New Media, modularity and variability gives a strong insight on how our oral discourse has changed throughout society. As opposed to print in books, in the past. This is important to understand when it comes to discussing new media and the way we perceive text. In the past, media such as printed books did not give people individuality and differentiation in text. Modularity and Variability are something that old media did not have, making new media something special in the new age of text.
Modularity & Variability
New media has two characteristics: ” Modularity” and “Variability.” These two terms that should come to mind when we discourse new media. Modularity in terms of new media, is units of information that are modular if they do not change their “separate identities” and retain their “independence.” It can also refer to the ability to dissect new media into its most basic form and still be part of a “larger structure.” As an example, think about the structure of a web page. A web page contains images and texts that can be manipulated, unlike print books. Units of information are modular if they do not change their “separate identities” and retain their “independence.”
New media and variability on the other hand gives new media the differentiation from old text as well. It refers to the idea that a digital product is not fixed, but can exist in different potentially infinite versions. This also relates to modularity as well. Modular units can be combined and recombined to produce larger entities that are variable. Variability is a characteristic of new media- it is never fixed but has infinite versions. New media technologies has given the world a chance to celebrate individuality since we are all different and perceive text and media in different ways.
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