The so-called telematic media (‘telematic’ because they combine telecommunications and informatics) have been heralded as the key component in the latest communication revolution which wilol replace broadcast television as we know it. The term covers a set of developments at the sore of which is a visual display unit (television screen) linked to a computer network. What are sometimes referred to as the ‘new media’, which have pit in an appearance since the 1970s, are in fact a set of different electronic technologies with varied applications which have yet to be widely taken up as mass media or to acquire a clear definition of their function.
Several kind of technology are involved, of transmission (by cable or satelite), or miniaturization, of storage and retrieval, of display (using flexible combinations of text and graphics), and of control (by computer). The main features, by contrast with the ‘old media’ as described, are: decentralization – supply and choice are no longer predominantly in the bands of the supplier of communication; high capacity – cable or satelite delivery overcomes the former restrictions of cost, distance and capacity; interactivity – the reciever can select, answer back, exchange and be linked to other receivers directly; and flexibility of form, context and use.
Aside from facilitating the distribution of existing radio and television, new telematic media have been offered to the general public in two main forms, one known as teletext, the other as videotex. The former makes available much additional textual information by way of over-air broadcasting to supplement normal television programming on addapted recievers, and it can be called up at the viewer’s initiative. The second provides, usually via the telephone network, a much larger and more varied supply of computer-stored information which can be consulted and/or interrogated by users equipped with a terminal and television screen. It also offers a wide range of interactive services, including a form of visual communication between centres and peripherals and in principle between all those connected on the same network. Videotex can also be used to supply printed material.
The new media also include computer video games, virtual reality and video recordings of all kinds. Home video may be considered as an extension of television and cinema, with graetly increased flexibility in use. It is thus a hybrid medium (like television itself), borrowing essential features from film and television for content and forms and from the book and music industries for means of distribution (separate items of content rented or sold). Yet another innovation, CD-ROM (atanding for compact disc, read only memory), provides flexible and easy access to very large stores of information, by way of computer-readable discs. In general, the new media have bridged differences both between media (convergence of technology), na d also between public and private definitions of communication activities. The same medium can now be used interchangeably for public and private purposes and both for receiving and self-production (for example, the video ‘camcorder’). In the long run this has implications not only for definitions of separate media but also for the boundaries of the media institutions.
Although the ‘new media’ were, in their initial stages, taken up mainly as extensions of existing audiovisual media, they represent a challenge to the production, distribution and basic forms of the latter. Production, for example, need no longer be concentrated in large centrally located organizations (typical of film and television), nor linked integrally with distribution (as with most television and radio), nor so centrally controlled. Nor are print media immune to fundamental change, as a direct electronic delivery of print to households becemes reality, and as the organization of production and the work of journalist and authors become increasingly computerized.
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