Variability in New Media

Lev Manovich (2002, p. 44) presents five principles that describe New Media. As with all descriptions of abstract concepts, this is just one way of looking at it. This presentation can definitely help people understand what New Media means, but so could a different description with for instance more or less categories. However, the five principles of Manovich give a clear description of the whole complexity of New Media.

His first three principles: numerical representation, modularity and automation are without doubt important requisites. However they might cover more than New Media alone and are therefore not its most important characteristics. cultural transcoding is definitely a key concept without which there would be no such thing as New Media, but it could be classified as a consequence of it. Therefore, it could be argued that the aspect that is really responsible for New Media is variability.

Variability means that media are not the same for everyone but change according to the user, making the usage of the 'same' media a different experience to everybody (Manovich, 2002, p.56). The reason variability could be viewed as the main aspect of New Media is that it does not just focus on how the content is made, but on how the user interacts with it. This interaction is what makes New Media new. A key feature in this is that variability enables to view media on a continuum of how New it is. An e-book is on a low level. You can change type size and fonts, but it remains similar to the traditional book. Further on the scale there might be DVDs. Their menu uses branching and they have extras, but it still is not as New as for instance Facebook, were you can personalize your profile and use it for many different purposes, enabling a much wider range of gratifications for its users.

Bibliography
Manovich, L. (2002). The Language of New Media. MIT Press.