BEING A PAPER DELIVERED BY IBITURU IWOWARI PEPPLE, [1]
ON THE OCCASION OF THE INAUGURATION OF THE BAYELSA NEW MEDIA TEAM ON
SATURDAY 7TH JULY, 2012 AT THE BANQUET HALL, GOVERNMENT HOUSE – YENAGOA,
BAYELSA STATE
PROTOCOL:
PREAMBLE: Permit me to express my gratitude to the
organizers of this inauguration ceremony for finding me worthy to
deliver a paper on this ‘auspicious occasion’
The term
New Media is not purely transparent and simple as it seems. The ‘
New Media’
have created a new Social environment, new Communicational, and
cognitive habits, and certainly a new way to comprehend and analyze the
relationship between mass media, and society, which in essence has
changed the trend of governance in the 21st century.
Building on Mclluhan’s idea of a newly shaped social environment,
George Grant’s text illustrates the neutral values of technology, whose
applications could only be determined by the paradigm of knowledge that
composes the technological apparatuses on one hand, and the users on the
other.
However, in the last few years, governance the World over has witnessed fundamental changes with the emergence of
New Media technologies.
Today, Government, employees, students and companies have embraced the use of
New Media Technologies such as,
Facebook, Twitter, Google, You-tube, Badoo, 2go, Black Berry Messenger. etc., to their own advantages daily to disseminate information and receive immediate and unhampered feed backs, which make the
New Media Unique and distinct from the old and conventional media-
Radio,TV, Book, Magazine, Newspapers etc.
NEW MEDIA: AN INTRODUCTION
Let me begin by appreciating the concept
“new media”- as the name suggests.
New Media is a broad term in
media studies that emerged in the latter part of the
20th century that refers to on-demand access to content anytime, anywhere, on any
digital device,
as well as interactive user feed-back, creative participation and
community formation around the media content. Another important promise
of
new media is the “democratization” of the creation,
publishing, distribution and consumption of media content. Another
aspect of new media is the real-time generation of new, unregulated
content. {Wikipedia}
Most technologies described as “
New Media” are
digital, often having characteristics of being manipulated, networkable,
dense, compressible, and interactive. Some examples may be the
internet, websites, computer multimedia, video games, CD-ROMS, and DVDs.
New Media does not include television programs,
features films, magazines, books, or paper-based publications unless
they contain technologies that enable digital interactivity. Wikipedia,
an online encyclopedia, is an example, combining internet accessible
digital text, images and video with web-links, creative participation of
contributors, interactive feedback of users and formation of a
participant community of editors and donors for the benefit of
non-community readers. Facebook is an example of the social media model,
in which most users are also participants.
FEATURES OF NEW MEDIA
Until the 1980s
media relied primarily upon print and
analog broadcast
models, such as those of television and radio. The last twenty-five
years have seen the rapid transformation into media which are predicated
upon the use of digital technologies, such as the internet and video
games. However, these examples are only a small representation of new
media. The use of
digital computers has transformed the remaining ‘old’ media, as suggested by the advent of
digital television and
online publications. Even traditional media forms such as the printing press have been transformed through the application of technologies such as
image manipulated software like
Adobe Photoshop and desktop publishing tools.
Shapiro (1999) argues that the “ emergence of new, digital
technologies signals a potential radical shift of who is in control of
information, experience and resources’’ (Shapiro cited in Croteau and
Hoynes 2003:322) Neuman (1991) suggests that whilst the
“new media”
have technical capabilities to pull in one direction, economic and
social forces pull back in the opposite direction. According to Neuman, “
We are witnessing the evolution of a universal interconnected network
of audio video, and electronic text communications that will blur the
distinction between interpersonal and mass communication and between
public and private communication, “ Neuman cited in Croteau and Hoynes
(2003:322). Neuman argues further that
New Media will:
- Alter the meaning of geographic distance
- Allow for a huge increase in the volume of communication.
- Provide the possibility of increasing the speed of communication.
- Provide opportunities for interactive communication.
- Allow forms of communication that were previously separate to overlap and interconnect.
Consequently it is true, that
New Media, and
particularly the Internet, provide the potential for a democratic
postmodern public sphere, in which citizens can participate in well
informed, non-hierarchical debate pertaining to their social structures.
Contradicting these positive appraisals of the potential social impacts
of new media are scholars such as Ed Herman and Robert McChesney who
have suggested that the transition to new media has seen a handful of
powerful
transnational telecommunications corporations who achieve a level of global influence which was hitherto unimaginable.
Scholars, such as Lister et al. (2003) and Friedman (2005), have
highlighted both the positive and negative potential and actual
implications of
New Media technologies, suggesting that some of
the early work into new media studies was guilty of technological
determinism – whereby the effect of media were determined by the
technology themselves, rather than through tracing the complex social
networks which governed the development, funding, implementation and
future development of any technology.
NEW MEDIA AND GLOBALIZATION
The rise of
New Media have increased communication between people the world over and the internet.
Flew (2002) stated that as a result of the evolution of
new media technologies, globalization
occurs. Globalization is generally stated as “more than expansion of
activities beyond the boundaries of particular nation states”.
Globalization shortens the distance between people all over the world by
the electronic communication
Carely (1992) in flew (2002) and
Cairncross
(1998) expresses this great development as the “death of distance”. New
Media “radically breaks the connection between physical place and
social place, making physical location much less significant for our
social relationship”
Croteau and
Hoynes (2003:311)
However, the changes in the New Media environment create a series of
tension in the concept of “Public Sphere”. “Public sphere” is defined as
a process through which public communication becomes restructured and
partly disembedded from national political and cultural institutions.
This trend of the globalized public sphere is not only as a geographical
expansion from a nation to worldwide, but also changes the relationship
between the public, the media and the state.
Volkmer (1999:123).
“Virtual communities’’ are being established online and transcend geographical boundaries eliminating social restriction.
Rheingold (2000)
described these globalised societies as self-defined networks, which
resemble what we do in real life. “People in virtual communities use
words on screen to exchange pleasantries and argue, engage in
intellectual discourse, conduct commerce, make plans, brainstorm,
gossip, feud, fall in love, create little high art and a lot of idle
talk”.
While this perspective suggests of globalization, arguments involving
technological determinism
are generally frowned upon by mainstream media studies. Instead
academics focus on the multiplicity of processes by which technology is
funded, researched and produced, forming a feedback loop when the
technologies are used and often transformed by their users, which then
feeds into the process of guiding their future development.
NEW MEDIA AS AN AID FOR GOOD GOVERNANCE
Good Governance means essentially, the ability to provide the needed infrastructure capable of driving a particular economy.
For any Government to be successful, the governed must have a sense
of belonging in the polity. This in clear terms means the ability to
participate in the affairs of the state.
To participate actively in the affairs of the state in any polity, the most essential tool to use is the
New Media Technology.
Mclluhan in his thesis posited that with
New Media Technology,
the World is now a global village. But suffice it to say that the
global village phenomenon has given rise to what we call the
“global Family” phenomenon as the Internet has made the World smaller now than
Mclluhan ever imagined
For the Government of Bayelsa State to be rated amongst the World
best leading states, adaptation to the dictates of the new media
technology will be apt.
In this regard, the postulation of
Manovich and
Castellers (2001)
in which they argued that mass media corresponded to the logic of
industrial mass society, which values conformity over individuality. New
Media follows the logic of the Post-Industrial or globalized society
whereby “every citizen can construct his or her own custom lifestyle and
select his or her own ideology from a large number of choices.
For the Government of Bayelsa State to thrive, the establishment of
an enabling technology driven environment with free access by all and
sundry will be a panacea for effective governance.
It is obvious from my observation that the technology is society and
society cannot be understood without its technological tools, Castell
(1996).
While the distinction between public and private life is not unique to modern societies,
Thompson (2011) argues that the emergence of the
New Media
Communication, from print to Radio, Television and Internet has altered
the very nature of the public, the private and relation between them.
The boundaries of private life and public have been blurred as
New Media
have adopted an increasingly more publicized domain. Society seems to
have also adapted to this public change and are more willing than ever
to publish personal information on the Internet.
For instance, when stories break it is customary for reporters to do
all they can to discover as much as possible about the people involved.
The willingness of people to so much material about themselves on the
net has made that task much easier for Journalists.
It is the correlation between people’s willingness to broadcast and
the publicized domain available that has blurred the lines between
private and public life in
New Media.
Governments the World over, today, use the
new media technology to advance its course. The advantage of the
new media over the conventional media is very broad.
The conventional media such as Radio, Television, Newspaper, Magazine
etc. adapt themselves to a one-way communication model. For instance,
interpersonal media is “One on one”, Mass Media is “One to many” and New
Media is individual media or “Many to Many”.
To actually interface effectively, the
New Media is the most appropriate to achieve that purpose. The Facebook, Twitter, you-Tube, 2go, Badoo, Black Berry Messenger are all
new media technology that must be harnessed for effective results in governance, as feedbacks are immediate without hindrances.
Statistics has it that over 7 million Nigerians Worldwide are on
facebook, 2 million Internet users, and 100 million active mobile phone
line users, which has actually made the sharing of information very
easy, which is essential to the development of any state.
The decision of the Bayelsa State Government to take advantage of these
new media technologies, is indeed a very welcomed development which is worth commending and worthy of emulation by other state governments.
No other media can provide a robust interactive platform, except the
“New Media Technology” which will effectively promote good governance
and active participation for all and sundry irrespective of social
statuses. It is true, that everywhere in the world, citizens participate
actively in governance through the
new media.
This very medium allows for freedom of expression of opinion irrespective of political, religious, ethnic or social statuses.
The 2011 general elections were test cases to the effectiveness of
the social media which gave on the spot assessments of the electoral
situation without much-ado.
The
New Media Technology therefore, must be embraced with both arms.
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B’ beri, B. E.etal (2007) Introduction to Media Studies. A Reader,Canada: Oxford University press.
Baran, S. J. (2004) Introduction to Mass Communication, New York: Mc Graw-Hills Companies.
Bittner, J. R. (1989) Mass Communication An Introduction, 5th Edition. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, Inc.
Cooke, P.(2005) New Media and New Economy Cluster Dynamics. New York.
Greenslede, R. (2008) “Press Complaints Commission faces up to
facebook Intrusions” The Guardian uk., feb. 2008; Accessed June 18, 2012
–http//www.guardian.co.uk/media
Oyero, O. S.(2007) “The Implication of Internet on the Practice of
Mass Media” in International Journal of Communication number six, may
2007.
Seitel¸ F. P. (2011). The Practice of Public Relations. New York: Pearson Education, Inc.
Shepherd, J. M. (1981) Sociology. Minesota: West Publishing Co.
Thompson, J. B. (2011) “Shifting boundaries of public and private life” Theory culture society 28(4)49-70
[1]
Ibituru I.Pepple is the Coordinator of the International
Institute of Journalism, Port Harcourt Centre. He is a Fellow of many
Professional bodies at home and abroad.
