Multimedia Technology Exam Paper

Jon-Eric Melsaeter N4243579 1. Discuss the notion of convergence in relation to the historical development of multimedia. This essay will discuss multimedia and convergence and argue that they are intertextual translators that are extensions of human communication. However, this essay also recognises some problems, like the increasing generation gap. The denotation of multimedia is sound, images and text all combined into new media forms. Examples of this include educational CD-ROMs, movies and certain websites (sesame street webpage) to name a few. Major developments that have led to the multimedia environment we have today are: •

Gutenberg’s printing press.

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The telegraph

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The telephone

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The radio

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The television

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The computer

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The Internet

According to McLuhan, the computer is the media-hybrid par excellence. His most basic observation about multimedia is that every medium uses another medium as content. He argues that the creative power of the hybrid comes from the fact that media are translators (McLuhan 1964). This ability to translate can be attributed to the convergence of these new media forms. In other words, he believed that each medium converts information from one form into another. From the 80’s, where convergence was sophisticated but with limited integration, to today (what isn’t convergent?), it is possible to define convergence as ‘the growing linkages between media, information technology, and telecommunications (Flew 2000, p.2).

Jon-Eric Melsaeter N4243579

The three Cs of convergent media (Flew 2000, p.10) The impact of convergence can be measured on three levels, according to Barr (Barr 2000, Flew 2002). These are: functional convergence, industry convergence and convergent products & services. According to Flew, the Internet is the single media platform that can handle multiple media forms (Flew 2000, p. 19). The hybrid energy created that the networked computer is releasing may create new forms of communication for future generations. This may also be the greatest challenge and problem facing convergence on a whole. Modern communication technologies introduce a staggering pace of change. Although McLuhan argues that as soon as information is obtained, it is replaced, he recognises that the changes also amplify the generation gap and further fragment society. Fragmentation is an idiom often related to post modern academia. John Fiske builds on Barthes’ notion of intertextuality, which means we make sense of the world by constantly referring to a growing layer of other texts (Fiske 1987).This is perhaps where the discussion on multimedia and convergence meets with a greater context. Baudrillard argues that we are now a hyper-real society that ‘is no longer measured against some ideal or negative instances (Baudrillard 1988).’ Which is not necessarily bad, it just means our culture keeps changing. McLuhan believed that our culture is moving away from customs and beliefs based on books, and adopting approaches more suited to the new media: •

Complex circular (feedback) flows, rather than simple linear designs.

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Holistic thinking, rather than fragmented ideas.

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Multidimensional perspectives on things.

Jon-Eric Melsaeter N4243579 •

An acceptance of discontinuity in experience and ideas.

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Communication strategies based on appeal to emotion rather than rationality.

(McLuhan 1964) To summarise, as multimedia has developed, the computer has emerged to be the platform for multimedia communication. This development is the extension of the progress of human communication, which is becoming more fragmented and the new media show this. Bibliography: Barr, T (2000), newmedia.com.au, Allen & Unwin, Sydney Baudrillard, J. (1988), Selected Writings, Cambridge, Polity Press Flew, T (2002), Chapter 1, ‘Digitisation and convergence: The keys to understanding new media,’ in New Media: An Introduction, Oxford Press, pp. 9 – 29 McLuhan, M (1964), Understanding Media:The Extensions of Man, Mentor books, New York http://www.sesameworkshop.org – last accessed 9. June 2004

2. Explain how meaning can be created within multimedia works through the incorporation of text. Your answer should include a discussion on how this medium of communication changes when it is translated from its traditional form into a digital form (multimedia structure). Codes and context within social relations, groups, classes, institutions, structures and things (Thwaites, Davis and Mules 2002, p.2) play a fundamental purpose in creating meaning. This essay will explore how meanings are created through text, and discuss what changes are made when this medium is translated into a digital environment. It will argue that there are certain variables that must be in place for meanings to be successfully communicated. Signs consist (according to Saussure) of two elements, a signifier and a signified, and only gain meaning when ‘it has someone to mean to (Williamson 1978, p.40).’ The reader of a text is therefore very important and will bring his/her own interpretations to a text by drawing on their own cultural values and perceptual codes. As the relationship between the signifier and the signified is arbitrary and

Jon-Eric Melsaeter N4243579 meaning is fixed in cultural values according to most of post modernist theory, we can argue that the potential interpretations of any given text are therefore endless. Therefore, a way of producing a meaning stable enough to communicate must depend on two variables: (1) the maker must understand the kinds of content that will convey certain meanings in an audience (codes) and (2) that the actual text lays emphasis on certain meanings over others (context) (Littlejohn 1996). Chandler notes that the signs (or codes) within a text ‘do not just 'convey' meanings, but constitute a medium in which meanings are constructed (Chandler’s web source on semiotics).’ On a basic level, it can show us how meanings construct, maintain and negotiate certain social beliefs and attitudes in a culture. Roland Barthes introduced the concept of anchorage (Barthes 1977, p.38ff). Linguistic elements can help “anchor” (or constrain) the preferred readings of an image: ‘to fix the floating chain of signifieds (ibid, p.39).’ Accordingly, even if producers try to put across certain meanings, audiences may or may not assign the same meanings (Littlejohn 1996, p.328). One apparent change (apart from the transition from physical to non-physical) when text is translated to a multimedia context is that it ceases to be permanent. When it is combined with images or sound, it takes on a supportive function as it converges with the new medium. It has to share meaning, and also abide by the laws of layout and design. When information becomes digital, it becomes ‘changeable and adaptable, at all stages of creation, storage, delivery and use (Flew 2000, p.10).’ And, as discussed above, when the context of the medium changes so does the interpretation. To summarise, this essay has explored the different facets of meaning and how signs and signifieds are related to codes and context. On a basic level, signs can show us how meanings construct, maintain and negotiate certain social beliefs and attitudes in a culture. Even though text is a traditional medium, it has to abide to the laws of aesthetics, layout and design to communicate successful meanings. Bibliography Williamson, Judith (1978), Decoding Advertisements; Ideology and Meaning in Advertising, London, Marion Boyars

Jon-Eric Melsaeter N4243579 Littlejohn, Stephen W. (1996), Theories of Human Communication (5th Edn), Wadsworth Chandler, Daniel (2001), “Semiotics, the basics,” http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Documents/S4B/the_book.html - accessed 30th June 2004 Barthes, Roland (1977), Image-Music-Text, London: Fontana Flew, T (2002), Chapter 1, ‘Digitisation and convergence: The keys to understanding new media,’ in New Media: An Introduction, Oxford Press, pp. 9 – 29 Thwaites, Tony, Lloyd Davis, Warwick Mules (2002), Introducing Cultural and Media Studies; a semiotic approach, Palgrave, New York

5. Discuss the potential implications of new media technologies on our understanding of identity OR immersion in space.

In a “weightless world”, with knowledge being more precious than any other commodity, the Internet and computer-mediated communication (CMC) have made extensive information available to people, which they previously had no access to (Flew, 2002). Internet and CMC allow a user to increase social capital; by widening and maintaining the social networks. Michael Kuhn argues that an individual’s self-conception, ‘the individual’s plan of action toward the self, consists of one’s identities, interests and aversions, goals, ideologies, and self-evaluations (Littlejohn 1996, p.164).’ That means that identity is merely one facet of a complex self-image we all carry around. Bourdieu (1991) wrote of identity, its relation to different capital, and the idea that people occupy positions in society based on the amount of capital they possess. Social capital can be defined as the sum of the resources, actual or virtual, available to an individual or a group through a durable network of relationships based on mutual acquaintance and recognition. The distribution is unequal, and social capital increases the ability of an actor to advance her/his interests. Virtual communities are Internet-based, geographically unrestrained social networks founded on common interests. They are intentional – joined purposely, by motives – rather than unintentional – joined by circumstantial, external forces such as politics, economics, and geography (Cherny, 1999, p.248). Communities create their own internal language and culture that includes some, and excludes others (Turkle,

Jon-Eric Melsaeter N4243579 1995). Many people use the Internet to extend an already existing social reality, but the Internet also allows users to pursue interests more freely, and to develop alternative identities (Flew, 2002, p.82). CMC allows a person to ‘obscure or recreate aspects of the self’ and express opinions and feelings more freely (Reid in Gackenbach, 1998, p.29). CMC not only spawns new relationships, but also keeps old ones connected. Jones (1998) points to CMC as an important way for people to juggle an increasingly wide range of social contacts. It fills in the gaps between in-person meetings, and is particularly valuable to international relationships across different time zones. ICQ and MSN Messenger are examples of real-time communication programs that have augmented the primary technology of email as major tools for CMC-based relationship maintenance. Websites such as Lavalife, Match and Yahoo-groups exemplifies how Internet and CMC today presents communities where people can meet a wide range of individuals as well as maintaining existing networks. To summarise, identity is related to social capital in the way that the more you possess, the higher your status is. The internet and CMC are new media that allow people to widen or maintain social networks without the restraint of ‘real-life’ social capital, and to join communities based on shared interest and attitudes. Bibliography: Bourdieu, P. (1991), Language & Symbolic Power, Cambridge, Polity Press. Cherny, L. (1999), Conversation and Community: Chat in a Virtual World, Stanford, CSLI Littlejohn, Stephen W. (1996), Theories of Human Communication (5th Edn), Wadsworth Flew, T. (2002), ‘Virtual Cultures’, in New Media: An Introduction, South Melbourne, Oxford University Press, pp. 76-95. Turkle, S. (1995). Life on the Screen: Identity in the age of the Internet, New York, Simon & Schuster. Reid, E. (1998), 'The Self and the Internet: Variations of the Illusion of One Self' in Gackenbach, J. (ed.) (1998) Psychology and the Internet: Intrapersonal, Interpersonal and Transpersonal Implications, San Diego, Academic Press.

Jon-Eric Melsaeter N4243579 Jones, S. (1998), ‘Information, Internet, and Community: Notes towards an Understanding of Community in the Information Age’, in Cybersociety 2.0: Revisiting Computer-Mediated Communication and Community, London, Sage, pp. 1-34. Note on exam: I worked on this exam together with Marius Steen, and consequently, as we constructed our essays similarly, the tone is similar.