NEW MEDIA AS A DIRECTION FOR DEVELOPING COMPETENCES OF PRESCHOOL EDUCATORS

/in , /by

A pervasive and growing use of new digital media (primarily the Internet) in all the fields of human activity imposes a need for adequate planning of preschool education, as the first link in education chain that needs to become a foundation and preparation for technological and media literacy in new generations. The application of new information and communication technologies and the media is already obvious in all fields and on all levels of education. This application, however, overcomes pedagogical connotation, so it is not introduced only as a part of curricula that the new generations need to cover in order to become competitive in the future labour market; it also has a non-pedagogical connotation: as non-teaching, logistical and administrative support of labour in educational institutions. These circumstances condition serious changes partly referring to the development of competences of preschool educators (primarily teachers) for the use of new media and technologies. This paper comprehensively presents the circumstances that undoubtedly point to these new requirements set before the educators and points to directions and bases for development of the competences mentioned.

MEDIA LITERACY AS A NECESSARY CONDITION FOR UNDERSTANDING NEW MEDIA

/in , /by

Digital media technologies allow new communication channels through which one can quickly find necessary information on the one hand, and on the other hand upload information of relevance. Both download and upload are quickly and easily available to everyone worldwide. It is interesting to compare the Internet with an “information buffet” from which the user takes as much information as necessary and whenever necessary. Such information may be used for the purpose of informing, educating, entertaining or business when there is no other efficient and quicker way. People and markets are linked. From the time in which the information and news were in the possession of a small number of people, we have arrived at the stage when the information is in the hands of most. We are now in the era of social media which helped create a most diverse content and exchange between a large number of Internet users, replacing the one-to-many process with a many-to-many process. Two-thirds of our waking state is lived with the media or the media in combination with another activity, whereby the media people gradually influence our perception of the meaning of life. Researchers warn of the impact of media depending on the degree of media growth and the need to create an institutional basis for introduction of media education into regular education programs.

DIGITAL TOOLS AND THE PURPOSE OF EDUCATION

/in , /by

The approach to contemporary digital media technologies has two general orientations – “techno-optimistic” and “techno-pessimistic”. The author takes a middle position and tries to bring together the arguments of the humanistic philosophy of education and media theory. New media influence our perception of reality and ability to articulate that perception, and thereby shape the reality itself. The educational system includes new media through the “media education” and its application as educational technology. The main postulates of this article are: (1) digital media technologies are not the purpose, but a tool in the educational process, (2) those tools influence changing of the educational process characteristics and (3) the specific purpose of humanistic education process is not lost despite those changes.

EDUCATION FOR MEDIA IN THE NEW TECHNOLOGICAL AGE – CHANGE OF DISCOURSE

/in , /by

The media are no longer a “mirror of society” but constructors of social reality and manufacturers of consciousness. The new technological age gives a strong stimulus to this transformation which further marginalizes the point and cognitive value of the message. These technologies emphasize the technological aspects, sensations of the new, spectacles of the form and the design, which are becoming a purpose in itself. Adding to all this the already observed concentration of information and the difficulty in content selection, the training for media usage and their maintenance on the socially acceptable and constructive level becomes a highly important topic. At the same time, the concepts of “the media education” and “education for the media” oscillate in their implications, alternately going back and forth in their meaning. This paper is trying to determine the evolution of the idea about correlation between the media performance and the educational process, in which at least two approaches are possible: the ability to increase the level of knowledge with the help of the media and the need for gaining skills in order to handle the digitalized media so they can be used to full potential.

THE CONSTRUCTION OF KNOWLEDGE ABOUT/OF ART IN THE AGE OF DIGITAL MEDIA

/in , /by

The digitization rush has left the hypertext as a computer-generated text in its wake. The broadening of the hypertext concept brings us to the possibility of a new interpretation not only of artistic practice, but of the theory and politics of that practice, correspondingly. When the sign (iconic, indexical, symbolic) became “fundamental” for thinking, the status of knowledge changed. With artistic practice as an example, that can be seen in the reconstruction/destruction/deconstruction of a work into a text and of the text into a hypertext. The rhetorical figures of the hypertext bring about a new hermeneutics of the code. The code, as a mode of linking lexias (units of reading), past traces of the archive or the database, translates the entire Gutenberg Galaxy into a Hypertextual Galaxy. The event of remedialisation or the digital McLuhan, reminds us that an artistic practice has always been an emphasized (hyper) process of virtualization and of creating the artistic as a media/discursive construct. The hypertext thus becomes a broad platform for reading/writing both in science and education on the one hand, and in literature, film, visual arts, theatre, fashion, nutrition and photography on the other hand. The work of art/text/hypertext can also be viewed as a paradigm in the construction of knowledge.

TV DIGITALISATION IN SERBIA – MYTH OR REALITY

/in , /by

Contemporary researchers believe that, in the near future, a convergence will be developed towards all portable networks having sufficient capacity to transmit all kinds of messages – from data to video, in real time, and towards a choice of devices allowing certain contents to be followed depending on circumstances. In other words, all content will be available on all types of terminals. News will be followed on PCs, e-mails sent from TV receivers and databases will be searched on mobile phones. Moreover, it seems that viewers will create their programmes, programme schedules and receive information when suitable to them. “On demand” services will be dominant services in future. This situation leads towards the division of the audio-visual sphere into two categories: on the one side, there are creators and owners of content and on the other there are transmitters of content. If we know that each portable channel and terminal device has its own characteristics, we can conclude that a producer and an owner of content have to process it in such a way that it can be adapted i.e. easily adapted for distribution over various channels and reception at various terminals. At the moment, televisions and production houses still have a certain type of monopoly over the production of audio-visual programmes. Exploiting and sustaining this advantage is one of the important challenges imposed by the development of digital communication. Due to everything mentioned above, the authors of this paper are conducting a survey on consumers of the media content. So far the pilot survey is carried out only in Vojvodina, and the purpose of the survey is to find out whether respondents are familiarized with the digitalization process.

SOCIOLOGICAL AND ETHICAL ASPECTS OF SOCIAL MEDIA AS A NEW DIMENSION IN SOCIALIZATION AND COMMUNICATION OF AN INDIVIDUAL IN AN INFORMATION SOCIETY

/in , /by

Large expansion of information technologies (IT), especially the Internet, has led to a general social interaction and exchange, from which arises the Information Society as a very real but yet unexplored dimension. For all these new issues arising from this progress in human relations and communication, a question of moral behavior in this new virtual world also arises – the question from which cyber-ethics is born. Genesis of virtual community is sociologically explained by the fact that normal social life of a person is divided into three environments or spaces: the space where we live, space where we work, and the space for socializing with other members of society. Virtual community is by many considered to be ‘a place for socializing’, as it does not pose barriers that exist in everyday human communication. It does not specify age, gender, political or religious affiliation nor does it take family characteristics into account. This paper analyzes this “third space” where people gather for the purpose of socializing which has become very cramped in the contemporary society.

INFLUENCE OF DIGITAL MEDIA TECHNOLOGIES ON THE STRUCTURE AND STYLE OF ONLINE MEDIA CONTENT

/in , /by

The paper focuses on researching the way in which the appearance of new digital media technologies is influencing changes in the style of the media material placed online and cites rules for creation of the material that is adjusted to digital environment and a changed reader’s attention. Material digitalization, its placement in proper form and style, its consumption, as well as the multimedia content management and cost benefit are presented in this document.

IMPACT OF WORLD ECONOMIC CRISIS ON THE MEDIA DIGITALIZATION IN SERBIA

/in , /by

This paper presents a brief overview of the situation with the domestic public service broadcasting, with reference to its past and future development trends. In this paper, a special emphasis is given to the process of media digitalization in Serbia. Due to the negative effects of the global economic crisis, we will try to clarify how and under what financial conditions, the Serbian public service broadcasting sector plans to carry out the digitization process. Having in mind the low standard of living in Serbia, the paper will be focused on the expenditures of the Republic of Serbia (as well as the financial cost to citizens) in the transition to digital signal. The digitalization process in Serbia will be financed by international financial institutions, while the national government will provide financial help only to the socially underprivileged population. Digitalization should be concerned as a long term investment that will improve operations of the domestic media sector. In Europe, the digitalization process is far ahead (in a more advanced stage). In comparison to EU and CEE countries, the digitalization process in Serbia is in delay.

DIGITAL MEDIA CONVERGENCE

/in , /by

By studying digital media technology and social changes in education under their influence in Serbia, we have examined the consumers’ habits, traditional versus digital media, as well as the credibility of online content that consumers are referred to. The general conclusion is that the Internet as a digital platform is commonly used in traditional (analogue) mode, as a one-way channel for distribution of media content and interactivity that is tantamount to leaving comments and generally arbitrary attitudes by readers. The innovative use of digital charting technology that provides unlimited possibilities – from collecting and presenting facts, through linkage with other relevant sources and documents, opening debates and facilitating participation of readers in defining social problems, their argument-based illumination from different angles to launching campaigns in the function of solving the problem – still fails to appeal to most. In this paper, we also point to the necessity of developing (redeveloping) research methods, typologies and techniques that will be able to encompass a larger number of those elements of the new media which differ from the traditional ones.