The digital revolution[edit]
In the years since the invention of the first digital computers, computing power and storage capacity have increased exponentially. Personal computers and smartphones put the ability to access, modify, store and share digital media in the hands of billions of people. Many electronic devices, from digital cameras to drones have the ability to create, transmit and view digital media. Combined with the World Wide Web and the Internet, digital media has transformed 21st century society in a way that is frequently compared to the cultural, economic and social impact of the printing press.[2][11] The change has been so rapid and so widespread that it has launched an economic transition from an industrial economy to an information-based economy, creating a new period in human history known as the Information Age or the digital revolution.[2]
The transition has created some uncertainty about definitions. Digital media, new media, multimedia, and similar terms all have a relationship to both the engineering innovations and cultural impact of digital media.[12] The blending of digital media with other media, and with cultural and social factors, is sometimes known as new media or "the new media."[13] Similarly, digital media seems to demand a new set of communications skills, calledtransliteracy, media literacy, or digital literacy.[14] These skills include not only the ability to read and write—traditional literacy—but the ability to navigate the Internet, evaluate sources, and create digital content.[15] The idea that we are moving toward a fully digital, "paperless" society is accompanied by the fear that we may soon—or currently—be facing a digital dark age, in which older media are no longer accessible on modern devices or using modern methods of scholarship.[3]
Disruption in industry[edit]
Compared with print media, the mass media, and other analog technologies, digital media are easy to copy, store, share and modify. This quality of digital media has led to significant changes in many industries, especially journalism, publishing, education, entertainment, and the music business. The overall impact of these changes is so far-reaching that it is difficult to quantify. For example, in movie-making, the transition from analog film cameras to digital cameras is nearly complete. The transition has economic benefits to Hollywood, making distribution easier and making it possible to add high-quality digital effects to films.[16] At the same time, it has had an impact on the analog special effects, stunt, and animation industries in Hollywood.[17] It has imposed painful costs on small movie theaters, some of which did not or will not survive the transition to digital.[18] The impact of digital media on other media industries is similarly sweeping and complex.[17]
In journalism, digital media and citizen journalism have led to the loss of thousands of jobs in print media and the bankruptcy of many major newspapers.[19] But the rise of digital journalism has also created thousands of new jobs and specializations.[20] E-books andself-publishing are changing the book industry, and digital textbooks and other media-inclusive curricula are changing primary and secondary education.[21][22] In academia, digital media has led to a new form of scholarship, called digital scholarship, and new fields of study, such as digital humanities and digital history. It has changed the way libraries are used and their role in society.[11] Every major media, communications and academic endeavor is facing a period of transition and uncertainty related to digital media.
Individual as content creator[edit]
Digital media has also allowed individuals to be much more active in content creation.[23] Anyone with access to computers and the Internet can participate in social media and contribute their own writing, art, videos, photography and commentary to the Internet, as well as conduct business online. Many media production tools that were once only available to a few are now free and easy to use. This has had a significant impact on political participation.[24] Digital media is seen by many scholars as having a role in Arab Spring, and crackdowns on the use of digital and social media by embattled governments are increasingly common.[25] Many governments restrict access to digital media in some way, either to prevent obscenity or in a broader form of political censorship.[26]
User-generated content raises issues of privacy, credibility, civility and compensation for cultural, intellectual and artistic contributions. The spread of digital media, and the wide range of literacy and communications skills necessary to use it effectively, have deepened the digital divide between those who have access to digital media and those who don't.[27]
Copyright challenges[edit]
Digital media pose many challenges to current copyright and intellectual property laws.[28] The ease of creating, modifying and sharing digital media makes copyright enforcement a challenge, and copyright laws are widely seen as outdated.[29][30] For example, under current copyright law, common Internet memes are probably illegal to share in many countries.[31] Legal rights are at least unclear for many common Internet activities, such as posting a picture that belongs to someone else to a social media account, covering a popular song on a YouTube video, or writing fanfiction.
To resolve some of these issues, content creators can voluntarily adopt open or copyleft licenses, giving up some of their legal rights, or they can release their work to the public domain. Among the most common open licenses are Creative Commons licenses and theGNU Free Documentation License, both of which are in use on Wikipedia. Open licenses are part of a broader open content movement that pushes for the reduction or removal of copyright restrictions from software, data and other digital media.[32]
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