Types of media technology

Lindsey Hickman

Ashford University

COM 480 Communication Studies Capstone

Instructor: Dan Tinianow

September 11, 2014 

   Media technology can be defined as the vast array of methods that support human communication over distances in time and space. The book, Media Technology and Society: A History : from the Telegraph to the Internet, found in the Ashford Library, offers a fascinating timeline of how media has evolved from the telegraph to the internet and everything in between. In flipping through the pages, the book leads its way from the telegraph to the speaking telephone, to capturing sound technology, radio, wireless radio, mechanically scanned television, electronically scanned television, computers, closed circuits, microcomputers, satellites, cable television, to the internet and devices that followed from there until the books publishing in 1998 (Winston, 1998). This assignment will review four media technologies, their uses, information about them, and their target audiences.

   Newspapers are one of the oldest form of news distribution, following the official government bulletins that would circulated prior to the 1500s. The first printed newspaper was a monthly publication, distributed in Venice, 1556, with the first weekly publication was in 1605 (Belis, 2014). Soon they spread, creating a deeply historic timeline until 2009 which is known as the worst year in history for the printed paper (Belis, 2014). In early early printing plates were created by hand with block letters and tiles, then by using the printing press and paste up, and now PDF files to printing press.

   Because instant information is available so readily now, only 23 percent of Americans say they read a print newspaper the previous day. This number continues to drop, falling 18 points over the last decade; however, the target audience remains within the baby boomer ages of 65+ as more than 76 percent of this age group still read a hard print paper daily (Beaujon, 2012). 

   News Websites are a rather new technology for the industry. These are live medias, therefore, they are able to accommodate breaking news as information becomes available. As a whole, the population has moved away from reading the morning paper for yesterday’s news, to wanting to be in the know now. 

   Many people who do not consider themselves newspaper readers, are actually may be; according to the Newspaper Association of America, each month 28 million adults access newspaper content on their smartphones or tablets (NAA, 2014). At a time when newspaper news rooms are shedding jobs left and right, thousands of digital reporting jobs become available annually. This industry allows for increased telecommuting staff, decreasing costs for both the employer and employees. News websites are able to incorporate user friendly data that links directly to sources, advertising, maps, and more, giving readers more than just the news. Digital news producers, especially those that have emerged most recently at the national level, are aimed at  cultivating new forms of storytelling—from video to crowdsourcing to new documentary styles—and new ways to connect with audiences, often younger ones (Jurkowitz, 2014). 

The audience engaging with digital content offered by newspaper media reached a new all-time high, totaling 161 million adult unique visitors in March 2014. The count represents a 19 percent increase from the 135 million unique visitors measured by comScore in April 2013. (Conaghan, 2014). Furthermore, online news readership has greatly increased via mobile devices, allowing publishers to target a younger generation more effectively. Young adults, those age 18-24, who use only mobile devices to access newspaper digital content showed the largest increase, rising by 146 percent in March 2014 from April last year (Conaghan, 2014).  

   News Aggregate Sites These types of news sites are revolutionizing how people get their news, these are also live sites that are able to change in an instant. Many are locally owned and operated small businesses, however, Huffington Post paved their way over the last couple years. These sites take information and articles from several larger news websites, paraphrase the long detailed stories into grab and go style news for people on the go. These sites can use plug-ins and Google Alerts for instant alerts and links to relevant material.

   Many of the smaller digital organizations focus on filling reporting gaps in local news and investigative journalism. Among the smaller organizations studied, more than half of the 438 small sites studied identify themselves as primarily local or hyperlocal outlets, often covering events at the neighborhood level, and most of them are very new (Jurkowitz, 2014). These sites target two types of users; they target busy users who do not want to search through newspapers and new websites for important headlines, and they target local audiences. For example, my news website DixonDailyNews.com pulls news headlines from the surrounding large market medias that are only relevant in our very small town outside of the metro area. Much like the News Websites, News Aggregate sites are able to link to sources, gaining SEO, search engine optimization, and unique reader click, becoming more profitable for the company. These sites also require less paid staff because they require less professional writing.

   Live streaming music is a multimedia that receives and distributes user driven music via live stream broadcasts on the internet. A media player such as a computer, mobile device, wireless speaker, or app must be used as a driver to transmit the files in order to play. Apps such as Pandora, Spotify, IHeartRadio, and iTunes Radio offer user chosen genres of music, complete with interactive playlists, eliminating songs the user might not like. 

   Using live stream music technology, users can avoid service interruptions that traditional radio stations encounter, allowing users to potentially drive across country listening to the same station, or listen where radio antennas may not usually work. Music streaming stations often offer music not played on the radio, live recordings, music not released yet for purchase or radio play, and hundreds more stations than AM/FM. Plus, users are able to stream most foreign and domestic AM/FM channels as well.

   Many of these sites lure users in with their free, advertising supported music, then offer ad-free listening for a minimal monthly charge.  The target audience of live streaming music distributors are the millions of people internationally who download music for free from peer-to-peer networks, with most hoping to cash in on a legal way to achieve the desired playlists. Advertisers are able to cash in on their target audiences as well, using mobile technology to distinguish user location, age, gender, and music preferences. 

Reference

Beaujon, Andrew. Pew: 4 out of 10 young people ‘read daily news or newspapers’. October 23, 2012. Retrieved from http://www.poynter.org/latest-news/mediawire/192530/pew-4-out- of-10-young-people-read-daily-news-or-newspapers/

Bellis, Mary. (2014). Timeline of the newspaper industry. Retrieved from http://inventors.about.com/od/pstartinventions/a/printing_4.htm

Conaghan, Jim (2014). Newspaper Web Audience. Newspaper Association of America. Retrieved from http://www.naa.org/Trends-and-Numbers/Newspaper-Websites/ Newspaper-Web-Audience.aspx

Jurkowitz, Mark. The Growth of Digital Reporting. March 26, 2014. Retrieved from http://www.journalism.org/2014/03/26/the-growth-in-digital-reporting/

Newspaper Association of America (NAA) 2014. The Connection with newspaper media. Retrieved from http://www.naa.org/connection

Winston, Brian. Media Technology and Society : A History from the Telegraph to the Internet. London, GBR: Routledge, 1998. ProQuest ebrary. Web. 11 September 2014. Retrieved from http://site.ebrary.com.proxy-library.ashford.edu/lib/ashford/detail.action? docID=10055945