“Digital media” is a term thrown around a lot. Used and abused, it’s often utilized interchangeably with social media and media 2.0. But what exactly does it mean? Recently, a friend of mine asked me to define “digital media” and I found myself having a tough time truly and simply nailing down what I think the term encompasses and why, of all things, I think it holds the biggest potential for transforming our daily lives. Here’s my best attempt.

To begin with, it definitely doesn’t help that “Media” is such a tough term to define.  To me, at least, media (also, I feel much more comfortable using the term “media” as a collective noun– which I believe it more or less has become today) is the different tools/forms (or mediums) used to store & deliver content. In other words, it’s the different forms through which information/data/all communication can be held and passed through.  This content/means of communication can be text, picture, audio, video, and who knows what else someday-based. Though “Digital” is a little easier to define, it may be more broad-reaching– and the most likely to change. Basically any media stored & displayed in an electronic way is “digital.” In a technical sense, I see this as anything that can be brought down to those good ‘ol 0s and 1s.

My definition, then? Digital media is the different platforms on which people communicate electronically.

Expression. Communication.  Interaction. That’s what it comes down to. As media and content rapidly transform– and the way we interact online (from chat forums to gchat, from Twitter to Quora, from gmail to Skype) along with it, new interactive media platforms and social networks surface. This is digital media. Communication holds the key to peace, to discord, to progress, to mass movements, and to just provoking your personal thinking. No matter what’s involved, no matter what it is– if it’s a platform for human expression, social interaction, communication, and education online, it’s digital media.

And why does it contain the biggest potential for changing the way we live our lives? As we use digital apps, tools, and other forms to creatively explore, innovate, and transform the way we communicate, we change as people.  Twitter changes our human conversation– and that this leads to a different human experience. A human experience that can move (digital and non-digital) mountains in different ways, from government philosophies and politics to re-inventing the way we conceive of our social lives and our place in society. See why I’m excited about its future?

This entry was posted on Sunday, April 4th, 2010 at 2:05 pm and is filed under Digital Media, Ideas & Stories, Media & Entertainment, Technology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.