The Impact of New Media on Public Relation
The impact of new media on public relation
Defining new and emerging media
New media is becoming the preferred term for a range of media practices that employ digital technologies and the computer in some way or another (Dewdney & Ride, 2006). It is used as a term in educational settings as the title of university departments and courses and also as a title of certain artistic practices, making new media both an academic and intellectual subject, and a practice (Dewdney & Ride, 2006). New media definitions remain fluid and are evolving, with some definitions of new media focusing exclusively upon computer technologies and digital content production whilst others stress the cultural forms and contexts in which technologies are used (Dewdney & Ride, 2006). One key feature of new and emerging media technologies is that they are often portable and facilitate mobility in communications. New media has a wider reach that anything before it (Lindgren cited in Galloway, 2005). Wireless and digital technological improvements to media have lifted previous restrictions that required connecting to a static, physical network or machine. A recent report (Commonwealth of Australia, 2005) put forward that digital content and applications in the twenty-first century will be as significant and as embedded in economic well-being as was electronic power in the twentieth century. The report states that like information and communications technology generally, digital content and applications have the characteristics of a ‘general purpose technology’ (Commonwealth of Australia, 2005, p.3). When examining cultural forms and contexts in which these new technologies are used, what is striking is the fact that new media potentially makes people technically more accessible for more of the time: in the car, out shopping, in the office, at work, at home and when socializing.
New media are enabling content delivery on demand by consumers, the
Defining new and emerging media
New media is becoming the preferred term for a range of media practices that employ digital technologies and the computer in some way or another (Dewdney & Ride, 2006). It is used as a term in educational settings as the title of university departments and courses and also as a title of certain artistic practices, making new media both an academic and intellectual subject, and a practice (Dewdney & Ride, 2006). New media definitions remain fluid and are evolving, with some definitions of new media focusing exclusively upon computer technologies and digital content production whilst others stress the cultural forms and contexts in which technologies are used (Dewdney & Ride, 2006). One key feature of new and emerging media technologies is that they are often portable and facilitate mobility in communications. New media has a wider reach that anything before it (Lindgren cited in Galloway, 2005). Wireless and digital technological improvements to media have lifted previous restrictions that required connecting to a static, physical network or machine. A recent report (Commonwealth of Australia, 2005) put forward that digital content and applications in the twenty-first century will be as significant and as embedded in economic well-being as was electronic power in the twentieth century. The report states that like information and communications technology generally, digital content and applications have the characteristics of a ‘general purpose technology’ (Commonwealth of Australia, 2005, p.3). When examining cultural forms and contexts in which these new technologies are used, what is striking is the fact that new media potentially makes people technically more accessible for more of the time: in the car, out shopping, in the office, at work, at home and when socializing.
New media are enabling content delivery on demand by consumers, the
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