New Media(isms)

Although I have been published in traditional print outlets, my preferred medium has become the internet, and in particular, Web 2.0-enabled New Media.  So, what the heck is “New Media”?

In laymen’s terms, “New Media” is media in which there is no audience: we are all content-creators.  “Old Media” is defined by its one-to-many relationship of creator and recipient (audience).  “New Media,” however, is defined by  its many-to-many relationship between receiving/sending creators.

This blog you’re reading: yeah, it’s New Media.  Trippy, isn’t it?

* * *

I recently presented a lecture entitled, “Log on, tune in, blog out: citizen-journalism, New Media, and subversive activity.”  I’ve made it available for download in four parts (click on the thumbnail to the left).  I invite academics and journalists, as well as friends and readers, to make use of it and pass it around!

The lecture is a general survey of the darker side of Web 2.0-enabled New Media.  In particular, I explore some of its frightfully hilarious/hilariously frightful uses by subversive and revolutionary groups on the fringes of contemporary global society.  My case studies:

• the French National Front on Second Life;
• the Stormfront White Nationalist Community;
• the global anticapitalism movement (specifically, the IndyMedia Network);
• radical Islamism (specifically, AqsaTube);
• and the Second Life Liberation Army.

I lightly get into some of the theoretical issues, in particular the nature of New Media and today’s internet, and the role culture plays in determining the extent to which a subversive or revolutionary organization goes “high tech.”

The lecture is decidely “low tech,” intended for non-specialists and all-around end-users.  However, it may also be of value to those with technical or journalistic backgrounds who may not be aware of the various fringe subcultures forming around the new technology.