Essay:
New Media Technology Review:
This short paper will describe and discuss the history, development and cultural significance of a specific “new media” technology. Your task in this assignment is threefold;
1) provide a clear description of the technology, answering questions such as:
What does it do?
Who is it intended for?
Who makes the hardware or software?
2) provide a brief historical overview of the technology that considers how it was developed and the conditions under which it came to be popular, answering questions such as:
What are its precursors?
What controversies has it engendered or been associated with?
What other technologies have been important to its development and use?
Has the emergence of this technology shifted the practice of related or associated
technologies?
3) provide a discussion of why this technology is considered new media which draws upon at least
one scholarly source to make its argument.
Some Appropriate New Media Technologies
– digital music streaming services (e.g. Spotify or Apple Music) – High speed mobile data services (e.g. 3G, LTE)
– home broadband internet services (i.e. ADSL or Google Fiber) – “cloud” storage services (e.g. iCloud, Dropbox, Google Drive) – wearable computing (e.g. Fitbit, Apple Watch)
– console video game systems (e.g. Xbox, PS4)
– portable game systems (e.g. PSP, NintendoDS) – personal computers
– e-readers (e.g. Kindle, Kobo Reader, etc.)
– tablet computing (e.g. iPad, Android tablets)
– digital videocameras
– DSLRs
