Opportunities and Challenges of Digital Media: A Comprehensive Literature Review of Ghana

Abstract

Digital media, also called by many as “New Media,” is the use of computers and mobile devices (blogs, e-book, and video games) which are aided by internet to create and disseminate content as well as other physical embodiment such as flash memory sticks, hard drive among others. Some scholars prefer to define digital media in contrast to “analog”, “mass media” in relation to “new media” and so on. The history of digital media documents the move of computers from glorified calculators to devices that are transforming human communications, entertainment, and creative production, linking digital media to earlier interactive machines and media. Digitization and media convergence in Ghana are considered by many media experts as the gateway to the socio-economic development of Ghana. Since its introduction in the early 1990s, digital media and information and communication technology have shaped and continue to shape the media landscape of the good people of Ghana. In spite of the numerous opportunities presented by the digital media technologies developing country like Ghana, the challenges are still eminent which prevent the country from tapping the full potentials of digital media. This article starts with a review of literature on the concept of digital or new media in global, Africa and Ghana context, the Internet and new media production. The article closes on the opportunities, challenges and the way forward for the development of digital media technology use in Ghana. Sources of material for this article included published and unpublished academic articles, media reports, and personal and institutional blogs, as well as Web sites.