Cina Aissa

cinnaramone@yahoo.co.uk

"Analyse and discuss how an example of an old media genre has shaped and been re-
shaped by a new media genre."

Print has been developed in Europe since the invention of the press by
Guttenberg in 1440. From this simple invention, born itself of the increasing literacy of
people, a variety of texts were produced, from the Evangiles to laws, philosophical and
political pamphlets. A whole world of possibilities opened too, with the possibility of
reading foreign languages. The world got smaller with the advancement in transport and
the industrial revolution. Print was refined and perfected. From the 19th century pamphlets
to the 20th century comic strips, this medium has adapted itself to cater for a wide range of
readers and built a loyal but varied readership.
Taking print as an ‘ old media genre’, this paper will attempt to analyse and discuss how it
has shaped and been re-shaped by the World Wide Web.

First, print, did not originate from itself or as a free- standing medium. It was
already used in the Chinese tradition, (as was paper) in writing and as an art form. Print,
the technique, the support, its use were not born but brought together as “ Gutenberg and
the first generation of printers borrowed the letterforms and layout from the manuscript
and constructed the printed book as “the manuscript only better” (Bolter and Grusin
2001:68). It developed and perfected itself alongside advancement of science and
transport, bearing witness to them and establishing itself as a medium of official and
unilateral communication. Print has moved from being an elitist medium to a more readily
available product for consumption and pleasure.
Bolter and Grusin affirm that “no medium today, and certainly no single
media event seems to do its cultural work in isolation from other media, any more than it
works in isolation from other social and economic Cinna Aissaforces”(2001:15). Today,
print is still used extensively for the mass circulation of books, newspapers, and magazines
and as an inexpensive way to market products. The range of newspapers and magazines
produced has become as diverse as the readers they seek to cater for. Newspapers still
stand for reliable sources of news, with the editorial styles and content as guarantees of
style, political affiliations and status. “As readers we already, it is argued, have
‘interactive’ relationships with (traditional […]) texts” (Lister et al 2003:43).
The contents of magazines have been as varied as they claimed to be
specialised but its genres have also morphed to gradually incorporate more user generated
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content such as the letter of the month, agony aunt, jokes, real life stories, classifieds,
competitions, photos, etc. These attributes became templates in any given magazine. Print
had to reinvent itself or be replaced.
Fanzines also stand out as a re-formatted pamphlet on bands and trends, the underground
alternative to the reader’s digest selection of short articles on current issues for busy
people. Written by the people and for the people, fanzines pre-empted the advent of my
space with their 3 dimensional representation of self in print. Print had become too small
to contain the flux of information encompassing geographical and socio-economical
boundaries.

So “the web […] remediates the culture of the printed book”. (Bolter and
Grusin 2001:225). Text has remained a big part of the equation with the hypertext as key
to surfing amidst the sea of information and content. In print, “the conventional means of
footnoting, indexing, and providing glossaries and bibliographies […] can be seen as
antecedents of hypertexts, again, guiding the reader beyond the immediate text to
necessary contextualising information.”(Lister et al 2003:23) In parallel to a remediation
of print, the last 50 years have seen an unprecedented production, consumption and rapid
remediation of electronic tools of communication.
“We have seen the development of a market for ‘prosumer’ technologies. […]
to produce an activist anti-capitalist video that could have global distribution”. (Lister et al
2003:33) These media tools of consumption and production of information content have
empowered consumers of media to interact with the machine-book. With the availability
of cheaper and sharper tools for recording, printing, filming, consumers “[had] the tools to
share [their] opinions with a worldwide audience” (from the Brand Republic article). For
advertisers, the World Wide Web was used as an excellent marketing tool to replace the
print advertisement. User generated content could provide information about new trends,
“And you can find out exactly what they think about your product.” (From the brand
republic article)
It became appealing for brands to plug into this social network online of facebook and
myspace, making ‘friends’ with their consumers. This participatory culture heralded “a
change from traditional marketing methods such as advertising to getting involved in
dialogues with consumers, [providing] them with ways to contribute as well as consume.”
(From the brand republic article)
A big part of this dialogue on the World Wide Web is the open invitation for
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readers to post their comments, videos or pictures. With a blog, an online scrapbook,
people can record and share their life and their thoughts and be read, watched or heard by
millions of others, worldwide. For these empowered ‘prosumers’, the World Wide Web
has created what print could never have. It has opened onto the possibility of reaching
millions of others as a media producer. “The question of how anyone becomes ‘qualified’
to be a media producer is more a matter of creating a track record and portfolio for
yourself than following pre-established routes. […] participation in media from active
interpretation to actual production”. (Lister et al 2003: 34)
On you tube, one can find an infinite range of videos from people home made videos to
recorded clips from Eastenders. “This is new. Until the 1990’s the technological separation
between what was acceptable for public distribution and what was ‘only’ suitable for
domestic exhibition was rigid”. (Lister et al 2003:33)
This natural extension of possibilities is embodied in the multi-sensory appeal and
potential of the World Wide Web. “We have seen the user or the viewer enter into a
twofold relationship with the medium”. (Bolter and Grusin, 2001:229) In remediating
print, the World Wide Web has created a well-rounded emotional experience with
interactivity as an enticing tool of participation. Thus, “remediation multiplies the
possibilities.” (Bolter and Grusin, 2001:225).

But remediation works in both senses. The World Wide Web has now re-
shaped print. Convergence has rendered both genres like each other, collaborating in
rendering a more fulfilling experience for the user instead of competing against each other.
Bolter and Grusin claim that new media “[refashions] older media and the ways in which
older media refashion themselves to answer the challenges of new media.”(2001:15) The
World Wide Web and print have become part of each other. The former has had an impact
and transformed the latter. Witness to this transformation is the innumerable amount of
blogs created by newspapers and magazines. Like the old print media, they stand as a
secure and reliable source of information and news, the guarantee of a professional writer
with an expertise. The articles can nevertheless be commented upon, keeping the door
open on active involvement of the readers.
Hence, the print medium can become a full-bloodied experience with
interactivity between the magazine and the blog. Other senses than sight are involved in
the reading of the online magazine. Bold visual graphics make the text stand out and the
click is a kinaesthetic and auditory validation of the reading. Podcasts, social networking
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cinnaramone@yahoo.co.uk

websites and blogs are the most obvious user generated content but for magazines and
newspapers, these are real tools of anchoring their presence online and offline in a
seamless manner.
Lister et al argue that “the ear is hypersensitive [whereas] the eye is cool and detached.
[…] For McLuhan, the real villain of the piece is print culture. […] If the primitive pre-
literate culture was tyrannised by the ear, Gutenberg culture is hypnotised by its
eye.”(2003:76) By returning to a communication that relies on other senses than sight, the
coldness of blind logic is being replaced by a more ‘primitive’ way of communicating. So,
this blending of new and old media to create sharper tools demonstrates how “new media
‘remediate’ the content of previous media. […] A medium being ‘any extension of
ourselves’” (McLuhan in Lister 2003:77). The interest in engaging more senses than just
the sight heralds a big bang where “all the various media of cyberspace are converging, as
if they were being pulled together by a force as ineluctable as gravity” (Bolter and Grusin,
2001:222).

Finally, it is interesting to note that all media genres are born of each other and that they
cannot exist independently of each other. Ultimately, more tools are being created to better
suit the needs of the users. Convergence is achieved when the genres blend, re-inventing
themselves to become an indispensable tool, a transparent tool extending the unique
human capacities to see, hear, touch and feel. The machine-man is expected as an awaited
sequel to the machine-book.
The World Wide Web continues to remediate print and other mediums in a revolutionary
whirlwind of signs. For Bolter and Grusin, “the process of remediation makes us aware
that all media are at one level a “play of signs”[…](2001:17) and that these signs have
always been there, waiting to be deciphered and challenged by man remediating his
environment,.

Bibliography:
Bolter, D and Grusin, R, Remediation, Understanding New Media, The MIT
Press, London, England, 2001.
Lister, M et al, New Media: A Critical Introduction, Routledge, London,
2003.
Websites:
From the Institute of Paper Science and Technology at Georgia Tech, Atlanta,
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Georgia:
http://www.ipst.gatech.edu/amp/index.html
From Brand Republic:
http://www.brandrepublic.com/bulletins/digital/article/589413/usergenerated-
content-uncovered-power-people/