge the traditional regulatory regime, every government including
Malaysia, tries to control this media because it has the potential of being misused
and may threaten national security. Since the introduction of the Multimedia
Super Corridor, the Malaysian government tried to strengthen national cyber
laws that ultimately led to the formation of the Malaysian Communications and
Multimedia Commission (MCMC) and the legislation of Communications and
Multimedia Act 1998.
Although the government promises us that there will be no censorship on

Internet content, there are still issues to be debated. In this topic, we will examine
the legal and ethical issues relating to the new media technology.
ACTIVITY 10.1
Issues of abuse are often discussed when we speak of new media. This
can be seen in new media content such as weblogs which are regarded
as unethical and inappropriate and may even jeopardise national
security. When legal action is taken against them, there are objections
because new media is supposed to be more independent compared to
old media.
What do you think of this matter? Discuss with your coursemates.
10.1 REGULATORY AND LEGAL ISSUES

There are a lot of controversial issues involving celebrities and political figures,
whether itÊs a slander or the truth, with the help of online media such as
Whatsapp, Facebook, Twitter etc., it has become unstoppable. A blogger Penarik
Beca, Abu Bakar Mohd Rashid, who imposed a picture of a dog on the logo of the
Royal Malaysian Police (PDRM) in his blog which was seen as an insult to PDRM
as well as an attempt to incite people to hate the police, and in 2015, a blogger,
better known as Papagomo was arrested by the police because he had allegedly
posted a picture related to a racism issues. Recently, an insurance company
executive has been detained for allegedly insulting Tunku Mahkota Johor (TMJ)
Tunku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim on the social media. These are some examples of
ethical issues related to the regulatory and legal regime arising from new media.

182  TOPIC 10 LEGAL AND ETHICAL ISSUES AND IMPLICATIONS
ACTIVITY 10.2
Browse the Internet and try to find websites or blogs similar to the
issues highlighted above. List as many as you can and discuss in a
group why such phenomena exist.
Should we allow it to happen or should legal action be taken?
Today, the Internet and new media has become a tool of necessity and can be
used by everyone. Unfortunately, these facilities have been abused by some of
the users to publish and disseminate inappropriate contents. It is being used in
unethical ways to express their dissatisfaction about something or someone.
Some offences in new media are as follows:
(a) Inciting and fostering hatred to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong and Sultans;
(b) Spreading false information which can threaten national security;
(c) Insulting religion;
(d) Inciting racial sentiments;
(e) Fraud activities involving false banking websites and investment;
(f) Copyright infringement;
(g) Slander with intention to bring damage on image, dignity and the good
name of someone in the eyes of society; and
(h) Dissemination of pornography, obscene and indecent content.
Even though there are several laws on this new media, the Internet in particular
appears to be a refuge for anyone who wants to escape prosecution for offences
against information and communication laws. The global nature of the Internet
and its network infrastructure complicate the law. As a communication network,
the Internet promotes „regulatory arbitrage‰ where people can „arrange their
affairs so that they evade domestic regulations by structuring their
communications or transactions to take advantage of foreign regulatory regimes‰
(Froomlin, as cited in Flew, 2004).

The uses of new media have raised issues that are being debated by various
parties. The main issues may be categorised as what is depicted in Table 10.1.
Table 10.1: Legal Issues Concerning New Media
Category Legal Issues

Cyberspace and business Electronic commerce, online contract law, online gambling
and online financial law.
Freedom of speech Freedom of expression, obscenity, pornography and
online indecency and cultural rights.
Intellectual properties Copyright law, patent law and trademark law.
Access issue Educational use, gender and race and unequal access to
the Internet.
Security issues Cybercrime, cyber fraud, online harassment, hacking,
identity theft and terrorism.
Privacy issues Cryptography and privacy protection for transaction, data
security and personal information privacy.
Even though the adaptation of legislation in new media is necessary, according

to Flew (2004), the legal implications of the InternetÊs development and ICT are
made even more complex by specific features of its relationship with existing
laws, regulatory framework and the ideas that underpin them. This is due to the
nature of the Internet which is intangible, graphically free and ever changing.
Van Dijk (2006) suggests three kinds of solutions: legal solution, self-regulation
and technological protection.
Table 10.2: Types of Solution for legal ICT Problems
Types Solution for Legal ICT Problems

Legal solutions Adaptation of laws and regulation.
Product standardisation.
Self-regulation Code of conduct and good practice.
Hot lines (reporting offences).
Market regulation: licenses, public domain software, advertising.
Mediation (civil conflict resolution).
Information agents (self-services).
Rating and filtering (self-services).

Technical solutions Rating and filtering (software).

Build-in software.
Embedded software, scrambling and coding techniques.
Encryption.
Data metering and digital right management systems.
Monitoring and tracking (log files, cookies).
10.2 CURRENT MEDIA LEGISLATION IN

MALAYSIA
In Malaysia, the media regulatory agency is under two ministries, namely the
Ministry of Home Affairs (print media) and Ministry of Information,
Communication and Culture (electronic media). Refer to Figure 10.1 for a view of
the regulatory regime in this country.
Figure 10.1: The regulatory regime in Malaysia

New media, the Internet, is seen as a medium of communication and subject to

the laws of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998. However, other laws
can be used for the offence of cyber media or related to the Internet. Table 10.3
summarises the laws that may be applied for new media offences:
Table 10.3: Laws that May Be Applied for New Media Offences
Type of
Laws that can be Applied Authority
Offence
Incitement/ Sedition Act 1948 PDRM
sedition
Safety threats Internal Security Act 1960 PDRM
Penal Code
Cheating • Direct Sales Act 1993 • Ministry of Domestic Trade
• Companies Act 1965 Cooperative and
Consumerism
• Bank and Finance Institutions
Act 1989 • (MDTCC)
• Capital Market and Services • Malaysia Companies
Act 2007 Commission
• Malaysian National Bank
• Security Commission
Copyright Copyright Act 1987 MDTCC
Slander/Libel • Penal Code • PDRM
• Communications and • MCMC
Multimedia Act 1998
Obscenity Communications and MCMC
Multimedia Act 1998
10.2.1 Telecommunications Acts

The process of convergence, which is one of the characteristics of new media, has
blurred many distinctions between the old and new media. Therefore, the laws
or regulations that are related to the media in Malaysia have had to be changed
from time to time. It began with the Telecommunications Act, 1950 and with the
introduction of the ATUR (Automatic Telephone Using Radio) in 1986 pertaining
to regulations of mobile services. We also had the Broadcasting Act 1988,
Telephone Regulations 1996and Postal Act 1996 which were implemented to
regulate and control activities in broadcasting, usage of the telephone and postal
services respectively. Table 10.4 shows the evolution of telecommunication
regulations in Malaysia.

Table 10.4: Evolution of Telecommunication Regulations in Malaysia
Year Main Regulations (Acts) and Changes

1950 Telecommunications Act, 1950
1986 ATUR Regulations 1986
1988 Broadcasting Act 1988
1996 • Telephone Regulations 1996
• Postal Act 1996
1997 • Digital Signature Act, 1997
• Computer Crime Act, 1997
• Copyright Act, 1997
1998 • Multimedia and Communications Act 1998
• Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission Act 1998
The development of ICT and the introduction of Multimedia Super Corridor

(MSC) necessitated the drafts and approval of several acts in 1997, namely the
Digital Signature Act, Computer Crimes Act and Copyright Act (Amendments).
This collection of acts is known as Malaysian cyber laws.
To fulfil the need to regulate an increasingly convergent communication and

multimedia products and industry, the Malaysian Communications and
Multimedia Commission MCMC was created pursuant to the Malaysian
Communications and Multimedia Commission Act (1998) as a new regulator for
the communications and multimedia industry in Malaysia. At the same time, the
Communications and Multimedia Act (1998) was passed.
ACTIVITY 10.3
Cyber laws are created to regulate ICT. Define cyber law and discuss
how important this law is in Malaysia.
Discuss the key points in each of the following Acts:
(a) Digital Signature Act, 1997;
(b) Computer Crimes Act, 1997; and
(c) Copyright Act (Amendments), 1997.

10.2.2 Communications and Multimedia Act (CMA)

1998
The Communications and Multimedia Act is a cyber-law that has been set up
as a framework for intervention by the Malaysian government in monitoring
communication and multimedia industry. The activities and services controlled
under this act includes traditional broadcasting, telecommunication and online
services, including facilities and networks which have been used in providing the
services and content provided through the facilities and networks.
The aims of this act are as follows:
(a) To make Malaysia a world centre and focal point for communications and
information services and multimedia content;
(b) To encourage the existence of civil society based on information;
(c) To grow and nurture local information resources and cultural activities to
facilitate national identity and global diversity;
(d) To regulate the long-term benefit for end users;
(e) To encourage a high level of consumer confidence in providing services;
(f) To ensure equal and affordable services through national infrastructure;
(g) To create a robust application environment for end users;
(h) To facilitate the efficient allocation of resources such as skilled labour,

capital, knowledge and national assets; and
(i) To encourage capacity building and efficiency in the industries.
(j) To ensure the reliability and integrity of information security and network.
This Act is the basis to all cyber laws in Malaysia and describes the Malaysian
ICT development policy. The Act also puts the promise of no censorship on the
Internet under Section 3 (3). Following the approval of this Act, a special ministry
was set up to embrace the communications and multimedia elements in them.
The Ministry was initially known as the Ministry of Energy, Water and
Communications but currently it is under the purview of the Ministry of
Information, Communication and Culture. This Act is the longest cyber law
among the six cyber laws enacted in Malaysia so far.

10.2.3 Malaysian Communications and Multimedia

Commission Act 1998
Based on this Act, it provides permission for the establishment of a Malaysian
Communications and Multimedia Commission, the sole regulatory body for
communications and multimedia industry. In addition to this, the Malaysian
Communications and Multimedia Commission also regulate the Postal industry
and is the Certifying Agency pursuant to the Digital Signature Act (1997).
The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission Act 1998

stipulated that the power and functions of the Commission shall include the
following:
(a) To advise the Minister on all matters concerning the national policy
objectives for communications and multimedia activities;
(b) To implement and enforce the provisions of the communications and

multimedia law;
(c) To regulate all matters relating to communications and multimedia

activities not provided for in the communications and multimedia law;
(d) To consider and recommend reforms to the communications and

multimedia law;
(e) To supervise and monitor communications and multimedia activities;
(f) To encourage and promote the development of the communications and

multimedia industry;
(g) To encourage and promote self-regulation in the communications and

multimedia industry;
(h) To promote and maintain the integrity of all persons licensed or otherwise
authorised under the communications and multimedia industry;
(i) To render assistance in any form toad to promote cooperation and

coordination amongst persons engaged in communications and multimedia
activities; and
(j) To carry out any function under any written law as may be prescribed by
the Minister by notification published in the Gazette.
The Commission shall have all such powers as may be necessary for, or in
connection with, or reasonably incidental to, the performance of its functions
under the communications and multimedia laws (www.skmm.gov.my).

10.3 THE DIGITAL DIVIDE

We have seen the rapid development in ICT which create new innovations from
time to time; however, the majority of the population in developing countries still
do not have access to digital technologies. This gap may be seen in different
dimensions such as physical access, legal issues, affordability and age.
In Europe, major changes were made in telecommunication policies in 1998

relating to the liberalisation of telecommunication markets that initiated a free
market, more competition and dropping prices. However, in many developing
countries, telecommunication is still centralised and is often strictly controlled by
the state.
This gap has become broader based on the UNDP Report which indicated that
the OECD countries spent USD520 billion on research and development in 1998.
This total amount is more than the combined economic output of the worldÊs 30
poorest countries. OECD countries, with only 19% of the worldÊs population, also
accounted for 91% of the 347,000 new patents issued. This is of course tied to the
system of intellectual property which ultimately deprived many poorer countries
from accessing all the latest knowledge. In the end these countries are totally left
out of the game.
The digital divide occurs all around the world, which means that there are gaps
between communities and other communities in access to ICT, information
access through ICT and understanding and using the information from ICT.
Based on the Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD),
a digital divide is defined as follows:
„⁄ the gap between individuals, households, businesses and geographic areas

at different socio-economic levels with regard both to their opportunities to
access information and communication technologies (ICTs) and to their use of the
Internet for a wide variety of activities. The digital divide reflects various
differences among and within countries.‰
ACTIVITY 10.4
The digital divide has become an issue that is frequently discussed by

various parties. Discuss what you think are the implications of this
phenomenon.

Digital divide is caused by several factors including economy, geography,

computer skill and language knowledge and literacy. Exposure to ICT and its use
is widespread among communities in large cities where the ICT infrastructure
is well and complete. Meanwhile, rural communities have less exposure. This
causes imbalances and disparities in various aspects such as knowledge in ICT,
computer skills and ownership, access to Internet and online communication.
ITU World Telecommunication showed that while 71% of the population in

developed countries are online, only 21% of the population in developing
countries are online. By the end of 2010, Internet user penetration in Africa will
reach 9.6%, far behind both the world average (30%) and the developing country
average (21%). While in developing countries 72.4% of households have a TV,
only 22.5% have a computer and only 15.8% have Internet access (compared to
98%, 71% and 65.6% respectively in developed countries).
A report from ITU also indicates that there is a strong growth in fixed (wired)
broadband subscriptions, in both developed and developing countries: at the end
of 2010, fixed (wired) broadband subscriptions will reach an estimated 555 million
globally (or 8% penetration), up from 471 million (or 6.9% penetration) a year
earlier. However, penetration levels in developing countries remain low: 4.4
subscriptions per 100 people compared to 24.6 in developed countries. Africa is
still left behind in this new technology with a penetration rate of less than 1%.
Figure 10.2 depicts the Internet users by regions from the year 2005 to 2010.
Figure 10.2: Internet users by regions (2005 to 2010)

Source: ITU World Telecommunication/ICT Indicator database

Figure 10.3 shows the broadband divide between developed and developing
countries from 2000 to 2010.
Figure 10.3: Broadband divide between developed and developing countries (2000 to 2010)
Lastly is Figure 10.4 which shows the broadband divide by region in 2010:
Figure 10.4: Broadband divide by region (2010)


This gap is not only caused by material resources, but it also involves other
factors such as temporal resources (having the time to use new media), mental
resources (sufficient technical knowledge), social resources (network and ties)
and cultural resources (the status and other cultural rewards to motivate people
to get access). All of these can be related to personal inequalities such as age, job
or occupation, level of education and household role. Therefore, van Dijk (2006)
categorised this digital divide as follows.
(a) Motivational access (motivation of use);
(b) Material and physical access;
(c) Skills access;
(d) Usage access; and
(e) Usage gap.
The digital divide is also detected in Malaysia, especially in the rural areas and
this call for a serious and concerted effort to overcome it. Only 14% of people in
the rural sectors have access to the Internet compared to 85% of urban users
in 1998. The majority of Broadband users in Malaysia in 2010 are located in
Kuala Lumpur, followed by Penang, Selangor and Negeri Sembilan (Malaysian
Communications and Multimedia Commission, 2010). Refer to Table 10.5.
Table 10.5: Broadband Penetration Rate per 100 Households by State
Source: Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (2010)

ACTIVITY 10.5
There are many plans or initiatives to bridge the digital divide in

Malaysia. Discuss the efforts that have been undertaken by our
government.
10.4 PRIVACY ON THE INTERNET

The issue of privacy is an issue that is quite important when it comes to matters
related to Internet-based technologies especially pertaining to personal privacy
concerning transactions or transmission of data via the Internet. For instance,
electronic transactions usually leave data trails and the potential of privacy
invasion is huge. This is the most prominent of consumer concerns about online
shopping or purchasing.
Increased usage of social networking sites like Facebook, LinkedIn, Friendster,

Bebo and Tagged are also seen as areas of concern, especially when it involves
under aged children. Most of these websites are easily used to create a user
profile that provides personal details, photographs and videos that may be
viewed by others. Therefore, it is suggested that only people whom the
individual knows should be added as a friend to ensure privacy.
One of the main concerns of privacy issues is identity theft. In Malaysia, cases
of identity theft on the Internet are now frequently reported. It usually involves
the activities of user-based websites online banking by cyber criminals using
phishing tactics, including producing fake websites that resembles the real
banking website. Users who cheat will enter the password in the fake website
and the information will be obtained by cyber criminals.
A study conducted by Norton Cybercrime Report (NCR) in 2010 found that

83 per cent of adult victims of cyber-crimes are victims of computer viruses,
credit card fraud and online identity theft. A total of 159 identity theft cases
involving Internet banking customers were recorded for the first nine months of
2010. This number increased by 27 cases compared to the 132 cases reported for
the same period the previous year.

ACTIVITY 10.6
1. Privacy threats on the Internet can come in various ways such as

the following:
(a) Cookies;
(b) HTTP;
(c) Browsers;
(d) Downloading freeware or shareware;
(e) E-commerce;
(f) E-mail;
(g) E-mail and cryptography;
(h) Spam;
(i) Internet Relay Chat; and
(j) Internet Service Providers (ISP).
2. Do some research and find out how each of these threats can
threaten our privacy.
There is no doubt that the Internet has much to offer but as users we can give
away a lot of information about ourselves if we are not careful. Information,
which is either personal or professional, may be stolen without our knowledge
and our privacy may be invaded by anyone be it criminal hackers or marketing
companies and corporate bosses.
Therefore, privacy issues relating to personal data have raised the following
concerns:
(a) Insecure electronic transmissions;
(b) Data trails and logs of email messages;
(c) Online transactions; and
(d) Tracking of web pages visited.

Privacy may be defined as „the claim of individuals, groups or institutions to

determine when, how and to what extent information about them is
communicated to others‰ (Westin, 1967: 7). In terms of legal theory, according to
van Dijk (2006), privacy is a particular right of freedom which is a right of no
interference in private life. However, the classic definition of privacy may be
accessed from Justin Brandeis (1928):
„Privacy is the right to be left alone ă the most comprehensive of rights and
the right most valued by free people.‰
van Dijk (2006) categorised it into three types (see Table 10.6):
Table 10.6: Three Types of Privacy
Types of Privacy Description

Physical privacy ă the right to This applies to the inviolability of the body and
selective intimacy fulfilment of intimate human need, allowing the
presence of only a very small selection of other
persons, especially regarding biotechnology and
biometric which is become intertwined with
information technology.
Relational privacy ă the right to The relationships and behaviour in oneÊs private
make contacts selectively life at home, work and others might be threatened
by the use of communication networks and
information systems. For example, digital
telephone conversation and tracking traffic
between telephone numbers and Internet address.
Informational privacy ă the right Regarding the grip the individual has and keeps
to selective disclosure over his or her personal data and over the
information based on these data. Always referring
to protection of personal data and security.
There are several ways to protect your privacy via the Internet or the new media
technology and it can be divided into the following:
(a) Legal Protection

Needed as a framework and backbone for other protection. For example,
the US has the Privacy Act (1974), Electronic Communications Privacy Act
(1986) and ChildrenÊs Online Privacy Protection (1994) while the EU has the
European Privacy Directive 8 (1998).

(b) Social Protection/Self-regulation

Users as individuals or collective attempt to safeguard privacy themselves
using their own expertise, actions and technical means such as a filtering
software (P3 or TRUSTe).
(c) System-technical and Organisational Protection

Protected by privacy regulations and reliable personal data protection.
(d) Technical Alternatives

Need development by technicians and scientists and it involves local
control, concentration of intelligence terminals, offline equipment and
privacy-enhancing technologies.
Legal framework for the protection of privacy consists of three parts, namely
national legislation, international legislation and treaties and codes of conduct
and professional codes. The right to privacy is covered in most constitutions of
countries. At an international level, we can refer to the Treaties of Rome and
Strasbourg (European Council) and Treaty on Civil Rights and Political Rights
(UN).
Some important principles or rules, as below, are used in legislative protection of

informational privacy which is formulated by the OECD and European Council
(van Dijk, 2006):
(a) The Use Limitation Principles

The smallest possible amount of personal data should be gathered and used
for the purpose given.
(b) The Principle of Purpose Specifications

Only personal data for strictly specified purposes should be collected and
processed.
(c) Quality
Personal data must be correct, complete and up to date. They have to be
well protected by means of security
(d) The Principle of Transparent or Openness

The people involved have the right to know what personal data are
collected, for what purpose, who has access to that data and to whom they
are passed on.

Codes of conduct and professional codes are valuable additions to legislation.

Codes of conduct exist in the form of organisation self-regulation and it applies
in electronic banking or information services between employers and trade
unions, or between producers and consumers while professional codes are made
for information workers or researchers to ensure the privacy of certain
information.
10.5 INNOVATIONS IN COMMUNICATION

TECHNOLOGY
Technology and innovation are changing our ability to develop, organise and
share information and the way in which we communicate. No doubt, with such
innovation we have many choices to get what we need and what we want.
Communication technology allows an organisation to get the latest updates from

different parts of the world where its business is located and also allows them
to have increased regulation. The latest innovations in web-conferencing have
made it possible for businessmen to interact with each other in a better way.
The innovations in communication technology have also initiated a marked
difference in the way education is imparted and has led to an improvement in
the quality of education.
We can also make online banking transactions through the click of a mouse and
travel to foreign countries without carrying any cash. The impact of globalisation
on the banking industry has been enormous and today we can see various banks
being streamlined through effective communication channels.
Generally, the innovations allow us to do everything via electronic application

and it involves a variety of areas such as below:
(a) e-Learning systems and repositories;
(b) e-Research and computationally based science;
(c) e-Science for participation of educators and public in scientific research;
(d) e-Health records and information systems;
(e) e-Storage archival systems and indestructible data for telephone systems,
etc.;

(f) e-Content and digital rights management systems;
(g) e-Manufacturing process control and manufacturing systems;
(h) e-Small Business systems;
(i) e-Community for self-organising community broadband networks;
(j) e-Strategy for integration of workflow and information systems;
(k) e-University student registration systems and admin systems; and
(l) e-Government for integrating and delivering government services.
There is definitely a positive impact from this technology, but it has also led to
some challenges. Therefore, we have two options with this new technology: (a)
Technological based change and innovation, generally good and improve our
human prospects; and (b) technological advancement as inherently bad, threaten
our civil and economic life and ultimately dehumanising.
For Blythe (www.ecorridors.vt.edu), the development of technology changes our

societal sense of what is „right‰ and what is „wrong‰ and between what seems to
be „ethical‰ and „fair‰ on the one hand and our laws on the other. Despite the
efficiency of access to digital format or materials, prevalence of peer-to-peer, high
bandwidth Internet connection and free distance communication and anonymity
of access to digital movie, video and software, there are some disruptive
incidents involving Intellectual Property (IP) and fair use as well as individual
privacy.
The use of some software may also lead to privacy infringement. Some users are
not aware that vendor license sometimes has some terms that allow them to
modify our computer system. As an example:
„You agree that in order to protect the integrity of content and software
protected by digital rights management (ÂSecure ContentÊ), Microsoft may
provide security related updates to the OS Components that will be
automatically downloaded onto your computer. These security updates
may disable your ability to copy and/or play Secure Content and use other
software on your computer. If we provide such security update, we will use
reasonable efforts to post notices on a web site explaining the update.‰

This term gives the right to Microsoft to look and modify any file in our
computers.
In KaZaa ă a file sharing program that lets users download music, pictures,
software and video clips ă license agreement there is a term that stipulates that,
„You hereby grant Brilliant Digital Entertainment the right to access and use the
unused computing power and storage space on your computer/s and/or
Internet access or bandwidth for the aggregation of content and use in
distributed computing‰. The user acknowledges and authorises this use without
the right of compensation.
ACTIVITY 10.7
1. What are copyright properties and why is this right protected in
many nations?
2. What is the meaning of fair use?
Despite that, in the name of fair use, each year the music industry loses about
$4.2 billion to piracy worldwide. So much so, 85 per cent of music recordings and
60 per cent of movies released do not generate enough revenue to cover their
costs. All stakeholders in this industry such as producers, publishers, retailers,
the record companies and creative artists lose their earnings. The abuse of fair
use or copyright property nowadays can easily be done because anything can be
copied and shared via the Internet. For example, we can upload photos and share
it in Flickr and Picasa; we can share videos on Facebook or YouTube and all these
activities can be accessed by everyone and they can reuse it without our
knowledge.
10.6 GENDER ISSUES

Gender issues in ICT and the new media technology have been discussed since
the mid-1990Ês when people began to talk about Information Society. A series
of papers on this issue has been presented in many conferences such as the
World Telecommunications Development Conference and Conference on
Women and Economic Development. In 2001, the United Nations Secretary-
General established a high-level Information and Communication Technologies
(ICT) Task Force with Plan of Action.

ACTIVITY 10.8
Studies by Pierre Montagnier that were presented in WSIS Thematic

Meeting in 2005 identified important trends as follows:
In Internet activities, downloading software is more of a male activity

while seeking health information on injury, disease or nutrition is more
of a female activity. Sending and receiving e-mail is a very common
activity for women:
(a) In Korea, one of the most connected countries in the world, the
share of women researchers is only 10%. Since 2002, the gender
gap in Internet usage rate increased significantly in the older age
category (50ă60), but it is rapidly closing in the younger
generation (6ă19 years, 20Ês and 30Ês). Perhaps the gender gap will
disappear in the next ten years;
(b) Among ICT-using occupations, women tend to have a much

higher share of clerical occupations and a lower share of scientific
and professional jobs. The share of women in ICT-using
occupations in OECD countries indicates a disparity of between
40ă60%;
(c) The share of women in the ICT industry (producing ICTs) is low,
particularly in manufacturing industry and in computer & service
industry; and
(d) WomenÊs low share of ICT specialistsÊ jobs has not increased since
1998. In 2005, only 25% of all software engineers in the US were
women. On the other hand, the number of women who have
relative specialisation in computing in Mexico is higher than other
countries.
What do you think about these facts? How about the phenomenon in
Malaysia? Discuss.
Source: web.worldbank.org

The gender gap exists in ICT use, especially among older age groups and in areas
of newer technologies. The differences can be seen from where men and women
access the Internet. Men are more likely to access from both home and work in
many countries, while women are more likely to access from educational
establishments and home.
In the information technology sector, women make up only a small percentage

of managerial, maintenance and design personnel in networks, operating
systems, or software. According to the UN entity for Gender Equality and the
Empowerment of Women (UNIFEM), women hold 9% of mid- to upper-level IT
related jobs in engineering and make up 28.5% of computer programmers and
26.9% of systems analysts.
In terms of the use of ICTs, there are significant differences in patterns of use
across the whole population. For example, in their on-line activities women are
more likely to engage in shopping and health-related activities, while men are
more likely to play games and visit sports pages. These differences are present
for all age groups.
Gender issues exist in differential access and impact of the new technologies on
men and women. Generally, it can be seen as below:
(a) Physical Access to Infrastructure

Infrastructure is developed in urban areas and the bulk of women live in
rural areas, especially in developing and African countries. Access to this
the new media technology is difficult for women in poorer and less
urbanised areas where telecommunications infrastructures are poor and
unaffordable. They have a smaller chance than men to access new
technologies because the phone lines are fewer; there are no relay stations
for mobile phones and no earth stations for satellites.
(b) Social and Cultural Issues

Specific barriers for the majority of women include illiteracy, unfamiliarity
with the dominant languages of the Internet, domestic responsibilities and
the fact that the information delivered by ICTs is not that valuable to them.
Furthermore, since the infrastructure are more in urban areas, women have
difficulties using it because their mobility (both in the sense of access to
transport and ability to leave the home) is also more limited than men. They
also have limited time to spend on new technology because of their heavy
responsibilities in domestic tasks.

(c) Education and Skills

There is gender bias in attitudes towards women studying or using
information technology. For example, in Africa, many mathematics and
science teachers have views that girls cannot think or work scientifically
and that science is too mechanical and technical for girls, thus discouraging
female students. In some countries, there are cultural discriminations
against women having access to education and technology. Furthermore,
this new technology requires literacy, language, computer skills and
information literacy.
(d) Financial Issue

When it involves paying for information access, such as at a rural
information centre or a cyber cafe, women are less likely to have the
disposable income to do so.
(e) Language and Content

WomenÊs viewpoints, knowledge, experiences and concerns are inadequately
reflected on the Internet, while gender stereotypes predominate. These
concerns content that relate to issues of sexism and portrayal of women in
the media. Besides that, English is a predominant language in the new
media and that is a problem for a majority of women because their national
language is not English, especially in places such as Latin America, Eastern
Europe and Africa. This excludes them or limits the benefits that they can
get from using ICTs.
Figure 10.5: Percentage of Internet users by gender in European countries, 2008


Figure 10.6: Percentage of Internet users by gender in non-European countries (2008)

Even though the gap between men and women in Internet usage is now
relatively small, gender equality in ICT-related education and training and ICT
access is still not yet fully achieved. Men tend to have a slightly higher share in
the Internet users (except in Honduras, Ireland, New Zealand, Nicaragua and
Thailand).
10.7 ACCESS FOR THE DISABLED

Access to ICT for disabled people has been incorporated as one of the clauses in
the Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights and Dignity of
Persons with Disabilities, which was adopted by the United Nations (UN) in
2006:
„To enable persons with disabilities to live independently and participate

fully in all aspects of life, States Parties shall take appropriate measures
to ensure to persons with disabilities access, on an equal basis with others,
to the physical environment, to transportation, to information and
communications, including information and communications technologies
and systems and to other facilities and services open or provided to the
public, both in urban and in rural areas.‰
ICT has been identified as an important aspect of the wider strategy for the social
inclusion of disabled people and for help to be given to this group to participate
fully in the social and economic life of their communities. New technologies can
offer them the ability to compensate for physical or functional limitations, thus
allowing them to enhance their social and economic integration in communities
by enlarging the scope of activities available to them.
In the US, Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 requires federal websites
to provide individuals with disabilities access to and use of website information
and data that is comparable to that provided to the general public. Each agency
must ensure that such electronic information technology is accessible to
individuals with disabilities unless an undue burden would be imposed on the
agency.
When compliance imposes an undue burden, Section 508 requires agencies to at

least provide the information by an alternative means that allows disabled
individuals access to it. Alternate methods may include, but are not limited to,
voice, fax, relay service, Internet posting, captioning, text-to-speech synthesis and
audio description.
In Malaysia, despite the provision of incentives, strategies and access to

information and communication technology in the disabled policy, it is still not
able to bridge the digital gap. Most of the websites in the country is difficult to
be accessed by disabled people, especially with the lack of software that can
translate it into the Malay language. This has resulted in reference texts in the
Malay language to sound more like the English pronunciation which makes it
difficult for blind people in this country to understand it.
10.8 INFORMATION RESTRICTIONS AND

CENSORSHIP
Recently, the Malaysian government through the MCMC has taken action to
block 10 websites which allowed illegal downloading of files and videos. They
are Warez-BB.org, ThePirateBay, Movie2k, MegaVideo, PutLocker, DepositFiles,
DuckLoad, FileServe, FilesTube and MegaUpload. Instructions are given to an
Internet Service Provider (ISP) to take that action based on the request by the
Ministry of Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumer Affairs to prevent
access to those websites which is seen to violate the Copyright Act 1987. This
action has initiated various reactions from the public; some in support and some
against.

Ideally, new media is a channel that could provide any information such as
technical, scientific, political, economic and even gossip, as long as there are no
restrictions on the dissemination and information, including that which may be
construed as „threatening national security‰. Information which is considered as
dangerous for national concerns can be censored in order to retain the status quo
of the ruling political power or to avoid the danger towards national harmony of
the country.
Other countries also have censored the contents or information involving new
media. The German government, for example, in December 1995, ordered
CompuServe to block access to illegal materials under the law of that country.
They warned the Germany Internet Access Provider (IAP) that they would be
charged with abetting terrorists, if they do not restrict the information that may
motivate terrorism on the web.
In January 1996, Deutsche Telecom, blocked the German people to access the
URL Ernst Zuendel, the German activist residing in Toronto, Canada, on
suspicion of disseminating information on anti-Jewish and neo-Marxists on the
Internet. In UK, their IAP established Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) with the
permission of the police and the government to report material that is unlawful
to the police, besides asking the IAP to remove or block it.
China has many laws related to the Internet. One such law states that spreading
any message that has been defined as „illegal‰ and „anything that violates the
constitution affecting the dignity and interests of China‰ is prohibited. In 2000, a
total of 1,000 Internet offences have been reported by the Chinese government.
China has taken action to block websites such as YouTube, Twitter and Facebook,
as well as applying a Great Firewall filter to block its citizens rather than
allowing them to watch the images and read ideas that are posted on illicit web
pages outside the country. Besides that, all Internet users in China are required to
register with the police and to sign an agreement not to do things that would
harm the country ă including state secrecy, to spread information that could
damage national security and pornography on the Internet.

ACTIVITY 10.9
In most closed countries, the new media technology creates a space of

freedom which would not otherwise exist. Its potential to disseminate
news irritates dictators and eludes traditional censorship methods.
Some regimes use it ă mainly on Facebook and Twitter ă to monitor
dissidents and infiltrate their networks.
Discuss the statement above in terms of the pro and contra of the
freedom of information? Can the restrictions and censorship of
something that is not appropriate ensure the safety and harmony of the
country?
There is less censorship on the Internet in most developed countries. Most of the
censorship is to prevent children pornography or to monitor websites that incite
hatred of religion, race and culture. But some developing countries do not
impose any form of censorship and there are developing countries that impose
some form of censorship on the Internet. Reporters form Without Borders stated
that the Internet enemies are Burma, Cuba, China, Iran, North Korea, Saudi
Arabia, Syria, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Vietnam. Malaysia is under the
surveillance list with Australia, Bahrain, Belarus, Egypt, Eritrea, France, Libya,
Russia, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey, United Arab Emirates
and Venezuela. Figure 10.7 depicts the censorship of the Internet by country.
Figure 10.7: Censorship of the Internet by country

In Malaysia, the government continues to provide the assurance that the

governmentÊs policy of not censoring the Internet will continue to be
implemented as stated in the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998, „not
anything in this Act shall be construed as permitting the censorship of the
Internet‰. But as the body which is responsible, MCMC has the power to act if
there is any party who abuse or violate several provisions in the law of the
country.
Internet restriction or censorship involves control or suppression of the

publishing or accessing of information on the Internet. There are various ways to
filter or censor the Internet content. One way is through technical censorship
such as IP blocking, DNS filtering and redirection, URL filtering, packet filtering,
reverse surveillance and connection reset. There are also some software that can
be used, usually by users, to filter Internet content such as Cyber Patrol Filtering
Software, Sites Blocked, CYBERsitter, Bess Filtering Services, CleanNet, McAfee
Office (Guard Dog) and American Family Filter.
Filtering or censorship might be done to content related to the following themes:
(a) Political
Express views in opposition to those of the current government. Content
more broadly related to human rights, freedom of expression, minority
rights and religious movements is also considered here.
(b) Social
Material related to sexuality, gambling and illegal drugs and alcohol, as
well as other topics that may be socially sensitive or perceived as offensive.
(c) Conflict/Security
Content related to armed conflicts, border disputes, separatist movements
and militant groups is included in this category.
(d) Internet Tools

Web sites that provide e-mail, Internet hosting, search, translation, Voice-
over Internet Protocol (VoIP) telephone service and circumvention methods
are grouped in this category.

ACTIVITY 10.10
Malaysia is not implementing Internet censorship
Joseph Kaos Jr
Tuesday, December 14th, 2010 13:31:00
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia does not intend to implement an internet

filter similar to ChinaÊs Green Dam project, the Deputy Information,
Communication and Culture Minister Datuk Joseph Salang Gandum
told the Dewan Rakyat today.
Salang said the government will leave it to the discretion of internet

users to practice good usage, rather than use censorship to cull abuse of
the internet.
He also clarified that a survey by the Malaysian Communications and

Multimedia Commission (MCMC) to study on ChinaÊs internet filter
operation was simply, a „study‰.
„The study on China does not mean that we want to impose internet
censorship like them. We just wanted to see how effective their
programme is and what we can learn from it. But it does not mean we
want to impose the same thing,‰ said Salang, responding to a Nurul
Izzah Anwar (PKR-Pantai Dalam)Ês supplementary question during
Question Time.
Salang said Malaysia, as a sovereign nation, can make their own

decisions and does not have to be dictated by what other countries do.
The deputy minister also urged bloggers to exercise caution in their blog
entries and to refrain from insulting the country as well as its rulers.
„The alternative media is no longer ÂalternativeÊ, in fact it has become

the preferred media among the public now. Since the government does
not intend to censor internet content, bloggers and internet users must
exercise caution,‰ said Salang.
Source: www.mmail.com.my
What do you think of this statement? Does Malaysia actually censor

Internet content? Should the government apply censorship in this new
media? Discuss.

Freedom, prosperity and the development of a society depend on education as

well as on unrestricted access to knowledge, thought, culture and information.
The right of access to information and ideas is vital for any society. Therefore, the
restriction and censorship of information are seen as crucial and is a controversial
issue to many people because it is always related to freedom of information and
democracy. Any attempt to impose censorship on the Internet will be greeted
with loud protests from various parties who see information access as one of the
rights of humanity. Any restriction or censorship will be seen as a violation of
human rights and denying their freedom to receive information that can increase
their awareness about the world.
• The global nature of the Internet and its network infrastructure complicate
the law.
• The legal implications of the InternetÊs development and ICT are made even
more complex by specific features of its relationship with existing laws,
regulatory framework and the ideas that underpin them.
• The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC)

were created pursuant to the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia
Commission Act (1998) as a new regulator for the communications and
multimedia industry in Malaysia.
• The Communications and Multimedia Act is a cyber-law set up by the

Malaysian government to monitor communication and the multimedia
industry.
• The majority of the population in developing countries still do not have

access to new media technologies.
• The gap caused by digital divide is not only because of material resources,
but it also involves other factors such as temporal resources (having the time
to use new media), mental resources (sufficient technical knowledge), social
resources (network and ties) and cultural resources (the status and other
cultural rewards to motivate people to get access).
• The digital divide is also detected in Malaysia, especially in the rural areas.
• Electronic transaction usually leave data trails and the potential of privacy
invasion is huge.

• One of the main concerns of privacy issues is identity theft.
• Legal framework for the protection of privacy consists three parts, namely
national legislation, international legislation and treaties and codes of
conduct and professional codes.
• In the information technology sector, women make up only small percentages

of managerial, maintenance and design personnel in networks, operating
systems, or software.
• The gap to ICT access between genders exists, especially in older age groups
and in areas of newer technologies.
• Access to ICT for disabled people has been incorporated as one of the clauses
in the Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights and Dignity
of Persons with Disabilities, which was adopted by the United Nations (UN)
in 2006.
Censorship Privacy
Digital divide Security
Legislation Self-regulation
1. List all legal and ethical issues related to the new media technology.
2. Explain the importance of Communication and Multimedia Act 1998 to the

new media technology industry in the Malaysian context.
3. What is meant by digital divide?
4. Discuss the advantages and the disadvantages of open source to public/

users.

1. There are several ways to protect the privacy of our information. List and
explain each of it.
2. Restriction and censorship of information will always be a controversial

issue. Explain the reasons.
Blythe, E. (n.d.). Innovations in communication technology: Impact on privacy

and ownership. Retrieved from www.ecorridors.vt.edu/research/papers/
topic/?paper_id=9
Cady, G. H., & McGregor, P. (2002). Protect your digital privacy: survival skills
for the information age. US: Que Publishing.

University Press.
Hafkin, N. (2002). Gender issue and ICT policy in developing countries. An

overview. Presented in United Nations Division for the Advancement of
Women (DAW) Expert Group Meeting, Seoul, Republic of Korea, 11 to
14 November 2002.
Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission. (2010). Q4 2010:

Selected Facts & Figures. Retrieved from www.skmm.gov.my/skmmgovmy/
files/attachments/Q4%202010%20Text.pdf
London: Sage.
Westin, A. F. (1967). Privacy and freedom. New York: Atheneum.

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MAKLUM BALAS MODUL
If you have any comment or feedback, you are welcome to:
1. E-mail your comment or feedback to modulefeedback@oum.edu.my
OR
2. Fill in the Print Module online evaluation form available on myINSPIRE.
Thank you.
Centre for Instructional Design and Technology

(Pusat Reka Bentuk Pengajaran dan Teknologi )
Tel No.: 03-27732578
Fax No.: 03-26978702


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Faculty of Applied Social Sciences

Copyright © Open University Malaysia (OUM)

Copyright © Open University Malaysia (OUM)

Module Writer: Prof Dr Azizah Hamzah

Moderator: Dr Bahiyah Umar

Developed by: Centre for Instructional Design and Technology

First Edition, August 2011

Copyright © Open University Malaysia (OUM)

Topic 1 What is New Media? 1

Topic 2 Evolution of New Media 32

Copyright © Open University Malaysia (OUM)

Topic 3 Technology of Networks 44

Topic 4 Personal Publishing on a Global Network 68

Copyright © Open University Malaysia (OUM)

4.7 Data and Spam 90

Topic 5 New Media as Cultural Technologies 94

Topic 6 Convergence 107

Copyright © Open University Malaysia (OUM)

Topic 7 New Media Technology and Mass Communication 126

Topic 8 Theoretical Approaches to Understanding New Media 147

Topic 9 New Media Technologies and Their Impacts 160

Copyright © Open University Malaysia (OUM)

9.5 Biotechnology and New Media 175

Topic 10 Legal and Ethical Issues and Implications 180

Copyright © Open University Malaysia (OUM)

Copyright © Open University Malaysia (OUM)

Copyright © Open University Malaysia (OUM)

COURSE GUIDE DESCRIPTION

As an open and distance learner, you should be acquainted with learning

Copyright © Open University Malaysia (OUM)

Table 1: Estimation of Time Accumulation of Study Hours

1. Discuss the evolution of new media technology to the current digital

3. Develop skills in assessing the utilisation of new media technology and to

Topic 1 gives an introduction of what is meant by new media technology. You

Copyright © Open University Malaysia (OUM)

Topic 6 emphasises on convergence as a concept that may be considered as one

Topic 8 discusses the theoretical approaches to understanding new media.

TEXT ARRANGEMENT GUIDE

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Self-Check: This component of the module is inserted at strategic locations

Activity: Like Self-Check, the Activity component is also placed at various

References: The References section is where a list of relevant and useful

Copyright © Open University Malaysia (OUM)

Flew, T. (2002). New media: An introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Jones, S. (Ed.). (2003). Encyclopedia of new media: An essential reference to

Markham, A. (1999). Life online: Researching real experience in virtual space.

Pavlik, J. C. (1998). New media technology: Cultural and commercial

TAN SRI DR ABDULLAH SANUSI (TSDAS)

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Copyright © Open University Malaysia (OUM)

Copyright © Open University Malaysia (OUM)

This topic is an introduction to help you understand new media technology

Technology development has changed the way we communicate. Now

1.1 MEDIA TECHNOLOGY

Table 1.1: Media and Technologies

Source: Bates (1993)

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