Digital technology now means that audiences experience, access, immediacy, convenience, portability, connectivity, interactivity and personalisation with media products.
We will now go into more depth about what each of these key terms means.
Access
In the past digital technology was very expensive and only a few had the money or understanding to be able to access different technologies. Nowadays technology has (become);
- No longer exclusive
- Fallen in price (inexpensive)
- User friendly
- Allows amateur/guerrilla media-making
Immediacy
When computer games first came out they would often be on an analogue tape or disc that would take up to an hour to load! When the internet was in it's infancy it would take minutes (sometimes up to 15) to load! Today we can access our media as soon as we want.
Digital technology has;
- Increased speed
- Instant messaging
- On demand media
Convenience
This relates to 'the state of being able to proceed with something without difficulty.'
Media is now often;
- Free or cheap
- Global
- National
- Local
- User friendly
Interactivity
In the past producers made media products and audiences consumed them with little or if any interaction between the two. In the modern Media world consumers have a lot of different ways in which they can interact with media.
- Level of control or activity, game-play
- User-generated content (videos, images, recordings), Digital editing (mash-ups)
- Hyperlinks/web addresses, forums and message boards, uploads and downloads
- Texting and emailing to participate
- 'Red button'and TV menus
Personalisation
Modern media can often be made personal to the consumer. This can be seen from characters in games to 'deals selected especially for you' on shopping websites.
- Logging in/signing in, usernames, avatars
- Digital TV menus (Electronic Programme Guide (EPGs), Hard disc video recorders
- Adapting interfaces
- Font features
- Music playlists
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