The NMD

Affordances & Constraints

The term “new media” can be explained by understanding what “old media” tends to be considered. Lev Manovich, a leading theorist in digital culture and author of new media theories, implies that everything prior to the computer is old media (6). This includes television, radio, print, direct mail, billboards, etc. He more specifically identifies what is considered to be under the umbrella of new media as “the internet, websites, computer multimedia, computer games, CD-ROMs, DVD, and virtual reality” (Manovich 19). Ultimately, all digital, virtual technologies would be classified as “new media,” which expands into social media, mobile devices, etc. New media is a term used to sum up and describe any electronic communication that is possible due to advances in computer technology (“What Is New Media?”). This can mean blogs, emails, websites, and anything else you can find over the internet and complete on a computer. Online programs such as Prezi are also considered new media – part of the appeal is that it can “show not tell’…in a way that new media texts are so good at doing” (Lauer). It is one of the newest and most modern-day ways of creating a text which is why it’s called new media. Other terms used to describe this include digital media and multimodal media. 

New media is special because it applies old skills and ideas to fresh ways of thinking, interacting, and communicating. Cheryl Ball explains that new media is important to her because of “the way that readers interacted.. that new media caused readers to interact with the text in ways that readers were unfamiliar with” (Lauer “A moment in time”). In a digital world, people are introduced to new mediums and materials than traditionally used. This in turn changes the way information and content is looked at and introduced, as well as how people communicate with one another. The transmission model of communication is the theory that whatever ideas and concepts we put out into text, our audience is receiving the same idea and concept that we intended. While New Media allows us to share information and content with people easier than ever before, in turn upholding the transmissionary model of communication, this is only true if the concept of new media is understood and intentionally utilized. 

Yumna Samie emphasizes that beyond the medium being used, there are other aspects that influence and adjust the message being presented. She says, “the messages themselves are up for interpretation, by the writer and the audience” (03:16). Although this is true for all mediums, old and new, this is especially important for new media users since new mediums allow for new influences, which can easily mistaken the planned message. People naturally receive information differently person to person because we all have our own individual experiences that unknowingly impact our thought processes. While this is not something us, as writers, can control, we can think about the medium we are using and how our audience can potentially misread our purpose. When using Twitter, people have the ability to respond to a tweet, creating what is known as a thread. Threads show all the replies to that single tweet and the responses to those replies. When publishing a tweet, we cannot control who responds or whether our audience will be changed by the thread. This concept applies similarly to all social media platforms, and it shows how impactful and distinct new media is compared to old media. Theorist Marshall McLuhan sums up this concept by stating, “our ideas don’t go straight from our minds to our readers’ minds unchanged” (Samie 01:57). 

Lauer, Claire. “What's in a Name? The Anatomy of Defining New/Multi/Modal/Digital/Media Texts.” Kairos 17.1: Lauer, What's in a Name?, Kairos: A Journal of Rhetoric, Technology, and Pedagogy, 15 Aug. 2012, kairos.technorhetoric.net/17.1/inventio/lauer/contextual.html. 

Manovich, Lev. The Language of New Media. MIT Press, 2001.

Samie, Yumna. “Remediation! Context Part 2: Study Hall Writing Composition #13: ASU + Crash Course.” YouTube, uploaded by Arizona State University, 24 June 2020, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T169ogVcN9Q&feature=youtu.be&ab_channel=ArizonaStateUniversity.

Affordances and constraints are the benefits and limitations to a specific medium. All mediums have material properties that directly influence the work being presented. John Walter further explains these influences by stating, “These (material) properties determine a multitude of factors including how portable it is, how malleable it is, how transferable it is, how durable or fragile it is, how transmittable it is, as well as issues such as the ways in which we can transmit, transport, copy, manipulate, preserve, and share it” (Walter). These factors that Walter listed create a personal influence on an individual’s work, directly impacting them. For example, paper is a common medium, making it easily accessible - an affordance. However, it can be easily destroyed by liquid, fire, age, etc. - a constraint. In comparison, text messaging has the affordance of using emojis. Yumna Samie explains that emojis helps to convey emotions over text, illustrating how the individual feels about the conversation, which mimics the acts of infliction, facial expression, and body language that people normally use in person (04:10 - 04:30). As writers and authors in new media, it is beneficial to understand the affordances and constraints of specific mediums because it can help us to choose the best fit for our audience. This ensures that the message we want to send is being delivered correctly, and that our audience is not accidentally confusing the information given to them.

However, affordances and constraints go beyond this individual approach, as they reach the societal level as well. Gunther Kress states, “Societies and their cultures select ‘materials’ – sound, clay, movement (of parts) of the body, surfaces, wood, stone – which seem useful or necessary for meaning-work in that culture to be done. Selections from the potentials for making meaning which these materials offer, are constantly made in the social shaping of modes” (“Mode” 82). Depending on the societal and cultural factors of a place or situation, different ‘materials’ are utilized where they are deemed necessary. These typically impact the area in a deeply meaningful way, proving that affordances and constraints have universal effects as well as individualistic. The example Kress uses is sign-language. He explains, “In communities of humans who are speech-impaired, the affordances of the body – the positioning and the movement of limbs, of facial expression – are developed into fully articulated modes, so-called sign-languages. In communities where speech is available, only a narrow selection of these affordances is used, in gesture” (“Mode” 82-83). The concept of affordances and constraints further develops society by creating social and cultural opportunities and consequences. These are responsible for improving or implicating their citizens and their lives, likely without them even realizing. In English, the way we pronounce our words and the pitch of our tone can easily alter the way we communicate. However, most people do not consider this to be an affordance nor a constraint of our society’s modes, and this concept does not always apply to all languages and cultures, again impacting the way people live. Conceptualizing affordances and constraints in this context can help us as individuals to live and succeed in life, as we become more socially and culturally aware.

“Mode.” Multimodality: A Social Semiotic Approach to Contemporary Communication, by Gunther Kress, Routledge, 2009, pp. 79–102.

Samie, Yumna. “Remediation! Context Part 2: Study Hall Writing Composition #13: ASU + Crash Course.” YouTube, uploaded by Arizona State University, 24 June 2020, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T169ogVcN9Q&feature=youtu.be&ab_channel=ArizonaStateUniversity.