the new media is it all new

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The New Media-Is it All New?
There has been a heated debate on whether the words ‘New Media’ make sense when referring to the newer versions of media. The people who feel that the words are misleading argue that there is nothing like ‘new’ media. They are right because media refers to the communication and information technologies that provide links between individuals and households and the world, actively and interactively (Hirsch and Roger Silverstone 15). Both older and more modern versions of media have achieved this. Therefore, what the world has currently is not new media but technologically advanced versions of media that have some differences from the former versions. However, the newer versions of media have some characteristics (principles) that the older versions lacked.
One of the principles of New Media, as observed by Manovich, is transcoding. Transcoding allows the same information to be put in different formats, making information highly available to people. For example, people who do not buy newspapers can still read the information on the newspapers online. The reliability has changed because anyone can now pass information to the world, using his or her cellphone and being biased is inevitable. In the past, only organizations could provide information by, for example, using newspapers, and this made information reliable. With filters, one can change the appearance of something and report the same. This represents the laws of automation and variability that have been made possible by digitization of media, thereby compromising the reliability of information.

Newer versions of media use a different language (1’s and 0’s) that a person cannot understand to pass a message that a computer can recognize and interpret and this refers to the principle of numerical representation. The principle of modularity refers to how different independent modules come together to form a message. For example, a picture on Pinterest is arrived at after a process that involves different pixels coming together to make up the picture that can pass a message.
As shown, New Media is not at all new regarding the function of the media. The differences between the older versions and the newer versions exist because of digitization of media, giving the newer versions of media some characteristics (principles) that, the older versions lacked. The principles are transcoding, numerical representation, automation, variability, and modularity.
Works Cited
Hirsch, Eric, and Roger Silverstone, eds. Consuming Technologies: Media and information in domestic spaces. Routledge, 2003.