The Next Media Generation and Next Generation Media

Hi folks -- a listserve I'm on sent a link to a Sunday New York Times article about the media habits of the first truly digital generation [free registration required, or use BugMeNot.com].

It refers to the current crop of young people who are now in their early twentysomethings. They've grown up taking for granted everything digital, portable, customizable and networked. (The Times article and others call them "Millenials.")

Now, one of the perils of writing about this kind of stuff is the risk of harping too much on what those wacky kids are doing today, which is a slippery slope leading to cane-shaking, "Get offa my lawn!", "Back in my day..." clichés.

However, there definitely is a big generational element to this. I'll leave it to the sociologists and anthropologists to compare and contrast the Networked Generation to their Information Age predecessors and their Industrial Age counterparts before that. But every technological epoch has shaped the people who grew up with it, and distanced them from the people (their parents and grandparents) who didn't, as seen by all wailing and gnashing of teeth that accompanied the automobile, radio, telephone, etc.

Getting back to the here and now -- talking about the new media generation is buzzword-infested territory. Some of the more common include (and please note, there's going to be a lot of overlap here):

* Convergence: It just means "a coming together", and in this context, it's the idea that the lines between different forms of media and how they're delivered become blurred. Movies become online video games (and vice versa.) Music videos are delivered to your computer. This is closely related to the idea of...

* Portability: We're not just talking about the ability to move things in space, or the ability to take stuff with you via portable DVD players, iPods, and laptops; it also means the ability to shift media in time. The VCR was a first example of time-shifting, and its new generation equivalent is TiVo, where you can watch TV on your schedule, not the broadcaster's.

* Community and Connectedness: The idea of community is not new of course, but what is new is the idea that you can be constantly connected to people, especially people who are geographically distant from you. Using cell phones, text messaging, instant messaging, wireless everything, RSS feeds and new content notifications, people stay connected and live life on the fly.

* On-Demand Culture: Again, this is closely related to portability and convergence -- new media consumers expect they can see what they want, when and where they want it ("Your Whopper, Your Way") -- the movie you see in the theater can also be seen as a DVD, on cable on-demand, on your computer as a stream, on an iPod as download -- however you want.

For example, right now, filmmaker Steve Soderbergh is experimenting this week with a simultaneous release of his movie 'Bubble' in theaters, on DVD and on-demand cable.

* Virulence: The idea that some ideas and media spread themselves and aren't dependent on a central authority to distribute them.

* Multitasked: It's not just when you're working on multiple things simultaneously -- it grows to the point where you can't consume just one form of media anymore, because it's not stimulating enough, and there are points where you actually have to wait for stuff.

I don't think I'm a hugely efficient multitasker, but I find myself pretty regularly watching TV, listening to an audio stream, working in a few browser windows, and juggling a few simultaneous chat sessions. (My efficiency while doing all this is a matter of debate.)

And if you look at the Times's graphic following one day's media habits of a specific twenty-something, you'll see that my multitasking isn't particularly notable (I don't use my cell that much, and I don't text message, for example.)

* DIY (Do-It-Yourself): The idea that people are not only comfortable with making and sharing their own content (like blogs, photos and movies), but also taking what they find on the Internet, and modifying, recreating and repacking it to make it their own -- it's the idea of the mix tape on steroids, with Internet distribution.

Anyway, I just threw out a bunch of buzzwords and concepts with no real unifying theme other than "The times, they are a'changing."  Check out the article and see what you think.

And you kids get offa my lawn!

Thanks -- Joe