Creeber: Digital Culture

Creeber puts forward that New Media is so complex and diverse that any approach to identify any sort of "Digital Theory" couldn't be viewed as definitive. (Creeber, 2009, p.11). Rather than completely replacing old theoretical approaches Creeber states that this is "inevitably a development and reaction to the way media has been understood and theorized in the past" (Creeber, 2009, p. 11). To gain a better understanding of New Media we must first look at it in relation to Modernism.

"Modernism tended to challenge the theocratic and God-centered notion of the world that helped define human society in the past" (Creeber, 2009, p. 11). The advent of Modernism in the pre-industrial world changed people's perceptions of religion, as many aspects of Modernism gave birth to ideas which attempted to explain the Universe in Scientific ways.

Modernism drew a line between Mass Culture and 'High Art', it was assumed that only this 'Advant-garde' art could bring forward cultural meaning that comes with social and aesthetic criticism. (Creeber, 2009, p. 12). The most famous group of people that reflected this view where known as 'The Frankfurt School'. The Frankfurt School viewed the media as a standardized product of industrialization, often connecting mass media with aspects of 'Fordism'. Henry Ford used mass production to make his cars more accessible and cheap however this resulted in all his cars looking exactly the same. "The Fordist philosophy was also evident in all aspects of mass culture" (Creeber, 2009, p.13). Creeber states that all forms of produced media is identical, offering up a form of 'Standardized Culture'.

There then came a paradigm shift in the form of Post-Modernism, with this also came a shift in ideology from The Frankfurt Schools overly pessimistic view of mass culture. In this postmodern world consumer culture dominates the cultural landscape, with leisurely activities taking priority in determining our experiences rather than work."First signs of such a critical shift can detected in the work of McLuhan" (Creeber, 2009, p.15). McLuhan theorized that audiences are influenced by how information is presented rather than the actual content being presented, he believed that the power of New Media would enable an audience more interactivity with electronic information transforming us from "Voyeurs to participants" (Creeber, 2009, p.15). McLuhan was stating that New Media turns everyone into active participants, each of us having a say in how this media gets created.

Bibliography

Creeber, G., 2009. Digital Cultures. [Online]
Available at: https://learning.ulster.ac.uk/bbcswebdav/pid-1811419-dt-content-rid-4330022_1/courses/67641_1314/Digital%20Cultures%281%29.pdf
[Accessed 21st October 2013]

Lister, M., 2003. New Media: A Critical Introduction. [Online]
Available at: http://hp2.philol.msu.ru/~discours/uploadedfiles/courses/poselyagin/textbooks/New_Media.pdf
[Accessed 22nd October 2013]