Week 3 – What is New Media?

Should we be worried about the digital divide?  Why or why not?

“New media, broadly understood to include the use of new communications technology for old or new purposes… are always introduced into a pattern of tension created by the coexistence of old and new, which is far richer than any single medium that becomes a focus of interest because it is novel. New media embody the possibility that accustomed orders are in jeopardy, since communication is a peculiar kind of interaction that actively seeks variety.”

– Carolyn Marvin, 1988 in “When Old Technologies were new”

Enter the digital divide. This is the context in which the digital divide exists: while new media creates ways to enhance people’s daily routines, novel technology also complicates the social relationship between society as a whole. Just because new technology exists doesn’t mean everyone can access it.

This context should give us reason to feel some sense of moral anxiety about the digital divide. New technology isn’t a monolithic entity – take the internet, this technology in itself is comprised of different parties that have unique financial, academic and social interests. This means different power dynamics are always in play and some end up with the short end of the stick.

Consider this: call centres in developing countries. One could argue that such facilities allow people in developing countries to actively participate in the intensifying industry of global communications and that they are important because they help solve daily problems people encounter with the new technology. But are call centre employees really benefiting from this situation? I personally don’t think their position as call centre employees is empowering. Their position actually exacerbates social stratification between developed and developing nations, it contributes to solidifying developing nations as “helpers” for “wealthy” developed countries. When a south east Asian call centre employee has a problem with his/her home internet, he/she isn’t calling internet help hotlines in North America or Europe.

We should be worried about the digital divide. If call centres (that exacerbate tension between developing and developed countries) are considered the norm now, it makes me wonder what types of relationships will exist to support new media in the future.