Ever since the personal computer was made easily available, accessible and obtainable (prices and the like), media and "mediated culture" had already run its change-of-course. With the computer screens, increasing amounts of information was not only becoming more easily accessible, but it was also becoming easier to store.
In terms of information from old to new media, when the internet was just starting out, bulk information was shared via the cds, floppy discs, portable, compact storage of data like cd encyclopedias, for example. Forr kids especially, the "programs" were more interactive, more interesting, they had moving pictures and voices and more colorful, more awe-inducing "gateways to information". For the generation of kids who were exposed to said advancement in technology, this became a stepping stone for what was to be instant, computerized information.
Main points:
as soon as computers became public and easily accessible and obtainable, media in general began to change. Not just the accessibility but the on-time, immediate, ASAP media, as well as its ease and capability for storing. To add, the limitations for media also dropped- you were no longer limited to one or two providers (news/music/videos/advertisements) per area- you became exposed to multiple possibilities and combinations and origins of media: youtube, grooveshark (music), vimeo, CNN, bbc, local and international news, blogs, twitter, and the like where you could not only update faster than old media could be published but you could also store, and interact with a new interactive ready community: internet community.
- ease of access
- exposure to the many possibilities and combinations of publishers online: e.g. no restriction like one or two writers per paper or no restrictions per paper: you have local and international stayrical, official, pop, heresay etc. etc.
- makes it easier to recall or catch up. instant. no/less payment, more colors.
- similar to the internet culture (and technology culture), the challenge becomes: how to make the most out of the almost-infinite offer of information: information overload: figuring out:
1. which information is a "must-know"
2. whether you wnat to or have to track information: you get lost in it, there's just so much information, time is often wasted (facebook also)
3. reliability: old media used to require all sorts of academics or all sorts of sources who were liable to all sorts of people and therefore were and are pressured to come up with as reliable the information as possible. With the internet, while you are surrounded by reliable sources, mixed in also are the not-so-reliable sources and media which can easily be edited/falsified/plagiarized. (e.g. the guidon incident. facebook posts. twitter posts: cancellation of classes.)
