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Mediamorphosis: Understanding New Media (Journalism and Communication for a New Century Ser) Review"Mediamorphosis" by Roger Fidler is a breath-taking, sweeping overview of communications technologies and their impact on the media through the millenia and in the years to come. The treatment is academic and scholarly, with numerous case studies of the interaction between various media forms. Major principles guiding the evolution and evaluation of media technologies are illustrated.
Ten chapters cover a wide range of issues including media evolution and convergence, media traits, digital technologies, Internet publishing, socio-political forces of control, new media experiments, virtual reality, user interactivity, and future trends. A list of acronyms and abbreviations is also included. Cited works feature "InfoCulture" by Steven Lubar, "The Story of Language" by Mario Pei, "Brainframes" by Derrick de Kerckhove, "The Control Revolution" by James Beniger, and "The Gutenberg Elegies" by Sven Birkerts.
Roger Fidler (rfidler@saed.kent.edu) is a well-known electronic publishing visionary and practitioner. He has worked in the newspaper business for more than 34 years. He was the director of the Knight-Ridder Information Design Laboratory, founder of the PressLink online service for newspapers, and a key member of the Knight-Ridder Viewtron videotex service. Roger is currently a professional in residence at Kent State University. He is also quite active on the international conference circuit, and is a captivating speaker.
Mediamorphosis, a term coined by Fidler in 1990, refers to the transformation of communication media, usually brought about by the complex interplay of perceived needs, competitive and political pressures, and social and technological innovations. Instead of studying each form separately, mediamorphosis "encourages us to examine all forms as members of an interdependent system, and to note the similarities and relationships that exist among past, present and emerging forms," Fidler begins.
According to Paul Saffo of the California-based Institute for the Future, new ideas take about three decades to fully seep into a culture. There are three stages of diffusion, marked by phases of excitement, penetration and standardisation.
The rate of adoption of a new technology in a society, according to media scholar Everett Rogers, is determined by factors like its perceived relative advantage, compatibility with existing technologies, overall complexity, reliability, and direct observability. Additional influences, according to British academic Brian Winston, come from accelerators and brakes such as socio-economic forces and political motivation. Fidler illustrates the interplay between these various factors in the manner in which FM radio at first floundered for about thirty years before dethroning AM radio in North America within a spurt of adoption of 10 years.
Based on these perspectives and his own personal insights, Fidler identifies six principles of mediamorphosis - coexistence and coevolution of media forms, gradual metamorphosis of new media forms from old ones, propagation of dominant traits in media forms, survival of media forms and enterprises in a changing environment, merits and needs for adopting new media, and delays from proof of concept to widespread adoption of new media.
Fidler then classifies media forms into three domains: interpersonal, broadcast, and document (including newspapers and Web pages). He sketches the evolution of each of these forms of media through history. These media domains differ in flow and control of content, presentation, and reception constraints.
According to Fidler, there are three great mediamorphoses in human communication: spoken language, written language, and the digital language. Spoken language led to social group formation, complex problem solving skills, and the development of "broadcast" forms like storytelling and ritual performance - which in turn divided society into performers, gatekeepers, and audiences. Written language ushered in the development of portable documents, mechanical printing, and mass media.
Digital language - unlike spoken and written - enables communication between machines, and mediated communication between humans. In digital language, according to MIT's Nicholas Negroponte, human distinctions between text, images and sounds are irrelevant - they are all represented as bits. We are in the earliest stages of such transformations, says Fidler - but we can already see "how computer networks using digital language are greatly extending human interactions throughout the world."
Three chapters cover technological and cultural contexts of the third mediamorphosis, as well as case studies of successes and failures of new media technologies like online services. The third mediamorphosis was marked by the invention of electricity, the convergence of telegraphy and photography, electro-mechanical and electronic technologies, computers, and networks. "The linking of tens of millions of individual minds through the Internet and other telecommunications systems may, indeed, be accelerating the cross impacts of emerging technologies and the development of new media," says Fidler.
Accompanying socio-political forces in the U.S. over the last century have been competition between various media organisations, changes in government regulation, and increasing competition for existing advertising revenues. In such a context, early incarnations of online services like the TV-based Viewtron failed due to unrealistic expectations, misunderstood customer needs, and inertia on the part of the investors. Interactive TV, too, failed to take off as a mass market medium.
"Generally overlooked were the traits of the interpersonal domain - two-way, participatory, unscheduled, and unmediated," Fidler explains. "Electronic mail services that combine text, graphics, voice and video will be integral to nearly all emerging forms of digital media," he predicts.
Three chapters sketch out projected scenarios of mediamorphosis in the interpersonal, broadcast, and document domains in the year 2010. "The Internet and consumer online networks will meld with telephone and satellite/cable-TV systems to form a seamless, global computer-mediated communication service," says Fidler. Software agents will act as personal librarians and researchers, users will interact in virtual reality systems, and concerns will arise about social fragmentation and individual privacy.
Broadcasters will use the Web to broadcast to growing numbers of cybercommunities. Ethical issues will be raised over the use of sophisticated morphing technologies and the role of parental control. "There is, however, one fusion that does seem all but certain - the melding of video and film," Fidler predicts.
Newspapers represent the "most complex as well as the most immediately challenged form within the document domain," says Fidler. They are challenged by the trend towards online publishing as well as public perceptions of waste and environmental problems. Portable digital tablets are already beginning to emerge in the form of personal gadgets like the Apple Newton and Sharp Zaurus. In the future, news may be distributed through "a global network of electronic newsstands similar to automated teller machines," according to Fidler.
"Despite the present fascination with the apparently limitless amounts of information that can be found in cyberspace, I am convinced that manageable, branded packages of information that provide an editorial context and have a clear beginning and end will continue to be preferred by most people," says Fidler.
The last chapter addresses some of the promises and challenges posed to media, audiences, educators and governments by technologies like the Internet. "Governments are worrying that they will lose control over sensitive information and will be unable to monitor financial transactions across state and national borders. Parents worry that their children might be exposed to hard-core pornogrpahy and accosted by pedophiles. Already there are growing concerns that African Americans and Hispanics may be left out of the electronic loop," says Fidler. Though these are serious concerns, the truth is that "societies have always been affected and transformed by new forms of media," with mixed outcomes.
"As the age of digital communication bursts forth, I believe the most valued characteristics of future mainstream media are likely to be their credibility and connections to the communities they serve," Fidler concludes.
In sum, "Mediamorphosis" is a valuable, insightful piece of work for media analysts and practitioners. A list of online resources and discussion lists would have rounded off the material perfectly. There is also lit
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