Digital Media Theory

Abstract

Historically media theory has concentrated on a number of areas including communication, media content, style and genre, form, cultural context, target audiences, and political affiliation and other forms of bias of the source content. It therefore also drew on other disciplines such as sociology, psychology, philosophy, literary theory and other relevant disciplines. Initially, it was set in the context of mass communication, because this was the form that the majority of the population had access to in the form of newspapers, books, radio, television, film, public relations, and advertizing. Generally, this was any form of communication where it was one source to many recipients. These different channels of communication could also influence the way the content was perceived because of the history and current social context of each medium. Thus media theory is not a simple matter of just analyzing the content and its form but also includes many other aspects. These are reviewed in this chapter. The transition to a digital environment, and numerous digital forms of media, has changed the environment from one of mass communication to readers and viewers to one where the latter have become some of the primary drivers of the interactions and content generation processes, particularly in areas where such content becomes viral and has had major effects on the social and political environments locally, nationally, and globally. Such transitions are clearly here to stay and are likely to continue. It also reduces the power and influence that traditional media organizations have had in the past. As this is mainly driven by the younger Internet generation it has also increased their significance, influence, and power.