Studies in Media

Is 'New Media' always digital? Is it really 'social'? Well, in contemporary times, probably yes. But then, wasn't print a new medium when it was invented?  And radio, and then television? With every 'new' medium, there have been social, political and economic changes, because we have been exposed to different thoughts, ideas and challenges with each of them. With every new medium, there have been changes in how we receive, use and disseminate information. The difference between the 'older' new media and the newer ones is that the content is now stored in a binary form. It is now digital, rather than analogue. Instead of storing data on tapes and records, we now store data in microchips. Instead of data being 'fixed' it is now in a state of flux. This enables content to be converted from one form to another easily and equally easily distributed allowing trans-mediality. Apart from the way content is stored, even the way in which it is p

Came across an interesting post. This is a must for anyone wanting to survive in the media industry of the future. How News Organizations Can Create a Mobile-First Strategy by Steve Buttry Published Dec. 10, 2009 3:43 pm Updated Mar. 4, 2011 9:00 am I used to watch the crowds in airport lounges when I traveled, studying how people read newspapers. Even with circulation declining, you could see people reading newspapers intently. Especially after 9/11, people would have plenty of time to read while waiting for flights, and newsstands stocked a variety of papers to choose from. Look around an airport lounge now. You’ll see more people looking at their phones than holding newspapers. When I see people in the airport lounge, I know time is only accelerating with each tap of their thumbs. My concern over this acceleration pushed me last month to call for news companies to pursue a mobile-first strategy. New York University journalism professor Jay Rosen asked me to “describe wha

For the uninitiated, Google (Google Earth) has a feature called the Streetview. The Google Streetview car roams around the streets, clicking pictures as it drives by. These pictures are then stitched together to give you a virtual walkthrough. It's an amazing application, but now seems to be creating a lot of controversy, raising privacy concerns. Citizens are demanding that their street, houses should not be photographed by the car. Pic source: http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9217775/Google_Street_View_blocked_in_Bangalore The other issue is security. After 26/11 in Mumbai, there is generally a lot of concern over security issues. The Karnataka Government has refused to allow the Google Streetview car to photograph sections of Bengaluru. This is going to spark off a debate on technology, government, privacy concerns, freedom of speech, etc. Click here for an article that has appeared on the rediff.com com home page tonight. 

An interesting development. Click --->  Microsoft puts Office 365 in the cloud, confronts Google Recently Nokia chose Microsoft's Windows Mobile OS over Google's Android. Though I personally feel that they are a bit late, because Google is not going to sit idle till the new Windows powered Nokia phones come out (In 2012!). And now this development is going to generate a lot a heat. Let's enjoy the war, because whatever the outcome I am sure the consumers/users will benefit. Probably at a little extra cost, though.

Till now we had to book domain names with generic Top Level Domain names. Which means we had to choose between .com, .net. .info, .in etc. Now the rules have changed at least for those who can afford it. Do read this article: http://www.dnaindia.com/scitech/report_not-only-coms-as-internet-body-throws-open-domain-names_1557050

A few months back, I took a decision to buy Kodak Zi8 cameras for my students. Many were apprehensive about these cameras when I revealed it to them during our study tour. I am sure some thought I had gone crazy. But these cameras are full high definition (1920X1080) with excellent picture quality and also took great stills (5.3 MP). Now that they have been used for projects, I suppose my students are happy. Though the lens of the camera is rather small, like that of a mobile phone and it's not so great in low light, in normal light, the results are fantastic. It also has an audio jack to attach an external microphone and facility to mount it on a standard tripod. Today I read an interesting article in the TOI. Here's the link: http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Default/Client.asp?Daily=TOIM&showST=true&login=default&pub=TOI&Enter=true&Skin=TOINEW Electronic Media students should understand that this is the technology of the future. Our Department is rea

Source: www.indiatimes.com (Pl. click on blog title for the original article) Indian government backed ambitious low-cost tablet project is finally set to take off.  And the tablet comes with fantastic specifications especially when you look at the price tag of just Rs.2200/-. It is a   7-inch touchscreen tablet with inbuilt keyboard, video conferencing facility, multimedia content, Wi-Fi, USB Port, 32GB hard drive and 2GB RAM. The tablet will support Open Office, SciLab and Internet browsing.  I have been waiting for Indian companies start competing with the international firms in the market for a long time now. If this tablet lives up to expectations, we could be having a price war, benefitting the consumer. So let's keep our fingers crossed and wish the very best for this tablet.