What is Digital Media?

Introduction

This work is part of an article that I am currently working on. I have a basic structure which explores notions of  how digital media and web 1.0 and web 2.0 technologies relate to each other.This post will provide an introduction to changes in the philosophy of interaction design theory and the use of digital media in new web-publishing paradigms. The affordances of this new design philosophy will be compared with traditional interaction and design views.

The following videos come from Cisco systems and formed part of their ‘Human Network’ adverstising campaign. This presentation does however gives us an overall summary of the potential of digital media, however it is quiet hyped and commercial in nature.

1.   Digital media

Digital Media can be defined as a group of media that connect and combine data, text, sound and images of all kinds. These digital media files can then be shared, displayed, and maintained through the use of digital networks (Flew 2002, p: 10). However, defining digital media is not sufficient to comprehend the meaning and benefits of digital media to interaction designers who design websites and web -applications. To understand this relationship we have to examine the affordances of digital media. Professor Terry  Flew (2002) tells us that digital media has four main affordances which include:

1.      A lessening in the cost of storing and distributing data and information;

2.      An increased chance in raising the value of digital media through the repurposing of it as media content;

3.      New opportunities to increase advertising audiences;

4.      The ability to move from mass supply models to systems that are more customisable by individual consumers. (Flew 2002, p:98)

2.   What are the affordances of digital media?

To gain a greater understanding of the role of digital media and its affordances to interaction designers we now examine the historical ties that digital media have with traditional mass media publication outlets. The internet is primarily made up of the electronic networks of globally connected computers that allow people to share information, files and applications with each other. In essence the internet is the hardware that allows data and information to be passed between computers and networks. The World Wide Web should be thought of as the software that is used to allow us to view and share files between computers. The affordances of what the internet and the World Wide Web offer include:

* Freedom and personal control of access to information;
* Access to multiple sources of information;
* Freedom of expression using a variety of digital media formats;
* The break down of distance and cultural barriers which allows for free transfer of ideas and information between cultures over geographically dispersed locations;
* Economic capacity building can occur, without discrimination, making gender, race, nationality or disability less of an inhibitor to commerce and trade;
* Networks have grown exponentially as more information and content has become available over the network;
* Hypertext has allowed us the ability to access multiple and interconnected information sources;
* Dynamic information is now available at the touch of button where traditional publication systems are much slower to publish information and share data;
* Trusted relationships can be created between the publisher of information and their audience (Flew 2002, p:16).

3.   What is the relationship between digital media and interaction and design?

In presenting the affordances of digital media and the internet it should be noted that there was also a relationship between the online systems architecture that housed traditional websites which affected what was technically possible in the design of static websites. These early systems were based on relatively primitive computers and networks which were not very digital media friendly for the majority of personal computer users. These systems were impeded by technical constraints such as flaky operating systems, incompatible web browsers and hardware that had limited ability to render digital media as it was meant to be performed. These limitations greatly affected the philosophy of design that went into building a static website. It should also be noted that static websites and infrastructure which preceded the dot com crash of 2001 are commonly referred to as Web 1.0 websites.

Thus we see how the web 1.0 paradigm severely limited interaction and design philosophy which in turn limited the type of websites and digital media assets that could be published via the World Wide Web. Furthermore web 1.0 websites did not allow for complex interactions between the website visitor and website content. Often the website visitor was restricted to reading text and playing very small sound files and videos.

In a web 1.0 paradigm, interaction designers were limited to the use hypertext mark-up language, customized stye sheets, compressed digital images and movie files and computer code such as java-script to achieve fancy visual or user interactivity effects. This content could not be shared easily between different web site visitors. Commonly the website visitor was often unable to leave comments about the digital media nor were they allowed to share it with other internet users. To update a web 1.0 website the whole website often had to be closed down and re-written so that digital media assets could be uploaded.

The updating process was costly for the owner of the website and often meant delays in the website visitor gaining access to the website whilst the site was being maintained. A further disadvantage of web 1.0 websites was that each website owner had to have a web hosting account with an internet service provider and a domain name that would help the website visitor find their website. In some countries a commercial website could not be hosted publicly without being owned by a registered business.

Conclusion

However, the web 1.0 design philosophy was not without its benefits. For the gatekeeper of the website, known as the webmaster, a number of technical advantages could be made available for website visitors. Many web 1.0 interaction designers argue that web 1.0 is more secure and more stable. Web 1.0 designers often remark that even with the advent of cheaper broadband for internet users not everyone has access to high speed broadband. This issue is important as a web 1.0 framework offers websites that are lighter and take up less bandwidth. Websites that are lighter are more accessible to people who have slower broadband connections such as dial-up. Thus web 2.0 can sometimes preclude equitable access to information and services due to web 2.0 tending to be heavier in digital media applications and content. This restriction should be seen as deign consideration that needs to be taken into account when designing web 2.0 websites.

Our next post will focus on what web 2.0 and what impacts this design philosaphy has on interaction and design approaches.

References

Flew 2002 Flew, Terry (2002 ) New Media: An Introduction . Oxford University Press .

Tags: creative capital theory, digital media, electronic learning systems, electronic portfolios, human capital, mutlimedia, produsage, social capital, social networking websites, Software design, weblog, wikis
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