Analysing and Understanding the Changes in Media Production and Consumption Carried by IT

Abstract

INTRODUCTION Changes that occurred at the beginning of the 21st century heavily influenced physical and cultural productions within media organizations. ICTs provided alterations in the production and consumption processes of media narratives. Media production processes were especially influenced by the changes undergone by digital technologies. Who would have told us 10 years ago that US news weekly Newsweek would declare its print edition obsolete and replace it for a version that is exclusive available for tablet computers and other online gadgets, would be considered losing his or her mind. Newsweek took this decision because they expect that on the long run the audience for an online only magazine would be bigger and not less important more profitable. UK daily newspaper The Guardian is seriously considering making the same switch in the coming years. From Hollywood movies to TV shows, from hard news to people magazines, the content production process is exposed to drastic transformations. For Caldwil (2008) and Alvares & all. (2013), such transformations occurs much more in meaning production process. At the end, since communication boundaries loses their clarity, roles of the producers and media users also change. Communication tools turns more and more effective, less expensive, and easier to use than in the past; access and collaboration are increasing, and we are evolving from being mostly media consumers to include many media producers – or ‘produsers’, as the current jargon calls it. In short, the borders between media turn more and more fuzzy and the role of producers and audience are shifting. In order to deconstruct the dichotomy between production and reception, this paper consider the narrative as a whole in transmedia storytelling. But what is transmedia storytelling exactly and how does it change the way we produce and consume media?