New Media Definitions, Part 3: Vin Crosbie

(For those not in NMD498, this is part of an assignment where we look at "Definitions" of new media by various people, and then decide whether our project fits within these definitions, and if we actually agree with the definitions.)

A. According to Vin Crosbie’s definition of new media (or the New Medium, as he’d like it to be called), my project has next to nothing to do with new media. My project involves films and creating a media room, where people will come in and view what the museum wants them to see. This is one-to-many communication, certainly not many-to-many communication. The only part of the project that could conceivably end up being many-to-many is my plans to possibly revamp the museum website, and create a page for them on Facebook. The only way that I can think of to bring my project more in line with his idea of many-to-many communication is to involve the Patten community directly in how the museum films are made, such as asking the town about the content and direction they wish to see me take. I suppose I could also consider my plan to educate the community about my films and the process which I took to create them as a form of many-to-many communication.

B. While I can understand Crosbie’s definition, I feel that calling the “new medium” simply many-to-many communication is both limiting, and also nowhere near what constitutes what we create as “new media” today. Perhaps the only reason why many-to-many communication seems limiting is because of the fact that we don’t really consider that as our key definition of new media in our classes. To me, it feels more like our “new media” is about creating new and innovative ways of expression, regardless of whether it’s one-to-many or many-to-many or many-to-one or whatever other kinds of expression models there might be. I do, however, believe new media has a strong focus on community these days, and a community is a perfect example of many-to-many communication. In a community, people stay connected… so perhaps this is the sense in which I should take Crosbie’s definition.