NEW MEDIA

New media are forms of media that are native to computers, computational and relying on computers for distribution. Some examples of new media are websites, mobile apps, virtual worlds, multimedia, computer games, human-computer interface, computer animation and interactive computer installations.

New media are often contrasted to "old media", such as television, radio, and print media, although scholars in communication and media studies have criticized rigid distinctions based on oldness and novelty. New media does not include television programs (only analog broadcast), feature films, magazines, books, – unless they contain technologies that enable digital generative or interactive processes.

Wikipedia, an online encyclopedia, is a good example of New Media, combining Internet accessible digital text, images and video with web-links, creative participation of contributors, interactive feedback of users and formation of a participant community of editors and donors for the benefit of non-community readers. Face book is another type of New Media, belonging to the category of social media model, in which most users are also participants. Another type of New Media is Twitter which also belongs to the social media category, through which users interact with one another and make announcements to which the public receive. Both Face book and Twitter have risen in usage in recent years and have become an online resource for acquiring information.

5 Types of New Media

Blogs

Although blogs are an early form of new media, they are still relevant and share several characteristics of the most recent new media types.

Information in blogs is easily accessed and searched for, and everything is typically organized naturally. For instance, blog posts are often nested under categories, and users can navigate posts by a specific category or tag or via a search. And like other forms of new media where content is posted — such as online newspapers and some social media platforms — entries often contain mixed media such as photos and video to go along with the text.

Blogs can also be interactive, despite some variance. For instance, the most popular type of news coverage for blogs is overwhelmingly politics and foreign events. 

Virtual Reality

Virtual reality technologies simulate an environment along with the user’s physical presence and sensory experience. Commonly, the user experiences virtual reality through a special headset or on a computer screen.

Seemingly limitless applications for virtual reality exist. In virtual reality, All virtual reality delivers a highly interactive, immersive experience that places the user in a lifelike or fictional environment. Some say that virtual reality’s unrivaled level of immersion qualifies it as the “ultimate medium” in new media.

Virtual reality may be poised to become the future of new media. Media and entertainment companies are investing in virtual reality and planning for it to become the next entertainment Virtual reality can change journalism and the way audiences view and engage with news from around the world.

Social Media

Social media centers on creating, sharing and exchanging information, ideas and content in online networks and communities. Highly interactive, social media is a form of new media that relies heavily on the participation of users to provide value.

As opposed to forms of new media like virtual reality, social media is commonplace. The average online user spends 1.72 hours per day on social platforms, a survey of 170,000 Internet users found. Social networks consume about 28 percent of all online activity.

The future of social media is likely tied to other forms of new media. For instance. sees technologies such as augmented and virtual reality, live video and the integration of photos and storytelling as part of social media’s short-term future.

Online Newspapers

Online newspapers are considered new media for many of the same reasons as blogs. Online newspapers blend multiple types of media and are easily accessed and searched. Users can also interact with some online newspapers via a comment feature.

Online newspapers — along with social media and other forms of new media — are a major part of why traditional newspapers are shifting to digital form. Only 56 percent of newspaper readership takes place exclusively in print. Newspaper ad revenue from print dropped to $16.4 billion in 2014 from $44.9 billion in 2003, while digital ad revenue increased to $3.5 billion in 2014 from $1.2 billion in 2003.

Digital Games  

Digital games are a part of everyday media culture and a unique type of new media. “Digital games and game worlds open up cultural spaces themselves, and, unlike other new media and virtual environments, these spaces are framed as ‘playful’ from the outset,” Johannes Fromme and Alexander Unger write in the book Computer Games and New Media Cultures.

Digital games are also noteworthy for how they build interaction and community. “The industry is producing a steady stream of games that continue to expand their nature and impact — they can be artistic, social and collaborative, with many allowing massive numbers of people from all over the world to participate simultaneously,” The New Media Consortium’s 2014 K–12 Horizon Report says. More than half of the most frequent gamers play with others, and around half feel that video games help them connect with friends and spend time with family.

Certain types of games demonstrate the possibilities of new media. Massively multiplayer online role-playing games immerse gamers in virtual worlds that are built upon social interaction — and these “artificial worlds have their own structure, culture, ethos, economy and politics,” Tingly and Boston write. Another example is how live video game streaming services are rising in popularity. This trend has led to a legitimate new sport called “e-sports,” or video games as professional spectator sports.

ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF NEW MEDIA

New media have been the most popular trend for the last few years. It is now considered as part of everyone's life and that is used daily. So what is new media? the definition of new media changes daily and will continue on changing. New media is technology, internet, and any form of communication such as social media and websites. Do you think that social media have gotten disadvantages? Well everything in our lives has advantages and disadvantages that will affect our way of living.

The first advantage is that social media offers opportunities for professional online networking, and it is a valuable business tool. LinkedIn for instance, it is a tool that allows users to put an online resume and their CVs on their profile so that they stay connected with business people and get job offers by only looking through their profile. Moreover, instead of going through your business cards and remembering each person, you can easily look up their names and check their profile. 

Furthermore, new media is accessible anytime and anywhere. It is considered as a news tool, you can check the news as soon as it happens and not have to wait for the morning newspaper every day. Twitter, Facebook, and online news serve in publishing the news in the same minute or even the same second. You can also spread news that happened around you and share it with friends and other users, while in newspaper or TV you cannot do so.

Another advantage is that you can always stay connected with people all over the world. Old friends, families who live far away, or colleagues. It has been easier for people to communicate with others, sharing the moments, sending pictures and videos through the social networking. This has made long distances between people, shorter.

On the other hand, new media is not always a reliable source to get news from, because everyone can be posting wrong news just for fun and grabbing attention. There is no publisher to check whether the information written is wrong or right unlike newspaper, TV, or radio there is always an editor and publisher that insures that information published to the audience is right.

Although social media has connected us with people all over the world, but this has affected our face to face communication. Now a days, people are preferring communicating through social media rather than face to face and this have increased the online relationships. Wherever you go now, you can realize how people are sitting together physically, but using their smart -phones communicating with others, so eventually they are mentally not together. This will affect our lives in a way or another, for instance, in business life you will not be able and not have the experience to communicate with employers and consumers and this will obviously affect your job.

Moreover, it has hacked our lives and privacy. For example, now a days through the social media you can know details about a person just by entering their account in any application. Seeing pictures where he/she has went, what have they done, and etc. You can't anymore have privacy like before and have your own life, you always feel like you to share it with others.

In conclusion, people are easily engaging with technology and you can rarely find people who do not use any type of the new media. It is been a trend, a useful one, and will always be, however people should always know that everything needs limits and so the new media.

I.K.K.Mihiranga

FTPT/16/B2/01

WiFi technology

How WiFi work

WiFi is a technology that uses radio waves to provide network connectivity. A WiFi connection is established using a wireless adapter to create hotspots - areas in the vicinity of a wireless router that are connected to the network and allow users to access internet services. Once configured, WiFi provides wireless connectivity to your devices by emitting frequencies between 2.4GHz - 5GHz, based on the amount of data on the network. 

Like mobile phones, a WiFi network makes use of radio waves to transmit information across a network. The computer should include a wireless adapter that will translate data sent into a radio signal. This same signal will be transmitted, via an antenna, to a decoder known as the router. Once decoded, the data will be sent to the Internet through a wired Ethernet connection. 

As the wireless network works as a two-way traffic, the data received from the internet will also pass through the router to be coded into a radio signal that will be received by the computer's wireless adapter. 
                                                    FTPT/16/B2/27

For internet Users

Advantages and Disadvantages of using internet

Nowadays almost everyone in the world have had a contact with computers. A great part of them has been using international computer’s net known as Internet.
I think using internet has more advantages then disadvantages. First of all, Internet provides access to a lot of information. Some of them are very useful in our job other helps in our hobby. Searching the net with Google, we can find everything we want. We can also do shopping using Internet. Of course it has no sense to buying a roll, but if we need something inaccessible, we  will be able to buy it in Internet shop. We need only to select what we want, fill in some forms and click ok. In a few days we will get what we have ordered directly to our home, without going anywhere. We can pay with our credit card, pay postman when We get the package, or transfer money from our bank account. Nowadays almost every bigger bank offers transferring money with Internet. It is more faster then going to the bank and filling blankets. Transferring money in traditional way takes about a day, using Internet we can do this in few seconds even in Saturday and Sunday evenings. What’s more internet banks give us insurance against unauthorized transaction. Some people thinks that their money can by easily stolen by hackers. It isn’t true because the easiest way to steal our money from internet bank is breaking to our house and stealing card of codes. Internet banks have very good protections witch make them practically unbreakable.
Next advantage of internet is email. Internet mails get in a few seconds in their destinations. It is very important when we want to send something for example to Australia. Of course we can send not only texts. You can email whatever we want, movies, photos, songs, computer programs etc. Costs are very important advantage of emails. Sending an email is much cheaper then phoning, or sending normal letters.
Beside a lot of advantages, Internet has some disadvantages too. First of disadvantages is that people who spend too much time sitting in the front of computer can easily gets ill. Radiation emitted by computer’s screen is harmful to eyes. People who spend too much time at their homes (because they needn’t go anywhere, they can do everything using Internet) are getting weaker. Sitting a for long time is also harmful to the spine. 
Second disadvantage is that Internet can by addictive. Some people just can’t live without it. They have no real friends and when Internet is down they are getting furious.
Internet has some opponents but more and more people treats Internet like telephone, or radio. They use it for fun and work, and I think at present living without internet would be quite difficult. 

                                                                           -Udula Rathnayake-FTPT /16/B2/ 27

THIS IS YOUR CLASS BLOG

As you have already been informed please upload your posts to this blogger site. These will be evaluated as your individual assignment and marks will be allocated accordingly. Each student should write at least  two (2) blog posts in any topic related to the subject area encompassing "New Media"