Digitization Effects on

Media Production and Consumption

Media History Course

Supervised by

Dr. Jonathan Stubbs

Prepared by

Shamal Y. Yaseen

Jan 13, 2014

Introduction

The history of the digital as applied to the production,

distribution and consumption starts with the creation of the

computer. Computers examine and produce data in digital form. In

a digital media progression all input data are transformed into

numbers. In words of communication and representational media

this datatypically takes the structure of qualities such as light

or sound or represented space which have already been coded into

cultural form, such as written text, graphs and diagrams,

photographs, recorded moving image, etc. These are then processed

and stored as numbers and can be output in that form from online

sources, digital disks, or memory devices to be decoded and

received as screen displays, dispatched again through

telecommunications networks, or output as hard copy. Furthermore,

digitization is the practice of altering content production,

storage, distribution, and consumption from an analog to a

digital base. Its most significant characteristic is that it

changes these bases from physical form to binary electronic form

(Martin et al., 2009: 16) .

Within media, the process of digitization has been in progress

for some five decades, first appearing in the production of

press, then moving to television, cinema, radio and audio

production. Its use reduced the costs and time of production and

provided enhanced storage capabilities for original content.

Improvements in storage of binary information soon pushed

digitization into the distribution and consumption of media.

Thus, the use of digital technology has made it possible to

greatly expand our production and consumption capabilities.The

aim of this paper is to examine the answers to the question: in

what ways has digitization changed the way media is produced and

consumed? First of all, we will briefly shed light on the history

of digitization of each medium and clarify the developments of

each of them separately .

Digitization and Press

Digitization possibly alters everything about the way in which we

produce and consume news. All assumptions about its freshness and

perishability vanish. For a large portion of the twentieth

century, general society had to unfolding news, catching it as it

exhibited itself or losing it forever. Any viewer who needed to

see a neighborhood story after its telecast was essentially out

of fortunes. Daily papers and magazine readers had a marginally

better opportunity of finding distributed articles. Now, digital

databases, most accessible through the Internet, turn that

pattern upside down. The general population need not give careful

consideration constantly. On the other hand, Internet employers

have improved an example of news consumption that is different

from adults who are not wired. They watch more links but less

broadcast news; they read all the more week after week papers and

specialty magazines but fewer dailies and general interest

publications. In this way, Internet users emerge to be more

intense consumers. They discover breaking news online or on

cable; they read with less frequency but more profundity, a

practice upgraded by hyperlinks on the World Wide Web (Nancy

Hicks Maynard, n.d) .

Moreover, digital technologies pave the way for people to consume

much more information, they can read as many headlines as they

like at no extra cost and also to personalize their interests,

there are more and more media which divide their offer up and

present the contents adapting them to the page history preserved

by each online user.The news stories permit comments and the

newspapers support this function, as it generates viewed pages,

one of the audience measurements of a medium. The readers

participate in opinion polls, digital encounters with well-known

figures, discussion forums, etc. (“The effects of the

digitization of the media”, n.d). Even more significantly,

digitization changes the locations where costs are incurred so

they are no longer associated with the distribution platform, and

are invested primarily in content production itself (Robert G.

Picard, 2011). In addition, the cost saving impacts of

digitization result from its simplification of production

processes. Consequently, more content can be created and

distributed by more enterprises and individuals than ever before.

So, digital news gathering lessens some of the need for physical

travel to locations of events and information; the writing of

news stories and provision of photographs is achieved through

digital files that flow seamlessly into the editing and layout

systems (Nancy Hicks Maynard, n.d) . .On the other hand, in terms of television news gathering, Andrew

Boyed (1997, 294-296) makes clear that the latest production of

digital Electronic news gathering (ENG) cameras recorded

straightly on to computer disk or digital videotape. Older models

use standard videotape. Digital ENG cameras store the images in a

form that cannot be corrupted, even after generations of copying.

Being able to replay the pictures directly means the cameraperson

can run difficult shots back through the viewfinder and retake

them if needs be .

Digitization and Television

The story of digital television’s progress began in the United

States, then Britain has followed suit by scheduling thirty-six

new digital TV channels. By the 1980s, NTSC television was more

than 40 years old, but hugely enhanced television systems were

being invented in Europe and Japan. Japanese companies were

previously the main makers of user electronics and the primary

high definition TV locates “HDTV” went on sale in Japan. “HDTV”

fills up more lines onto the screen allowing for a more photo

realistic image. By turning sound and pictures into computer

code, they can be squeezed into ever small signals (B. Orlik et

al, 2007: 59). Andrew Boyed states that for every conventional

analogue you can fit up to twelve digital channels with clearer

sound and sharper pictures. We are facing what the Royal

Television Society has named: the biggest changes in the history

of the TV business (1997: 363) .

Digitization has had enormous effects on TV changing the ways it

is produced, conveyed and viewed. Henry Jenkins (2006) depicts it

as “the flow of content across multiple media platforms, the

cooperation between multiple media industries, and the migratory

behavior of media audiences…”, and Leaver (2012) clarifies that

the digitization of TV has served to amplify the impacts of media

joining coming about an enormously expanded level of timeshifting

and overflow. Goldman (2008) heads off so far as to make the

claim that later on our TVs and our computers are set to turn

into the same apparatus. Whether or not this will one day be the

case, TV practices have certainly been extremely affected

bringing about a medium that looks somewhat like TV of the

twentieth century (Nicola Wright, 2013).

The current rate at which technology is changing makes everybody

wary. To obtain the full impacts of digital TV the user need to

buy another TV set. Recently these new sets are costly. The cost

of purchasing a digital TV is estimated to drop the longer they

are out. In the past purchasers just needed to choose between a

dark and-white and colored TV. With the move from analog to

digital technology consumers were confronted with numerous

concerns they previously did not have to face. Since digital TV

has emerged it, numerous sales people have attempted to persuade

individuals that they have to buy digital apparatus. The true

diverse between analog and digital TV is the amount of lines that

are shown on the screen which is what digital TV offers. The more

lines in the picture, the shaper the images are (“The Transition

from Analog Television to Digital Television”, 2002).For example,

when the NTSC standard adopted in 1941 specified a single

standard for scanning (interlaced), lines of resolution (525_480

for the picture), aspect ratio (4 x 3) and frame rate (30 frames

per second), while the new DTV protocol was a compendium of many

standards. Digital Television could be produced, transmitted and

displayed with any of 18 different combinations of scanning,

resolution, aspect ratio and frame rate. The picture might be

scanned as either interlaced or progressive, it could use 480

lines, 720 lines or 1,080 lines, and it could be either 4 x 3 or

16 x 9 aspect ratio and could generate 24, 30 or 60 frames per

second (B. Orlik et al, 2007: 59), 2007: 61-62. .)

At the turn of the century, the universe of DTV remained an

intricate place for consumers. DTV broadcasts were hard to find,

only a select few cable systems were conveying the signals and

satellite services often required premium subscriptions for DTV

content. Those longing to get DTV over the air needed to think

about the digital cliff outcome that takes into account how far

one lives from the broadcasting tower. With analog transmissions,

as the signal strength is reduced, the picture step by step gets

to be nosier. With digital transmission, the quality of the

picture remains unaltered until abruptly the picture totally

vanishes (ibid: 64) .

On the other hand, Mittell (2006) points out that the technology

of digitization has permitted the performance of television to

become extremely personalized. The employ of individual video

recording boxes, DVDs and video on demand has resulting in a form

of timechangingallowing viewers to watch television outside of

the constraints of the television broadcasting schedule. This has

brought about a de-accentuation on channels and new procedure of

viewing wherein TVis part of an ever altering menuof programming

to be accessed at our expediency. This personalization has also

resulted in a change in the way content is organized. In Lavik’s

(2010) investigation of the effects of the DVD format and the

internet on television he refersthat content is now produced in

such a way as to favor repeat viewings allowing for longerstory

arcs and more ‘narrative complexity’. So because digitization has

given viewers greatcontrol over how they watch television shows,

manufacturers can now afford to make moreintricate story lines

that may require repeat viewings to fully understand (Nicola

Wright, 2013).

Digitization and Cinema

Digital filming began in the late 1980s, when Sony came up with

the marketing notion of electronic cinematography. The idea

failed to take off with professionals and public like, and it was

only at the end of 1990s, with the beginning of HDCAM recorders

and a renaming of the process to digital cinematography, that

making films employing digital cameras and related equipment

finally began to take hold (Glen Creeber and Royston Martin,

2009: 61). On the other hand, digitization of cinema is a slow

process, which began with the arrival of television. Differently

from the sound industry, the solidity of information contained in

a film is such that digital technology is still unqualified of

profitably digitizing the overall analogue system. Cinema is

therefore being digitized gradually, one piece at a time. This

process brings to light economic mechanisms linked to the

qualitative evolution of films offered to the consumer, as well

as the strategies of different agents for producing and

delivering these versions (Olivier Bomsel and Gilles Le Blanc,

2002) .

Glen and Royston argue that the increase in the use of digital

technologies and processes in the production of feature films has

influenced the logistics of film production, enabling real

locations to be partially or, increasingly, fully replaced by

digitally created ones. A further benefit of the digital creation

of sets and locations, especially in an age of increasing film

serials, sequels and franchises, is that the virtual sets, once

produced in the computer and stored as data, can be easily

restored for future film productions, making those productive

sequels and franchises easier to set up and to make. More

extensively, digitally formed scenery can be substantially added

to real 3-D spaces, as was the case with Coliseum scene in the

Gladiator film (2009: 62- 65). In addition, digitization has also

brought about many changes to film production. Both the shooting

and editing stages of filmmaking have been greatly influenced by

the introduction of new technologies. No longer are editing and

special effects divide processes necessary to reach the final

product. Sequentially, production has also been affected by the

filmmaker’s understanding of what can be done later in the

editing room. Shot footage is no longer the final point. In

short, the production becomes just the first stage of post-

production (Pete Roberts, n.d). . Even more influential in the way films look is the development of

digital imaging technologies, which share many resources and

people with video game development.  It is becoming more and more

common, for films to rely heavily on computer-generated imaging

(CGI). Thus, Digital imaging has impacted to varying degrees on

the ways in which scenes in the film are built up shot by shot,

and the pacing of sequences of images in such scenes.

Historically, this has partly been due to crude image quality of

early CGI, a certain unrealistic artificial quality to CGIs which

appeared for different visually from the images of real world

objects and people that had been photographed chemically onto

celluloid in the traditional way (Glen and Royston 2009: 62-

65). And also the widespread use of CGI brings film closer to

animation in a sense; cinema is turning into a form of

animation.CGI allows actors and backgrounds to be combined in

postproduction, saving the expense and time of location shooting.

Furthermore, possibly the most interesting topic brought about by

the increasing use of digital technology is the introduction of

digital characters. For example, films such as The Phantom Menace

and Toy Story have introduced audiences to characters made

entirely from digital sources (Pete Roberts, n.d). .

The other motivating use of digital film technology is in the

service of enabling national cinemas to produce films specific to

their cultures in ways that the more restrictive structures and

economics of traditional film making prevented. Cheap cameras and

computer based editing software have increasingly enabled films

to be produced for virtually zero budgets. The capacity of

digital cameras to allow filmmakers to shoot endless recording

without wasting expensive celluloid has transformed film

production in some Third World Countries (Glen Creeber and

Royston Martin, 2009: 66). In addition, video games are

contributing more than just income and permit chances to

filmmakers.  The attractiveness of video games and the artistic

and technological advances connected with them are also shifting

the way that films look and feel. For example Run Lola

Run (1998), directed by Tom Tykwer has been much written about

for its video game aesthetic. Bordwell (2006) explains that the

feel and pace of the film are also definitely game-like and this

quicker pace evident in many recent films can be partially

ascribed to digitization and database editing, which have

simplified the editing process. By 1996 digital editing accounted

for about 80 of the films produced in Hollywood and this non-

linear editing is thought to account for the new aesthetic of

faster cutting and shorter shot lengths that expanded popularity

at this time (“The effects of new media on how film is produced

and consumed”, n.d) .

Digitization and Radio

The upcoming innovation in radio broadcasting technology was

digital radio broadcasting from satellites. In 1992, the Federal

Communications Commission (FCC) approved for allocating

frequencies for the satellites to emit digital radio signals to

special digital audio radios. The quality of the signal could be

compared to that of compact disc. The digital signals are formed

of the ones and zeros of computer codes rather than the

conventional wavelike signals. The satellite signals were

received on an antenna about the size and the shape of a credit

card. The broadcast signal could reach any digital radio in the

country (James Wilson and Stan Le Roy Wilson, 227-228).

In addition, music lovers who were in awe at the sound quality

when FM stereo began playing compact discs in the 1980s are in

for a big surprise. The next improvement in radio technology was

using digital transmitters. Instead of taking the 0s and 1s of a

CD computer code and converting them to analog signals for

transmission, as stations do today, the new device would send the

0s and 1sautomatically. Listeners with digital receivers would

hear the sound as accuratelyand as clearly as CD on a home

player.Thus the outcome, if listeners purchase digital receivers,

is that today’s AM and FM stations owners could find themselves

out of date. So, rarely any listeners bought the new AM stereo

receivers. Moreover, Digital radio broadcasting over the

internet, using Wi-Fi or 3G, possibly implies a better future for

radio. Radio links are used in mobile phones to make and receive

information over wide geographic areas by connecting to a

cellular network of transceivers. Besides voice communication,

cellular networks allow digital information such as text

messaging, email and web access (John Vivian, 1997: 164).

In the meantime, radio has suffered much less from the effects of

the upheaval caused by the rapid adoption of digital tools and

customs. As a matter of fact, the Digital Audio Broadcasting

(DAB) system has not made much enhancement over the years, except

in the United Kingdom. Although there have been new advents such

as DAB+, the operators are not much assured about the migration.

The general mood indicates that it is a sort of technology which

does not offer any significant advantages while it still causes

suspicions, such as the frequent reception problems inside

buildings. Moreover, the fact that it is a substitution

technology which entails the purchase of new equipment brings on

an opposing characteristic for most listeners. While the total

digitization of radio is an unidentified quantity, Internet has

been found as the following stage in the evolution of the medium.

The possibility of listening to the radio by a synchronic means –

by the means of files uploaded onto the web that can be consumed

when the listener so desires – makes some programs more lively,

which previously expired in the present. Likewise, it has become

popular to listen to direct broadcasts or ‘podcasts’ (“The

effects of the digitization of the media”, n.d).

Digitization of Recording and Music

In the aspect of digital recording, Gill Branston and Roy

Stafford explain that the primary digital technology to grasp the

concentration of the common public was almost certainly the

compact disc. Vinyl records had previously started to demonstrate

the words ‘Digital Recording’ in the early 1980s, with record

consumers being presented a format which promised digital

playback and significantly improved sound quality (1999: 177).

James R. Wilson and Stan Le Roy Wilson clarify that their

superior sound reproduction rapidly encouraged them into the

popular culture. Because CDs were originally embattled for the

elite, most of the early recordings were classical and jazz

selections, and CD players sold for around $1,000. In 1988, CD

sales surpassed sales of long playing albums for the first time.

Radio stations faced the need to change their turntables with CD

players (1998: 254-255) .

Besides, Andrew Boyd explains that digital recording does not

experience the bad effects of tape murmur and contortion. It

converts the signal into pulses of binary code which are put on

the tape or disc. Once encoded, the original sound is efficiently

locked in and cannot get worse, even after playing many times.

Unlike a conventional (analogue) recording, this code cannot

become ruined by hiss, hash, distortion or wow and quiver.

Digital recordings can be stored on computer hard or floppy disk,

compact disc or tape. Computers can hold a radio station’s entire

playlist of music or a day’s programming. Audio can be edited on

computer and items programmed to be played on air in any order

(1997: 229) ..

Consequently, CDs do not essentially have a better sound-apart

from anything else, sound quality is always a matter of personal

taste, and a significant minority of audiophiles continue to play

vinyl records. The clue to the reputation of CDs is consumer use.

Vinyl records were easily scratched or warped by heat and dust in

the grooves up the up the stylus, the whole process of playing a

record seems like a medieval ritual. In fact, most now consumers

responded to ease of the reduced storage space and the use,

additional functions of the CD player - programming the order of

tracks etc. (Gill Branston and Roy Stafford, 1999: 178-179). CDs

are essentially collections of songs. Even hit albums hold both

popular songs and relatively unknown songs. Recently, however,

digital formats have forcibly unwrapped the CD. Online, consumers

can now buy custom CDs containing only songs they wish to

purchase, and eventually digital distribution will mean that

users might want individual songs rather than albums (Kevin Zhu

and Bryan MacQuarrie, 2003) .

On the other hand, when CDs have been made, the bootlegger was in

need of a way to share out illegal recordings while staying clear

of the law. The answer for the 1990s has been the internet. This

access to the World Wide Web has made it hard for the recording

industry to impose copyright laws because it is time consuming

and costly to track down individuals around the world who are

pushing the illegal recording. Thus, in the past, most bootlegged

concert recordings came from other nations. But the growth of the

technology has made it easier for fans to create their own

bootlegs and then share them with fans worldwide (James R. Wilson

and Stan Le Roy Wilson, 1998: 255) .

In the perspective of music, at the end of the 20th century,

Napster had developed a new system to distribute music. Thus, the

music production, distribution and sales have changed to a

digitization era; consumers started making their ownversions of

digital mixtapes. Music moved from a physical, sellable product

to a digital, sharable file. Not only had peer-to-peer file

sharing software turned consumers into distributors, but email

and direct messaging software offered extra built-in abilities to

share songs with friends.When computers and the Internet became

home staples in the late 90s, music responded with the digital

music file, or mp3. Furthermore, many people started using the

comfort of their home and their computers to use music, lessening

acquisition time, reducing the purchase price; this price was

often free and rising their music collection (Alan JezovsekKuhar,

n.d).

It is also essential to emphasize the development of digital

technology and the speed increase on the files exchange in the

Internet.The program once downloaded to a user’s computer,

permitted music lovers across the world to look for and share

files with one another. And also, for newer artists, digital

technology was a gateway to musical freedom. Musicians used to

depend on expensive studios to record, mix, and engineer tracks,

but home desktops and portable laptops made it possible for

anyone to produce a song with an inexpensive computer and music

editing software (“Digital Models of Music: A Case Analysis of

The Music Industry’s Response to Technological Changes”, 2010).

Conclusion

In this essay, we discussed and highlighted theways that

digitization changed the media is produced and consumed with

providing proofs and evidences. At first, we began the

digitization of press which is highly influenced by the advent

ofdigitization that allow consumers to obtain much more

information through many headlines as they like at no extra cost

and also to personalize their interests, and digitization changes

the locations where costs are incurred so they are no longer

associated with the distribution platform, and are invested

primarily in content production itself. And also cameraperson by

electronic news gathering cameras could control news more easily.

From aspect of television we could prove how this medium was

affected by the arrival of digitization and the way it is

produced, for example, the lines of resolution, aspect ratio and

frame on the screen were different from NTSC to digital TV.

Furthermore, we explained that the technology of digitization has

allowed the performance of television to become extremely

personalized.We argued that the increase in the use of digital

technologies and processes in the production of feature films has

influenced the logistics of film production, enabling real

locations to be partially or, increasingly, fully replaced by

digitally created ones. In addition, by using CGI filmmakers from

side of cinemacould easily manipulate the production, and digital

imaging has impacted to varying degrees on the ways in which

scenes in the film are built up shot by shot, and the pacing of

sequences of images in such scenes.And also the widespread use of

CGI brings film closer to animation in a sense .

And also in terms of radio and music digitization we clarified

thatin radio the digital signals are formed of the ones and zeros

of computer codes rather than the conventional wavelike

signalsand digital radio broadcasting over the internet, using

Wi-Fi or 3G, possibly indicates a better future for radio. Radio

links are used in mobile phones to make and receive information

over wide geographic areas by connecting to a cellular network of

transceivers. In terms ofdigital recording, we argued that it

does not experience the negative effects of tape murmur and

contortion. It converts the signal into pulses of binary code

which are put on the tape or discdigital formats have forcibly

unbundled the CD.

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