The new media paradigm: Users as creators of content

Abstract

Increasingly, computers are being used just for fun. Computer-based entertainment titles and Internet usage are now the main factors driving computer sales in the both the US and European markets. Games, specialised entertainment web sites, personal creativity, online chat and similar leisure pursuits are the dominant interests of young users. This paper explores how these activities are foreshadowing a change in media attitudes which is currently under way. This change is traceable through a series of transitions in how we perceive the media, entertainment experiences and our own roles in relation to them, transitions that are both guiding and following the evolution of the technology itself. These transitions in public perception will lead to a fundamentally different form of media, one which directly engages users, allowing them to take active, enjoyable roles in co-creating the new media esperience. This paper also briefly introduces work under way at Cambridge University's Centre for Communications Systems Research, which is aimed at addressing these events by developing systems that will allow future users to take full advantage of the unfolding possibilities.