For this blog post I plan to discuss how Paul Levinson author of "New New Media" defines and categorizes new new media. Levinson says that "'New New Media' is about the advent and impact of media newer than 'new' media- as different from the classic new media of email and websites as those new media are different from old media such as newspapers and television" (Levinson 1). His current roster of new media includes blogging, YouTube, Wikipedia, Digg, MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, Second Life and Podcasts.
One of the ways he discusses new new media in the first chapter is to categorize it. I believe this is helpful to know because how could Wikipedia and Facebook be described under the same category of new new media when they are so different.
The first Category is "Print, Audio, Audio-Visual, Photographic". This category applies to YouTube because Audio-Visual media in the form of videos characterize it. This also, in a completely different light, applies to Second Life because you are moving virtual avatars through which users can speak. This category also obviously applies to podcasting (audio), video casting (audio-visual), and Flickr/ Photobucket (Photography).
The next Category is "News" which strictly describes "the purpose, not the media form, of the new new medium" (Levinson 5). Wikipedia and Digg would fall under this category because their chief purpose is to inform. YouTube can also be under this category because it contains many news worthy videos. Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter also contain news.
Another Category he uses is "Social Media" which describes all new new media because all new new media is inherently social. Levinson gives social examples of commenting on blogs or videos, but the main forms of social new new media are, of course, Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter.
Levinson also has "General vs. Specific" as a category which describes blogging, podcasting, vidcasting, and social media as general new new media applications, and YouTube, Wikipedia, and Digg as specific. A general application can and do exist on live online sites devoted to many applications such as podcasting, blogging, social media, and other new new media opportunities. While specific systems are primarily devoted to just one application ex: YouTube (videos).
"Politics and Entertainment" have a category because given the democratization of New New Media production, you can find almost anything on any topic on a blog or a social network. This category gives the example of how Barack Obama used many new new media forums to aid him with his campaign, which caused him, among other things, to receive popularity from college voters.
"New New Media and Government Control" also have a category because it tells us how new new media has also run in to problems with government control just as new media and old media have. In this article Iran's government shut down Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and cell phones in an attempt to lessen the riots after the election.
The next category is "Microblogging and Blogging". This category describes the difference between short twitter posts and Facebook and MySpace status updates with the normal length blogs found on sites like Blogger. The short posts make for a more personal communication because with new new media today the shorter the better.
The final category I will discuss today is "Hardware vs. Software -iPhone, BlackBerry, Laptop". Levinson has this as a category because he wants to stress the importance of how we consider the hardware that brings new new media to us. Are we searching Wikipedia on a lap top or tweeting on our iPhone? With mobile media you can tweet or update your status at a moments notice.
As I end this blog I wish to apologize for it's excessive length for new new media, as stressed in the "blogging/ microblogging" category is meant to be more brief. However, I found that it was important to look at the categories of new new media so we can better understand what is actually considered new new media.
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