The Trends of Digital Technology

The Internet has brought about a huge impact and changes the ways we do things and on many aspects of our society. During Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohammad era, he has implemented the Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) as the concerns of development of ICT initiative in Malaysia. The Malaysia’s Internet initiative and development began in 1990 with the establishment of Malaysian Institute of Microelectronic Systems (MIMOS) and the subsequent launching of Joint Advanced Integrated Networking (JARING) as the main Internet Service Provider. 

Digital technology already penetrated the whole world impressively. However, what do you see the impact of the digital consumption brings either towards the use of mobile phones and laptops used by all users around the globe? Basically, social media showed a healthy growth especially in Malaysia because people nowadays can easily access the Internet due to the development of new media and digital consumption. The statistics from Malaysia Digital Association stated that Malaysians spends an average of 18 hours using the Internet each week, of which 7.2 hours a week are spent on watching online videos vs. 10.6 hours on TV. 42% of Malaysian netizen watch TV content and movies via the internet while 80% of Malaysian netizen stream or download online video content each month.

(2016 Malaysia Digital Landscape: Exploring The Digital Landscape in Malaysia - Boosting Growth For A Digital Economy, http://www.malaysiandigitalassociation.org.my/event/2016-malaysia-digital-landscape/ )

We can say that Malaysians are really depended on the internet nowadays. The diffusion of the internet in Malaysia makes us easier to assess and satisfy our needs. Meanwhile, Facebook recorded the top social sites accesses by Malaysians via desktop. 

(Source: comScore MMX Total Malaysia 6+, Home & Work Locations, Desktop & Laptop February 2016).

While for mobile phone, Carat Consumer Connections System 2015 mentioned that Malaysians cannot live without their mobile phones because it is essential for them to stay in touch with people. These are the trends of internet access through the social media via the digital media.

In a narrow scope, students’ life with their smartphones and laptops every day consumed the use of internet really make sense today when we talk about the role of digital devices. Most students tend to use their mobile phones to connect with the people around the campus, get in touch with their families and also for their sake of satisfaction of social life. So we can say here that the development of digital technology really makes a huge impact for all walks of life thus we must appreciate the good use of technology itself for the beneficial aspects.

'CMC' dan kehidupan + Social Presence Theory

'Computer-Mediated Communication' ataupun komunikasi yang menggunakan komputer sebagai perantara adalah satu komunikasi yang popular pada abad ke-21. Kemunculan laman sosial seperti Facebook dan Twitter,menjadi kan 'CMC' ini semakin popular. Secara amnya, semua manusia pasti akan terlibat dengan komunikasi atas talian seperti mesej secara talian, Instant messaging, dan Direct Messaging adalah jenis-jenis komunikasi yang menggunakan komputer.

Saya memang banyak terlibat dengan komunikasi sebegini. Pada zaman sekarang, masyarakat seolah ketagih untuk menggunakan komunikasi sebegini. Mereka lebih gemarkan komunikasi sebegini, kerana mereka bebas untuk menulis dan bercakap. Tetapi dalam kita melihat kelebihan komunikasi menerusi komputer ini, terdapat juga keburukan komunikasi sebegini.

Jika mengikut pada pengalaman yang pernah saya alami, komunikasi sebegini boleh membuat ramai rakan siber saya salah faham akan mesej yang cuba disampaikan. Sedia maklum, komunikasi sebegini amat berbeza dengan komunikasi yang secara berdepan.

Saya percaya bahawa En. Jamali (pensyarah saya di UNIMAS) ada menerangkan bahawa teori “Social Presence Theory” merujuk kepada tahap menonjol seseorang yang terlibat dalam berinteraksi dan juga boleh disebabkan oleh akibat yang lain. Teori ini diperkenalkan oleh Short, Williams & Christie (1976). Kiranya, teori ini menjelaskan bagaimana seseorang individu itu merasakan physical presence antara dirinya dengan orang lain. Dalam hal ini, saya ingin menjelaskan bahawa teori ini menekankan penglibatan media sebagai kayu ukur untuk kita kaji tahap social presence seseorang itu. Bagi pihak pengkaji juga, mereka melihat aspek-aspek sesuatu media itu dalam usaha menonjolkan kesempurnaan berinteraksi. Hipotesis yang dibuat adalah:

===============================================

                    More possible (according to the

physical, visual & audio of a media)

                                        |

                                        |

                                       ˅

                    More potential for “presence”

===============================================

Penyampaian interaksi yang sempurna adalah melalui bersemuka. Namun, jarak akan menjadi penghalang untuk bersemuka lantas kita menggunakan kaedah CMC iaitu dengan penggunaan alat-alat teknologi seperti telefon mudah alih, komputer, dan faks.

1.       Jika kita menggunakan faks atau emel untuk berinteraksi, maka kita hanya akan menggunakan tulisan. Oleh itu, potensi untuk menonjolkan seseorang itu secara fizikal (social presence) adalah sangat rendah. Hal ini menunjukkan bahawa penyampaian interaksi adalah sangat tidak sempurna akibat ketiadaan audio dan visual.

2.       Jika kita menggunakan telefon untuk berinteraksi, maka adanya audio dalam berinteraksi dan penyampaiannya adalah lebih jelas daripada menggunakan tulisan kerana kita mampu mengenal pasti dan menggambarkan orang yang ditelefon seperti bercakap secara bersemuka (namun tanpa visual) atas nada percakapannya untuk meneka emosinya. Oleh itu, potensi untuk melahirkan “social presence” adalah rendah namun lebih baik daripada penggunaan alat peranti yang mengharapkan pada tulisan sahaja.

3.       Potensi untuk mewujudkan “social presence” adalah lebih tinggi jika seseorang individu menggunakan alat peranti teknologi yang membolehkan visual interaktif seperti aplikasi Skype, Face Time, VOOV, dan sebagainya. Hal ini kerana kedua-dua aspek (audio dan visual) adalah terlibat semasa berinteraksi. Kita mampu melihat ekspresi muka dan juga mendengar intonasi percakapan orang tersebut. Oleh itu, kita mampu merasakan keberadaan orang tersebut lebih dekat di sisi berbanding dua contoh situasi yang sebelumnya. Maka, kadar “social presence” adalah tinggi.

Jika melihat pada teori Social Presence, komunikasi akan menjadi lebih efektif sekiranya kehadiran mesej itu difahami, dan komunikasi secara berdepan mempunyai kehadiran dan kefahaman mesej yang tinggi berbanding komunikasi menerusi komputer sebegini (menulis). Ini yang membuat rakan siber selalunya akan salah faham, kesunyian, dan mungkin akan timbul pergaduhan.

Bagaimana dengan anda? Adakah anda juga mengalami perkara yang sama seperti saya dalam konteks ini? Apa pendapat anda berkenaan komunikasi sebegini?

Does Internet really make us stay connected?

With the outburst of the internet growth, everything has become possible. By a single click in your search engine, it could bring you to different countries or different time zone. Undoubtedly, technology has make our life easier, especially in terms of communication. Technology has ease communication between two parties.

Computer mediated communication (CMC) is a "communication that takes place between human being via instrumentality of computers" (Thurlow, Legal & Tomic, 2004). CMC  allowing us to converse from different rooms in the same house as well as from opposites sides of the country. Compared from face to face communication, CMC have no limit in terms of time and place. CMC happen anytime and anywhere.

Also, social media such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram has prompted a more subtle revolution in the way we communicate.We share more personal information and also communicate with larger audience. This computer mediated communication indeed gives us more opportunity to know more people, have more access with the side of country and allowing us to stay connected 24 hours. But are this technologies or our smartphones actually getting in the way of socializing? Or could technology make us more alone?

For an example, while waiting for the next flight to depart, I see a group of family in a small circles. You would expect the family to be conversing and talking to each other. But to my surprise, no one is talking. They even not staring at each other. Instead, each and everyone of them is staring down at their little rectangular device in their hand that seems to give them more satisfaction than talking to their family. Nowadays, the same situation as above has become normal view or "norms" to us. Since the invention of texting and the ability for message to be sent at rapid speed, society seems has shifted from conventional conversational method to communicating mostly through emoji and texting. People are busy with their smartphones, getting fit in with the latest trend and frequently updating their social network till they seems to lost in their virtual world. Society happens to be more engaging with their smartphone rather than their partner or family.

To conclude this, I leave a few questions for yourself to ponder;

(i) Do you find yourself surrounded by people who are staring at their screen instead of having face-to-face conversation? Are you ever guilty of doing that, too?

(ii) Do you ever try to put your phone down to be more present with the people in the room?

(iii) Is our obsession with documenting everything through photograph and videos preventing us from living the moment?

End of note: This is not about giving up our phone but about using them with greater intention. Conversation is there for us to reclaim. For the failing connection of our digital world, it is the talking cure 💛

Globalization and New Media 2

The definition of globalization can be used to state that globalization is not a uniform process but it contains various context and has the different effect for different people. On the other hand, we can see that globalization has the tendency towards the synchronization, homogeneity, integration, unity and universal.

As the globalization of media has a big impact on the media sector, it also has the impact towards:

1)Cultural diversity

2)Economic aspects

3)Technological aspects

Cultural Diversity

 The media has become the main transmitter of culture. Where we can see that globalization has made new media become well known to the people and it has larger audiences and make the distribution of culture become broader. For example, we can see that Korean culture are now well known to the K-pop fans.

Economic Aspect

 As for economics aspect, globalization engage in various aspects like foreign transaction, investment and the diffusion of technology.

Technological aspects

 The rapid change in the globalization give impact to the technological changes. The use of new media in everyday life has made the interactivity among people become the fastest interaction.

Globalization & New Media

           In this 21^st century, we wake up and we look around, we will always find a gadget within every turn. I bet there is even high possibility that everyone will at least reach for their mobile phones as a way to start the morning stretch. You who are reading this with the help of Internet to access the virtual world, reading it from a screen, or maybe print it out and read it when it is inked onto a paper, are actually the consumer of technology in which may involves few devices to get here: Internet. Printer. Computer. Handphone.

          That is the easiest example to show how advanced the world we are living in right now. Advanced technology. First, comes the involvement of media in which it is a medium to communicate, to convey information. Then comes the “new media”. What is new media? New media refers to the means of interactive mass communication in which its content are most commonly shared on the Internet, accessible by the use of a digital device.

A basic distinction of OLD MEDIA & NEW MEDIA is as follows:

OLD MEDIA	NEW MEDIA
One-way communication	Two-way communication & interactive
Traditional newspapers, books, television, radio broadcasting.	Online newspapers, blogs, social media, live video conferencing.

           The access to the internet gives us the ability to connect to the global society. We are constantly communicating now than we would in the last decade. Some people never even log out from their social media accounts anymore. People hang around with their phones almost all the time.

1.     1.  WORLD WITHOUT BOUNDARIES

Marshall McLuhan presented a concept of “global village” in the mid-1960s where he predicted that there will be the next medium of “an extension of consciousness”. Physical distance is clearly an obstacle for people to socialize, but not with the existence of Internet. The Internet allows social spheres to be expanded and makes people throughout the whole world become closer following interactions between the social participants. This interactive communication happens to show a distinctive difference from the traditional media in which we no longer knows the sender and the receiver. This is because it is not permanent and therefore, both the statuses of the sender and the receiver will keep on exchanging as long as it is ongoing. I guess there are no more obstacles for me to contact my friends from the Philippines, for an example. Lots of social media websites are made and if I was thinking of them, I could always tweet them on Twitter, write something on their wall on Facebook, DM them in Instagram or Skype or send live chats. I can even view their profile to get updates on how their life has been, just to fulfill the phrase of “keeping in touch”.

2.      2.  AFFECTED JOURNALISM

However, globalization may bring the tides onto journalism. Prior to Internet’s arrival, online journalism, blogs, comments from netizens has changed the profession. This is because there is a huge increase in numbers of news sources coming from individuals that represent the alternatives to journalism. Accurate and truthful reporting and investigative reporting may still be on the table, but the overall impact of new media has made the directions and quality of journalism unclear. Not to mention, different news sources make different conclusions. This then creates confusion and the message will not be delivered perfectly.

But then again, the various news sources provides an in-depth look into the message and additional knowledge as a sum of different news. This is because I believed mainstream media is one-sided. Therefore, the need to look towards different perspectives is very important in digging the whole story or to convince us that it was right all along. This new media also enhance interactive discussion where the questions that bother anyone regarding the topic can be shared and discussed to find a convincing answer.

3.       3. CULTURAL IMPERIALISM

Cultural imperialism has become an issue in communication. According to Mirza Jan (2009), who wrote Globalization of Media: Key Issues and Dimensions, cultural imperialism is defined as a kind of cultural domination by powerful nations over weaker nations. It refers to the unequal flow between civilizations by favoring the more powerful civilization. It could exist in a form of films, music, information, and news. Mirza Jan states that these unbalanced flows bother many nations. At first, it was only seen as a cause of cultural erosion and change. So many products and cultural influences of the United States flow into foreign countries that the traditionalists are afraid that American ideas, images, and values will replace their own. Thus, the term “Americanization of media” and “Westernization” were created. For an example, fast food is viewed as a representation of America’s marketing dominance. Franchises such as Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC), McDonald’s, Star Bucks, Burger King and Pizza Hut have a lot of outlets all over the world. Although it looks like it is just some normal international business, the traditionalists think the opposite. Somehow in the long-term, we might end up having younger generations listing out all the foreign brands and not the local ones in a way of saying that the identity of our nation will be forgotten.

             I guess that is what I had in mind about Globalization and New Media for now, however it wasn’t all there is. There are a lot more examples regarding this topic which I hope people will swallow the 3 points I had written and processed it within your imagination to reach for your own interpretation of how both the globalization and the new media affected your life environment. The global media has affected the whole world or even shaping this century into a new world. Somehow I hope this review widens our understanding of the globalization and new media in the surface.