New media is difficult to describe through physical means. It is not necessarily an object but rather a process by which tasks are carried out. Media that “can be described as a mathematical function” (Manovich, 27) is categorized as being of the newer generation. An image on a computer is more than what it seems. It is a series of code generated to create the visual that we see before us. Similarly, game modders are made possible because of their ability to “build on code and design tools created for commercial games” (Jenkins, 137). New media also has a habit of coming in different layers that Manovich refers to as modularity. Smaller modules are organized in a way to create larger modules. Through modularity, automation is conceived. Automated processes are able to release different content leading to the conclusion that “human intentionality can be removed from the creative process” (Manovich, 32). This is how some computer functions are able to have artificial intelligence and think on their own to a certain degree. Going back to automated processes, I mentioned before how the content released is new. This ability to create different content instead of identical copies is what Manovich calls variability. Anything referred to as new media also must include a level of transcoding in which information is structured and organized by computed processes. This information is highly digitized and can be accessed randomly. As a result, the “mining and dumping of data” (Parikka) becomes a reality. Lastly, it is important to realize how interactive media has become. Users have an unprecedented range to give orders through new media to which it will respond back. New media encompasses a wide range of characteristics that ultimately revolve around the idea of the way new media operates.

Manovich, Lev. The Language of New Media. London: The MIT Press, 2007. 10-61. Print.

Parikka, Jussi. “The Geology of Media”. TheAtlantic.com. The Atlantic Monthly Group, 11 Oct. 2013. Web. 23 Sept. 2014.

http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2013/10/the-geology-of-media/280523/

Jenkins, Henry. Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide. New York: NYU Press, 2006. Print.

http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=RlRVNikT06YC&oi=fnd&pg=PR7&dq=new+media&ots=9B2BmF-yPq&sig=4J0jF-SZHXXZp8cpdsenGPrA-1o#v=onepage&q=new%20media&f=false

New media is the transformation of old media into numerical data, to be stored, distributed and exhibited in a digital medium to a global audience. Equal to being exhibited to a global audience is the aspect that new media has the ability to be manipulated and reproduced in an unlimited amount of variations. From Lev Manovich’s theories about variability and modularity, new media is now the forefront of communication and distribution. With the variability of new media Henry Jenkins adds that “consumption [of new media happens] within a larger social and cultural context [where] consumers not only watch media; they also share media with one another” (68).  While the New Media Institute defines new media as a “catchall term used to define all that is related to the internet and the interplay between technology, images and sound”, they neglect to acknowledge the important new sphere that new media creates in our world. Jussi Parikka, in his article The Geology of Media, details not only the invisible media sphere that connects devices and creates new media but also the physical one that will be left when devices have perished. Media is so wide spread that “we might also acknowledge that the Earth is a communicative object” (Parikka, 5). New media ultimately is a tool that is used everyday to create, destroy, and modify media using technology thus “allowing more people to create and circulate media” (Jenkins, 258). With the invisible communicative realm and the behind the screen transformation of data into new media, new media is ultimately a faster more accessible tool for distribution and creation of other forms of media.

Citations:

Manovich, Lev. The Language of New Media. London: The MIT Press, 2007. 10-61. Print.

Parikka, Jussi. “The Geology of Media”. TheAtlantic.com. The Atlantic Monthly Group, 11 Oct. 2013. Web. 23 Sept. 2014.

http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2013/10/the-geology-of-media/280523/

Socha, Bailey, and Barbara Eber-Schmid. “Defining New Media Isn’t Easy.” NewMediaInstitute.org. New Media Institute, n.d. Web. 22 Sept 2014.

http://www.newmedia.org/what-is-new-media.html

Jenkins, Henry. Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide. New York: NYU Press, 2006. Print.

http://books.google.com/books?id=RlRVNikT06YC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false