Essay On Digital Media

After print, various media were invented such as radio, television and the internet to accelerate information flows. The invention of new media led to questions such as whether the medium is of less importance than the content, or whether the new medium results in a different message. The upcoming digital medium is referred to as 'post-digital '. In this post-digital era, the transition of content from paper books to pixel is a debated topic.

In 1964, McLuhan claimed that "the medium is the message"; the medium affects the content and it couches the message. McLuhan 's view can be explained by looking at what is happening to printing today. Currently, information in a printed book is changing into digital media. McLuhan argues before the

Because a video in an eBook might guide the reader to follow the author 's narrative compared to a printed content where the reader has to build the story by themselves. Levinson thinks that the content is important for the medium (2001:5).

Innis (1951) argues each one of the media embodies its own bias. He categorises them into two groups; time-biased media and space-biased media. He describes time-biased media as carrying messages which are long lasting. They are heavy and only reach limited readers. Space-biased media have light and portable features. Namely, television, radio and mass circulation newspapers. Space-biased media convey messages in a short time to people over long distances. Innis 's theory can be linked to the invention of new media which speed up (time bias) and give bigger space to upload information (space bias). Making a printed book might take longer. The information is packaged in a limited number of pages decided by the author. Whereas, writing content online might be quicker and more information can be written.Benjamin (1936) purports the increase of speed and distribution of images by mechanical reproduction in the early 20th

This could linked to digital based writing or artwork. A question arises about authenticity and aura, especially when there appears to be no original work, only a digital text.Various digital platforms have developed - website, videos, and social media to communicate and share ideas. Power (2012) question whether there is a difference writing on the internet than writing in print. She wonders if a blog can be turned into a book or vice versa (2012:1). She argues that with the information overload online and the desire to read it, independent publishers may go out of business. If independent publishers go out of business, independent ideas may not get published and the consequence of this is that thinking could become narrow and biased. Writing online information might not be stable but that does not mean the content is given less attention (Power, 2012:4). Whereas, Darton (2009:29) says information is not stable, especially in digital media. Power describe how readers tend to get angry by commenting in the blog and later most of the discussion can be altered. "A book suddenly becomes "you" in a way that a blog was