OLD MEDIA IS REDUCING
Recently, the chairman of Alibaba Group Jack Ma said, he would make cash disappear in China in five years. However, the top comment was: “unless the bank disappears, otherwise, the cash is not going to be disappeared”, which is just like the relationship between old media and new media. Old media is like the cash, no matter how you want to use the mobile app or bank card to replace the position of cash, it will always be there with its own mission.
Although the old media will not disappear, but it is gradually reduced. The term old media has become synonymous with the seven traditional forms of mass communication: books, newspapers, magazines, film, sound recordings, radio and television (Benjamin, Sky). It is easy to find the reduction of most of these stuffs.
This second-hand camera Canon AE-1 was a gift from my parents when I was a child. It was fresh for me to own a 35mm single-lens reflex film camera at the beginning, however, because of the camera’s weight, I left it in the storage for many years. After the first year that I studied abroad, I found the Canon AE-1 again and felt fresh again. Unfortunately, I searched the whole city that I lived and there was no film or film processing service. Film was easy to work out, an online shopping website called ‘Taobao’ had all different kinds of films, although the film producer was getting less. Meanwhile, I just realized that there was no more photo studio that can process the film, which forced to build a darkroom and process the film by myself. Luckily, I found and joined an online film camera interest group, people who have the same problem could join, and share their information about the film camera and film processing. Also, there were some film camera experts that could teach us more skill and method.
Records’ seemingly unique ability to connect us with the past allows enthusiasts to imagine a ‘sociotemporal network’ (Yochim, Biddinger, 2008). While we cannot stop the reduction of old media, we still can do records, just as every record serves as an artifact of another’s existence, so too might they be remembered by future generations.
Cited by:
BartmanskiIan,D 2013 ,The vinyl: The analogue medium in the age of digital reproduction WoodwardJournal of Consumer Culture Vol 15, Issue 1, pp. 3 – 27
Yochim, E & Biddinger M, 2008, It kind of gives you that vintage feel’: Vinyl records and the trope of death, Media, Culture, and Society, 30(2), 183.
Lipinski, D., & Neddenriep, G. (2004). Using “New” Media to Get “Old” Media Coverage: How Members of Congress Utilize Their Web Sites to Court Journalists. The Harvard International Journal of Press/Politics, 9(1), 7-21.
Benjamin, H., & Sky, S. Old Media Vs. New Media
Old media not yet ready to disappear. (2001, February 01). Northern Echo, p. 12.
Yochim, E & Biddinger M, 2008, It kind of gives you that vintage feel’: Vinyl records and the trope of death, Media, Culture, and Society, 30(2), 183.