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COM3704 Exam Pack 2023 - New Media Technology (COM3704)
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COM3704EXAM PACK: QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
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,QUESTION 1
The advent of technology has changed the business world as we know it.
1.1 Critically discuss the two opposing views that are often expressed when
the benefits of technology are discussed. (10)
The debate can be divided into two broad categories: the critics (technophobes) and
the pro-technology groups (technophiles). Technophiles believe that that ICT has a
positive effect on development, while technophobes hold that ICT has a negative
effect on development and widens the information gap between rich and poor,
literate and illiterate (Lesame, Sindane & Potgieter 2012:16)
The technophilic approach:
The utopian view supports the deployment of ICT in communities and associates it
with positive developments. Proponents of this view argue that ICT increases
economic productivity and employment opportunities, and gradually upgrades the
quality of work in many occupations. ICT, they argue, also offers many opportunities
for small-scale, independent and decentralised forms of production (Lesame,
Sindane & Potgieter 2012:16). Technophiles envisage that technology will help
developing countries to leapfrog several development stages. The utopian argues
that telecentres represent “a new symbol of hope for community development,” with
the ability to bring about “a new social order, one that is surely more prosperous and
just.”
The technophobic approach:
Technophobes are pessimistic about the promises of information technology.
According to them, the spread of information, computerisation and other modern
communication technology will create unemployment, increase surveillance, and
endanger individual privacy. The spread of media monopoly on a global scale will
result in the homogenisation of culture and endanger indigenous cultural diversities.
Technophobics argue that ICT reinforces historical trends towards socioeconomic
disparities, unequal distribution of political power and a divide between knowledge
elites and the knowledge disenfranchised. On the economic level, technophobics
forecast a perpetuation of the capitalist mode of production with continuing
managerial control over the means of production (Lesame, Sindane & Potgieter
,2012:16). In most countries they foresee massive job replacements and de-skilling.
In politics, the expectation is that the use of ICT will lead to a pseudo-democracy
which will allow people to participate in marginal decisions only, and that ICT will
enable governments to exercise surveillance over their citizens more effectively than
before.
1.2 “The drivers of Web 2.0 … were technological, social, economic,
institutional and legal: in other words, technology, people and people-related
activities” (Bagui & Parker 2009:7).
What are the four main types of Web 2.0 platforms as identified in the Future
Exploration Network’s Web 2.0 framework? Provide an example of each of the
platforms. Provide contemporary examples, in other words, platforms that are
still in use. (10)
Aggregation/recombination platforms – Combine web applications with systems
that filter and make recommendations. Aggregation is the bringing together of
various sources of content into one interface (Lesame, Sindane & Potgieter 2012:6).
Amazon, which is basically a network model which organises the related
unorganised service providers in one huge platform under one brand name, is an
example of an aggregation platform.
Collaborative filtering sites – Combine filtering and recommendation services with
social media (Lesame, Sindane & Potgieter 2012:6). For example, Netflix uses
collaborative filtering to build its movie recommendation system.
Rating/tagging sites – Are those that primarily combine the social media with
content sharing (Lesame, Sindane & Potgieter 2012:6). For example, a platform
such as Yelp, where users can publish reviews about local businesses.
Widgets or components – Are small, portable computer applications that can be
embedded into another site. Widgets can be regarded as a combination of web
applications and content sharing (Lesame, Sindane & Potgieter 2012:6). For
example, a calendar website widget which can be used on an organisations website
to display upcoming events.
, 1.3 Technology can be defined in several ways. Provide any two (2) definitions
of technology. (5)
Technology can be viewed as a physical object – Viewed as an object, technology is
a result of the work of physical scientists and innovators who create technological
physical objects by successfully exploiting a set of physical laws (Lesame, Sindane
& Potgieter 2012:7).
Technology as ‘cultural presence’ – This means that technology can be understood
as cultural artefacts. Cultural and media studies mainly look at a medium as an
instantiation of certain economic, communicational, political, commercial, or artistic
interests. On the other hand, the physical sciences, even of the applied variety, do
not address technologies as ‘media’ but only ever as an arrangement of electrical
circuits, functions, transmitters, patterns and noise. It is as if what is foregrounded in
the physical or natural sciences becomes background in the cultural or human
sciences, and vice versa, thus maintaining a blind spot between nature and culture.
Therefore, technology is as much part of nature as it is part of culture (Lesame,
Sindane & Potgieter 2012:7).
QUESTION 2
In recent years, technological innovation has changed the way we consume
information. Much of this change has involved a shift away from traditional
media to online or new media. By answering the questions below, critically
discuss the differences between traditional media and online or new media.
2.1 Define online or new media. (5)
Although the term ‘new media’ has no precise definition, it equates to information
communication technologies (ICTs) which have various uses with the emphasis on
innovative technological features. New media are digital in nature and are often
employed by communicators or media institutions to communicate to audiences via
interactive means such as the Internet. The difference with the new media is that it
blurs the distinction between individual and mass audiences, as people use the
medium for individual communication, small group communication, and mass
communication. New media have been previously described as an integration of
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