Impacts of Technology

As stated by Peter Fraser, 'A broader version of conventional literacy, which enables, all visual, aural and digital forms, seeking to enable people to become thoughtful producers and interpreters of media'. From looking at this quote, I can see that there have been technological and institutional advances, within the magazine media industry, which have allowed companies to produce a product best suited for their audience. 

Due to the fact that the technology around us has developed in recent years - print industries have had to 'keep up to date' with advances and to ensure they keep with what their audiences want to see. In order to increase independent publishing, a company called Desktop Publishing has been put in place to allow affordable publishing to rise. This is alongside software such as Quark Express.

With thanks to technological advances, we can now view our media on a range of different products and devices. One of these which stands out in particular is Apple's iPad as this is a device which allows for downloading of print media. This feature allows audiences to download copies of their favourite magazine/newspaper from stores such as iTunes to view at the click of a button. This feature allows people to view things a lot quicker and easier, as well as saving money on production costs and material wastes. This process allows a wider variety of audience to view the product easier as well as allowing the magazine companies to present more information through different features and design ideas. For example some companies use animations and videos within their product, making it multimedia and interactive. Furthermore, this type of product can also house web links, extra content and in some cases 360 degree viewing. More and more of the market's audience are turning to this revolutionary style of consumption of the media as it saves time and is convenient. 

This style of production seems to be a growing trend among large producers of media products due to audience consumption as well as the growing competition concerning that area of the market place. Consumers are seeming to prefer this type of consumption to print due to the digital features available. Some of the digital magazines on the market place allow you to sign up to a subscription, Vogue in particular. Due to the audience being able to interact with the content of the product means that they can experience it better, which, from looking at this area of the market, seems to be what they want. The following quote is by Gauntlett - it looks at digital technologies within the magazine industry - “The view that the internet and new digital media as an optional extra is replaced with the recognition that they have fundamentally changed the ways we engage with all media”.

As stated by Plunkett - “A new generation of UK media power players are ditching the traditional gatekeepers and going straight to their audience via the web”. This quote is extremely relevant in terms of audience's current areas of interest as the internet is a hub of social interaction in terms of media outlets. With having content at audience's fingertips, it allows them to view whatever they want whenever they want. NME and other massive producers of print and digital products such as Vogue use Twitter and other social networking outlets to make and bond connections between their company. They use these sites to inform their audience of latest news, products and general advertising. However, they product social media which is based around their audience, in the same way that their magazines are. This is the easiest it has ever been for companies to directly interact with their audiences, allowing targeting their product a lot more simple than it might be otherwise. 

In terms of this technological research as a whole, I feel as if it has helped focus my intentions and knowledge of the market place. It will help to ensure my product is a success and is produced in a similar way to that of my competitors.