Adapted from: Martin Lister (2003). New Media: A Critical Introduction. New York: Routledge. 9-37.

 

What to look for when analyzing and interpreting primary new media sources.

 

Textuality: What kind of genre, form, language and type of narration is being used?

 

Representation: Which representational strategies are being employed?

 

The Subject: Research the reception of the source and think about how it is used. What kind of meaning could it generate for users and consumers?

 

Embodiment, Identity and Community: How do the individual and social parameters of identity and community work in the online setting? (What are the elements of an online representation in a MySpace account?)

 

Organisation and Production: Which larger patterns of media, financial and social organisation is the source a part of?

 

Key qualities of New Media which distinguish them from old media and should be considered in analysis and interpretation. When analyzing, look for the qualities that apply for your source and try to think how they affect the form and content of the source and the way the user will perceive the form and content.

 

Digitality: Keep Martin Lister’s question in mind: “What does the shift from analogue to digital signify for producers, audiences and theorists?” Think about this question regarding the change from “analogue campaigns” to “digital campaigns”. Remember this quality is concerned mainly with the production of media texts.

 

Interactivity: Think about how this changes your reading and interpretation, but also how this changes the experience for the users. How might a presidential campaign put this quality to use?

 

Hypertext: Think about the way your site is organized, the way content is managed and how this affects form and content of the site.

 

Dispersal: How does your primary source reach the user? What are the implications for presidential campaigns in using a dispersed media in contrast to mass media? Which content might be chosen for which type of distribution? This quality is concerned mainly with the reception of media texts.

 

Virtuality: Think about in which kind of virtuality your primary source might be moving and what this does to ways of embodiment and the possibilities of identity and community.

 

 

 

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