Splicing and growing one segment of media off another has led to many grotesque forms of new social media, all which aspire to the idea of ‘subverting and profiting’ off the ignorant. The readings from both Dezure and Gill focus on two abstract communities of new media ‘employees’; the creative Dutch creators of digital content and the ignorant, digital slaves in order to tear down the obscure perceptions held about the profession.
Leong is right in acknowledging that while excitement and wonder shroud this transient enterprise known as new media, there remains a sense of obscurity and unspoken trepidation. This is best expressed by Hilda, a respondent in Gill’s research, who states “new media does not have a tradition...that is why it is open ...It’s still not finished’. Due to the nature of the beast, it never will be. The notion of ‘compulsory sociality’ some practitioners uphold is a complete antithesis of the ‘digital slaves’ Ziltran uncovers who are subverted by the to the glow of a screen and menial reward in a presentation that opened my eyes to the extent of digital deceit.
Dezure’s documented fear exposes how digitalization spells death for those who reluctant of change. The fear that people will loose jobs, that industries will perish and convention will fall are not future concerns, but past events. Dezure’s reading appears too out of touch to see that while many traditional aspects of media and society have changed, they have not disappeared altogether. They exist as transformed media; as emergent formats.
Deuze, M. (2009). The people formerly known as the Employers. Journalism, Vol. 10, issue 3, pp. 315-318.
Gill, R. (2007). Informality is the New Black. In Technobohemians or the new Cybertariat? New Media work in Amsterdam a decade after the web. Amsterdam: Institute of Network Cultures: 24-30 & 38-43.
Zittrain, J. (2009). Minds for Sale. 16 November. (accessed April 2, 2010).
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