Problems

We read a couple of interesting new media articles this week. They both deal with aspects of new media that have caused changes or backlash due to their increased popularity. Basically, both articles deal with problems that have arisen due to some unforeseen technological development concerning new media. Neither of the selections are about peer to peer networking and the problems that it has caused, but they do talk about some similar situations in that the problems arose because no one could have anticipated that these new forms of communication would come to compete with established mediums much less ever be created in the first place.
The first selection is an article on Wired.com called You Tube versus Boob Tube. As you can probably surmise the article talks about how visual entertainment has become popular on the internet through sites like YouTube. It also delves into the problem caused by this development. That problem is that sites like YouTube have begun incorporating advertisements into their sites’ format. Why is this a problem, you ask? It isn’t really a problem for you or me directly, but it does put the television broadcasting companies in an interesting situation. With the increased popularity of sites like YouTube advertisers are much more likely to shift their ads from TV to the internet. Basically, this is another example, like peer to peer networks, of the problems caused by new media that have come about because no one anticipated their arrival. I really liked this article, and would recommend it to anyone who is interested in new media, or just likes to visit YouTube.
The second article is also available from Wired.com. It is called “The Secret World of Lonely Girl.” It is about a show that was started on YouTube. The show consists of a girl who is meant to be high school aged who posts on YouTube regularly. Basically, the show could easily be mistaken for reality and was mistaken by many people. The show was uploaded to the internet via webcam, and was actually recorded in the creator’s bedroom. The star is actually an actress. I really liked the fact that the writer whose room the show was being recorded in actually stopped putting away the stuffed animals, posters, bed sheets, and various other girly things after a while. The problem presented here was whether deceiving people like this via the internet was legal, or not.
Both of these situations are good examples of the problems that new media presents. Maybe problems is the wrong word, though. I think that these simply reflect the evolution of culture and society with time. Although some aspects of new media like peer to peer networks are clearly wrong I think that ultimately we cannot say that all of new media is bad. Instead we have to judge each separate situation on its own.