What is Digital media?
Digital media is everywhere. You come across the term all
the time. But what really is digital media? Digital media can be defined as any
audio, video and any other graphics such as photos and animation that has been
encoded in order for a computer to be able to read it. Encoding is the process
of converting and audio or visual information to a computer readable format.
Once media has been encoded, it can be modified and distributed by the user as
they please.
How is digital media represented?
Digital media can only be represented by a computer if it is in a language the computer understands. All computers use the binary system of representing data. The binary system is a digital method of representing data by the using only 2 digits, the numbers 0 and 1. The numbers from different combinations and these are identified by the computer as different types of information
What are some forms of digital media?
Digital media can come in a wide range of forms varying from simple audio to a fully immersive, interactive environment such as a video game. Here are some examples of such:
E-Music: Traditionally, music had always been stored in analog format such as on a Gramophone record ( also known as a Phonograph or Vinyl record) where the sound was stored on the record by various groves. Music in this form has a range of disadvantages such as portability, storage space, and sound quality which deteriorated over time. With the advent of digital forms of storing data, new and improved ways of producing and storing music arised.
E- music or electronic music, is music in digital form, that is represented by a series of 0’s and 1’s and stored on a digital storage format such as a CD, Flash drive or even the internet. It has many advantages over traditional methods. It can be easily transferred to and from various digital devices and can be easily accessed over the internet. It can easily created and modified. It also has superior audio quality that does not decrease over time unlike vinyl records and can be played on any digital media devices such as Computers, tablets, music players, smartphones etc.
Digital newspaper: Newspapers have typically have always been printed on paper but digital media has changed that. Digital newspapers are digital versions of a standard newspaper. They can viewed on digital devices such a computer, smartphone, e-reader etc. Reputed digital newspapers are published by major newspaper offices all around the world such as The Daily Mail, The Guardian, The Sydney Morning Herald etc. Some newspapers can be viewed for free and others, usually big and reputed newspapers, charge a monthly subscription fee and allow unlimited access to all news articles.
Interactive TV: Television which the user can interact in order to suit his/her viewing needs is known as interactive television. It combines communication. television and computer technologies. The act of changing channels can be called interactive TV since the user is changing the content to view what he/she wants. However, what is known is interactive TV is different. It allows viewers to have greater control over what they watch. For example, during a football match, a viewer can choose to view different camera angles in order to focus on different players or to watch the game from a different perspective. Viewers can also interact with various television programs, providing live feedback, opinions or even votes, which are displayed real-time on screen. It also allows programme information such as name and starting time. Smart Televisions are available now a days, which can be controlled via motion gestures or even touchscreens and allow internet access, letting the viewer to gain and interact with a large range of content. Internet based services such as Hulu allow viewers to view video on demand, which means they can view what they want, when they want.
Games: Electronic games or video games as it is more commonly known, is form of digital entertainment. Video games are usually played on a dedicated machine known as a console connected to a Television or on a computer. Video games have digital environment in which players can interact with various things and play as a virtual character. Interaction is done by a dedicated peripheral device known as controller or with a standard Keyboard and Mouse. Video games typically are centered around a story-line and players are required to complete various objectives in order to progress further into game. Traditionally, games were in 2-D and usually had no specific story line and had very simple objectives. One such example of this is the classic game of PAC-MAN, where a player had to guide an onscreen character to “eat candies” and had to avoid the “ghosts” or would result in death. However, as technology as progressed, games have become more and more detailed and immersive to the point that its hard to discern reality with in-game graphics. New technologies have also emerged such as VR (virtual reality) which allows a player to completely be “inside” the game and interact with the environment with their hands and feet.
What are the advantages of digital media?
The advent of digital media has resulted in major advances in storage, manipulation and distribution of various audio and visual data and as a result, there are major advantages of digital media. In the past, media has been stored in analog formats or on hard copies. Digital media has diminished all the disadvantages previous methods of storage had posed. There are many advantages, such as
Storage and preservation: Digital media is stored on digital storage devices such as Hard Drives and Flash storage. This has allowed huge amounts of data to be stored on a small place with no risk of damage to the data provided that the medium in which the data is stored in is not mistreated. An example: In the past, photos were printed on Paper. This had a few disadvantages in terms of storage and preservation. Large amounts of printed photos would quickly take up lots of space and there was also the risk of the photos becoming damaged due to a lot of things such as weather, pests and even time. Digital media has made these problems a thing of the past because as discussed before, digital storage mediums can store a large amount of data, including photos. High capacity hard drives with sizes of 1 Tera Byte for example can store an average of over 250000 high quality photos. If these were printed, it would take an unimaginable amount of space to store but in digital form, it can be stored in a space the size of a small A7 notepad (the size of a typical hard drive). This ultimately results in a better environment as less resources are used to produce things such as paper to store media since they can now be stored digitally
Storage and preservation: Digital media is stored on digital storage devices such as Hard Drives and Flash storage. This has allowed huge amounts of data to be stored on a small place with no risk of damage to the data provided that the medium in which the data is stored in is not mistreated. An example: In the past, photos were printed on Paper. This had a few disadvantages in terms of storage and preservation. Large amounts of printed photos would quickly take up lots of space and there was also the risk of the photos becoming damaged due to a lot of things such as weather, pests and even time. Digital media has made these problems a thing of the past because as discussed before, digital storage mediums can store a large amount of data, including photos. High capacity hard drives with sizes of 1 Tera Byte for example can store an average of over 250000 high quality photos. If these were printed, it would take an unimaginable amount of space to store but in digital form, it can be stored in a space the size of a small A7 notepad (the size of a typical hard drive). This ultimately results in a better environment as less resources are used to produce things such as paper to store media since they can now be stored digitally
Distribution and access: Digital media is very easy access and to distribute via digital storage mediums and the internet. Compared to the past, where people wanted to share a large collection of photos or magazines, it would take up a lot of space and would take great effort in order to transfer it from one place to another. This also limited the access people had to certain information. The advent of digital ways of distribution has made it really easy to share and access information (provided that its not sourced illegally). If a person wishes to share photos or magazines in digital form, they can send it to the other person via the internet and they would receive it almost instantaneously. Easier methods of distribution has allowed greatly improved communication and knowledge of world affairs between countries and individuals and since media can be accessed more easily than ever, the audience of digital media grows larger and larger.
Manipulation: Digital media can be easily manipulated by anyone with the necessary skills. Things such as photos can be resized, cropped, and visually altered in ways to make it appear better or to completely change the meaning. Things can be merged as well. In the past, manipulating audio and visual data was extremely difficult since it was a tedious process to alter data seamlessly. Present computers with powerful software have made it easy to manipulate data. For example the pitch, speed, length etc of an audio clip can easily altered with a computer.
Cost: Easier methods of storage and distribution have made the costs of maintenance much lower. This is because, for example, in the past an office may have stored a variety of important documents in hard copy. If they were to be damaged, the office part of the business or company would suffer major monetary loss. Also the costs in keeping media in hard copy (e.g. paper) has diminished due to media resorting to digital forms of storage. Easy distribution of media via the internet has also made it able to reach a wider audience for less as there are less costs in distribution in terms of postage and labour costs etc. Social media also provides a good medium of advertising, allowing content to reach many different types of people.