The Future of New Media by August DeWinkler

the Future of New Media

by August DeWinkler

The Future of New Media ! ! !

1 Abstract !

The Future of New Media is a complex question, as many theorists !

cannot agree on what the current state of New Media is. Therefore, how can we predict, theorize or conceptualize what may hold for Future New Media? It is interesting that even with the compound words of “New Media”, we place the word “New” yet all media is new if only for a second before it changes again, then it becomes old media. If we can just take this simple terminology for the transference of the word at its meaning, we might be able to just simplify its holdings and definitions so that we can move forward with what really matters “The Future of New Media.”! ! !

! This paper will look at some of the more noteworthy authors on the !

subject of “New Media” and their particular definitions. The paper will not be a review or extension of their articles, essays, or books written on the subject matter. The aim is just to simplify the contextual meanings of “New Media” with various associations to understand the split definitions by each author, as many of them stretch the meaning into devices, hardware, interfaces, and software, etc. These associations will include a sampling of media in several contexts such as historically when media was tied to a projector (hardware) and the experience became cinematic in a cultural group setting. This will set the ground for how media is experienced in the past, present, and future.

The Future of New Media ! !

Next I will convey the desocialized group setting of current new media ! as popularity and technology have equipped users to experience their new media on their own; individualized, without the need for being part of a group. These new methods of experience have contributed to the downfall of the group cultural experiences with old media and hardware like cinema to almost disappear. Facebook is also a current contributing factor to the desocialization of new media users.

I aim to prove that although our current new media devices alienate ! us from group cultural experiences it will be similar new media devices that brings us back into these group cultural settings.

Although the new and

future media devices will change and evolve their new purpose will give users the choice to be a part of or a part from in regards to participating in group activities. These new changes will enable and entice users to see the world in a new perspective that will expand our view and perception of the world around us in Augmented Reality.!!

I think it will be the historical tie into how cinema was once ! experienced as a â&#x20AC;&#x153;spectacleâ&#x20AC;? that the New Media of the Future will bring forth the people into interactive group cultural experiences.

I further

believe that the cinematic experience is going to evolve into other forms such as art exhibits, and live theatrical performances.!

The Future of New Media ! !

Table&of&Contents&from&Outline!

Abstract&

a.!The!Future!of!New!Media!

b.!Anti5Social!Behavior!from!New!Media!

c.!New!Media!Devices!for!Social!Experiences!

&Introduction& a.!Purpose!to!this!Seminar!Paper!

b.!Artists!Passion!on!Surface!Medium!

c.!The!White!Blank!Canvas!Augmented!Reality!Exhibit!

Part&1&

Part&2&

Part&3&

Page&1&

Page&5&

&New&Media&in&Perspective& a.!Getting!Towards!a!Common!Ground!on!New!Media!

b.!Defining!Media!

c.!Cinema!as!a!Cultural!New!Media!Event!

Part&4&

Page&7!

&Media&in&Transition&of&Telepresence& a.!New!Media!Delivery!Technology!

b.!Computer!Application!Examples!

c.!Virtual!Reality!as!Telepresence!

&Convergence&of&Old&Technology&and&Old&Experiences& a.!Saturation!Point!of!Media!

b.!Changing!Behaviors!

c.!Resurgence!of!Cinema!

&Conclusion& a.!Findings!

b.!Results!

c.!Opinion!

&Works&Cited&

Part&5&

Part&6&

Part&7&

Page&9!

Page&13!

Page&14&

Page&11!

The Future of New Media ! !

! ! ! ! !!

the&Future&of&New&Media&

! ! by!August!DeWinkler! ! for!Florida!Atlantic!Universityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s!Master!of!Fine!Arts!Program! ! in!Media,!Technology,!and!Entertainment! ! in!the!course!of!Studies(in(New(Media( ( with!Professor!Gerald!Sims,!Ph.D.!! ! date!completed!December!4,!2015!!!

! !

!! ! ! ! ! ! !

The Future of New Media ! !

2& !

Introduction&

I recently went to an art opening and met with the curator afterwards ! at a cocktail party. I discussed with him an idea to have an art exhibit in augmented reality.

He had heard of augmented reality, but asked how I

would put that together and what would be the content.

I said that I

wanted to have an exhibit using a blank white canvas as a place to hold each piece of work and that the audience would use a tablet or smartphone to view 3D computer images and animations by aiming there devices onto the canvas. He was shocked and said that the white canvas is symbolic to the artist like the painter and the photographer, as it is their acquired medium and that the use of it would be almost sacrificial to them if it were used for any other purpose. ! !

Although his passion for the arts is understandable, it is this kind of ! passion that is actually detrimental to the arts as one type of artist is putting restrictions onto what another artist can, cannot, or should do. Can you imagine how the hieroglyphics artist responded when art was transformed to the rice paper, when art was moved from frescos to the canvas, to when art moved from the canvas to computer screens and now as Virtual with Augmented Reality may become the norm to view everything? It leads me to believe that there will always be some people that get locked into a way of conceptualizing and producing their particular art; but we, as artists need to be aware that we are on the forefront of the evolution of art and in the way we exhibit the arts.!

The Future of New Media ! !

It was then that I new I had my topic for this seminar paper.

As !

artists, we all have passion towards our selected works and each of the components to put our works together.

I am a crossover artist having

worked on many mediums with a variety of tools; with this in mind I have only recently been able to expand and adapt to various methods of inputs and outputs.

But I too, was a stubborn, narrow minded, artist before I

levitated myself into the realms of New Media.

Specifically by breaking

through my old computer habits and embracing the future potential of New Media and its delivery technologies.!

In a way the, the white blank canvas is very similar to a movie screen. ! Patrons enter a theater and there is a giant white blank screen in front of them, hence isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t this screen just like a canvas to all artists. An art exhibit of white blank canvases is not so much about the canvas anyway. After all the canvas is just the medium that holds the art.

The blank canvas art

exhibit is more about the coming together of artists and patrons to see, witness, and behold what might be a new generation not only in art but in the art exhibit as the blank canvas will and can hold an augmented reality object. Yes these objects are usually viewed in games and in digital cinema but these artists are not always given the recognition like an artist that has painted a picture on a canvas or the photographer that has printed their image on photographic print paper.! !

The Future of New Media ! !

&3& !

New&Media&in&Perspective& !

To put the topic of New Media into perspective it is important to get a ! unified base and purpose that is mostly accepted by New Media Theorists. Andre Bazin gives an early account of when “New Media” began In his essay: “The Ontology of the Photographic Image,” stating “New Media is everything beyond the painting, thus basically starting with photography and film.”1 This gives a good starting point as he is one of the most cited authors on the subject, but his perspective is from the 1950’s. starting

point of “New

Media”

see

Another way to look for a

how

“Old

Media

defined.

Dictionary.com defines it as “the media in existence before the arrival of the internet, such as newspapers, books, television and cinema.”2

But to be clear, and only since so many authors add so much more to the ! definition of “New Media,” It is important to look at how theorists define it. One variation that I agree with is Richard Grusin as he cites Marshall McLuhan as he “defines media as ‘extensions of man.’ Technical devices to extend the nervous system throughout the universe.” 3

Although he is talking of devices, the

extension of man is intriguing, because it alludes to the thoughts of man. Another note worthy author, Henry Jenkins; cites Lisa Gitelman’s definition of media as “a model of media that works on two levels: on the first, a medium is a technology that enables communication; on the second, a medium is a set of

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 1 Bazin, André, and Hugh Gray. "The Ontology of the Photographic Image." Film Quarterly 13.4 (1960): 4-9. Web. 2 "old-media". Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition. HarperCollins Publishers. 01 Dec. 2015. <Dictionary.com> 3 Vonderau, Patrick, and Pelle Snickars. The YouTube Reader. 12 Vol. Stockholm: National Library of Sweden, 2009. Web. !

The Future of New Media ! !

‘protocols’ or social and cultural practices that have grown up around that technology. Delivery systems are simply and only technologies; media are also cultural systems. Delivery technologies come and go all the time, but media persist

layers

within

ever

complicated

information

and

entertainment stratum.”4 !

Therefore it is my standing too that the essence of media is cultural, and ! cultural is about “social pursuits of or relating to artistic events considered to be valuable or enlightened”5 according to Dictionary.com. Which brings us to the importance of how Cinema can be considered a cultural event with it also being a group event. Cinema also goes hand in hand with popular culture, as each film really is a spectacle in the older sense that reaches the human emotion or psyche.

As the movie theater became smaller, home theaters became larger

which was the beginning of cinemas demise.

Peter Greenaway announced at

Korea’s Pursan film festival “Cinema’s death date was 31 September 1983, when the remote control zapper was introduced to the living room, because now cinema has to be interactive, multi-media art”.6 Others have argued that cinema (and it is important to note that cinema is a group cultural event) has not died, but that the delivery devices have changed therefore it lives on in those devices.

I disagree, as cinema is a group cultural event that can only

take place in the camaraderie of like-minded theatergoers. !

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 4 Jenkins, Henry, and American Council of Learned Societies. Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide. New York: New York University Press, 2006. Web.! 5 "cultural". Dictionary.com Unabridged. Random House, Inc. 01 Dec. 2015. <Dictionary.com>.! 6 Coonan, Clifford. "Reenaway Announces the Death of Cinema - and Blames the Remote-control Zapper." The Independent. Independent Digital News and Media, 18 Sept. 2011. Web. 2 Dec. 2015.! !

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&4& !

Media&in&Transition&of&Telepresence& !

If we take into consideration that â&#x20AC;&#x153;New Mediaâ&#x20AC;? exists when the internet ! came into existence then we are saying that the internet is the New Media delivery technology. With this in mind it is how we access the internet to receive media whether it be on a personal computer, a personal smartphone, a personal television.

But while this technology was advancing it seems that

digital creators were aware of the mass non-participatory culture and have been finding ways to bring people together over the internet in pseudo virtual environments and communication methods.

At the cusp of the millennium

change, computer applications have been created that bring people together in this pseudo environment.

Facebook in particular does just this, but its users

will sit at their personal computers for endless hours sharing, liking, approving and disapproving on all sorts of subjects. Although Facebook does bring people together, people are not in person, or face to face; which reiterates the essence of this seminar paper that these new media devices actually alienate us from in person social gathering experiences. Interestingly, Facebook is becoming a major player merging the physical world with the internet world as they have bought a company named Oculus Rift that is a maker of Virtual Reality headsets and software that will include Augmented Reality. It is with this kind of hardware and software that may bring conclusive results to this paper, as it is my prediction that Virtual Reality with Augmented Reality will be the next big thing, that will bridge consumer and producer together but this time consumers will be able to interact directly with other persons with their New Media devices. !

The Future of New Media ! !

For many years virtual reality has been an emerging technology, but only ! until recently has it become affordable. Now all companies like Microsoft and Google are shifting their research and development teams into discovering how this new technology will bring profits in production, and most importantly consumer usage. New Media Theorists are also trying to put their mark on it like

the

article

“Defining

Virtual

Reality:

Dimensions

Determining

Telepresence,” Jonathan Steuer, says the Virtual Reality is defined in terms of hardware.

his paper he

attempts to

bring

back

earlier term

“Telepresence” 7 as it was first introduced in the context of teleoperation by Marvin Minsky as it refers “to the phenomenon that a human operator develops a sense of being physically present at a remote location through interaction with the system’s human interface”8 in other words the person on the other end of the line.

Steuer goes further by differentiating presence “as the sense in

being in an environment” and telepresence “as the experience of presence in an environment by means of a communication medium.” !

Again, just like the term “New Media” with its varied meanings and

adages; Virtual Reality is experiencing opinions and new definitions by theorists. With the emerging technology that Oculus Rift is bringing, producers are renaming the experience to “Mixed Reality” as the wearable headsets will allow users to see through their devices into an augmented world from its emerging technology. !

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 7!Steuer,!Jonathan.!"Defining!Virtual!Reality:!Dimensions!Determining!Telepresence."! Journal(of(Communication:!73G93.!Print.! 8!Ijsselsteijn,!Wijnand.!"History!of!Telepresence."!ResearchGate.!Web.!2!Dec.!2015.! !

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&5& !

Convergence&of&Old&Technology&and&Old&Experiences& !

! !

I think people are just getting bored with their new media devices, ! technology has reached a tipping point where there is not a need for existing devices to become faster, bigger or smaller (depending on your preference.) There are new media device industries coming into existence that will evolve our current technologies, but for our existing new media devices it is all coming to a head. To the point that they will dramatically change whether we like it or not. At some point the next generation with new media will be totally different from what we have been experiencing in the last thirty years.

Henry Jenkinsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s calls this Convergence Culture in

which he describes â&#x20AC;&#x153;some of the ways that convergence thinking is reshaping American popular culture and, in particular, the ways it is impacting the relationship between media audiences, producers, and content.â&#x20AC;?9 Even though it is convergence, I think the scales are tipped, as Laurie Anderson puts it in an interview that there is not a middle ground, people are not reacting or comparing for themselves they are looking at the bigger picture as in what commercialism is telling them to look at10.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 9!Jenkins,!Henry.!Convergence!Culture:!Where!Old!and!New!Media!Collide.!New!York:!New! York!UP,!2006.!Print.! 10!Fernandes,!Hugo.!"Laurie!Anderson!Ask!Question."!YouTube.!YouTube,!9!Apr.!2009.!Web.! 4!Dec.!2015.! !

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The Future of New Media ! !

What is also interesting is that people are getting off of their ! computers and smartphones and are getting out more, in the 1990’s it seemed everyone was in a chat room or on a dating website.

With all the

catfishes and phony people online, singles are getting out more for face-toface meetings. Of course they still have their digital devices with them, but they are being used less as the priority or replacement for face-to-face commingling.

This resurgence in convergence is also bringing back the

cinema experience as Quentin Tarantino has made a 70 mm film “The Hateful Eight”11 as a three hour long classic western with an intermission and overture.

He is even replicating the way old films were screened by

taking it on the road, as many newer theaters do not have the capabilities to show film anymore. This spectacle is referred to as a road show. So cinema is not dead, as some have said, it just gets reborn by new filmmakers ready to take risks. Tarantino is one of those risk takers as he not only has made this new film; he has even bought an old cinema in Beverly Hills, California that he has restored to its past time but with modern conveniences.

By bringing people back into the theaters he is

removing them from their devices and restoring the way media should be experienced, that is in a cultural group setting.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 11!Hooton,!Christopher.!"Quentin!Tarantino’s!The!Hateful!Eight!to!Run!Three!Hours!with! Intermission!and!Overture."!The!Independent.!Independent!Digital!News!and!Media,!2!Dec.! 2015.!Web.!2!Dec.!2015.! !

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The Future of New Media ! !

Conclusion& So just how will the art exhibit of the future be? Will we all just be sitting at home telecommuting via a virtual space? Although the technology will allow it, I don’t think so as there is something mystical about being in a room full of people. Just like the cinema, this new type of art exhibit can be viewed in the company of others, and can be discussed.

After all the art exhibit has always

been more about being in the same place while mingling, viewing, discussing, and talking of art. And isn’t that the final say, “art is not art unless it is talked about.”12 We can recreate the space, the technology, but we cannot provide the instantaneous feeling that happens with the camaraderie of when various people partake in a group experience.

I think for convenience on the level of staying

informed and in the know how, individuals may partake in art exhibit events via telepresence. But their experience will be different from those that attend in a live manner. There might be one day when technology can recreate the holodeck as we have seen in so many science fiction television shows and movies, technology may even be able to pick up the virtual audio and video images of others that would appear to be in the same room with you; but will we be able to accept that they are not. The real perplexing thought is: where are we in this world if we augment the space around us - or is it possible to say that we are part of the augmentation?

When entering into the world of computer graphics

are we entering into that world or is it entering into ours? !

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 12!Author!Unknown! !

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&7! !

Works&Cited& !

1!Bazin,!AndrĂŠ,!and!Hugh!Gray.!"The!Ontology!of!the!Photographic!Image."!Film(Quarterly!

13.4!(1960):!4G9.!Web.! ! 2!"oldGmedia".!Collins!English!Dictionary!G!Complete!&!Unabridged!10th!Edition.!

HarperCollins!Publishers.!01!Dec.!2015.!<Dictionary.com>! ! 3!Vonderau,!Patrick,!and!Pelle!Snickars.!The(YouTube(Reader.!12!Vol.!Stockholm:!National!

Library!of!Sweden,!2009.!Web.! ! 4Jenkins,!Henry,!and!American!Council!of!Learned!Societies.!Convergence(Culture:(Where(

Old(and(New(Media(Collide.!New!York:!New!York!University!Press,!2006.!Web.! ! 5!"cultural".!Dictionary.com!Unabridged.!Random!House,!Inc.!01!Dec.!2015.!

<Dictionary.com>.! ! 6!Coonan,!Clifford.!"Reenaway!Announces!the!Death!of!Cinema!G!and!Blames!the!RemoteG

control!Zapper."!The(Independent.!Independent!Digital!News!and!Media,!18!Sept.!2011.! Web.!2!Dec.!2015.! ! 7!Steuer,!Jonathan.!"Defining!Virtual!Reality:!Dimensions!Determining!Telepresence."!

Journal(of(Communication:!73G93.!Print.! ! 8!Ijsselsteijn,!Wijnand.!"History!of!Telepresence."!ResearchGate.!Web.!2!Dec.!2015.!

! 9!Jenkins,!Henry.!Convergence!Culture:!Where!Old!and!New!Media!Collide.!New!York:!New!

York!UP,!2006.!Print.! ! 10!Hooton,!Christopher.!"Quentin!Tarantinoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s!The!Hateful!Eight!to!Run!Three!Hours!with!

Intermission!and!Overture."!The!Independent.!Independent!Digital!News!and!Media,!2!Dec.! 2015.!Web.!2!Dec.!2015.! !

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