Throughout the twentieth century, visual culture has been dominated by one technological medium after another: photography, narrative film and cinema, broadcast television and video. Each has been credited with leading us to see the world in different ways. More widely, the very nature of vision has come to be understood as historically variable.
In order to explore, we have to trace the history of virtual reality, immersive media, and digital cinema. As a part of the discussion of virtual reality the cultural implications of the historical intersection of simulation technologies, developed within computer science in the 1960s, and the deeply embedded traditions of Western visual representation are considered. The concepts of representation and simulation are discussed.
Central issues for theories of photography, film and cinema have been their realism and the nature of visual representation. Following on from the argument that, in virtual reality, representation is displaced by another practice, simulation, these issues are considered in the context of computer-generated animation, special effects and digital cinema.
Apart from that the other concepts are; Networks, Users and Economics:
This deals with the networked forms of new media afforded by the Internet. It has a particular emphasis on the relationship between economics and the forms of media culture emerging through net based technologies. As such its aim is to demonstrate how we need to understand the relationships between human creativity, technological potential, and the possibilities offered by markets. The structure of the section itself is offered as a model for understanding these mutually determining relationships, moving between a generalised understanding of the macro-economic forces of globalisation and neo-liberalism to the specific instance of how this might affect the user of a social network site or the producer of online TV.
The view looks at how the ‘social shaping of technology’ approach can be successfully applied to networked media through the traditional Media Studies tools of political economy. It critically analyses the identification between the internet and globalisation, emphasising the reality of a ‘digital divide’ as way of challenging the ‘world wide’ appellation of the WWW.
More specifically it examines the way in which networked based businesses have been subject to the boom and bust cycle of the market as a way of understanding Web 2.0 developments as a direct response to the dot.com crash of 2000–2002. People include a new section on the way in which networked practices and technologies have affected the music industries which in many ways exemplifies the conflicts between users and owners of Intellectual Property which all media businesses have found so challenging in the early years of the new century.
We argue that the economic theory of the ‘Long Tail’ has emerged as an important new model for understanding networked media, unlocking new possibilities for users and producers alike, leading to the new business practices of viral marketing, community management and web advertising. Interwoven with this background the reader will find a summary of the main traditions from the study of Computer Mediated Communication that offer paradigms for thinking about the kinds of personal investments afforded by the Internet; investments of time, passion and creativity that are also driving adaptations in media business practices. These investments are now often referred to as ‘user-generated content’ and this section looks at some of the forms which this explosion of media production takes, such as YouTube.
BY MWINYIJUMA REHEMA
BAPRM III - 42686
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