Digital Media and Communication

Digital media refers to audio, video, and photo content that has been encoded (digitally compressed). Encoding content involves converting audio and video input into a digital media file such as a Windows Media file. After digital media is encoded, it can be easily manipulated, distributed, and rendered (played) by computers, and is easily transmitted over computer networks. Combined with the Internet and personal computing, digital media has caused disruption in publishing, journalism, entertainment, education, commerce, and politics. Digital media has also posed new challenges to copyright and intellectual property laws, fostering an open content movement in which content creators voluntarily give up some or all of their legal rights to their work. The ubiquity of digital media and its effects on society suggest that we are at the start of a new era in industrial history, called the Information Age, perhaps leading to a paperless society in which all media are produced and consumed on computers. However, challenges to a digital transition remain, including outdated copyright laws, censorship, the digital divide, and the specter of a digital dark age, in which older media becomes inaccessible to new or upgraded information systems. Digital media has a significant, wide-ranging and complex impact on society and culture. Digital media has also allowed individuals to be much more active in content creation. Anyone with access to computers and the Internet can participate in social media and contribute their own writing, art, videos, photography and commentary to the Internet, as well as conduct business online. This has come to be known as citizen journalism. This spike in user–created content is due to the development of the Internet as well as the way in which users interact with media today. The release of technologies of such mobile devices allow for easier and quicker access to all things media. Many media production tools that were once only available to a few are now free and easy to use. The rising of digital media has made consumer’s audio collection more precise and personalized. With this, it is no longer necessary to purchase an entire album if the consumer is ultimately interested in only a few audio files.