Podcamp Toronto 2008 – What is New Media?

So far I have really enjoyed podcamp. I cannot actually believe that it is already noon. Only a few more hours to go. I have experimented with blogs using blogger and some local desktop tools which I can talk about at another time, but I have not been so much into the visual word since I began podcasting in August 2005. It’s mostly a time issue. I will use this site as vehicle to keep you informed on where the podcast and my new media skills are going. This weekend I have talked to a great many people who are very friendly and want to share information about what they want to get out of new media. The flavour is much different from last year where there were web media organizations flogging their products or marketing managers wondering how to make money from it. This made a lot of the more geeky participants nervous and anxious I think. This year it is more about what does it mean to each of us and how can we use for our own purposes and goals regardless of whether that goal is money or community.

I am of course using the term new media rather loosely to mean that mythical beast WEB 2.0. An expression I completely loathe. What does new media really mean? I think it means use of technology to solve old problems. Like making money. Like communicating important information in terms of news and health. Like creating community. It is often claimed that technology isolates and alienates people. There is the common picture of a seventeen year old boy sitting in a dark corner of his room with nothing but a keyboard and the glow of the screen to keep him company. But really that is not what is going on at all. He is any age, all genders, all ethnicities using the internet to find and influence his community and is interacting in a new way with that community. He is on facebook, msn messenger, myspace, hi5, twitter and e-mail.

People do want to touch.

Advertisement